Newsgroup: it.comp.macintosh
Titolo: Macworld su iBook

Cosa ne dite?
Ciao,
Manolo@S, che VOLEVA comprare l'iBook...
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iBook
BIG, HEAVY PORTABLE OFFERS LOTS OF STYLE BUT LIMITED SUBSTANCE
Although Apple's consumer portable may be one of the company's most
hotly anticipated products ever, the iBook's reality falls short of
its media-generated hype. It's not exactly a case of the emperor
having no clothes--the iBook is a natty dresser--but what's under that
striking attire leaves something to be desired in terms of size, ease
of use, and flexibility. The iBook will have some appeal for students
willing to work around its limitations, but novices may find their
needs better served by one of the new iMacs--or future iBook revisions
that address its current drawbacks.
Dressed to Thrill
The iBook's ingenious industrial design, featuring a gently curved
clamshell, white translucent plastics, and brightly colored rubber
bumpers, makes the portable look small. However, it's actually larger
and heavier than a PowerBook G3, weighing 12 ounces more than Apple's
bronze laptops.
Part of the reason for the iBook's larger dimensions is its rugged
construction--the shell and internal case are impact resistant. After
a couple weeks of carting it around, we can attest to the portable's
overall solidity. However, it did suffer a loose metal shield around
the Ethernet port, but only after several dozen cable insertions.
Other nice touches include a sturdy handle that folds up from the back
and a latchless clamshell, which automatically wakes the iBook up when
opened. We also liked the way Apple designed the iBook's indicator
lights. Rather than flashing on and off, the sleep indicator throbs.
And the light that rings the power plug glows orange when the battery
is charging and green when it is full. We hope Apple adds these design
refinements to the next PowerBook.
Although the laptop's low-profile keyboard is about the same size as
the bronze PowerBook G3's, our informal iBook jury was split: some
found it to be uncomfortable to type on, while others found its crisp
action superior to the PowerBook's keyboard.
Our jury agreed that the single speaker sounds tinny and the 12-inch
active-matrix screen, while offering a crisp, bright display, seems
lost in the iBook's large frame. The lack of a VGA connection
precludes use of external monitors or multimedia projectors. A
FireWire port would be even more useful, allowing connection of video
cameras and high-speed storage devices.
RAM Makes the iBook
When we first booted up the iBook, we were shocked by its poky
performance, especially considering that it uses a 300MHz G3
processor. Applications were slow to launch, and when switching
between applications, we could see windows redraw themselves line by
line. Then we found that the test unit, which had the iBook's standard
32MB of RAM--the lowest RAM allocation in any current Mac model--came
preset with an additional 32MB of virtual memory. Virtual memory has
long been the bane of portables, whose slower, power-frugal hard disks
are often asleep when an application wants something from the drive's
virtual memory partition.
Although reducing virtual memory helped speed things up, the
performance problems didn't go away until we added 32MB of physical
RAM. The added memory also fixed the iBook's annoying tendency to
crash. Our advice: Don't even consider buying this cute and cuddly
portable without add-on RAM. (Thanks to the portable's pop-up
keyboard, RAM is easy to install.)
Once we resolved the RAM issues, the iBook's performance was about
what you'd expect. In general, performance was a little slower than
that of a 333MHz PowerBook G3. The built-in ATI Rage Mobility graphics
accelerator and 4MB of video RAM offer fine display performance for
standard operations, but the iBook is extremely sluggish when running
such demanding 3-D games as MacSoft's Unreal.
The iBook's 3GB hard drive was also slow, but no slower than many
other portable drives. However, the 3GB capacity feels a bit tight
compared to the minimum 4GB in Apple's PowerBooks. Because the iBook
has no modular bays, you can increase storage only by adding an
external USB drive or by replacing the internal drive.
Apple estimates that the iBook can run for six hours on a single
battery charge, but that proved to be optimistic. In three trials
using the standard Energy Saver configuration, the iBook ran for an
average of four hours before losing power--about half an hour longer
than the best time for the PowerBook G3. Four hours on a single
battery is certainly impressive, but quick battery swapping--a viable
option with the PowerBook G3--is not possible because you have to
unscrew a cover on the iBook's bottom to switch batteries.
Plug and Pray
The iBook features a single USB port for connecting keyboards, mice,
serial adapters, and other components. Unfortunately, USB has proved
to be unreliable in Apple's portables; attached peripherals have been
known to suddenly cease working, forcing you to unplug the USB
connector, wait a few seconds, and plug it back in. Fortunately, most
USB-hardware developers have updated their drivers to be PowerBook
savvy, reducing, but not entirely eliminating, vanishing-peripheral
syndrome.
We're sorry to report that the iBook shows this same tendency to lose
USB devices, although as far as we can determine, it hasn't caused any
system crashes. However, both test units often crashed when we
attempted to wake them from sleep, a problem that disappeared when we
added RAM. Making matters worse, when you use the hardware reset
switch to restart the iBook, the system clock resets itself to 1/1/04,
12:01 a.m.
Since there are no media bays or PC Card slots, all you can add to an
iBook--aside from external USB devices--is physical RAM and an AirPort
wireless networking card, which had yet to ship as we went press.
From a software perspective, using an iBook is exactly like using a
PowerBook, including such cumbersome utilities as the Location
Manager. Using portables is inherently more complex than using
desktops, due to unpredictable communications connections and the need
for power management. Yet Apple has done nothing to make the portable
easier for novice users.
Macworld's Buying Advice
Apple clearly had to make some compromises to build a $1,599 portable
Mac. Unfortunately, these compromises produced a laptop that's big,
heavy, and limited in its expansion options. While $1,599 is a
breakthrough price for a Mac portable, the iBook is no PowerBook--and
it wasn't long ago that you could buy an original PowerBook G3 (one of
the heavier, fatter ones) for $1,999. If you compare the iBook to an
iMac--as Apple suggests--then it really becomes a challenge to defend
the price tag, considering that a $1,299 iMac DV comes with FireWire,
DVD drive, 64MB of RAM, a 10GB hard drive, and an 8MB ATI Rage 128
graphics accelerator. We would have a much easier time recommending an
iBook if it included the 64MB of RAM needed for acceptable
performance.
The iBook's industrial design is impressive, as are some of its
refinements, such as the latchless case. For students on a tight
budget who need a portable, the iBook might fit the bill, although
you'll have to add at least 32MB of RAM--for an extra $100 or so--to
get a usable configuration. But our guess is that many novice users
will be happier with the cheaper and more full-featured iMac.--ANDREW
GORE
RATING:  PROS: Innovative industrial design. CONS: Big; heavy; small
screen; limited configuration and expansion options; too hard to use
for novices; has stability problems with base RAM configuration.
COMPANY: Apple Computer 
(800/795-1000
, 
www.apple.com
) COMPANY'S
ESTIMATED PRICE: $1,599

>BIG, HEAVY PORTABLE OFFERS LOTS OF STYLE BUT LIMITED SUBSTANCE
AZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ gradirei
morire ;-)
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Visita il mio sito! 
http://www.michibru.net
(attualmente non in funzione)

 Cosa ne dite?
Che ho fatto bene giugno a comprarmi il G3/266 128Mb (64 omaggio) in
offerta per 4 milioni (+IVA). Ha la SCSI, la seriale, PC Card, HD da 4
Giga, schermo 14" 1024x768, ecc e ci si gioca pure benino a Carmageddon
2 :-)
Alberto