© 1999 Lawrence I. Charters (writing as Washington Apple Pi Labs)
Washington Apple Pi Journal, Vol. 21, no. 6, November-December 1999, pp. 67-71.
[iBook benchmarks also available]
In keeping with an ancient tradition, handed down from punch card to floppy to CD-ROM, Washington Apple Pi Labs wanted to get its hands on an iBook as soon as they were released. For evaluation purposes only, of course.
No, we were not lusting after the no-slip rubberized covering on several edges of the case, the built-in handle, the bright display, the six hour battery life, or the lightning-fast processor. The idea of carrying around something faster than the original Power Mac G3 desktop machines, at a fraction of the price, wasn’t a consideration. We aren’t cattle, forever following the herd as it seeks out the latest hot processor or new technology. Our motivations were pure: we wanted to write a review from a consumer’s point of view.
“You’ve got two hours.” Two hours?!?
John Qwerty (something like that) had already written a review of the iBook from the Industry Standard point of view — without ever even touching one. He pronounced the iBook “girly,” something that a Real Man would never consider. What brawny bruiser of the electronic world — strapped to a high-spirited office chair in an air-conditioned office — what would such a Real Man want with something out of a Barbie makeup kit? Would a Real Man want something that looked like an oversized woman’s compact, in blue or orange? Qwerty had thoroughly covered the Industry Standard point of view, so there was no need to even comment. We were going for the user’s point of view.
What does the iBook offer? We took a sampling of iBooks (a small sample of one blueberry model) and discovered, fresh out of the box, it came with the following:
- 32 megabytes of memory installed;
- Mac OS ROM 2.3.1 (as a file on the hard drive, not as a standard ROM chip);
- IBM 3 gigabyte hard drive;
- Matsushita CR-175 CD-ROM drive;
- 56K modem, built-in, with standard RJ-11 phone jack;
- 10/100 Base-T Ethernet port, with standard RJ-45 jack;
-
USB port, for connecting USB hubs, printers, keyboards, joysticks, etc.; - Headphone jack;
- Single speaker;
- Active matrix LCD screen capable of showing 800×600 pixels or 640×480 pixels.
Additionally, the following software was included:
- Mac OS 8.6;
- Bugdom 1.0.1, a game;
- America Online 4.0f81, for dialing into AOL;
- AppleWorks 5.0.3, the ubiquitous word processor, spreadsheet, database, drawing, paint, and telecommunications package;
- Acrobat Reader 3.0.1, useful for reading PDF documentation;
- A whole bunch of stuff for use with a Palm hand-held computer, including multimedia tours of the Palm III, V, and VII;
- Software for using Earthlink as your ISP (Internet Service Provider);
- FAXstf 5.0.9 fax software;
- Graphing Calculator 1.1;
- Internet Explorer 4.5;
- Netscape Communicator 4.6.1 (International version);
- Outlook Express 4.5;
- Pocket Quicken (apparently for use with a Palm);
- Nanosaur 1.1.6 (not installed, included on one of the CD-ROMs);
- EdView Internet Safety Kit (not installed, included on one of the CD-ROMs);
- World Book Encyclopedia, Macintosh Edition Version 1.0 (not installed; included on two CD-ROMs);
- A whole bunch of new desktop pictures (some installed, most not) and beep sounds (not installed).
- We decided to write the review in AppleWorks for two reasons: first, it was pre-installed on the iBook and seemed a good way to test how most people would use the machine. Second, we were under severe time constraints. Severe. Time. Constraints.
Opening the box is even easier than opening an iMac box, since it is smaller. A penknife is handy for slicing sealing tape for both the outer box and an inner Accessory Kit box. The iBook comes with many pieces of paper (warranties, packing lists and such), two of which are useful: a fold-out sheet showing in four pictures — no words — how to set up the iBook, and a very attractive (complete with color pictures), very short User’s Guide. At 32 pages, the User’s Guide is brief enough and attractive enough that everyone should read it, right up to and including the five pages of material under “Where’s the fine print?” The detailed instructions on how to dial telephone numbers with the modem in New Zealand are hilarious:
[…]
- Number to be dialed: 1; number to be entered into computer: 9
- Number to be dialed: 2; number to be entered into computer: 8
- Number to be dialed: 3; number to be entered into
computer : 7
[…]
“You have one hour.” One hour!?!?!
Following the step-by-step instructions (actually, we read them after the fact), we opened the box, took the plastic off the iBook, opened the top, and pressed the Power On key. Thanks to the fact that the iBook shipped with a charged battery, we were immediately off and running. Within seconds, we noticed two things we really wanted:
- More memory. Mac OS 8.6 may be a joy to use, but it doesn’t work well in 32 megabytes of RAM, particularly if you want to do something more than just run the operating system. The iBook
ships pre-configured with virtual memory set at 64 megabytes. Until you buy more memory, you don’t have a choice: you must run with virtual memory active in order to get anything done. Since virtual memory uses the hard drive more heavily than “normal,” and since the hard drive uses more power than many other iBook components, running with virtual memory active decreases the amount of work you can get done between battery charges. - The keyboard is surprisingly good, but we want a forward delete key. The standard Delete key is nice, but there are times you’d like to delete things in front of the current cursor position. We didn’t see any way to do this.
