In similar style to the iMAC, the iBOOK comes in two flavors of Blueberry and Tangerine. It has a handy carrying handle built into the back.

The case does not latch shut, there are springs in the hinge mechanism which keep it closed after being shut. There is no floppy drive. It must be understood that, for a Mac, floppy drives are far from necessary. Every Mac, for the past eight years if not longer, has been able to boot off of CD-ROM.

The iBook is a great move on Apple's part. It will sell like hotcakes to college students as well as first time computer buyers. Users with greater needs will still go for the feature filled PowerBook G3 Series computers. The $2000 price point is a major psychological barrier to many buyers, and by breaking that barrier with the iBook, Apple will gain some major market share.

With the built in modem and Ethernet, Apple is setting the iBook up as the easy Internet access machine. Whether you have a cable modem, DSL, or just a POTS (plain old telephone system), the iBook, like the iMac, will be able to get online quickly and easily.

Since the iBook has AGP 2x, it is safe to assume that upcoming Macintoshes will use AGP as well. Currently Apple is using a 66MHz 32bit PCI slot for its graphics card. By going to AGP, Apple will open its hardware to faster video cards that are only available for AGP. This is yet another positive movement by Apple towards accepting industry standards. Apple's old, "If it didn't come from here then it stinks!" attitude is gone.

The AirPort wireless networking system is probably intended for schools, and possibly businesses. Imagine a classroom where every student has an iBook. The teacher will be able to remotely administer the students' books and the students will be able to roam outside of the classroom while working on projects. Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, has been purchasing PowerBooks for his students for years. The AirPort system may be some of the Woz's vision of the future of education seeping into Apple's product line.

We have only one minor complaint about the iBook. The USB port is on the left-hand side. This is great for lefties, but for us right-handers, this is an inconvenience.

All in all, the iBook appears to be a great product.

Jon Simon - Macintosh Editor