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December 2005
PowerBook, iBook, iPod, and other portable computing is covered in The ‘Book Review. General Apple and Mac desktop news is covered in The Mac News Review. News about Apple’s transition to Intel CPUs and other Intel developments is covered in The Macintel Report.
Last week in Getting Ubuntu Linux Up and Running on a PowerPC Mac, I looked at what I considered to be the best current Linux distribution for PowerPC (PPC) hardware, Ubuntu Linux. At just over a year old, Ubuntu’s relatively easy installation, use, and maintenance have made it a top pick not only for PPC, […]
2005 – In my previous article, we looked at 68k Mac browser and email options. Now we’ll look at options for PowerPC (PPC) Macs running the classic Mac OS.
Can you really get a Mac mini for free? The short answer is: Of course not! Here’s the long answer.
In last week’s column, I outlined the requirements for setting up a useful and fast PowerPC (PPC) Linux desktop, and I’m going to start with what I consider the best of the bunch. Ubuntu Linux has done some of the best work in the open source community at making Linux palatable for the average end […]
2005 – If you still like using vintage Macs and want to get decent performance out of them, you either have to use older software that demands less of your computer or upgrade your hardware.
The Macintosh was released to the public in 1984 and changed the way we interact with our computers. The Macintosh operating system gave the Mac a competitive edge in the computer market.
2005 – Much has been made in recent weeks about the dearth of acceptable Web solutions for legacy Macs. To some extent, I agree with the position taken suggesting older Macs are in fact limited by their software in an increasingly connected, global community.
Got an elderly Power Mac that’s feeling a little suffocated by the ever-increasing demands of Mac OS X? The beautiful Aqua interface, with its rolling sheets and minimizing and zooming effects has always taxed lower-end G3s and G4s. Provided your needs include no Mac-specific apps, Linux can provide a snappy user experience, along with modern stability, […]
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November 2005
One of the most widely used and well known Macintosh upgrades of the 680×0 era is the venerable DayStar Digital Turbo 040. Later versions of this card have 128 KB onboard cache memory, while older ones have a socket to accept a cache upgrade. 25, 33, and 40 MHz versions were created, and the slower […]
Apple offers Mac OS X Server in both a $499 10-client edition and a $999 unlimited client version. While the unlimited version offers one of the best values in enterprise server software, it’s cheaper sibling is mighty expensive for an organization that only needs to serve ten users.
2005 – One thing that’s hard to find these days is a good Web browser for old Macs, whether it’s for 68k or PowerPC ones.
I specialize in the lowest of the low-end spectrum, and I’ll be covering Apple’s older Macintosh operating systems starting from 1.0 and working up to 6.0.8 – and the Macs that run them.
2005 – Hello everyone. My name is Thomas Ahart, and I one of Low End Mac’s new writers.
Thomas Ahart has lived in Kansas City all his life and has been using Macs since about 1996. He owned a Gateway PC before he got his first Mac, and it was so troublesome that he was fed up and wanted to try a new platform. He tried a Mac and loved it instantly.
Frank Petrie is a reviewer and web designer with Multiple Sclerosis. He starts his welcome page at handiapped.com by saying, “This site is for those of us who have, or will have, bits dropping off.” One assumes that this is meant to be taken figuratively as well as literally.
In 1995, Microsoft was busy promoting the latest release of Windows, Windows 95. Apple was confident that users would still be attracted to the Mac because of its interface – but also worried that Windows’ multitasking environment would put Mac OS 7.5 to shame.
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October 2005
After nine months at 1.5 GHz, the 17″ PowerBook G4 received an 11% performance boost to 1.67 GHz and gained an 8x DVR±RW SuperDrive. The standard hard drive now spins at 5400 rpm. ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics are included, along with 128 MB of video memory and support for Dual-Link DVI. Also new on […]
Can I put a 160 GB or larger IDE hard drive in my iMac, eMac, Power Mac, iBook, or PowerBook? The short answer: Yes, you can. The long answer: Yes, you can, but you may not be able to use more than 128 GB without some third-party assistance.
Apple will begin migrating to Intel CPUs next summer, but the PowerPC isn’t dead yet. Nowhere is this more evident than with the new Power Mac G5 models, all of which use IBM’s new dual-core CPUs.
Already this month Apple updated the iMac and introduced the video iPod. And yesterday they introduced the first Macs ever with dual-core CPUs and improved PowerBooks. We’ll look at the new PowerBooks today and save the Power Macs for tomorrow.
