The Keeper of the iBook

No Regrets

By Mark Newhouse, <ibook_keeper@mac.com>
September 18, 2000

The new iBooks are out, not that that's news to anyone reading this article. Their new specs make them look a whole lot more like a PowerBook under the hood, but with much more style (as opposed to the class of the PowerBook) on the outside. You could almost hear the wails of those who recently purchased iBooks, when it was announced that the new and improved version also cost $100 less (entry).

Is there really that much to worry about? The existence of a faster iBook doesn't make mine any less capable. There are still many reasons to enjoy using even a Revision A iBook. So I present the top 10 reasons I have no regrets about my Tangerine , Revision A iBook.

10. 64Mb RAM. My iBook has 96 Mb RAM now, and that is fine. With 64Mb, I'd still need to upgrade to have a reasonable amount of memory.

9. 366-466MHz G3. While this is nice, I can only type so fast. And surfing the web is more constrained by the pipe I'm hooked into than cpu speed. The few seconds I'd save when I actually edit images in Photoshop on the iBook would go essentially unnoticed.

8. iMovie. On an 800x600 display? I don't think so... I'll save it for my dual display Blue and White G3.

7. Composite Video out. I think people are too excited about this one. A computer displayed on a television leaves a lot to be desired in terms of quality and readability.

6. 10 Gig of Storage. I still have a Gig left on my 3.2 Gig drive. Granted my iBook is not my main workhorse, and more storage is always good, but for my current pattern of use, 10 Gig isn't critical.

5. FireWire. I've had this technology for two years on my Blue and White G3 tower, and have yet to use it (although that will be changing soon...). So It's not like I have a stack of FireWire peripherals sitting around waiting for the iBook to get FireWire.

4. 8 months of productivity. If I had waited, there'd be no Keeper of the iBook, no iBook, iMac, iBlog, no PowerBlog, not to mention the "real" work I've done for my employer.

3. $1499 for the 366MHz model. My company paid for mine, but even if I had shelled out the $1600 for a Rev. A iBook a year ago, I'd still be happy with the decision.

2. DVD. I can already watch Star Wars, The Phantom Menace (on Video CD) on my Rev. A iBook, and it's not on DVD yet. And I can count the number of DVDs I've watched on my Blue and White G3 on one finger. By the time software on DVD-ROM reaches critical mass, I'll be ready for another 'Book.

1. Tangerine! You can't get it anymore. My iBook is a collector's item now.

That said, I am not down on the new iBooks - they're a fantastic value. In fact there's no better time to buy an iBook. But, even though I drool at the thought of a Key Lime iBook SE, it doesn't change the way I feel about my Tangerine Revision A.

I have No Regrets...

Mark Newhouse is the Web Designer for the public outreach arm of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson, AZ, where he still finds the Rev. A Tangerine iBook to be a great tool for productivity.

The iBook image is courtesy Apple Computer, Inc. The iBook icon is courtesy the Iconfactory.