Rating: 
Summary: Good and bad
Review: Good:
OS X doesn't crash all the time like the old Mac OSes! Yeah!!! (For the first time ever I had a Mac on for more than a day without a crash!!!). So yeah, OSX rocks!Cheap!! Bad:
Not the best components. Get a good padded bag, if you set this thing down to hard, stuff starts to fall of. Slow. Slow, slow, slow. But then who buys a laptop to run more than Office or a few card games? More than adequate for students, and light business use.
Rating: 
Summary: can't imagine being without it
Review: I bought this along with a separate 512 MB RAM chip (even some Apple employees will admit that Apple gouges you for RAM) and the 3 year AppleCare in August of 2002. I had been a longtime PC user, but after playing around with OS X, I absolutely fell in love. I was amazed with the ease of plugging in peripherals, like my digital camera and not having to install external software. Best of all, it's built from the BSD kernel, so it's amazingly stable! My only complaint is that I've had to send it back to Apple twice for hardware repairs, but both times, tech-support personnel were incredibly polite, and the unit was quickly back to me (less than a week down time).
Rating:
Summary: can't imagine being without it
Review: I bought this along with a separate 512 MB RAM chip (even some Apple employees will admit that Apple gouges you for RAM) and the 3 year AppleCare in August of 2002. I had been a longtime PC user, but after playing around with OS X, I absolutely fell in love. I was amazed with the ease of plugging in peripherals, like my digital camera and not having to install external software. Best of all, it's built from the BSD kernel, so it's amazingly stable! My only complaint is that I've had to send it back to Apple twice for hardware repairs, but both times, tech-support personnel were incredibly polite, and the unit was quickly back to me (less than a week down time).
Rating: 
Summary: Very nice when it is working
Review: I just wrote this review for almost the exact same notebook as this one: I really enjoy my iBook when it works. I not very computer savy and it is perfect for a novice like me. My main complaint is that I have had to send it back twice for repairs. The first time the screen died. I mean just died. I turned it on, heard a pop, and that was it. Sending it back wasn't much trouble, but by the time I got it back about three weeks had passed. Then it stop booting and made a funny grinding noise. They sent me a new hard drive (quickly this time) but that didn't do the trick. I just sent the whole thing back and I haven't got it back yet. So I love it, but I really wish it was more reliable.
Rating:
Summary: Very nice when it is working
Review: I just wrote this review for almost the exact same notebook as this one: I really enjoy my iBook when it works. I not very computer savy and it is perfect for a novice like me. My main complaint is that I have had to send it back twice for repairs. The first time the screen died. I mean just died. I turned it on, heard a pop, and that was it. Sending it back wasn't much trouble, but by the time I got it back about three weeks had passed. Then it stop booting and made a funny grinding noise. They sent me a new hard drive (quickly this time) but that didn't do the trick. I just sent the whole thing back and I haven't got it back yet. So I love it, but I really wish it was more reliable.
Rating:
Summary: Good price, but not Apple's best effort.
Review: I've been an Apple user around 15 years and (obviously) think they're great. This is the 1st Apple computer I've had to return. Here are the pros and cons of this iBook: Pros: Great price, very nice monitor clarity and brightness, ample hard drive space, adequate supplied memory which can be upgraded, OS 10 (Jaguar) looks cool, thin and light. Cons: Heat. Temperature-wise, this computer gets very hot on the entire underside and io the bottom-left corner of the top side (to the left of the touchpad). The previous iBook I owned, the tangerine iBook, had minimal surface heat. You need to place something in between you and the laptop of your placing it on your lap. Screen size, too small at this size.
Durability: feels flimsy (but it is thin), the all white shell gets dirty easily.
Design: in-person, the white opaque plastic looks cheap to me, not my favorite design. Even the square power cord lacks the personality of the older "yo-yo" cords.
Drive: no cd burner or dvd playback. Conclusion: if you can hold off until Apple introduces its new design for the iBook I would suggest waiting. However, if you want an Ibook and want it now, there's no other choice so you'll have to work with what Apple's giving you. My recomendation: look into similarily priced (but better featued) laptops from Compaq or Sony.
Rating: 
Summary: Very light but not enough of what you need
Review: It's easy to lug around but it is slow and the 12" screen seems way too small for regular use. I really didn't find the 12" model fun to use at all. I think 15" is the only way to go these days.
Rating:
Summary: 12" displays are not worth buying
Review: Stop right here. First you should be buying a 800MHz+ G4 not a 5 year old G3 that is about to be discontinued. Still here? Okay if you must waste your money on a G3 instead of a G4 that can run software you can actually use, then atleast get a G4 with a 14" screen so you can watch your software crawl slowly across the screen. On a 12" screen you will have to squint while you watch your notebook sit there and do nothing.
Rating: 
Summary: Actually portable portable.
Review: The iBook is very portable. It is about the same size as a spiral-bound notebook. It's not much heavier at under 5 pounds. Some people may think that the 12.1" screen is too small, but for me it is just the right size for a laptop. If the screen got much bigger, it would no longer be truly portable. There is no squinting going on to see the display, Apple ships the highest quality displays of any PC manufacturer...I highly recommend this iBook. Especially if it's going to be your first Mac like mine was. I'd also recommend buying a 256MB or maybe even 512MB stick of Crucial® RAM to go with it -- installation is incredibly easy. Apple even has videos of how to do it on their support site.
Rating:
Summary: Great Computer, excellent size, fantastic price.
Review: This iBook is my first foray into the Mac world (making me a switcher I guess) and I must say, I am impressed and pleased. I got this laptop because it would be an easy and cheap way to check out mac products. I actually hook it up to a 19" monitor when I am home, or sometimes just sit in my lazyboy chair and work from there. Those who complain about the screen size seem to miss the point. It is small, light, and extremely portable. It would be small if this was your only computer, but for a laptop it is perfect. It isn't incredibly fast of course, but with a little bit more RAM it does everything I need it to (Word, Photos, E-mail & Web, etc). It is also, quite simply the most stable, beautiful, and fun computer I have ever owned. Mac osX is the operating system we have all known could and should be. It simply does not crash, and looks good in the process. The loaded software is also excellent. iTunes, iChat, iPhoto etc. are fun and solid. The battery life is great. I don't think this will be the last mac I ever buy. They are certainly more expensive, but the quality is superior and immediately apparent. Little touches make the difference. If you are looking for a very cheap entry into the macintosh promised land, this is the way to go.
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