Customer Reviews

Apple iBook Laptop G3 500MHz, 128 MB RAM, 10 GB, DVD

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First off, I think it is important to note that the rating I give the iBook is as a consumer portable. The iBook is NOT meant to replace a desktop machine. It is not designed, built or sold for heavy duty graphics, professional photo or video editing, or desktop publishing. The iBook IS designed to be very light weight, easy to use, and flexible. It is designed for the hobbiest, or consumer that wants the ability to edit their vacation pictures and videos, surf the internet, e-mail freinds and family, and generally do what any computer can do given the limitations that any portable will have.

The iBook comes with both OS9 and OSX pre installed. It also comes with a very usefull suite of productivity software that includes: 1. AppleWorks- A suite of software that includes a more then competant word processor, A spread sheet, A data base, A presentation module and others. Basically a suite similar to Microsoft Office but not as robust and not costing 400-500 bucks. It also comes with iTunes, and excellent software for listening to and burning your MP3's. For those creative people it also comes with iMovie, the best consumer video editing softer available bar none. Also software listed is also OSX compatible (though it may require software updates.

Now that OSX version 10.1 is becoming available (I just upgraded my iBook to 10.1 today), OSX is a very viable every day OS. 10.1 adds an excellent DVD player and enhanced performance, however as any totally new OS, it will take some time for some software to migrate. It is also an exceptionally stable operating system. In the three plus months that I've had my iBook, I can honestly say that the operating system (OSX) has never crashed on me. I have ofcourse had applications crash, but I've never had to restart.

Yes, the lack of a 100Mhz+ front side bus might be considered a short coming by some, however for the average home user that does not do heavy duty video editing or other extremely demanding applications on a regular basis they will rarely if ever notice this. Another short coming some may consider is the lack of a PC slot or docking capabilities. However, with two USB ports, one FireWire port, VGA port (and cable included), built in 10/100 ethernet and a built in 56k modem I'm hard pressed to think what I would need them for. As for that reviewer that warned anyone from buying an Apple product due to their support all I can say is I've been using Macs for 8 years now. I've never had one of my computers in the shop for any reason. I suppose there is always that possibility of a lemmon. I have probably called Apples support line 4-5 times in that eight years and they have always been able to fix any problem I had while I was on the phone with them.

In short, while your millage may vary, in the 3-4 months that I've had my iBook I have had absolutely no problems with it and can recommend it whole heartedly with a clear conscience.

Ever since I got my IBook my life has changed for the better
with it's combo drive and airport wireless networking it goes
where ever I go.
It goes to work with me and does the work for me It plays
music over PA systems for sports games
manages web sites, edits movies, makes Video CD's
does photoshop,the list goes on. It goes home and entertains me
with DVD's and VCD's and the latest games anywhere and I can even surf the net Broadband without any wires.
It has to be the perfect laptop for the price and it's so light too.
I love it.

I absolutely hate this product. I'm a single parent and bought this as a Christmas gift for my 2 sons. I never thought that a laptop in this day would not have a wireless card. They were so excited to finally have their first computer. Needless to say, they haven't touched it since the day after Christmas. It was a complete waste of my money and I can't afford to replace it! I would never recommend this product to anyone.

This is a really great product. It can do anything that I could possibly need. I had some trouble with OS X though, so I had to remove it and just use OS 9.

I've had the ibook for a little less than 5 months, and it has been alright. Until recently, my most pressing problem was that Netscape would crash the computer at least once a day, but that was managable. Unfortunately, 2 days ago it stopped working completely. While the gentleman on the Apple Support line was very friendly, in order for the warranty to kick in for any repairs we had to take it to an authorized Apple dealer in order to diagnose the problem before anything else could be done. That took a day and a half. Of course the Authorized Apple dealer can't make the repairs, and it has to be shipped to Apple itself to be looked at further. I could get the computer back a week from now, or it could be two months from now. Who knows? This is just been a very disappointing experience for me. I'm not familiar with other notebook brands to steer people to, but I can tell you to not waste your time and money with the ibook. It's not worth it!