***ibook G4*** (14")

I find the screen fine on my 12" ibook. You're correct that it doesnt have xbrite (or similiar) like my old notebook did, but I'm glad I can take it outside at noon and still see what I'm doing.

On the cosmetic side, yes it is very good looking. It most certainly stands out when you're surrounded by other people with black/grey notebooks. I'm not sure if standing out is a good thing, especially in public and with something as expensive as a notebook!

Yes fingerprints are an issue, they are easily seen when the light reflects off the shell. Apart from that, I can't see any dirt on it when I look around the case, but that's most likely because I've only had it for just over a day!

I don't think you can customise the keys for iTunes, to change tracks/pause/play/volume it is a combination of the command key (windows key) with another key.

I find the speakers fine for listening to the radio, and thats about it, the volume is pretty quiet, and of course with most if not all notebook speakers, no bass.

Keyboard is fine, easy to type on. Acutally the keys on my notebook are bigger than the ones for my desktop! But that's probably just me. Only thing that needs getting used to though is I find I keep pressing the '\' key rather than return.

As this is my first mac I thought it would be quite daunting to suddenly switch. But once I got it out of the box and powered it up for the first time everything came naturally.

Oh and one last thing, it goes nice with my iPod photo

1) the screen of the 14" is fine. it's brighter and has good viewing angles, the 12" is the one which is a bit dull and doesn't have the greatest viewing angles, per the cramming of 1024x768 into a 12" screen (similar to ppl's comments on 15" 1400x1050 screens).

2) the 14" is 5.9lbs

3) yes it's a nice looking laptop. it's understated, intentionally, although the glowing apple is a bit attention grabbing. then again there's no reason a product can't grab your attention and be elegant, polished, and streamlined. it can get smudges and such on the palmrest and case. thus far i haven't gotten anything on it that i couldn't just rub off w/ my finger.

4) in itunes u can use the spacebar as pause, and the arrow keys to jump back and forth without having to hit the apple/command button. u do have to be in itunes however.

- shifting between apps is as simple if not more in OS X than windows. the dock has itunes listed on it when it's installed, and u can just click on it and play. it's not like windows where u might have to go into the start menu or even the "tower" of quicklaunch items to start things up. u can apple+tab to do the equivalent of alt+tab in windows. u can also alt+tilde (after holding apple+tab) to move backwards in the open app sequence). so it's a bit easier to navigate than windows.

5) yup, small, pitiful bass, and only good for casual listening. headphones and/or a decent set of external speakers of course change all of this.

6) personally i don't like any of the "xbrite" screens. i like to look at my screen, not the people behind me, then again u could also check your makeup in it. bright is peachy, but i have yet to see a variant that doesn't have the annoying as hell glossy screen as well. afaik you'll be hard pressed to find another notebook that will give u 5+ hours of battery life (w/o extra battery packs) for ~$1300 US. a friend of mine has the 14", was tempted by Dell machines w/ their glossy screens...i talked her into switching. she loves it!

my old compaq was 5.5lbs. i found it to be workable and a nice size (6.5 lbs is as much as i would allow for a system you want to use for any degree of mobility). if u carry more than a few books at a time it'll add up however. my old notebook was also a 14" 1024x768 machine. i personally thought the resolution was great, just right for a 14" screen. on my 12" iBook there are some webpages that i need to increase the font size on to make it legible. the 14" doesn't have this issue. my friend w/ the 14" is all of 4' 11" and she totes it with her daily. she uses a shoulder bag, but personally i'd recommend a laptop backpack as they're better for your back.

look at it this way...the new updates make the iBooks an even better deal than they were. the 14" is now pretty packed with features since they merged the low and high end 14" models into one offering. in sum, u get a very nice machine that comes stock w/ a DVD burner, discrete graphics (for me it's not so much about games, more about making the user experience in the OS more fluid), bluetooth, a nice harddrive size & RAM, wicked battery life, a powered 6-pin firewire port, and not to mention the iLife suite as well as little perks like appleworks (no rhyme intended). that, along with the iPod rebate makes the combo one hell of a deal. given the overall savings, if u end up not liking the iBook u could most likely sell it on ebay and make a profit for what you've already gotten (after u get the rebate of course). Apple's notebooks tend to hold their value a great deal more than others.

hope this helps.

Hmm, is the 14" that much bigger than the 12" in terms of size and weight? Cause I might suggest the 14" to my friend instead of the 12" if it's a better overall deal in terms of features and quality. But it still is $350 CDN more expensive @ $1549 for the educational price (vs. $1199).

Btw, I don't think she'd really need the extra DVD burning capability, as she's a musician and isn't going to be burning anime or anything

Unless you need the dvd burner, I'd suggest the 12". The resolution on the two are the same. The 14" just seems too big for what it is. Speed-wise, their fairly close to not really notice.

If you're worried that the text will be too small on the 12", it's not. At least not from mine and others' experience on the 12" models, be it an ibook or a powerbook. I know a good many people who do professional design work on a 12".

Also, you can download a free app such as ByteController, that will put iTunes controls in the top menu bar. Then, just close out the iTunes instance and you can still switch songs and etc up there easily.

nothing is ever really free !!! but in my opinion it's a good deal b/c it doesn't make any sense to me to own an ipod/shuttle w/o an imac.

Anyways i have a new ibook G4 14" and it's my greatest investment so far. Actually right now i'm downloading the new itunes version 4.9.

The screen is great , at first i was almost caught up in the craze of buying a small compact laptop like the 12" until i was in the store and saw the slight differences in visual quality and i wanted the best for the amnt of money i was going to fork out.
Basically if ur into playing movies and games then the 14" is for you. it's also get at school, i do alot of lab work and the slides pics come up great on my ibook almost of similar quality to my friend 's powerbook 15".

Style wise no one can beat a mac (ibook) the polished cover is easy to care esp if you keep it enclosed in a case or book bag. just wipe of finger prints w/ a soft cloth.

Weight wise , when i carried my ibook in my book bag w/ my books it was kinda heavy w/o books it's ok.
also the sound is wonderful and w/ the new itunes i'll hav 2 dish l8r once i've tried it.

tax will be added before your final purchase. or u could go thru apple canada's telesales and just ask them to calculate it for you.

the iPod mini is "free" insofar as the rebate goes toward the price of the item and not the taxes already paid for it. if u paid 15% tax in canada for the mini, u'd basically be paying $33.75 for the mini, since the rebate is applied after having paid taxes. read the following however...

ipods have had a premium tax on them in canada, but that's being revised apparently. u'll have to ask about that as well when u call. do some reading on the following link and associated article and let us know what u find out when u call.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12...d_tax_illegal/

i don't know what taxes r like in canada but here the student union deal beat out any other 3rd party rebate offers and sales.

Ok... I thought that I had responded, but apparently it didn't happen... I'll re-do my post:

Basically, that link says that the extra tax / media levy on the iPods was ruled illegal in Dec 2004, and I think it would have been immediate. Anyways, I think that "tax" was levied directly on the manufacturers, because the article was speculating on how soon they'd see Apple reduce their prices on their iPods. So, if I'm right, there would never have been an extra tax on top of the price you pay on your iPod (other than GST/PST).

Very good example - My Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 1 still is better than the XPS Gen 2, but as soon the Gen 2 came out, you can only get about 1/3 of what you paid to resell your Gen 1.

iBook G4 - 800mhz versions still go for around $700 to $800 USD.