Doug has seen iBook, held iBook, and drooled over it. A scant 7 hours before it's to be introduced...First, yes it's named iBook. Fits in perfectly with the prediction we made a while ago in the names article.
Next, it's 300 MHz (actually a 333 MHz chip downclocked for power savings) with only 32 MB RAM standard, though 64 is a bare minimum for higher configs. The screen is 12.1" active matrix. There's one USB port, one 56K modem standard, one 10/100 ethernet port, all along the rounded rear left corner. There's a really cool LED on the inside and outside of the case that brightens and dims as the iBook sleeps. There's another LED around the power cord port (iBook can use a Wallstreet/Lombard power cord, but there's a stylized one that looks like a 'yo-yo.'). There is no media bay, but a CD ROM integrated on the right side. There is no video out of any kind or FireWire. Hard drive sizes vary by configuration, as there will be multiple configs of iBook.
The battery (yes, only one) is integrated in the shape along the front bottom of the machine. They're long and thin, about 11" by 3" As you would expect, Apple is going to claim better than 8 hours of performance from these batteries that use advanced polymer technology.
The keyboard is the same model as the one used in Lombard, but with clear white translucent design. The highlights on the keys match the flavor the iBook comes in. Yes, that's right, iBook comes in all five iMac flavors. Yes, iBook has a handle, very nicely integrated into the hinge of the screen, flipping down. The handle also matches the flavor. There is one speaker, one integrated microphone, and one headphone port. It uses a white colored square trackpad with a long, square, flavored click button.
So much of iBook has to be seen in person. The sleep LED is cooler than you can imagine. It wakes up from sleep much faster. The handle is very nicely engineered. There is no latch for the machine, it's just a large clamshell shape. Speaking of large, the machine is easily as big as a Wallstreet, and is actually wider in a direct comparison. So much for a sub-notebook, folks. While pictures were outside the bounds of our sneak preview, we can only say that it's a huge rounded clamshell, which looks nothing like any 'pictures' or 'sketches' on other sites. iBook (we've retired the P1 moniker forever) is a solid machine. The last very neat touch, which will most likely make it into the final shipping version is the lettering on the underside that says "i was assembled in Taiwan" (note the lowercase 'i') Overall, iBook won't knock you off your feet, but it's a well engineered machine, with the few 'Apple touches' that makes everything that our Cupertino fruit company produces 'neat.'
Other important information includes the fact that over 100 iBooks will be on the show floor for people to play with. Production is ramping up at both LG electronics and Alpha Top, and the estimated price that was last batted around at Apple was $1500 dollars. Lastly, it runs full Mac OS 8.6 with a lot of enablers.
But that's not all....for the full scoop on iBook's killer feature, you must wait until directly after the keynote. That report will be uploaded then.