Sometimes a computer with a lower GHz rating can outperform one with a higher speed rating, and that’s especially true for the 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5 Quad. One of the first Macs to use IBM’s new dual-core G5 CPUs, the Quad uses a pair of them, which means Power Mac owners now have access […]
The first Macs to use IBM’s new dual-core G5 CPUs, the Late 2005 Power Mac G5 Duals and Quad (covered on its own page) provide the processing power of two G5 CPUs on a single chip. Each core has 1 MB of level 2 cache, twice as much as earlier G5s, which further boosts computing power. […]
The Late 2005 15″ PowerBook Hi-Res looks just like the old one – until you look at the screen. From April 2002 until now, 15″ PowerBooks have had 1280 x 854 displays. The Late 2005 15-incher boasts that to 1440 x 960, the same resolution common on many 15″ widescreen Windows laptops. Apple no longer […]
You can never have too many pixels. As the 15″ PowerBook moved to a 1440 x 960 display – the same resolution as all previous 17″ PowerBooks – the 17-incher received a high resolution 1680 x 1050 screen. Standard is a dual-layer 8x SuperDrive, although those who choose to can special order the 17″ ‘Book […]
2005: With the release of the iMac G5 with Front Row earlier this month, many analysts have hailed Apple’s entry into the living room. However, Apple actually released its first Mac with a remote control in 1993, the Macintosh TV.
It was just five months ago that Apple speed bumped the iMac G5 by 200 MHz, and yesterday it upped the ante again. The Late 2005 iMac G5 is thinner, lighter, faster, and more feature-laden than its predecessor.
Innovation has come back to the iMac. Just as the original iMac introduced USB to the Macintosh and eliminated the floppy drive, the October 2005 iMac G5 introduces the PCI-Express bus for video, DDR2 memory, and an integrated iSight webcam while eliminating the internal modem. Apple took the popular iMac G5, built in iSight, made […]
The classic iPod moved to a much larger display with the 5G iPod, introduced in October 2005, the first iPod to support video. The 2.5″ color display would be standard on every classic iPod to come. Despite the larger screen, the 5G iPod was thinner and lighter than its predecessors. Like the iPod nano introduced […]
Apple’s Lisa was first envisioned as a brand new business computer to succeed the very popular Apple II, and it was to be designed by Steve Wozniak. The project was quickly turned over to Ken Rothmuller, a former HP director, as Wozniak drifted away from Apple.
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September 2005
The original Mac mini was introduced in January 2005 at 1.25 GHz and 1.42 GHz. In July, Apple bumped base RAM from 256 MB to 512 MB. The Late 2005 model boosts CPU speeds to 1.33 GHz and 1.5 GHz. The SuperDrive is bumped from 4x to 8x, can now burn dual-layer discs, and also […]
eHarmony stands apart from the other online dating services. Not only does it give you an exhaustive personality profile for free, it also guarantees dates if you subscribe for at least three months.
I started using Match.com over a year ago, but I didn’t become a subscriber until this summer. I wasn’t having a lot of luck with Yahoo! Personals, so I thought I’d broaden my horizons.
As my marriage was going down the drain, I figured that my best bet for meeting women would be the Internet. After all, I worked alone and on the Internet, and I wasn’t into the bar scene.
In addition to Apple introducing the iPod nano last week, the first iTunes-compatible cell phone was also introduced to the market last week. No, this wasn’t the long-rumored Apple iPhone. Instead, it was a new model from Motorola, dubbed ROKR and only available in the US to Cingular Wireless customers.
Andy Hertzfeld was a key member of the Macintosh development team. He was the Software Wizard behind much of the Mac’s built-in ROM code and the user interface. His goal is to make computers easier and more fun to use. After leaving Apple, Hertzfeld helped co-found three companies: Radius, General Magic, and Eazel. He is […]
2005 – In a legal system with more than enough stupid lawsuits, Thomas Slattery’s suit against Apple is one of the dumbest. For those who haven’t been paying attention or believed this had to be from of The Onion or Weekly World News, the truth is that Slattery has initiated a class action suit against Apple, […]
Apple replaced the small iPod mini with the even smaller iPod nano in September 2005, initially offered in 2 GB and 4 GB capacities in either a white or black plastic enclosure. a 1 GB version was added in February 2006. The big difference in size came from leaving behind the Mini’s 1″ hard drive and using flash […]
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August 2005
2005 – When you take a phenomenon and look back to put the whole picture in perspective, the landscape can reveal some fascinating shapes and colors.
