Search for a Quieter MacBook, AC Adapter for Lombard PowerBook, Apple Magic Tablet, and More

• In Search of a Quiet Mac Under Load
• Lombard G3 Power Adapter
• Is Everything We Do Ultimately Political?
• Logitech Unifying Receiver
• Could the Name Be Apple Magic Tablet?

In Search of a Quiet Mac Under Load

From Mike:

Hi Charles,

Are all MacBooks as bad as my Late 2007, which sounds like a weak hair dryer every time I ask it to do anything? I see similar complaints about fan noise and heat even for current MacBooks. The gist of it seems to be that they're only quiet when the CPU isn't doing much. Unfortunately, I like to use Wine, Basilisk II, and VirtualBox to play old games, and the fans are just horrible. Even some Flash video, fancast.com being the worst, set this MacBook on fire. (Others do not. I don't know why.)

I was shocked to discover that an ugly, midrange ~$500 17" Lenovo Y370 running Linux is more pleasant to use than the 2007 MacBook. This thing must have the mother of all heat sinks in it: Fancast and unthrottled seti@home just produce a slight whirring after an hour of use. Do the new Unibody Macs perform this well under heavy load? What about recent iMacs?

Do high-end Macs like the 17" MacBook Pro work this well under load?

Now, the Lenovo is not without the usual Linux software hassles: unreliable sleep, quirky sorta-broken 3D, choppy video, and a default color scheme that literally looks like crap. I accept this as inevitable when you try to support every laptop on the planet. (I'm using the latest Ubuntu.) The machine weighs a ton and has all the svelteness of an anchor. And the keyboard is terrible.

I'd really like to sell the Lenovo and the old-ish MacBook, but I'm really not sure what Mac to get. I'm almost thinking of going back to a desktop: I'm two-thirds of the way there with the Lenovo elephant.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I don't have encyclopedic knowledge of what every Mac sounds like under heavy processor load, but I can say that my aluminum Unibody MacBook is the most silent computer of any sort I've ever used, save for my ancient, fanless Mac Plus when booted from a floppy disk or a PowerBook running from a RAM disk with the hard drive shut down.

Even with the cooling fan running, the noise is relatively unobtrusive and subdued, as opposed to the caterwauling fans in my 17" PowerBook and Pismos. Not much of an issue with the latter, as they only cut in about twice year or so on hot days in the summer, but the PowerBook fans (1.33 GHz G4) near drive me to distraction and impel me to use it most of the time with processor output cut using the Energy Saver preference panel. OTOH, when used by my wife for the sort of stuff she does, the 17-incher's fans rarely cut in at all.

I can't say regarding machines I've never used under heavy loading, but I can affirm unreservedly that if you hate noisy laptops, the 13" Unibody (at least with the 160 GB, 5400 RPM hard drive like mine has) is as close to silence as you're likely to find without going to a SSD.

I suspect that the sound-deadening characteristics of the solid unibody chassis is largely deserving the credit, to that should apply to the larger unibodies as well, but 7,200 RPM hard drives should likely up the decibels a bit, and I expect that running with the discrete graphics processor enabled as opposed to the integrated nVidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics would make them run hotter, with more fan activity.

Charles

Lombard G3 Power Adapter

From Amy:

Hi Charles and Dan,

I have a Lombard G3 (no heckling please), and am looking to purchase a power cord for it. Would you happen to know where I can find one online or near Austin, Texas?

Thank you!!!!

Amy

Amy,

Operator Headgap has new ones for $50 shipped. Please let them know Low End Mac sent you. :-)

Dan

Hi Amy,

Hey, your Lombard is only one generation farther back than my beloved Pismos!

When you say power cord, do you mean the AC power adapter?

If you want to shop used, any PowerBook or iBook power adapter from the PowerBook 1400 and 3400 to the Pismo and clamshell iBook will work fine with the Lombard.

If you want a new replacement, my fave is FastMac's $35.95 unit. It's much more robust than any OEM Apple power adapter - virtually indestructible.

Charles

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the advice. Good to know I'm not the only one out here using a dinosaur. I found the AC power adapter (fits all G3 PowerBooks) online, and now I'm back up and running!

However, It looks like my battery is not holding a charge - the computer will only run if it's plugged in. Do you know any tips for checking to see if the battery is really losing it's juice/switch over to charging the battery rather than running the computer when it's plugged in?

