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> Apple iBook Notebook 12" M9623LL/A (1.2 GHz PowerPC G4, 256MB RAM, 30GB Hard
Drive, Combo Drive, Built-in AirPort Extreme) Pros and Cons
Welcome to the
Apple iBook Notebook 12" M9623LL/A (1.2 GHz PowerPC G4, 256MB RAM, 30GB Hard Drive,
Combo Drive, Built-in AirPort Extreme) Pros and Cons page:
Pros of the
Apple iBook Notebook 12":
1. Clean, elegant design. The slot-loading
drive is mucho cool. And the Ibook's quiet. Very quiet.
2. 4-5 hour battery
life, consistently. I watch a DVD and still get 2 hours more of battery life afterwards.
Cool! My old Compaqs never got more than 3 hours when new. (My Presario 2100,
was getting 1 hour 30 max on a full battery by the time I sold it.)
3.
OS X Tiger. Tiger's way ahead of WinXP. No question about it.
3.1 Eye
candy wise, it's stunning. (I like the way program icons on the dock jump up and
down when they're trying to get your attention. That's attention to detail.)
3.2
The lack of borders. This is probably eye candy as well. But I love how, when
you open a web page in Safari or play a video file using VLC Player (if it's not
on full screen), except for the bar on top and/or the scroll bar, there are no
other frames. I haven't seen that trick in XP.
3.3 Expose. I love the
way you can call up all your open windows by pushing F9 to get a look at exactly
what's running. I love that you can hide all your windows at a push of a button
as well.
3.4 Dictionary. I haven't had much use for the dictionary. But,
I have to say, the idea that I can push a combination of buttons and immediately
get a definition of an unknown word on a webpage or an open document is way cool.
3.5 Dashboard. Ok, ok, Konfabulator has been doing this for a long time
(and, truth to tell, Konfabulator's widgets are a bit cooler - but not by much).
Here's the big difference though. Dashboard and all the widgets you want are free
with your Ibook. Konfabulator is a $19.95 value.
Cons of the Apple
iBook Notebook 12":
1. This remains true - lack of software. Yes, there
are literally thousands of Mac titles out there. But, unfortunately, it will never
be as numerous as those available on Windows. (I have not seen Half Life 2 for
Mac, for example.) On the other hand, if you know what you want (and need) and
it's available on the Mac, who cares, right?
2. OS X and Windows XP don't
work together as well as advertised. For reasons unclear to me, I have been unable
to get my HP printer (connected to my Windows desktop - I am not completely free
from the Microsoft monopoly) working wirelessly with the Ibook. (I had no such
problems with my old Compaq laptop.) And I've had problems with WPA and WEP wireless
security as well - this time on a Linksys WiFi router also hardwired to my desktop.
3. Apple is more expensive (though this probably has more to do with the
price-gouging practices of authorized Apple re-sellers where I live than with
Apple itself. But I do wish Apple would impose a bit more price discipline on
its authorized re-sellers -at least to the extent it can legally do so.)
Still,
all-in-all, for beautiful design, the Ibook stands up very well indeed against
all, except the most elegantly designed Windows laptops out there. (And even then,
those elegantly designed Windows laptops are probably hundreds if not thousands
of dollars more expensive than the Ibook.)
More importantly, OS X beats
the pants-off WinXP any day of the week, including Sunday.
So what are
you waiting for? Get a Mac already!
Buy the Apple iBook Notebook
12" M9623LL/A (1.2 GHz PowerPC G4, 256MB RAM, 30GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive, Built-in
AirPort Extreme)
