GRIFFIN TECHNOLOGY ANNOUNCES iMic USB AUDIO ADAPTER WHEN iBook SHIPS

Speculation & Suitability

Now that we all have finally seen the Apple consumer portable, iBook, MacRocks.com can really get down to some hard core speculation. Rumors and deliberately placed misinformation since the last MacWorld Expo regarding the then dubbed 'P1' have made our editor gun-shy to hype this too much until the official announcement.

Expansion - Lite . . .
I have to start with the bad news. Although this cool Mac is unlike anything seen in a portable computer, it has it's limitations; particularly for those interested in music and sound. There were rumored to be a Firewire port and expansion bay included on iBook. There is not, we expect for two reasons; firstly, adding these to the consumer and educational level unit would push the iBook into competition with the high end PowerBook line of notebook computers. Secondly, the added cost to the consumer would either push the price tag to $2k+ or other features would be sacrificed, such as 10" LCD instead of the 12.1".

iBook comes with a USB port, a modem (phone) jack and a 10/100 Base-T ethernet port. What's more, the only audio capability in hardware is a standard stereo mini jack out -- no audio in. That makes us nervous as it forces the issue of solid drivers for MIDI and Audio on the USB.

Since iBook has a streamlined set of ultra efficient I/O, it limits your options perphrially. The up side to this is the should be no plethora of model specific peripherals to invest in once owning iBook. Anyone who has ever owned a PowerBook knows what I'm talking about when I say 'model specific peripherals.'

iBook comes with the only 'msp' you will need -- the power supply/charger. All other peripherals are chosen from the exhaustingly growing catalog of USB devices that continue to pop up in the marketplace. Rule of thumb is: if it works on iMac, it will work on iBook.

Bottom line on the bad news for musicians is iBook would make a great travel mate for a musician on the go -- but until Apple and the various developers get MIDI drivers stable and golden, it's not going to jack in to your music gear.

Speculation - Heavy . . .
One of the few complaints I have heard in the last 24 hours is the disappointment in color choice. This is something we feel will evolve over time, as seen with the initial release of iMac.

Speaking of evolution, one of the things conspicuously missing in iBook, FireWire, may eventually end up in a future generation. In as much as Apple has committed to the bus protocol it might see light of day in the consumer line. This may largely be determined by the time table of consumer level implementation of the IEEE-1394 protocol. If everything in our home entertainment system has a iLink or mLan port, than there's logic in Apple including a single FireWire port in the consumer line of PowerMacs. Time will tell.