Thanks,
Amy

Hi Amy,

Glad to hear you're up and running again.

To check check your battery's condition, you can use the Apple System Profiler (Apple Menu > About This Mac > More Info > Power) and look for the Condition statement under Battery. A Good rating indicates a healthy battery, while a Check Battery reading means the battery is either defective (if under 300 cycles) or no longer able to hold a charge (more than 300 cycles)

The freeware third party application Coconut Battery will also supply useful battery condition info.

There could also be a charging problem with your hardware, but my first suspect would be the battery, especially if it's more than 18 months old.

Charles

Is Everything We Do Ultimately Political?

From Tom in response to Linux, Freedom, and Frontiers:

Gee, Charles, after reading your latest Miscellaneous Ramblings article, I didn't realize that keeping my old PowerBook 180 up and running was such a political act. And I also didn't think that the fact that Linux has abandoned that machine while NetBSD still lists it among their supported systems meant anything more than that a certain old geezer from Santa Fe, NM (me) keeps bugging them about it.

Yes, I will agree that Apple and Microsoft, being big corporations and all, worship Mammon and are in league with the Corporatist (Democrat/Republican/Fascist) Powers That Be here in the USA. But is everything we do ultimately political? Can't we just putter around with our old machines for the fun of it without having to figure it all into some grand manifesto?

Cheers,
Tom

Hi Tom,

I thought my commentary was more philosophical than political, but often the line of distinction is subtle, and there's plenty of crossover.

Personally, I'm a lifelong political junkie, and another hat I wear here in Canada is as an op-ed columnist on political/public affairs issues, and I actually do count that there's much potential for keeping politics of one sort or another out of much of anything.

Don't get me wrong, though. I think free enterprise capitalism is a flawed system but still far superior to any other economic model that's yet been devised.

Good on you for keeping that old PB 180 in service!

Charles

Logitech Unifying Receiver

From Torgeir:

Hello!

In this article, 2 Steps Forward: Logitech Control Center 3.0 and Unifying Receiver, you state that you can use the Logitech diNovo Keyboard for notebooks (Mac) with the Logitech Unifying Receiver.

As I have read earlier, others have mentioned that this is not the case (as the receiver is not backwards compatible). Can you confirm the fact that you actually made the receiver work with a Logitech diNovo Keyboard for notebooks, or was it just a suggestion?

regards
Torgeir

Hi Torgeir,

Actually, what I said in the article was:

"With a Logitech Unifying receiver you can, for example, use a compatible wireless mouse and keyboard with the same receiver, which has not heretofore been possible with, for example, my Logitech V550 laptop mouse and diNovo Keyboard for Mac, whose USB RF receivers are mutually incompatible." [emphasis added],

I went on to list some Logitech products that are compatible, including Logitech's Wireless Keyboard K350, Wireless Keyboard K340, Marathon Mouse M705, and Wireless Mouse M505, but I did not include the diNovo Keyboard, which, as you observe, isn't supported by the Unifying Receiver.

My "heretofore" was not intended to imply that the diNovo Keyboard was now supported. Sorry for any unclarity in my phrasing.

Charles

Could the Name Be Apple Magic Tablet?

From Alvin:

Hi.

I have held my down payment on the iMac i7 for now. This iSlate is really getting interesting. I read a report that Steve is extremely happy with it. That the first time I've heard something like that from him, LOL.

I think they found a way to input the letters without relying on the keyboard or in the QWERTY format we're used to (though they will offer the normal one to minimize the learning curve), though some say it's Dvorak, which could be a good transition without putting your fingers on the screen and maybe found a way to make smudges disappear instantly after you touch it (maybe the screen is coated with titanium oxide and they probably put a UV light (which can be turned off via software) in the LED or florescent bulb in the screen. It cleans when it reacts to UV light). These tablets should replace the laptops in no time at all.

I have a feeling it's gonna' be called Apple Magic Tablet coz the smudges disappear instantly:)

Gbu

Hi Alvin,

We should know all today, perhaps by the time you read this.

The McGraw-Hill CEO evidently spilled the beans yesterday that it's going to run the iPhone OS, so it won't be a Mac, which dampens my interest for personal use substantially.

Nevertheless, I expect Apple will have another out-of-the-park market home run with it.

Charles

Go to the Miscellaneous Ramblings Mailbag index.