Apple iBook Laptop 12" M9426LL/A (1.0-GHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

by Apple

Product Details

Product Manual [2.34mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 4.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 10.5 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00022ADXK
• Item model number: M9426LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 19, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Like to carry around a notebook that delivers exceptional power at an affordable price? Then pick up an iBook G4. With a faster PowerPC G4 processor running at speeds up to 1.0 GHz--expanded memory capacity, advanced wireless networking capabilities, and the impressive stability provided by Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther,” iBook G4 brings truly impressive performance to everyday life.

Perfect for the activities you engage in each and every day — surfing the web, getting and sending email, chatting up a storm, doing your homework, playing games, listening to CDs, watching DVD movies, or creating your own musical compositions — iBook G4 fits snugly in your backpack and comfortably in your digital life.

Go Anywhere. Handle Anything.
iBook G4 offers an extra long battery life which features up to an incredible 6 hours of battery life. Many consumer notebooks offer you less than half that amount of battery life. Less than half. Not iBook G4. Thanks to the special energy-saving features built into the PowerPC G4 processor, the ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 graphics processor, and Mac OS X Panther itself, iBook G4 consumes energy highly efficiently. Result: you can work much longer untethered.

The lightest all-in-one consumer notebook on the market, the 12.1-inch iBook G4 weighs just 4.9 pounds. Many textbooks weigh more than either one. Lightweight, iBook G4 is also thin — a svelte 1.35 inches to be exact — making this impressive notebook small enough to fit in a backpack and light enough to carry around all day.

From the standpoint of a laptop, the inside of a backpack can be a rather jarring environment, one filled with bumps and even the occasional bounce. That’s why Apple designed the iBook G4 from inside out to stand up to the rigors of a fairly strenuous life on the go. After all, you shouldn’t have to walk softly just because you’re carrying the world’s most appealing notebook.

First off, Apple made the iBook’s sleek white case out of ultratough, impact-resistant polycarbonate plastic — the same high-grade material used in bulletproof glass. While that measure alone might have allowed iBook to comfortably survive everyday use and abuse, Apple took the idea of protecting your investment quite seriously. Inside, a sturdy magnesium frame provides superior strength, while reducing the weight of the iBook G4 to well below that of other full-featured PC notebooks. Apple even rubber-mounted the hard disk drive for added bump tolerance, so you can store all of your digital goodies on your iBook and still enjoy peace of mind. What’s more, the iBook has no I/O doors, protruding elements — and no tray, either — to break or snap off when tucked into a backpack or briefcase.

Power adapter When you’re ready to take your iBook G4 out of your backpack and plug it in, you’ll find a well-designed, square-shaped power adapter that will serve all your needs. The adapter, which fits easily in your hand, has retractable hooks that let you wrap the DC cord for neater storage. While you can use the included AC plug to connect the adapter directly into a nearby wall outlet, your iBook also includes a separate AC Cord that lets you plug into an outlet up to 12 feet away. Colored LED lights show charging status. An amber ring indicates that your battery is recharging, while a green ring tells you that you have a full charge.

Need performance?
The iBook features a 1GHz PowerPC G4 processor with Velocity Engine and 512K Level 2 Cache. Can you say “speedy.” To maximize its speed, Apple pairs the G4 processor with a fast 133MHz system bus and 256MB of onboard memory to accelerate calculations and make your applications scream. And you’ll also be glad to hear that you can boost memory capacity to a remarkable 1.25GB of memory. How many applications would you like to run at the same time?

The iBook features a roomy 30 GB hard drive. With iBook’s slot-loading Combo Drives you can watch DVDs, play music CDs, and burn your own data CDs and music CDs.

An impressive display
Both iBook models offer brilliant 1024-by-768-pixel resolution — ideal for doing everything from working on spreadsheets to displaying your movies and digital pictures in millions of colors. What’s more, the iBook display scales down beautifully, again with millions of colors, for special games and applications optimized for 800-by-600 or 640-by-480 pixel resolutions. And both come powered by an ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 graphics processor with 32MB of dedicated video memory and AGP 4x support for dazzling 3D graphics that bring games to life.

