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Hands On: Apple's
Smaller, Lighter,
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REVIEWED } 4
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Take Your G3 to the Next Level
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= With iTunes (included) you
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It's true. The only thing she’s wearing is her birthday suit.
Take a closer peek at the laces and you'll see the work
of an incredible artist. Brilliantly revealed by what could
only be an Epson printer. One as adept at creating the
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detail. A talent that can take a greeting card, a school
report or even a bathing suit and transform it into a
masterpiece. Only Epson” has a full line of printers for
any need — from everyday use to creating the most
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Circle 62 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinto
COLOR.
Opinion
8 The Vision Thing
ANDREW GoRE Upgraded iBooks
are part of Apple’s evolving
portable-Mac strategy.
14 Feedback
Readers respond.
43 The Game Room
PETER COHEN If you thirst for
adventure games, read our take
on Escape from Monkey Island.
136 Ihnatko
Buzz
16 New iBooks, a 733MHz G4
processor takes on a 1.5GHz
Pentium 4, Internet-filtering
software, DVD-R isn’t just for
SuperDrives anymore, and
musician Bryan Adams.
How-to
62 Old Mac, New Tricks
68 Designing DVD Menus
ANTON LINECKER Learn how to
make professional DVD menus
in Adobe Photoshop and import
them into Apple’s powerful DVD
Studio Pro.
72 Take Command of Mac OS X
STEPHAN somocy! With a few
basic commands in Mac OS X’s
Terminal application, you can
leverage the power of Unix on
your Mac.
76 Mac OS X Secrets
STEPHAN SOMOGY! Perl scripting
is a powerful new possibility in
Mac OS X.
78 Mac 911
CHRISTOPHER BREEN Mr. Breen
solves the mysteries of disap-
pearing disk space, using Disc
Burner with a particular internal
CD-RW burner, and printing
via infrared.
Mac
www.macworld.com
Does MHz Matter?
JONATHAN SEFF Buying
a Mac can be expensive, so
you want to get exactly what
you need. For example, which
will do more to speed up
Adobe Photoshop: added
RAM or a faster processor?
Macworld looks at a range
of components to see which
ones help performance in
different areas of computing.
July 2001
world
Incorporating MacUser
(
Ihnatko
ANDY IHNATKO Yeah, the
Palm is great and all—but
Andy still pines for an Apple
handheld.
vy
Inside the OS X Extras
The new operating system
isn't all that comes on the
Mac OS X disc. There's also
a bundle of software, much
of it brand-new. We explore
significant features and
unexpected uses of the
best apps.
Big Thing, Small Package
ANDREW GORE AND
PHILIP MICHAELS
Get the skinny on the latest
iBooks and see how they
compare with those that
came before.
Old Mac, New Tricks
ADAM C. ENGST Inthe
second part of our series,
learn how to turn an older Mac
into a Web server that can
host everything from baby
pictures to a moneymaking
site for your business.
62
On the Cover
Photograph by Stan Musilek
Macworld.com
Learn how to use an older Mac as a kitchen assistant, participate in our
lively forums, and read reviews you won't find anywhere else.
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Macworld.com Reviews
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OLYMPUS
Focus On Life
THE BEST MOMENTS OF INSPIRATION
WILL LEAD TO OTHERS.
The digital CAMEDIA E-10. The latest in a long series
of inspirations. What happens when you're not satisfied
with doing things the way they've always been done?
In our case, it led to a camera designed specifically
for the most demanding digital photography.
It began with a 4 million pixel
4
CCD. To take full advantage of such
= Film lenses refract tight
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pclae Oumovs have a resolution three times imoinepizel wel, iting
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an existing film lens to a digital body wasn't good enough.
: We ended up with an ultra high-resolution lens that's
perfectly matched to the CCD, and permanently and
rigidly attached to the body to maintain critical tolerances.
The all-in-one tens It’s the CAMEDIA all-in-one lens. And it's the heart
seals out dust that
con block pireiwells. | of what makes the digital E-10 SLR so special.
See it at your Olympus dealer. Let it inspire you tosee 7» pT
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With alt the controls right where your fingers,
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Photographer: David LaChepelle
Lens: 9mm [35mm equivalent] with 0.8x wide conversion lens for 7.2mm [28mm equivalent]
Exposure: Manual exposure (1/601, aperture 9.0, |SO 80, manual white balance 5500°K
Light: Studio strobes with beauty dish fi
For information on the CAMEDIA E-10, visit http://e-10.olympus.com or call 1-888-55-DIGITAL.
Circle 7 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinfo
HE OTHER DAY, I LEARNED
that Fahrvergniigen—the
clever-sounding German
slogan that Volkswagen
has been using for years—is a real
word, not just a creation of the folks
who brought us the New Beetle. It
means “driving pleasure,” and it
refers to that elusive moment when
driving a car is no longer about utili-
ty, but rather about the simple joy of
driving. A vehicle with Fahrverg-
niigen is a pleasure to drive, even
when you have no place to go.
With the introduction of the new
iBook (see “Big Thing, Small Pack-
age,” Buzz, in this issue), Apple now
dominates the portable-computer
world in terms of price, performance
and engineering. But even more
important, Apple has cor-
nered the market in Fahr-
vergniigen. Whether it’s one
of these new iBooks or the
Titanium PowerBook G4,
using a Mac portable is a
pleasure that transcends get-
ting the job done. Sure, most
of the things I do on an
iBook or Titanium Power-
Book I could accomplish on
aPC portable, but I wouldn't
enjoy doing them nearly as
much. That enjoyment has a
real payoff: I'm using my
portable more; and I’m
also finding more
ways to be productive
with it.
This is why the
popularity of portable Macs, measured as a percentage of
all Maes sold, has tripled in the past year. And it’s why I
believe the day is coming when portables will be Apple’s
primary method of recruiting PC users to join the ranks of
the Mac faithful.
Formula for Innovation
Innovation happens when you combine need, opportu-
nity, and—for lack of a better term—the willingness to
“think different,” It’s always been vital to innovate in the
design and construction of portable computers, much
more than with desktop PCs. And when it comes to per-
sonal computers, none are more personal than the
portable. A desktop machine challenges you to work on
its terms, but the portable begs to be your companion,
to work where and when you want to. People who use
8 July 2001 www.macworld.com
ANDREW GORE
Experience
iBookgriven
Apple’s Portables
Succeed Because
They’re Fun to Drive
portable computers look first and
foremost for flexibility, and that
flexibility demands innovative
designs and technology.
Case in point: On a desktop
computer, AirPort wireless net-
working is a convenience, saving
the owner the trouble of having
to run wires all over the house or
office. On a PowerBook or an
iBook, AirPort is a declaration of
independence. It enhances flexibi-
lity, because it ensures that you
can connect wherever and when-
ever you need to.
Portables need to be more rug-
ged than desktops. They need to
be smaller, which requires greater
engineering finesse and more-expen-
sive components. They need to
work under a wide variety
a of conditions, which means
they must have their own
reliable source of power and
an array of networking
options, from modems to
Ethernet. They even need to
be able to handle assorted
power sources, in places
from the United States to
Uganda, because a road
warrior never knows where
the road will lead next.
Design Rules
A key difference in
the way Apple engi-
neers a portable, in
contrast to most PC
companies, is that
at Apple, technology doesn’t drive design. Apple waits
until current technology can serve its design goals. And
when the technology is finally ready, Apple seizes the
opportunity to fulfill plans it has been making, in some
cases, for years.
This approach has sometimes left us Mac portable
users feeling a little left out. For the past couple of years,
we've watched Sony Vaio users get tiny, lightweight note-
books while we die-hard Mac fans had to lug around our
luxurious-yet-large PowerBooks and iBooks.
All for one simple reason: Apple refused to ship a
computer with anything less than a complete set of ports
and capabilities, such as a DVD-ROM drive. And that
meant no light, tiny, gorgeous Apple subnotebooks were
in the offing.
So Apple waited. And we waited.
Apple's Innovation
When at last available technology
allowed Apple to fulfill its design
goals, the final part of the formula
for producing a great portable com-
puter came into play: innovation.
In the portable-computer world,
innovation means more than deliver-
ing small, light, full-featured com-
puters that are as much like desktop
machines as possible. If that were
all that mattered, we'd all be using
Dells. No, there’s also the gestalt of
all those components—in the end,
a computer should add up to more
than the sum of its parts.
Different Beasts
Apple doesn’t design a high-end lap-
top and then tear features off of it to
make a consumer model. Nor does it
build a cheap portable and then graft
on extra features in order to market
it to professionals. Instead, Apple
chooses an audience, figures our
what that audience requires, and
then designs the best computer it can
for that audience. That's why the
iBook and the PowerBook G4, for all
their similarities, are different beasts:
they’re meant for different audiences.
And because they're so different,
they appeal to people with different
needs, I already know a handful of
Titanium PowerBook G4 owners who
plan to buy iBooks to use as rough-
and-ready portables in situations
where compactness and toughness
trump screen space and performance.
And let’s not forget that a key
part of innovation is realizing how
even small rouches can radically
improve the quality of a product.
Batteries should slip in and out eas-
ily, and they should have power-
level indicators you can see from the
outside of the machine. The power
button should be visible, without
making you hunt for it on the back
edge of the computer. Ports should
be located in logical places, clearly
labeled, and easy to access.
In other words, function should
inform design.
Finally, because a portable is
meant to be handled, the way it
feels in your hands should be just as
compelling as its spec sheet and its
price tag. The new PowerBooks and
iBooks want to be touched, and
touching them is a pleasure. That's
a good thing, because they'll get
touched a lor during daily use.
Toasting the Competition
All these elements combine to create
the computer industry’s only por-
tables with Fahrvergniigen. The new
iBook in particular is a amazing,
because it offers driving pleasure in
a portable that is also inexpensive.
Nothing enhances driving pleasure
more than using a machine that feels
cool, fast, and expensive—but actu-
ally costs much less than you’d
expect for such an advanced piece
of engineering.
