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December 2015
Being able to increase the storage on your iPhone has always been a big issue; should Apple think about doing it?
After finding out my original Juice Pack Plus was a fake, I look at a genuine one.
When you buy the latest and greatest, you expect it to last. Here at Low End Mac, we know that even the best of the best eventually becomes low-end. It appears, however, that some folks out there didn’t get that memo.
Before Facebook, before Twitter, before MySpace, before Yahoo, before bulletin board systems, before usenet – in fact, way before the first computer – Hugo Gernsback created the first social media networks.
-The Apple MacBook Air is a gorgeous design masterpiece, and early 2015 saw me purchase an 11” model.
Apple, Atari, and Commodore Amiga all made personal computers based on the Motorola 680×0 family of processors. This article covers models introduced since the start of 1991. For earlier models, see Timeline of 680×0 Computers, 1980-1990.
I upgraded my memory past 8 MB, but a bunch of memory seems to be missing or used by the OS. Where did it go?
A decade after its release, the original Need For Speed Most Wanted is still an amazing game.
Pebble brings its new interface to the classic handset. I have been running it for a few days.
On January 9, 2001, Steve Jobs famously introduced the idea that Apple’s Macintosh personal computers were ideal in the role of ‘digital hub’ – users would use their Mac to access, organize, and edit content created or stored on tools like digital cameras, personal music players, and camcorders.
Although it is best known for its use in Macintosh, Atari ST, and Amiga computers, the Motorola 68000 family of CPUs predates the Macintosh by five years.
In November 1983, Tandy entered the world of PC compatibles with one of the most powerful MS-DOS computers to date, the 8 MHz 80186-based Tandy 2000. This was long before IBM released the 6 MHz IBM Personal Computer/AT in August 1994.
Texas Instruments (TI) had been a pioneer in transistor, integrated circuit, and semiconductor design, and it was a major player in the calculator market. However, it took its time entering the home and business computer markets and fared poorly in both areas.
Pebble finally brings its new look watch OS to the original Pebble and Pebble Steel.
Juice Packs are popular with many iPhone users, but is your Mophie genuine or a fake?
In 1977, Radio Shack became one of the first companies to sell personal computers, but it didn’t have a model with color graphics until 1980. This is the story of the Radio Shack Color Computer.
The Atari 2600 was once the king of gaming consoles, but Atari was a late entrant to the personal computing field.
After using a Juice Pack Helium and Air for my iPhone 5, I decided to check out the heavyweight Mophie in the iPhone 5/5s range.
In 1977, there were three home computers: The Apple II, the Commodore PET, and the TRS-80, which was sold at 3,500 Radio Shack stores across the United States. Apple and Commodore used the MOS Tech 6502 CPU in their computers, but Radio Shack chose the Zilog Z-80.
Best known for the Commodore 64, the best selling single model in the history of computing, Commodore International was one of the first companies to enter the personal computing market and the first with a million-selling computer. Its first model was the Commodore PET.
Do you like having a beer? Now you can use your smartphone to log your drinks and share them with other like-minded drinkers.
1995 saw release of the ill-fated (but fantastic) Sega Saturn. I am still a big fan of the 32-bit console.
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November 2015
Gaming is a great pass time. I take a look at the top 50 titles that have shaped my gaming history.
Prior to the September 1986 introduction of the Apple IIGS, every Apple II computer ran an 8-bit 1 MHz 6502 processor, used 5-1/4″ floppy disks, had a very limited color palette, and sound was nothing to write home about. The Apple IIGS changed all of that.
The Apple II family was known for its expansion options – eight slots for adding capabilities. Inevitably one held a floppy controller, typically one held a parallel printer card, and another might have a serial card for a modem or printer. Some bought Microsoft’s Z-80 SoftCard to run CP/M. But for most users, most slots remained empty.
The Apple II and II Plus had been a runaway success for Apple, establishing it in the home, the school, and, thanks to VisiCalc, the workplace. Even though that was true, these models had some shortcomings that were addressed when the Apple IIe was introduced in January 1983.
Although the Apple 1, introduced in April 1976, had been a big success among the hobbyist crowd, people who didn’t mind assembling their own computer and designing a case for it, it was not part of the ready-to-go personal computer revolution of the late 1970s. That’s where the Apple II comes in.
I take a look at the very popular cross platform messaging service, WhatsApp.
Apple has a very impressive track record. It is the only personal computer company to have survived from the early days of 8-bit computing while once mighty Commodore, Radio Shack, and Atari no longer exist or long ago stopped making personal computers.
