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December 2025
Recently posted in our community, someone added thermal pads to the inside of their 2015 MacBook Pro – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article output Save the knowledge shared by others Have […]
Recently posted in our community, Greg Hrutkay was working on some Xserves, using some RAM out of his Mac Pro, someone chimed in about bad RAM slots in their Power Mac G5 – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, […]
Since the Radeon 9800 Pro in the Power Mac G4 died, my only functional backup with hardware acceleration in Leopard was a PCIe GeForce 6600 LE. Works with this PCI to PCIe adapter. Maybe it’s finally time to look into some more interesting options, for fun? Since I’ve hung onto this Power Mac […]
When using an original Nvidia GeForce 7300GT 256 MB out of the original Mac Pro: only the dark themes work in Windows 11, Windows 10 seems to work fine. There’s a lot of acceleration glitches with Windows 11 but it’s totally usable as long as all the text shows up in the explorer window. Otherwise, […]
Recently posted in our community, Greg Hrutkay was in the process of baking an already dead 7300 GT, some community members shared some valuable insight – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article […]
In Late 2023 I purchased and heavily modified a Late 2006 24-Inch iMac, outfitted with a PCIe eGPU, a modified display, some spliced cables along with cable additions, and a newer macOS to match. Today, 2 years later, I decided to crack open the iMac to give the GPU some new thermal paste, […]
After spending some time with the 7th-gen iPad mini (named the iPad mini A17 Pro, by Apple), it’s obviously a much faster tablet, and is the first iPad mini I could personally recommend. Today we’re comparing the two tablets head to head, in terms of: tech specs, some of their minor differences, some […]
Recently posted in our community, someone installed Adélie Linux on their Quad G5 – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article output Save the knowledge shared by others Have our community be more […]
So yeah, cross flashing your 2008 Xserve to a 2008 Mac Pro with the proper ROM with the proper serial number apparently doesn’t work . Now I have a 31 pound aluminum paperweight I don’t understand why the blank ROM worked fine but the one with my serial number and stuff on it […]
Time to finally dust out the 2008 Mac Pro and give it some new thermal paste! For fun, I added an extra 2 USB-C ports on an alpine ridge card, on top of a titan ridge card I had in there. This was my daily driver Mac from Late 2018 through Late 2021, when I […]
There’s not much to say about this, other than it looked interesting for the moment it presented itself on the screen. For the last 2 developer beta updates installed, whenever I login for the first time, all system windows stay dark purple for a brief moment. .. Above: Screenshot taken in macOS 26.2 Beta 2, […]
Recently posted in our community, a meme was shared which sparked a discussion about having 8 GB RAM in different years – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article output Save the knowledge […]
I don’t know why. For some reason on my M4 Mac mini in Tahoe 26.2 Beta (25C5048a), the default system icon for .bundle files is a Microsoft Word 2004 icon. I do have Microsoft Office installed, but surely it’s not that old! As it turns out, there’s an explanation for this. . . In my […]
Recently posted in our community, someone picked up a flood-damaged Apple Studio display and managed to restore it back to full health – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily article output Save the […]
Recently posted in our community, Guillermo had a question regarding his Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, and some of the suggestions shared by others were helpful – now to be featured as a part of the “Low End Mac Mailbag“. As a part of the Low End Mac mailbag, we aim to: Greatly increase daily […]
One of the most striking things about my experience having an iPhone Air for the last 80 days, is how many charge cycles I have: 48. I was somewhat skeptical about battery life at the beginning, although the leap wasn’t perceivably bad – A 3200 mAh on the 14 Pro versus a 3149 mAh on […]
Last year I picked up a Purple 64 GB iPad mini as a part of a low-cost offer from T-mobile, to have as a backup to the iPhone (just in case), to see “the state of iPads” overall, and to see if the device fits anywhere into my life these days. Since the early days […]
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November 2025
Hey everyone, . Thank you for joining and continuing to be a better part of our group/community, as we are growing faster than ever as of late. . I’ll be back into the swing of things writing articles soon, but have decided to take a short break as I’ve been at 100% for basically a […]