For me, I get the ultimate reality
check on these products by gauging
the reaction of entrenched PC users
T know. And they lust for Apple’s
new portables. Since the PowerBook
G4's introduction, I’ve seen it seduce
at least one PC-using friend of mine
who'll never go back to the dark
side. And in Macworld.com’s forums,
I've read countless testimonials from
other PC users who also made the
switch to the Mac—all thanks to the
Titanium PowerBook G4,
It will be interesting to see
whether the latest iBook will have
the same effect. Because its cost is
so low, I predict that even more PC
users will become iBook users. The
only question is, will the overall
experience of owning an iBook be
appealing enough to draw them
to the Mac for good?
I plan to test my theory on yet
another friend who is a longtime
PC user and clearly a member of
the iBook’s target audience. Once
we get a cool new iBook in her
hands, we can judge the power of
iBookgriiven—as it brings her driv-
ing pleasure, Macintosh style, m
ANDREW GORE is Macworld’s editor
in chief. To comment on this column, type
Vision Thing in the Search box at
Macworld.com.
v9 oF conrent/eDitom im eMiCr Andrew Gore
cpiteR Jason Snell
Scholle Sawyer MeFarland
EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MACWORLE.COM Lise Schmelser
StMOR KOTOR, BURZ AND NEWS. Philip Michaels
stwion eoiror. Wow-To Terr) Stone
stmon corrons, neviews Linda Comer,
Davia Weiss
AssociaTe eoitons Lotus Abrams,
Jenniter Berger;
Mathew Honan,
Kelly Lunstord,
Jonathan Self
AssisTaNT EoITOR Aarienne Robillard
IAL ASSISTANT Bonne Hule
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Henry Bortman, Christopher Breen, Adam C. Engst, Bruce
Fraser, Jim Heid, Andy thnatko, Ted Landau, Deke McClelland,
‘Tom Negrino, Nancy Peterson, David Pogue, Stephan Somagy)
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tas
bintetoR or PRooUET EvALUATiON Kristina De Nike
rest Manactn James Galbraith
StwoR LAB ANALYST Jelly K Milstoad
ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL ANALYSTS Ulvssi6 Bravo,
Jason Cox,
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copy EDIT
anncins corroe Jenner Wornk
ISTANT MANAGING COITOR Chatlos Purdy
cory corrars Diane Oils,
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ART AND DESION
DESIGN oiRccTOR Sharon Anderson
Anrpinceron Marlene Sern
[ASSOCIATE DEstoNER Jackie Goodman
DESIGN ASsociATES. Amy Conger,
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PREPRESS CONSULTANT Stephen Sugg
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Steven Noble, Australia: Bernard Le Du, Franc
indreas
Borchert, Germany: Enrico Lotti, Italy: Yoshie Moriya, Jana
Tomasz Bitner, Poland: Daniel de Bias, Spain; Nils Holmiby,
‘Sweden; Andersen Muang, Taiwan; Banattin Apak, Turkey:
‘Simon Jary, United Kingdom
www.macworld.com July 2001 9
Ss
Macworld
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PRESIDENT AND CEO Colin Crawford
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MRK Campaign
| DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Eos ce Feminis
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ror noMAN nesounees Sue Murphy
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Production
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ir wanacen Jennifer Torres
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10 July 2001 www.macworld.com
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12 July 2001 www.macworld.com
Macworld
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JULY 2001
Feedback
Macworkt
CANT BEAT
THIS PRICE
Tax Shaft
Thanks to the Internal Revenue Service, April most definitely is
ot the cruelest month. So it’s no surprise that most of the mail we
received about April’s Macworld was from unhappy taxpayers
COLOR
H&R Block Financial’s Kiplinger Tax-
Cut Deluxe claims to allow a user to
e-file both federal and state tax returns
(in 26 states). But the program will
not allow you to do this if you've
re
ved income reported on a 1099-
Mise form, as independent contrac-
tors do. In addition, the state edition
overlooks 1099-Mise income when
calculating gross income. It totals only
income reported on W2 forms.
Gary ScHaus, Jr.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Ihave a PowerPC with a G3 upgrade
running OS 8.5.1. According to the
system requirements on TaxCut’s box,
the program runs on 68030 and faster
processors, and System 7.5.3 and
higher, But I had to upgrade to OS
8.6, at significant time and expense,
just to get TaxCut to work.
Lalso discovered that the down-
loadable free state-tax software was
not available for my state in mid-
February, and the company’s claim
that the software was able to seam-
lessly download last year’s TurboTax
information and carryovers was
untrue. TaxCut does not recognize
TurboTax files.
14 July 2001 www.macworld.com
ware (Reviews, April 2001).
1 e-mailed tech support—identify-
ing my problems and asking for assis-
tance—and waited five days for a
response before calling, After holding
(at my expense) for $0 minutes, I gor
a tech-support representative who
knew nothing about the Mac.
Giving this program a $496
rating was misleading,
CHUCK MILLER
Cincinnati, Ohio
Apple's Audio Blues
Regarding your review of Apple's
new Power Mac G4 lineup (Reviews,
April 2001): something's missing!
What is wrong with Apple? Ata
time when everyone is playing with
music files, recording their LPs, and
making MP3s, it removes the audio-
input feature from its entire profes-
sional product line? This has pre-
vented me from buying an iBook and
now makes me look at alternatives
for the desktop, too.
DONALD SAMSON
Chicopee, Massachusetts
Your review of the 466MHz and
533MHz Power Mac G4s was right
on the mark. I just purchased a dual-
who were concerned about our review of tax-preparation soft-
processor 533MHz model. Like Mr.
Breen, I was unhappy to see no audio-
in port. It was apparently replaced
with a digital audio-out port, which
many of us with great legacy speaker
systems will n
JEFF WAGGONER
Hinsdale, Illinois
er use,
Working Blind
Galen Gruman’s monitor review
(Reviews, April 2001) has some use-
ful information but makes no refer-
ence to some important aspects of
a good monitor. It would've been
helpful if the author had included
information about gray-scale accuracy,
color-temperature accuracy, and
chromaticity coordinates for the
three primary-color phosphors.
Without this information, a true
image professional may as well be
working blind.
Dave Corpitt
Madison, New Jersey
Free Doesn't Cut It
I went to FreeSamples.com (“The
Great Giveaway,” April 2001), and
the only things available for free
were lollipops and Mrs. Dash. The
bank gives out free lollipops.
JAN SHARROW
Atlanta, Georgia
Mini Mouse, Big Oops
Contour Design’s MiniPro Optical
Mouse was recently reviewed on
Maeworld.com. In the review, some
errors were made. The mouse does
have software for customizing button
functions. The MiniPro Optical
Mouse software is designed to be
downloaded from our Web site.
Furthermore, the mouse has ttvo but-
tons and no scroll wheel for ergonomic
reasons. The MiniPro Optical Mouse
is designed to be portable and go any-
where. It is too small to have side-by-
side buttons or a scroll wheel.
YAISHALI PATEL
Contour Design
The review has been updated online,
and our mouse rating has been
adjusted accordingly.—Ed.
Big Brother Likes Dead Trees
Perhaps I missed it, but in James
Bradbury’s article “Quicken versus
the Web” (April 2001), I didn’t see
any discussion about search and
seizure laws as they relate to online
bill-payment services. Last time I
checked, the restrictions that apply
to Big Brother examining bills paid
through snail mail do not apply to
bills paid electronically. I would be
happy to be proved wrong on this.
SCOTT STEVENSON
Los Altos, California
Without going into whether it’s easier
for the government to pry into bills
paid online, I suggest never doing
anything online that you want kept
secret. Unless you're paying cash,
though, you always leave an elec-
tronic trail—]ames Bradbury
Viva MacPipes! Viva Ihnatko!
I just wanted to thank Andy Ihnatko
for recommending the shareware
game MacPipes (The Game Room,
April 2001), When I was younger,
I was addicted to a similar game.
Unfortunately, it was on an old
66MHz computer. I’m glad someone
found this game for me, and even
better, I can play it on my iMac!
REBEKKA WENDELN
West Carrollton, Ohio
Encore
I thoroughly enjoyed your story about
Macs on the big screen (“Great Per-
formances,” Buzz, April 2001). But
there was a glaring omission: Juerassic
Park. Who could forget smoking
Samuel L. Jackson and his Macs that
ran the island? And Wayne Knight
(Seinfeld’s Newman) plotted the theft
of dinosaur DNA and sabotaged the
entire network with his Mac.
MATT BARNETT
Fishers, Indiana
Mark Up
I've been reading Andrew Gore’s
“PowerBook G4 Diary” (Macworld
-com), and I wonder if the keyboard
touching the screen is a problem
for everyone. I was told that I was
the first South American to have one
of these mean SOOMHz machines,
but I don’t want to be the first with
a marked screen!
CARLOS SANTA CRUZ
La Paz, Bolivia
You can wipe the marks off easily
with a soft cloth—Ed,. m
Letters should be sent to Letters, Macworld, 301
Howard St., 16th Fl., San Francisco, CA 94105;
via fax, 415/442-0766; or clectronically, to
letters@macworld.com, Include a return address
and daytime phone number. Due to the high
volume of mail received, we can’t respond
personally co each letter, We reserve the right to
edit all letters. All published letters become the
property of Macworld.
The Feedbag
Much of the mail we get here at Macworld has nothing at
all to do with our little magazine. Sometimes, readers just
want to ask us general questions, and we're always more
than glad to answer. Which isn’t to say that those answers
will always be correct—but we'll try.
Dan and Jan want to know what to do with their
six-foot-tall Lara Croft statue. "We are the proud owners
of one of these models, and we would like to find out
its value, with a view to selling. We know it’s one of only
50 made.”
Our advice? Don't sell it; instead, run out and buy the
other 49. Corner the Croft market—that's 300 feet of Lara!
If only Billy Bob Thornton were so lucky: all he has is that
financially worthless, live Angelina Jolie. And she's only,
what, five feet and seven inches tall?
Meanwhile, Adam wants to know all about the # key.
“| am wondering what the symbol on the Mac keyboard's
command key is,” he writes. “Does it have any significance
or history? | am actually curious about getting it as a
tattoo. Where could | get a better picture of it?”
You mean taking your iBook down to a tattoo parlor and
saying "This key, please” won't cut it? Boy, today’s tattoo
artists are a fussy lot. Anyway, Adam, the history question
has us completely stumped. We suspect, however, that Woz
and Jobs swiped it from the cover of Led Zeppelin IV.