Mac OS X Panther The iBook comes with Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther,” Apple’s easy-to-use, next-generation operating system. Mac OS X Panther gives you over 150 new features, including Exposé (for making the most of the real estate on your screen), Fast User Switching (perfect for families who share one computer system), and FileVault (ironclad security for all the files on your hard disk). Naturally, you also get the Internet to go, with automatic networking to make connecting a snap: Mac OS X senses whether you’re connecting from home, school or the office — and configures your system automatically. And with Mac OS X’s Instant On feature, your iBook wakes from sleep instantly when you open it.

A new point of view
The world’s most elegant user interface just got easier. A completely new Finder provides a vastly improved view of the system, with one-click access to your favorite files and folders, whether on your hard drive, iDisk, network servers or removable media. On top of that, Panther returns search results as you type in queries to find your stuff, refining the list as you narrow options. Sure you could quantify that as up to six times faster than Jaguar, but you’ll probably think Panther’s done almost before you stop typing. It’s just that fast. Compare that to finding files on a Windows-based machine and, well, there’s simply no comparison.

Mac OS X has evolved. The fourth major release in just three years, Panther offers breakthroughs in innovation, ease of use and reliability that won’t be seen in other operating systems for years, if ever. If you’re one of the millions of Mac owners, you’ll love the powerful refinements to your system. Or as a user of a Windows- or UNIX-based system, you’ll find mouth-watering incentives to switch to a Mac as your main computer.

Enjoy the digital lifestyle
You’ll never run out of amazing things to do with your iBook. Especially since every iBook ships with the entire suite of iLife ’04 applications — iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand, and iDVD. Apple’s award-winning software suite lets you create your own music CDs, manage your digital photos, edit pro-quality movies, write your own music with drag-and-drop ease, and author DVD projects, too. What’s more, the entire suite works seamlessly together, so you can easily bring your photos into iMovie and songs from your iTunes music library into iMovie, iPhoto, and iDVD. You won’t find anything like it on a PC.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To all PC Users: Switch to the Mac and Never Look Back!, June 26, 2004

By 

R. Ward (Villa Park, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple iBook Laptop 12" M9426LL/A (1.0-GHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

I've used PC's my whole life, starting with the Commodore 64 and on. I currently have a Dell at home and at work. As much as I love Dell's service, I always encounter frustrating PC problems. You always need to update drivers, peripherals don't play well with one another. Finally after finding the courage, I purchased this iBook two weeks ago and it's the best decision I ever made. MP3 player, camera, wireless, Apple begs for the challenge and comes out with flying colors every time.

It's difficult to put into words what it's like to own a computer that integrates itself within your lifestyle and not the other way around. PC users that are reading this, go to an Apple store if you can, you really have no idea what I mean until you try it out for yourself. Apple handles every task I throw at it, unlike temperamental PC's. If you're worried about few software choices, I took the iBook to work in the middle of a Windows haven and it handled everything I threw at it, including some my work Dell couldn't handle. I did have to add Office Mac, but the Apple offers far superior graphics and publishing abilities. I'm able to create richer documents and have yet to encounter a single problem with sharing among operating systems (mac's preference for .pdf is fantastic!) Work documents, spreadsheets, music, dvd watching on long flights (i'm getting just under 5 hours of battery life), photos of my family. None of it is a problem for this little guy and it looks great! The only draw back is if you are a gamer, this is not for you, either stick to a PC or buy a console.

If you travel a lot like me, the iBook is as light as they come and finds all wireless access points on its own. It's great and is now cheaper than comparable PC laptops in weight with far superior performance. I picked the iBook because I wasn't sure about mac, I didn't want to spend too much. But now I'm already thinking about a Power Book and I'll never buy a PC again. p.s. invest in the RAM upgrade, minimum 512, it's worth every penny.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE PERFECT LAPTOP!, July 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Apple iBook Laptop 12" M9426LL/A (1.0-GHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

For those of you looking for a great laptop, look no further!

