Mac Musings Archive for 1998

1998 was the Year of the iMac. Announced in May, it didn’t ship until August, and it killed off all those legacy printer, AppleTalk, hard drive, keyboard, and mouse ports with something new called USB. The iMac quickly became the most popular computer on the market.

What’s the Best Used PowerBook in 1998?

JJ writes: Along the same lines as the current discussion about the best desktop Mac to have, what is the best used PowerBook when it comes to upgradability? I’m just finishing college and would love a brand new G3, but I’m still on a budget.

Resolution Independent Display

1998 – Thanks to utilities like SmoothType, ATM, and the anti-aliasing built into Mac OS 8.5, type today can look better on the screen than ever before. For instance, in the black and white sample to the right, anti-aliasing (courtesy of Photoshop) uses shaded pixels in spots where neither black nor white best fits the […]

iMac Saves Apple?

1998.12: Charles Piller, in Fast-Selling iMac Model Is a Singular Sensation for Apple, writes: “While the sensational new iMac has doubled Apple Computer’s share of the consumer PC market to about 10%, according to the latest data, so far the popular machine has no coattails. Sales of Apple’s more costly and capable G3 desktop computers […]

How Do I Speed Up a Performa 575 or LC 575?

1998 – GF writes: Just took my son’s Performa 575 out of storage. We added 32 MB of memory (which I think is the max), and my son upgraded to Mac OS 8.0. He also had RAM Doubler added two years ago to the original memory. Is the Doubler not needed now or not being […]

How Do I Set Up an LC 550 or Performa 550 for the Net?

1998 – DS writes: At our (the Atlanta Mac Users’ Group) annual swap-fest, I was unable to not purchase for a small amount an extremely clean and (I think) handsome LC 550 that had been used by a school administrator. [Readers, you may want to read that again. It’s a masterful use of the double-negative.]

Burned by 7200 Upgrade Options

1998 – JB writes: I have a question about upgrading the Power Mac 7200. I am rather irritated because, when I bought the machine in winter 95/96, the 7200 was advertised and promoted as upgradeable (to a 7300). Having been burned twice before with Macs that had no upgrade path, I thought I was making […]

Changing Computing Paradigms

1998: Paradigm is a buzzword of the 90s. A paradigm is a mental picture, a way of thinking of things. Significant changes take place when we think outside the box or shift our paradigm. This is what Apple was talking about with the Think Different campaign.

From Mac to PC and Back Again

Have you ever had a really good friend of yours make a bad decision? No matter what you did, you couldn’t convince them to change their mind. Well this is a story of good friend of mine who went to the dark side and came back. -B.H.

Mac vs. PC

This is not a regular article, but more like a follow up on Brad Harrison’s Mac vs. PC article last month. Brad you told the world why Macintosh knocks the competition cold, and I want to tell how it does just that. Worry – it gets technical. ;-)

Menagerie of Macs #2

It’s back! I got some positive feedback and a few submissions, and it looks like the Menagerie of Macs might just survive. I have to remind all of you about some of the things I said last month. I really do need help. I need submissions, mostly for articles, but art doesn’t hurt. I think […]

iMac More than Skin-Deep

1998.12: If you surf the Mac sites, you’ve probably run across links to “Skin-Deep Beauty: The iMac’s Performance Doesn’t Live Up to Its Snappy Appearance” (no longer online) by John Breeden, published by The Washington Post on December 17. The article raises a few valid criticisms of the iMac, but also contains some inaccuracies.

Video Editing on a Power Mac

1998 – JW writes: I have a Power Mac 7600/120 with 96 MB RAM and a 2 GB hard disk. I intend to upgrade it in order to use it as a video editing machine for freelance work. Is it worth it to upgrade at all? What kinds of upgrades are viable: graphic card, video card, […]

How Can I Improve My 5200 on the Internet?

1998 – JT writes: I have what I think is a simple question: Which (if any) hardware or software enhancements should I consider to improve the Internet performance of my Performa 5200 CD? The model I own came with an external modem – a 14.4 Global Village – and the computer has its originally installed […]

Should I Speed Up My Power Mac 6100 or Replace It?

1998 – JF writes: I’m another Power Mac 6100 owner who wants a faster Mac. I primarily want the extra speed for Web surfing. I use a 6100 with 40 MB RAM, Apple 15″ monitor, 256 KB L2 cache, and Supra 28.8 modem. I see that I can get a 7×00 or 8×00 for $500-600, […]

Hard Drive Options for the Power Mac 6100

1998 – TH writes: I have a Performa 6110 CD. It has the 60 MHz 601 processor, a 250 MB hard drive, and I just upgraded to 40 MB of RAM. I would like to get a new hard drive for this machine, perhaps as large as 2 GB, but I am unsure of where to […]