Other things we thought we’d mind, but didn’t:
- The trackpad is quite nice. We thought we’d need more time to adjust; we were wrong. This is a real
shame, since we were looking forward to an excuse for evaluating the Kensington Orbit trackball; - The “inverted T” cursor control keys down at the bottom edge of the keyboard aren’t that bad. We prefer full-sized keyboards but, quite frankly, admit they are kind of silly for a laptop computer;
- The screen is outstanding. Steve Jobs is notorious for calling all Apple displays “wonderful” or “outstanding,” so we were dubious. But it turns out Steve is right.
Because of severe time constraints, we didn’t try out the built-in modem. Others claim it works, and we’re willing to take their word for it. Instead, we plugged a 10BASE-T cable into the 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet jack (conveniently located on the left side; there are no jacks on the back of the computer). With a few deft entries into the TCP/IP Control Panel, we were configured for the Internet and off and running.
And performance is surprisingly good. With the limited amount of RAM, we had doubts Netscape Communicator would work all that well, and expected occasional pauses and stutters as it swapped things in and out of virtual memory. Instead, we quickly forgot we were using a laptop; it seemed as quick and effortless as any other G3-powered Macintosh. We did notice that, on slow sites, the screen would blank out as the Energy Saver software did its part to extend battery life; a quick tap on a key or the trackpad restored things to normal.
“You’re out of time.” Out of time!
Since it is supposed to be portable, we unplugged the Ethernet cable and went to a shopping mall. Setting up shop on a (clean) cafe table, we were soon engrossed in trying to figure out Bugdom (cute game, but we decided we didn’t have time to really look at it), and other things pre-installed on the iBook. Several people, all women, stopped by to talk:
“Is that one of those new iMacs?”
“No, it is an iBook.”
“It’s adorable! How do you like it?”
“I’ve only been using it for a couple hours, but I’m quite happy with it.”
“Is it hard to use?”
“I took it out of the box and was on the Internet in, oh, four minutes.”
“Four minutes! We’ve got a [PC] and we haven’t been able to get the Internet to work since we got it.”
“The iBook comes with a little program that runs automatically when you first turn it on, guiding you through setting it up for the Internet. I didn’t use that program, but it does make it easy.”
“What’s that green light?”
“Uh, I don’t know.”
The “green light” is dead center at the bottom of the screen, under the Apple logo. You can also see it from the outside, when the top is closed. It pulsates in green every couple of seconds, like a slow heartbeat, when the iBook is asleep.
“It looks like a heartbeat.”
“You don’t know what it is? Is it in the instructions?”
A quick skimming of the manual, such as it is, gives no clues about the green light. However, the Help Center (part of the built-in Help that comes with Mac OS 8.6) has a section called “Your iBook At A Glance” that reveals this is, in fact, the Sleep Indicator Light.
“That’s cute! It tells you when it is sleeping!”
The version of Mac OS 8.6 included with the iBook comes with a bunch of new desktop pictures. As a guess, some or all of these will probably migrate to Mac OS 9.
Leaving the cafe table, carrying the iBook by the built-in handle, it became obvious there are some Very Clever People at Apple: half a dozen people stopped to ask if this blue thing with the big Apple logo was, in fact, the new Apple laptop. Nobody asks if your black or gray box is a laptop, especially if it is hidden in a bag. One person had an excellent question: “Why would you get an iBook instead of an iMac?”
An iMac is less expensive, so if price is that critical, you can save some money by getting an iMac. An iMac (at least the current models) is somewhat faster, too, so you get better performance for your money with an iMac. But you can’t sit at a cafe table in a shopping mall and attract women with an iMac.
[Actually, you probably could, but you’d need a bigger table, an extension cord, and some place to plug in the extension cord. And don’t jump to the conclusion we’re being sexist here: women are more inclined to come up and ask you about an iBook than men. Men, you see, are supposed to know it all, so they won’t ask.]
A better question might be: why would you get an iBook instead of a PowerBook G3? Money and performance are both factors; the iBook costs less, but the PowerBook is a faster machine. One critical difference, however: a PowerBook G3 has a Video Out port. If you want to use a laptop with a video projector, the PowerBook G3 is the only way to fly; an iBook can’t do this at all.
But for those who don’t need to do presentations with their computers, an iBook is an outstanding machine: fast, easy to set up, easy to use. The case and general design should make it more durable than most laptops, though we didn’t try to test this. The price makes it more likely that you’d actually carry it around, too, since many people aren’t willing to expose a $3500 machine to the same rigors as a $1600 machine.
Two things would make this an even better machine: more memory and an AirPort. Memory is a touchy issue: in the two months prior to the introduction of the iBook, memory prices more than doubled. Adding a 128 megabyte memory module to an iBook (in October 1999, as this was written) would add another $300 or more to the price.
The AirPort wireless networking card, on the other hand, is fairly inexpensive, $99, but (a) isn’t available, (b) requires a $299 AirPort base station, also not available, and (c) realistically requires an Ethernet network. But if you have an established Ethernet network, especially one with a full-time connection to the Internet, it opens up new horizons — or at least those within 150 feet of the AirPort base station.
Are people bothering you at your desk, and you need to get away to write a report? Leave — hide outside on the patio, or in the lobby, or in the lunchroom. If you are exceedingly strange, you could even surf the Internet from the restroom. (“Martha, make a phone call to Janitorial. The men’s restroom is out of soap.”)
Sadly, our test unit didn’t have the extra memory or the AirPort for evaluation. Washington Apple Pi Labs deeply regrets this. More deeply than you can imagine.
“Finally! I told you two hours! Can’t you tell time?”
Yes. But we didn’t want to. An iBook is addictive. Plus: it attracts women, unless your name is John Dvorak. Er, we mean John Qwerty.