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November 2003
The biggest iMac to date, the 20″ model has a 1680 x 1050 display – and due to the weight of the screen, the base has to be heavier to counterbalance it. At 40.1 pounds, this is the heaviest iMac G4 yet. Except for the screen size and weight, the 20″ iMac G4 is identical […]
Dearest readers out there in the digital void! I am sure you actually don’t have the time to read this, as you are probably already hasting through toy stores, lingerie boutiques, and Martha Stewart shops to get your Christmas shopping done (what? on Stansted Airport the Christmas decoration has been up since late September), because […]
Bonjour, mes amis! You will remember my usual incoherent rambling about me trying to buy a new portable Apple computer from my last article. Well, after a bout of unsuccessful stints onto the highstreets (the machines I wanted to have were never in stock or only available as demo-models with faults), I fell into a […]
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October 2003
2003 – The Color Classic, introduced in February 1993, was one of the earliest Macs to merit the Road Apple label. Road Apples are defined as Macs that were less than they should have been, models crippled for the sake of marketing or to keep costs down.
Mac OS X 10.3 Panther was released on October 24, 2003 and was last updated on April 15, 2005, when the 10.3.9 update was released. New features include Fast User Switching (you no longer have to log out so another user can log in), Exposé, FileVault (use at your own risk), and iChat AV, which […]
With the introduction of the G4 iBooks in October 2003, Apple phased out the last Macs with G3 processors, which had been in use since November 1997 – and brought the iBook past the 1 GHz mark. Although the G4 iBooks use a G4 CPU, it’s not the same version used in the PowerBook G4 – […]
With the introduction of the G4 iBooks in October 2003, Apple phased out the last Macs with G3 processors, which had been in use since November 1997. Although the G4 iBooks use a G4 CPU, it’s not the same version used in the PowerBook G4 – this edition has only a 256 KB level 2 […]
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September 2003
Woahey! After last week’s successful “talk like a pirate” beginning, I thought today we’d celebrate “talk like a neurosurgeon” day. Notice any difference?
After eight months at 1.0 GHz, the 17″ PowerBook G4 received an impressive 33% performance boost to 1.33 GHz. Along with the new 15″ aluminum PowerBook G4, it is the first Apple portable to ship with ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics. Battery life is rated at 4.5 hours, and the price has been reduced to US$2,999. […]
A little bit bigger and heavier than its Titanium predecessor, the Late 2003 15″ PowerBook G4 is clad in aluminum, runs faster (at 1.0 and 1.25 GHz), gains USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 support, and includes the same 1280 x 854 15.2″ display as earlier models. The hinge design now matches that of the 12″ […]
The first iMac to reach 1.25 GHz, the 17″ G4 iMac has a wide aspect ratio “cinema” type screen and displays 1440 x 900 pixels – just perfect for DVDs. Along with the 1.0 GHz 15″ model, it’s the first iMac to support USB 2.0, and it’s also the first to sport GeForce 5200 graphics. […]
The last revision of the 15″ flat panel iMac has a 1 GHz G4 processor, a 32x Combo drive, and 32 MB of video memory. Along with the 1.25 GHz 17″ model, it is the first iMac to support USB 2.0. The 15″ 1 GHz iMac sold for the same $1,299 price as the original Bondi […]
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August 2003
2003: No sooner did I decide that the Fujifilm FinePix S5000 would be the perfect next digicam for me (see Going Mostly Digital) than Minolta upped the ante by announcing the Dimage Z1. It offers 3.2 MP, 10x optical zoom, and a $100 lower price.
In the endless rush to get the latest Mac that has come off the assembly line, Mac users leave behind a wondrous treasure trove of applications and documents that are of little or no use on the new Mac. The reason for this is simple – the application or document will not run using a […]
2003: My first digicam, a 1999 Canon PowerShot A50, was a reasonable choice as a snapshot camera and first digicam four years ago, but it’s been very much left behind. The worst problem is shutter lag, which has cost me more pictures than I care to remember. Sometimes it just doesn’t want to shoot – until […]
Low-end classic Mac users, Judgment Day seems to have come for us all. While reviewing July 9th in Low End Mac History for 2001, I came across an account of how one vintage Mac user was having trouble accessing his email using a Triassic Mac running vintage software. It seems that there was a problem related […]
To hear Slyck tell it (iTunes Sales Continue to Fall, 2003.07.30), the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) is in big trouble. After a hugely successful launch of 200,000+ tunes, sales have dropped to about 50,000 per day during the past month. Worse yet, there seems to be no end in site for this decline.
