After opening the box and taking all of the components out, you will find a very small Quick Start Guide. This zero page (just the covers) booklet has four pictures showing you how to plug in the iBook, connect it to the net, and start it up. Upon starting up, you will be brought into the default Mac OS 9.1, and Apple's Registration and Setup program. Fill in the fields to automatically register your new iBook with Apple, and many of your favorite settings will be ready for you.

By the way, included in the box besides the iBook and it's manuals are the AC Adapter (automatically converts voltage levels in different countries), a phone cord, a CD-R disc, a RGB to VGA converter, and 10 install discs (for such things as iMovie, software restore, and hardware diagnosis).

Starting from the outside of the box, all the way down to the Power Adapter, you know Apple had design in the front of their minds with this iBook. Taking the iBook out of the box, I was taken aback by just how white this thing is! When people say the white iBook, they really mean white. And contrary to popular belief, this beautiful white exterior does not show finger prints easily, or scratch easily.

Of course, design isn't anything without durability, and Apple made this thing very strong. Picking it up by any corner results in a solid feel (even with the screen up), and there is no bending or creaking. Plus, the display hinge is one very solid, long piece of magnesium and polycarbonate plastics. Unlike older PowerBooks, the hinge will not break on this iBook. Included in the durability is no screen flexing, a solid CD tray, and a locked battery.

Speaking of batteries, since this is one of the most important part of laptops, I might as well delve right into it. This battery is locked in the lower left hand corner, where is is invisible during normal use, sturdily held in place, and provides one of the four rubber stability feet (which are held in securly by metal bands). This battery, which really does get 5+ hours of life in NORMAL usage in Mac OS 9.1, and 4+ hours in Mac OS X, has one of the nicest features you could ask for. Without even needing the computer on, you can check how much juice it has left. There are four little LEDs embedded into it, which you can push a button, and they will light up telling you how much power you have.

From the battery, the next logical step would be the sleep function. Of course, you can use the energy saver control panel, or the sleep menu item to put this baby to sleep, but you can also tell it good night by shutting it's cover. At that time, it will turn off the display, spin down the hard drive, and put the system to sleep, using minimal power. No matter how you put it to sleep, you will get a very cool pulsating sleep light to turn on. Located just to the left of the display latch, this light, which is only visible when the iBook is asleep, will quickly tell you the condition of your iBook.

Next, the user interface controls (keyboard, trackpad, and display). The keyboard is a very nice full sized keyboard, with numeric keypad activation by hitting 'num lock'. There are even keys for adjusting sound and brightness, as well as opening the CD tray. Also, there is a special fn key for activating extra functions on several keys. The trackpad is also quite large, meaning you will need less picking up of fingers to scroll the entire screen. The trackpad's button is about half as large as the trackpad, and provides a very nice clicking action.

The display is about the only User Interface object that isn't really big. At 12.1 inches, it's the standard consumer laptop size screen, but Apple was able to pack a native resolution of 1024x768 into this display. The result is a very crisp, bright screen that is easy to read. Also a major concern with LCD displays is dead or stuck pixels. My iBook came with no dead pixels, as is the case with 95% of iBook owners on the various forums.

But what good are these User Interface objects with nothing to run them? We don't have to worry about that with this iBook. A fast 500 MHz G3 CPU, 128 MB of RAM, an adequate 10 GB hard drive, and ATI Rage Mobility 128 video card give this iBook a lot of "oomph." While the hard drive RPM speed is lower than in most desktops, and 128 MB of RAM may not be enough for many people, the Pangea controller inside this thing makes it feel quite snappy.

Now, what to do with this speed? Well, one big thing these days is CD burning. The CD-RW in this machine is capable of 8x writes, and 4x rewrites. Of course, you can use Apple's DiscBurner and iTune's for CD burning, but you can also buy Toast Titanium if you need a little more burning power. Burning CDs is quite fast, getting in a full 650 MB CD in about 8-9 minutes.

Also, Apple included a huge arsenal of utilities, productivity apps, and a few nice games to get you using your iBook right out of the box. Stuff like AppleWorks 6.0, Cro Mag Rally, Bugdom, Nanosaur, iTunes, FaxSTF, and much more is included. And if you want to expand upon this, networking via Ethernet, Airport (optional), and installing stuff from CDs all works very well. In fact, Apple even made the Ethernet jack smart enough to tell when it's connected to a hub, or a computer, so crossover cables are a thing of the past.

From there, we head on to ports. Besides that Ethernet jack, there is the AC Adapter jack, a RJ-11 jack for the built in 56k modem, a FireWire port, a RGB port, an AV port, and two USB ports. Of interest here are those RGB and AV ports. The RGB port is used with the included adapter to mirror video to a separate monitor if you so wish. The AV port serves two functions. First, this is where you can plug in your headphones or speakers. But also with an optional cable from Apple, you can connect it to a TV set for video mirroring on a much larger screen.

Then comes sound input and output. For sound output, besides the AV jack, Apple has built in a set of stereo speakers that really do provide stereo sound. While they might not sound as good as your stereo, in most instances, they sound nearly as good. This is a very big step over the previous iBook's one speaker. For sound input, you will notice there is no analog jack. You could use a USB microphone, or the built in microphone. In the top right corner of the display, you will hardly notice a little hole where the microphone is. This thing should provide you with enough power to do voice verification, control, and dictation.

The last hardware thing has to do with the upgradability of this machine. Apple has made it very simple, and even includes instructions on how to install more RAM or an Airport card, but that's about all you can upgrade unless you want to really get deep into your machine. Some people have taken their iBooks apart to install different optical or hard drives, but I would totally recommend against this unless you are a professional.

The final thing has to do with the main software of any computer, the Operating System. Apple has started shipping all Macs with Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X preinstalled, with OS 9.1 as the default OS. If you want to get your work done, stay with 9.1. But if you want to experience the future, boot into OS X for a thrill ride!

I had no problems with the iBook itself. Mac OS X did provide a few extra quirks, but those are outlined in the Mac OS X review.

If your a portable user looking to upgrade, want to become a portable user, or just want the coolest laptop in the world, the iBook is for you. You will get much more than you paid for, in the most elegant design since the original iMac. This iBook is perfect for almost anybody.

Pros	Cons
Beautiful design Sharp/Bright display Very powerful Very Sturdy Cool sleep light and glowing Apple Mac OS 9.1 and X preinstalled ALOT of extra software Full sized keyboard Easy RAM and Airport expansion Very useful Battery Level LEDs Two separate USB busses	Only 128 MB of RAM 66MHz System Bus Smallish display
10/10 stars