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AnchorDesk

John Morris and Josh Taylor
iBook's new chapter rights the original version's wrongs

John Morris and Josh Taylor
Contributing Editors, AnchorDesk
Monday, May 14, 2001
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No matter how you feel about Apple, you've got to admit that the company's been on quite a roll. In just the past few months, Apple has shipped Mac OS X, released its fastest PowerMac G4 desktop to date (733MHz), introduced updated versions of the iMac and PowerMac G4 Cube, and shipped the blockbuster Titanium PowerBook G4. Things are going so well that Apple decided to open a few retail stores in its spare time. Heck, we're starting to think Steve Jobs might actually deserve his $90 million salary. OK, maybe that's getting a little carried away.

Just for good measure, last week the company unveiled a new iBook. We got our first peek at it last week (stay tuned for a full review in ZDNet's Notebooks SuperCenter), and the new iBook is a totally different consumer notebook PC.

IT WOULD'VE BEEN HARD not to improve on the old iBook. It weighed something like 80 pounds, it was big yet it had a relatively small screen and a top resolution of 800 by 600 pixels, it came in all sorts of obnoxious colors, and lots of people disliked the big plastic handle. Some reviewers likened the big, curvy design to a toilet seat. Apple probably could've replaced it with a legal pad and people would've applauded.

Nevertheless, at first glance we're quite impressed with iBook Version 2.0. The first thing you'll notice is that the new iBook is a lot thinner (1.4 inches) and lighter (4.9 pounds), and it looks more like a traditional notebook PC. Gone are the garish iBook colors, replaced by a tasteful, pearly white polycarbonate case similar to the one found in the Titanium.

Despite its smaller size, the iBook is packed with just about every feature we could think of, starting with a faster processor (500MHz PowerPC G3), support for up to twice the memory and storage, and a 12.1-inch TFT display with a native resolution of 1,204 by 768. It will be available starting in mid-May in three standard configurations, ranging in price from $1,299 to $1,599. All configurations include two USB ports, one FireWire port, both a 56K modem and 10/100 Ethernet, an integrated AirPort antenna for wireless networking, and an auto-sensing VGA port that should make using any desktop monitor plug-and-play easy.

ABOUT THE ONLY THING to complain about in the iBook is that the drives are fixed, not swappable. However, in addition to the DVD or CD-RW drives, you can upgrade to a combination drive ($1,799 with 128MB RAM and a 10GB hard disk) and you'll never miss that modular drive bay.

How appealing is the new iBook? Well, one of our Mac reviewers ordered one sight unseen. Of course, he would buy a five-pound brick of tofu if it ran the Mac OS.

Lately Apple has been losing some of the education market to the likes of Dell. The new iBook appears to offer a good combination of price, performance, and rugged good looks--which should make it appealing to students. The question is: Will it be enough to make converts of Windows users?

Will your next portable system be an iBook? Tell us in TalkBack.

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