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

Poker Mac 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 Scope

XServe and the Improved iBooks

Stephen Van Esch - 2002.06.05

Take a much needed three-week vacation, and Apple goes on a small release binge. Go figure.

So what did I miss, and what do I think of what I missed?

XServe

Apple released XServe on May 14 when I was in Hong Kong. It's a pleasure to see Apple getting back into the heavy iron of servers. Big businesses will likely begin to see Apple servers as viable alternative to Linux, Unix, and Windows.

The XServe has several things working in its favor. The price, for one thing, is extremely competitive. Industrial strength server power for such a low price can't help but turn a few heads in these lean tech times. Couple that price with the power of OS X, the G4 processor, and (hopefully) decent support from Apple, and the XServe should woo at least some customers away from the competition.

Of course, Apple has a real uphill battle on this front. In the consumer market, Apple at least enjoys some level of notoriety with its slick designs and cool software. In the business environment, Apple has to deal with the entrenched idea that Macs are just toys, that they aren't stable, and that they don't have the horsepower necessary to handle the big jobs. Add the fact that Macs are regularly disparaged in the IT industry and, I'm certain, in IT schools across North America. Apple has its work cut out for it.

OS X will likely be the biggest selling point of the new XServe. OS X combines the best of Unix and Linux (rock solid, secure, powerful) with the, ahem, best of Windows (easy to set up and administer). Cheaper, stronger, more stable. What more could an IT manager want?

The Updated iBooks

Apple released the updated iBooks (12" and 14" models) on May 20. Sweetening the pot for low-end laptop lovers, the updated iBooks include a faster G3 processor and 16 MB Radeon Mobility chips across the board.

No complaints here. Faster is better, and a refreshed iBook line should bring in new customers. The upgrades aren't so huge that PowerBook sales will be hurt, but they are good enough for people in the market for an affordable, well-equipped portable.

Personally, I would have loved to buy an iBook, but the screen size and resolution are too small for the type of work I do. Dual monitor support is an essential for me. Apple marketing nailed me like an indecisive squirrel on a four-lane highway. I had no choice but to buy the pricier,t better equipped PowerBook.

Such a tale of woe, I know.

So, a few minor, if good, announcements. Can't say I missed a whole lot. Apple is maintaining strength in the consumer market and building it in the business market - a sound strategy and one that we all hope will continue.

Stephen Van Esch is the founder and president of the E-learning Foundry, an online training resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual, since he's also fluent in Windows and French.

Recently on Mac Scope

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

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.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.