TiBook v. iBook
Half the 'Book or Half the Price?
by Remy Davison

Is the iBook more than half as good as the TiBook? Is the TiBook more than twice the computer the iBook is? Is it a poor man's Pismo? A poverty-model Titanium? The answers to all these questions - and more - will be yours. Soon. And there'll be none of that wishy-washy, you-pays-your-money-and-you-takes-your-choice garbage. This is a no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners, tag-team play-off (or something).

If you buy an iBook, you probably weren't going to buy a PowerBook G4 in any case. Put it this way: if you're upgrading from a 12.1" Wallstreet, a Kanga G3 PowerBook or an earlier model, the iBook's price, speed and feature set are going to be more than enough of an upgrade.

Are you going to buy an iBook? Were you ever really going to buy a Titanium? Come on; be honest. Have you ever owned a PowerBook before? Have you bought a new PowerBook in the last three years?

If you answered 'Yes' to any of those questions, take this survey:

Do you have a PowerBook G3?
Is its screen 14.1"?
Do you use FireWire devices?
Do you ever use your CardBus slot?
Do you use dual batteries?
Do you ever use IrDA?
Are you good at taking iBooks apart?
Do you specialise in replacing hard drives?
Are you good at not losing over 30 screws?
Do you really want a 12.1", Cardbus-less, single-battery-toting, IR-less iBook?

I guess that's what you would call a leading survey. But this is the question for those considering swapping their trusty Black 'Book for something bright and white, or something more like quicksilver.

My opposite number at MacOpinion, Charles Moore, has argued forcefully that the iBook is a PowerBook in all but name. There is considerable empirical evidence to substantiate that argument: the iBook 500 out-paces, out-specifies and undercuts (in terms of new, retail pricing) virtually every PowerBook of recent vintage.

And, as Bare Feats has apparently established, iBook FireWire is roughly double in performance to that of the Titanium. Very embarrassing. Although it's not yet clear whether this disparity extends only to the Oxford 911 bridge chip, or the much slower, original FireWire bridges. Watch that little problem get fixed very quickly in the near-near future.

Sibling Rivalry

How does the iBook compare with the PowerBook G4 mano-a-mano? For purely comparative purposes, it's instructive to see how the iBook 500 fares, not only in contrast with its 466MHz predecessor, but also the superseded Lombard and Pismo PowerBooks. In my view, it doesn't look that crash hot even when compared with the Lombard 400 (now over two years old). The 'Not Availables' appear far too often on the iBook side of the ledger for my liking.
Lombard 400 Pismo 500 PowerBook G4 iBook 500 iBook SE 466
CPU/MHz G3 @ 400MHz, 1MB L2 cache G3 @ 500MHz, 1MB L2 cache G4 @ 400 or 500MHz, 1MB L2 cache G3 @ 500MHz, 256K L2 cache G3 @ 466MHz, 256K L2 cache
Display 14.1", 1024x768 14.1", 1024x768 15.2", 1152x768 12.1", 1024x768 12.1", 800x600
Hard drive/controller 6.0GB (12GB BTO), UATA-33 20GB (30GB BTO), UATA-66 10 or 20GB (30GB BTO), UATA-66 10GB (20GB BTO#), UATA-66 10GB
RAM (standard/maximum) 64MB/512MB 128MB/1.0GB 128 or 256MB/1.0GB 64 or 128MB/576/640MB 64MB
System bus 66MHz 100MHz 100MHz 66MHz 66MHz
FireWire Extra-cost option via CardBus slot Two 400Mbps ports One 400Mbps port One 400Mbps port One 400Mbps port
USB Two 12Mbps ports Two 12Mbps ports Two 12Mbps ports Two 12MBps ports One 12Mbps port
Cardbus slot One Type I/II slot One Type I/II slot One Type I/II slot Not available Not available
IrDA One 4Mbps port One 4Mbps port One 4Mbps port Not available Not available
SCSI 10MBps HDI-30 Extra-cost option via CardBus slot Extra-cost option via CardBus slot Not available Not available
Expansion bays Two (1x3.5"/1x 5.25") Two (1x3.5"/1x 5.25") Not available Not available Not available
Optical drive Hot-swappable DVD-ROM drive Hot-swappable DVD-ROM drive DVD-ROM drive CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CDRW or combination CDRW/DVD-ROM drive DVD-ROM drive
Battery One 5-hour LiION One 5-hour LiION One 5-hour LiION One 5-hour LiION One 6-hour LiION
Video/display mode VGA out, S-video out, mirror mode or extended desktop VGA out, S-video out, mirror mode or extended desktop VGA out, S-video out, mirror mode or extended desktop VGA*, composite out, mirror-mode only Composite video out, mirror-mode only
Graphics card/VRAM ATI Rage Pro LT/8MB ATI Rage Mobility 128/8MB ATI Rage Mobility 128/8MB ATI Rage Mobility 128/8MB ATI Rage Mobility 128/8MB
Audio I/O 16-bit, stereo speakers, analog audio in/out 16-bit, stereo speakers, analog audio in/out 16-bit, stereo speakers, analog audio out 16-bit, stereo speakers, analog audio out 16-bit, stereo speakers, analog audio out
Airport wireless networking Optional via CardBus slot 11Mbps, optional ($99) 11Mbps, optional ($99) 11Mbps, optional ($99) 11Mbps, optional ($99)
Ethernet 10/100bT 10/100bT 10/100bT 10/100bT 10/100bT
Weight 5.9lbs 5.9lbs 5.3lbs 4.9lbs 6.7lbs
Thickness 1.7" 1.3" 1.0" 1.3" 1.7"
Price Not applicable Not applicable $2,599-$3,599 $1,299-$1,799 $1,799D

