I was very excited about the newest TiBooks that came
out recently (not that I had a chance of getting one), but, as the
owner of a Fall 2001
iBook, I'd like to give you my take on the new iBooks that came out
yesterday.
Changes Summarized
The new iBooks will do a wonderful job of carrying on where the
other iBooks left off. Besides replacing the 500/600 MHz processors
with 600/700 MHz processors, Apple also doubled the size of the level 2
cache, bringing the total to 512 KB. Also new is an improved graphics
system - 16 MB ATI Radeon, which is just barely enough to run Quartz
Extreme.
Other than that, the hard drive sizes were upped, as well as a
faster combo drive on the 700 MHz models. Two other changes are the
lack of an external reset button (it seems) and the AV port is now just
sound-out (the V part of AV is now rolled into the former RGB-out
port).
Faster Processors
Speed bumps processor-wise are always nice, even if 600 and 700 MHz
are not much by today's standards. [Editor's note: The new CPUs have a
17-20% higher MHz rating and double the cache for maybe 20-25% total
boost. Not too shabby.] IBM does have a 1 GHz G3 ready to be used
in iBooks, but it seems Apple is afraid of having an iBook that looks
faster than their "pro" TiBook. What about the Megahertz Myth, Apple? I
thought MHz didn't matter? Well, how 'bout sticking that fast G3 into
the iBook so that it is up to par with most of the consumer G4s?
The increased cache is very nice (or so I'm told) for various
processor-intensive tasks. I remember back in the 540c days when
upgrading the 33 MHz '040 to a 100 MHz 603e was a big deal....
More Cumbersome Video Output
On the first iBooks, video-out wasn't possible out of the box. On
the last of the wonderful toilet-seaty models, AV out (composite
audio/video) was possible through the headphone jack. This was a $20
option that was achieved through the use of a cable. The first of the
P29 iBooks (iceBooks) featured not only this AV out port, but also a
funny, miniature RGB port that, when used with the included cable,
could mirror the iBook's display on a VGA monitor. The newest iBooks
carry on this tradition - sort of.
Gone is the AV port, replaced with your ordinary, average headphone
jack. The composite video out has been moved to yet another dongle that
plugs into the RGB-out port. This new dongle now includes S-video out
as well. This changed(?) RGB port, which looks the same on the newest
iBooks as it has on every other model, is what you would use to connect
to not only VGA displays, but also S-video and composite displays.
Personally, I think this is rather dumb, as the AV cable was not quite
as bulky as the new AV dongle. Also, in theory, with the old iBooks you
could run a VGA display and a composite display at the same
time. The new ones you have to choose either VGA or
composite/S-video.
And that leads me to S-video: Who exactly uses it other than
professionals? Our TV has a connection for it, as does our VCR, but we
still use the ol' composite RCA plug to run things to each other. I'd
love to see Apple market an RF modulator to allow iBooks to work with
any TV.
Minor Things
Apple did speed bump the Combo drive, changing the write speed from
4x to 8x. This doesn't seem like quite a big deal until you realize
that burning a full CD takes less than 10 minutes now. However, the old
4x drive in my iBook isn't bad at 20 minutes per disc.
Apple also ditched the left-side reset button in this model. I'm not
sure if they put it somewhere else, but for security purposes, it would
make sense. In the three months I've had my iBook, I've never used
this, as control-command-power fixes things most of the time.
Good, but I'm Not Going to Upgrade
In Dan Knight's article discussing the newest PowerBook G4s
(TiBook Value: New vs. Old), he
mentions that some of the revisions to the TiBook after his weren't
compelling enough to make him replace his TiBook. I feel the same way
about the new iBooks. For the school tasks and Internet stuff I do, I'm
perfectly happy with my iBook. I think that the three months I've had
my iBook are worth the extra 100 MHz/8 MB VRAM/S-video that I missed
out on. I'm still standing firm that the AV cable is a much nicer
solution than that dongle Apple has for the new iBooks.
An Apple Opportunity
Finally, this week, I'd just like to mention that at the end of
60 Minutes last night, Andy Rooney was complaining about how
much crap he has to carry with his 3-pound Sony Vaio laptop when he
travels (the external floppy drive, external CD drive, huge power
brick, cables, printer, printer AC adapter, etc. etc.). This just seems
like an Apple ad waiting to happen.
