Apple iBook Notebook 12" M9623LL/A (1.2 GHz PowerPC G4, 256MB RAM, 30GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive, Built-in AirPort Extreme)

Rating:
Summary: Gotta Love the iBook.
Review: Alright, I should first mention that I don't actually own the 12" iBook G4, but I have owned the 933mhz 14" iBook G4 for a little over a year now. I just decided to post a rave review for the iBook G4 series in general, and I feel that the new 1.2ghz 12" iBook is the greatest deal for anyone looking for an affordable notebook computer.

For the first computer purchase I ever made with my own hard-earned money (and for my first mac), I couldn't be more pleased with the iBook G4. I remember looking around at a number of PC notebooks that had similar, or even "faster" specs, but decided to fork out a little more for a piece of equipment that oozed quality. I also just wanted to try a new operating system (Not that I particularly dislike Windows, but I find it kind of boring and it makes me feel like I'm doing tedious office work.).

I'm not sure if I need to talk about the iBook's design, it's obviously the best looking notebook out there (besides the Powerbook). Looks aside, the casing is extremely sturdy. The media drive is slot loading, and the Airport Extreme network card tucks discreetly under the keyboard. This creates a seemless look with no protruding accessories sticking out.

OSX Panther (loaded w/iLife) is a joy to work with - so much easier, more stable and more FUN than Windows. "Entuative"' is the word I've often heard about Apple products, and there's a reason why.

I can't claim that I run my computer as hardcore as others, but I do load up and run Photoshop, Illustrator, GoLive and Reason regularly without a hitch. I've had very minimal, if any, problems with programs freezing or kicking me out. In fact, I've only had to call Apple's Support once so far (knock on wood), and that was to replace a rubber foot.

Alright, I could go on forever about my iBook. The point is, it just works and I'm now a diehard Mac convert because of it (recently added iPod as well). To me, the PC world now just seems unstable, stagnant, and bloated out. Maybe you can save a few bucks with a PC by constantly reading computer magazines and updating anti-virus programs, but I'd rather spend my time being productive and enjoying my iBook!

Rating:
Summary: Great Value, Perfect for Students
Review: Great Laptop! However, I have one minor problem, the space bar doesn't always work. I have noticed that when you hit the space bar key on the outsides, it doesn't work. I have found that I really have to hit the space bar key right in the middle or else it won't work. Hopefully it won't be a problem, and maybe the people at the Apple Store can help. Otherwise, it's a great deal. The Airport is awesome, and the battery life is great! 5 hours! I would definitely recommend this laptop, and if it weren't for the spacebar problem, I'd give it 5 stars!

Rating:
Summary: Love My iBook!
Review: I just got my iBook less than a week ago, and let me tell you, I wonder how I did without it! It is one great notebook. I'm a recent convert from P.C. to Mac and I'm still learning this operating system. I ordered my book from the Apple Store with 768MB RAM and 80 GB on the hard drive. I've paired it with the airport extreme base and the wireless mouse. What a cool feeling to be able to surf the net from the comfort of my bed and anywhere in my home! The display on this baby is gorgeous, and watching DVDs is a blast...I originally wanted to get the 14" because I was used to that size screen, then thought it might be a drag to carry around, but now I do not regret my decision to get the 12", because it works very well for my purposes. At under 5lbs (4.9 to be exact) it is very easy to handle on the go and it takes up considerably less space than the 14". I really enjoy being able to access the net from my favorite cafe and when I'm in school. The OS is very nice and it's a relief to be free of pop-up ads and the blue screen of death. Apple provides great customer service too. Since I'm still learning a lot from this new animal, there's not much more to say now. Finally, this is one gorgeous little machine! I'm extremely pleased with it and I can't imagine anyone having regrets who buys this book. Now, if only I can get my hubby away from it...

Rating:
Summary: Good but NOT great - HP DV1000 blows it away!!
Review: I am a first-time Apple user. I was raised on PC's, all the way back to a Z-80 that had no hard-drive but ran on 8in floppy drives with an OS my dad wrote himself. ANYWAYS... I regularly author DVD's and decided to give Apple's a try, since they supposedly excel in that area. I looked at the reviews between the iBook and the Powerbook, and the new 1.2GHz iBooks are REALLY close to the performance of the Powerbooks. Size/portability was very important, so I bought the 12inch 1.2GHz iBook. I owned and used the M9623LL/A for over two months (November 8th-January 22), two long and frustrating months that is. I returned it last week, thanks to Amazon's extended return policy for the holidays, and couldn't be happier to be rid of this pile of arrogance-induced retardation. At first I thought it was ok, but over time I just started hating the thing. My wife, who liked Apple's doesn't like it either. She wanted a Window's laptop again. So I traded this one in for a HP DV-1000 (which can play DVD's w/o having to turn the computer on!!)

