Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Get the Right Memory / Ram for your Mac. Top Quality, Competitive Prices, Lifetime Warranty. Expert Support and Video Installation Guidies too! 4.0GB Matched Sets from $87.99, Options up to 32GB. Click here

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.

Mac Lab Report

iBook Takes a Lickin'

- 2002.08.01

I've had a couple of spills with a 500 MHz iceBook with a Combo drive that could have turned out badly - but didn't. One involved me leaving the iBook on top of an unstable pile of books. Dumb, dumb, dumb. No one touched it, but the books began to slide slowly off my counter, and the next thing you know, "crunch!"

I gingerly picked up the laptop where it fell from a 3' countertop to a tile floor. Aside from a few scratches, no physical damage. And it booted up nicely, probably because it was off when it fell. If the hard drive hadn't been parked - well, I guess I was lucky or Apple just builds 'em tough.

The second encounter with disaster had more serious consequences. I had just finished giving the "always move the laptop with two hands" lecture to the class when I elbowed the laptop off my desk. It landed on one corner on a padded seat, which for some reason caused the drive to pop out. Then it slid off the seat and landed, you guessed it, on the ejected drive tray, which snapped in two.

Our poor district techs are overworked and overbooked. Consequently, I knew the computer would not be collected and sent in to be repaired soon - when I put the work order in, they asked, "Does the machine still function?" trying to set a priority for it. "Can you use it without the drive?" I said, yes, it boots, connects, etc., and so the repair was not supercritical.

The right-side command key broke as well. Actually it as the inner ring with those tiny pins on it. But I hardly ever use that one, so no big deal there except for the gaping wound in the keyboard.

Naturally, I looked at the damaged drive carefully. The read-write head was not bent. The circuit board and ribbon cable was intact. The only broken component was the tray itself. If I could only get another one - but we have no source for these, since all the iBooks are new. Finally, I decided I must surrender to temptation and break out the super glue.

After carefully realigning the two halves, I saw that the metal plate on the bottom had sheared one screw connection completely loose. I couldn't get that to fit back again, but everything else lined up so nicely, and I figured if it ever got repaired, they'd just replace the unit, so what the heck.

I glued it.

And it worked!

Well, actually, the first time it didn't, it made a horrible grinding noise on a junk CD. So I broke it again, realigned it, braced it with a bunch of pennies and paper clips and so on, and on the second attempt, it worked!

It even plays DVDs, if you can believe that. The only remaining problem is the bottom plate hangs just low enough to catch on the way in, so you have to lift it up with your fingers. A little tape is holding that in place temporarily.

Just remember, folks who are too scared to try to fix things: If it's already broke, you're not going to make it worse. Usually.

Then there was that time I set my boss's PowerBook 180 on fire, but that's another story.

Jeff Adkins is a science teacher who isn't afraid to state his preferences in computing platforms. In his classroom he has everything from a beige All-in-One to a a G4 XServe, and they all work together nicely. He calls himself the "poster child for technology integration" in the classroom. He was the 2006 Outstanding Educator of the Year for the California Computer Using Educators (CUE) organization. He also maintains a site for astronomy teachers at www.AstronomyTeacher.com.

Recent Mac Lab Reports

Microsoft Word 2004 vs. iWork Pages 1.0 for writing a book, 01.10. Microsoft Word is great for technical writing, powerful yet slow, while Pages lets you concentrate on just writing, making it great for novels.
iWeb a great tool for quickly creating an attractive website, 09.11. Apple's iWeb software isn't just easy to use, it also integrates nicely with .mac and other programs in the iLife bundle.
Use your Bluetooth phone to control your Mac? Maybe, 02.27. Salling Clicker software turns many Bluetooth phones into remote controls for Bluetooth-equipped Macs.
Two more markets the iPhone could conquer, 02.01. How Apple could redefine the ebook and calculator markets with a pair of free apps for the iPhone.
More in the Mac Lab Report index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: iMac Core Duo, Jan. 2006 - The first Intel-based iMacs ran at 1.83-2.0 GHz, came with 17" and 20" displays.
Group of the Day: Mac Pro List is for those using a Mac Pro.
November 22 in LEM history: 99: Gradebooks - 00: Leveraging Apple design - Quadra 630 to Power Mac 5200 - 02: Laptop or desktop? - 04: SuperDuper: Quick, easy, efficient backup - Cross-platform programming for the rest of us - 05: Mac video surveillance on the cheap - Which OS is best for my vintage Mac? - No 'best browser' for the Mac - Sorry state of browsers for classic Macs - 06: Core 2 means cooler running 'Books - 2.0 GHz G4 upgrade
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.17. Used 1.83 GHz, $750; 2.16, $800; 2.33, $900; refurb 2.4, $1,299; 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,899; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.17. Used 400 MHz, $50; 933 MHz, $80; 500 dual, $60; 867 dual, $90; 1 GHz dual, $150; 1.25 GHz dual, $225; 1.42 GHz, $499.
Best Mac OS X 10.5 Deals, 11.17. "Leopard" upgrade, $80; single user license, $135; 5 users, $173; Mac Box Set, 5 users, $230; Server, 10 users, $340; unlimited, $850. Shipping included.
Best Mac mini Deals, 11.16. Used 1.42 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.66 GHz Core Solo, $419; 2.0 Core 2, $450; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $769; Server, $990.
Best iBook G4 Deals, 11.16. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $210; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz, $479; SuperDrive, $498.
Best iPod shuffle Deals, 11.16. Used 1 GB, $35; 4 GB, $65; refurb 1 GB, $39; 2 GB, $59; new 2 GB, $55, 4 GB, $75. New and refurb prices include shipping.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Mac Lab Report copyright © 2000-08 by Jeff Adkins. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.