In continuation of the site updates posted before, we will continue covering changes in the form of periodic posts whether they’re big or small. We want our readers to see the changes done to the site, many small ones can be time consuming and hard to notice. . This article reflects the most recent updates […]
The j5create JVCU100 1080p webcam is one I picked up years ago in 2019, to use with my Mac Pro 3,1 back then. After spending a few minutes exploring a curiosity and going through the entire process of decoupling it from my main desk setup, I found out it actually works on PowerPC Macs! . […]
Hey guys, here’s another out of the norm post about YouTube – but since I’m mainly known as a Mac YouTuber it still feels fitting to write this on here. You guys know me as Greg Hrutkay (a.k.a. Hrutkay Mods) and I’ve been on YouTube since October 4, 2010. When I originally joined YouTube with […]
. This is a not-quite-comprehensive guide to NuBus video cards for the Mac. Also see our Guide to LC PDS Video Cards, Guide to 030 PDS Video Cards, and Guide to Video Cards for 68000 Macs By Brand Apple E-Machines Focus MicroConversions NEC Radius RasterOps SuperMac Village Tronic Apple Macintosh II High Resolution Video Card […]
I’ll get back to writing soon, but wanted to explore this idea from yesterday some more. I made a second cutout with smaller font, used a single LED light source for most photos this time, but used both cutouts for different photos. No AI was used to make any of these photos! The Second cutout […]
I felt inspired to try new things with lighting effects, just to experiment and snap a couple pictures. This cutout and set of photos is mostly just a draft, and could pave the way for further ideas. The most challenging part was working with limited sets of tools on the spot, so I had to […]
In order for computers and devices alike to be able to communicate wirelessly, a set of technical standards were drafted known as IEEE 802.11. Using radio waves, our devices talk back and forth to Wi-Fi routers, repeaters, extenders, etc; . . IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) is the group responsible for the IEEE […]
On October 30th 2025, Low End Mac highlighted how YouTube was taking down videos about nonstandard Windows installs. In the days since there’s been a new development, but for some the event still looms in the air like a dark cloud. Will YouTube restore the videos for others as well? . (Above: “WE WON – […]
That’s my question for you today – which Mac was your first, or which one caught your attention to show an interest in Apple computers? For myself, the journey started in 2008-2009. I was a PC user then in 2008, was having issues with my old modified Gateway PC, and a friend of the family […]
With the release of the new M5 MacBook Pro and iPad Pro on October 22nd, we’re 5 generations into the Apple Silicon lineup, marking half a decade since Apple Silicon became available. Although the new chip was announced quietly, it’s hard to remain silent about something – it gives pro-level chips a real run for […]
Imagine being able to add a slightly modernized version of Spotlight onto your PowerPC Mac, that hovers as a movable search bar and could also initiate google searches too? . . For some this may unlock a memory, for others such as myself – the app flew completely under the radar and I had absolutely […]
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October 2025
Since some readers liked the unusual Mac mods in a recent article, I’ve decided to go with a part 2 to share some more! I was a PC user before I became a Mac user in 2008, the mindset of modifying/upgrading your PC as you desired made it’s way over to how I interacted with […]
It was a rainy day sometime ago in 2011, when I got bored and decided to use some sort of color light filter and play around with the iPhone 3GS camera. Fast forward to Photoshopping in 2025 and here is the result: . . How it was done You’re just looking at a ceiling, and […]
Some of us like to tinker around with our Macs – upgrading, modifying, even pushing the machine well beyond what it was ever meant to do. As a longtime technology enthusiast who likes to explore and experiment, I’ve tried tons of impractical things with my Macs over the years. Sometimes to attempt adding new functionality, […]
Dear readers, As you all know, Low End Mac strives to help you get the most out of your Mac, to maximize the life of your Apple gear, upgrading only as necessary or desired. With many devices left out of the fold, it’s only natural for one to find alternative ways to upgrade past Windows […]
Just a quick idea put together in Adobe Photoshop CS4 on a Power Mac G5. Logic Board pictured is of a 2006 Mac Pro 1,1. You may click the image below for a 2560 x 1920 version, or download the zipped full resolution, 5712 x 4284 image (16.9 MB). .
