Jason O’Grady’s Blog

Computerworld online news editor Ken Mingis spends some time with the top-end iBook and the entry-level PowerBook and comes away with some surprising conclusions on which is the better buy.

It’s a nagging question for which there is seemingly no correct answer, akin to the “paper or plastic” query at the grocery store: PowerBook or iBook? Aluminum or polycarbonate? Twelve-inch or 14-inch?

Ever since Apple Computer Inc. released the iBook G3, Macintosh users have debated the relative merits of the company’s entry-level laptop and its pro line of sleek PowerBook G4s. Until last fall, when Apple finally plopped a G4 chip into the iBook, the answer seemed pretty clear. If you wanted speed and had the bucks, get the PowerBook.

That advice is no longer as clear-cut as it once was.