Of course, we've been wrong before.
www.macworld.com July 2001 15
FIRST LOOK
The New iBook:
BIG THING
Small Package
News,
Views, and
Chatter
from the
World
of Macs
—
=. "
BY ANDREW GORE AND PHILIP MICHAELS
APPLE SACRIFICES SIZE, Not Strength,
with Latest Portable Update
THE TITANIUM POWERBOOK G4 has been
a big hit for Apple—in just four months, the
company has sold more than 115,000 of the
power-packed portables. Now it’s time for
Apple's other laptop to get the Titanium
treatment. Meet the new iBook, a slimmer,
sleeker, whiter version of the original intro-
duced by Apple nearly two years ago.
This new iBook is all about size—
or lack of it. It’s 9.1 inches deep by 11.2
inches wide, meaning it’s not much larger
than a three-ring binder. Like the inch-
thick PowerBook G4, the iBook has gotten
slimmer; it’s now just 1.3 inches thick.
That's helped to drop the iBook’s weight
to 4.9 pounds.
But Apple didn’t sacrifice functionality
in slimming down the new iBook. This
Mac is stocked with a S00MHz G3 pro-
cessor, a full slate of ports (see “Ports
Aplenty”), and a full-size keyboard. iBook
buyers also get a choice of optical drives.
The basic $1,299 model comes with a 24x
16 July 2001 www.macworld.com
CD-ROM drive and 64MB of installed
RAM. An iBook equipped with 128MB
of RAM and a DVD-ROM drive costs
$1,499; with 128MB of RAM and an
8x4x24x CD-RW drive, $1,599; and with
128MB of RAM and a combination CD-
RW/DVD-ROM drive, $1,799.
Outside and Inside
With this revision, Apple’s recent penchant
for sprucing up its machines with eye-
catching colors appears to be receding
quickly in the company’s rearview mirror.
The so-bright-it-glows shade of last fall’s
key lime iBook? It’s gone, along with the
original iBook’s extrawide curves and
spring-loaded handle.
The new model is almost the anti-
iBook: a smooth, almost featureless white
box with rounded edges and corners. Where
the original design was sassy, this iBook is
simple; while the old portable screamed for
attention, this one merely whispers.
Instead of bright colors, the new
iBook features an evolution of the
computer-trapped-in-Lucite look of
the Power Mac G4 Cube. The iBook
is sheathed in a millimeters-thick clear
plastic coating that is warm and grip-
pable—and, on first examination,
appears to be highly shock- and
scratch-resistant. Around the middle
is a band of metallic gray that ties
the new iBook to the 2001 edition
of Apple portables. Sitting next to a
Titanium PowerBook, the iBook looks
like it belongs, sharing such touches as
the same magnetic catch and rounded
metal release button on the front and
a glowing crystal Apple logo.
Unlike the Titanium PowerBook,
however, the iBook’s shell does not
contain any exotic metals. Its chassis
consists primarily of polycarbonate
plastic, stiffened by a magnesium
frame. The drive is mounted in rubber,
and the case has no external latches,
doors, or hinges—except the primary
hinge that connects the top and bot-
tom of the clamshell case. And that
hinge speaks to the iBook’s resilience
The iBook's New Chapter
PROCESSOR SPEED | BUILT-INRAM | STORAGE | OPTICAL ORIVE PRICE ;
SOOMHz G3 64MB 1068 CD-ROM $1299
SOOMHz G3 128MB 1068 DVD-ROM $1,499
SOOMH2 G3 128MB 1068 co-RW $1599
SOOMHz G3 126MB | 1068 CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo | $1,799
around the rubber feet on the bor-
tom, to help protect the feet from
being pulled off in a student’s rough-
and-tumble day.
Checking Out the Specs
Apple didn’t add a G4 processor
when it revised the iBook. Still, the
new-look laptop hardly lacks for
power. All four configurations come
with a SOOMHz PowerPC G3 pro-
cessor with 256K of Level 2 cache;
however, the computer's system bus
runs at 66MHz, still the slowest of
all currently shipping Mac models.
Besides the 64MB of RAM soldered
to the basic model’s logic board and
the 128MB of soldered-on memory
in the other configurations, the iBook
Where the original design was sassy,
this iBook is simple; while the old portable
screamed for attention, this one
gets noticed by merely whispering.
—the firm, thick hinge swings the
screen back and down, behind the
computer's back edge, which lowers
its overall height when open.
According to Apple, the combina-
tion of all these design factors makes
the new iBook twice as durable as
the older model, even though it has
less “shock space” inside the case.
Apple has even added metal collars
PORTS APLENTY
10/100BaseT Ethernet
allows for expanded RAM via a
single PC100 RAM DIMM slot. The
result? Your fully loaded iBook will
have between 576MB and 640MB
of RAM, depending on the model
you buy. A 10GB Ultra ATA drive is
standard on all models, although you
can choose to have Apple install a
20GB internal drive (for an extra
$200) instead.
usB
The iBook’s screen has also got-
ten a boost. It’s still a 12.1-inch active
matrix display, but now it offers a
resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels, as
opposed to the original iBook’s 800
by 600. This means there are a lot
of pixels on a comparatively small
screen—and while the display is rela-
tively sharp, it may be hard for some
users to read. In 1,024-by-768 mode,
type was a bit too small for one edi-
tor’s nearsighted, just-short-of-40-year-
old eyes. Of course, you can lower the
screen’s resolution to try to compen-
sate, but because 1,024 by 768 pixels
is the native resolution of the screen,
all lower resolutions have to be cre-
ated via pixel interpolation—small
pixels emulating larger pixels—and
the results can be blocky and fuzzy.
If you're looking for accelerated
video power, this system will leave
you wanting more. It has an ATI
Rage Mobility 128 graphics con-
troller and 8MB of graphics RAM—
the same as the PowerBook G3 and
G4. Unlike earlier models, however,
this new iBook offers RGB-video
out. This lets you use a special moni-
tor cable adapter to drive an exter-
nal monitor—which must mirror the
contents of the iBook’s built-in
screen. As with the last generation
of iBook, this model can output com-
posite video as well, through a differ-
ent adapter cable.
continues
Audio/Composite-Video Out
56-Kbps Modem
FireWire
RGB-Video Out
iBooks Take Apple Back to Class
MACS AND SCHOOLS—the two go together like recess and kickball.
And Apple hopes to keep it that way with help from the iBook.
Putting Macs in schools helped Apple make a name for itself in
the early days of the company. That commitment hasn't gone away,
but Apple no longer finds itself at the head of the class. PC maker
Dell claimed the top spot in total education sales last year—a situ-
ation Apple has vowed to reverse. The company has brought in
two new education executives and purchased Power-
School, a Web-based student information system. And
now Apple has added a redesigned iBook to its arsenal
of products,
Looking at the numbers, it’s easy to see why
Apple is counting on the iBook to restore its leader- ~~
ship position in education. Even when Apple lost the
‘overall top spot to Dell, it still sold more notebooks
to schools and students than any other computer maker. And mar-
ket research firm IDC says demand for notebooks grew 2.5 times
faster than demand for desktop computers in 2000.
Apple believes that wirelessly networked notebooks such as
the iBook are the future of computers in education. Presently,
schools tie up classroom space by turning entire rooms into desk-
As with previous models of the
iBook, Apple claims you can run this
While the new
bound labs. To use the labs, students have to move from class-
room to classroom—not exactly a recipe for productivity, Apple
CEO Steve Jobs explained.
Instead, Apple envisions schools stocking up on laptops—
AirPort-equipped IBooks, naturally—and moving the computers
to each classroom via a mobile cart. "The computers move from
room to room, not the students,” Jobs sald.
It's fitting, then, that Apple's first customer for
the new iBook is the Henrico County school district
in Virginia. The district bought 23,000 iBooks,
enough to give one to each of Its middle- and high-
school students and teachers this fall.
"We're going to take all these beautiful IBooks,
put them in the hands of teachers and students,
and change the world,” said Dr. Mark Edwards,
Henrico County schools superintendent, when Apple announced
the record sale.
That's music to Jobs's ears. “Apple has been helping teach-
ers teach and students learn since 1977,” he said. And If the com-
pany’s recent efforts are any indication, Apple has no plans to
stop Now—PHILIP MICHAELS
has sold this year, versus just over 10
percent in 1999, It’s easy to see why:
model on battery power for five
hours. The battery is still mounted in
the bottom of the unit. But unlike the
old power pack, the new battery is
smaller and easier to remove: there's
a single coin screw instead of two. A
series of LEDs tells you at a glance
how much charge the iBook has.
Upgradability seems to be a
strong point: both the RAM and Air-
Port slots are easily accessible under
the keyboard (adding an AirPort card
to the PowerBook G4 requires remov-
ing the bottom cover).
And, just because Apple’s indus-
trial-design group likes to add little
surprises to all its designs, the new
iBook may not have
all the muscle of
a PowerBook, it
certainly keeps pace,
feature for feature.
iBook’s sleep indicator light is on its
front edge, embedded under the plas-
tic skin and visible only when it
cycles slowly from dim to bright.
The Bottom Line
Portables are the fastest-growing seg-
ment of Apple’s business—nearly 30
percent of the systems the company
as other companies threw features
overboard to help reduce size or lower
prices, Apple held out for the technol-
ogy and the component prices to reach
levels at which it could offer complete
solutions in each niche. That’s espe-
cially true in consumer portables.
There, PC vendors knock off features
from their high-end notebooks to get
prices down. But Apple engineers the
iBook with no compromises, and it
shows. While the iBook may not have
all the muscle of a PowerBook, it cer-
tainly keeps pace, feature for feature.
And that’s good news for iBook
users who are looking for a lot in a
little package, Mm
| iBooks: Then and Now
Here's how the IBook has evolved since Apple unveiled the laptop in 1999. Each example represents the highest-end IBoos available at the time.