In a previous article “M1 vs M2 vs M3 vs M4 vs M5“; I compared the tech specs of entry level Apple Silicon chips from each generation, sprinkling in some basic benchmarks while also sharing some details learned from other sources. . . There may not be an M5 MacBook Pro in front of me, […]
One of my favorite things about the proliferation of the smartphone since 2007, is the Camera (and how much better they’ve become). At any given time you could capture your life, save it, snap a video, or even take many breathtaking pictures of nature and scenery. Here at Low End Mac we encourage our users […]
My journey with Apple Silicon for the Mac is perhaps atypical, but I was always open to the possibility that in the future my daily driver wouldn’t be a Mac Pro. The classic Xeon cheese graters are still useful to this day, however – I still have my 2008 3,1 now for old drives and […]
When we type on our iDevices, we expect every keystroke to be as accurate as possible, or at least as close to our perceived rate of success as can be, and for typing to be at least reasonably comfortable. When the on-screen keyboards don’t type the way we expect, instances happening on and off, it […]
As an enthusiast who’s reveled over tech since I was young, I treated my phones throughout the years as extensions to my computer collection/hobby – naming my devices, maintaining them, accessorizing, jailbreaking, etc; while also reveling over tech specs, performance, and watching closely the year-over-year changes. . . This year I exchanged my outgoing device […]
With the release of the new M5 MacBook Pro and iPad Pro on October 22nd, we’re 5 generations into the Apple Silicon lineup, marking half a decade since Apple Silicon became available for consumers. . . . Although the new chip was announced quietly, it’s hard to remain silent about something – it gives pro-level […]
A YouTuber by the name of SURGE⚡️ posted a video back on July 6th 2025 upgrading a 2018 Mac mini to an 9-core i9 CPU. . . The Intel chip appears to be an I9-9980HK, the same which is used in the 2019 16″ 2.4 GHz i9 MacBook Pro. . (Above: MAC MINI 2018 i9 […]
Fresh from the Low End Mac tech Mailbag is a CustoMac submission from one of our community members, Dan Schnur. He put together “The newest 2025 model year Macintosh IIci”, and this thing has a completely brand new, purple logic board! Gives it a strong Sonnet upgrade kind of vibe, the way it looks. . […]
Last year on October 29th 2024, Apple unveiled a totally redesigned Mac mini, alongside the M4 iMac, and the new M4/M4 Pro/M4 Max MacBook Pros. It features a new chip with a 3-nanometer fabrication process, a new thermal system to go along with it, upgradeable internal storage, new ports on the front, and more noteworthy […]
Today’s iPhone lineup is more powerful than ever, with the A19 and A19 Pro both holding the line for Single Core performance scores on smartphone CPUs. If you’re on a budget, don’t care as much for tech specs but still want an all-around good device, one could feel indecisive amongst the sea of choices out […]
It’s been a month since the launch of the iPhone Air, and I’ve been using it as my daily driver after replacing the iPhone 14 Pro. Now after a month in, I believe I can give a better reflection of my experiences and perspectives. One thing is for sure, it’s a keeper. . . Smooth […]
On September 10th 2025 I made an iPhone 17 launch-themed wallpaper to go along with our website, using the SF Pro Rounded font. This is a revised version using one of our chosen open-source fonts, Open Runde, for readers to enjoy without worrying about licensing issues – and is available in 4K. Alternatively, you may […]
Good Morning Everyone, As Low End Mac continues to grow, we strive for it to still be useful and relevant even when contemporary computers look nothing like what they do in our website banner anymore. We’ve had a remarkable breadth of changes over the last year such as gaining multiple contributors, adding hundreds of articles, […]
Recently a website called BeeBom posted some benchmarks which reflect what appears to be the new Late 2025 14-Inch M5 MacBook Pro. If there is any indication from this artificial “water pressure test”, the M5 surely has cutting-edge single core performance. See: Mac17,2 – Geekbench 6.5.0 Pro for macOS AArch64 – Results Browser . . […]
According to a recent post by Ask Perplexity on X: “The internet as we knew it is dying. AI content went from ~5% in 2020 to 48% by May 2025. Projections say 90%+ by next year. Why? AI articles cost <$0.01. Human writers cost $10-100.” (Source for original image: AskPerplexity on X – URL to […]
With the new M5 chip quietly added to the entry-level 14-Inch MacBook Pro, it showed up alongside the M5 iPad Pro on Apple’s website, and the M5 Vision Pro. It comes as no surprise the chip has the greatest Single Core performance score of any Mac up until this point, further raising the bar. On […]
In continuation of the site updates posted before, we will continue covering changes in the form of periodic posts whether they’re big or small. We want our readers to see the changes done to the site, many small ones can be time consuming and hard to notice. . This article reflects the most recent updates […]
Back on August 6th 2025, I put together a few ideas in Photoshop CS4 to redo the banner for our website. After making some tweaks and finally getting around to it, I’m proud to present the new one! Be sure to clear the browser cache for our website if you’d like to see the new […]
