Apple iBook Notebook M8600LL/A (600-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive)

Customer Reviews:

Wireless multimedia tool.......2003-01-03

Let's be clear up front: You need to add memory, an air port card and some cables to make this computer work to its best. We added Jaguar and the latest version of Office. Given that, we love this machine. It is an integral part of our wireless home network; it was easy to set up and to add to the network. The extra memory was easy to install and goosed the performance. The DVD player works fine and drives a large screen projector with the right cable; it is a good tool for the classroom.

The screen is sharp enough for good movie viewing. Speed is fine. memory is expandable. You can burn CDs. The unit is pretty rugged, and not too heavy. A child can manage to start it, load and install software, and operate it easily. It comes in handy, surfing the net or reading e-mail while riding an exercise bike. Portable, powerful and user friendly.

Great Laptop For Portable Work.......2002-11-14

Having been a Macintosh user for 12 years, I found it difficult to abandon Apple as I was purchasing a computer for college. This gem was by far a good buy. For its price, the iBook is powerful enough to do all standard work on the go - wordprocessing, e-mailing, browsing the internet, listening to music, and really any non-gaming task. The built-in 128 megs of RAM was not enough memory, so I upgraded the RAM to 384 Megs (OS X is RAM-hungry).

My experiences on-the-go have all been really good. The sleek, light design of the iBook makes it easy to take with me while travelling. Its battery life is very good - especially running OS 9. Speaking of which, OS 9 runs awesome on it! If it wasn't for the fact that OS X is much more stable, I would definitely be using 9.

The gaming power is all that limits the iBook. Partially this is because the processor isn't high end. Also, the 16 meg ATI Radeon Mobility video card leaves a bit to be desired. However,the new editions of the iBook have 16 and 32 meg ATI Radeon 8500 Mobility cards which probably help speed up gaming.

All in all, the iBook is a great value for a laptop. With the new lower prices, they are an even better value for somewhat powerful, portable computing.

Meet Max!.......2002-11-11

Not long after Max (my iBook) arrived Ruin13's fiancée walked up to me and said "I hear you got a new iBook."

I replied. "Yes! He's cute!"

I believe this just confirmed his opinion of me as a slightly off center weirdo. Eh. Truth hurts more if you don't just accept it from the get go.

Max is cute. He's all white and the little apple on his cover lights up when I have him on. Total strangers have cooed over him as if he were a particularly adorable baby and some of my friends are plotting getting one of their own.

~So what's so great about Max?~
First of all, he's a Mac. This translated into common tongue means that Max is super easy to run. Turn him on and he goes. Just like magic. I'm a junkie now. Sit me down in front of a PC and I'm apt to spent a lot of time cursing it when I can't quit an application with a simple keystroke or navigate Excel with one finger.

Then there's all the cool stuff Max came pre-loaded with. There's the usual stuff, mail, Internet Explorer, Appleworks (a lesser word processing program with greater art capabilities than Word), Sherlock (which is a shortcut file finder), and Quicktime. Do PCs come with that stuff or do they figure they have you over a barrel after you spent less on the machine so they make you pay, what, [price] for Word? Thank you, sir, may I have another?

Max also came with (for free and nothing) iTunes, iMovie, and iPhoto. ITunes is probably the easiest MP3 dealie on the market. It took me about 20 minutes to master it because I assumed it was more difficult than it was. I haven't played with iMovie yet and I haven't even loaded iPhoto because I'm still too enchanted with iTunes to be bothered. I have absolute faith that once I start playing with those applications I will be entertained for months after a short introductory learning session. ....

Max is packed with memory and charges up really fast. I'd tell you how much memory, but those numbers didn't mean enough to me to stick in my mind. It's probably enough for me to edit a 2 hour movie without having to delete my game. I did, however, run him down to nothing on his battery shortly after arrival and it took between 90 minutes and 2 hours to charge up.

And there's one stupid Mac trick that makes me smile every time. When you click on a file to open it, it bounces while it's opening. Yes, it's stupid, but it never fails to bring a goofy grin to my face to see the iTunes icon bouncing up and down. And if you want to pretend don't have the most fun as well as the best machine going, there's a downlaod you can get to make it stop. You can also set the icons on the genius bar to magnify when you pass the cursor over them which is also a lot of fun, but gets in my way.

