Low End Mac Archive for April 1

April 1 in Apple and LEM History

Celebrating April Fools Day has been a tradition since 1999, when we became Low End PC for a day. Alas, those pages were never archived.

In 2000, we teamed up with several other Mac sites to "defect" to Windows.

Low End Win home page
The iPaq: What is Compaq thinking?, Paulo Rodrigues, iPaq Channel. Ever the contrarian, Rodrigues finds some shortfalls in the iPaq's design.
Some thoughts on going PC, Charles Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings. "It is with mixed emotions that I join Low End Mac's transition to Low End Win."
High-end build-to-order G4 vs. high-end build-to-order Dell Dimension, Charlie Ruggiero. It's much cheaper to run Windows apps on the Dell than on the Mac.
'286 gaming prowess, Brian Rumsey, Low End PC Gaming. Computer gaming now goes beyond the monitor!
Mac Junkie calls it quits, launches The Win Junkie in pursuit of the business audience.
MacBC throws in the towel, becomes WinBC. "...we received an email and phone call from Apple Legal telling us to cease and desist."
The PC Life replace Apple's Orchard. Formerly a good source of interesting Mac links, Apple's Orchard has joined the Wintel defection. Hooray!

High End Mac home page
The Virtues of a G4, Michel Munger, Mac Daniel. "Get with the program, and stop looking backwards with your old clones and Performas!"
Buy New Every Two, Dan Knight, Mac Musings. Why you really do need to replace your Mac every two years.
Firmware Truth, Anne Onymus, The Rumor Mill. Last week's firmware update fiasco was the tip of the memory iceberg.
iPerforma, Matthew Urban, Matt's Mac. Finally, Apple has released a worth successor to the Performa 635!
Just Wait, Daniel Jansen, My Turn. A better Mac is always just around the corner, so why buy today?
Lost Desktop Pattern, Charlie Ruggiero, Mac Daniel. My favorite desktop pattern disappeared. How do I get it back?
Going High End Requires Some Adjusting, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings. That old PowerBook G3 has got to go....
The Apple Digital Hub, Jeff Adkins, Mac Lab Report. A history of Apple's digital lifestyle hub, AirPort Plus, AppleSpokes, and more.
Windows XP Beta 2: Only 106,500 bugs, Paulo Rodrigues, Tangerine Fusion. For Microsoft, this is an improvement.
About High End Mac

Luddite Mac home page
The March on Redmond, Tim Nash, Taking Back the Market. "At the start, it looked like a parade. Children were twirling gaily colored one-button mice...."
The $299 2 GHz iMac '040, Steve Watkins, The Practical Mac. How Apple could produce a 2 GHz iMac and sell it for just $299.
10 Reasons to Use a Typewriter, Beverly Woods, Acoustic Mac. Typewriters are more creative than computers and create more jobs.
Why the Mac Plus is best, Charlie Ruggiero, Mac Daniel. Want the simplest, most trouble-free Mac ever? Buy a Mac Plus for about $30.
SE/30 the perfect Mac, Dan Knight, Mac Musings. Mac design peaked with the SE/30 and has been slipping ever since.
I'm not moving to GS/OS!, Eric Schwarz, Apple II Forever. I think I'm going to stick with ProDOS for a few reasons.
Peak Performa, Anne Onymus, My Turn. The best Macs ever? The 630, 630 DOS Compatible, and 575. Here's why.
PowerBook 5300: The real PowerBook, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings. For me, the 5300 is and always will be the real PowerBook benchmark.
Apples in science class, Jeff Adkins, Mac Lab Report. Have we made any real progress by adopting Macs and leaving the Apple IIs behind?
About Luddite Mac, Dan Knight.

Good news and bad news about the Jaguar update and other thoughts on OS X, Dan Knight, 10 Forward. Turning the Jaguar upgrade into a full installer, OS 9 vs. X, pros and cons of OS X applications, thoughts on the dock, and more.

4 years later, Mac OS X is definitely superior to Windows XP, Adam Robert Guha, Apple Archive. Windows XP and Mac OS X 10.0 were both released four years ago. Three major revisions later, OS X has it all over Windows XP, and the next version of Windows is still a year off.
PowerBooks in notebook history, Apple subnotebook planned?, longer battery life coming, and more, The 'Book Review. Also Powerbook motion hacks, 12" Powerbook no toy, 15" PowerBook value, bargain 'Books from $580 to $1,789, and more.
Hot rodding a G4 Cube, hackers rediscover the Mac, flash drive can copy itself, and more, Mac News Review. Also New York Times looks inside the Mac mini, StorDirector partitioning software, Tom Bihn's Mac mini bag, faith in Macs, and much more.
Beyond 2-button mice: Apple's new iWalk input device to walk over competition, Jeff Adkins, The Lite Side. Handheld mice are so 20th century. Apple's innovative new input device uses feet instead, allowing users to keep their hands on the keyboard.

Obsolescence is relative and sub-56k Internet access, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings. Also whether a Blue and White G3 is a viable platform for Leopard, growth in dial-up Internet access, and WiMAX in Canada.

3G on your iPad or not?, almost free ebook publishing, cough in your iPhone, and more, iNews Review. Also James Cameron says iPhone is a dumb way to watch Avatar, iPad hype, 30,000 free ebooks, the iPad needs its HyperCard, and more.
$214K MacBook Air, iPads and MacBooks for all at Seton Hill, new Hackintosh netbook site, and more, The 'Book Review. Also hold off on buying a new MacBook, Apple patents sun-backlit technology, USB flash drive durability tested, the case of Linux, and more.
OS X 10.6.3 update, new Belkin WiFi routers have apps, clever new SplitBrowser, and more, Mac News Review. Also Mac Portable cost over $11,000 in 2010 dollars, third-party ink savings, Flip4Mac WMV Player updated, and more.

Future of iOS and OS X at June WWDC, Spot MHz,</P> searches on steroids, VLC 1.1.8 released, and more, Mac News Review. Also the evolution of AppleDesign, another nail in the PowerPC coffin, tackling loud system fans after upgrading, getting the most for your old Mac, and more.
Café computing and the MacBook Air, paired storage and the MacBook Pro, MagSafe shortage, and more, The 'Book Review. Also Thunderbolt makes MacBook Pro the last notebook you'll need, how to activate TRIM on any SSD, extra USB power from 2011 MacBook Pros, and more.
Pages and Photoshop Express on the iPad, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing. Pages for the iPad works well but seems to be missing features. Photoshop Express is great for simple image manipulation.