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

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.

The Practical Mac

Beginning My Macintel Adventure

- 2006.09.21 - Tip Jar

When the announcement was made that the entire iMac line would move to the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor, I knew that a life-changing event was on the horizon. For the first time in over ten years, I would own a computer with an Intel processor. I have owned some PCs in last ten years, but they all had AMD processors.

I knew I would be returning to the Intel fold, because I also knew from experience that as soon as the Core 2 Duo iMacs were released, the "old" Core Duo iMacs would be moved to the Special Deals section of Apple's online store. And when that happened, I knew they would be steeply discounted.

Just as I expected, it happened. And as soon as it happened, I became the owner of a new "old" 20" iMac 2 GHz Intel Core Duo, and at $500 discount from what it had sold for only the day before, and with free shipping even!

The iMac was advertised as being refurbished, and it came in one of the Apple brown boxes that all their refurb products are packaged in. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is not really refurbished, but was in fact a new iMac merely repackaged to differentiate it from the current models. I base this conjecture on absolutely no inside knowledge or hard facts whatsoever, merely a gut feeling.

I have no need, and in fact not much desire, to be on the bleeding edge. I have not purchased a truly new Mac since before the PowerPC era began. I always buy factory refurbished or the previous model once new models arrive. I suppose you could call some of these purchases "new", because they had never been out of the box - even though they weren't the current model - but you get the idea.

The iMac replaced our 17" PowerBook G4/1 GHz. The 20" iMac dwarfed the 17" PowerBook even more than the PowerBook did when it replaced our previous 15" PowerBook Titanium G4/500.

I must admit, I was initially skeptical about Apple's move to Intel. It seemed anathema to the idea of thinking different. However, as soon as I fired up the iMac, I was a convert. The boot-up was incredibly quick, undoubtedly owing in large part to Intel's Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), a replacement for the old legacy BIOS still used in the Windows world.

The iMac was very responsive when running any Intel-native program. Performance understandably slowed a bit when running PowerPC apps through Apple's Rosetta translation program (which really is seamless, by the way).

The display is crisp and bright, and the angle at which you can still see the screen is noticeably better than the PowerBook. I won't recite all the specifications (you can click on the link at the beginning of the article to check them out for yourself), but suffice to say I am very pleased with the standard features. I plan on writing more in-depth on the features and accessories, such as Mighty Mouse, built-in iSight, and Front Row, in a later column. But I am already impressed.

The programs I use most are Mail, Word 2004, Safari, iTunes, Pages, and Quicken 2004. Quicken and Word are not Intel-native, and both are a bit slower to launch. However, once open, both of these programs are more than acceptable in their responsiveness.

My wife, Kay, primarily uses Word and Entourage 2004, Safari, iTunes, iPhoto, iWeb, and Quicken 2004. Entourage shares the same sluggish startup as Word, but things move along well once it's launched.

More programs are becoming available daily in Intel versions or updates. Typically, they are released as a Universal Binary, which contains both PowerPC and Intel versions of the program. If my brief experience is a long-term indicator, as more programs run natively on Intel, the speed problems should disappear.

I don't plan on using Boot Camp to install Windows. However, I will definitely be trying out Parallels Desktop for Mac with Windows. I'm intrigued by this product's use of Intel's virtualization technology to run Windows alongside Mac OS X without having to reboot.

The only compatibility issue I've run into is from the ClamAV antivirus program. I had to update the scan engine to run on Intel. However, the program told me this as soon as it tried to launch it, and it provided a link to download the update. This is exactly the way programs should handle this situation; kudos to ClamAV.

Right now, the iMac is still in stock form. The only upgrade we have planned is boosting the standard 512 MB of RAM to either 1 or 2 GB. That in itself should help speed up programs running through Rosetta.

I'll post updates and observations periodically. For now, I am looking forward to my Intel adventures!

Steve Watkins is the Vice President for Information Technology for a mid-sized bank and also an attorney. He has been a Mac user for about ten years. He has owned some PCs along the way - but always came back to the Mac. If you find Steve's's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Practical Mac Articles

5 things Apple is doing right in 2008 - and 5 it could do better, 03.24. Apple has made great strides in the past five years, but there are still a few areas that need to be addressed.
MacBook Air a compelling option for the true road warrior, 02.22. Although it's not intended as a desktop replacement and has a few shortcomings, the lightweight MacBook Air with its 13" display could be the perfect field computer.
Mailsmith a simple, powerful, spam fighting alternative to Apple Mail, 04.23. Mailsmith is bundled with SpamSieve, integrates with Address Book, and has very flexible scripting tools combined with elegant simplicity.
Can your spam with SpamSieve, 02.02. "Right out of the box, SpamSieve exceeded the accuracy of the Apple Mail filter I've been training for over a year."
More in the Practical Mac 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 23 in LEM history: 99: Should I buy a USB card? - 01: Can a low-end Mac be an only Mac? - Palm Desktop without a PDA - CyberDog saves the day - 05: How Consumer Reports could compare Macs fairly - Speakers for your Mac - Living with the hi-res 15" PowerBook - Birth of the PowerBook - Daystar 1.9 GHz iMac G4 upgrade - 1.92 GHz PowerBook upgrade
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
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.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Practical Mac articles copyright ©2001-08 by Steve Watkins. 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.