PROCESSOR | BUILT-IN opTicAL =| MAXIMUM Size
MODEL SPEED RAM STORAGE | DRIVE RESOLUTION | VIDEO OUT _| (IN INCHES) _| WEIGHT
July 1999 iBook 300MH2 G3 | 32MB | :3GB -ROM 800 x 600 pixels | No 135 %1.6x18 | 67 pounds
February 2000 iBook SE | 366MH2G3 | 64MB | 668 CD-ROM B00 x 600 pixels | No W25 x 16x18 | 67 pounds
September 2000 iBook SE | 466NHzG3 | 64MB | 10GB Dvo-ROM | 800x600 pixels | Yes (composite) | 13.5xN.6x18 | 67 pounds
May 2001 iBook SOONHZG3 | 1eMB | 10GB CD-RW/DVD- | 1024x768 pixels | Yes (RGB and | .2x91x13 | 49 pounds
| ROM combo composite)
18 July 2001 www.macworld.com
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Circle 37 on card or go to www.macworld.com/getinio
intel
pentium’ 4
POWERPC Vs.
PENTIUM
MORE THAN JUST M
GO TO A MACWORLD EXPO KEYNOTE SPEECH, and you’re bound to see it—
a demo that shows a Mac blowing away its Wintel rivals. Apple executives run
an Adobe Photoshop file on machines with the fastest available PowerPC and
Pentium processors: the Mac sprints to the finish line first, and the Wintel PC
staggers down the home stretch like a weekend jogger running a first marathon.
Apple’s point is really quite simple:
megahertz numbers aren’t everything.
(See “Does MHz Matter?” elsewhere
in this issue.) Chip architecture is just
as important—that’s what helps a
Power PC CPU outperform a faster
Pentium chip. For example, at the
January 2001 Macworld Expo, a
733MHz Power Mac G4 finished a
Photoshop test 33 percent faster than
a PC with a 1.5GHz Pentium 4 pro-
cessor did.
EGAHERTZ
Does Apple’s example hold up
in a real-world road race? To find
out, we ran six Photoshop 6.0.1
operations on the fastest PowerPC
and Pentium chips we could find:
a 733MHz Power Mac G4 and a
Gateway Performance 1500XL
with a 1.5GHz Pentium 4 processor
(with added memory and an Nvidia
GeForce2 MX graphics card, for
more-comparable performance).
Going up against a Pentium 4
processor roughly twice its speed,
the G4 more than held its own. The
A Photo Finish?
‘cm
Best ests In Gousica[Uasherp [erie ROB-to-cuvn | notateO3 | Ugting
sam Shorter is better. Blur 10 Mask 2.3 50 Percent | Conversion | Degrees Effects Total Time
‘ple Power Mac 64/733 —_— —_ —_ — i — i — Sj 42
Gateway Performance 1SOOXt Pentium 4(05CH) I 7st 4 es 5 23 a |? a 6 i 55
‘4 Better ‘4 Better ‘4 Better ‘4 Better 4 Better 4 Better ‘4 Better
‘Scores are in seconds. We set displays to 1,024-by-768-pizel resolution and 24-bit color. The Apple Power Mac G4 had Mac OS 91 installed, 256MB of RAM, and virtual memory
disabled. The Gateway Performance 1SOOXL was running Windows ME and had 256MB of RAM.—Macworld Lab testing by Jeffy K. Milstead
20 July 2001 www.macworld.com
PHILIP KAAKE
Mac and the PC performed most of
the tasks in about the same time,
with the Mac the decisive winner in
two tests.
How did a Mac with a 733MHz
processor outperform a 1.5GHz
machine? Credit AltiVec, the subpro-
cessor built into a G4—it allows
the chip to render graphics and per-
form calculations faster than an ordi-
nary PowerPC CPU. Adobe designed
Photoshop to take advantage of
AltiVec; hence the Mac’s speedy
performance in Photoshop tests. (In
April, Adobe announced a plug-in
that optimizes Photoshop 6 for the
Pentium 4.)
But try other applications, and
the speed advantage that the Mac
enjoys over a Pentium PC quickly
evaporates. Operations in Microsoft
Office took longer on the G4—more
than three times as much time in
‘one case. Only line-by-line scrolling
tests in Word and Excel were faster
on the Mac.
The MP3-encoding test is a per-
fect example of the PowerPC G4
chip’s worst-case scenario. Since the
Mac version of the MVP player and
encoder hasn’t been optimized for
AltiVec, the G4 lags behind the PC
version, (When running AltiVec-
friendly SoundJam, the PowerPC
edges out the Pentium, Our test also
involved reading audio-CD data
from the G4’s sluggish SuperDrive,
which slowed things down further.)
Architectural differences between
the Mac and Windows platforms
account for the PowerPC’s lower
Quake III frame rate. Most PCs have
a sound card to take the load off the
host CPU during game play; the extra
processing demands on Apple Sound
Manager sent the Mac’s score even
lower, With Sound Extension turned
off, the PowerPC’s scores improved.
It’s not just marketing spin when
Apple says processor speed isn’t the
only way to determine whether a com-
puter will zip through a task. But if
the other factors involved don’t favor
the Mac, performance will lag behind
that of a Pentium machine, megahertz
gap OF NO.—JEFFY K. MILSTEAD AND
PHILIP MICHAELS.
Speed Limits
=P
wamsuke MICROSOFT WORD 9 ~_|___microsort excet 9 MVP 1.2 | QUAKE Ill
fm Stortersbeter, mm Lemger setter | Sera" [Replace [summarize | Recae Scrat | wes encode | time demo
‘Apple Power Mac G4/733 — ——49 —36 ja 1276 mms 82
Gateway Performance 1500XL Penton 4(51) —— 5 —_ 40 jam o— 22 33 108 S126
Better 4 Better Better Better Better ‘Better Better
| Word, Excel, and MVP scores are in seconds; Quake scores are in frames per second, The Apple Power Mac Ga had Mac OS 9, installed, 256NB of RAM, and virtual memory dis-
abled, The Gateway Performance ISOOXL was running Windows ME and had 256MB of RAM.—Macworld Lab testing by Jeffy K. Milstead
No SUPERDRIVE? NO PROBLEM.
BURN, BABY, BURN
If you pine for a SuperDrive but don’t want to sell the Power
Mac G4 you bought just last winter, don't worry—DVD recording
isn't out of reach, At the heart of Apple's SuperDrive is Pio-
neer’s DVD and CD burner, a revolutionary IDE drive that can
Apple's DVD Studio
Pro, you can cre-
encrypted (CSS) videos, But
with programs such as
read and write four formats: DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R, and CD-RW.
This $995 drive hit the retail market in May as the Pioneer DVR
A03 (800/421-1404, www.pioneerelectronics.com). CD Cyclone
sells it as the DVDRevo DVD-R/RW, a $990 FireWire external
drive (714/247-0099, www.cdcyclone.com). LaCie plans to ship
a $999 DVD-R/CD-RW FireWire drive in June (503/844-4500,
www.lacie.com).
Although Apple packages its iDVD application exclusively
with SuperDrive-equipped G4s, Mac users can turn to several
DVD-creation apps, all of which will work with the new Pioneer
drive. Can you use it to, say, copy an X-Men DVD? Nope. The
DVR AO3 burns general-use DVD-R and DVD-RW discs, which
don't permit bit-for-bit copies of Content Scrambling System-
ate a profes-
sional-looking
DVD of your
iMovie homage to
Fellini or your recent
trip to Canctin. DVD pros
can use the DVR AO3 to burn
preview discs for clients, although
general-use discs are unsuitable for mass
reproduction. Pioneer's drive also writes CD-Rs at 8x speed and
CD-RWs at 4x. So you can still send a VideoCD to your family
back home, for example, or burn a compilation of polka music—
whatever lights your fire—ANTON LINECKER
www.maeworld.com July 2001 21
MAC STU
Is Mightier
BEHOLD THE NOBLE HIGHLIGH
whose fluorescent colors have
marked up important documents
seemingly since the days of the
first cave paintings. But just as
other prehistoric office tools have
gone by the wayside in favor of
more advanced instruments—the A
mimeograph machine giving way (sip
to the color laser copier, the three-
martini lunch replaced by the fruit- FILTERING THE WEB
and-wheatgrass smoothie—perhaps
the highlighter must now evolve. Where DON'T You Wa nt to Go Toda 9
That's the notion behind the ys
new IrisPen Il, coming this summer :
from Image Recognition Integrated THE WORLD WIDE WEB CAN OPEN YOUR EYES to material you didn’t know
Systems (800/ 447-4744, www existed. The trouble is, not all of that material is suitable for everyone’s eyes.
irisusa.com). Roughly the size of That's the argument for Internet-filtering software—applications that block
a Magic Marker, the $129 IrisPen is access to potentially objectionable Web sites and prevent young ’uns from wan-
an electronic highlighter—as you dering into the Web’s seedier neighborhoods. But perhaps they do their job too
roll it across a document, the inter- well. We installed three of the more user-friendly filtering applications: Content-
nal scanner captures text and Barrier, from Intego ($40; 305/868-7920, www.intego.com); KidSafe, from
enters it into your word processing Apple (free; 800/6927753, www.apple.com); and AOL 5.0’s parental controls
application. Worried that IrisPen (subscription prices vary; 800/827-6364, www.aol.com). We used each pro-
will turn your data into electronic
—— - gram’s most restrictive
gibberish? The company says new Shei \ ne eee oe
character-recognition technology THE NOT-SO-USUAL SUSPECTS Soe cE neat
as Improved tie accuracy Tate. tot Wee siTe | CONTENT- | KID- | AOL | VERDICT rier’s filtering cate-
99 percent on black-and-white, BARRIER | SAFE | 5.0
gories; selecting the
gray-scale, and color documents. CNN e D > | No news is not oi
4 | Children 12 And Under
Unlike earlier, serial-port versions ss 7 rays good news E sea
of the IrisPen, this model sports a e >| Was it something we filter in AOL’s Web-
USB connection. True, the IrisPen’s LT Sie pete? | ssurfing controls; and
case is an undistinguished dark Apple 2 > J iecceiel peor using KidSafe’s default
gray, not eye-catching yellow or hot _— SiS tee setting, which lets you
pink. But that seems a small sacri- anger Mr. Gates. visit only sites OK'd
fice for progress.—PHILIP MICHAELS oa “Te! ry @ | Shawn Fanning just by a panel of educa-
sei can'tbuyabreak. | tors. Then we visited
CaP Cure > ° @ | Because if there's sites that we thought
one thing we have
to keep away from were squeaky-clean.