2003: Bang for the buck, the Fujifilm FinePix S602 has been one of the better choices for a serious photographer going digital for under US$1,000. The 35-210 equivalent zoom doesn’t go quite as wide as the recently discontinued Minolta Dimage 7i (28-200) or as long as the Nikon Coolpix 5700 (35-280), but the S602 sells […]
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July 2003
It isn’t as easy as ripping MP3 or AAC files from your CDs, but it is possible to digitize your old tapes and records so you can listen to them with iTunes.
Over the last several months, the home network has fallen into something of a state of disarray. The OpenBSD file server was rooted with an ssh exploit sometime ago resulting in random outbound IRC connections, and the OpenBSD router forwarded its last packet some weeks ago due to a barrage of software and hardware issues.
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June 2003
I can’t recall the last time I bought a music CD. It’s probably been several years, so I’ve definitely been contributing to the slump in music sales.
Apple’s adventure into the PDA market was, shall we say, less than successful. Not that the Newton wasn’t a good product; it was just a little bit ahead of it’s time. PDAs started becoming popular in around 1998 with the Palm III.
The Power Mac G5 was introduced on 2003.06.23 – the same day Intel officially unveiled the 3.2 GHz Pentium 4. In terms of increased clock speed, that means Intel had a 6.7% speed bump the same day that Apple announced a 40% improvement in clock speed (from 1.42 GHz to 2.0 GHz), allowing it to […]
The Power Mac G5 was introduced on 2003.06.23 – the same day Intel officially unveiled the 3.2 GHz Pentium 4. In terms of increased clock speed, that means Intel had a 6.7% speed bump the same day that Apple announced a 40% improvement in clock speed (from 1.42 GHz to 2.0 GHz), allowing it to […]
Leave it to Apple to completely confuse the market by releasing a “brand new” 1.25 GHz Power Mac G4 model at the same time it announced the first Power Mac G5s. Like the 2002 Mirrored Drive Doors Power Mac G4, this model can boot into OS 9 as well as OS X. It must be time for Apple to […]
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May 2003
2003: In my previous column, The Digital SLR: Affordable or Overpriced?, we looked at the drawbacks of using 35mm lenses with digital SLRs that have image sensors smaller than a 35mm frame. Dealing with the “conversion factor” is frustrating, and it only seems reasonable that we’ll eventually see digital SLRs that take 35mm lenses and produce […]
After a year on the market, Apple speed bumped the eMac from a top speed of 800 MHz to 1 GHz while moving from a 100 MHz data bus to 133 MHz and adding support for 802.11g AirPort Extreme WiFi. Apple also switched from the Nvidia graphics of the original eMac to Radeon 7500 on this model […]
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April 2003
With the third generation (3G) iPod, Apple replaced the four buttons surrounding the scrollwheel with a row of round buttons between the scrollwheel and the display. The 3G iPod also introduced the 30-pin dock connector and no longer had separate Mac and PC versions.
With the third generation (3G) iPod, Apple replaced the four buttons surrounding the scrollwheel with a row of round buttons between the scrollwheel and the display. The 3G iPod also introduced the 30-pin dock connector and no longer had separate Mac and PC versions. The buttons are, left to right, previous track, menu, play/pause, and next […]
2003: Nothing has more typified the advanced amateur photographer in recent decades than a good SLR camera. That was true when I got started in photography 30 years ago, and it remains true today.
The April 2003 14″ iBook runs at 900 MHz, 100 MHz faster than its predecessor and has a larger (40 GB) hard drive. It is priced $100 lower.
Apple once again improved the popular iBook by boosting CPU speeds 100 MHz. The entry-level model still has a CD-ROM drive, but it now has the same 32 MB of VRAM as the faster model. Hard drives are also larger: 30 GB for the 700 MHz iBook, 40 GB for the 800.
2003: In the May 2003 issue of Popular Photography & Imaging, editor-in-chief Jason Schneider declares that digital has achieved the quality of film. More specifically, the Kodak DCS Pro14n digital SLR matches the resolution of Kodak Max Versatility 400 color print film in a 35mm camera.
2003: There are lots of variables in digital photography, but the most important one is megapixels. Even a lowly 1 megapixel (MP) camera can give you just great 4-by-6 snapshots, assuming a good lens and exposure. I’ve printed pretty sharp 5-by-7 photos from my 1.3 MP Canon PowerShot A50 on my Epson Stylus Photo 870 inkjet […]
2003 – The good news: The Mac OS X v10.2 Jaguar upgrade CD can be turned into a full install CD using nothing more than Disk Copy, the Terminal, and a CD burner. Terminal seems to be the crucial piece; without it I wasted two CD-Rs trying to make an installer.
