There came a point in time where an idea dawned upon me which I wanted to try out: how would my Power Mac G5 run while cooled with frigid, outside Arctic air? I thought about it for a while, not wanting to damage the precious build I’ve carefully crafted for so long. With […]
Nearly a quarter-century ago, the second generation Quicksilver Power Mac G4 was announced alongside an updated, brighter 20-Inch Apple Cinema Display. The 2002 Quicksilver Power Mac G4 started at 800 MHz for the base model at $1,599 USD, with a single processor. (Pictured: A community member’s Quicksilver used as a Pro Tools rig in […]
16 Years Ago today, Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPad – a third category device between iPhone and MacBooks touted as being “far better at some key things“, such as: Web Browsing, Email, Photos, Video, Music, Games, and eBooks. Originally shipping with a custom build of iPhone OS 3.2 that allowed wallpaper changing, […]
It’s been a busy month back at Apple, as they’re gearing up for the eventual release of the M5 Pro & M5 Max MacBook Pros, sending out iOS updates for older devices, and just announcing the AirTag 2. The Low End Mac Newsletter is a consolidation of some recent events, announcements, OS updates, etc; into […]
Recently posted in our community, a community member setup a Minecraft server on Linux with a Power Mac G5 – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article output Save the knowledge shared by […]
I had this keyboard sitting amongst my pile of keyboards for quite some time – probably a few years or more. I can’t remember exactly how I got it, either; as I had a few of these, it was stuffed away for a long time, and I assumed it was half-broken like the other one. […]
So what exactly can a cheap aluminum Mac mini do these days? Or more specifically; a Mid-2011 2.3 Ghz i5 base model, in 2026? Here at Low End Mac we want to help you get the most out of your Apple gear, so today we’re taking an in-depth look at one to see where they […]
Recently shared in our community, someone posted a link to Infinite Mac, a resource I’ve long forgotten about but has sparked discussion– now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article output Save the knowledge […]
Picture this: It’s midday, crisp, an outrageously bright snow-sun reflection nearly blinding, as flurries are whisked and recycled by the howling wind under the cerulean sky, resettling upon the land over and over. The air pierces, chiseling the landscape as it dances, as the glistening ground below gleams with fervor. Download full resolution: Low-End-Mac_SnowStorm.jpg.zip (4169 […]
So you have a password to protect your user account, but how about passwords to protect your folders and app data as well? Here’s a neat lil’ app for PowerPC Macs called Espionage – simply Drag-N’Drop a dollar to the window, or add app data from the “+” in the main window once you setup […]
There’s a new Bluetooth hack out in the wild which could potentially hijack your headphones, potentially track your location, a hack which could wreak havoc if put in the wrong hands. Whether or not you’re an iPhone or Android user, this exploit may affect you depending on which headphones you have. Known as WhisperPair, it […]
Is a 6th Generation iPad of any use in 2026? Released back in March 2018 with an A10 Fusion chip, 2 GB RAM and Touch ID, it can update up to iOS 17.7.10, and was the final iPad with the original 9.7″ screen size. If you’re just looking for a regular ol’ iPad, this may […]
Back from the Low End Mac Mailbag is an interesting custom Power Mac G4 Cube from a new contributor in our FaceBook group, Chris Tee. He spray paints it, modifies it, upgrading it into space… and beyond! Chris: “For my first post here…I wanted to share something I’ve been working on since 2023, and I […]
Imagine if you could pause and unpause apps on your PowerPC Mac, so it could focus all the CPU power it can muster toward a single app? This is precisely what the app Bokeh does, which sits as a Rose Icon, on the menu bar. It doesn’t always stop everything from going on […]
For those of us who aren’t into smartwatches, it’s easy just not to buy one. It’s an extra device to charge, small, sometimes easy to lose, and depending on how you use one there’s no guarantee its battery will last as long as the iPhone’s battery. I consider myself a very light Apple Watch user, […]
Something I check every now and again mostly since 2020: does YouTube still stream in 720p on a Power Mac G5 today? More specifically, can an original Power Mac G5 Dual 2.0 get it done? The answer, remarkably, is still a yes. This day and age with our media-centric forms of content consumption, […]
It was a cold, record-setting winter in Late 2009 when I was in the process of switching from PC to Mac, I decided to tinker around with Windows XP in such a way where I decided to call whatever I made.. into “my own operating system”, and gave it a kinda cheesy name. Indeed, I […]