The first computer worthy of the name “computer” was produced more than 60 years ago. It was a monstrous machine, covering more than 136 square meters and used 18,000 vacuum tubes (the predecessors to the transistor). It was capable of computing the sum of 5,000 numbers ten digits in length per second. It’s name was ENIAC, […]
What’s chunky, cream coloured, and has a screen capable of displaying four shades? It’s the legendary Nintendo Game Boy.
With Apple on an annual development cycle for Mac OS X, it’s interesting to see what patterns develop between the official launch of one version and the launch of the next version. Today we look at Yosemite’s first year.
One of the things that we computer nerds have always loved is tinkering with our machines. We have always enjoyed opening up our computers and expanding their capabilities. Unfortunately for us, the expandability of modern Macs ranges from limited to nonexistent.
In June 2007, we got the first iPhone. Three months later, we got the first iPod touch, which was essentially an iPhone with the phone, camera, Bluetooth, and wireless data capabilities removed. We’ve come a long way since then.
With the iPad mini 2 selling for $269, those 7″ tablet deals showing up in Black Friday announcements sound like an incredible deal. Or are they?
When you buy an iPhone or iPad, Apple makes it pretty clear which operating systems support it, whether Mac OS X or Windows. They also tell you which version of iTunes is required. What they don’t tell you is that this can change with iOS updates, leaving you unable to sync your iPhone, iPad, or […]
Playing your old games on your new console is a great thing. I take a look at which consoles offer backward compatibility.
There are now a great variety of wireless hard drives available, but so far only one is available at a true low-end price, offering an unprecedented overall value to the consumer, while being compatible with a wide variety of Macs, PCs, iOS devices, and Android devices. Behold the EMTEC P600 Wi-Fi Hard Drive.
Perhaps we might see a return to smaller iPhones after all. But will we see colourful handsets in the future?
The G5 is a 64-bit member of the PowerPC processor family that is fully compatible with 32-bit code. It was first used when the Power Mac G5 was introduced in June 2003. Only three different versions of the chip were produced before Apple made the move to Intel CPUs in 2006. IBM was the only manufacturer […]
From the first iPhone launched in 2007 with its 480 x 320 3.5″ display, ARM processor running at 412 MHz, and EDGE networking through today’s iPhone 6S and 6S Plus with their 750 x 1334 4.7″ and 1080 x 1920 5.5″ displays, dual-core 1.85 GHz A9 CPUs, and 4G LTE networking, we’ve seen a lot of […]
Prior to the September 2012 introduction of the iPhone 5, every iPhone had used a 3.5″ display. Since the iPhone 5, all screens have been larger than that. At the same time, Apple abandoned the 30-pin dock connector it had inherited from iPods and adopted the new Lightning connector. This also marked the debut of […]
High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is a system for recording more detail in shadows and highlights than standard 24-bit photography is designed to handle. The greater the range between the brightest and darkest points in a photo, the more it can benefit from HDR.
I still love my Early 2011 17″ MacBook Pro, as do many others despite its potential to exhibit a known graphics fault (see Apple Recall regarding discrete GPU failure), and it continues to be my daily driver and likely will remain that way for the next 4-6 years – unless Apple decides to reverse its course on a few […]
Time for another look at virtualization software, letting Macintosh users run PC operating system such as Windows or Ubuntu on their Macs. There are three competitors in the Mac emulation market – Parallels Desktop (US$79 or as an annual $99 subscription Pro version), VMware Fusion (also US$79), and Oracle’s (free and open source) VirtualBox.
In the beginning, personal computers used cassette tape drives. Then came floppy drives, followed by hard drives. And then came removable media drives such as SyQuest, Bernoulli, and – perhaps best know of all – Zip.
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October 2015
With any new OS, software support is going to let it down. Does Windows Phone still lag behind Android and iOS?
The PC market has declined about 10% this year, yet Apple sold more Macs than ever in its 4th fiscal quarter (July-Sept. 2015). iPhone sales didn’t set a record – that usually happens in the holiday quarter – but they are up over the same quarter in 2014.
Apple took the 27″ Retina 5K iMac a step further with fifth generation Intel processor technology, state of the art AMD graphics, an even better Retina display with 25% greater color gamut – and at $500 less than the Late 2014 Retina iMac retailed for a year ago. As we said then, 4K resolution (4096 x 2160 pixels) […]
HTC were early adopters of the Windows Phone platform. I check out their 2013 flagship handset, the HTC 8x.