Hey everybody, Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this. Low End Mac has always been community-based since its creation in April 1997, helping others maximize the life of their Apple gear for nearly three decades. Since our low points between 2014 – 2018, we’ve reached several milestones along a […]
Picture this: You can see an entire map of earth with all the time zones, where the sun is shining on earth now, clocks for many cities around the world, a moon calendar, sun calendar, and more, all within a self-contained app. The best part is, you can have it right now on your PowerPC […]
Does anyone remember the smooth intro from the iPhone 17 launch on September 9th? You may come across a brand new Apple commercial strikingly much like the intro to the iPhone 17 launch stream, called “Design is how it works“. The video stuck out to me in the creative way they showcased Apple design, using […]
Back in September 2023, a 24-Inch 2006 polycarbonate iMac ended up in my hands, and I’ve had ideas for years on what to do with this specific model – which mostly came to fruition with this project. Fast forward 2 years, this iMac is alive and kicking, working as well as ever. “Lunar Leidenfrost” in […]
On October 5th 2011 around 3 PM pacific time, Steve Jobs passed away at his Palo Alto home at the age of 56. A founding member of Apple, a CEO who turned his company around, a human being whose vision not only defied his critics, but changed the very nature of how we interact with […]
I think I finally figured out the trick to the thermal paste, making sure it doesn’t get pushed off the CPU die. Experimenting some more after the last article, I made a square O-ring shaped buffer out of layered clear tape, sitting on the CPU. This way the heatsink doesn’t press all the way down […]
Imagine if you could take some features from newer versions of macOS, and give them to Mac OS X Leopard running on a PowerPC Mac? That’s exactly what we’re gonna do today in this article. I’m gonna cover a small compilation of apps and tweaks where the end result is a more modern PowerPC Leopard […]
This light utility gives you the ability to properly format SD cards and Micro SD cards on your PowerPC Mac. Older versions of Mac OS X recognize SD cards as USB flash drives if they mount, although may have trouble formatting in Disk Utility. . . Macs did not have SD card slots or Micro […]
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September 2025
This page details the full hardware profile of the Apple Silicon “A4” Samsung S5L8930 chip. Name: “Apple A4”, 32-Bit MFG: Samsung Released: April 3rd, 2010 Codename: APL0398 Part Number: S5L8930 Fabrication Process: 45 nm Transistor Count: – CPU ISA: Arm v7 . RAM Information: Memory Bus Width: 64-Bit Total channels: 2 Channels Bit per channel: […]
This page details the full hardware profile of the Apple Silicon “A3” Samsung S5L8720 chip. Name: “Apple A3” MFG: Samsung Released: June 8th, 2009 and September 9th, 2009 Codename: APL0298 or APL2298 Part Number: S5L8920 or S5L8922 (APL2298) Fabrication Process: S5L8920 – 65nm S5L8922 – 45nm Transistor Count: – CPU ISA: Arm v7 . RAM […]
Earlier today, Wylsacom uploaded a YouTube video unboxing what appears to be the next generation M5 iPad Pro, before Apple ever even announced it. This is not only an unreleased product, but also has an unreleased Apple Silicon chip in it – the M5. . (Source: Эксклюзив! Распаковка iPad Pro на M5 раньше Apple! – […]
Imagine being able to simply download an app which makes your speakers louder than their normal maximum volume? Some of you may be more familiar with the more modern Iteration of Boom for Mac, but until last week I had no idea this existed for PowerPC Macs, too. . . Not only can you push […]
Sometimes I find it hard to send away that old phone even if I know I have to. Indeed, it’s more or less a tool to get things done, but it came along for the ride for 3 years of my life anyway. I held it in my hand, reveled over the tech specs when […]
Of course when I get a new phone, I’m gonna put a case on it. I used to even be someone who used screen protectors, reluctantly stopping using them with my last device after a while. But for years now, when getting a new iPhone, I forgo getting a $50 case or any fancy clear […]
On September 15th 2025, Apple released iOS 26 alongside iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe. This version brings about a completely new UI called “Liquid Glass”, an updated graphical API to Metal 4, and some other changes. . . This version of iOS leaps up to number 26, up from last year’s iOS 18, to keep […]
Since Mid-2002, Apple computers started using DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory), the first model being an Xserve G4 1.0, shipping with 266 MHz PC-2100 DDR. . . As of September 2025 the latest iteration is DDR5, with DDR6 planned for 2027, and current Apple silicon devices are using LPDDR5X, a low-power […]
This page details the full hardware profile of the Apple Silicon “A19” chip. Name: “Apple A19” MFG: TSMC Released: September 9th, 2025 Codename: (To be filled in) Part Number: T8150a Fabrication Process: 3 Nanometer N3P Transistor Count: (TBA) CPU ISA: ARMv9.2-A . RAM Information: Memory Bus Width: 64-Bit Total channels: 4 Bit per channel: […]
