Low End Mac: The Mac Experience

Holiday schedule: Low End Mac will be closed on Friday, July 3, in observance of Independence Day.
Featured link: Optimized software builds bring out the best in your Mac, Dan Knight, Low End Mac's Online Tech Journal, 06.30. Applications compiled for your Mac's CPU can load more quickly and run faster than ones compiled for universal use.
Mac of the Day: 'Lombard' PowerBook G3, June 1999 - 'bronze keyboard' model is first PowerBook with USB, reaches 400 MHz, trims almost 2 lb.
Group of the Day: NewtonList supports Newton users.
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Newest Content

iPhone 3GS Overheating, Battery Life App, 240 GB Upgrade for 5G iPod, Total Baby App, and More: iNews Review, 07.02; Also low cost international calls, U-verse remote DVR control, Sync Blocker USB-to-Dock cable, Rocket Taxi improved, and more.
MacBooks Top Amazon Sales, EFI 1.7 Problems, Pros and Cons of Built-in Batteries, and More: The 'Book Review, 07.02; Also make a bootable SD Card, Leopard on a 9" Dell netbook, MacBook Pro and Air reviews, triple WiFi range, bargain 'Books from $179 to $2,300, and more.
Apple Tops in Satisfaction Again, Slim Profits on Mac mini, Ultimate Photo Setup, and More: Mac News Review, 07.02; Also tips for cloning hard drives and moving files from old Macs, Clickfree Transformer turns USB drive into a backup drive, maximum Mac Pro RAM, and more.
July 3 in LEM history: 00: Best sounding games - 01: Bumper snickers - Overheated IBM leads to air cooled iMac - 03: Panther: Pull the plug on the beige G3 - 1.1 GHz PowerPC 750GX - 08: Mac Portable started a notebook revolution
Refurb MacBook Pro Deal, Fastest Mac Browser, 256 MB Modules for WallStreet, and More: Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 07.01; Also more Safari 4 feedback, praise for Camino, MacBook cracks, looking for Craigslist software for Macs, and more.
Amazon.com v. Interstate Sales Tax: Everyone Loses: Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 07.01; Amazon.com is standing up to states that are trying to have it collect sales tax on interstate commerce, which most see as a violation of federal law.
Introduction to Autofs in Mac OS X: Keith Winston, Linux to Mac, 07.01; "Autofs is often used in enterprise environments to set up network-based home directories and other network mounts for users at login."
Optimized Software Builds Bring Out the Best in Your Mac: Dan Knight, Online Tech Journal, 06.30; Applications compiled for your Mac's CPU can load more quickly and run faster than ones compiled for universal use.
Checking Out Safari 4 on an Old PowerBook: Charles W. Moore, 'Book Value, 06.30; Safari 4 is the fastest it's ever been, but it's not without some frustrating drawbacks.
Intel's Promise Fulfilled: More Processing Power per Processor Cycle: Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 06.30; Apple promised improved CPU efficiencies when it announced the move to Intel in 2005. Three years of MacBooks show the progress.
Is Steve Jobs' Health Essential to Apple's Future?: Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 06.30; Steve Jobs' health is an important thing, but Apple has demonstrated that it can be profitable without him.
More links in our editorial archive.

Recent Deals

Best Mac Pro Deals (07.02): Used 3 GHz 4-core, $2,000; 3.2 8-core, $2,900; refurb 2.8 8-core, $2,399; new 2.66 4-core, $2,290 a/r; 2.26 8-core, $3,070 a/r; 2.66, $4,499; more.
Best Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' Deals (07.02): Full version DVD, $140; 5 user family pack, $370; 10-user Server, $299.
Best 17" PowerBook G4 Deals (07.02): Used 17" 1 GHz PowerBook, $689; 1.67 GHz, $749; hi-res, $1,029.
Best Xserve Deals (07.02): Used 2 GHz single G5, $800; dual, $1,000; refurb 2.8 GHz 4-core Xeon, $2,100; new 2.26 4-core Nehalem, $2,888; 8-core, $3,449; 2.66, $4,799; 2.93, $5,999.
Best iPod touch Deals (07.01): Refurb 2G/8 GB, $179; 16 GB, $259; iG/32 GB, $279; new 2G/8 GB, $215; 1G 16 GB, $210; 2G, $275; 2G/32 GB, $369. Prices include shipping.
Best 13" MacBook & MacBook Pro Deals (07.01): Used 1.83 GHz, $595; 2.0, $629; new 2.0, $889; 2.13, $925 after rebate; refurb 2.0 Unibody, $949; 2.4, $1,099; new 2.26 MBP, $1,119 a/r; more.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals (07.01): Used 867 MHz Combo, $400; 1.33 GHz, $448; 1.5 GHz, $599; 1 GHz SuperDrive, $509; 1.33 GHz, $599; 1.5 GHz SD, $679.
Best Apple TV Deals (07.01): Refurb 40 GB Apple TV, $199; new, $220; refurb 160 GB, $279; new, $320. Prices include ground shipping.
Best G4 iBook Deals (06.29): Used 12" 800 MHz Combo, $290; 1 GHz CD, $299; Combo, $370; 1.33 GHz, $428; 14" 1 GHz Combo, $399; 1.2, $465; 1.42 GHz, $500.
Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals (06.29): Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $39; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 Deals (06.29): Mac OS X 10.0, $30; 10.1, $20; 10.2, $60; 10.3, $50; 10.3 Server, unlimited users, $130.
Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals (06.29): Close-out 500 GB Time Capsule, $199; 1 TB, $350; AirPort Extreme Base Station, $130; refurb AirPort Express, $85.
More deals in our archive.

