Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I think the iBook is a wonderful machine. I'd been looking for a new notebook for home and decided to forego a pc and look into the new iBook. I plumped for the 600Mhz machine with the combo DVD-RW, and an airport card. I upped the ram to a beefy 384Mb because I knew that like most modern operating systems Mac OS X runs much more smoothly with more memory.This is is most enjoyable notebook I've ever had the pleasure to own (especially after years of pc notebook use). The iBook is light and robust and has some design touches: for instance, the retractable latch which prevent breakage, and the clever power adapter. I ordered the airport card and extra memory separately so I had to install those at home. This was a snip - two small latches at the top of the keyboard slide back, allowing access to the airport and memory slots underneath. If you have a broadband connection at home, I would recomend that you get Airport. It's very enjoyable to be able to sit whever you like in your home, enjoy a cup of coffee and use the iBook for browsing the web or picking up email. The CD burner seems very reliable - in fact, much more reliable than my Dell Dimension machine - and DVD playback is good. I ordered an Apple AV connnection so I can connect the iBook to the TV in the bedroom and use it as a second DVD player. One small caveat - don't expect theatre quality sound from the internal speakers (this applies to any laptop not just the iBook). Battery life is good. I curently get over three hours on a full charge. I need to investigate the effect on battery life of turning the airport card off when not needed because this will probably increase my battery time. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Wireless multimedia tool
Review: Let's be clear up front: You need to add memory, an air port card and some cables to make this computer work to its best. We added Jaguar and the latest version of Office. Given that, we love this machine. It is an integral part of our wireless home network; it was easy to set up and to add to the network. The extra memory was easy to install and goosed the performance. The DVD player works fine and drives a large screen projector with the right cable; it is a good tool for the classroom. The screen is sharp enough for good movie viewing. Speed is fine. memory is expandable. You can burn CDs. The unit is pretty rugged, and not too heavy. A child can manage to start it, load and install software, and operate it easily. It comes in handy, surfing the net or reading e-mail while riding an exercise bike. Portable, powerful and user friendly.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic laptop at a fantastic price
Review: My iBook is my favorite computer of all those I've ever owned. The 600MHz G3, complete with 100 MHz system bus, is more than adequate to serve all my needs while on the road. Beyond that, it has a very clear and bright screen. And all of this is wrapped in a very light and small package that looks fantastic. And MacOS X, well, it's the best operating system ever. And I've used everything from MS-DOS 3 to Windows XP, from Solaris to OpenBSD, and all points between. Buying an iBook was, quite simply, the best computing purchase I've ever made.
Rating: 
Summary: I bought a 700MHZ G3 and hated it
Review: My iBook was 100 MHZ faster and I could barely run anything on it. I started hitting the bargian bin for older games just so they would run. New games, even slightly old games, just won't cut it. And the CAD software for my engineering classes? Forget it! So it mine won't cut it, this thing is worse. Don't bite man, this one's a dud.
Rating:
Summary: I bought a 700MHZ G3 and hated it
Review: My iBook was 100 MHZ faster and I could barely run anything on it. I started hitting the bargian bin for older games just so they would run. New games, even slightly old games, just won't cut it. And the CAD software for my engineering classes? Forget it! So it mine won't cut it, this thing is worse. Don't bite man, this one's a dud.
Rating:
Summary: Meet Max!
Review: Not long after Max (my iBook) arrived Ruin13's fiancée walked up to me and said "I hear you got a new iBook." I replied. "Yes! He's cute!" I believe this just confirmed his opinion of me as a slightly off center weirdo. Eh. Truth hurts more if you don't just accept it from the get go. Max is cute. He's all white and the little apple on his cover lights up when I have him on. Total strangers have cooed over him as if he were a particularly adorable baby and some of my friends are plotting getting one of their own. ~So what's so great about Max?~
First of all, he's a Mac. This translated into common tongue means that Max is super easy to run. Turn him on and he goes. Just like magic. I'm a junkie now. Sit me down in front of a PC and I'm apt to spent a lot of time cursing it when I can't quit an application with a simple keystroke or navigate Excel with one finger. Then there's all the cool stuff Max came pre-loaded with. There's the usual stuff, mail, Internet Explorer, Appleworks (a lesser word processing program with greater art capabilities than Word), Sherlock (which is a shortcut file finder), and Quicktime. Do PCs come with that stuff or do they figure they have you over a barrel after you spent less on the machine so they make you pay, what, [price] for Word? Thank you, sir, may I have another? Max also came with (for free and nothing) iTunes, iMovie, and iPhoto. ITunes is probably the easiest MP3 dealie on the market. It took me about 20 minutes to master it because I assumed it was more difficult than it was. I haven't played with iMovie yet and I haven't even loaded iPhoto because I'm still too enchanted with iTunes to be bothered. I have absolute faith that once