PROS:

1. Battery life is great. About 4.5hrs (same as HP)

2. Relatively cool - no fan ever turned on while running it. Do they even have fans? (My HP has turned the fans on in heavy processing, but mostly never turn on)

3. Light weight (same as HP)

CONS


1. OS - yea, lots of eye-candy... lot's of USELESS eye-candy. All these "INNOVATIONS" are a bunch of crap. It is so much easier to get information and much more intutitive to run a Windows machine. My wife does like the OS more than XP, but it's all because of the useless "NEATO" things it does, like "squeezing" the minimized window and "turning-the-cube" when changing users. She even admits it's all for show and serves no real purpose.

2. SLOW!!! My 1.5GHz HP DV-1000 BLOWS this thing away!! I couldn't believe how slow this thing was, it was always hanging up. It took TEN second to open up the clock/calendar!! For all those who will be whining about my review, go ahead and try it. Click on the clock, then choose the calendar...10 seconds later. This thing crashed more than my Windows... in fact it's pretty hard to crash less than NEVER! My HP has yet to crash!! Sorry guys, it's just the plain simple truth.

3. ONE BUTTON MOUSE? What century are these Apple designers living in? Their utter contempt for the norm, challenge the status-quo, fight the power attitude died with the hippies. And their trademark arrogance truly gets in the way of their designing a superior product.

4. NON-SCROLLING MOUSE: My HP has scrolling from top-to-bottom as well as right-to-left. This is a NECESSITY in the smaller lightweight machines. It drove me nuts not having scroll on the Apple. When you are working in Photoshop, zoomed in, 4-way scrolling is SO nice on the HP.

5. KEYSTROKES!! "fn" + "alt" + "apple-key" +"ctrl" key combinations are a joke and the majority are handled with a SINGLE key on my Windows notebook. The home/end/pg-down/pg-up keys are a secondary function of the arrow keys on the Apple. All Windows notebooks give these keys a single click use. For example: I have a document open and I want to go to the beginning of the line, so I simply hit the "home" key. On the iBook, I have to hit the "fn"+"left-arrow-key". Or maybe I'm at the bottom of a page and want to go to the beginning of the document. I hit "ctrl"+"home" on the HP, but I have to hit "fn"+"'alt'... or is it 'ctrl'... or is it 'apple-key'"+"home". It's ridiculous!! And the key combinations just keep growing and growing. There's the "fn"+ combinations, the "ctrl"+ combinations, the "apple-key"+ combinations and the "alt"+ combinations, and then the combos involving them all together. How are you possibly supposed to remember all that??? You waste all your time trying to figure out which combination it was to do what you want. Windows takes at most 2-key strokes for anything. There are so many Apple key combos, and some of them, no lie, take *FOUR* keys!!! Unbelievable.

Rating:
Summary: If you are using a PC, go back to Mac
Review: I got my iBook about a month ago and I love it. I'd previously had a Mac in college and had been using a PC because of work for the past seven years and I'm no beginner user - fluent in just about every type of software out there from Office applications to video/audio programs. After years of blue screens, 2 hour calls to Microsoft support, and unexplained program crashes/freezes, I am SO glad I went back to Apple. The iBook has been an outstanding reintroduction.

For those of you worried about going back, I've found no problems with compatibility in transferring documents back and forth, the OS environment is very intuitive and takes little extra effort if you are familiar with Windows.

The iBook itself is a great value. The 1.2 Ghz processor sounds small to Windows users, but it buries my old 2.0 Ghz Pentium3 that had 3 times the RAM of my little iBook. The screen is sharp and impressive, the battery life is good (not quite the 6 hours advertised, but a solid 4-4.5 hours), its incredibly portable, the full-size keyboard is easy to use, and I've easily integrated the iBook at home for the full desktop experience with a regular monitor, wireless mouse, and external drive (to make up for the small hard drive).

Having to buy Microsoft Office was definitely a negative of the iBook, but it was definitely worth the extra cost. And the iLife, iTunes, Quicken, and basic software included with the iBook is all really great. Best of all - it never crashes!!!