Do you want to use your Windows Phone under OS X 10.11 El Capitan? Luckily there is a third party fix.
iOS 9 has better battery management than any previous version, sometimes adding hours to the life of an iPhone’s battery. Unfortunately, the current version of the Facebook app can more than offset the extra battery life iOS 9 give you.
I had a short-lived experience using anti-virus on my Mac. Why don’t I use it anymore?
A few months ago I picked up an original Pebble watch, but is it really a smartwatch?
If you have a Windows Phone, do not upgrade to OS X 10.11 El Capitan.
Released in early 2015 – I take a look at the budget conscious Microsoft Lumia 435.
In 2014, Apple introduced the 27″ Retina 5K iMac; in 2015, Apple brings a Retina Display to the smaller iMac. The 21.5″ iMac now has a 4096 x 2304 pixel 4K display with the same dot pitch and color gamut The Late 2015 iMac also ships with the new Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2 plus […]
Remember the seemingly underpowered iMac that Apple introduced in June 2014? They’ve updated it from 1.4 GHz to 1.6 GHz and kept it available as a lower cost alternative to the 21.5″ Retina 4K iMac. The Late 2015 model uses an ultra-low-power 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel i5 CPU – with Turbo Boost to the same 2.7 […]
I have a long reputation of using a Mophie Juice Pack on my iPhone and review them frequently. But why do I love them?
Nearly a decade has has passed since the last run of PowerPC Macs hit Apple’s store shelves and provided us with one last hurrah on “thinking different” and being part of the trope of “crazy ones” who simply would not conform to the norm.
Quake spawned a new era of first person shooters. I take a look at the TenebraeQuake front end for Mac OS X, which also enhances the graphics.
I’ve been using Apple computers since an Apple II+ in 1979, followed by a Mac Plus (upgraded from a 128K) in 1986, so when it came time to buy a smartphone, I looked no further than the iPhone. But the next version of Android sounds mighty tempting.
Over time, the distribution of Mac OS versions among Mac users changes as new versions of the OS are released, old Macs are retired, and new models arrive that only support the most recent version. Today we’re looking at six years worth of data.
Since the dawn of Mac OS X, there have been major and minor versions.
El Capitan is the twelth revision of Mac OS X. I give my first impressions of it.
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September 2015
WARNING: If you have updated boot.efi on a MacPro1,1 or MacPro2,1 so you can run Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, DO NOT INSTALL SECURITY UPDATE 2018-001. According to Greg Hrutkay of Hrutkay Mods (see warning video), it breaks boot.efi on the 2006 and 2007 Mac Pros that have been thus updated. With OS X […]
Slightly bigger than the iPhone 6 Plus, the iPhone 6S Plus is the largest iPhone to date. It also weighs 0.7 oz. more than the 6S Plus. Apple also added a new color, rose gold, to the gold, silver, and space gray finishes available for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The screen is now pressure sensitive […]
Claiming that “the only thing that changed is everything”, Apple unveiled the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus on September 9, 2015. Well, not everything. The 2015 models look just like the 2014 iPhones at first glance, although there is a new rose gold color. The iPhone 6S is a half-ounce heavier than the iPhone 6, although […]
With the success of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, Apple is a leading consumer of ARM processors, which it originally purchased from smartphone and tablet rival Samsung. Always looking for an edge, Apple has acquired a lot of design talent, which allowed it to produce its own CPUs.
Considering how poorly Microsoft has been doing with its Surface, it’s quite remarkable to see Apple jumping into the same product category with the 12.9″ iPad Pro, which arrived in November. That said, Apple is taking a whole different approach than Microsoft. Where Microsoft started out with two kinds of Surface tablets – the ARM-based Surface RT […]
The iPad mini 4 is faster, thinner, taller, and lighter than the iPad mini 3, boasting a 30% faster CPU and 60% faster graphics, which it replaces. That’s due in part to the 1.5 GHz A8 processor and in part to having 2 MB of system memory. As with iPhones and other recent iPads, the iPad mini 4 […]
A while back, I picked up a used 8 GB iPhone 4S as a backup or emergency phone – and also to see how (im)practical an 8 GB iPhone is these days. And on Wednesday afternoon, I installed iOS 9, which almost went without a hitch.
It’s launch day, and I take a quick look at iOS 9 on an iPhone 5.
