Computing News
Apple’s Latest iBook
On May 1, 2001, Apple Computer announced a new version of their iBook laptop line. This system, currently available only in white, represents an update to the "consumer portable" portion of Apple's five-part product line. The single color choice aside, it is available in several standard configurations.
The new iBook is approximately 2 pounds lighter than the previous version, weighing in at 4.9 lbs in its base configuration. It comes in three standard configurations and can be custom configured at Penn's Apple Store.
What it has
- 500 MHz G3 processor with 256K on-chip level 2 cache
- 64MB of RAM, expandable to 576MB; or 128MB of DRAM expandable to 640MB
- 10/100BaseT Ethernet and 56 kbps modem
- Two 12 Mbps USB ports for connecting low-speed devices
- One 400 Mbps FireWire (IEEE 1394) port
- 12.1-inch active matrix LCD display with 1152 x 768 maximum (native) resolution
- ATI Rage Mobility graphics accelerator with 8MB of SDRAM and AGP 2X support
- RGB video output port and composite video output through AV port
- 10 GB hard disk (20 GB hard disk available)
- CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or CD-RW drive (CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive available)
- Stereo speakers
- Mac OS 9.1 (iBooks will shortly begin shipping with Mac OS X)
What it doesn’t have (that the PowerBook G4 does)
- VGA connector
- PC Card (PCMCIA) slot
- IR port
Standard configurations
The iBook is offered in three standard configurations at the Computer Connection:
- 500 MHz G3/64 Mbytes RAM/10 Gbyte hard drive/24x CD-ROM drive
- 500 MHz G3/128 Mbytes RAM/10 Gbyte hard drive/8x DVD-ROM drive
- 500 MHz G3/128 Mbytes RAM/10 Gbyte hard drive/8x4x24 CD-RW drive
Additional build-to-order (BTO) options, including a 20 Gbyte hard drive and a CD-RW/DVD ROM combo drive, are available.
Technical issues & recommendations
ISC does not expect there to be significant hardware-related compatibility problems with the iBook. However, the iBook will have the same software-related conflicts that any Mac OS 9.1-based or Mac OS X-based workstation would have.
ISC has tested the iBook for compatibility with University-supported hardware and software. The iBook is compatible with the 2000 PennConnect CD-ROM and with Penn’s supported network applications. Attention has also been paid to dial-up networking and modem functionality, which has been tested using a modified version of ISC’s modem testing script.
Depending on how well configured they are, these workstations meet either ISC’s Recommended Configurations for New Value Laptop Workstations or ISC’s Recommended Configurations for New Lightweight Laptop Workstations. Please note that ISC considers 128 MB of RAM to be the absolute minimum for a new workstation. As always, support providers should be aware of the technical issues associated with any new workstation design.
--Robert L. DeSilets, Jr., IT Support Specialist, ISC Provider Desk
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