From the Familiarity of Windows to the Power of
Mac
Hi Dan
I'm a newbie in a Mac world.
I bought my first Mac couple of years ago at the garage sale for
$60. It was an iMac, I believe something around 300 MHz with OS 9.
I sold it following week and doubled my money. I felt it was a good
deal.
I have been working in the PC world for years and never thought
about buying a Mac to keep . . . until Vista came out. I have
taken on a project to evaluate Windows Vista for the company I work
for. We're a complete IT solution provider to a number of small to
medium businesses, and we needed to know what we were going to face
once our clients started purchasing new computers with Windows Vista in
terms of software and hardware compatibility issues.
Being a Windows user my entire life (in desktop world), I was very
excited to install Vista Business and start working on it. My
enthusiasm started dying very quickly as my 64-bit Athlon 3200+ with a
1 GB of RAM and a 250 GB SATA II drive and an ATI X1600PRO PCI-E
256 Meg video card slowed down dramatically the moment Vista finished
installing. Sure, Windows looked nicer, but I did not see any features
that would justify slowing down my PC so much.
I lasted one month. About three weeks into the experiment, a friend
of mine bought a new dual Xeon Mac for
his studio and brought his old MDD dual
867 over for me to take a look at. I set it up next to my Vista
tower and started it up. I must say the only thing that made me try it
out was it's look, a kewl looking silver tower with a shiny mirror like
doors covering optical drives.
Tiger loaded up, and I started clicking around. I launched Safari,
iTunes, DVD Player, installed Messenger for Mac, and X-lite to try out
my softphone. I could not believe it. This was a 5-year-old machine
that was working just as fast as my 2-year-old PC under Windows XP. I
must mention that my friend had installed 1.25 GB of RAM and an AirPort
card, and added two 80 GB hard drives, but still, I did not expect that
from a 5-year-old computer. I was hooked.
I used to upgrade my PC hardware on average every two years, and
here was a computer that after five years of existence was still
cutting it. I was blown away when I attached my miniDV Sony Camcorder
to this Mac via FireWire. I had done the same thing with my PC few
weeks earlier; it took about 20 min. of installing drivers, rebooting,
etc. The moment I plugged camcorder to the Mac and turned it on, a
message appeared on the screen asking if I wanted to import the video
clips. I clicked yes, and in few minutes I was looking at the screen
holding all clips from my camcorder!
Please, don't get me wrong; I've worked with video editing before,
but I have never seen a setup like this. I bet my 3-year-old could do
it if he was able to read (LOL).
To make a long story short, I had to bargain for this one, and in
the end got my first "Mac to keep" for $450 this past February. My PC
rig was sold the following month. In April, a friend at work tipped me
off to the old inventory sale at the store he used to work at, so that
morning I became an owner of a brand new G4 1.33 GHz iBook with 512 RAM, 40 Gig hard
drive, AirPort, Bluetooth, and a combo drive for $399. I have since
added 512 RAM to make it a 1 Gig and have been very happy with it.
In May, I bought an Apple TV, and, yes, my 3-year-old is actually
able to run it.
My latest purchase, as a $60 local eBay deal: a B&W G3 400 MHz with a 512 RAM, 32 Meg ATI
Video, and a 40 GB hard drive with a combo drive. The seller also threw
in an almost new IKEA desk with a 20" CRT Sony Trinitron monitor.
I cannot explain it, but I find myself going through eBay on a daily
basis looking for good deals on used Macs. My next goal is a late iMac
classic. People keep asking why am I doing this, and I really can not
tell, other than I guess I do see those machines as something more then
just computers. They look great. The G3 is close to nine years old, and
I installed Tiger without any issues (my nephew is using it for
browsing, email, and do school work). Last weekend I ready through all
the articles in Mac history on LEM, and now I think I want more!!!
Anyway, great work, Dan, I'll be coming back to the site as often as I
can.
Mark
Mark,
Wow, what a great testimonial to the power of
Macintosh - horsepower and accessibility. I'm using the 1 GHz
version of the MDD Power Mac, and my computer just about flies through
everything. Just about, because video conversion will always be slow,
and AppleWorks has been bogging down with each recent "update" to Mac
OS X 10.4. Except for that, it's all the power I want or need.
These old Macs are real workhorses, and it's
incredible to think that you replaced an Athlon 3200+ with a dual 867
MHz G4 because the Mac wasn't just easier to work with, but also more
powerful. And if you ever run out of steam at 867 MHz, there are 1.8
GHz upgrades out there....
Keep helping others discover the Mac. Those old G3
iMacs, B&W G3 Power Macs, G3 iBooks, and Lombard and Pismo
PowerBooks are great ways to introduce others to the power of Tiger
without spending a lot of money.
Dan
Why 867 MHz for Leopard?
