Apple iBook Laptop M8600LL/A (600-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive)

by Apple

Product Details

Product Manual [7.85mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 11.2 x 1.4 inches ; 4.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 12 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000068IE5
• Item model number: M8600LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 21, 2002

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Now there's even more to love about Apple's iBook notebook. Weighing in at an easily portable 4.9 pounds and featuring a 600 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, a 20 GB hard drive, and 128 MB of RAM (expandable to 640 MB)--plus AirPort wireless networking and FireWire, USB, and Ethernet ports--the iBook connects to hundreds of peripherals designed to fit your life.

This system features a brilliant 12.1-inch TFT XGA active-matrix display and razor-sharp 1,024 x 768 resolution. It's the perfect place for doing everything from working on spreadsheets to displaying your movies and digital pictures in millions of colors (incidentally, the iBook display scales down beautifully, again with millions of colors, for special games and applications optimized for 800 x 600 or 640 x 480 resolutions).

Included is a CD-ROM drive for playing games and music CDs. The 600 MHz iBook ships with a 20 GB hard disk drive, or upgrade to an optional 30 GB hard drive for even more storage space. In addition, this system comes with the ATI Mobility Radeon graphics accelerator with 16 MB of SDRAM and AGP 2x support for gorgeous 3-D graphics.

The iBook also comes loaded with iPhoto, the cool new software application in the easy-to-use tradition of iTunes, iMovie, and iDVD. iPhoto makes it a snap to manage your digital pictures. You can present them in a full-screen slide show (accompanied by your favorite music), e-mail them to your family and friends, print them on your inkjet printer, order Kodak prints over the Internet, or have them made into custom-printed, linen-bound books.

In addition to handling digital photos with ease, the iBook lets you make your own movies--and show them anywhere. Capture digital video footage on your DV camcorder and turn it into engaging movies with the iMovie 2 software that comes pre-installed. iMovie lets you transfer video clips from your digital camcorder to your hard disk using the included FireWire port. Use iMovie to snip out the boring parts and enhance the best parts with cool effects, transitions, and titles. Then add a great soundtrack and you're done. Now watch your finished movies full-screen on your iBook or use the iMovie Export feature to select from a range of predefined QuickTime formats for creating and sharing movies. You can, for example, compress your movies so you can burn them onto a CD or post them on the Internet, or use the VGA video output port (for video mirroring on an external display) and an AV port to show your movies and presentations on a big-screen TV or projector (just add an optional Apple AV cable).

For those interested in audio as well as video applications, the iBook comes with iTunes 2, the software that lets you convert (or "rip") the songs on your music CDs to MP3 format, simply by clicking a button. iTunes compresses CD-quality audio files to about a tenth of their original size with very little loss in audible quality. These significantly smaller file sizes enable you to store thousands of songs on your iBook's hard disk drive.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic laptop at a fantastic price, May 30, 2002

By 

"ransom22" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple iBook Laptop M8600LL/A (600-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

My iBook is my favorite computer of all those I've ever owned. The 600MHz G3, complete with 100 MHz system bus, is more than adequate to serve all my needs while on the road. Beyond that, it has a very clear and bright screen. And all of this is wrapped in a very light and small package that looks fantastic.

And MacOS X, well, it's the best operating system ever. And I've used everything from MS-DOS 3 to Windows XP, from Solaris to OpenBSD, and all points between.

Buying an iBook was, quite simply, the best computing purchase I've ever made.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, June 22, 2002

By 

Charles Waddington (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple iBook Laptop M8600LL/A (600-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

I think the iBook is a wonderful machine. I'd been looking for a new notebook for home and decided to forego a pc and look into the new iBook. I plumped for the 600Mhz machine with the combo DVD-RW, and an airport card. I upped the ram to a beefy 384Mb because I knew that like most modern operating systems Mac OS X runs much more smoothly with more memory.

This is is most enjoyable notebook I've ever had the pleasure to own (especially after years of pc notebook use). The iBook is light and robust and has some design touches: for instance, the retractable latch which prevent breakage, and the clever power adapter. I ordered the airport card and extra memory separately so I had to install those at home. This was a snip - two small latches at the top of the keyboard slide back, allowing access to the airport and memory slots underneath.

If you have a broadband connection at home, I would recomend that you get Airport. It's very enjoyable to be able to sit whever you like in your home, enjoy a cup of coffee and use the iBook for browsing the web or picking up email.

The CD burner seems very reliable - in fact, much more reliable than my Dell Dimension machine - and DVD playback is good. I ordered an Apple AV connnection so I can connect the iBook to the TV in the bedroom and use it as a second DVD player. One small caveat - don't expect theatre quality sound from the internal speakers (this applies to any laptop not just the iBook).

Battery life is good. I curently get over three hours on a full charge. I need to investigate the effect on battery life of turning the airport card off when not needed because this will probably increase my battery time.

Highly recommended.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well built reasonable priced notebook, August 1, 2002

By 

G. Ware (Colorado USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Apple iBook Laptop M8600LL/A (600-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

I don't understand the negative comments posted about the processor speed and screen size. For the cost of this notebook the processor is more than adequate. If you shop around for a Windows based laptop you will get a Celeron processor in the same price range as this notebook. I wouldn't rank the Celeron in the powerful chip category. For what most people will be looking to use the laptop for (Email, web browsing, and word processing), the processor is more than adequate. I'm sure everyone would love to have a G4 or Pentium IV in their notebook but considering the different prices this one is just fine for the average home user or student.

The same goes for the screen size. Sure we would all love a 15 inch screen but there are weight and price negatives to that choice. If you are looking for ulta portable, which this notebook targets, then 12.1 inch is the standard. You can get a 14.1 inch on a Windows based PC in the same price range but you won't get the quality that you will get with this notebook. Apple is rated in the top for customer satisfaction and quality for their notebooks.

So don't listen that you are getting taken by a slower notebook with a small screen. That is exactly what this notebook calls for, if you are looking for a ultra portable 4.9 lbs notebook at a resonable price. If not, check out the G4 Powerbook but make sure to open up your pocket book to pay for the difference.