Pros: G4 power, sexy design, incredible price
Cons: 640MB Ram ceiling, small cache
The bottom line: A bargain laptop that thinks its a luxury model, but 90-day tech support is laughable. My highest recommendation.
I didn’t buy the iBook G4, but I did just spend a week using one. In fact, I was very close to buying this machine, and actually would have, had not the PowerBook 12” been better looking. Spending $400(I used student pricing, at retail iBook is $500 cheaper) for better looks and lighter weight may well be stupid, so I justify it by counting unimportant feature differences between the two, and slightly more weight and size compared to the oh-so-sleek PowerBook.

So what the iBook does offer compared to the PowerBook is a probably more-rugged polycarbonate case, almost the same performance, the EXACT same screen, the same slot-loading DVD/CDRW combo drive, and the same OSX 10.3 “Panther” operating system. Looked at in simpler terms, the extra $500 you would spend to buy the G4 PowerBook 12” gets you only 200Mhz, 384kb of extra level 2 cache, an extra 128mb on the system board and a larger 40GB drive (iBook comes with 30GB). The PowerBook is also .3 lbs lighter, a few fractions of an inch smaller in each dimension, and the aluminum case really looks cool. Finally, the PowerBook has built-in Bluetooth, which is an optional extra on the iBook.

Clearly, the iBook is the better value, and at $1099 retail ($999 student) is bar none, THE BEST new laptop value on the planet today. This is only a few hundred dollars more than those super-cheap Dells, yet for that low price Apple gives you what until last year (when the small PowerBook was released) was perhaps the sexiest laptop on the market. The solid white case is slicker than the white under clear case of older iBooks, and the new stiffer keyboard makes typing a joy on the new iBook G4, whereas older models had keyboards that flexed like, well, like those cheapo Dells. Finally, DVD movie playback and all-around application performance is so good on the iBook G4’s 800Mhz processor that the PowerBook’s performance advantages are too slight to matter. In fact, many people think that the 32MB ATI Radeon video card in the iBook as a better graphics chip than the 32MB nVidia that comes in the PowerBook.

Everything I said in my PowerBook review, with the exception of the description of the aluminum case, applies equally to the 12” iBook G4. The screen is simply gorgeous, and is in fact THE IDENTICAL panel used in the more expensive PowerBook. The clever AC Adapter that lights orange while charging and green at full charge, with its brilliant folding prongs and cord-storage hooks is the exact same unit, and by its white color, it clearly was an iBook original. Finally, the iBook just feels tougher, as the PowerBook’s aluminum case can easily scratch, while the hard polycarbonate of the iBook was designed for the education market, meaning to bounce around inside student backpacks without the benefit of a sleeve or case.

To make matters worse for the PowerBook, meaning better for the iBook, the iBook runs an extra hour (claimed by Apple) on its batteries, with 5 hours claimed for the PowerBook and 6 hours for the iBook. I haven’t exhausted the battery on either computer yet, though I never ran one longer than 3 hours (iBook).

If you think I liked the G4 iBook, you are right. Honestly, it was EXTREMELY difficult to choose between the two, and my decision to buy the aluminum PowerBook was PURELY SUBJECTIVE. Unless you do demanding computing tasks, such as video editing or gaming, you will be hard-pressed to tell the difference in the operation of the two.

I won’t get into the Mac vs. Windows argument, except to say that OSX 10.3 “Panther” is finally good enough to be your ONLY operating system. In the past, Mac users adopting OSX still valued the ability to boot into OS9. I only bought a Mac when I could do so and use only one OS. If you are happy with Windows and familiar with it, the iBook will take some real adjustment. If you are a long time Mac user, there will be nothing disappointing about the iBook, and plenty to delight. The bottom-line is that switching OS, whether from Windows to Mac, or from OS9 to OSX, is NEVER a seamless process. Just like it was difficult for Mac users to upgrade, it is, contrary to Apple’s advertisements, difficult to switch from a PC. Not impossible, and definitely worth the effort, just be warned, it does take some effort and there is a learning curve.

Okay, PowerBook comparisons aside, how good is the iBook? Well, like all iBooks of the “IceBook”, rather than “Toilet Seat” variety, the G4 is really slick. In a small, under 5lb package Apple manages to pack a full-size keyboard, large trackpad, 12” screen that is the equal of any other compact laptop screen anywhere, a slot-loading combo drive, and the powerful G4 processor. No, the iBook won’t match the performance of the higher-end 15” and 17” PowerBooks or a G4 desktop, but it will rip through school and office work, play movies and manipulate music, photos and videos with ease, while never reminding you of how little it cost. That’s the key here, the iBook is a bargain computer that thinks it’s a luxury model.

***Update 04/07/04***
Well after carrying my 12" PowerBook to work a few times, a coworker asked me to take her to the Apple store at lunch last week. One trip turned into five as she waffled between the 14" iBook, the 15" PowerBook and the 15" iMac desktop, all while I urged her to buy the 12" iBook G4 reviewed here. Finally, a "refreshed" iBook at $899 made the decision for her and she walked out with an iBook G4 of her very own. Refreshed, in Apple store lingo means a computer that someone bought, then returned. The Apple store technicians restored the system to its original state, but since the packaging was opened, cannot sell it as new inventory. Apple, however, DOES consider it as new inventory, with the full 1-year warranty and eligibility for the free printer deal which my friend tookl advantage of.

Now as the resident computer nerd in the office, and the only person with any knowledge of Apples, I got to configure the iBook for her internet service (DSL with backup dialup), install the memory upgrade (Crucial.com is MUCH cheaper than the Apple store) and the Airport Extreme card that would have required leaving the computer overnight at the Apple store to have them do. Of course, everything was a piece of cake, even easier than on my 12" PowerBook. The memory and airport card both go underneath the keyboard, which easily lifts up with two spring-loaded latches and no tools required. A tiny phillips #0 screwdriver is required to lift the cover for the memory module, which doubles as the tray that holds the Airport Extreme card in place. The memory went right in, but it is very dissappointing that the 256MB of ram that comes with the iBook is really 128MB on the motherboard and the other 128MB on the ONLY SoDimm slot. That means that the 256MB module she purchased only raises the total RAM to 384MB, instead of 512MB as it did on my 12" PowerBook. Of course, she now has a spare 128MB module to use as a bookmark or to sell on eBay for $5 or $10.

The Airport Card plugged right in, and we could see that the iBook got better reception than my PowerBook, showing all four bars in the parking lot behind the Apple store where mine only showed three. Other than that, the user experience of the 12" iBook G4 is all but identical to the 12" PowerBook G4. The PowerBook is $400 more, 200MHz faster and has more and better cache and RAM capability, but these are only differences that you would notice with high-end games or other super-demanding software. For productivity tasks, watching DVD movies and the like, the two machines are functionally identical.

The iBook, as stated in the review above, is a very nice-looking computer with excellent build quality. I was impressed when I tired one before, and am even more impressed as I upgraded and configured this one. I must re-emphasize, this has to be the hands-down best value in portable computing today. Period.