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When Apple retired the clamshell iBook model in favor of the new and boxy "snow white" iBook last year, I lamented the loss of a champion. While the new iBook was a half-inch thinner, a pound lighter, a smidge faster, and could run at a higher screen resolution (1024x768) that was more suited to OS X's larger eye candy, it lacked a certain usability.

Bill Palmer, BillPalmer.net

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Parent Category: Newsflashes

Having left in 1985, Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 and unleashed his corporate son, Ive. Apple's software was in a mess and its market share almost invisible. So Jobs went for taste, and Ive produced a series of extraordinary, wildly postmodern machines. With their translucent, candy-coloured plastics and, in the case of the desktops, large, inviting handles, they had an almost overpowering tactile quality.

Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times (Link: Wayback Machine)

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Parent Category: Newsflashes

The iBook will almost certainly bring a seachange in our perception of computing. For all the analysis and pontificating about the iBook's capabilities, the primary driver of the new laptop's success will be it's unique style and the portability to put that style in the face of the public.

Del Miller, macopinion (Link: Wayback Machine)

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Yes, the iBook is cool, if a little goofy looking, resembling a breath mint on steroids even more than the iMac does. And yes, it's a hot machine with impressive stats. But it won't be the 300 MHz G3 processor, the 32 Mbytes of RAM, the 56k modem, the built-in Ethernet, not even the low price tag that moves these things out the door.

No. What will sell the iBook is that Jobs understands that consumers want more than megahertz and memory -- they want to be entertained.

Chris Allbritton, salon.com

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The distinctive color and shape of the iBook says something about the user. I like the fact that you can't ignore me when I pull out my iBook on the bus and go to work. And the attention it receives at meetings where I use it has all been positive. People want to touch it, and try it out.

Mark Newhouse, Web Designer

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Parent Category: Newsflashes

The iBook is different. It has been designed to be handled roughly, by young people. And even though I'm sure many people would say that mature individuals should be able to handle a sophisticated machine without damaging it, I am positive that the mere idea that one has to be careful is psychologically responsible for the user more or less retreating from the machine.

Eolake Stobblehouse, macCreator.com (Link: Wayback Machine)