In 1992, Apple decided that the education and design markets weren’t enough – it wanted to target mass market consumers. Rather than develop new computers for this market, Apple created a new brand and renamed three existing Macs as Performas.
iOS 8 introduced yet another smart idea, called Medical ID, creating a quick access medical card for emergencies.
Games consoles have been a huge part of our culture since the 1970s – but in 2000 Sony took it to a new level with the PlayStation 2.
Like it or not, it appears there will be no new coloured iPhone range.
I recently put a 250 GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD in my Mid 2007 Mac mini, replacing a failing hard drive. While working on this setup, I found yet one more advantage of using an SSD.
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August 2015
Face it, there aren’t a lot of Mac keyboard options out there. Apple and a few other companies make USB and Bluetooth keyboards with the Mac layout. That’s it, and they tend to cost a lot more than PC keyboards – even good PC keyboards.
I’ve had my Mid 2007 Mac mini for several years, upgrading RAM from 1 GB to 3 GB and the hard drive from a pedestrian 5400 rpm 80 GB to a 7200 rpm 320 GB WD Scorpio Black – and now to a 250 GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD. How fast is it now?
We came home from vacation three weeks ago, and my Mid 2007 Mac mini began giving me problems almost from the moment I powered it up. The 320 GB 7200 rpm internal hard drive was having issues, and after looking at prices, I decided that SSD could be the way to go.
Chromebooks are the latest buzz in the tech world, so I take a look at Chromium OS, the open-source version of ChromeOS that you can install on your own hardware.
Eight years ago, the iPhone had a 412 MHz single-core processor, a touch screen but no keyboard, no third-party apps, and it was probably the last new smartphone model to ship without 3G networking. Yet it sold like hotcakes even with no discounts available.
It would appear Apple have finally turned off Push Notifications for iPhone OS 3.
I have been singing the praises of whited00r for a long time – but it’s importance is greater than ever now.
Since returning from vacation earlier this month, my 2007 Mac mini began to have problems and then died. More precisely, it would no longer boot from the OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard partition on its internal 320 GB Seagate hard drive, which I’ve used for years. It would display a blue screen and continually try […]
By 9:30 last night, buyers were lined up at Holland (MI) High School in hopes of buying one or more iMacs, MacBooks, or iPads. There were so many that they began the sale this morning at 7:00 AM, and within an hour everything was gone.
The big talk among Mac fans in western Michigan this past week has been the sell-off of older Apple gear by the Holland Public Schools scheduled for Thursday, August 13, 2015 starting at 9:00 AM. There are some real deals there! [Update: All items have been sold.]
Hard drives die. Sometimes early, within warranty. Sometimes after years and years of use. Sometimes with a little warning. Sometimes with no warning at all. And all you can do is be prepared.
I recently installed every version of Apple’s operating system that is compatible with the 1999 Blue & White G3 Power Mac – 11 major Mac operating systems: 8.5, 8.6, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, and Mac OS X Server 1.2.
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July 2015
The 6G iPod touch is the first 64-bit iPod touch, following the iPhone 5S, 6, and 6 Plus in leaving behind 32-bit operation. It is also the first iPod touch with a 128 GB configuration, which is only available directly from Apple. The 6G is the first iPod touch to run at over 1 GHz and […]
The big news this morning was that Firefox was suddenly blocking all Flash content by default. Flash is frequently used for streaming video, ads, and interactive media on the Web, where it is heavily used for video games on Android devices. (Flash is not supported on Apple’s iOS.)
Because the NuTek clones predate the widespread use of the Internet, and because BYTE magazine is history, we’ve scrounged up the few BYTE articles we could find online about NuTek and share them here in chronological order.
Because the NuTek clones predate the widespread use of the Internet, and because the Macworld archives are spotty from this era, we’ve scrounged up what Macorld articles we could find online about NuTek – just one so far – and share them here in chronological order.
Because the NuTek clones predate the widespread use of the Internet, and because the online Infoworld archives are far from complete, we’ve scrounged up what Infoworld articles we could find online about NuTek and share them here in chronological order. There are at least two more we have not been able to locate.
Because the NuTek clones predate the widespread use of the Internet, and because the MacWEEK print magazine is long since defunct, we’ve searched the Internet to see what MacWEEK articles we could find online about NuTek to share here. Here’s the only one we’ve found so far.
BeOS might be no more, but I take a look at its modern day sibling.
I take a look at the lightweight and thin Mophie Juice Pack Helium for the iPhone 5 and 5s.
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June 2015
I take a look at the tile-based mobile platform from Microsoft. How does it compare to other mobile operating systems?