Hey everyone, The Timeline View for our Article Index is complete – you may now browse all our articles by year and month! Tweaks will be made over time to incorporate new features, info, etc; but for now, the structure and function is there. I hope this makes it easier for everyone to browse our […]
Happy new year everyone! Over the past year our website has seen many changes, many articles made, graphics created, and more being added to the website. While over the past month I’ve been writing less articles, I’ve turned my attention back to the structure/functionality of the website. Since our founding, our writers have made a […]
Recently posted in our community, someone added thermal pads to the inside of their 2015 MacBook Pro – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article output Save the knowledge shared by others Have […]
Recently posted in our community, Greg Hrutkay was working on some Xserves, using some RAM out of his Mac Pro, someone chimed in about bad RAM slots in their Power Mac G5 – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, […]
Since the Radeon 9800 Pro in the Power Mac G4 died, my only functional backup with hardware acceleration in Leopard was a PCIe GeForce 6600 LE. Works with this PCI to PCIe adapter. Maybe it’s finally time to look into some more interesting options, for fun? Since I’ve hung onto this Power Mac […]
When using an original Nvidia GeForce 7300GT 256 MB out of the original Mac Pro: only the dark themes work in Windows 11, Windows 10 seems to work fine. There’s a lot of acceleration glitches with Windows 11 but it’s totally usable as long as all the text shows up in the explorer window. Otherwise, […]
Recently posted in our community, Greg Hrutkay was in the process of baking an already dead 7300 GT, some community members shared some valuable insight – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article […]
In Late 2023 I purchased and heavily modified a Late 2006 24-Inch iMac, outfitted with a PCIe eGPU, a modified display, some spliced cables along with cable additions, and a newer macOS to match. Today, 2 years later, I decided to crack open the iMac to give the GPU some new thermal paste, […]
After spending some time with the 7th-gen iPad mini (named the iPad mini A17 Pro, by Apple), it’s obviously a much faster tablet, and is the first iPad mini I could personally recommend. Today we’re comparing the two tablets head to head, in terms of: tech specs, some of their minor differences, some […]
Recently posted in our community, someone installed Adélie Linux on their Quad G5 – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article output Save the knowledge shared by others Have our community be more […]
So yeah, cross flashing your 2008 Xserve to a 2008 Mac Pro with the proper ROM with the proper serial number apparently doesn’t work . Now I have a 31 pound aluminum paperweight I don’t understand why the blank ROM worked fine but the one with my serial number and stuff on it […]
Time to finally dust out the 2008 Mac Pro and give it some new thermal paste! For fun, I added an extra 2 USB-C ports on an alpine ridge card, on top of a titan ridge card I had in there. This was my daily driver Mac from Late 2018 through Late 2021, when I […]
There’s not much to say about this, other than it looked interesting for the moment it presented itself on the screen. For the last 2 developer beta updates installed, whenever I login for the first time, all system windows stay dark purple for a brief moment. .. Above: Screenshot taken in macOS 26.2 Beta 2, […]
Recently posted in our community, a meme was shared which sparked a discussion about having 8 GB RAM in different years – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article output Save the knowledge […]
I don’t know why. For some reason on my M4 Mac mini in Tahoe 26.2 Beta (25C5048a), the default system icon for .bundle files is a Microsoft Word 2004 icon. I do have Microsoft Office installed, but surely it’s not that old! As it turns out, there’s an explanation for this. . . In my […]
Recently posted in our community, someone picked up a flood-damaged Apple Studio display and managed to restore it back to full health – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article output Save the […]
Recently posted in our community, Guillermo had a question regarding his Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, and some of the suggestions shared by others were helpful – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily […]
One of the most striking things about my experience having an iPhone Air for the last 80 days, is how many charge cycles I have: 48. I was somewhat skeptical about battery life at the beginning, although the leap wasn’t perceivably bad – A 3200 mAh on the 14 Pro versus a 3149 mAh on […]