With built-in AirPort Extreme, the iBook has touched down in the 21st century
After yawning over the last under-achieving iBooks in our September 2004 issue (page 58), a breath of fresh AirPort has perked up our appreciation. Yes, the 12" iBook finally has built-in AirPort Extreme for high-speed wireless Internet access, and this means the most portable and affordable of all Apple laptops will likely never leave your side. Wireless access is everywhere these days, and we had a ball discovering all the hot spots we could leech off of in cafes, bars, friends' apartments and of course at home. The AirPort Extreme worked flawlessly and automatically, and its performance seemed limited only by the strength of the host network.
The G4 processor has bumped up from 1GHz to 1.2GHz, while the price has dipped a bill from $1,100 to $1,000. Somewhat disappointingly, the RAM, hard disk and graphics processor are all the same as they were two revs ago when the iBook first added a G4 processor. Overall, however, the improvements and the price drop make this iBook a much more enticing buy.