The smartphone world might be dominated by Apple and Google devices, but Microsoft are making great progress with their Windows Phone platform. I check out the Nokia Lumia 620.
“My computer is secure. It’s a Mac.”
Microsoft Office hasn’t been around forever, or even quite as long as the Macintosh, but it has been around for a long, long time. Microsoft Word 1.0 was released for Mac in 1984 and soon became the Mac’s dominant word processing app. Microsoft Excel 1.0 was a Mac-first application and arrived in 1985. PowerPoint 1.0 came […]
Joining a clan is one of the most important things you can do to achieve success in Clash of Clans. As a clan member, you can receive higher-level troops in your Clan Castle that will provide defense against enemy attacks and can also be used offensively when you are attacking goblins or other players.
Where is the “low end” in Low End Mac? It’s a question we’ve addressed many times over our 18 year history, and it was a topic of conversation in our Facebook group this past week. Exactly what do we mean when we apply the label low end?
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard marked an endpoint in the evolution of traditional OS X. After this, Apple introduced OS X 10.7 Lion, which moved the Mac in the same direction as iOS – a whole new direction for desktop Macs. Also, for those using software written in the PowerPC era, Snow Leopard gives us […]
The digital age means we live in a world of instant notifications for just about everything. But is it getting too much?
Microsoft Excel was not Microsoft’s first spreadsheet program. That honor went to Multiplan, released in 1982 as a competitor to VisiCalc, the world’s first electronic spreadsheet. Although it was quickly eclipsed by Lotus 1-2-3, Multiplan became the first Mac spreadsheet (and Microsoft’s first GUI spreadsheet) when it was introduced in 1984.
This year’s WWDC event saw some great news for iPhone 4s owners.
Apple might be producing larger and larger iPhones, but some people still hanker after a mini handset.
Your MacBook or MacBook Pro probably came with one hard drive and, in most instances, a built-in optical drive that you rarely use. The OWC Data Doubler lets you install a second hard drive in place of that SuperDrive, and OWC’s SuperSlim enclosure gives your removed optical drive a new home.
My wife had been wanting an iPad, so now and again I’d scan Craigslist for local deals. This past winter I found a pretty good price on the original iPad that I could just afford with the cash I’d been setting aside. It even had a case and dock cable, although no power adapter.
Apple has always driven its hardware and software to follow innovations. This keeps the products fresh and in demand. The downside is the need to constantly upgrade one or both to stay on the cutting edge.
In 2010, Sony Ericsson introduced a range of tiny Android handsets to a market that was used to giant beasts. I take a look back at the X10 Mini & X10 Mini Pro.
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May 2015
Push notifications are a brilliant addition to the iPhone – but do they still work on OS 3 for you?
Although you are safe from attack for the first 72 hours of your village’s creation, after that all bets are off. Your village can be attacked at any time that it doesn’t have a protective shield and you don’t have it running on your Android or iOS device.
There are probably as many theories about village layout as there are Clash of Clan players. Most put the Town Hall in the center, but some put it on the edge of the village, beyond protective walls, and some even stick it in a corner.
You have three days to prepare for the first attack on your village. There’s no need to rush into building up your defenses the first two days, but Day Three is the one where you want to concentrate on making your village safe against invaders.
You begin playing Clash of Clans with just Barbarians, soon add Archers, and then gain Giants. You cannot advance their level until you build a Laboratory (marked Research). You’ll need a lot of elixir to upgrade them.
After going through the tutorial, you will have a Town Hall, a Builder’s Hut, a Gold Mine, an Elixir Collector, Gold Storage, Elixir Storage, Barracks, and a Camp. You will also have a 3-day shield that prevents other players from attacking your village, so there is no need to build walls or other defenses right away.
Clash of Clans is a popular free game for iOS and Android devices. Launched on iOS in August 2012, it has a large international following. The Android version was added in October 2013. Best of all, Supercell is always looking for ways to improve gameplay, so it has improved over time.
It’s tiny, it’s awesome, and it clips to your clothes. I take a look back at the second generation (2G) iPod shuffle.
Microsoft are currently offering their forthcoming new Mac office suite as a free beta download. I check it out.
If you’ve used the Shuffle setting on iTunes or an iPod more than a few times, you come to realize that it’s anything but random. Some tracks keep coming up while others are ignored. Why is that?