I've gone back to Apple, and I'm never going to stray again. I only wish I'd gone back sooner. Get an iBook. You'll love it. Its like getting your first computer all over again.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: I have had this notebook since November of 2004, right out of the box anyone switching from a P.C. desktop or notebook, will notice the trackpad is sluggish and not very accurate. I called apple and went to the apple stores, everyone told me this is how the trackpads work for apple machines, even the desktops with mouses are like this( I thought my trackpad was broken ) They don't use the current mouse or redwood software, you have to find a free shareware named sidetrack, this will allow you to calibrate the tracpad to your liking and enable the side and vertical scrolling. (this is for those individuals who thought they couldn't get that option with apple notebooks) and you should upgrade the memory from 256 to 512 at least. (...)

The notebook itself is very nice, heavy compared to P.C. notebooks with the same size, but the material is much better and more sturdy with the ibook. Fast procesor, nice bright backlid screen and terrific battery life, I get an average of 4.5 hours or normal real time use (unlike P.C. notebooks that advertise 3 hours, but in real time use, surfing the web, typing, they end up low on power in 1 and 40 minutes) I mean why advertise you get 3 hours but only if you leave it on and don't do anything with it. I guess that is where apple came up with their 6 hours for the ibook on their website. Get this notebook if you travel and need word documents, spread sheets and internet. Do not get it for games (since Macs don't get any and if they do, they are buggy) This is a very nice notebook, great for students. Hope this review was helpful

Rating:
Summary: damaged operating system, missing software packages
Review: I ordered iBook G4 1.2GHz from Amazon. Operating system couldn't regognize DSL connection. I called apple computers, they told me to earase and upload os x stystem, which I did. Even after that it couldn't connect to DSL, but worse it wiped out AppleWorks and many other software products.

I want to replace my computer. And it's hard to replace computer through Amazon. It will take me about 10-15 more days to do so. It's very inconvinient.

Rating:
Summary: It's great, but I still won't be caught dead w/ a mini
Review: I will keep my trusty athlon xp because everyone knows the best games are on PC

But my apple Ibook is a great little machine. For the same price, a comparable Windows Laptop has a much worse battery life, and all the security holes to go with it. I enjoy the built in air port extreme.

With that said, I believe this is the best laptop of it's class.

Rating:
Summary: My First Apple, Once You Bite, You Never Go Back
Review: Ok so I am not accustomed to the MAC world but I was so sick of Microsoft Windows. I work with them at work and had a laptop at home with Windows. This laptop kept crashing and I kept losing valuable work. I decided to buy a new laptop. What to buy? I talked to my brother who told me that if I wanted my money's worth, I should purchase the Apple laptop. One of the best advice I have gotten so far.

First, Amazon delivered the laptop quickly and at a reasonable price. Since it was my first time ever viewing a MAC computer, was I impressed with the graphics and cool sleek design of my laptop. It was easy to install but then I got stuck. Having been a Microsoft user all my life, going to MAC is like an outer body experience (well, not really). I decided the only way to learn the MAC was to buy a manual so again I went to Amazon and purchased the Missing Manual for MAC OSx ver. 10.3 Panther. Once I get through my manual, it is just a matter of time before I learn the ins and outs of MAC.

For a beginner, I can say this, the graphics are cool, the MAC/Apple runs faster than your average laptop, the Safari (a tool for Internet) is an awesome tool and surfing through the web is much smoother and you don't have to worry about viruses (yuck) and lastly, I love the sleep mode on my Apple. At the end of a long day with my beloved iBook, I just want to close my computer and go to sleep and that is exactly what I do. If you ever have to run out the door, all you do is close the lid and go, no more Start, Shutdown and then the long silence that ensues while you wait for Windows to close all your programs. Now if that isn't cool, I don't know what is. The only problem that I am having with the iBook is learning to adjust without the backspace key, but I'll live.

I could go on but I think I have covered everything.

Rating:
Summary: Throw out your PC!
Review: What a great product. I have had this notebook for over a week and will never buy anything but a Mac from now on. Great graphics, speed and a great platform!
What was I thinking when I purchased my pc's?
The only con I can come up with is the small keyboard and compact keys can be diificult to type on but I guess most laptops are the same.
I used my Amazon charge and got $30 bucks off and also a $100 rebate! so it was a no brainer!
Bottom line, buy this laptop!