Apple iBook G4 14.1 in. (M9165LLABUNDLE) Mac Notebook

If you have read my previous reviews on Epinions, I like Macs. My snow G3 - 500 MHz iBook was starting to age. When Apple came out with the iBook G4, I had to leap at it. My previous iBook was perfect for everything that I did. I loved it. I had the 12.1 inch screen and it was prefect to carry around, on the airplane to watch DVDs and great for PowerPoint presentations.

But I moved up to the PowerMac G5 at home and I couldn't help getting antsy about how slow my trusty iBook had become. OK, granted, almost everything is slow in comparison to the G5, but still. I guess you could say I just gotta have the new stuff...I am the person the computer industry loves. In saying that...when Apple announced they were coming out with the iBook G4, I wanted the new one.

General Info

I am not a techno wizard. I only know what works and what doesn't. I know when something seems slower/faster and heavier/lighter. I know nothing about bit rates and level 2 and level 3 cache. I will do a little of technology right now. The new iBook comes in three flavors - 12.1 inch (800 MHz G4, 30 Gig hard drive), 14.1 inch (933 MHz G4, 40 Gig hard drive) and the 14.1 inch (1 GHz G4, 60 Gig hard drive). Essentially, the only difference is the size of the screen and the size of the hard drive. They all contain a Combo drive (a CD burner and DVD player) and two USB 2.0 ports and one Firewire 400 port for your peripherals. It has a 10/100 Base-T ethernet port and a 56K modem. Right out of the box, the iBooks have 256 MB DDR 266 SDRAM. What does that mean? Something about faster RAM moving information faster than the old iBook. Basically, all the iBooks come with everything you need, just not everything you may want.

What I Like

The price is the killer point. I bought mine at a university. I am a teacher so I can get education pricing so the prices are better than if you went to a computer store. I bought mine for about $1200 US. I bought the biggest, baddest iBook I could - the 1 Ghz 14.1 incher. The screen is very noticably bigger but you don't improve on what you see. You still get the same resolution as the 12 inch...you see the same amount. So, you won't see more by going to the bigger screen.

The speed of the machine is much quicker. PowerPoint is much faster in processing pictures and video. The improvement is great and expected due to the faster processor.

I think the keyboard is much improved. On the old one, the keyboard bowed quite quickly. I know I press pretty hard on the keys so this was very evident on my laptop. Marks would show up on the screen from the keyboard (a suggestion for any laptop...keep the foam that protects the screen when you first bought the computer. Use it. You won't get the key marks on your screen). The new keyboard seems to be reinforced and won't bow down as easily.

Easy access to the memory and AirPort card (I highly recommend wireless. Great thing. I bought the AirPort Extreme). You can put it in yourself with only a tiny screwdriver. Great wireless range. At my school, we have one AirPort Extreme and two other staff members have a titanium Powerbook. They lose the connection much quicker than I do. Sometimes, they only have one brick showing connectivity while I am happily cruising with 3 bricks.

Improvement of the optical bay is a welcome addition. The old iBooks had an easy-to-break tray-loading mechanism. That thing could break off in a second. The new iBooks have a slot loading mechanism on the side of the machine. Perfect. Nothing moving out of place and getting snapped off! Best DVD player you can watch on an airplane. Awesome.

Things I Don't Like

Weight. This thing is heavy. I am amazed at how much this thing weighs. I have lifted the 17 inch PowerBook and it is lighter than the 14.1 inch iBook. You could weightlift with this thing. Not impressed.

Low amount of RAM upgrade capability. You can only upgrade up to 640 MB of RAM. That is low. Given that many computers can now go up to over 1GB of RAM. This is the easiest upgrade that could improve the speed of the computer. 640 MB will help a bit compared to the standard 256 MB, but I expect more out it.

Bigger computer, yet same sized keyboard. Hmm. I guess that would a great way to lower costs, but I just think most people that want a bigger screen because they don't want something small and that includes the keyboard.

The speakers are terrible. I don't expect much from speakers from a laptop, but these seem extremely bad. Maybe I had a bad set but mine were tinny. Everything had a metallic sound to it. Thank God that there is a headphone port for your Sennheiser or Bose headphones for airplane travel.

Overall

I like the iBook. I think the improvements are great and Apple continues to make their laptops better than anyone else. Now, if they would just improve the amount of RAM we could add to it and you would have the ultimate income conscious machine. This computer is perfect for students and people who want a computer to carry around to do e-mail and word processing. I would suggest the 12 incher because of weight and that the 14 incher has no real upgrades other than hard drive (but you can upgrade that through easily through Apple when you first buy it if you custom order it). If you are a presenter with PowerPoint or Keynote, get the PowerBook.