~The upgrades~
I didn't order the stripped down iBook. Oh no, I needed, required, could not live without DVD playing capabilities. And I'm actually impressed. I was afraid it would look like a big screen projection TV. It doesn't. The picture gets faded or darkened depending on how far off center you are, but the screen is only 9.75 inches wide, how far away did you think you were going to get? Three people could sit abreast and watch a movie without trouble.

I also got (but don't tell my husband, it's a surprise for his birthday) a CD burner. Yes, inside Max's guts hides a CD burner. ITunes being the super simple process that it is, all you have to do to burn CDs is click a button. No, I'm serious. There's a button on the screen that says Burn CD. Click it and wait a few minutes. I think it took 20 minutes or half an hour when I tried it.

~What's not great about Max?~
Not much, but there are a few things. The speakers aren't so great, but I didn't expect much from a speaker the size of my thumb. The help section is nearly impossible for me to navigate. It sort of works like Ask Jeeves. You type in a question and it provides you with likely topics for your answer. I labor with the handicap of an English major so I know how to research and this kind of help just isn't helpful for me. I'm also not crazy about the mouse pad thing. I'd be happier if they just took that out and put in hole for a removable mouse. Steve, if you're paying attention, that's the only thing I really want.

The only thing that truly bugs me is the color. (I'm such a girl that way.) I actually liked the colored clamshells. I'm sure Yoko Ono approves of the all white design, but I'm just worried about getting it smudged. I haven't taken the plastic cover off the battery thing because I want to keep it from getting banged up. So I guess there's another thing I really, really want. Color. Can you see Max with a nice sapphire blue case? He'd be really cute then.

I recommend Macs to everyone except game junkies. There isn't much in the way of games and what there is comes out months after the PC version. I, however, find that to be a boon. If Max and the Blue Meanie could play lots and lots of wonderful games I would be forever playing games and never writing. The world would be poorer by 2 romance novels in the last 6 months alone. (Stop laughing, it is too a loss.)

Get an iBook and discover how accessible computers can be. I must be off. I'm either going to watch my DVD of Earthquake or I'm going to finish that CD I started to assemble the other day. Or maybe I should be writing. The world needs more quality romance novels.

Purposeful Joy.......2002-10-07

A recent "switcher" from the PC platform, my admiration for the OS X / Apple hardware experience blossomed after just a few weeks. Why so long? For me, the "click-flow" for tasking took a little getting used to; however, I am beginning to experience the simplicity of usage much touted over the years. I upgraded the memory in my iBook to 600K+ and the processor is @ 700MHZ with the 12" screen. This change was initially a challenge as my last laptop was an IBM with 15" screen and 850 P3;the transition was easier while gazing at the beautiful display, the ability to run the Mac version of Office Pro (for file sharing and seamlessness with the remainder of my PC crowd company)and the still to be mastered features such as ical,imovie etc.,(all of which i enjoy more as I learn). So, the switch is fun, new and has come for me with a limited amount of excess stomach acid.

The perfect laptop.......2002-09-29

Without a doubt, this is the perfect laptop. I have owned the ibook now for over 6 months and I can say in all honesty that this is the best laptop I have ever owned bar none (realize this is my 5th laptop all the others were PC based). Here's what makes it so great. 1)The size. I am a college math student and I bike to campus everyday. This laptop is smaller than most of my text books so it doesn't take up valuable realestate in my backback. 2) Battery life. I keep the computer on all day. I never need to plug it in or even worry about the battery dying. 3) It is gorgeous. 4) Embedded with Darwin Unix.

Now some complain about power and memory. First off, because I read the reviews here before I bought the computer, I purchased 256 Megs of RAM. I have never used less with this computer so I cannot comment on what it is like to use less, but the fact is if one were to get a PC laptop you would need 256. Now about power. This is a laptop. I use it strictly as a laptop: wordprocessing, writing programs, mathematical manipulation...It is not my game machine. You want to play games build yourself a desktop PC for couple hundred bucks.

In the end, you have to ask yourself what type of computer user you are. If you are heavy computer user and you can only buy one computer than this is probably not the computer for you. On the other hand, if you have a desktop computer, or truly want a laptop to do laptop type things on then this computer is perfect.

Electronics:

Electronics

Electronics