PowerBook, iBook, iPod, and other portable computing is covered in The ‘Book Review. General Apple and Mac desktop news is covered in The Mac News Review. News about Apple’s transition to Intel CPUs and other Intel developments is covered in The Macintel Report.
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July 2005
Apple updated the iBook line yesterday. The 2005 models have scrolling trackpads, sudden motion sensors, 512 MB of RAM, ATI Radeon 9550 graphics, and Bluetooth 2.0 as a standard feature.
In July 2005, the 14″ iBook got a small speed boost (7% – from 1.33 GHz to 1.42 GHz), twice as much stock memory (512 MB vs. 256 MB), added Bluetooth 2.0 as a standard feature, and received improved video with ATI Radeon 9550 graphics with the same 32 MB of video RAM as the […]
In July 2005, the iBook got a small speed boost (11% – from 1.2 GHz to 1.33 GHz), twice as much stock memory (512 MB vs. 256 MB), added Bluetooth 2.0 as a standard feature, and received improved video with ATI Radeon 9550 graphics with the same 32 MB of video RAM as the Late […]
PowerBook, iBook, iPod, and other portable computing is covered in The ‘Book Review. General Apple and Mac desktop news is covered in The Mac News Review. News about Apple’s transition to Intel CPUs and other Intel developments is covered in The Macintel Report.
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June 2005
2005 – Switching the Macintosh platform to Intel x86 processor architecture is not a panacea, but Apple’s adoption of Intel processors should not be a major source of headaches – except for the eventual lack of support for Classic Mode on Intel-based Macs.
Jean Louis Gassée has proven to be one of the most effective managers in the computer industry. He propelled Hewlett Packard to the forefront of the computer industry in Europe, managed Apple’s new products division during the Sculley era, and served as the CEO at Be. Most recently, he has become the CEO at PalmSource […]
PowerBook, iBook, iPod, and other portable computing is covered in The ‘Book Review, and general Apple and Mac desktop news is covered in The Mac News Review.
Update: Just hours before Apple announced it would switch Macs to Intel x86 CPUs, we argued that it would make no sense for Apple to do so. Thanks to dual-core technology and a great PowerPC emulator, Apple was able to make the transition far more smoothly than we would have believed. Would you expect less […]
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May 2005
PowerBook, iBook, iPod, and other portable computing is covered in The ‘Book Review, and general Apple and Mac desktop news is covered in The Mac News Review.
TAM 4400 (a.k.a. 7220) 6500 7100 7200 7300 7500 7600 8100 8200 8500 8600 9150 9500 9600 G3/233 & 266 G3/300, 333, 366 G3 All-in-One B & W G3 Yikes! (PCI) G4 Sawtooth (AGP) G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) G4 Cube See as a list
Last Tuesday, Apple speed bumped the Power Mac G5. Last Friday, they officially released Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. And today, Apple introduced improved versions of the eMac and iMac G5. Both new models ship with Tiger.
The May 2005 revision of the iMac G5 got a 200 MHz speed boost, bringing it to 1.8 GHz and 2.0 GHz. Other improvements include an 8x dual-layer SuperDrive, better video, gigabit ethernet, and an ambient light sensor (ALS). 512 MB of RAM is now standard across the line, making the entry-level model more responsive […]
Incremental improvement seems to be the name of the game for the eMac once again. The 2005 models gets a modest 14% speed boost compared with the 1.25 GHz 2004 eMac. The G4 CPU used in this model has the same 512 KB level 2 cache as the 2004 model. Internal Bluetooth remains a build-to-order option. […]
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April 2005
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger was released on April 29, 2005, went through 12 revisions, and wasn’t replaced until OS X 10.5 Leopard arrived on October 26, 2007 – two-and-a-half years later (almost 30 months to the day). Many consider Tiger a high point because of the wide range of hardware it supports and its length of […]
PowerBook, iBook, iPod, and other portable computing is covered in The ‘Book Review, and general Apple and Mac desktop news is covered in The Mac News Review.
Making haste slowly, Apple has moved the fastest Power Mac G5 from 2.0 GHz CPUs in 2003 to 2.5 GHz in 2004, and now to 2.7 GHz in 2005. It’s nice to see Apple squeeze nearly 10% more speed from the G5 – and sad that Apple still can’t deliver the 3.0 GHz G5 that it promised […]
2005 – Environmentalists, rejoice! In celebration of Earth Day, Steve Jobs broke out his Birkenstocks, love beads, and hippie headband to announce the greening of Apple computer.
If you’ve ever used a webcam – not counting Apple’s iSight – you have to wonder why so many of them are so pathetic.
