excellent info, thanks for the reply. that makes me feel much better.
when i have played with the beat up display models in the store, i was impressed with how well the ibook had held up and with the construction quality. i also thought the speakers were pretty good. i hate the fact they are white, but it definitely makes them stand out. i am anal retentive and love to clean stuff, so i should be happy with that i guess.
anywayz, i have been thinking about it and i have come to the following conclusions.
pretty much all of the horror stories i have heard refer to the older ibooks and "dual usb" ibooks, whatever those are. i have yet to see or hear of anyone complaining of logic board problems with their g4 800 mhz 12". from what i can gather, there have been some design and component changes in this new version which may have remedied the situation. either way, i am so ready for something different that i am willing to take the chance. i don't exactly have money to throw away on a lemon, but it is just as probable that i will get a lemon pc. i have heard of jillions of people with problematic dells, compaqs, etc. and now they are outsourcing their tech support to india??? yikes and no thanks. regardless, the only problems i have heard of so far with the new ibooks are sleep, track pad and OS issues. and you simply CANNOT get the same collection of hardware and capabilities in a pc for such a great price.
additionally, i also started to look at things from this aspect. i compare the purchase of a laptop to purchasing a car, equally as scary and important to daily function. now you can go with the old faithful, tame, safe economy box, but if you want to do something different or step outside your safe little box, you have to take some chances. for instance, bmw's are widely recognized as exciting, performance vehicles. they are a joy to drive, look cool and not everyone has the guts or the money to purchase one. alternatively, they can be horrid money pits. they are tempermental, require frequent servicing and usually must be taken to the extremely expensive dealership for service. hopefully, all this is done under warranty and sometimes you get a gem which really needs very little work. i am feeling the same about the ibook. it may be a bit tempermental, it may have some issues, it will definitely require getting used to, but i have to take the good with the bad. i should feel fortunate that my last laptop lasted 4 years without a single problem. i pray that will be my experience with apple. from what i have heard, they have an excellent tradition of quality, i just have to hope that they have returned to this tradition with the new ibook improvements.
t
