I used to have an Acer Travelmate 350TE until about 6 months ago when I sold it due to infrequent usage. So
When I decided to get another notebook computer recently, I was careful not to fall into the same trap of getting something on impulse and letting it become a white elephant.

I was sure I wanted a "wintel" notebook again so that there would be minimum compatibility problems. I scoured all the computer shops in town and checked out more than a dozen models.

The problem with wintel machines is that the choices are just too many. It is mind boggling having to decide between the different brands, different configurations and different price tags.

Then, I came across the iBook. Needless to say, it was love at first sight! No other notebook in this price range and with these specs look this good. Within minutes, my reservations about compatibilities flew right out of the window & I told myself I got to get myself one of these beauties. Alright, alright, I know...I'm still as impulsive as ever...

The white shiny surface of the iBook is simply breathtaking. How cool is it to have the apple logo at the back of the LCD light up when in use? Speaking of the LCD, no PC notebook has such sharp and high resolution screen. I have been editing my digital photos on my desktop Samsung SynchMaster 151S LCD screen but the photos never looked as good as they do on the iBook.

Another cool feature is the battery check button at the bottom of the iBook. To see the battery charge level, just press the button and a series of LEDs will light up to indicate the battery level. This can be done without powering on the iBook. Cool!

The builtin mic works well and manages to record sounds decently. It is also discretely placed. However, I think the speakers are amongst the worst I have encountered. They are weak and the sounds are hollow. Did Apple design them this way so that others around the iBook would not be disturbed?

After a while of using the iBook, it gets quite hot. I wouldn't recommend anyone actually using it on the "laptop" as that would be uncomfortable and probably hazardous.

I like the airport card integration. It is installed inside the iBook so that it doesn't stick out from PCMCIA slots like in PC notebooks. However, I don't like the idea of having only one expansion slot for RAM. Maximum RAM is only 640MB (128MB inbuilt + 512MB).

I also like the design of the power adaptor. A lot of thought apparently went into the design. It is glossy white, light and small unlike the bulky ugly adaptors that most PC notebooks have. The LED that lights up when the adaptor is plugged into the iBook is a nice touch.

One of the things that I feel Apple does not emphasize enough of is the incredible battery life the iBook has. On a full charge, I was able to work off the battery for about 4 hours!! In my old Acer I could only get about 1.5 hrs from the battery even when it was brand new. With the iBook, I could confidently go about my business for a few hours knowing that the battery will outlast whatever task I have to perform.

For a notebook with in builtin CDRW/DVD combo drive, it only weighs about 2kg and is extremely portable. For the same price & specs, you will have to lug around a PC notebook that weighs more than 3kg.

I don't know why Apple doesn't provide carry cases for their notebooks. Are they that much more costly to produce? Anyway, I took my time to look for a suitably cool looking case and finally found one befitting the iBook's good looks.

In case you think that I am all about looks and nothing else, here's what I think about the software.

OS X is very user friendly (of course I'm not a first time Mac user so I can't say how user friendly it would be to someone who just "crossed over" from Windows). Networking with my office's Windows environment was a piece of cake. OS X basically auto detected everything. I just plugged the thing in and in 2 minutes I was on the network! Super!

The only problem I have with the software involves iPhoto. I can't get it to work properly with my Canon G3. It cannot detect the camera and even after detection, it does not download the photos. I have resorted to using Canon's own Image Browser software instead.

As I have only been playing with my new toy for a few days, that is all I can say about this iBook for the time being.

UPDATE

As requested by some members, here is my take on the iBook after using for close to 3 months:

My opinion hasn't changed much. I still think that it is perhaps the best 12" notebook in this price range. However, there are a few things that I bug me.

iPhoto, the much hyped photo managing software is not as user friendly as it is made out to be. I tried to download photos & movie files from my Canon G3 but iPhoto couldn't work properly. No images were downloaded. After many frustrating hours, I discovered that iPhoto does not work when movie files are present, ie, it will import the images only if they are purely photos, once you throw in even one movie file, that's it!

Also, I couldn't figure out how to change the directory for the iPhoto library (ie where the photos are saved). I store all my photos in an external drive as I do not want to clog up my internal drive.

In the end, I find that the Canon ImageBrowser software to be the best. So, don't buy the iBook just because you want to use iPhoto.

The Mac version of Internet Explorer and Safari do not work with most secured online banking sites. I have to download Netscape to be able to do online banking.

Having said that, it is not all doom and gloom. I love Appleworks, the office productivity software that comes with the iBook. It reads and writes all MS Office files so that I have no problem exchanging files with my PC weilding colleagues.

Another incredible feature of Appleworks is that it has built-in PDF conversion capability. On the PC, I have to fork out about USD200 for Adobe Acrobat in order to create PDF files. On the iBook, this feature comes free! This is very useful as I often email documents to clients and I don't want these documents to be altered.

So, if you buy a Windows based notebook, you probably have to shell out a few hundred more bucks to get MS Office or at least MS Word, but on the iBook, you have all the features inbuilt. Cool!

I also love iTunes. It has to be one of the best music softwares around. I have more than 4,000 songs in mp3 format and thanks to iTunes, they are well organised and easily searchable. Ripping a song into mp3 using iTunes is intuitive and a no brainer too.

The iBook comes with 2 OSs - OS 9.2 and OSX. I find that it is faster and more energy efficient in OS 9.2. The startup in OSX tends to be a lot longer too. Too a certain extend, I do prefer working in OS9.2 although the user interface may not be as cool as that in OSX.