To start this off I should say I never thought I would own an Apple. However In my search for a new laptop to replace my aging HP laptop I found a few contenders, one of which was this iBook. I will try and make this a fair review that both PC users and Mac users will find useful. I will also say that if I could have gotten a better deal on the Sony I would have bought that instead. I will likely review the other laptops very soon.

Requirements:
Long Battery Life
Small Size
Small Weight (4-6.5 pounds)
Optical Drive
At least 80gig hard drive

I needed this laptop in order to take to classes with me, to take notes and basically web surf, and use Word.

Since this is a review of the iBook I won't go into too many details about the other laptops I had and or looked into. But here is a brief list: Sony 14" Vaio, a few HP laptops, a Toshiba Tablet pc, and the previous Gateway tablet.

Specs:
1.33ghz Power PC processor
512mb built in ram (Additional 512mb added by me so 1024mb total)
ATI 9550 gfx card
12" screen
80gb hard drive
Price: $1049 after my student discount

Battery Life:
The iBook with a conservative brightness, and power savings mode on, I can get anywhere from 4.5-6 hours of battery life while using Word, and surfing the net. Normal mode, which yields better performance caps battery life at around 4 or 4.5 hours.

Weight:
The iBook tips the scales at a bit over 5 pounds with my upgraded 80gb hard drive.

Size:
The iBook is the perfect size for what I need. I am a very large guy, with large hands and the keyboard fits my hands very well and feels very solid.

Screen
The 12 inch screen has a 1024x768 resolution. Once in a while I wish it was a tad bigger, but overall it is a good size. Brightness is good, and horizontal viewing angles are good as well.

Gaming:
I have played the Unreal Tournament 2004 demo on the iBook, it ran fairly well with low to moderate settings, it's no gaming machine but it will do a little.

Performance:
I was worried about this after I ordered; however my iBook is very peppy. On normal mode it is very quick, and has very little lag time. I was actually very impressed. On the battery saving setting it is noticeably laggier while opening programs, however it is a small price to pay for the extra battery life.

OSX:
The OS on this little bad boy is OSX version 10.4. That probably doesnÂ’t mean much to most of you and it didn't to me either. I was worried I was going to hate the OS, and not having the right mouse button, but I don't. I am quite impressed with OSX and the features it has. There are definitely some quirks and bugs, that should have been fixed already but Windows XP isn't perfect either. OSX is some great software, and if you simply hold control while you click the mouse, you get a right click!

Installation was HUGE, it was 15 gigs, I trimmed that down to about 6 though. This may seem insane to most of you, but it is simply convenience that Apple is adding. All of that bloat was about 40 language packs, and over 1.5 gigabytes of printer drivers! Nice but unnecessary clutter for most people.

Pros:
The size, weight, and most importantly for me battery life could simply not be beat for the price.
Great features built into the OS, easy to use, and also has some hardcore utilities and features built in. Cool look.

Cons:
Some software for pc's does not exist on the Mac platform. No (hardware) right mouse button. White case may scratch or get dirty easily.

Conclusion:
I knew what I needed in a laptop, and the iBook fit all the requirements, for hundreds less. I still have my overclocked pc desktop, but this iBook serves all of my portable computing needs in an excellent package. This is not meant to be a Switch commercial, simply a review to show that depending on your needs this is a very good option for most people. I would have to say I love this laptop, and so far it has been great.

Score:
This is based on what I needed, and how well it fits those parameters. I'm not rating it in comparison to a Voodoo PC, desktop replacement or anything like that.

9 out of 10