A grand well spent

APPLE REALIZES THAT not everyone can cough up $2,300 for a PowerBook G4, even if it is worth twice that. The iBook rode into our labs on the PowerBook’s coattails and brought low expectations with it. At $999, the iBook is definitely the notebook to buy your kids for the holidays. At the $1,599 level, plus Apple’s $99 AirPort wireless networking card, the 4.9-pound iBook makes a solid entry-level business notebook. That’s a lot more than we expected.

The iBook we tested is built on an 800MHz PowerPC G3 processor. Other than that, it’s got decent but not jaw-dropping specs: 10/100 Ethernet, a 14.1-inch display, a large touchpad pointing device, and a tray-loading combo DVD player/CD burner. There is no Cardbus slot, but Apple hid a slot and antenna for its optional AirPort card under the keyboard. With a FireWire port to connect to external peripherals and integrated connectivity to both copper and wireless networks, most of the tasks for which you’d use Cardbus are covered. Still, a slot would offer the option of upgrading to a 54Mbps wireless LAN.

The shiny white plastic case might draw some giggles at the office, but it’s not flimsy like you’d expect from a $999 notebook PC. iBook runs Mac OS X, same as the PowerBook G4 does, but with a predictable drop in performance that comes from iBook’s slower processor, smaller cache, and less-capable graphics chip. However, the ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 chip, with its 32MB video RAM, outguns the graphics power of most similarly priced mobile PCs. Business graphics, 3-D games, digital video editing, and crisp DVD playback are well within iBook’s reach.

The internal 30GB hard drive performs as well as those in comparable PCs. Our 80GB external FireWire drive from Que goosed overall performance markedly and is a worthwhile investment for desk use. The iBook’s built-in optical drive is respectable for a notebook: 24X read, 16X CD-R, and 8X CD-RW.

The software bundle includes a DVD player and the AppleWorks productivity suite. AppleWorks is a good choice for the iBook because Microsoft Office X is unacceptably slow. We think Microsoft deserves credit for that; Internet Explorer (OS X’s default browser) is also sluggish, but AppleWorks and the downloadable Chimera browser zip right along.

If you like, you can dual-boot between OS X and Linux, and an optional program called Virtual PC will let you run the Windows applications you can’t live without. We did these things so we could say they’re doable (they are), but iBook is at its best in its out-of-the-box configuration.

iBook not only fits under the tree, it does surprisingly well on a plane (the 6-hour battery doesn’t hurt) and at workers’ desks. If offered a choice between an iBook and a $1,700 PC notebook, we think many workers would be smart to opt for the iBook.

APPLE REALIZES THAT not everyone can cough up $2,300 for a PowerBook G4, even if it is worth twice that. The iBook rode into our labs on the PowerBook’s coattails and brought low expectations with it. At $999, the iBook is definitely the notebook to buy your kids for the holidays. At the $1,599 level, plus Apple’s $99 AirPort wireless networking card, the 4.9-pound iBook makes a solid entry-level business notebook. That’s a lot more than we expected.

The iBook we tested is built on an 800MHz PowerPC G3 processor. Other than that, it’s got decent but not jaw-dropping specs: 10/100 Ethernet, a 14.1-inch display, a large touchpad pointing device, and a tray-loading combo DVD player/CD burner. There is no Cardbus slot, but Apple hid a slot and antenna for its optional AirPort card under the keyboard. With a FireWire port to connect to external peripherals and integrated connectivity to both copper and wireless networks, most of the tasks for which you’d use Cardbus are covered. Still, a slot would offer the option of upgrading to a 54Mbps wireless LAN.

The shiny white plastic case might draw some giggles at the office, but it’s not flimsy like you’d expect from a $999 notebook PC. iBook runs Mac OS X, same as the PowerBook G4 does, but with a predictable drop in performance that comes from iBook’s slower processor, smaller cache, and less-capable graphics chip. However, the ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 chip, with its 32MB video RAM, outguns the graphics power of most similarly priced mobile PCs. Business graphics, 3-D games, digital video editing, and crisp DVD playback are well within iBook’s reach.

The internal 30GB hard drive performs as well as those in comparable PCs. Our 80GB external FireWire drive from Que goosed overall performance markedly and is a worthwhile investment for desk use. The iBook’s built-in optical drive is respectable for a notebook: 24X read, 16X CD-R, and 8X CD-RW.

The software bundle includes a DVD player and the AppleWorks productivity suite. AppleWorks is a good choice for the iBook because Microsoft Office X is unacceptably slow. We think Microsoft deserves credit for that; Internet Explorer (OS X’s default browser) is also sluggish, but AppleWorks and the downloadable Chimera browser zip right along.

If you like, you can dual-boot between OS X and Linux, and an optional program called Virtual PC will let you run the Windows applications you can’t live without. We did these things so we could say they’re doable (they are), but iBook is at its best in its out-of-the-box configuration.

iBook not only fits under the tree, it does surprisingly well on a plane (the 6-hour battery doesn’t hurt) and at workers’ desks. If offered a choice between an iBook and a $1,700 PC notebook, we think many workers would be smart to opt for the iBook.