The Mid 2015 27″ Retina 5K iMac cuts CPU speed and uses a standard hard drive instead of a Fusion Drive to bring the price below the $2,000 mark. (You can upgrade to a Fusion Drive for $200 additional.) As we said last year, 4K resolution (4096 x 2160 pixels) is the extra high definition of the […]
Surprisingly, the Mid 2015 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display uses the exact same CPUs and clock speeds as the Mid 2014 model it replaces. The model identifier seems to be the only significant difference between the two models. The MacBook Pro with Retina Display (a.k.a. Retina MacBook Pro) remains the thinnest MacBook Pro at […]
I have had my Pebble for a few weeks now, and I reflect on some of its best features.
For the first time on the Mac (via Steam), gamers will be finally getting the opportunity to simultaneously enjoy a new release title, alongside console gamers from the legendary team of director Koji Igarashi (affectionately known simply as IGA by fans) and master composer Michiru Yamane. For those not fully aware of these two Japanese […]
Could Apple be about to make one of the biggest changes in iPhone design since its launch in 2007?
Apple’s Performa line of computers attempted to bring the Mac experience to the consumer market. The line was launched with three rebadged Macs in 1992 and phased out in 1997 when the last two models were renamed Power Macs with their last upgrade. Performa 200 Performa 250 Performa 275 Performa 4xx Performa 450 Performa 460 […]
This is a list of some apps and extensions that work on 68000-based Macs including the Mac Plus, Mac SE, Mac Portable, Mac Classic, and PowerBook 100. Notes and RAM requirements are in parentheses. (Compatibility tested mainly on a 4 MB PowerBook 100 or Mac Plus running System 7.0.1.) Note also that newer versions might work.
Grab an iPhone, a Pebble, and some earphones, and you have a fantastic handsfree setup.
Smart Watches are the latest buzz in the tech world. I check out the Pebble.
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April 2015
It was only last year that I got my first Power Mac G5. I have quite a collection of G4 Power Macs, several no longer working, and the G5 gave me several improvements, including a higher CPU speed, faster memory, built-in USB 2.0, FireWire 800, and a SATA hard drive bus.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, computing made a great leap forward with the advent of 16-bit microcomputers like the Macintosh, Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST. The Apple II, introduced in 1978, was a phenomenally successful platform, eventually coming to possess a 20% share of the personal computer market in the US. But by […]
As a computer manufacturer, Apple gets a strangely distorted press. Its position as the only serious commercial competitor to Microsoft guarantees that every move the company makes is documented – and often distorted.
The Apple III was meant to be Apple’s bold entry into the business market; it ended as Apple’s first commercial failure and put the company into financial uncertainty. It was also responsible for sprouting both the Lisa and Macintosh projects, efforts that would save Apple. Wendell Sander, father of the Apple III. Photo courtesy of […]
Realizing that the Apple II would not sustain Apple forever, the Sara project began. The main idea of Sara was to create a more powerful and capable Apple II. It would include 128 KB of RAM, an integrated floppy drive, and a high resolution display – 80 columns wide instead of the Apple II’s 40.
If you think the original Macintosh was an impressive piece of design and engineering, you may find Apple’s Lisa even more innovative.
For most Mac users, Apple’s Lisa isn’t even a footnote in Mac history. The $10,000 computer is rarely remembered as the Mac’s mother – and those who do remember it also tend to recall how Apple dumped thousands upon thousands of unsold Lisas in a Utah landfill when the computer was discontinued.
Apple’s Lisa was the predecessor of the Macintosh that introduced the mouse, the graphical user interface, and the integrated all-in-one design that would characterize the earliest Macs – and later on the iMac. Through its brief lifespan (May 1983 to April 1985), Apple sold about 80,000 Lisas before the Macintosh completely eclipsed it. (Larry Tesler, […]
I ran across images of some Apple prototypes created during the early years of Macintosh design – things like a cube-shaped Mac, a MacBook notebook, and a table-like device among them.
Although it was invented by Doug Engelbart in 1963, the computer mouse wasn’t an instant success. That had to wait for the 1980s and the introduction of computers with graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
On May 16, 2006, Apple introduced the consumer MacBook, the 13.3″ replacement for the old 12″ and 14″ iBooks. The first MacBooks had a wider 1280 x 800 display (vs. 1024 x 768 for G4 iBooks) and used Intel’s Core Duo processors. The biggest differences between the consumer MacBook and the MacBook Pro are the […]
Apple last updated the 13″ MacBook in May 2010 and discontinued it with the introduction of the Mid 2011 MacBook Air, although it was still available in the education channel for a while after that. The final model claimed up to 10 hours of wireless productivity, has a 2.4 GHz CPU, and uses Nvidia’s 320M graphics processor.