From David Kiley:
I am pretty sure that the reason Apple put the min. system specs at
867 MHz was not so much really the processor power as much as the video
cards. The 867+ systems (such as the Quicksilver series) all have video cards
that can support the eye candy minimally much better than systems
prior. Now that is the reason, but I don't think it makes it right. The
fact is the "eye candy" is not worth the environmental impact on all of
the computers landing in landfills just so Apple can sell some more
units. The core functionality of say Time Machine has nothing to do
with eye candy - the eye candy is just added to kill off old systems.
They could have programmed efficient code that allowed older
systems to exist, if the greed didn't overtake them. Of course, they
are like every other capitalist company, not really "thinking
different" after all.
I understand Apple is in the hardware business, but I have a problem
with how both Apple and Microsoft push bloatware to force hardware
upgrades, often for completely silly reasons. (Such as Apple requiring
a built-in FireWire port in the OS X Tiger).
Apple is a creative company, and surely they could come up with ways
to make money on older computer users without resorting to unethical
behavior as they do.
You lost, Apple, as I'm sticking with my G4 867 MHz for a
looonnnggg time, even if Leopard is the last OS to run on
it.
David Kiley
David,
I think you're partially on target, but the 867 MHz
Quicksilver Power Mac shipped with exactly the same Nvidia GeForce 2 MX
video card as the dual 800 MHz and single 733 MHz Quicksilver models,
so once again Apple's "line in the sand" seems completely arbitrary.
Our readers report that older, slower G4 Power Macs with decent video
cards (not the ancient Rage 128, but Radeon and later) work quite
decently with Leopard.
I have to disagree with your assessment that Apple is
a hardware company. Apple sells hardware, software, and content - Mac,
iPods, iPhones, Mac OS X, iLife, iWork, Final Cut Pro, music and videos
from the iTunes Store, etc. In terms of profit margins, I'm sure Apple
makes more from software than hardware, and the company may make more
profit from a $129 Leopard sale than a $599 Mac mini sale, although
that's not likely.
Also, I can't imagine anyone putting an older Mac in a
landfill simply because it isn't supported in Leopard. Tiger is a
perfectly good operating system, and there are ways to run Leopard on a lot of
unsupported systems, so long as they have a G4 CPU. Regular
visitors to Low End Mac know that.
Then there's the whole question of business
ethics. If Apple's goal is making a profit, it's up to them to decide
how to do it - by supporting as many old Macs as possible or by
reducing support costs and supporting less Macs than Leopard can run
on. From a business standpoint, neither choice is more ethical than the
other, although from the standpoint of environmental friendliness and
end user value, supporting more older Macs is more ethical.
However, Apple's first responsibility is to its
shareholders, not its end users. Maybe someone should lay this out for
board member Al Gore. :-)
Dan
DAV Cable in Power Mac 8600
From Guilherme Maranhao in response to Power Mac 8600 Question:
That's for the DAV cable that connects some video output directly
through the MOBO, like Avid Cinema PCI card.
Regards,
Gui
8600 Motherboard Connector
From Monk:
http://www.macgurus.com/products/motherboards/mbppc8600.php
Does the reader mean the DAV slot? Man is it hard to find pics of
Mac motherboards. I'm guessing the DAV slot is some video pass-through
connector?
Monk,
Thanks for the link to Mac Gurus. It is indeed hard to
find this kind of information on the Web!
Dan
Really Old Mac System Software
From John Helock:
Dan,
I have just read about a reader's trouble finding
old System software. I had a similar problem myself. In my
searching, a forum user on another Mac forum sent me two Zip files with
the software from when it was available on Mac512.com. I would be
more than happy to send them to you to forward on, if you like. Or feel
free to forward my email address, and I'll send them.
John
John,
We don't share reader's email addresses without
permission, so I've forwarded your email to A Harju and asked him to
contact you directly.
Dan
Aperture and Vampire Video
From Nicholas McCormick:
Hi Dan,
I have been reading Low End Mac daily for some time, but this is my
first submission to the mailbag (feel free to edit and publish this as
you see fit). I want to chime in on the Vampire Video discussion. I
recently decided to make photography a serious hobby, and through my
school's Apple store (I am part-time faculty) I purchased Aperture. I
also had to decide what was the best upgrade on a tight budget from my
beloved 1 GHz TiBook. I could not
afford a late model or refurbished MacBook Pro, nor I did not want a
Revision A Core Duo (Wegener Media has good deals).
The MacBook seemed like a good choice for processing power -except
for the Vampire Video and the puny screen (compared to the Titanium).
Some people on MacInTouch were having decent performance, but I am
skeptical about integrated video for a GPU intensive application. In
the end, I decided upon the High-Res
PowerBook. I am pleased to report I have, in my opinion, decent
performance from this computer using Aperture.
I work with large JPEG and RAW (NEF) files from my Nikon D40 and
scans. I would like to know if any of your readers used Aperture on a
High-Res or other PowerBook and then shifted to a MacBook for a
side-by-side comparison. I do not have an Intel Mac, but I plan to buy
one once I can afford to upgrade all of my software to Universal. I
will test Aperture under Leopard soon and report back on performance. I
am happy with it, but I wonder what difference the Core 2 Duo would have
made over my G4 and discrete graphics.