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March 2005
Buying the best display for your Mac has never been easy, unless you wanted to pay for Apple-branded products. In the old days, Mac video ports were different from those used in the PC world, and today you need to research whether the display you’re interested in has VGA or DVI input.
2005 – While Apple is busy suing AppleInsider and others over leaks regarding their “Asteroid” project, our unusually reliable source – an illegal immigrant subcontracted to clean Apple’s research labs when she couldn’t get the same kind of work at Walmart – has helped The Rumor Mill scoop all the legitimate rumor sites.
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February 2005
Apple updated the compact iPod mini in February 2005, dropping the gold color and adding a 6 GB model. Visually the 2G iPod mini is distinguished by colored printing on the clickwheel. To protect its minuscule 1.0″ hard drive, the iPod mini was built of aluminum. The 2G iPod mini was available in four colors – silver, blue, pink, and green – […]
What’s the fastest Mac browser? And how do Mac browsers compare to those on Windows and Linux, the other leading operating systems?
In the mid 1990s, Apple’s products were less than up to par. The Performa line had constant problems (such as the 5200, which had a recall on the display cable), and PowerBooks were rather slow and also problematic (like the 5300, which had recalls on the battery, logic board, and various plastic case parts).
2005 – Apple stunned analysts, Mac users, and PC pundits by pre-announcing the PowerBook G5 this morning – just two days after unveiling improved G4 PowerBooks.
Apple did a great job designing, marketing, and branding the iMac, but they also created a big problem – knowing which iMac you own or are looking to buy on the used market.
Four years after the first PowerBook G4s reached users, Apple announced the fourth generation of aluminum PowerBooks, each model faster, more feature laden, and no more expensive than the one it replaced.
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January 2005
After nine months at 1.33 GHz, Apple bumped the little AlBook from 1.33 GHz to 1.5 GHz, a 13% increase. Standard memory has been raised to 512 MB, graphics now uses the Nvidia GeForce FX Go5200 processor, and the SuperDrive can burn DVDs at up to 8x. All this at $100 less than the retail […]
The same size and weight its 2004 predecessor, the Early 2005 edition runs a bit faster (at 1.5 and 1.67 GHz). The entry-level 15″ PowerBook now has 512 MB of memory, and 5400 rpm hard drives are standard. Both versions of the 15″ PowerBook now include Apple’s backlit keyboard. The 1.67 GHz SuperDrive model supports […]
If you know anything at all about the history of keyboards, you probably know that the QWERTY design – so named after the first six alphabetical keys – was deliberately designed to avoid jamming typewriters. Ideal or not, it’s been the standard keyboard layout in the English-speaking world for 130 years.
Never before had Apple sold a $500 Macintosh. Never before had Apple been poised to grow its market share like it hoped to with the Mac mini. The tiny Mac mini (6.5″ square, 2″ high, 2.9 lb.) has incredibly minimalist design. On the front, there’s just a slot-loading optical drive and a power light. On […]
When most MP3 players were based on flash memory, Apple built the original iPod around a tiny 1.8″ hard drive. And on January 11, 2005, Apple introduced the first iPod built using flash memory, the original iPod shuffle. Unlike competing flash-based MP3 players, the Shuffle has no menu system. You load it with the songs […]
There are a number of myths surrounding the Macintosh: It’s only for artists. There aren’t enough programs. It’s slow compared to Windows PCs. It’s terrible for gaming. And it’s always been overpriced.
It’s that time of year again when lazy journalists trundle out lists instead of sitting down and writing articles. Never one to break an honorable tradition, Jason Walsh adds Low End Mac to the list of publications that includes just about every magazine, website, and newspaper in the world.
One of the best things Apple ever did for Power Mac users was design the CPU daughter card introduced with the Power Mac 9500. Apple, Power Computing, and SuperMac all used it in their PCI models running PowerPC 601 and 604 CPUs.
Apple began selling its first computer in July 1976. Apple Before the Mac looks at the Apple II and Apple III era that predate the Mac.
Many Mac users from way back in the legacy era consider the old ADB Apple Extended Keyboard II to be the best keyboard Apple ever made. Others of us might debate that, but the Extended Keyboard II was certainly the biggest, heaviest keyboard Apple ever made, covering a vast expanse of desktop and weighing in […]
A year after introducing the Xserve G5, Apple boosted its top speed from 2.0 to 2.3 GHz while making dual processors standard. That’s a bit slower than the fastest Power Mac G5, which runs at 2.5 GHz, but there’s much less room for a cooling system in the compact Xserve. Although clock speed is only 15% […]
