The following review provides an overview of my recent vacation in the western American states of Idaho, Wyoming and Utah with my trusty Apple iBook.

December 19, 2001

While running around the house in a frenzy of last minute packing, I trip over the iBook's power cord, sending it crashing to the floor from the kitchen table. Amazingly, nothing breaks -- the display, the CD/DVD drive, the hard drive, the power-source, the RAM -- it's all still humming along. To verify this, I play The Sims for an hour while waiting for my laundry to dry.

December 20, 2001

Before the trip I made sure both of my batteries (the iBook comes with one; I bought a back-up) are fully charged. We arrive at Philadelphia Airport and head to the Northwestern portion of the terminal. In the post 9/11 world, laptop computer must now be placed into their own bins for inspection (just like you do with your spare change or keys). I don't see what they do with the machine, and I'm not asked to demonstrate that it actually works -- I'm too busy getting patted down as one of the unlucky individuals selected for extra security attention.

I'd been worried that the iBook's rather unique