Apple 12-inch PowerBook 1GHz

The Apple 12-inch PowerBook 1Ghz is the first Apple computer I've ever owned, but I've been around the Apple machines for a couple of years already. The OS X Tiger is probably the most down to earth and easiest to get along with. The machine somehow came with the iLife '05, but it only took me one call to get the '06 version delivered to my door. It's a great computer, and the Apple's usually lasts couple of years longer than PC's. No joke!

In 2004 I bought an Apple PowerBook G4 12", CPU(1.1), 1.33 GHz, L2 Cache 512 KB,Memory 512 MB.

The price was excellent and the features also but there are some things I wish I knew before buying it.

Mac is the last to support innovation.

Exemple: Java 5. After 8 months it is now available only with Tiger. If you don't have any reasons to upgrade this might be a good reason not to pick a Mac.

The resolution of Mac screens is average. 1024x768 is a poor quality compared to PCs! This is something Apple sells as an excellent quality.

When I bought it, July 2004, all the reviews stated this powerbook had a superior quality than iBook and is intended for professionals, especially from the entertainment industry. I work daily with images and I expect something more from Apple. This would have been a reason for me to pick an iBook or a PC.

I bought the iBook as I have had an iMac for a couple of years and have been very happy with it. I now use the iMac (G3 600) as a server for my music collection and the iBook to access it from anywhere in the house via the wireless network. Using the Airport express, I can stream the music to my Hi-Fi and the sound quality is excellent. Being Apple, the whole system was very easy to setup and has been very reliable so far. Also being Apple, I do not have grey boxes and cables all over the place. As far as performance is concerned, OSX makes XP look really silly. Applications open and close quickly and the sleep mode is impressive on the iBook with the machine ready to go in the time it takes to open the lid. Stability is first rate and in the two years I have had OSX running, I have not had to re-install it. In addition, viruses generally leave OSX alone and I have not had any on my machines despite not having any anti virus software. Apple I think have really thought about the way people want to use their computers and the software is quite brilliant. Music, photos and video are extremely well catered for and the supplied Appleworks suite takes care of letters, spreadsheets drawing etc. It can read and save into PC formats for Word and Excel so file sharing is as easy as PC to PC. For anyone looking for a computer that is easy to use and does not take over the house, the iBook is a perfect solution.

This Apple 12-inch PowerBook 1GHz is the best laptop money can buy - across any platform. Its so light it feels like a palmtop sometimes. Its powerful enough to replace my desktop for almost everything. It has built-in Bluetooth and Airport Extreme (802.11g). It burns DVDs. It runs an OS that is the combination of the stability and feature of Unix, and the ease of use of traditional Mac systems. All major apps on Windows have Mac versions, and if there's one that doesn't you can just run it through Virtual PC. A modern Apple computer takes the headache out of owning a computer but keeps you right up to date with technology. Its size it perfect. Its feature set is perfect. I can't fault it. It even retains its value if you come to sell it later - you're pretty much guaranteed a higher price for an Apple laptop than for the stock Wintel laptop. Take a look in eBay to prove it. This is a safe purchase. This laptop is perfection personified. I had an original 12-inch PowerBook and decided I wanted something just a bit more powerful, but just ended up coming back to a newer version of this. Treat yourself today.