I am not sure the new iBook will actually sell more in pure numbers than the iMac did, but that would actually not surprise me. And I am totally sure that it will be the best selling notebook of all time.

All of us geeks or wannabe geeks tend to get hung up in technical details, like the number of ports, specific megahertz, blah blah blah. And even there, the iBook is doing well.

But what counts is this:

1. A very great number of people have been pining for an Apple portable but not gotten one, because until this year, there has not been one which was very compact and light. Then came the Titanium PowerBook, which is compact and light compared to its power and features, and it took off like a rocket.
2. The new iBook is even more compact, it is lighter than the TiBook, and it is reasonably close to being as powerful.
3. Its screen has almost the same resolution as the TiBook. It is physically smaller, which worries a few people, but not most.
4. It is about half the price!
5. It is really good looking, and in a professional way. I like it even better than the Titanium, personally.

In short, it will be a hit with students, and it will be a hit with consumers. It will be a hit with professional users who donit need the worldis most powerful notebook (and that is most of them). It will also be a hit with people whoid like a good notebook, but canit afford US$2500 for it. That too is most of them.

In short, it will be a hit, squared. And you can quote me on that.

Yours, Eolake

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Eolake Stobblehouse is a contributing editor to the Mac Observer, specializing in cultural matters, and comes to us by way of MacCreator. Send him your comments and tips.