Bie nists concer: The results? Either the
intormati bait
+ Web is a lot more
Democratic ° © | © | Biameit on that sie
Party notorious potty: risqué than we imag-
mouth senatorRuss | ined, or Internet-filter-
Feingo
——___+ ——n + — — ing software needs a
Republican ° So much for family
Party healthy dose of par-
Encyclo- > .elfle Perhaps a li ental common sense to
aie on aa isadanger | be truly helpful.—pxivie
fitannica ous thing, y
a a = MICHAELS
) =accessed:
22 July 2001 www.macworld.c
PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID PAPAS; ILLUSTRATION BY JORDIN ISIP
ADAMS
WADE; PORTRAIT BY 8)
PHOTOGRAI
WIRELESS WORRIES
Could Your AirPort
Come Under Siege?
IRELESS NETWORKS BASED ON
the same technology as Apple’s
AirPort have spread throughout
homes and offices small and
large. That ubiquity has meant greater
most AirPort users would
dependen
now find doing without this wireless
technology cruel and unusual punish-
ment. In fact, the only thing that may
match the growing acceptance of the
wireless-technology standard known as
$02.11b is the widespread confidence
users have in their networks’ security.
‘That confidence is misplaced. Sev-
eral research groups have discovered
thar the security of the data flitting
between your AirPort Base Station
and your Mac is not as ironclad as
you may assume.
Apple’s AirPort technology allows
you to create closed networks, which
only someone who knows the name of
the network can join. You can add a
password to your network and thereby
encrypt wireless data using a scheme
called Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP).
But WEP is a poorly designed secu-
rity system. AirPort’s WEP was already
considered weak be:
use of its short,
40-bit encryption ki
design flaws in WEP mean that using
even 128-bit keys makes it only a bit
more difficult for miscreants to insinuate
themsel
into your wireless data. Now
it takes a little elbow grease to create
/Biaés i turns chs, AA er
the tools to break into a closed, W
encrypted wireless network, but it’s
just a matter of time before automated
tools capable of doing precisely that
appear on the scene.
When researchers first published
their vulnerability findings, the IEEE
802.11 Working Group that approved
WEP didn’t admit its error, instead try:
ing frantically ro downplay the prob-
lem’s importance.
At the moment, remedies appear
to be many months away. And wireless-
hardware makers are noncommittal
about whether it will even be possible
to upgrade existing products to make
them secure.
If you use AirPort or
any other 802.11b system,
you should contact the
vendor of your wireless
hardware, tell it how
much you care about your
data’s security, and ask
when it plans to fix the
flaws in WEP. WEP is not
secure by a long shot, and
the consumers who
bought into 802.11b and
created the great demand from which
vendors are now profiting deserve
proper protection for their networks.
That said, 802.11b itself is still won-
derfully useful technology and should
not be shunned merely because of
WEP’s shortcomings. Knowing precisely
how your wireless network and its data
are protected will help you decide
whether a wired network suits your
needs best after all.—sTEPHAN SOMOGY!
More Info:
isaac.cs.berkeley.edu
/isaac/wep-faq.htmt
Want to find out more about WEP
and 80211? Check out this report by
Internet Security, Applications,
Authentication, and Cryptography.
A i2001/07/buzz/badams.htmi
PRO FILE
PowerBooks Rock
Q&A with BRYAN ADAMS
Bryan Adams has
topped the US. record
charts four times. He
has a Grammy and an
American Music Award.
So what artistic passion
is the Canadian rocker
pursuing with his
PowerBook? Photography. It's clear Adams
isn’t stuck in the "Summer of '69"; he’s a 2Ist-
century Mac-head who uses his PowerBook
for just about everything —ADELIA CELLINI
| More Info: www.macworld.com
Bryan Adams talks about meeting
the pope and jamming with the Who.
——
Q: What Mac do
you currently use?
A: | use a SOOMHz
PowerBook G3. It's
basically my entire
Peter Gabriel and
Bob Clearmountain
were the only
people | knew back
then that had it,
workshop/office/
archive/communica-
tor. Lately I've been
using it to retouch
photographs | did
for a fashion cam-
paign by British
designer John
Richmond. It's such
Q: How do you
feel about the pro-
liferation of MP3s?
A: It’s just
advanced mutated
radio play. | wish |
could get more
upset about it, but
a great computer. _I can't. I've been
bootlegged so
Q: Any other
computers?
A: The only other
computer | ever
had was a Tandy
laptop back in the
late 1980s. | was
heavily over the
years, | just have
to laugh. My record
company once told
me that in 1993,
there were two
bootlegs to every
even using e-mail real record sale of
back then, if you mine on the black
can believe it. You _ market. What can
you do? The indus-
try that created
used to have to
take the phone
receiver off the the CD format is
cradle and put itin the same one that's
a separate holder to _ proliferating the
transfer e-mail, copying market.
www.macworld.com July 2001 23
BEHIND THE SCENES
SELF-MADE
ANIMATION
Product WATCH
@ A utility for importing @ The dissolution of a WALKING, TALKING, AND LOOKING PRETTY is a tall enough
QuickBooks data into merger deal between Mac order for most actors, The last thing they need to worry about
accounting programs from router maker Netopia is how to operate a computer when they’re on camera,
MYOB (800/322-6962, (510/814-5100, www Cue Bob Self, The longtime Mac enthusiast writes mini:
www.myob.com); MYOB snetopia,com) and wireless- applications to run on the computers that appear in movies and
Conversion Assistant Internet-hardware maker on TV. Self’s work gives audiences
sends QuickBooks Pro Proxim (800/229-1630, the illusion of a working computer
data to MYOB Account- www.proxim.com): The two. while eliminating the possibility that
Edge. Conversion Assistant companies called off their an actor might click on the wrong
is available as a free down: —_ planned merger in the button during a critical scene.
load and can be purchased —_face of a slowing techno- Self’s work has appeared on
by mail for $19, logy sector, Gilmore Girls; Ally McBeal; and
@ Imaging software from @ A 3-D Web technology most notably, Boston Public—Self
RealViz (415/615-9800, by Adobe (800/833-6687, @ Office 2001 by Micro- supplies the show's teacher-mock-
www.realviz.com); Stitcher www.adobe.com): Atmos soft (800/426-9400, www ing, Macromedia Flash-like anima-
lets users create fully phere is a professional microsoft.com); Service tions that appear on a fictional
spherical panoramic Web tool for authoring, Release 1 is a free down- student Web site.
images and export them viewing, and interacting load that provides Self begins his Boston Public
to various formats, includ with immersive, virtual enhanced compatibility work after receiving a script from
ing QuickTime 5. It sells 3-D worlds. A Mac beta will with both Mac OS 9.1 and series creator David E. Kelley. Like
for $800 and runs both in be available this summer; Mac OS X's Classic mode. human actors, the computer needs
Mac OS 9 and natively in the product release is set It also features improve- to follow the script exactly, Self
Mac OS X. for late summer. ments to Office's Word, takes a first pass on a blue-and-
Excel, PowerPoint, and white 350MHz Power Mac G3
Entourage applications, with 900MB of RAM, using Adobe
J, © Windows Media Player Photoshop and After Effects.
by Microsoft (800/426- Self imports his Photoshop files
9400, www.microsoft into Macromedia Director to create
com): version 7 supports sequences in which a mouse click
SPECIAL MAC OS X EDITION * .
the newest media codecs opens other Photoshop images, mim-
1. Crowds jam Cupertino store for midnight release from Microsoft, Windows icking a working computer. If the
of Mac OS X, Some people go away disappointed, how- Media Audio and Video 8. script requires the actors to type, Self
ever, due to a slight mix-up over what X stands for The new codecs deliver creates animations that display one
near-DVD-quality video. correct letter for each keystroke—no
2. Applications seem to run slower in Mac OS X's © A Shockwave authoring matter which key the actor hits. The §
Classic environment than in OS 9. Well, we're typing tool by Macromedia (800/ final product goes on a CD, which is &
this list in Classic, and we haven't noticed any perf... 470-72, www.macromedia what's running whenever actors use a=
orma...nce... iss...UeS... Ot... Qvsste.eh com): Director 8.5 Shock- computer in front of the camera. =
3. Macromedia's FreeHand 10 runs natively in Mac wave Studio uses Intel But you can’t just point acam- = &
OS X. Not to be outdone, Adobe has launched its new Internet 3D Graphics soft era ata CRT and film away. The 8
“Stil! Proudly Supporting Moc OS'9" campaign. ware, sousers can deliver monitor's refresh rate must be syn-
‘ scalable 3-D content over chronized with the 24 frames-per- S
4. The new iBook ships without Mac OS X installed, k S
the Web to anyone with a second shooting speed of a film &
"Weald t want te frighten the ebildren,” Apple execo- ‘Shockwave player. It will camera—even when the computer z
tives explain. cost $1199; users of version _ screen is just in the background. =
5. Windows XP bears a striking resemblance to a cer- can upgrade for $199: Fortunately, Self never hasto
tain Mac OS. “That's preposterous,” declares an angry users of prior versions, worry about his computers throw- £
Bill Gates after showing off XP's sporty Agua interface. for $399.—Compiled by ing a star tantrum—unless he pro- —§
MATHEW HONAN grams them to.—GREGG WRENN 3
24 July 2001 www.macworld.com
1-800-OK-CANON Www.canondv.com
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NAOMI SHEA
Final Cut Pro 2
Superb Upgrade Enhances Performance, Media Handling, and More
BY JIM HEID
orget this summer’s blockbusters—the real on-screen action
is among video-editing programs. Earlier this year, Adobe
released Premiere 6, a greatly improved version of its editing
software ($$$$; Reviews, May 2001). Apple has just returned fire
with Final Cut Pro 2, the first major update of its high-end editing
package since the product’s release in
1999. Version 2. brings improvements
in performance, media management,
title creation, and documentation—it
includes the best manual I’ve ever
seen, a biceps-building beast of more
than 1,400 pages.
