Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Mercury On-The-Go FW800+USB2 up to 1.0TB. Bus Powered, no external power supply needed. Macworld Editors Choice, CNET Very Good Starting from $99.97, 500GB $159.99. Click here

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

The 'Book Page

Apple Redefines iBook

Dan Knight - 2001.05.02

On Tuesday, Steve Jobs replaced the curvaceous, large, heavy iBook with with a svelte iBook that beats it in almost every respect:

lighter: 4.9 lbs. vs. 6.7 lbs.
smaller: 11.2 x 9.1 x 1.35" vs. 11.6 x 13.5 x 2.1"
faster: 500 MHz vs. 366 or 466 MHz
less expensive: $1,299 vs. $1,499
more RAM: you can add 512 MB to the stock 64 or 128 MB
more media drives: CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, or CD-RW/DVD-ROM vs. CD-ROM or DVD in old model
more display: 1024 x 768 pixels vs. 800 x 600
more ports: one more USB port plus VGA
video: same
battery: rated at 5 hours vs. 6 hours on the old model
color: white with gray accents vs. indigo, graphite, and key lime

When it comes right down to it, this is the smaller, lighter, less costly iBook a lot of us were hoping for two years ago. iBook The old iBook had its place as an "iMac to go," but the bulkiness was a definite drawback.

The value equation is unquestionable - except for battery life and color options, the new iBook meets or exceeds the old one in every respect. And the new look is anything but "girlie." I suspect a lot of people in the business world who balked at the old iBook styling will find the new model very acceptable.

It's also helpful to compare the next generation iBook with the 21st century PowerBook. The iBook is 2.3" narrower, 0.4" shallower front-to-back, and 0.35" thicker. It's also 0.4 pounds lighter. The new iBook has the smallest footprint since the PowerBook 2400.

What's really impressive is the range of options available on this 500 MHz portable: 64 or 128 MB RAM on the motherboard, a 10 or 20 GB hard drive, four media drive options ( CD, DVD, CD-RW, CD-RW/DVD).

Another very nice touch is the convenient layout of the ports (above). Yes, they're all on the left side, which will be inconvenient for right-handed users with short-tailed mice, but having all the ports in a row like this will also make it easy for someone to design a snap-on dock for use at home or in the office.

The only potential problem is the small 12.1" active matrix color display. A lot of people find the 91 dots per inch of recent PowerBooks and the TiBook comfortable, but say that going much beyond that leads to eye strain. By putting the same 1024 x 768 pixels that normally fit in a 14.1" display into less space, the new iBook squeezes 106 dots per inch. That may be less of a problem under OS X with the scalable Aqua interface, but it could cause excess eyestrain under OS 9.1.

That's the only fly in the ointment. Just as the TiBook redefined high end "thin and light" laptops in January, the iBook redefines economy portables.

Latest Deals on Low End Mac

More links in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.