Andrew Wirtanen is a usability specialist in Cary, NC More »

Life on the iBook

As a Windows user for most of my life (with the exception of a brief stint on a Commodore 64), one might be surprised to know that I bought an iBook and have been living in OSX land for a couple weeks. So far, so good. In this entry, I will discuss the things I like, and the things I don’t like.

First, the positive:
- Two-finger scrolling using the trackpad!
- Built-in microphone works pretty well
- Built-in bluetooth and wifi
- Adequate battery life
- GarageBand is easy to use–I picked it up very quickly
- Slot-loading combo drive
- OSX is slick with features like the dashboard, expose, and spotlight
- The iBook is very light and easy to carry around

Now the negative:
- No right-click mouse button (surprise, surprise)
- The first time I put a DVD in, it wouldn’t read it. I had to restart to get the DVD to play. Apparently this is a common problem with everyone who buys a new iBook!
- Sometimes when I am two-finger scrolling, the trackpad will interpret a left click and, if I am in a browser, go back to the previous page
- No DVI-out