Clamshell iBook overview

There's no question about it: the clamshell iBook looks odder than a three-legged duck.

It's so roundish... so big... techno-zaftig, it is! Weirdly translucent in its earlier configurations, shiny in its later, either one with added swooping curves of rubberized color. The Apple logo looks for all the world like candy, and sits upside-down when the lid is raised. And is that... a handle?

Something blue (and orange), something new

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple and set straight to paring a sprawling product line to the basics, he established a 2 x 2 matrix of professional vs consumer and desktop vs laptop machines: the Blue and White G3 professional desktop, the iMac consumer desktop, the PowerBook professional laptop, and the iBook consumer laptop. The iBook was the last machine dropped into the matrix, introduced at Macworld Expo on July 21, 1999. Its design represented a curvy, tangerine- or blueberry-colored iMac in laptop form, while its slogan set that lineage in stone: "iMac to go". 

Like the iMac, the clamshell iBook (which I'll hereby dub "the Clammy") ditched legacy technologies including the floppy drive, parallel port, ADB connector, and SCSI connector. It lacked a PCMCIA (PC card) slot and expansion bay, too. In place of those, it brought a few new goodies to Mac users' laps: side-mounted ports (including USB) with no covers, a lid with no latch, a folding carrying handle, the amber/green glowing power port, the "breathing" sleep light, impressive 6-hour claimed battery life, and – a first in the portable computer world – optional wireless networking. Yes, the Clammy and Apple's AirPort technology ushered in the consumer wireless networking that's as everyday now as the keyboard. (Attendees of Macworld 1999 will recall Apple VP Phil Schiller jumping off the stage while holding an Internet-connected Clammy by its handle, to dramaticize the "look, no wires!" novelty.)

Clamshell Generations

1st generation iBook: July 21, 1999

The $1599 first generation of clamshell iBooks debuted with a 300 MHz processor, 32 MB RAM on the logic board, 512 Kb backside L2 cache running at half processor speed, 3.2 or 6 GB hard drive, a 24x tray-loading CR-ROM drive, full-size keyboard, one USB 1.1 port, a headphone jack, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet (pretty groundbreaking for a consumer product), and Mac OS 8.6. The machines also boasted a ATI Rage Mobility (2x AGP) graphics card with 4 MB of SDRAM – what Steve Jobs termed the fastest graphics on any portable, Wintel or Mac.

"Revision B" and iBook SE: February 16, 2000

At Macworld Expo Tokyo 2000, "Revision B" iBooks' base memory rose to 64 MB, and the hard drive grew to 6 GB with OS 9.0.2 installed. They kept their Tangerine and Blueberry colors, and $1599 price tag.

At the same time, Apple added a more sober-hued $1799 Graphite iBook SE (Special Edition) iBook with 366 MHz processor, possibly gaining some new buyers who were put off by candy colors. The model took an odd middle ground on appearance: somber, business-like gray and white, on that swoopy, party-time body.

2nd generation iBook and FireWire SE iBook: September 13, 2000

At Macworld Expo Paris 2000, the base iBook dropped its price to $1499 while upgrading to a 366 MHz processor, 8 MB graphics SDRAM, and 10 GB hard drive with OS 9.0.4. The L2 cache size dropped to 256 Kb, but at a faster full processor speed.

The $1799 SE model boosted its processor to 466 MHz and added DVD-ROM/CD-ROM drive, video out, and FireWire 400. With bundled iMovie 2, the machine became a low-cost video editing marvel.

On the color front, Tangerine and Blueberry went into retirement. Indigo took over as the base color, while Graphite kept its SE gig. Apple then tossed in a third-party wild card: the nuclear-hued Key Lime, which Jobs announced was available in either iBook configuration – but could be ordered only via the online Apple Store. (That decision, for some reason, drew boos from the Macworld crowd in Paris).

Love-it-or-hate-it looks

A bold look is guaranteed to offend somebody. There wasn't much room for debate about the Clammy's dimensions: it was big, and at over 3 kg, heavier than the increasingly-slim PowerBook (or just about any competing laptop). More controversial were the rounded shell and rubber-trimmed white polycarbonate plastic – "the stuff bulletproof vests are made of", Steve Jobs enthused. Those body features caught the eye and made the machine tough – an important feature for the key education and home kiddie markets – but earned the labels "girlish", "Barbie Book", and "toilet seat", among other cracks. (Okay, I'll admit it, the thing does look a wee like a loo.)

Although the Clammy was admirably rugged, some users reported breakage in the power port. A far more common complaint was the simple wish for a more complete feature set (a second USB port and disk-burning capability, for starters) and greater expandability. The RAM and AirPort card slots were the only expansion options readily available to users. The hard drive was swappable as well – in the same way the human heart is transplantable, that is. The procedure involved about 40 screws and hex nuts, tiny delicate connectors, plenty of prying and twisting of recalcitrant plastic parts, and ideally, a degree in engineering. (It voided the warranty, too.)

