In a report in the March 2001 issue of Which? Magazine the Consumers Association's Jon Dunning takes a look at Laptop computers. Unfortunately his ignorance of Apple's iBook, or possibly a prejudice against Apple's products, meant that the iBook was unfairly marked down on almost every point of comparison with a range of Intel-based notebooks.

Price
The report looked at the iBook SE rather than the more popular Lime or Indigo iBooks. The SE usually costs around £1500 instead of £1250. For the extra money you get a faster processor and a DVD player. All the DVD equipped Intel notebooks were more expensive than the iBook SE, ranging from £1544 to £1761. No extra marks were given for the DVD drive but marks were taken off for price.

Speed
As most computer magazines will tell you, it's hard to compare the speed of Apple's PowerPC processors with Intel's processors because they work in quite different ways. It is however the case that a PowerPC processor at 466 MHz makes for a faster computer than does an Intel chip at 500 MHz. However, in the comparison chart Which? chose to merely print the processor clock speeds with no mention of this disparity.

Software
Which? claim that the only software bundled with the iBook was iMovie. Among the software that they said was bundled with many of the Intel notebooks was Adobe's Acrobat reader. You don't have to be particularly computer savvy to know that copies of Acrobat are harder to avoid than to get hold of. It is certainly available on the Mac OS install disk. I don't know where Jon Dunning bought his iBook but he was either conned or very confused. I've never seen an iBook on sale that wasn't bundled with Appleworks and the annoying Bugdom in the very least. In fact I suspect that iBooks have always been sold with the comprehensive list of software mentioned in the small print of the report.

Ease of use
In the write-up accompanying the Which? report, Jon Dunning says that "the most important factor [is] ease of use." This is one of the areas in which Macintosh computers have always scored highly with Which? so you'd expect a good showing here. In fact the iBook was one of only two computers to receive a better than average score in the report. However, for some reason this didn't seem to improve its test score.

Accessories
In the body of the report Dunning says, "Older peripherals use serial or parallel ports whereas newer ones usually use USB". In the write up of the iBook one of the disadvantages is said to be that you can't "add an external monitor, keyboard or mouse unless they can plug into a USB port". However in the write up of the Dell Inspirion the lack of a built-in modem is shrugged off because "you can buy one". The iBook does also have a socket for connecting an external TV or video, not much of a substitute for an external monitor socket but still an expensive or unavailable option for the Intel notebooks, and very useful if you want to output home movies or slides to video. Speaking of home video, none of the Intel notebooks seemed to be equipped with Firewire which the iBook is. This is essential for connecting fast peripherals like CD writers and DV Cameras, but Firewire was unfortunately not even mentioned in the report. The report also claims that "Adding extra memory is awkward". Compared to the Intel notebooks? I doubt it. You don't even need a screwdriver to add memory to the iBook; it's incredibly easy.

What went wrong?
If you examine the comparison chart carefully there seems to be very little to choose between the iBook and the Dell. Out of 8 areas of comparison both scored 2 bests, for screen quality, and 5 better than averages. The Dell scored two averages and the iBook scored one average and one worse than average. That one area of unfavourable comparison was in an area called Versatility - defined as "ratings for the software and hardware supplied with the machine, and the spare capacity for adding more memory". The Dell has no internal modem, so the "no internal floppy" criticism of the iBook should be offset by the fact that the Dell has no modem. An external floppy drive costs about the same as an external modem. It is a matter of opinion, but it's probably safe to say that most people would consider a modem more essential than a floppy drive these days. The Dell has a CD not a DVD drive but the iBook received no points for the DVD drive. So if a cheaper Indigo or Lime iBook had been used for the comparison instead it would have scored just as highly but would have cost roughly the same as the Dell. However, despite this the iBook managed to get the fourth lowest score while the Dell romped home with top score and a "Best Buy" recommendation. The reason seems to have been the bundled software: Microsoft Works, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Money, AutoRoute express and Europa 2000. As mentioned earlier, the iBook's bundled software was probably incorrectly quoted. No figures were given for the available memory capacity in either machine.

Conclusion
A combination of unfamiliarity with Apple's products and the choice of some criteria which were inaccurately applied have enabled the Consumers' Association to produce a report which manages to suggest that Apple's iBook is a bad buy. This despite it coming with several important features which are completely absent from, and sometimes unavailable in the other notebooks tested. It wouldn't be surprising to see a report like this in one of the many PC magazines which depend on advertising from PC manufacturers for revenue. However, according to a CA survey the iBook is one of the most highly recommended laptops available, with four out of five users recommending it. An impartial report would have at least reflected the things that these satisfied users liked about their computers. In fact the report was set up with criteria that could have been designed to show the iBook in a bad light. Looking at the report in detail one can't help wondering whether other critical reports by the CA, such as that into the new Dyson washing machine, are equally flawed. Maybe it's time consumers started watching our increasingly powerful and unaccountable watchdogs more carefully.