* Note that older Apple monitors, such as the AudioVision 14", MultiScan 17" and 20", 13" RGB (Trinitron), AppleColor 14", Portrait and 16" RGB (Trinitron) are not supported by the iBook. Older legacy monitors (such as the Apple 21" RGB) are not supported either.
# $200 optional extra.
D Original recommended retail price. Street prices are now considerably lower.

The Ti and i(Book)

Will the iBook cannibalise PowerBook sales? Not to a significant extent. People who want a PowerBook know they want a TiBook. They know they want a G4 and the large display. They want to run Pro applications optimised for AltiVec (Final Cut Pro, iDVD Studio Pro, QuickTime and Photoshop, for example). Generally, hard-core graphics programmes (Illustrator, Quark, Freehand) will run faster on the G4 and will take advantage of the faster system bus and the 1MB cache for frequently- called instructions. While a PowerBook user won't physically have that many more pixels to work with, complex images and video will be easier to view, given the relative size of images on the Titanium's (or a Lombard/Pismo 14.1") display.

Performance/Display:

With AltiVec-aware applications, there's no contest: the Titanium wins hands down. Users of Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, iMovie or SoundJam MP will experience significance performance hits if they use an iBook. OS X also runs much better on the PowerBook's G4 chip.

The iBook 500 is no gaming machine either. Despite an identical video card to the Pismo and Titanium, the iBook produces vastly inferior frame rates compared with even the superseded Pismo 400. The only explanations for this are the 66MHz system bus and the smaller 256K L2 cache.

For common productivity apps (Office, IE, Outlook, AppleWorks, Netscape, Toast), the iBook is more comparable to a PowerBook G4/400. Back-to-back testing with a Lombard 400 and a Pismo 500 found that it wasn't as happy as either of the PowerBooks in Photoshop, particularly with larger (70-90MB) scanned images. Rendering wasn't fast on the iBook in Final Cut Pro or Premiere either. Remember, the older PowerBooks are G3s, so they don't have the specific advantages that the Titanium's G4 provides. It's here that a fast system bus and a 1MB L2 cache counts, rather than outright clock speed (although that helps). The iBook 500 proved a bit faster than the Lombard 400 and a bit slower than the Pismo 500. The two video windows in Final Cut weren't that easy to work with, however, and the screen, despite the 1024x768 resolution, seemed a bit cramped.

