so I'm buying an iBook...what should I know?

[wide]

Now that the new iBooks have been released, I feel it's a good time to order an iBoook. before i do that i would just like some advice/answers.

I plan on getting a stock 12.1" ibook. That way, it will be portable enough for me to bring to school.

Here is my choice of products to use with this computer:

1) Shinza notebook sleeve. Does anyone know how well this works? I do not plan on buying a case for the computer, I want to put it in my backpack to bring it to school. Will this sleeve provide enough protection, even if my backpack has textbooks in it?

2) Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse. I definately want to take advantage of the ibook's bluetooth. this mouse seems to be the best because it has mac compatibility (I think ) and I know and like the feel b/c I have a USB wireless MX700 Duo. are there any other mac-compatible BT mouses that are ergonomic and have at least 5 buttons (left click, right click, scroll, back, forward)?

3) Microsoft Office 2004. I don't like AppleWorks and iWork is too slow, from what I hear.

4) iSkin keyboard protector. Does anyone know which colors look best? I would like the clear one ("Artic"), but that isn't shipping for a while and I would like to get it before I go away in august because with me, keyboards wear quickly. I will snatch up a clear one if I see it on ebay.

lastly, I would like to ask what people who have this computer, or a 1.33GHz PowerBook 12 inch, think about it. I am coming from a 14.1" Dell that has a fairly high resolution (1400x1050), and while i do not plan on using this for graphics design or programming, I will play some games (Halo, MoH:AA, CoD if it will work) and I do a fair amount of web browsing and word processing. Will I ever find real constrictions? i am going to have about 1/2 the screen space of my current Dell notebook on my iBook...will it take long to get used to this? will i ever get used to it?

thanks for your advice!

 

[zach]

Expose will help quite a bit when it comes to screen area, plus OS X just manages space better than Windows in general, so the pixel constraints won't be a HUGE deal.

Office is great, I think it's better than Office XP.

And I've heard that Logitech mouse is great.

 

[Ugg]

I have a Shinza sleeve and just toss it into my generic backpack. Has worked fine for about 6 months. Actually, it took quite a beating when I got hit by a car, my PB was sleeping and afterwards it powered right up. The only bad thing about the Shinza/generic backpack is that if you don't have anything else in the backpack my PB tends to move around a lot. I'm either going to get some kind of internal strap to keep it tight or get a backpack that has a pocket for notebooks.

I had a 15" CRT iMac, I'm very pleased with the PB's viewability, it's a lot easier on my eyes than a CRT. I'm not a big fan of high resolution on a small screen but you'll have your own thoughts. All I can say is that 12" is just fine for me.

 

[mkrishnan]

Well, the first thing you should know is be prepared for how many people will want to compliment it and look at it and pick it up.

Sleeve -- I have the Tucano one, and they are nice, but are mostly good for scratch protection. I like it -- but I most often use a backpack with a built-in computer holster.

MS Office 04 -- yeah, I like it muchly myself. The only annoying thing about the Office apps on the 1024x768 screen size, especially, is that documents tend to be difficult to read at 100% -- this is really strange because the same document will not be difficult to read at 100% on a Windows computer at the same resolution. So usually I have to use 125% in Excel and Word. Also, the support of Unicode is still less than perfect, which makes me grumble, since that was one of the big reasons I upgraded from .X to 2004.

iSkin -- I have a blue one and a hot pink one, and hehe I've been on the hot pink color theme for a while now, but one practical benefit is that it's easier to see the keycaps through the iSkin in low lighting.

Screen real-estate -- Well, it's used differently. But I do miss the additional vertical real-estate in my browser. I don't notice impairment in other apps as much. If you did two docs side-by-side... well, yes, that'll pretty much be out. Have you thought about a PB 15"? I guess the big up is that you will probably fall in love with the portability of 12" notebooks. Even if I went back to Windows, I refuse to buy anything that weighs >5 lbs or is physically bigger than the 12" iBook now.

Hope you love it!

 

[cubist]

I have the 12" iBook previous model (1.2GHz) and I like it a lot. I do wish it had a bigger hard drive, but the screen is very readable (some folks say it's not bright enough for them, but I think it's plenty bright). Hadn't heard of a screen protector. You need to add RAM. Hopefully you have a free slot with 512 on the built-in, so you can add another 512 under the keyboard.

I don't have Halo, but the machine plays UT2004 fine.

 

[wide]

thanks for the responses!

Screen real-estate -- Well, it's used differently. But I do miss the additional vertical real-estate in my browser. I don't notice impairment in other apps as much. If you did two docs side-by-side... well, yes, that'll pretty much be out. Have you thought about a PB 15"?

I have thought about getting a 15" powerbook, but I've decided to wait until they are released with Intel processors and have a higher resolution. I plan on selling the iBook in around a year, whenever I get my sweet intel Powerbook .

Does anyone know about the MX900?

 

[mkrishnan]

I have thought about getting a 15" powerbook, but I've decided to wait until they are released with Intel processors and have a higher resolution. I plan on selling the iBook in around a year, whenever I get my sweet intel Powerbook

Heh...just for fun, I'm running the screen spanning hack and a 2001FP running at 1600x1200 today on my iBook. It isn't fast, but it works! And yeah, I could get used to this much screen real estate!

I think your plan sounds very reasonable. Who can say what will happen exactly to PPC resale values when Mactels come out, but I do not suspect they will tank. Apples tend to have excellent resale value, and so your plan sounds very solid.

Oh, and with regard to the MX900, do a forum search -- I'm fairly certain that I've seen it discussed here before. FWIW I have an Apple BT mouse, so I can't help you on the five buttons front.