The "Perfect" Student Computer

Perfect? Isn't that a little overboard

Why yes, if you know anything about computers, that is extremely overboard. I've got a long wish list for the iBook. Which I'll get into, but I still think it's an excellent computer for students, and anybody else looking a great, affordable, laptop computer. I'm a university student and I use my iBook everywhere, all the time. It's also my first Mac since I had an LC over ten years ago. While you called me on perfect being overboard, for the price you can't do any better. If you're tempted to stop reading now because it's a Mac, you owe it to yourself to read on.

But, it's a Mac, it won't fit in

Won't fit in? How:

- Macs rule the art world. Steve Jobs, who runs Apple, also runs Pixar Studios (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, etc...). Apple provides OS level color management, far better rendering, and a more graphics-oriented processor (which has the potential to be a huge advantage for games)

- Macs use standard Ethernet networking, 802.11b/g wireless, USB, and FireWire

- Macs have Microsoft Office, as well as all the popular Macromedia and Adobe programs and much more

I've Seen A Windows Laptop with more for the same price

More how?

The 12.1" screen is a blessing in disguise, it makes the system smaller and more battery friendly. Look at 12" Windows laptops' prices.

A 1GHz G4 (now 1.2 anyways) blows away many portable Windows processors at twice the clock in my opinion.

The iBook's Radeon 9200 video chipset is superior to most of the sub-$1200 Windows laptops

Okay, you've conviced me to take the iBook seriously, but what's it have

My model, a custom build made on this base model has:

12.1" screen
40GB hard drive (base 30GB)
512MB RAM (base 256MB)
ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 32MB
Motorola 1GHz "G4" PowerPC 32-bit processor (base, but new models have 1.2GHz)
Airport Extreme 802.11b/g (upgrade from none at the time, now standard)
6-hr rated battery life

All for about $1200 Now it would be about $1000 and include a better processor...

How's it feel to use?

Running fairly cool, it's small, lightweight and comfortable. Battery life with light use (MS word, etc) runs around 5 hrs for me. Heavier use gets about 4, and about 3 for heavy use. I've tried - you can beat the 6hrs rated. With a really dim screen and MS word as the only app running.

What advantages are there to the Mac

It's more secure

There are no known viruses for OS X, and Safari/Mail.app isn't plagued with the security problems of Internet Explorer/Outlook Express

It's better for art

The system is designed with the artist in mind from the ground up. From OS-level color management to an artistically friendly interface (very color-neutral) it's perfect.

It's easier to use

Things like power management work well and reliably, everything is logically organized (one menu bar at the top of the screen, etc - which does get annoying in dual monitor mode)

Okay, so what are the problems?

Mac in general

Only one - available games. This isn't Apple's fault but the games developers fault. If designed right the Apple hardware is really much better for games. In fact, the Xbox 2 is going to use the IBM PowerPC 970 processor, the same architecture as used in the G5 desktops. The problem is the developers designing for Windows/x86 and leaving us with poor quality ports of only the most popular games. With the Xbox 2 I suspect this'll get a little better, because porting well from Xbox 2 to Mac G5 should be relatively easy. No guarantee they'll do it though given how little many game developers care about the Mac...

This iBook

Here's my wishlist:

Brighter screen (most laptops could use this but it would hurt the battery life)
DVI video output
Dual-monitor display (not mirroring) without the use of an unsupported firmware hack that could damage your computer (the iBook's video supports this, but Apple disables it to try and sell PowerBooks. Some have reenabled it. I'm too scared to)
G5 (IBM PowerPC 970, like that'll happen soon, lol)

Conclusion

Overall, at the price point you can't go wrong. This is easily the best laptop at the price point for any student or artist, and most business users who don't need Windows-only software. Very durable too with a long battery life.