A bit unfair, you might justifiably argue. No one's going to use those Pro apps on the iBook. Well - yes. And no. I would. And I bet any film/graphics major in college would as well. Right? But to even things up a bit, fire up Word or Excel 2001 with a few toolbars on the iBook. Works fine, nice and fast. But the icons are tiny. And so is the type, particularly if you use Time 10 for footnotes or whatever. Sure, you can blow up your Office doc to 125 or 150%, but you lose some of your page real estate then, don't you?

This is not to deny that the iBook's 12.1", 1024x768 display is a vast improvement over the original iBook's screen. But actually, I preferred the 800x600 resolution for legibility. What's more, for those with poor or simply aging eyesight, the iBook's ability to do non-native 800x600 or 640x480 resolution might be fine for games, but it's lousy for text. And don't even think about inviting all your friends around and shouting, "Hey everybody, let's crowd around and watch a DVD on my iBook's 12.1" screen!"

Storage

The Consumer Portable has come a long way since the original iBook shipped with a miserable 3.2GB hard drive and 32MB RAM. Now all iBooks come with a minimum of soldered 64MB RAM (still inadequate, considering they now ship with OS X, although fortunately RAM prices are probably at record lows). While some might consider 10GB to be a bit tight on drive space, this is about the industry average for a notebook of this class. An optional 20GB drive is $200 (inhale). By the way, neither of these two babies will accommodate one of the new 48GB drives currently; they both require 9.5mm, 2.5" drives.
Where the new iBook really shines, of course, is in the plethora of removable optical media options it offers: CD; DVD; CDRW; or DVD/CDRW combo drive. For my money (or yours, for that matter), the $1,599 CDRW model takes the cake. It's incredibly useful to have a CDRW on board with no plugs, power supplies or adapters to worry about. Furthermore, it virtually eliminates the need for any other form of external storage device; virtually every modern Mac or PC, desktop or portable, has a CD-ROM drive. Just burn 650MB of data and transfer it to another computer. Simple. While the iBook's CDRW specs are nothing to write home about - maxing out at 8x for CDR and 4x for CDRW - the few minutes difference in burning time between the it and the fastest FireWire/SCSI external drives is almost irrelevant. However, the combo drive iBook ($1,799) isn't quite as good value; the CDRW convenience is still there, of course, along with the added bonus of DVD, but the combo model's CDRW burns at a maximum of 4x. In my book, that's simply not competitive anymore.

And while we're on this, let's note the Titanium has no CDRW option - yet. Although as we go to press, Apple have just announced that if you buy a new TiBook, you get a free VST FireWire drive. Now this is quite nice; the VST unit is a bus-powered, tiny, very slim and attractive unit that would cost you 399 smackers normally. Its downside is that it only burns at 4x, which is well below what most FireWire-based mechanisms do these days; 10, 12 or 16x is more like it. I guess the upside is you can just shunt it over to any computer which happens to have FireWire, which can be very useful - and which you can't do with the iBook. Plus I guess you could always sell it. Or wait for the inevitable TiBook DVD/CDRW combo upgrade coming to an AppleStore near you.

The PowerBook 500 also offers a 20GB (30 BTO) hard drive as standard - and so it damn well should at that price. TiBook owners, despite some early teething problems, are also fairly enarmoured of the slot-loading, front-mounted DVD drive, whereas the iBook uses the older and more pedestrian tray-loader. In terms of memory, the 400 and 500MHz PowerBooks have 128 or 256MB on board, expandable to 1GB. I'm not sure how many people would want to put more than the 640MB into the iBook; and I'd be interested to know what proportion of owners slot more than about 640MB into their TiBooks. It's great to have the potential, of course; I just wonder how many people actually do it.

