Good things come in small packages. This cliche is a necessary element in reviewing the new iBook 600mhz. With its sleek gray-white chassis, zippy 100mhz front-side bus, and light sub-five pound weight, it is a wonder any portable computer advocate would not consider purchasing this fun yet serious laptop computer. In a simple phrase, the new iBook is a small wonder.

I?ll be the first to admit it. Over the last ten years, I have been a PC guy. You know our breed. We salivate at the hint of a new Windows release, lovingly sigh at the rumor of a new upgrade to MS Office, and dream of the new toys Bill Gates has on his agenda. PC?s, therefore, are the be all and end all of our productive lives. Recently, however, I?ve had an epiphany ? the discovery of the newer, more improved iBook.

There are a few things about the iBook that I find irritating. The convenience of a floppy drive, for instance, is something I sorely miss. That Macintosh is a successful producer of powerful operating systems and productive software proves their products are widely accepted by techies and the common simple surfers. But the availability of compatible software and hardware is just not as prevalent as with PC?s. Recently, I have been in the market for a cheap yet reliable digital camera. Most cameras in this category, however, are only PC compatible -- I have to search for a camera that is ?Mac-Friendly.? Why do we Mac-addicted consumers have to suffer this qualm while the billions of PC users can have their cake and eat it too? As frustrating as it may seem, though, the pros far outweigh the cons of the iBook.

Every time I look at the closed chassis of my iBook, I get a sense of pleasure ? the pleasure of knowing I own a fast and powerful machine capable of completing all my productive and entertaining tasks. The G3 600Mhz processor is fast. I run several productivity and educational programs along with the large array of stock software that Apple ships with the iBook (see www.apple.com for a full list of the software). With every task, the computer runs and executes with smooth precision ? quickly, accurately, and without a stutter. The iBook comes standard with 128MB of RAM installed. This is plenty of RAM for most applications you would want to run. However, there is an empty memory bay that is not only easy to get to, but it is easy to insert a stick of PC100 RAM up to 512MB into the slot. I had an old stick of 64MB lying around from an old laptop, so I put it in, powered up, and was running faster than before in less than five minutes ? it was that easy. The 192MB of RAM makes every task faster. The iBook comes loaded with MAC OS 9.2 and MAC OS 10.1. You can choose to run either OS, but OS X limits the software you can run in the OS X environment. The neat thing, however, is that OS X goes into ?Classic? mode when you are running a non-OS X application, thus allowing you to run all of your old programs. You will need more RAM than the standard 128 to run OS X efficiently; with 192MB of RAM, it runs much better, jumping from application to application with smoothness and ease. With 256MB of RAM, this thing would probably break the sound barrier.

Other than looks and speed, the iBook has much more to offer. On the left side of the keyboard and chassis, you find a neat array of plug in adapters. There is a high-speed Firewire port for those add-ons such as additional hard drives, scanners, digital camcorders, or any hardware devices that use Firewire. In addition, there are two USB ports, a video/audio out port, external monitor port, Ethernet, and modem connection. The iBook leaves no room for limits. If you can connect it, the iBook can accept it.

The 12.1? active matrix screen is something most spoiled large-screen junkies wine about. That the iBook?s resolution goes up to 1024x768 allows the user full detail and millions of colors. The screen, although small at first glance, is really all you need to view the web, produce documents and presentations, and even watch you favorite DVD. Its compactness is a virtue ? the iBook is kept small in scale and light in weight.

When selecting my iBook, I had some decisions to make. Did I want a 30G hard drive or something smaller? Did I want a DVD, CD/RW, CD-ROM, or a combo CD/RW-DVD drive? I opted for the latter, along with a 20G hard drive -- plenty of storage with the ability to watch DVDs and burn my favorite tunes onto a CD-R disc. The drives work beautifully ? DVDs play without a stutter, and with the ATI 128 video card and 8MB of video RAM, the movies don?t stutter or skip.

A computer isn?t a machine of productivity and entertainment without a wide variety of bundled software. The iBook is no exception. With everything from Appleworks for productivity to Nanosaur and Bugdom for gaming, the iBook packs plenty of productive punch and easy entertainment. The only thing I purchased afterward was the Apple Teacher Productivity Kit. As an educator, I liked the idea of having a strong array of educationally centered software. The cost was minimal, but the software?s productivity was almost priceless.

My experience with the Apple website and the purchase of my iBook was flawless. I researched, customized, financed, and tracked my order entirely through their site. I have yet to find a company with such a customer-friendly site. I guess that is what you get from a company that produces the user-friendliest computers in the world.

What more can I say? As I write this Epinion, I sit in awe and perfect comfort with my iBook in my lap. It is just one of those fate-oriented decisions ? you decide, order, and keep your fingers crossed that you made the right move. So far, purchasing the iBook is one of the best recent moves I have made. Even my wife doesn?t complain. To ensure safety, however, I bought her an iMac. That is another story in a different review.