Thanks for a great resource!
Nick McCormick
P.S. My Mac Cred: Six years of employment as a tech in all-Mac
computer facilities
Current Macs:
- 1.67 GHz PowerBook 15"
- 1.33 GHz iBook G4 14" (my wife's)
- Lombard 400 (was my Dad's- he bought the TiBook from me...)
- Grape iMac (tray loading 333)
I have owned (my trail of upgrade and sell): PowerBook 520,
PowerBook 1400, WallStreet, Pismo Performa 466, 6100, G4 533
Nick,
I'll post your email in the Mailbag column. Perhaps
some readers who have compared Aperture on a PowerBook, MacBook, and
MacBook Pro will share their experience.
Dan
Thanks Dan!
I am really interested to hear what your readers have to say. I love
my Hi-Res PowerBook- it has more than enough power to do everything I
need right now. Meanwhile, the Titanium is running circles around my
folk's PC. I tested Leopard on the TiBook, but with 512 MB of RAM it
seemed like the Finder was poky and applications took longer to launch
(FCP 4.5HD seemed to work though). I cloned Tiger back for my Dad,
rather than have him go through the aches and pains of breaking in a
new cat.
Nick
Using an ImageWriter with USB
From Christy:
Hello!
I have a MacBook and I have an old ImageWriter 2 in the garage. It
turns on, but I haven't been able to really test it out. I want to make
banners with it like I used to in Print Shop. I haven't bought any
stuff for it yet, like the special papers with the holes on the side or
those trapezoidal ink things with a string on it. But before I buy any
stuff for it, will it even work with MacBook? The thing has a serial
printer port, but I have no idea if it has anything else. is there a
serial/USB cable out there?
I dunno. I've heard of people hooking up old printers with Macs
running Tiger & Leopard from your website.
Thanks,
Christy
Christy,
The adapter may cost more than the printer is worth.
The Keyspan USB Twin
Serial Adapter (US$79) will let you connect two Apple serial
devices, such as your ImageWriter printer, to any USB Mac. Belkin once
made a USB Serial Adapter for Mac, but it's apparently been
discontinued.
I've never tried using the ImageWriter in my basement
with an OS X Mac (it was donated to LEM, and I've never even
plugged it in), so I don't know how easy or difficult it is to make it
work, but The Linux Foundation has ImageWriter
drivers for OS X that should do the job.
You'll be happy to know that The Print Shop has been
updated for OS X, and it's a lot more powerful than the old
version ever was. In addition to banner, signs, and cards, it also
supports printing CD labels, business cards, and brochures.
Dan
Disk Utility Broken
From Dylan:
For some reason, in the latest version of OS X (10.4.11), my IM
program (Fire) will not
work. When I try to send someone a message, it just crashes. This only
started happening with the latest OS X update. I went back to
download an older version of the program, however, Disk Utility seems
to be broken, and will not open at all.
This therefore prevents me from installing quite a bit of software.
Any ideas?
Thanks for the help,
Dylan
Dylan,
It's a shame that Fire has been left behind, as it was
the first multiplatform IM client for Mac OS X, but Adium is a wonderful replacement.
To solve your problem with Disk Utility, put your
Tiger installer in your Mac's optical drive, open the Applications
Folder, and then open the Utilities folder. Drag Disk Utility to the
Utilities folder on your hard drive and replace the old version.
If that doesn't solve the problem, it's due to
preferences. Open your User folder, then Library, and then Preferences.
Delete com.apple.DiskUtility.plist and restart your Mac to completely
clear out the old preference file.
Dan
Translucent Grey Border
From David Leavitt:
Hi,
A friend pointed me to your article
on the translucent grey box. I have a similar problem: I have a
translucent grey border around my screen, which I cannot move and
cannot get rid of. If anything is "below" this border, I can't click on
it. And I don't have WinSwitch installed anywhere on my system.
I may have to do a lot of installing/uninstalling third party stuff,
but wondered if you had had any other suggestions.
I'm running a first generation Intel
iMac under Tiger, if that makes any difference. Relatively low end,
I guess.
Thanks.
- David Leavitt
David,
The bad news is that I've never noticed such a thing,
nor is Google helping me find a problem like this. I'll post your story
in the Low End Mac Mailbag in hopes someone will write in with the
solution.
Dan
Dan,
I found out what happened. I must have hit F11 (for Exposé,
which I've never intentionally used) by accident. That caused the
translucent grey box. Hitting it again got rid of it.
Thanks. I'm glad I came across your site.
- David Leavitt
David,
Glad it was a simple fix. I haven't used Exposé
enough that I would have recognized your problem.
Dan
Dan Knight has been publishing Low
End Mac since April 1997. Mailbag columns come from email responses to his Mac Musings, Mac Daniel, Online Tech Journal, and other columns on the site.
