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Eventually, the 12-inch iBook and PowerBook became twins-- more than siblings or cousins --since they would both sport G4 processors down the line, though one was still clearly designed for the consumer, while the other for the pro.

(It is a little ironic to point out that the first 12" iBooks, while white on the outside, had a silver, almost aluminum-like casing in the trackpad and the area immediately surrounding the keyboard. It was only later on that the iBook would sport an all-white enclosure, moving away from the two-toned white/silver casing).

So, with every update to its product lines, it seems that Apple does a fine job of improving upon an already good piece of technology. This can be safely said based on their 12-inch portable line, which were both improved incarnations of its previous selves (even though one did copy the other! Go figure).

Sometimes they even make the hard decision of getting rid of a product line to make room for a new one. And this way of thinking different hasn't been the best strategy for the Mac maker as of late.

With the transition of all Macs to Intel processors, every product that transitioned kept its outer shell. The only thing that was updated was the clam, well, its internal components. (Don't say that you didn't see that coming, the thought of those original iBooks in your head! [ insert "flush" sound here ] ).

Oh, and yes, the "controversial" renaming of half its products' signature names. Goodbye to "Power _____" and hello to "Mac _____."

It only made sense for Apple to do something drastic by truly getting rid of the old, and bringing in something totally brand new. And with the new names not being "kosher" enough to pass as the sole way to make their products new, despite packing new internal components, it was time to start from the ground up.

Enter the MacBook, which has been out on the scene for roughly four months now.

This consumer-oriented laptop sports a totally new design (almost) and with more bang for the buck with even faster processors inside, it can be considered a pseudo-pro laptop for a professional trying to save some money, making it a perfect candidate to replace the two models it did-- putting it squarely in between the 12" iBook for consumers, and the 12" PowerBook for the pros.

However, this machine cannot be classified as a sibling to the 12-inch line since it hardly shares the features that its, well, cousins had. And it was more rectangular than it was a square. So can the MacBook even consider itself a cousin, much less, a distant cousin as part of the whole family?

One of the best features that Apple's 12" portable line had under its belt was its size and form factor. The iBook and "mini-me" PowerBook machines were the perfect size and weight for carrying around wherever you go, or just being on the go. They were just, cool, and quite frankly, still are.

The new MacBooks which come in at 13 inches, while seemingly only a mere inch longer than its predecessors, are almost as big as the 15-inch MacBook Pros/PowerBook G4s when placed side-by-side or on top of the 12-inch iBook and PowerBook that it replaces. Compared to the 12-inchers, they're huge!!

It puts a whole new perspective on "Size Does Matter." (The tagline for the 2000 hit film "Godzilla" starring Matthew Broderick and directed by Roland Emmerich).

Though maybe we should have quoted Donald Trump here...? "It's going to be HUGE." (E-mail us if you need the reference to that quote).

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