When Final Cut Pro debuted, it
blew past the slow and buggy Pre-
miere 5. But Premiere 6 is a solid con-
tender, and deciding on a program to
buy means weighing Final Cut Pro 2’s
faster performance and broader capa-
bilities against Premiere 6’s lower cost
and superior integration with the rest
of the Adobe product line.
28 July 2001 www.macworld.com
Power and Performance
Final Cut Pro 1 offered a refined,
responsive user interface and intro-
duced innovations such as windows
whose contents update as you move
and resize them. Apple didn’t tinker
with success—Final Cut Pro 2 looks
nearly identical to its predecessor
(see “Making the Cut”). It also offers
the same versatile editing options:
you can edit by dragging video clips
to the Timeline or Canvas window,
and you can use the mouse or a vast
array of keyboard shortcuts to adjust
clip lengths and perform other edit-
ing tasks.
In the new Cutting Station mode,
many of Final Cut Pro’s advanced fea-
tures are hidden. Users working on
visually simple projects may prefer this
mode, as may newcomers—but even in.
this streamlined mode, Final Cut Pro is
more complex than Premiere.
Apple has fine-tuned Final Cut Pro
to take advantage of the G4 proces-
sor’s Velocity Engine circuitry and of
multiprocessor Macs. Time-consuming
tasks, such as rendering transitions
and crunching through complex
motion-graphics sequences, are dra-
matically faster. Apple claims perform-
ance gains of roughly 30 percent over
earlier versions and 70 percent on
multiprocessor machines. In my tests,
Final Cut Pro rendered significantly
faster than Premiere 6. For example,
Premiere took 106 seconds to render a
5-second cross dissolve on a 667MHz
Power Mac G4; Final Cut Pro took
just 21 seconds.
It gets better. Unlike Premiere,
Final Cut Pro 2 can work with third-
party hardware to render commonly
used effects and motion-graphics fea-
tures in real time. I tested Matrox’s
$999 RTMac PCI video card and
found it an ideal companion to Final
Cut Pro 2. Besides offering huge pro-
ductivity gains with real-time effects,
FINAL CUT PRO 2
Rating: $66%
Pros: Elegant interface; fast rendering;
supports real-time rendering; excellent
documentation.
Cons: Weak titling features; can’t use
Premiere plug-ins; no audio mixer.
Company's estimated price: $999;
upgrade, $249
Company: Apple Computer, 800/692-
7753, www.apple.com
the card has a connector for a second
monitor and includes a breakout box
for connecting analog video gear.
Better Capturing, Better
Management
Final Cut Pro’s batch-capture features
make it easy to log and capture video
from DV and other remote-control-
lable devices. A new scene-detection
function makes it easier to work with
lengthy DV sequences: choose a com-
mand after capturing a segment of
video, and Final Cut Pro divides the
clip based on the start and stop codes
that DV camcorders generate. It’s
similar to, though more powerful
than, the scene-detection feature in
Apple’s entry-level iMovie.
Keeping track of the files that
make up a large project is difficult, but
Final Cut Pro has always had strong
project-management features. You can
segregate content into multiple folder-
like bins, and you can divide a com-
plex project into multiple sequences,
each with its own timeline. (Premiere
still lacks the latter capability.)
Final Cut Pro’s media-manage-
ment features are even better than
before. You can search for media
using a wider variety of criteria and
then specify that the program do
something with the media it finds. For
example, you can search for unused
media and delete it from your hard
drive to reclaim disk space. Taking a
page from iMovie, Final Cur Pro 2
even lets you delete unused portions
of individual clips.
Audio and Titling Tweaks
Though Final Cut Pro’s audio features
have been improved, the video-editing
professionals I talked to feel that
Apple didn’t go far enough: the pro-
gram now offers stereo volume meters
bur lacks an equivalent to Premiere 6’
audio mixer, which lets you adjust and
automate audio levels in real time.
On the plus side, Final Cut Pro
now lets you adjust the volume levels
of multiple tracks simultaneously.
And it can export audio tracks in the
OMF (Open Media Framework) for-
mat for subsequent sweetening using
high-end audio tools such
as Digidesign’s Pro Tools
and Mark of the Unicorn’s
Digital Performer. Final
Cut Pro 2 also includes
Peak DV, a scaled-down
version of BIAS’s digital
audio editor.
In Final Cut Pro 1,
creating titles was cum-
bersome; in this version,
new titling tools make
it easier to create ani-
mated titles, such as roll-
ing credits. Final Cut Pro
is still limited to working
with TrueType fonts, however—the
program doesn’t support PostScript
fonts. And you can’t mix and match
fonts within a title. Fortunately, ver-
sion 2 includes Boris FX’s Boris Script
LTD, a superb plug-in that lets you
create graphically complex titles con-
taining multiple type styles.
Final Cut Pro or Premiere?
Many things separate Final Cut Pro
and Premiere, but foremost among,
them is compositing: the ability to
layer multiple video tracks and ani-
mate and resize them over time, Final
Cut Pro has rich compositing fea-
tures, whereas Adobe leaves that step
to Premiere’s sibling, After Effects.
One price of Final Cut Pro’s ver-
satility is, well, its price—$999, versus
Premiere’s $549. Final Cut Pro also
demands at least 192MB of RAM
(but prefers 256MB); Premiere 6 runs
comfortably on a 128MB machine.
Premiere is also tightly integrated
with other Adobe products. For
example, it can import Illustrator art-
work and provides better support for
Photoshop files, and After Effects can
directly import Premiere projects.
Final Cut Pro, while more powerful
than Premiere, is more insular.
So which program should you
choose? Premiere 6 on its own is the
better bargain, but you can also buy
it as part of Adobe’s Digital Video
Collection—for $1,199, you get Pre-
miere, After Effects, Photoshop, and
Illustrator: an appealing package if
you're outfitting a new editing system.
Making the Cut Final Cut Pro 2's elegant interface is pat
cked
with editing features and keyboard shortcuts.
Premiere is also easier to learn
and lets you choose from numerous
third-party video and audio plug-ins,
few of which work with Final Cut
Pro. And unlike Final Cut Pro,
Premiere is available for Windows,
making it a potentially better choice
for cross-platform studios.
But for video professionals, Final
Cut Pro is the program to buy. It’s far
better suited to long-form projects,
thanks to its superior media-manage-
ment features and its ability to divide
a lengthy project into multiple
sequences. Its compositing features
aren’t as rich as those of After Effects,
but many users will be willing to make
that sacrifice for the convenience of
being able to work in one program.
Final Cut Pro has also become
hugely popular among film and TV
professionals. In Los Angeles, for
example, there’s a 600-member Final
Cut Pro user's group (www.lafepug
.org). Premiere just doesn’t enjoy that
kind of community among video pros.
Macworld's Buying Advice
Final Cut Pro 2 isn’t a slam-dunk
winner over Adobe Premiere 6, due
to Premiere’s lower price, audio mixer,
and ties to other Adobe products.
Still, it’s a superb sequel. Its enhance-
ments address the needs of video pro-
fessionals, and its performance on
a G4 Mac is stunning. Final Cut
Pro’s unmatched depth of features
has made it the editor of choice for
video pros, and version 2 will only
strengthen that position. m
www.maeworld.com July 2001 29
P|
SMOIA9,
G4 Upgrade Cards
Give a Speed Boost to Your Power Mac G3
BY DAVID READ
erhaps you’ve recently upgraded to Mac OS X, and you notice
your once acceptably fast blue-and-white Power Mac G3 begin-
ning to show its age. Luckily, this Mac’s 100MHz system bus
makes it a prime candidate for a processor upgrade, which can give
you nearly top-of-the-line performance. Macworld Lab examined
PowerLogix’s 450MHz PowerForce
G4 ZIF card; Sonnet Technologies’
400MHz and S00MHz Encore ZIF
G4 cards; and XLR8’s 400MHz,
450MHz, and S00MHz Mach Speed
G4 ZIF MPe cards. We found that
although these cards performed simi-
larly (relative to their speeds), those
from Sonnet and XLR8 offered the
most extras.
G4 or Not G4?
A G4 processor has a subprocessor
called AltiVec (Apple calls it the Veloc-
ity Engine), which can dramatically
boost performance—but only in appli-
cations designed to take advantage of
it (such as Adobe Photoshop and some
other image-editing programs, MP3
encoders, and video-editing packages).
Not many applications are optimized
for AltiVec, but if you happen to work
with one of them every day, you'll
want a G4, And Mac OS X uses the
Velocity Engine much more than Mac
OS 9 does, so if you're planning to
switch to OS X, a G4 upgrade may
be in order.
Anatomy of an Upgrade
A G4 processor cannot work in a
blue-and-white Mac without a firm-
ware patch, which modifies the
ROM, preparing the motherboard
for the upgrade. But only Sonnet
provides a method for removing the
patch; you would have to contact
the other companies for a removal
procedure (at press time, each was
developing this procedure and was
hesitant to release it).
XLR8 had the best installation
package, providing all of the neces-
sary tools and excellent instructions.
Sonnet’s instructions were also very
well written—especially for users
with little experience inside a Mac—
with clear, descriptive illustrations
and a minimum of jargon.
Controlling the Cache
Each card has a 1MB L2 cache that,
by default, runs at half the proces-
sor’s speed. (The L2 cache stores
frequently used instructions, allowing
the processor to operate with greater
efficiency.) All the cards come with
software that monitors the cache,
but the amount of control provided
differs from company to company.
PowerLogix and XLR8 provide con-
trol panels, but XLR8’s gives you
more control over the cache’s speed
and other performance parameters.