I start playing with those applications I will be entertained for months after a short introductory learning session. .... Max is packed with memory and charges up really fast. I'd tell you how much memory, but those numbers didn't mean enough to me to stick in my mind. It's probably enough for me to edit a 2 hour movie without having to delete my game. I did, however, run him down to nothing on his battery shortly after arrival and it took between 90 minutes and 2 hours to charge up. And there's one stupid Mac trick that makes me smile every time. When you click on a file to open it, it bounces while it's opening. Yes, it's stupid, but it never fails to bring a goofy grin to my face to see the iTunes icon bouncing up and down. And if you want to pretend don't have the most fun as well as the best machine going, there's a downlaod you can get to make it stop. You can also set the icons on the genius bar to magnify when you pass the cursor over them which is also a lot of fun, but gets in my way. ~The upgrades~
I didn't order the stripped down iBook. Oh no, I needed, required, could not live without DVD playing capabilities. And I'm actually impressed. I was afraid it would look like a big screen projection TV. It doesn't. The picture gets faded or darkened depending on how far off center you are, but the screen is only 9.75 inches wide, how far away did you think you were going to get? Three people could sit abreast and watch a movie without trouble. I also got (but don't tell my husband, it's a surprise for his birthday) a CD burner. Yes, inside Max's guts hides a CD burner. ITunes being the super simple process that it is, all you have to do to burn CDs is click a button. No, I'm serious. There's a button on the screen that says Burn CD. Click it and wait a few minutes. I think it took 20 minutes or half an hour when I tried it. ~What's not great about Max?~
Not much, but there are a few things. The speakers aren't so great, but I didn't expect much from a speaker the size of my thumb. The help section is nearly impossible for me to navigate. It sort of works like Ask Jeeves. You type in a question and it provides you with likely topics for your answer. I labor with the handicap of an English major so I know how to research and this kind of help just isn't helpful for me. I'm also not crazy about the mouse pad thing. I'd be happier if they just took that out and put in hole for a removable mouse. Steve, if you're paying attention, that's the only thing I really want. The only thing that truly bugs me is the color. (I'm such a girl that way.) I actually liked the colored clamshells. I'm sure Yoko Ono approves of the all white design, but I'm just worried about getting it smudged. I haven't taken the plastic cover off the battery thing because I want to keep it from getting banged up. So I guess there's another thing I really, really want. Color. Can you see Max with a nice sapphire blue case? He'd be really cute then. I recommend Macs to everyone except game junkies. There isn't much in the way of games and what there is comes out months after the PC version. I, however, find that to be a boon. If Max and the Blue Meanie could play lots and lots of wonderful games I would be forever playing games and never writing. The world would be poorer by 2 romance novels in the last 6 months alone. (Stop laughing, it is too a loss.) Get an iBook and discover how accessible computers can be. I must be off. I'm either going to watch my DVD of Earthquake or I'm going to finish that CD I started to assemble the other day. Or maybe I should be writing. The world needs more quality romance novels.
Rating:
Summary: Weak CPU
Review: The G3 is years out of date and nearly useless. Don't bother with the current iBooks, they can't handle any of the latest software. PowerBooks are the only way to go. Buying a Mac with a G3 would be like paying for a BMW and getting a Kia. It might look new but it runs slower than a slug.
Rating:
Summary: The perfect laptop
Review: the ibook is perfect for me i am a student and wanted a cheap portable small and light computer, it has all the software i need, my first upgrade will be 512mb more of ram. but i can use it just fine. it is well built much much better than my old compaq and the battery life is excellent. poeple might say the 12 in display is small but if you had a bigger screen it makes it heavier, and larger i wanted the 12in because of the size and you do not ahve to squint all the time. the best thing about this laptop is that it was mad e by the same company that makes the os so it works in perfect harmony. 600 mhz is mine but big deal ot runs faster than my girlfriends p3 hp. so get the ibook the end
Rating:
Summary: i love the ibook
Review: the ibook is perfect for me i am a student and wanted a cheap portable small and light computer, it has all the software i need, my first upgrade will be 512mb more of ram. but i can use it just fine. it is well built much much better than my old compaq and the battery life is excellent. poeple might say the 12 in display is small but if you had a bigger screen it makes it heavier, and larger i wanted the 12in because of the size and you do not ahve to squint all the time. the best thing about this laptop is that it was mad e by the same company that makes the os so it works in perfect harmony. 600 mhz is mine but big deal ot runs faster than my girlfriends p3 hp. so get the ibook the end
Rating:
Summary: I can't believe Apple still sells this
Review: This was a great laptop... three years ago. If you buy this now in a year you won't be able to use any new software on it (you can already rule out buying any high end software now). If you buy anything less than a 800 MHz G4 you are wasting your money.
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