By Ian Hollidae, 2026/03/30

A recent video of Steve Jobs from 1999 talking about the iBook got me thinking about the one I bought in 2004. It was the first Apple product I ever bought. I didn't care so much about the colors (I wound up getting the white model) but there was one feature I found compelling that triggered a purchase. A friend of mine, who was a huge Apple fan, had shown me a beta copy of OS X a few years earlier where he pointed out the unix subsystem underneath the UI. Two systems in one without rebooting? That stuck with me. And it was certainly a big deal at the turn of the millennium. So when I needed a laptop for an upcoming conference, iBook was the choice.

Now I'm not really the nostalgic type, but I have to admit I look back at the purchase in favorable light. I had only one real problem with that iBook (hard drive issue) and Apple Care took care of it pretty quickly. After that, I got a solid twelve years out of that machine before moving on. Last summer, when I needed to jump back into mobile computing (not counting iPhone), I went with a MacBook Pro.

I don't know if I'll get twelve years out of this purchase but it's been a good start. And you have to wonder what impact the new MacBook Neo will have.

I guess if a need a second laptop, I'll find out.