So how do you get internal, removable storage on a PowerBook G4? One way is via Compact Flash cards used in the CardBus slot. You can buy cards ranging from 2MB to 512MB in capacity, although sell the car first if you plan on buying the 512MB variety. There are generic Type II PC cards (similar to, say, a modem card); and the smaller Type I cards which require a $5 Type II PC card adapter. The latter is the one to get; that means you can use any CF card that any idiot pulls out of a camera and throws in your direction. They simply mount like any disc on the desktop and you can write to them at a rate of around 3MB/ps and read at 8MB/ps, which is faster than the fastest CDRW drives. They're hot-swappable and compatible with external USB Compact Flash readers for desktops. A 64 or 128MB card is not too expensive and prices are dropping. Unless you get an external USB device, CF cards are simply unavailable to iBooks. They last about 10,000,000 writes,which is a lot more than that $1.50 CDRW disc you just bought. Personally, I find them far more convenient than CDRW and the fact that you can simply pass them to other Mac or PC portable users is incredibly useful (so long as they give them back of course).

No other internal, removable storage options exist for the PowerBook G4. Score one for the iBook. For now.


Connectivit

Exchanging data with PC users can be crucial, and a modem and dial-up connection may not be very practical for large files. While I applaud Apple's free distribution of Disc Burner and iTunes, they're not a complete cross-platform solution. DiscBurner does do straight HFS+/ISO CDs though (but think about this: Macs not running (or incapable of running) OS 8.1 can't read your CDs. Fact. With your CDRW iBook, you'll still need to invest in Roxio's Toast to burn HFS, hybrid ISO/Joliet, VCD or Multisession CDs (true enough for PowerBooks as well, but you're more likely to get Toast or Discribe bundled with the burner you bought).

With the iBook, you'll miss being able to point your IrDA port at the office or portable printer to run off an email, fax or letter (very useful for IrDA, Apple-incompatible printers, such as some HP LaserJet models). Or syncing with your Palm or mobile phone (increasingly common).

Both the PowerBook and the iBook boast an impressive range of standard ports: FireWire; two USB ports; 10/100bT ethernet; 56K modem; VGA out; and 16-bit analogue audio out. The iBook also supports an optional AV attachment for big composite displays, while the PowerBook features S-video output. Both have omnidirectional, built-in microphones. However, they both require USB microphones or USB line-level inputs for recording audio. As discussed in the Storage section, the PowerBook features a CardBus slot for storage or additional connectivity to, say, SCSI CDRWs or HDs. The 4Mbps IrDA port is standard on the PowerBook and not available on the iBook. Both 'Books are, of course, Airport-ready - and they don't waste a CardBus port doing it, like some (all) Wintel notebooks I could mention (but I won't. All right. Dell).
The PowerBook has the edge here as it can connect to virtually anything and additional connectivity, like SCSI cards, can be stored internally. The iBook simply lacks this flexibility.

Durability/Upgrades/Accessibility

There's little doubt the external casing of the iBook will be able to withstand more of a beating than the TiBook. Like a car, the Ti - er - dents. I've seen a few display ones with dents around the PC card cage, probably from hitting a door on the move. MacPanelbeaters dot com may be the next big internet startup.

The battery falling out of place (commonly, dislocation or looseness of batteries also occurred on the 1998 Wallstreet models) was an early TiBook glitch that appears to have been cured by having better panel and battery fit. The DVD-ROM drives also seemed to sometimes get discs a bit stuck, but that one seems to be history now too.

The iBook has had its share of Version 1.0 problems as well, the most widely reported being key caps coming off (this occurred on the early Lombards and original iBooks as well. The audio doesn't always work properly either, a problem not entirely solved by Apple's Audio Update (the iBook uses a new digital<->analogue audio converter, so there're obviously a few bugs still in the system. I've had several user reports of MP3s stuttering, which even my old PowerBook 5300 didn't do.

In my view, the most serious hardware/software-related problem has been the up to 30 seconds wait for the optical drive tray to open when you press the F12 key. It's unclear whether this is a software problem. While I like the F12 idea (everyone else should go and buy the brilliant - very cheap - shareware EjectDisk written by a fellow Australian which lets you allocate auto-eject keys for Zips, Orbs, Jazzes, CDs and floppies), the manual release button is a cost-cutting move which I'm not ecstatic about.

