Except as noted, prices are in US dollars, bold links are to
outside sites, and regular links lead to 'Book profiles on Low End
Mac.
Internal CD-RW Drive For 1st Generation
iBooks
Wagener
Media is offering CD-RW drive conversions for 1st generation
iBooks. These CD-RWs will work in any of the Colored iBooks - 300, 366,
466 MHz models.
The drive is a 4x4x24x unit, providing these iBooks with a way to
save data.
The price is $145 (requires return of your old drive mechanism core)
plus shipping. Installation is $10 plus shipping, with a 24 hour
turnaround via FedEx. Call for direct help or any questions!
Rev. A vs. Rev. B TiBooks Benchmarked
And yet more benchmarking, this week Bare Feats' rob ART morgan got
his hands on a new, 550
MHz TiBook and ran some comparisons with a
Revision A machine.
The Revision B unit offers a bigger performance boost than you might
expect given the modest increase in processor speed, thanks largely to
its doubled VRAM capacity.
It appears that Apple has worked at fixing the TiBook's poky
FireWire throughput performance, although the iBook still has a slight
edge.
Lots of cool graphs
Atek Super Mini Optical Mouse
The Atek
Super Mini is 
very
small mouse (that is not a redundancy in this instance) is designed
with road warriors in mind.
Features
- Perfect for mobile computing - only 2-1/2" long and 1" wide, small
enough to use right on the palm rest of most notebook computers
- Convenient to carry - extremely lightweight and occupies very
little space in a laptop travel case
- Smooth and precise optical technology - point and click with ease,
speed, and precision
- Left and right buttons, just like a regular mouse
- Works on almost any surface - no need for a mousepad
- Maintenance-free - no ball or moving parts to clean
- USB version for use with Windows 2000, XP, Me, and 98
- PS/2 version for use with Windows 2000, XP, Me, 98, NT, and 95
- Mac users: USB version is compatible with Mac OS 8.6 or later. For
button programming for OS 8/9 download the Atek free driver or use
USB Overdrive. A driver is
not available yet for OS X, but the right button does bring up the
contextual menu.
- Free travel pouch included
- Cord length: 3 ft.
Retail price is $49.95
Fuel Cell Powered Laptops Coming?
TechReview's
David Voss says that methanol micro fuel cells will soon be a
reality, quoting Atakan Ozbek, vice president for energy research at
Allied Business Intelligence, in Oyster Bay, NY, predicting that "In
five years this could be potentially a billion-dollar-a-year
market."
Not surprisingly, a race to commercialize the technology is in full
swing and includes everyone from Motorola and Korean electronics giant
Samsung to startup companies like Hockaday's. The competitors are
betting on different designs - and even slightly different chemistries
- but they share a common goal: taking a bite out of the $6 billion
world market for rechargeable batteries.
Fuel cell battery packs small enough to actually fit in the battery
compartments of laptop computers are predicted, which will essentially
eliminate the biggest problem with unplugged laptop use - battery life
limitations. As Voss notes, the storage batteries currently used in
laptop computers and other portable electronics are basically just
highly refined and developed 18th century technology that has little
evident potential for improvement.
Fuel cells, on the other hand, will keep producing electricity as
long as they have fuel, which can be replenished, usually hydrogen or
methanol.
PowerBook Battery Performance under OS X
Speaking of laptop batteries, TechnoJunkie's
Bernie Case has posted a report on battery management
efficiency on a Pismo
PowerBook running OS 9 and OS X.
The OSes tested were OS X 10.1 and OS 9.2.1, and Bernie ran three
tests: Idle performance, DVD playback, and Sleep performance. In order,
battery performance under OS X was 12.25% worse, 2.7% better, and a
dead heat compared with OS 9.
PowerBook Hard Drive Upgrade Deals
BUYAIB.com
and
googlegear.com are both offering exceptional deals on
IBM
TravelStar 20 GB 2.5" hard drives for about $100.
The newest members of the IBM Travelstar family of hard disk drives
are the first in the industry to 
implement
Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motor technology for industry-leading idle
and operating acoustic performance. In addition, these new TravelStar
models support the fast Ultra DMA mode-5 interface for transfer rates
of up to 100 MB/sec.
The IBM Travelstar hard drives provide areal densities up to 25.7
Gbits/sq. in., yielding up to 15 GB of capacity per disk, combined with
an industry- leading operational shock rating of 180 G/2 ms, which
makes these drives well suited for today's most demanding users.
Bargain 'Books
- PowerBook 3400c/200, 32/2
GB/floppy/CD/VST Zip/33.6K modem/ethernet/AC adapter/Targa Case,
$599.99
- PowerBook Pismo
G3/500, 256/12 GB/DVD/ethernet, Used, 1,588
- PowerBook WallStreet
G3/292, 96/2 GB/CD/14.1", Used, $999
- PowerBook 5300/100, 8/500
MB/floppy/10.4" Grayscale, Used, $229
- PowerBook 1400cs/166, 48/1
GB/CD/floppy, Used, $349