If you’re at all interested in the early history of Macs, especially the Mac OS, you owe it to yourself to bookmark Mac Floppy or put it in your RSS news feed. Billed as, “A look back at the Mac’s past when the best things in life fit on a floppy,” it’s an enjoyable reminiscence […]
There have been so many iMac models since Apple switch to Intel processor back in 2006 that we’ve found it easier to divide Intel iMac deals into two page. This page covers the more recent iMacs, which ship in 21.5″ and 27″ sizes. The other page covers older models, which came in 17″, 20″, and […]
The late 90s saw Apple take on it’s iconic range of devices beginning with i – starting a whole era of products. Has this era ended?
I took a trip to my local Apple Store ‘Chapelfield, Norwich’ to have some repair work done. How was it?
Apple has created a lot of successful products in its time, but they haven’t always hit home runs. Today we’re looking back at machines that many of you will remember, some of you won’t, and those that do would probably rather forget: the x200 series.
Remember the old days, back when Apple used names for its computers? Well I sure do, and I have a lot of fond memories of machines with names such as Performa, Centris, and Quadra. Sure the names were meaningless, but it made the machines sound that much more important.
There have been so many different iMac models since Apple switch to Intel processors in 2006 that we’ve found it easier to divide iMac deals into two pages. This page covers older models, which came in 17″, 20″, and 24″ sizes. The other page covers more recent iMacs, which ship in 21.5″ and 27″ sizes.
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March 2015
Finding the status of your iDevice battery couldn’t be easier, thanks to the new version of the long running Coconut Battery tool.
When the original 13.3″ MacBook Air was introduced in January 2008, it created a new category of notebooks that were neither underpowered netbooks nor overly heavy laptops. Things have only improved from that point, particularly with the introduction of the 11.6″ model in October 2010.
Apple introduced the first 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display in October 2012 and introduced a speed bumped version in Early 2013. All models include USB 3, which has 10x the bandwidth of USB 2.0 – and USB 3 drives tend to cost a whole lot less than Thunderbolt drives.
The 0.71″ thin 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display has a double-resolution 2880 x 1800 pixel Retina Display, does not have a built-in SuperDrive, and uses the same CPUs as the regular MacBook Pro. It normally ships with 8 GB of onboard memory and is upgradable to 16 GB, but you have to order it that way, […]
Apple last updated non-Retina MacBook Pro (MBP) models in June 2012, and only the 13-incher remains in production. Mid 2012 models were the first to include USB 3.0.
Apple has moved the entire MacBook Pro line to Retina Displays, except for the remaining 13″ MacBook Pro. This price tracker follows prices of the non-Retina 15″ MacBook Pro, all of which (unlike Retina models) can have their system memory upgraded.
Apple introduced its first 17″ notebook, the 1 GHz PowerBook G4, in January 2003. It introduced the first 17″ MacBook Pro, a 2.16 GHz Core Duo machine, in April 2006. And it discontinued the last 17″ MacBook Pro, a 2.4 GHz quad-core i7 powerhouse, in June 2012 in favor of the 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina […]
Apple made some interesting choices when it designed the new 12″ MacBook, which is the thinnest, lightest Retina Display Mac notebook ever. But its US$1,299 price is higher than the new 13″ MacBook Air, 13″ MacBook Pro, and new 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Where’s the best value?
As technology marches forward, old tech gets left behind. Some of us have been using Macs since the 1980s and have experienced a lot of it, but the 1998 introduction of the iMac probably takes the cake for offending the most – and the 12″ MacBook may take second place.
The Early 2015 MacBook Air (MBA) gets another speed bump, gains Thunderbolt 2, and is rated at 12 hours in the field – and if you don’t use your MBA regularly, it has 30 days of standby power. Built around 5th-generation low-power Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, the Early 2015 MBA has Intel HD Graphics […]
The Early 2015 MacBook Air (MBA) uses 5th-generation Intel Core processors and finally gains Thunderbolt 2. The 5th-generation low-power Intel Core i5 and i7 processors include Intel HD Graphics 6000. The stock CPU is a 1.6 GHz Core i5 with Turbo Boost to 2.7 GHz, and the 11-incher can be configured with a 2.2 GHz Core i7 that […]
The big news about the Early 2015 13″ Retina MacBook Pro is its adoption of the same Force Touch trackpad introduced with the 12″ MacBook. It’s also faster than its predecessor and has improved graphics. The base model has a 2.7 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost to 3.1 GHz, and the better model […]
The Flash Player hack for PowerPC has once again been updated – this time to 16.1.