We haven't mentioned ease of service yet. Judging by initial attempts, the new iBook's hard drive is buried even deeper in its chassis than the previous model's was, itself a bitch to get in and out of. Sure, the drives are a fair size, but they'll probably be miniscule 12 months or so from now. I don't expect the iBook hard-drive-upgrade labor market will be inexpensive either. Not so the G3 and G4 PowerBooks which permit easy, owner-installable upgrades to whatever size they want.

There are also fewer breakable parts on the PowerBook. While the fixed DVD ROM drive on the TiBook isn't exactly optimal, the slot-loading mechanism is less likely to get busted by a clumsy oaf (you) who sits on/bends/otherwise destroys the tray-loading slot on the iBook. I've seen a lot of user-killed PB1400 and G3 CD ROM drives in my time; the good news was that all they needed to do was replace the module. With the TiBook, you're more likely to destoy the CD/DVD you've jammed in there. Which, unless it's full of unrecoverable data, is okay, as at least a DVD title costs much less moolah than the drive itself. And don't come crying to me if your 3-year-old starts jamming Torx T-8 screwdrivers into your iBook's USB and FireWire ports (better the 'Book than themselves, I guess. I should know: I destroyed the family's 3-in-1 stereo (remember them?) when I was three. And caused a blackout. With a screwdriver. Oh, and the toaster at five. With a bone-handled knife. You sure you want to hire me as your Mac consultant?).

Upgrade or Just a Jump to the Left?

Let's be brutally honest here: the iBook 500 is no more a Titanium than the iMac's a Power Macintosh G4. Whichever way you cut it, the iBook's still an iMac to go. In fact, it's a smaller, less-powerful, more space-conscious iMac. Expensive display aside, it's actually the least well-equipped model in Apple's line up. It has fewer FireWire ports, much less hard drive space, a slower drive, a slower CPU (than the better iMacs), a slower bus, a slower-burning CDRW (on the combo model), inferior sound and a keyboard that's not within a bull's roar of the Pro keyboard's quality. And I'm betting Uncle Steve will make your choice between the iBook and iMac just that little bit harder come July.

And, if you're coming from a Lombard 400 or Pismo background, you'll note there's only a nominal or zero performance increase - and, depending on what you're trading in, even a performance decrease, if you upgrade from a PowerBook G3 to an iBook. Call that trading up? I'd be fascinated to know how many Lombard/Pismo owners have opted for an iBook. Hm...

Sure, sure. It's the Portable Computing Premium. But if anything, the iBook is going to eat into the iMac's sales. Say you were thinking about an $899 iMac, 400 or an iMac 500? Why not pay a little extra and get the iBook? Or the iBook CDRW? Put it this way, you were never in the market for a G4 tower, were you? Much less a PowerBook G4. So along comes Apple and delivers a fully-featured portable at an unbelieveable price. Plus, it's got everything. It's even light. This is the Consumer Portable you've been waiting for. After all, you've had three years to buy a PowerBook and you still didn't get one. And, let's face it: if you really were saving up for a TiBook, well, you can buy two iBooks now, can't you? To Apple, it's still the same amount of money in the bank. Or more if you buy two AppleCare products.

Second-Class Citizen or First-Class Consumer?

Check out the spec sheet for the old iBook SE/466. What's different? The iBook 500 has (hooray!) real VGA out; 1024x768 resolution and two pounds less flab (as a bonus, it also has double the FireWire performance of the Titanium, but no one knew that when it was announced). Agreed, these are tangible, important breakthoughs for notebook users, for whom a portable can never be too small, too light or too fast. But considering the specification of the old iBook, this is more a revision than a revolution. You even get shorter battery life in the iBook 500, although no one - incredibly - seems to have complained about this. In my honest opinion, the Paris iBooks, launched in September 2000, which put FireWire and composite video out onto the mobo of every iBook - and much bigger hard drives - were bigger news than the John Travolta white suit (circa 1982) and the higher-res screen on the iceBook. I seriously thought Jobs would announce at least an SE iBook with a 13.3", 1024x768 display. This would make absolutel sense. Make it BTO only (throw one onto the display rack at the main Mac resellers and the Apple Retail Stores, of course) and there's your iBook that fills the gap left by the 14.1" Pismo. It would fill roughly the same-sized chassis and obviate the need for the much-rumored (although completely unsubstantiated), 'Son of Pismo' model.

