Government Computer News: Apple ‘iBook is a lean, clean machine’

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“The G4 Apple iBook reminds me a little of a greyhound. Looking sleek and way too delicate, it becomes a ‘Like, wow, man!’ competitor when the gun goes off. Notebook PCs are usually dark, serious-looking machines that come in no-nonsense corrugated boxes. Not the iBook, which Apple recently re-introduced with a G4 Motorola PowerPC processor,” Thomas R. Temin writes for Government Compyter News. “Mine came in a snazzy white box, and the computer itself is snow-white, from its lacquer-look shell (with the familiar backlit Apple logo) to the keyboard and deck, also pure white with a matte finish. It

13 Comments

  1. iBooks rock, i’ve had my G4 for 3 months and I don’t have a single complaint ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />

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  3. Golly jeepers, Mac fans, the gubmint likes Macs, well, at least one federal civil servant likes the iBook. I’m glad that Mr. Temin likes his lil Mac, but so what? Ya think Uncle Sam will buy a couple hundred thousand of ’em? Not likely unless Mr. T. is a GS-15.

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  4. The specs provided for the iBook appear to be from before the most recent round of updates (e.g., CPU is faster), so the iBooks are an EVEN BETTER deal. I’m pretty close to persuading my sister-in-law to get one (she’s been a Windows user, so I’ll get to play with it too!). It was strange, though, that a government reviewer would not bother to mention OS X superior security when compared to Windows.
    PB 17 User

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  5. Hey y’all, been wanting to get an iBook, however, I noticed that Apple extended its Logic board program to even the first G4 iBooks? So, is the problem fixed in the new ones already?

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  6. If I bought a notebook right now I would have to go for the iBook. There is not enough difference to justify the extra cost for a Powerbook. Apple really needs to take the Powerbooks to the next level (cough*G5*cough). I really liked the comment this guy made about how all the extra software could make it seem like a personal perk. Its like the attitude is, “Computers are not meant to be FUN. You should only be able to use them for drudgery like Pee Seas!!”

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  7. I’ve had my new 1.07GHz 12″ iBook for about three weeks, and it’s wonderful. I updated from a 12″ 900MHz iBook from only two generations previously, and it’s so much faster (benchmarked with Xbench at 76% faster) that it’s a joke. Plus this new one had a cheaper RRP than the old one, I paid �840 instead of the �1050 or so for the old one. This is despite the fact the new one has a larger hard drive (60 not 40); more memory built-in (256 not 128); USB 2; a slot loading drive not a tray; and Bluetooth.

    The iBook is an absolutely stunning buy for the price, especially for the price it retails for in the US. Why they don’t advertise these things is beyond me. For most non-professionals, this is the perfect notebook computer. Very competitively priced, world’s best OS, small, light, long battery life, no slouch, wireless ready, Bluetooth (if you ask for it, it should be standard though), slot loader. Only thing I’d want now is a Superdrive in the 12″; I expect the next generation or two of iBook will see that.

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  8. It’s a decent enough machine for professionals too. Maybe not graphics professionals, who need a bit more oomph and screen, but really, graphics pros should be doing their thang on a desktop.

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  10. Did anyone else notice he called the Airport Extreme a 802.11b card instead of 802.11g? I left him a cordial message with the correction. No need to thank me.

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  11. Actually Uncle Sam has started to buy Mac’s due to the security features and actually because Mac hardware stay’s the same for a longer period of time in the eyes of Uncle Sam that’s a positive.

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  12. My iBook purchase from 2 years ago is still running strong. I only recently purchased a 512Mb RAM upgrade for it, and have had an external 120Gb drive for my video work for about a year now. Other than buying Jaguar and Panther, I haven’t had to spend a dime on anything else, including repairs. I now have a Dual 1.8Ghz G5 to compliment it for home, and now my video work will be done on that, but this little iBook still runs like a champ and I use it at my ISP Tech Support job daily. I am looking to purchase a new Battery for it though. Anyone have any suggestions as to what I should get? Should I shell out the money for a new battery from Apple (at $130 a pop) or should I chance one of those new High Capacity batteries that are selling on Ebay for 1/2 the price? Thoughts?

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  13. rlhamon:

    I work for the gubmint, at least for the next 3 months I will, and there ain’t no Macs at my work site. I do have a Dell running XP that crashes 3 times a day, minimum. The best advice and only assistance I can get from IT when my machine locks up or applications crash is, “Have you rebooted yet?”

    Well, at least IT is concerned about security. My Dell is generally out-of-service a couple hours per month to “upgrade security features”.

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