Apple iBook Laptop 14.1" M9848LL/A Review
Apple iBook Laptop 14.1" M9848LL/A Review from Stephen Hall books911. Good Mac Notebook Value, The iBook G4 line has been incredibly successful, for Apple. Why? It combines a beautiful and sleek form factor, while at the same time being a machine capable of getting your tasks completed.
Improvements – What were the improvements in the July 2005 update to iBook?
Faster Processor – The G4 chip was increased in the 14-inch model, from 1.33 GHZ to 1.42GHZ. Big improvement? No, but it is good to always improve performance. The system bus speed in the 14-inch iBook was also increased, from 133MHZ to 142MHZ.
More memory – The memory in the iBook has been doubled, with a now standard 512 MB DDR SDRAM, which speeds up your entire experience on the iBook, particularly, when multi-tasking. The iBook also has an open user-accessible slot, where you can add 256 MB, 512 MB, or an entire gigabyte of DDR SDRAM. However, the now standard 512 MB, allows the majority of users to fully appreciate the iBook out of the box.
Store More Stuff – The hard drive has been increased to 60 GB, from the 40 GB that was previously standard on the 14-inch. This is important, for people are constantly putting more music, photos, and applications on their systems. This hard drive will hold thousands of songs and photos, but video takes up space fast, so be careful with that.
Even More Wireless – Airport Extreme, for wireless networking, continues to be standard, but Apple has also made bluetooth technology standard, with this iBook. Bluetooth allows you to use wireless bluetooth mice, keyboards, mobile phones, etc. It is a great technology and helps to clean-up your desktop by doing away with some of the cords.
Core Image Compatible – The new IBook G4′s video card is an ATI Mobility Radeon 9550, which is core-image compatible. This allows you to take advantage of Mac OS X Tiger’s core-image technology, including the well-known “droplet” effect, when you open a widget.
The great iBook features that continue to shine: A buyer of the iBook will continue to enjoy Mac OS X Tiger, which is the best consumer operating system in the world. It works seamlessly with the hardware to provide a simple, fast, elegant, and reliable experience. One of the favorite descriptions of Mac fans, to describe Macs, is simply, “it just works.”
The iBook continues to include iLife ’05, with great applications such as iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iTunes, and Garageband. These are all included, with every iBook G4. You will be challenged to find any PC notebook that includes applications that come anywhere close to the iLife suite. Manage thousands of your digital images in iPhoto, create home movies in iMovie, and create professional music in Garageband.
Appleworks is included for simply word processing, spreadsheets, etc., but you might want to pick up Microsoft Office for Mac. A student/teacher edition is available, for just over $100.
Superdrive – The Apple SuperDrive allows you to burn music and data CDs, plus you can burn your own DVDs! Edit home videos in iMovie, put together a beautiful DVD menu to access those home movies in iDVD, and then burn it all to DVD! Furthermore, you can use your Superdrive to back-up important data to DVD.
Form Factor – The iBook’s strong, white casing is rugged. It is, unfortunately, prone to scratching, so be careful. However, the iBook is strong, and there are many stories of it taking a beating, but kept on performing.
Drawbacks? The 14-inch iBook G4 has a drawback when it comes to video output options. The 14-inch iBook only supports mirroring to an external display, and you cannot close the iBook, while connected to an external display, or it goes to sleep. Furthermore, the iBook splits the video memory between an external display and its on built-in LCD, no matter what you do. The external display is also limited to 1024×768, since it mirrors the iBook’s own display. What does this mean? If you want a notebook that works beautifully with a big external display, when you’re back at your desk, then you probably do not want an iBook. However, if you’re going to use the iBook as its intended, as a notebook computer, it is a fantastic choice.
Furthermore, the 14.1″ display runs at a resolution of only 1024×768. This is not a particularly high resolution. In fact, it is the same resolution as the 12-inch iBook. This means you will not fit anything more onto 14-inch iBook display than you would the 12-inch display. The 14-inch display simply makes things look bigger, which is an advantage, if you have a difficult time seeing things up-close.
Overall, the July 2005 update to the iBook G4 has made Apple’s consumer notebook even more competitive in the market. It is faster, has more memory, a bigger hard drive, and bluetooth technology built-in. Furthermore, you’ll continue to enjoy Mac OS X Tiger, iLife ’05, and the other great Macintosh applications. The 14-inch iBook does not offer any more screen real estate than the 12-inch model, but things will appear larger, for those with poor eyesight. Of course, a larger size and slight increase in weight are consequences of the larger screen, but you are also rewarded with a standard superdrive for burning DVDs, which is not even an option on the 12-inch iBook. The new iBook G4 is a brilliant machine, and it is sure to find its way onto many desks in the coming months.
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