Apple iBook G4 12 inch

Newbie Macheads—and anyone who enjoys the Apple design—have enjoyed the unique style, reliability, and value price ($999 direct) of the Apple iBook 12-inch for a while now. But beyond the once-in-a-while processor bump, the iBook has seen little in terms of upgrades. In fact, we have yet to see 512MB RAM become standard, and the hard drive capacity is becoming complacent, at 30GB.

The exterior hasn't changed a bit, which is a good thing, of course. It's crafted from a tough polycarbonate plastic that's even tougher than the ABS plastic typically found on consumer notebooks. The 12-inch screen looks a bit dull against the shiny white finish, but the full-size keyboard and the touchpad are very responsive.

Battery life continues to be decent: We were able to get 3 hours 14 minutes running the Titanic DVD. The iBook 12-inch comes with Airport Extreme 802.11g wireless and the enviable iLife '05 multimedia software bundle, as well as Quicken for Mac and World Book Encyclopedia.

Unfortunately, there are only two USB ports (not enough for our tastes) and one FireWire port. The aforementioned 30GB hard drive is smaller than what you'll get on most of its value notebook competitors. If you're looking for a small and compact notebook, you might want to check out the Averatec AV3270-EE1. It doesn't have the Apple wow 'em design, but it's sleek enough in its own right, and, more important, it's got a 60GB hard drive, 512MB memory, and a DVD±RW drive.

If you've got to go Mac, the iBook is the only Apple notebook you can get for less than $1,000, which is unfortunate, because aside from the impeccable design, its features are just ho-hum.