On the plus side, the Clammy was ready for the simultaneous emergence of OS X, up to OS X 10.3.9 (or OS X 10.4 "Tiger" for FireWire SE models). That let Clammies keep up with other Macs, OS-wise, for several more years – though hardware limitations arguably leave the curvy beauties truly at peace only with OS 9.

Shutting the clamshell

On May 1, 2001, Apple closed the latchless lid on the clamshell iBook. Its faster iBook G3 successor, while maintaining a differentiating purely-Apple look, took a big step toward the mainstream: a lighter, all-white, boxy shape with no colorful rubbery accents, no handle, a higher-res screen to better accomodate OS X, and an added lid latch. Oh, and in response to the vocal crowd that didn't "get" the "upside-down" Apple logo on the lid, a "right-side-up" logo. In with the functional, out with the strange and voluptuous. Boooo!

Clamshell iBook, Clammy, "toilet seat", "compact case" – whatever they may call you, you'll live in our hearts as one of the wackiest – and sexiest – Macs ever. 

Notes from a Limey owner

I purchased my Key Lime iBook – "Limey" – new in 2000, and it's still running strong (if pokily, under OS 10.4). A few notes of interest:

• The typical PC carrying case can't handle a Clammy. (Crikey, that's a big egg to swallow unless you can unhinge your jaws!) Then again, the handle and rugged body mean you don't need a case, at least for short trips. Own a Clammy, and you will forever wish that all laptops had that handle. 
• A Clammy has two round "mystery" metal connectors on bottom. These are for recharging the units in wheeled storage racks, a specialty product aimed at schools (and which I've never seen, even in photos!).
• I followed online instructions to swap the increasingly noisy (and presumably failing) 10 GB IBM hard drive for a new 40 GB drive. Difficult? Mentally scarring. I ended up with a screw loose – physically, too. One leftover screw – not bad, with almost 40 removed and replaced. Things seem to work, so I'm keeping the lid closed on that one!
• The Clammy has one of those nifty pop-out keyboards that are becoming less common (if available on Macs at all now). Great for cleaning out the gunk! (It's also the means by which you access the AirPort card.)
• AirPort reception seems great. (Unlike certain titanium PowerBooks I could point a finger at. What's that? The PowerBook isn't sensing my anger? Oh, I guess I need to be within a yard or two for it to pick up the signal... Grrrr....)
• The internal placement of the AirPort card was a bigger deal than you might think. PC makers immediately followed Apple in offering wireless-capable cards – but for years, they all had those cards sticking clumsily out of ports on the side. They've finally managed to tuck the things inside, as Apple's been doing since the 1999 iBook.
• My biggest complaint as an owner? Screen size. Steve Jobs waxed rhapsodic about the screen in 1999, and it was a fine one for the day – but that 800 x 600 max resolution, more than any other factor, hinders work in OS X. Back in OS 9, I did some serious AppleWorks publishing with the machine, big documents with complex layouts. Even then it took patience (something I had picked up doing PageMaker work on a tiny ColorClassic). I simply wouldn't want to do such publishing work on the iBook in OS X. 
• Along with Limey, I bought a copy of OS X Beta ($30?). I enjoyed playing with the Beta, though didn't switch over until the official release; the Beta was just too unfinished. (But it sure was cool then!) I'm now on 10.4, which is as far is Clammy will take me. Fine with me, as it's only a backup machine and music player at present. (I'd like it to be a machine for the kids – but really, that edutainment stuff demands more speed and screen!)
• I also bought an original Apple optical mouse ($60?) when I got Limey. Aside from no right click, that mouse had a truly odd shortcoming: a cord less than 60cm long. Is that too short? For the big-boned iBook, yes. Plugging the cord into the left-side USB port and bringing the mouse around to the right, remaining cord play just isn't enough to move around much. What the heck was Apple thinking on that one? (The mouse still works, though, and on machines with more handily-placed USB ports, is a nice mouse for kiddies who just need one simple button.)
• Limey was my first DVD player, ever. Like many geeks at the time, my first DVD purchased was The Matrix. (Said movie, it turns out, also gets a quick plug during Steve Jobs' keynote introduction to the new iBooks' DVD-ROM drives.) 
• A Clammy is a tactile double-thumbs-up. The smooth polycarbonate, the rubbery color surfaces, the relaxing keyboard and expansive palm rests... mmm, feel the love. 
• My Limey has held up very well. A little cracking in the handle, some hard-to-remove grime on some surfaces... but none of the excessive scratches, part misalignments, or unexplained discolorations that have plagued some Apple products with age. And small though it be, the screen remains bright and beautiful.
• After all these years, I still love just looking at Limey! Its color and curves are awesome to behold; I don't care what the design conservatives say. And did you know you can slap little suction-cup toys right onto that cover? That gets comments at Starbucks, let me tell you.