>Because of it similar sise, the iBook seems like a replacment for the
>1400. It is still bigger then a 2400. I have to have a small sized
>laptop because it is small. The iBook is just about the size that I
>would think twice about bringing it with me when I hit the road.

It's barely bigger than the 2400, no more than a quibble's worth when 
you get down to it. It's notably thinner, too, which is a big deal in 
a backpack. I sincerely doubt you'd think twice about taking along 
one of these devices but not the other - they're physically six of 
one, half dozen of the other.

>The optical drive (CD/RW/DVD) drive is another thing I could do
>without. I barley use the optical drive in my desktop G4, and the
>only time I've had to use an optical drive on my 2400 has been to
>re-install MacOS when i got it. Once in 5 months. I'd rather seen an
>external FireWire drive, so it can be left behind.

Nah, I'm dead sick of my external CD-ROM drive, and I'd love a 
built-in CD-R. The CD-RW and DVD I could take or leave (but a DVD and 
composite video out would be useful for the occasional movie - I'd 
never bother buying a DVD player any other way).

I'm also dead sick of SCSI termination and the 2400's flakey SCSI 
port, so let's not even go near comparing the utility of onboard SCSI 
vs. Firewire and USB. ;)

>The iBook's screen size and keyboard are too big, and that keeping it
>from getting smaller. The small keyboard on the 2400's is not that
>big of an issue (It actualy my favorite keyobard to use, I wish I
>could get a desktop version) and Id rather see a 10 inch 1024x768
>screen.

Er, the screen is too big now?

A 10.4 inch 1024x768 display would be about 125dpi, which would be 
ridiculous to try and use unless you're bred from raptors. Even OS X, 
and X proper for that matter (ie. the windowing system for Unix) are 
suited to 100dpi at most, just barely more than the 2400 has now - 
but they do need 1024x768 resolution to be used effectively. Even the 
12.1" display the iBook has is a shade too small for 1024x768 (it'll 
be about 105dpi), but with OS X it'll be bearable because the fonts 
and icons are more designed for a higher pixel density. But I repeat, 
a 10.4" display at that resolution would be useless - quarter-inch 
icons and teeny tiny print. I'm sure they wanted the display to be 
13.3" (for 96dpi), so they obviously had small size in mind when they 
designed this thing - but unlike you, they're reasonable about it. ;)

The 2400's keyboard is a pain. I'm considerably more dexterous than 
most people I meet, and even after using it for years I still average 
more typos than I ever did on the Duo keyboard, or a fullsize. Your 
experience may well be different, but for most people the 2400's 
keyboard would be a real drawback, and the iBook's won't be.

>But the footprint ....
>iBook 2001's footprint is  is 101.92 square inches
>2400's footprint is 84 square inches

This is rather misleading. It's *less than an inch* bigger in either 
direction (who cares about square inches?). It's simply not going to 
make a difference in any sort of real use.

>I won't mention the power adaptors. The 2400 wins.

I hate the 2400's power adaptor - the cord has nothing to hold it in 
place when it's travelling. I really liked the Duo adaptor with it's 
wind-up legs, and I don't mind the iBook adaptor. They're all 
interchangeable anyway, so go wild.

Basically, if you like the 2400 then that's great and you should 
continue to use it. But these arguments are specious and the 
comparisons misleading; it seems you're trying to rationalise your G3 
card purchase at the expense of reasoned discourse. This *is* the 
subnotebook replacement people on this list have all been crying for. 
It's not perfect, and there are things I'd immediately change - I'd 
put USB ports on both sides,include the AV cable in the price, bump 
it to a Radeon Mobility chipset, 128MB RAM base, raise the bus speed 
from 66MHz to 100MHz - but note that it already greatly exceeds any 
2400 in all those areas, and none except the USB port placement is a 
design flaw. Comparing a four year old (and always slightly flakey) 
computer to its current, very nice successor is just silly. The iBook 
kicks, and it's a great value for the price by any measure.

Frankly I'm just glad there's *finally* a decent, reasonably-priced 
notebook out there to move to when this one dies for good.

-- 
Marc Sira               |       [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"If you can't play with words, what good are they?"


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