I had owned Apple computers through the 80's and into the early 90's. But I, as many others, switched to IBM/Windows compatible computers when they broke the $1000 mark about 10 years ago. The vast software choices and the low price made me think it would be OK to switch.

Through the years, I struggled with windows operating systems, and with each new release of Windows, they copied more and more off the Macintosh operating system. But even with Windows XP, Microsoft still could not get it right. Applications frequently lock up, and you still need to restart your computer every day or so in order for it to run properly. So finally, when it came time to purchase a new computer (as everyone does every few years), I decided to go back to Apple. This was the best choice I ever made!

The 12" screen is so crisp and clear that you are not even bothered by the fact that it is really only 12". The operating system (OS X panther) has so many great features that you will wonder how you ever lived without it. It offers excellent compatibility with any windows network (I have found that sometimes it works better on windows networks than windows pc's do!). If you have never used a Mac before, the operating system is easy to learn, plus the online help will answer any questions you may have.

Another big advantage is the speed the G4 processor has over a Windows compatible machine. Don't be fooled by it being rated as a 1 GHz processor, because a 1 GHz processor in a Mac is much faster than a 1 GHz IBM compatible computer.

Furthermore, the battery life is amazing for a laptop (approx. 5 hours).

The computer comes with 2 USB 2.0 Ports for endless expansion possibilities. Also, you can add an AirPort extreme card for wireless networking, which makes it easy to get online anywhere in your home or office.

This is a great little laptop for the student or business professional!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars iBook brings a Mac portable to the masses..., January 29, 2005

By 

Steve H "books911" (U.S.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple iBook Laptop 12" M9426LL/A (1.0-GHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM, 30 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

iBook is the consumer notebook computer, which Apple offers. I actually custom-configured mine at Apple.com, so mine varies slightly from the specs of the standard model listed here. It is the same G4 processor, but I have a 60 GB hard drive, airport extreme card, bluetooth module, and I upgraded the iBook to 768 MB of memory.

This iBook is a great way to step into the world of Mac. However, even a veteran Mac user will find an iBook a great machine. Do not allow the 1.07 GHZ chip to scare you. This is a capable machine. Furthermore, you can view all your favorite DVDs and burn CDs. The size of the iBook is one of the fantastic features. This notebook is small and light. I use my iBook all over the house with the airport extreme card I added. I might sit at the dining room table, on the couch, on the living room floor, in the office, or in my bedroom.

I do recommend you add some memory to the iBook, which can add yourself. The owners manual provides some instructions. I would recommend adding a 512 MB stick, which will bring you up to 768 MB, but even adding a 256 MB stick, would be good.

The iBook obviously runs Mac's OS X Panther (operating system). OS X is fantastic, with a lot of great features such as expose, iCalendar, Sherlock, etc. However, the iBook includes other Apple software titles too. iLife '04 is included, which has iTunes, iPhoto, IMovie, and iDVD. iMovie and iDVD are the easiest consumer applications for making movies and burning DVDs. They are fantastic. Everyone loves iTunes, and iPhoto is hands down the best way to organize your photos. What is so great about this? You're iBook is ready for all of this out of the box! Finally, Appleworks is included with the iBook. Appleworks is a somewhat out of date program, but it can still get your word processing, spreadsheet, and other tasks performed. However, if you want a top quality office suite, I would recommend you purchase Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac.

Back to the hardware, the video out on the iBook is the only thing somewhat less than satisfactory in my opinion. It has a mini-DVI output, and it includes an adapter, so you can connect an external display for mirroring via VGA connector. However, the notebook's LCD must remain on the same time, cutting your video memory in half. It isn't a huge problem for me, but the iBook does not have the extended desktop feature, when using an external monitor, that the Powerbook enjoys.

Overall, the iBook 1.07 GHZ G4 system is an amazingly portable notebook computer with acceptable performance. The included Apple software will keep you occupied, organized, and entertained.