Do you want the features of a modern iPhone without the expense. I take a look at the 2010 iPhone 4 as a budget handset.
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February 2015
iCloud contacts are great if you have iOS6 upwards. I show you how to export your iCloud contacts for use on older iDevices or other smartphones.
Way back in the Mac II era, someone discovered that certain Mac NuBus video cards could support slightly higher resolutions than the standard 640 x 480 pixels – but only with certain displays. This discovery gave birth to MaxAppleZoom, a $25 shareware control panel by Naoto Horii designed to support those higher resolution.
Radius was founded in May 1986 by Burrell Smith, Andy Hertzfeld, and other members of the original Mac team. Radius produced the first full-page display for the Macintosh, introducing the Radius Full Page Display for the Mac Plus. Other products included accelerators for the Mac Plus and Mac SE, video cards, monitors (including the first screen […]
What? It’s 2015, and it’s iPhone rumour time. Will we see a follow up to the iPhone 5c? Will Apple release a speed bumped iPhone 6 and 6 Plus? Or are they planning something different?
The rumour mill is rife with thoughts on Apple’s next version of iOS. What will we see next in Apple’s next generation mobile operating system?
Weather apps serve a basic purpose, to tell the weather, but Authentic Weather brings a new, rather rude edge.
Umax acquired the Macintosh clone operation and SuperMac name from Radius, going on to become one of the more innovative clone makers. Their corporate goal was to make quality Mac OS computers at prices that would give PCs a run for their money, something I believe they succeeded at. From the entry level C500 to […]
It can be frustrating when your beloved iDevice cries that it is full, but what can you do? I check out a new Mac tool called PhoneExpander that claims to easily free up some space.
Over the years, we’ve covered using a CompactFlash (CF) card with an IDE adapter to replace a laptop’s hard drive and make it quieter. As it turns out, there’s a lot we didn’t know about this subject until recently.
In my previous article, I looked at HTML5 video support in browsers compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and 10.5 Leopard on PowerPC Macs. Today we’re looking at video performance on YouTube, which recently made HTML5 video its default.
On Tuesday, January 27, 2015, YouTube announced that it had made HTML5 video its default instead of Adobe Flash, which is still be supported. What does this mean for Mac users?
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January 2015
I don’t know how I ever got along before Dropbox, which lets me sync files on any of my Macs running OS X 10.4 Tiger, 10.5 Leopard, 10.6 Snow Leopard, and 10.9 Mavericks.
The announcement that Dropbox will drop support for Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 clients in May has sent shockwaves through the low-end community. Many of us depend on Dropbox to sync files with our older Macs and newer kit.
I was disappointed to receive an email from Dropbox on Tuesday telling me that Dropbox will be dropping support for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and 10.5 Leopard on May 18, 2015. They recommend I upgrade to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
We’ve been posting The Rumor Mill articles by Anne Onymus since late 1999, and we’ve taken the time to port some more of them over to WordPress, often adding images and new links while also updating broken links.
We recently migrated several Apple Archive articles by Adam Robert Guha to WordPress. This often includes fixing broken links, adding images and new links, and sometimes historical comments.
This article was first published in September 1997 when two different protocols for 56k throughput, X2 and K56flex, were competing. Starting in March 1998, v.90 was developed to replace these competing protocols and provide a single standard for 56k modems. v.90 was finalized in February 1999. This article was last updated at about that time, […]
Yes, there were viruses for the Classic Mac operating system. Not a lot, mind you, especially in comparison to the vastly more popular Microsoft Windows platform, but they did exist.
I take the fantastic coloured Clamshell iBook and strip it back making it transparent.
In the 1990s, several Macs included infrared networking support, a legacy short range point-to-point technology often forgotten nowadays. It can be used to transfer files between Macs, to mobile phones, and to print to IrDA compliant printers, among other things. This article provides an overview of infrared networking on Macs and the models with built-in IrDA […]
Low End Mac has been through some difficult times since we moved from static HTML pages to WordPress. Site traffic declined by 88% from our peak of 17.1 million pages in 2007, but it is turning around.
This page provides a quick overview of all G3 iMac models. All G3 iMacs include v.90 (56k) modems, 10/100 ethernet, and 15″ CRT displays.
