Cnet has a post comparing the old iBook’s to today’s netbook trend. My trusty 12 inch Powerbook was the same — and I’d recommend it over the iBook for probably around the same price. They are faster and feel much more durable as well as being about the same weight.
Mine lasted, after 4+ years, still 3-4 hours on the battery and weighed less than 5 pounds on its own (though they don’t call the charger a brick for nothing). It was fast enough for netbook activities (surfing email and word processing), though when I switched to an MBP I realised it was slower than what I could have.
It unfortunately kicked up a memory problem with the graphics card earlier this year, which since it is integrated into the logic board means an expensive logic board replacement. But instead of a netbook, maybe I’ll just go for a repair? The downside though is being on a PPC machine when Apple has moved solely over to Intel with the Snow Leopard release.