Around the Web

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, MacBook Pros and more. Optical Drives for Apple iBooks, Powerbooks, MacBooks, MacBook Pros in Stock. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

OWC: OWC Mercury On-The-Go FW400/800/USB2/eSATA Portables. High Performance A/V Rated. Bus Powered. Up to 500GB in the Palm of your Hand. Macworld Editor's Choice. CNET 'Very Good.' From $75.99!

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Tech: Microsoft Changing Users' Default Search Engine, Slashdot, 07.02. "Cnet's Dennis O'Reilly caught 'Windows Search Helper' trying to change his default Firefox search from Google to Bing."
Web: XHTML 2 Working Group Expected to Stop Work End of 2009, W3C to Increase Resources on HTML 5, W3, 07.02. XHTML 2 development will be ended this year so W3 and the world can focus on HTML 5, which is designed to replace XHTML 1.
History: After 20 Years, Maryland Man's Mac IIci Finally Dies, Leander Kahney, Cult of Mac, 07.01. "MacMedics, a repair shop in Millersville, Maryland, recently serviced a Macintosh IIci, which was on the blink after two decades of faithful service."
Opinion: What Do You Do With 'Retired' Macs?, Charles W. Moore, The Apple Blog, 06.30. "Many folks sell their old computer on eBay or locally, but that's something I've rarely done. I mostly either keep them as 'B-team' units, or hand them off to other family members."
Software: Classilla, Classilla, 07.01. Classilla is a Mac-only Mozilla build designed to replace WaMCom, run well on Mac OS 9, and give Classic users an up-to-date browser. A work in progress.
Opinion: So Long, HackBook: You're Useless Now Thanks to iPhone 3GS, Brian X. Chen, Wired, 06.30. "...the puny, low-powered computer didn't fit into my lifestyle. And my recent purchase of an iPhone 3GS made the netbook completely lose relevance."
Benchmarks: A Day in the Life of 3G, Mark Sullivan, PC World, 06.28. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon all claim to provide the best 3G performance. PC World puts them to the test in 13 markets.
Opinion: Recycling a Mac mini, Eric Schwarz, SchwarzTech, 06.30. Hooking up a retired G4 Mac mini to a home theatre.
News: Impending Newton Y2K10 apocalypse narrowly averted, Chris Foresman, Infinite Loop, ars technica, 06.29. January 5, 2010 is the Newton's "Y2K", but Newton hacker Eckhart Köppen has developed a patch he hopes to make available for all Newtons.
News: Ksplice Executives Share New Ways to Make Linux More Secure, Reliable, and Maintainable, Ksplice, 06.25. "...technology, originally developed at MIT, makes it possible to convert traditional updates into rebootless updates, which can keep a system up to date and secure without ever rebooting."
Analysis: An Incredible Mac Pro Demo: Takes Breath Away, John Martellaro, Mac Observer, 06.25. This is just a quad-core Mac Pro, not a top-end 8-core system, and it doesn't even break a sweat running 21 standard definition movie trailers at once with no stutter.
Tech: SuperTalent adds Ram to SSD to boost write speeds, , 06.22. "SuperTalent has begun shipping SSDs with 128MB of on-board DRam in a bid to beat the poor random write performance of so many solid-state drives." (LEM suggested this last September.)
Rights: Analysis: $1.92 million fine in music piracy case could hurt RIAA, Jaikumar Vijayan, Macworld, 06.19. "...the sheer size of the verdict hammers home just how unreasonable the RIAA's damages theory for copyright infringement is, said Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer...."
Tech: Intel tears up CPU branding scheme, Tony Smith, The Register, 06.18. Intel to ditch its Core 2 and Core 4 brands, along with Solo, Duo and Quad sub-brands, in favor of Core i3, i5, and i7. Huh?
Software: Firefox Mac Community Builds, Furbism, 06.18. G3, G4, G5, and Intel optimized daily builds of Firefox 3.1b3 through 3.6 alpha. The 3.5 preview works well on our G4 at LEM HQ.
Web: Google to try more security on Gmail, Robert McMillan, Macworld, 06.16. "Right now, everyone uses HTTPS to log in to Gmail, but after that Web pages are sent without encryption. [Hackers using WiFi] could take over a Google account...."
Opinion: My MacBook Pro Doesn't Have a Parallel Port!, Eric Schwarz, SchwarzTech, 06.16. "If [legacy port lovers] was the majority, our Macs would still be using things such as the round serial ports, ADB, and SCSI."
Opinion: Safari 4's Full-Page Zoom: Impressive, Pierre Igot, Betalogue, 06.15. "There is just no comparison between how Safari 4 scales pages and how it used to . . . or how it still is with several other browsers." (Opera has had Full Page Zoom since 1996.)
Opinion: My Journey from Mac to PC, and Back Again, Chris O'Brien, SiliconBeat, 06.15. "I've used various PCs and Windows-laptops . . . but I certainly never bragged about having one, and never talked them up to friends."
Advice: Apple's Mac Isn't as Secure as Some Want Us to Believe, Don Reisinger, eWeek, 06.15. Still no viruses for Mac OS X, but Trojans are popping up on the Internet. Maybe it's time to consider anti-virus software.

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