Originally posted by D*I*S_Frontman
The 12.1" iBook is the best value in portable computing there is, $ for feature-wise. Unbelievable buy that you actually AREN'T paying the "Apple premium" price for--a true bargain.
The form factor is great. The case material should be more scratch-resistant (more like a Pismo) and it should ship with a Combo Drive as its base optical drive (people need to burn CDs and students love watching DVDs). The hinge issue should be addressed in their next cosmetic design upgrade.
They should NOT immediately go G4 due to power and heat issues. Why should they? The software that really takes full advantage of AltiVec is seldom used by the iBook customer, and IBM can probably provide a 1 ghz G3 that would scream along nicely and still keep the long battery life iBooks are known for. The video card, however, should be upgraded to at least the 7500.