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March 2003
Q. How can I upgrade my G3 iMac? A. The iMac was and remains one of Apple’s best selling computers. Now in its umpteenth revision, sporting LCD screens and faster than ever processors, the iMac has come quite a long way from the original 233 MHz Bondi blue bombshell. While many people lust for the […]
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February 2003
Claris Home Page was one of the finest applications ever made for the Mac. Version 3.0 has been around since 1998, and a lot of us have yet to find a better program for writing and publishing on the Web.
2003 – It’s been a good week for OS X users. First, Apple released an update to Safari that fixed some really obvious errors, such as text not wrapping around graphics properly (as mentioned in my previous installment) and problems with secure sites. Then they finished OS X 10.2.4 and made it available.
February 10, 1993 was one of the biggest days in Mac history. Apple introduced six new models at once.
Nine months after introducing the Xserve as a 1 GHz server, Apple bumped performance with one or two 1.33 GHz processors, a 167 MHz system bus, and Ultra ATA/133 support. The Early 2003 Xserve also includes FireWire 800 ports. In terms of performance, although the CPU is only 33% faster, Geekbench scores show this model has over […]
2003 – It’s been a month since I upgraded from OS X 10.1.5 Puma to 10.2 Jaguar and tried to make OS X my primary operating system. It worked, and now that I’ve done it, I don’t like going back to OS 9. Classic Mode is fine for all of my software – except for backup, and […]
The first iMac to reach 1 GHz, the 17″ G4 iMac has a wide aspect ratio “cinema” type screen and displays 1440 by 900 pixels – just perfect for DVDs. Other improvements over the old 800 MHz model include a slot for an 802.11g AirPort Extreme card, space for internal Bluetooth, 64 MB of video […]
Apple decided to simplify the iMac lineup by offering just one 15″ model and one 17″ model. The Early 2003 17″ iMac has a 1 GHz G4 processor, a SuperDrive, and 64 MB of video memory. The Early 2003 15″ iMac runs at 800 MHz, includes a Combo drive, and sells for a very competitive US$1,299. Except […]
As we discussed last Friday, Apple has never been a dominant player in the personal computer industry. However, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a significant player.
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January 2003
Despite the myths, Apple has never been a dominant player in the personal computer industry. Although the Apple II once accounted for nearly one-sixth of the market, the Mac has never had more than a 12% market share.
The January 2003 Power Mac G4 was the first to require OS X. It was also the first with FireWire 800 ports. A good rule of thumb: If it has FireWire 800, it isn’t meant to boot OS 9, although we have heard of a workaround. The FireWire 800 model was also the first Power Mac with a Bluetooth […]
The new PowerBooks (Big Al and Little Al) are nice enough, but I think that the new five-times-as-fast AirPort Extreme will have much more impact in the long run.
I have just finished reading your article on how to make a bootable emergency CD for the Mac, OS 9 and below. While I found most of the article to be an invaluable resource (I’ve already printed it to PDF), there’s one thing you mentioned at the end that does concern me.
2003 – Today marks 10 days since I installed Mac OS X 10.2.3 Jaguar on my 400 MHz PowerBook G4.
2003 – It’s only a beta, but Safari – Apple’s new Jaguar-only browser – won me over the first time I launched it. And it continued to impress me as I visited site after site. And then I headed off to Yahoo Games to unwind.
2003 – I’ll be rebooting my 400 MHz PowerBook G4 into OS 9 sometime today so it can be backed up over the network by Retrospect, but the more I work in OS X 10.2 Jaguar, the more I like it. I may have to invest in that ten user Retrospect client upgrade real soon now.
2003 – I made it over 72 hours before I had to reboot Jaguar – details on that below. Today I’m going to look at the things that are different about Jaguar.
Just two months after Apple boosted the 15″ Titanium PowerBook to 1 GHz, they surprised a lot of people by rolling out both the largest and the smallest PowerBooks ever, including this 17-incher. The 17″ PowerBook G4 is Apple’s first portable with a 17″ display. It’s also the first PowerBook with a fiber optic LED-backlit […]
Just two months after Apple boosted the 15.2″ PowerBook to 1 GHz, they surprised a lot of people by rolling out both the largest and the smallest PowerBooks ever, including the first 12″ PowerBook G4. The 12″ PowerBook G4 is the first PowerBook in years without a PC Card slot. It’s also the only current model […]
Just two months after Apple boosted the 15.2″ PowerBook to 1 GHz, they surprised a lot of people by rolling out both the largest and the smallest PowerBooks ever, including the first 12″ PowerBook G4. The 12″ PowerBook G4 is the first PowerBook in years without a PC Card slot. It’s also the only current […]
2003 – Last Friday, I received a copy of Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar in the mail from a reader. After finishing the morning site update, I rebooted my 400 MHz TiBook into Mac OS X 10.1.5 Puma, inserted Install Disc 1, and began the long, slow task of updating Quicksilver, my TiBook.