So, to summarise:

  • If you don't need a portable, the iMac 500 is better value
  • If you need a consumer portable, the iBook is outstanding value
  • The $1,299 base iBook is the best value by a country mile
  • If you do anything professional (video, graphics) or run OS X, you'll be severely disappointed with the iBook in terms of both its display and its performance
  • If you buy the PowerBook G4, you are essentially paying for the 15.2" LCD screen. Accept this as a fact of life. The G4 and the Titanium exterior are merely a bonus.
  • If you need a big screen and heavy-duty performance (and admiring looks), buy the TiBook; if you only need a smaller screen and acceptable performance, buy the iBook. Simple.


On a purely personal note, would I swap either the Wallstreet or the Lombard we have here for an iBook 500?

Frankly, no.

Why? Because I'm too used to the luxury of a 14.1" display; I use Compact Flash too often (the USB adapters cost twice the price of a 32MB card and both my USB ports are used anyway); how could I use my Capsure PC card? (I have a heap of analogue video equipment; and don't say USB, because USB video solutions are, in a word, crap); what about my piles of legacy SCSI equipment? (pretty new CDRW, hard drives, scanner). I couldn't use an extended desktop; I couldn't use two batteries (8 hours going cordless is unbeatable). Yes, I know you can get FireWire adapters for virtually everything now, but those FireWire DV video adapters cost a bomb (and a half). Plus, I have to use a heap of legacy Apple monitors as I move from office to office (14", 17" MS, 16") which, if you read the iBook fine print, you can't use with the iceBook. And I'm not just being a PowerBook snob here: upgrading all that stuff would cost a heap of moolah. Which I don't have. Because I spent it all on the legacy stuff. See? At the the TiBook (or any PowerBook) gives me the option of using CF, SCSI or analogue video. The iBook doesn't even bother asking. Plus, any Wallstreet or Lombard (any PCMCIA PowerBook) can go the Airport route for a mere $129, or $30 more than Apple's asking. Not a big price to pay.

If you're a high-end Wallstreet, Lombard or Pismo owner, I very much doubt whether you're going to be satisfied with a jump back to a 12.1" screen, regardless of its resolution. Once you've had a 14.1" display, you're not about to settle for less. Moreover, if you use CompactFlash cards or a CompactFlash PC-card adapter, you'll curse every time you forget the USB card reader you'll need with the iBook. Moreover, how do you back up an iBook without an external peripheral, if you don't have one of the CDRW models? (and it's a fair bet the base model will be the biggest seller). On a PowerBook you just slot in a CompactFlash card and back up up to 512MB of data. Very fast and you can just give it to your PC notebook-toting buddy or workmate (before s/he asks, "Where's the floppy?" Believe me: this is first question a work colleague asked me about my PowerBook G3. Not "what a stunning piece of machinery". Cretin. But I digress). An idiotic comparison of a Dell and an iBook, that's appeared just as we go to press, also has the lunacy to suggest that the Dell's floppy drive 'permits fast data transfers'. I won't link to the article, because he doesn't deserve to keep his job, and I won't embarrass the gentleman as he's probably hiding under a rock by now.

Having said that, the iBook hasn't had a single bad review in any publication I've come across. Even that old Wintel chestnut, "it's still a Macintosh" hasn't come out of the woodwork. No mention of the mixed-network-cross-platform-incompatibilities that PC-loving magazines love to drag out when the going gets tough.

Essentially, Apple has successfully revisited its own axiom, albeit one that Henry Ford I invented and perfected: the one Apple demonstrated to such devastating effect when it launched the Mac Classic, the original LC, the Performa/LC 475/Quadra 605 and the Bondi Blue iMac:

Lower the prices.

And they will come.