OS X (Apple)

Actually, the default shell for Panther is BASH.

Yeah jeromaet, true. Jaguar (10.2) was tcsh but panther is bash.
Yahoo group looks cool, but also try macosx.com (great discussion site) and apple discussion (on apple site under support) if you have questions.
I've got the older 12" powerbook (867mhz) and i really like it. If you go for the ibook you'll want to get as much RAM as possible (640mb like i have). Problem with this is that in the machine you get 2x128mb and you have to throw one away to upgrade! You can avoid this, though, by getting the machine off the applestore website which allows free customization, so you save money. Also, i would HIGHLY recommend upgrading the hard drive to at least 40gb (is only £20 extra, prob same in $). I only have 40gb, and its almost full (half music half program and documents), and its harder to upgrade laptop hard drives later.
On the ibook, you only get vga/svideo/composite outs, no digital outs, so you can't use the newer flatscreens. You don't get bluetooth either, but on the other hand, no portable is going to last that long, and wont keep up with games/video programs for very long, so why spend the extra on the powerbook. I got mine while the ibook was still G3, so it was a different decision.
Personally, i think you get a slightly better product all round with the powerbook because they always pay more attention to building the 'pro' rather than 'consumer' machines.

Last, and most important: The powerbook is a Rev B machine (2nd version of that model) while the ibook is Rev A (first ever G4 powerbook), and the Rev A machines nearly always have bugs. My powerbook is Rev A (867 not 1Ghz), and has well known heat and warping problems that are not present with the Rev B machine (my mum has one). I've had other Rev A machines before (original iMac, original G4 tower) and they've been the same. I'd be worried about the same happening with the new ibook, those portable G4 chips run very hot, and that plastic case is more insulating than my aluminum one.

Goodl luck choosing and have fun with whatever mac you get. Come visit on macosx.com.

ora

About the ram in an iBook....


Just two weeks ago a company (sorry I can't remeber which) released a compatibale 1 gig chip for the G4 iBooks. Get the bare min from Apple and then get the gig chip and you'll have over a gig of ram and a G4...Very worthy of OS X.

I think the chip was in the mid $400's...not bad when tied to a cheap and capable laptop.

Later,
Eddie

Really Vard?
I would have assumed the RAM was the same as for the powerbook now it had gone G4. (just checked apple site and both use DDR 266 SDRAM SO-DIMM) I've seen 1gb boards for the powerbook and they were more like $800. If you've seen it cheaper, i'd love to know where. Maybe its slower speed or cheaper RAM or something, cos i saw the expensive ones just a month a go, and can't believe the price has fallen that quick.
Even if you did that, you'd still have to throw a board away (i had to- anyone want 128mb board?) which is highly irritating.

ora

I purchased the G4 800 iBook. My reason was that I have a 1g powermac, with 17' flat. I did not want to duplicate what I all ready had.

The iBook 12 is nice and portable. The improvement is screen and keyboard (over prior versions) is among the first noticeable difference. The speed with the G4 is sweet, and the addition of Ram really makes a significant difference.

My friends have a 12 and 15 inch powerbook. When I compare them to my iBook, the quality of design and detail is noticeable. The screen is much better on the powerbook.

Conclusion, I use my iBook to write my reports for work, and the basics. I am pleased with the iBook. Purchase the extended warranty and ram when you can.

I have macosx 10.2.2 jaguar and it comes with tcsh, how would i change it to bash or something?

Go into Applications --> Utilities and launch NetInfo Manager. Select Users and then your user name. You will then see a property called "shell", change the to the bash path. Should be /bin/bash but double check by running a
"find / -name bash -print" to verify.

That should do it.