A splendid little Mac notebook
Pros:
Compact, elegant -- and, of course, it's a Mac. A fine machine.
Cons:
Could be small for some users. Plastic case could be damaged with rough handling.
The Bottom Line:
This is a well-put together, handsome and reliable Mac notebook that would meet the needs of most users very well.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Being a 20-year user of Apple Macintoshes, you would expect that I would like the the 1 Ghz 12-inch G4 iBook, and I do. The colorful clamshell designs of the earlier G3 iBooks were a bit garish, but the all-white iBook is a very clean, elegant design.
I managed to buy mine on eBay for just $475 from a woman who had been a Windows user and just didn't like using a Mac. It was practically unused, and thus a terrific find. The case is plastic, and since the Model M9426LL/A was produced in early to mid-2004, some of the used models on eBay are described as having cracks or chips. I carry mine inside a neoprene sleeve inside a leather case, protecting it from such damage.
The 12-inch screen naturally is small, and though I use 17- and 20-inch screens on my other Macs at home and work, I don't mind the little iBook screen at all.
I have 756 MB of RAM installed, and I use an inexpensive shareware program called Macaroni to routinely run background Unix maintenance procedures and have had no operational difficulties whatsoever. It boots up in one minute and works well with wireless routers and Wi-Fi hotspots.
I run OX 10.3.9 (Jaguar) and use Microsoft Office, Photoshop Elements and standard Internet applications. I'm confident it would run full Photoshop, Illustrator, etc., just fine, since my 1 Ghz iMac with identical RAM does. It should run OS X 10.4 (Tiger) just fine, and the iBook does meet the minimum system requirements for running the current OS X 10.5 (Leopard) as well.
I would absolutely recommend this iBook, subject to the checking the condition of any particular one you are considering. It would naturally be ideal to have an opportunity to inspect it personally, see how well it boots, surf the Internet, launch some applications, etc., because the 1/1.2 Ghz iBook will, after all, be up to four years old.
But Apple did well with this model, and finding one in good working order could yield a bargain.