Additionally, XLR8’s control panel
checks the cache and sets it to the
Clocking the Velocity Engine
:
Roterence systems in italics. Best results In bold. i SPEEOMARK 2.1 | SOUNDJAM 2.5.2 ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 6.0.1 QUAKE til
Pes eae ier ae: ees LG 1 BAUS” | vera Stare. MP3 Encode Gaussian Blur Unsharp Mask Normal
SE ee ee a a | ma
XLR8 Mach Speed G4 ZIF MPe 400MHz = 127 221 | 9 | = 32
PowerLogix PowerForce Ga ZIF 450MHz 2 —[_— === 9 2 ——<§ 34
XLRB Mach Speed G4 ZIF MPe 450MH2 _—S = 215 |e cc 2 u
Sonnet Technologies Encore ZIF G4 500MHz yes 137 jm 2:02 | 9 —— 12 33
Tie ne ==] a _>_ Sa =e
‘Apple Power Mac G3/450 7 ee 200 |S es 75 be 3
‘Apple Power Mac 64/466 _—ay 2:02 | p= 2 —<s 46
Better > ‘¢Better ‘Better ‘Better Better
‘Speedmark 2. scores are relative to those of an iMac 350 MHz (1999), which is assigned a score of 100. Sound.Jam scores are in minutes:seconds. Photoshop scores are in sec
‘onds. Quake scores are in frames per second. We tested each card in a Power Mac G3/450 (biue and white) with Mac OS 91, 128MB of RAM, a default system disk cache, and vir-
tual memory enabled. We set displays to 1,024 by 768 pixels and 24-bit color. We tested MP3 encoding with an audio-CD track that was 9 minutes and 25 seconds long and
converted it using a default setting of 128 Kbps in SoundJam. For more information on Speedmart, visit www.macworld.com/speedmark.—Macworld Lab testing by Jason Cox
30 July 2001 www.maecworld.com
G4 Upgrade Cards Compared
| ]
| company's ]
Mouse | ESTIMATED
| company | PRooucT | RATING | PRICE CONTACT PROS | cons
Sonnet “Encore ZIF Wy | S349 800/786-6260, Good documentation; flexible No tools provided,
Technologies | G4 400MHz www.sonnettech.com | firmware package; excellent value,
XLRE Mach Speed Ga | #908 | $399 770/564-5682, Excellent installation package; MP. Firmware-patch uninstaller
| ZIF MPe 400MHz www.xir8.com enabled; good software; excellent value, | not included,
“PowerLogix | PowerForce Ga | O98 $449 877/849-2504, Easy to install; offers good Firmware-patch uninstaller not
| 2IF 4SOMHz wwwpowerlogix.com | performance boost. | included; no tools provided.
XLRB Mach SpeedGa | #90 | Saag 770/564-5682, Excellent installation package; Firmware-patch uninstaller
ZIF MPe 4S0MH2 wwwalr.com MP enabled; good software. not included,
Sonnet Encore ZIF Oil] $499 800/786-6260, Relatively inexpensive; good docu- No tools provided,
Technologies | G4 S0OMHz | ‘www.sonnettech.com | mentation; robust firmware package. |
XLRB Mach Speed Ga $599 770/564-5682, Excellent installation package, Pricey; tirmware-patch
2IF MPe SOOMHz www.xir8.com MP enabled: good software, uninstaller not included.
fastest possible settings (even if they
exceed the default settings) automat-
ically and reliably. Sonnet’s software
is invisible to the user and sets the
cache settings to the proper speed
during startup. If you don’t intend
to experiment with overclocking—
driving the cache to a higher speed
than is recommended, to squeeze
out more performance—Sonnet’s
arrangement will be preferable.
Pedal to the Metal
XLR8’s 450MHz Mach Speed G4
ZIF MPe had a slightly better Speed-
mark score than PowerLogix’s
450MHz PowerForce G4 ZIF; how-
ever, the difference was negligible—
the Mach Speed beat the PowerForce
by only a second when performing a
Gaussian blur in Adobe Photoshop,
and it even fell a few seconds behind
when encoding an MP3 in SoundJam.
The performance of both 450MHz
upgrade cards was close to that of
the 450MHz Power Mac G3 in our
Speedmark and Quake III tests, but
the upgrades’ speeds far exceeded
the G3’s when it came to Photoshop,
which is optimized for the G4.
The Speedmark subtest that
looked specifically at disk speed con-
firmed that the Power Mac G4, with
an ATA/66 controller and a newer
hard drive, has much better disk per-
formance than the blue-and-white
Power Mac G3, with its slower SCSI
hard drive. (The faster disk is part of
the reason that the 466MHz Power
Mac G4’s scores were better than
those of the S0O0MHz upgrade cards.)
Even if you upgrade your G3 and
your hard drive, you'll be limited by
the slower ATA bus,
The upgrades from XLR8 are
multiprocessor enabled (MPe). If you
purchase a 400MHz MPe ZIF, you
can use it as one of the processors in
XLR8’s multiprocessor upgrade.
Macworld’s Buying Advice
XLR8’s upgrades come with all of
the tools you need, and its products
can later be incorporated into a mul-
tiprocessor upgrade. Sonnet’s good
documentation and low prices make
its upgrades exceptionally attractive.
From lan:
And software that works without
intervention, along with easily
removable firmware patches, makes
Sonnet’s upgrade cards excellent
choices for those who don’t enjoy
tinkering with their machines. The
400MHz cards from these two man-
ufacturers are sensible investments.
However, the prices of the faster
cards begin to approach those of
used or refurhished Apple G4s,
which have faster hard drives and
CD-ROM drives. The G4 upgrade
card from PowerLogix is technically
sound, but it has no distinguishing
features, and its rough documenta-
tion makes it less appealing than the
others we tested. m
The KLAS Mach Speed GAIP MME AO0MHz, the PowerLogix Power
Farce G4 ZiF 480MHe ana the Soenet teehinelogies Encore ZIF G4 400MHz
www.macworld.com July 2001 31
GIBson
P=
SMdIAd
JOHN RITTER
CD-Burning Software
Powerful Program Toasts the Competition
BY JONATHAN SEFF
ot long ago, CD-RW drives were too costly for all but mam-
moth corporations, ivy-covered universities, and the planet’s
wealthiest residents. Now they are plentiful and affordable—
Apple is even building them into many of its new Macs. And you
have a few choices when it comes to software: CharisMac’s Discribe
is bundled with Sony drives; Roxio’s
Toast comes with most others. If your
Mac has a built-in CD-RW drive, it
will work with Apple’s free iTunes and
Disc Burner, but you'll get the most
out of your drive if you buy a full
version of software designed just for
burning CDs.
Two packages now available for
the Mac are Toast 5 Titanium and
Discribe 4. (NeroMax, the Mac ver-
sion of the popular Windows program
Nero, was released in May [too late to
be included in this review].) Both pro-
grams have many more features than
their free counterparts, including the
ability to duplicate discs, burn cross-
32 July 2001 www.macworld.com
platform and bootable discs, and burn
multiple sessions on a disc. But of the
two, Toast has more to offer.
At Face Value
When you start Toast, you’re greeted
by a very refined, Aqua-like interface
(a free OS X update should be avail-
able soon) with a few minor inconsis-
tencies: similar commands are some-
times located in different places.
Discribe’s interface is simpler
but looks amateurish. The icon for
choosing an audio CD is a poorly bit-
mapped picture of two eighth notes.
And you have to set preferences for
each CD you burn.
DISCRIBE 4.0
Rating: $9¢
Pros: Performs basic burning functions
well; flexible control over disc verifica-
tion; accurate data-size representation.
Cons: Limited support for FireWire and
USB drives; rough interface; limited
number of burning formats.
Company's estimated price: $100
Company: CharisMac, 800/487-4420,
www.charismac.com
TOAST 5 TITANIUM
Rating: $8692
Pros: High-quality MPEG-1 encoding
and VCD burni Hows burning in the
background; on-the-fly MP3 burning;
support for DVD drives.
Cons: Minor interface inconsistencies.
Company's estimated price: $90
Company: Roxio, 800/518-2432,
www.roxio.com
Under the Hood
Both programs support Burn-Proof,
a feature that momentarily pauses
your burn if it detects potential prob-
lems. Keep in mind, though, that your
drive must also incorporate this tech-
nology—not all do. In Toast, you
make the decision to turn on Burn-
Proof each time you start to burn—
important because you don’t want
to use it when burning an audio CD
(interrupting a drive in process can
result in audible glitches); in Discribe,
you select the Burn-Proof setting (in
the Preferences menu) independently,
If your drive doesn’t support Burn-
Proof, Toast lets you adjust the RAM.
cache used in burning (to reduce the
chances of dropping data), an option
Discribe doesn’t offer.
Toast lets you burn in the back-
ground, so you can surf the Web or
Play That Funky Music
In my mind, the coolest thing
about CD-RW drives is being
able to burn your own music
CDs to play in CD players.
Both Discribe and Toast let
you do just that—each with
its own quirks, however.
With Discribe, you can drag
only files to the CD window. If
you try to drag a folder contain-
ing files, Discribe will change
Tn: GW 7608 ree
your disc to HFS format, treat-
Aqueous Interface With Toast 5 Titanium, you can
burn many types of discs, including Video CDs.
perform other tasks while a burn is
in progress. (This was available in
version 4 but was not documented.)
Discribe lets you choose to ver-
ify the integrity of your discs before
burning. Fortunately, the option is
turned off by default, because verifi-
cation is time consuming. In Toast,
you must eject your disc within sec-
onds after it's burned or it will auto-
matically be verified. You can abort
the process, but it’s a hassle.
Toast supports most CD-RW
drives, CharisMac lists about 200
supported drives on its Web site, but
only 10 of them are FireWire or USB
drives. (Discribe didn’t recognize the
12x QPS FireWire drive or Formac’s
16x FireWire drive.)
Bits and Bytes
Both programs can burn HFS and
1S09660 formats, Mac-PC hybrid
discs, and bootable Mac volumes;
Toast adds support for HFS+ in Mac
and hybrid formats.
Toast also includes some func-
tionality of the discontinued Toast-
DVD, so you can use it with DVD-
RAM, DVD-R, and DVD-RW drives
(including those in new Macs), too.
And you can use Toast to make back-
ups to Digital Linear Tape (DLT).
When you drag your data into
Toast’s main window, you see the
size of individual files and their icons,
but you see the true total only when
you click to begin burning your CD.
Discribe shows you file sizes and the
disc total before you burn.
ing all of your audio files as
data. Toast has no such prob-
Jem; it will even import only
the audio in a mixed folder contain-
ing audio and text.
Toast can burn either AIFF or
WAY files directly to CD. And it
can convert MP3 files to the audio
standard for CD players (16-bit,
44.1kHz, stereo) without having
to expand them. That's great if your
hard drive doesn’t have an extra
600MB to 700MB of space per disc
to handle the expanded files. (Burning
compressed MP3 files at more than
4x, however, will result in unusable
discs.) Discribe can handle both
WAVs and MP3s, but it must first
convert them to AIFFs.
