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Apple Archive

The Best iBooks, PowerBooks, and Desktop Macs Ever

- 2001.12.14

I recently was asked to provide a list of the top five iBooks, PowerBooks, and desktop Macs. I decided that it might make an interesting article, so here it is: my personal list of the best iBooks, PowerBooks, and desktop Macs (note that these aren't necessarily my favorite Macs - that might come another time).

Best iBooks

Since the iBook is fairly new, there really aren't that many models to pick from. The latest iBook (Dual USB, a.k.a. iceBook) is definitely fit to be first on the list. Then would come the iBook (FireWire) SE, regular iBook/366, then the iBook SE. The original 300 MHz iBook with 3.2 GB hard drive wasn't very good (tended to have problems), and the revision to that (with a 6 GB hard drive ) wasn't much better. The iBook SE was faster, and the FireWire model added a video-out port as well as bumping the speed to 366 MHz on the standard model. The newer iBook SE was 100 MHz faster and featured a DVD-ROM drive.

Best PowerBooks

The first of the top five PowerBooks is easy. It's nothing less than the PowerBook G4 Titanium (a.k.a. TiBook), which is just about the coolest looking laptop around. The 15." screen is amazing - and and did I mention it looks great?

The PowerBook 1400c would come in next for its rugged case, high quality, and plentiful upgrade PowerBook 1400options, which include G3 cards from Sonnet or Newer Tech, PCMCIA devices (unfortunately the 1400 doesn't support CardBus devices), an optional card for external video, and RAM expansion to 64 MB.

The PowerBook G3 (Lombard) is number three for its great design (the white, light-up Apple logo on a black case makes it look very nice while in use) and good feature set (333 or 400 MHz G3, up to 384 MB of RAM, 56K modem, built in CD or DVD drive, and USB and SCSI ports).

The PowerBook 2400c is fourth for its thin and light case and large, bright screen. The 2400c was the last of the lightweight PowerBooks until the Titanium G4 came out.

And, who could list great PowerBooks without including a 68K model? The PowerBook 180c makes this list for its durability, quality (they are strong machines - I've got one that was dropped and still works fine), and bright screen (small, yes, but the quality of it is very good).

Best Desktop Macs

For the five best desktop Macs, I'd say the Plus would be in here as number one. It had plenty of features (for its time) such as a Mac PlusSCSI port, which allowed one to use external hard drives, CD-ROM drives, video adapters (although they were slow), and Ethernet adapters, and RAM expansion to 4 MB. It was on the market for 4 years and 10 months (1/1986-10/1990), longer than any other model. A number of people still used them as recently as 1995.

The IIfx is number two on the list. It was the fastest desktop computer in 1990 (not just the fastest Mac), had many features, supported up to 128 MB of RAM (not just standard RAM, but super-fast 64-pin RAM that no other Mac used), two floppy drives (people upgrading from Mac IIs often kept their 800K drive next to the IIfx's 1.44 MB drive), room for a 3.5" or 5.25" internal hard drive, six NuBus slots and a level 2 cache. It also had some special hardware features that allowed software developers to optimize their software so that it was faster and more efficient on the IIfx (not that anyone actually did that, as far as I know).

The Power Mac 9600 also makes this list, coming in at number three. It's got six PCI slots, four drive bays, an easy to open case (just folds apart), and an easy upgrade path with G3 and G4 daughtercards that you just plug into the daughtercard slot. The RAM can be expanded to 1.5 GB, and it is even possible to install OS X (unsupported with Unsupported UtilityX).

The blue and white G3, running at speeds from 300 to 450 MHz, is on the list at number four. It featured a really nice Yosemite designnew case that made it even easier (than the 9600's case) to access the components inside, along with a great new color (I don't know Apple's official name for it, but it sort of looks like a cross between blueberry and Bondi blue) and is upgradeable to G4. Many came with DVD-RAM or DVD-ROM drives, Zip drives, and sometimes a fast 9 GB Ultra SCSI 2 hard drive.

The Quadra 840av should be on this list and becomes number 5 due to its AV features (see my previous articles, Quadra AVs and some cool things you can do with them and Treasure your Quadra 840av) and RAM expansion up to 128 MB (which is still a decent amount for the Classic Mac OS).

The Macs I mentioned above are what I consider to be the best Macs in terms of features and upgradeability. Many of these can be obtained used for very little ($10 or less for a Plus, and under $450 for a 9600), and some of these can even be bought new from Apple (the new iBook and PowerBook G4).

If you have opinions of what you think the best Macs are, I'd love to hear them - just drop me an email. I may put them up on LEM next week, so if you'd prefer not to have yours posted, please let me know in your email.

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