Okay, let's get this out in the open right away: we just know that there are going to be lots of people out there who think the iBook is ugly. It's definitely different-- there isn't anything out there even remotely like it. The perfectly rectangular screen and keyboard look a little strange floating in a sea of white and colored translucent curves. If anything, the iBook most closely resembles those toy "My First Laptop" thingies made by Fisher-Price and the like. Several people have already complained to us that the iBook looks too much like a toy-- but, of course, they were all adults, so we're hoping to hear some kids' perspectives soon.

One thing that's puzzling everyone is, why on earth is Apple releasing iBooks in only two flavors? Surely if the iMac can flourish in a variety of five flavors, the iBook could do the same. When the Power Mac G3 came out only in Blueberry, we wrote off the decision as Apple's choice to limit the frivolity level in the professional product line. (Granted, if that were the reason, we'd imagine that the Power Mac would have passed up Ice and Blueberry for the dark neutral tones of the PowerBook, but hey, that's just us.) But the iBook? The laptop that's obviously targeted right at schoolchildren? If anything, we'd expect there to be more flavors than the iMac's five, not fewer. And what's with Blueberry and Tangerine? The Apple boothbots claim that those two colors were chosen because they're the most popular iMac flavors. Correct us if we're wrong, but wasn't Tangerine dead last by a huge margin according to the sales numbers? Was the decision made, as Katie suggests, by a University of Illinois alumnus pushing his alma mater's colors? Or is Apple trying to get rid of their extra Tangerine plastic, as faithful viewer Shane Burgess surmises?

In any case, we'll say this: you should probably reserve judgment on the iBook's looks until you see one in person, because just as with the iMac, the iBook somehow seems quite different when it's right in front of you. And in our humble opinion, the Tangerine model actually holds a little more appeal than the Blueberry one. Hey, maybe orange is the new grey...