Both come with utilities for record-
ing analog audio—such as LPs—to
your computer: Toast has CD Spin
Doctor, and Discribe has Audio Scribe.
CD Spin Doctor lets you hear what
you are recording through your
Mac’s sound system. When finished,
it displays the waveform of your file,
which helps when you define and
name your tracks. If you like, you
can let the program define the tracks
automatically—it searches for
CD (VCD) format. Toast has long
been able to burn VCDs—about an
hour’s worth of 320-by-240-pixel
MPEG-1 video that will play on most
computers and newer set-top DVD
players. But previous versions of
Toast could handle only material in
the Toast-Ready subset of the VCD
format. Toast 5 accepts any White
Book-compliant MPEG-1 file (White
Book is the standard defining VCD).
But that’s not even the best part.
Toast 5 has a built-in MPEG-1
encoder—the same technology in
Terran Interactive’s $599 Cleaner 5
(88%; Reviews, February 2001).
So in addition to creating VCDs from
existing streams, it can take any
QuickTime file or iMovie and create
a VCD from it. The process isn’t very
fast; encoding a one-minute Quick-
Time movie took 5 minutes and 45
seconds on a G4 and 15 minutes on
a blue-and-white G3. But the encoder
would cost a lot more purchased sep-
arately, so it’s hard to complain.
Although a VCD’s quality is far
beneath that of a DVD, the only
hardware you need to create one is
a common CD-RW drive.
Macworld’s Buying Advice
Discribe is a relatively easy-to-use pro-
gram that performs simple tasks well,
but Toast is a much richer, more pow-
erful application. Its VCD encoding
and burning alone are worth its price
(which is $10 less than Discribe’s). But
Toast includes a lot more: extra CD-
and DVD-burning capabilities, on-the-
fly MP3 burning, bundled programs,
and even a Y-cable for connecting a
Mac with audio inputs. m
places in the waveform where
the signal goes flat. Spin Doctor
even figures how much record-
ing time you have left on your
selected drive. Once you have a
large file on your Mac, you can
apply filters to clean up pops
and clicks.
Made for TV
ae Qulck Start Seana Bl
4D Certs Egvring W 1 990-200
Welcome ta the Diseribe CD Mastering System.
Select your new disc's format below or crag Items onto
{his window to auto-select a format.
w® A
copy 300
Data cD Audio CO
One area that Toast has all to
itself is burning in the Video
Dutit
ful Scribe Discribe gives you control of basic
functions through a simple interface.
www.macworld.com July 2001 33
a
SMBIAd.
)
SMIIAI
iDVD 1.0
Apple Finally Releases Easy-to-Use, If Buggy, DVD-Authoring Software
BY JASON SNELL
ver since Apple brought FireWire to the Mac and introduced
its iMovie video-editing software, the Macintosh has been at
the forefront of the digital-video revolution. But one piece of
the puzzle was missing: the ability to output digital video to DVD,
the most popular digital video-playback format around. With the
introduction of iDVD—and the just-
released DVD Studio Pro, Apple’s
$999 pro-level product—Apple’s dig-
ital-video story is finally complete.
But for all its promise, iDVD is rife
with bugs and quirks that keep it from
being a pleasure to use.
Interface Builder
If you've ever seen a DVD, you know
why Apple had to provide special
authoring software to go with the
DVD-burning hardware on the new
733MHz Power Mac G4. DVDs are
more complex than videotapes, with
interfaces that have selectable items
and clickable buttons for playing mov-
ies, enabling special features, and
viewing other information. Video files
must be compressed into the MPEG-2
format before being written toa DVD
(iDVD does this automatically).
iDVD eases the authoring process
with a simple drag-and-drop, button-
iDVD 1.0
Rating: $$ V2
Pros: Easy to use; attractive results.
Cons: Limited interface control; awful
Slideshow interface; prone to crashes;
incompatibilities with Apple DVD Player.
Company's estimated price: Free
(available only on the Apple Power Mac
G4/733MHz with SuperDrive)
Company: Apple Computer, 800/692-
7753, www.apple.com
34 July 2001 www.maeworld.com
based interface. The main window
contains a preview of what you’ll see
on the current screen of your DVD.
At the bottom is a tool bar with
that emulates a TV remote control.
Once you're satisfied with your proj-
ect, click on the Burn DVD button.
A helpful gauge shows how much
space is left on a disc. (DVD can
write only about one hour of video
to each disc.)
The program took about two
and a half hours to burn my near-
full disc, and the end result was
impressive but slightly quirky. When
I viewed the disc using Apple’s DVD
buttons you use to add items to
the interface. To add a movie,
simply drag its file from the
Finder; a button representing
the movie will appear in the
DVD interface. However, you
can’t create movies with mul-
tiple chapters or stitch individ-
ual movie files into a single
movie, While you can drag but-
tons to reorder them, you can’t
move them from their prede-
fined locations on the screen.
And each iDVD screen can con-
tain only six items (although
you can create subfolders if you
want to add more).
Likewise, it’s easy to create collec-
tions of still images by clicking on
the Slideshow button. Unfortunately,
when I dragged 50 JPEG images into
the Slideshow window, some appeared
out of sequence. You can reorder only
one item at a time in this window;
worse, the program quit repeatedly
when I tried to edit my slide show.
Preview and Burn
When you're ready to see how your
DVD will behave, click on the Pre-
view button; the iDVD window turns
into a simulated DVD-player environ-
ment, complete with a floating palette
Sneak Peek Use iDVD's Preview command to see
how your final product will behave.
Player software, I could not exit to
a menu from any of my slide shows.
On my Panasonic home DVD player,
the slide shows worked fine, but the
titles’ left edges were cut off—despite
assurances from iDVD that the but-
tons and text were within the screen's
“TV Safe” zone.
Macworld's Buying Advice
iDVD makes the complicated task
of creating DVDs impressively easy,
but it’s far from perfect. If you're
thinking about buying a new Power
Mac G4 just to get iDVD, beware:
you can make it work, but not with-
out a good deal of frustration. m
CalculationCenter
A Gentle Introduction to the Power of Mathematica
BY CHARLES SEITER
olfram Research’s Mathematica ($$$$/2; www.macworld
.com/2001/02/05/reviews/mathematica.html) is an undeni-
ably powerful program for performing numeric and sym-
bolic calculations. But its interface—which presents you with only
a blank page and some symbol palettes—can leave new users won-
dering how to proceed. Wolfram’s
newest product, CalculationCenter,
is an attempt to make the power of
Mathematica accessible to new users
with just a few minutes’ practice,
Ir’s the first math program you can
use without a manual, and it’s the
best introduction yet to symbolic
math computation.
Show and Tell
At the heart of CalculationCenter
is an interactive help feature called
Instant Calculators. Nearly every item
in the simplified main menu of calcu-
lation modes—Basic Math, Algebra,
Calculus, Lists & Matrices, Graphing,
Solvers, and Defining Functions—calls
up an Instant Calculators wizard that
offers an example of the calculation,
accepts and formats input for a prob-
lem, and executes the calculation. The
Instant Calculators cover such a wide
range of problems, you may find that
your day-to-day use of Calculation-
Center amounts to simply invoking
a few of the Instant Calculators wiz-
ards to solve problems quickly.
Because the program records the
results of calculations in a standard
Mathematica notebook, it’s easy to
run an Instant Calculators example
and then modify it in the notebook to
solve your particular problem. The
Instant Calculators system also greatly
simplifies plotting, carefully walking
you through details of 3-D parametric
plots and offering, for simpler cases,
a SmartPlot option that handles the
details for you.
Although CalculationCenter is an
introductory product, it’s still based
‘on Mathematica, so all
Three Easy Steps CalculationCenter has an Instant Cal
culators wizard for nearly every function. Click on a button
to see an example, format an entry, or run a calculation.
functions work in symbolic
as well as numeric calcula-
tions. The overall scope of
the functions is good, if
somewhat uneven—for
example, Lists & Matrices
has a choice for eigenvalues
but none of the advanced
matrix-decomposition types
found in Mathematica.
Getting Around
CalculationCenter reads
standard Mathematica
notebooks such as those
CALCULATIONCENTER
Rating: $99§
Pros: Simple access to Mathematica
functions; easy graphing; reads most
MathSource notebooks.
Cons: Occasionally produces inscru-
table error messages.
Company's estimated price: $295
Company: Wolfram Research,
800/965-3726, www.wrl.com
available from Wolfram’s MathSource,
the giant online repository of user-
contributed notebooks. The program
doesn’t accept notebooks that call
on functions from Mathematica’s
Standard Packages, but most of the
MathSource packages we tested ran
flawlessly in CalculationCenter, Using
MathSource notebooks lets you add
a variety of functions—such as statis-
tics, business, and engineering—that
CalculationCenter lacks.
One area that needs a bit more
work is error handling. For example,
if you accidentally enter Sin[x}, you'll
be treated to half a page of incompre-
hensible messages that fail to point out
the actual typo. Mathematica veterans
will be unfazed by such messages, but
a product for beginners should do a
better job of handling errors.
Macworld's Buying Advice
CalculationCenter gives new users
most of the power of Mathematica
without requiring a Ph.D. in math.
Thanks to the innovative Instant
Calculators feature, you can start
working right away without consult-
ing a manual. For a wide range of
technical professionals, and for most
college course work, this is the com-
putational program to buy. mM
www.macworld.com July 2001 35
uy
SMBIAd.
uy
SMIIAD
SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 2.0
Soundtrack-Creation Application Now Easier to Use
BY CHRISTOPHER BREEN
hose who’ve attempted to add background music to digital
movies know that it’s difficult to find a piece of music exactly
as long as a particular scene. Sonic Desktop Software offers a
solution to this vexing problem with its SmartSound line of sound-
track-creation software, which automatically creates royalty-free
background scores of any length. Pre-
vious versions didn’t allow you to
view your movie from within Smart-
Sound as you created a score; instead,
you had to run the movie in a sepa-
rate application, note the length of
time you wanted the soundt
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