The last iteration of the iBook G4 came out in September of 2005 and was sold until mid-2006.
| 11.6″ MacBook Air | 14″ iBook G4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo | 1.42Ghz PowerPC G4 |
| Memory | 4GB 1067Mhz DDR3 RAM | 512MB 333Mhz DDR2 RAM [1] |
| Storage | 128GB SSD | 60GB 4200RPM HDD |
| Battery | 5-7 hours | 3-4 hours |
| Weight | 2.3 lbs | 5.9 lbs |
| Dimensions | 0.11-0.68 x 11.8 x 7.6 | 1.35 x 12.7 x 10.2 |
| Cost | $1500 | $1700 |
[1] Bottlenecked by 142Mhz front side bus.
There are a dozen things that don’t show up in the numbers. The iBook’s keyboard is spongy. It has a smaller trackpad that only supports two-finger scrolling. The iBook’s display is much worse, although that may be due to age. The iBook’s trackpad is plastic instead of glass. Even with a fresh install of Leopard, it feels slow. Yet somehow I used it as my main computer for two years.
In case you forgot, that skinny ethernet port on the iBook is a 56k modem. It’s like ethernet, but data goes 1,800 times slower and makes angry noises.
I wonder what I’ll compare my Air to in 2015.