It’s interesting to compare the tech specs of the A19 Pro and M1 chip, as they are so close yet far apart. One is a desktop from the beginning of the Apple Silicon transition, and one is a device you can hold in your hands, stuff in your pocket. . . While one runs iOS […]
Much like when I made the change from an M1 Pro MBP to an M4 Air, the thought of an upgrade was interesting but not necessarily something I was looking for, even if open to the idea. Every now and again I’d look up the tech specs and rumors circulating, just to keep an eye […]
With the A19 and A19 Pro chips out and about, one could ponder about how much oomph they’d get out of their phone. While phones don’t make the massive leaps year over year like in the 2010s, to see a chip in your phone compare to what’s in a current laptop is mind blowing. . […]
A couple days ago on September 19th 2025, the new lineup of iPhone 17s were made available to the general public, along with their respective accessories. I was more keen on keeping the iPhone 14 Pro until I saw the JerryRigEverything iPhone Air durability test, that’s when I knew. So I went with Sky Blue. […]
On September 15th 2025, Apple released the final version of macOS intended to be able to run on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs – macOS Tahoe. This version of macOS makes some very up-front tweaks: A new “Liquid Glass UI”, a system version number jumping to 26 from 15, some new apps, and some […]
In continuation of the site updates posted before, we will continue covering changes in the form of periodic posts whether they’re big or small. We want our readers to see the changes done to the site, many small ones can be time consuming and hard to notice. . This article reflects the most recent updates […]
Looking back over the years.. many smartphones, iPod touches, and mp3 players shared slight iterations of the same rectangular design centered around a touchscreen. Many contrivances were iterated upon over time to get to where we are today, but not every device was so memorable. . . Right now if you have a 4th generation […]
Have you ever wanted to own a Power Mac G4 Cube, but powered by Apple Silicon? Introducing the M4 Cubed, by Juicy Crumb Systems. The ‘M4 Cubed’ is a high quality durable plastic case for the M4 Mac mini, currently in kickstarter. . (Credit for above image: Luke Miani – Introducing M4 Cubed! – URL) […]
With the summer development cycle now over and this years’s new iPhones now launched, it’s time to get the new corresponding OSes out. Confirmed at the “awe dropping” event on September 9th, this article will highlight new builds while followup articles will cover key notes. . . In the spirit of preserving tech history, documentation […]
Have I thought about getting a new iPhone? Absolutely, and every year I at least entertain it depending on how pertinent and appealing the upgrade is. This year, I somehow wound up thinking I’d be okay with any one of them: If I wanted another purple iPhone: Get the Lavender iPhone 17, it’s good enough. […]
Time for some new paste. It seems to be working well this time around, as none seemed to get pushed off either CPU die, and it can hold 48.5c steady idle on CPU A when on “highest”. The Power Mac G5 feels snappy again! And these heatsinks are pretty decent. . Why I repasted the […]
The iPhone 17 features some upgrades over the iPhone 16 in some key areas: a more power efficient A19 chip, a better screen, and stronger glass to match. While it looks very similar on the outside to the previous generation, you’ll notice right away when you start using it, how fluid the screen is. That’s […]
The choice of Aluminum marks a second major shift in the type of materials used in the frame of flagship iPhone models. Up until the 14 Pro, iPhones used Stainless Steel, then transitioned to Titanium with the iPhone 15. With the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, the choice for an Aluminum alloy was made […]
The iPhone Air is the thinnest iPhone to-date, measuring in at 5.6 millimeters thick. The device is more “form over function”, highlighting aesthetics over additional battery, cameras, and thermals. It contains a 3149 MAh Lithium-Ion battery which is somewhere between “small and medium” sized this day in age. Having an A19 Pro chip means it […]
In the spirit of the recent Apple event for the launch of the iPhone 17, I decided to fire up a quick project in Photoshop CS4. The wallpaper is available for download in 4K, in the linked .zip below. Alternatively, you may click on the image you see below for a scaled-down 2560 x 1440 […]
With the release of the newest batch of iPhones yesterday, you’re probably wondering what the artificial benchmarks are. I kept my eyes open for any unofficial real-world benchmark leaks, and thanks to one of our sources, we got our hands on some new info. Links to the benchmarks iPhone18,1: CPU / GPU . iPhone18,3: CPU […]
This page details the full hardware profile of the Apple Silicon “A19 Pro” chip. Name: “Apple A19 Pro” MFG: TSMC Released: September 9th, 2025 Codename: (To be filled in) Part Number: T8150 Fabrication Process: 3 Nanometer N3P Transistor Count: (TBA) CPU ISA: ARMv9.2-A . RAM Information: Memory Bus Width: 64-Bit Total channels: 4 Bit […]
Did you know you can control your PowerPC Mac right from your iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad? Before it was pulled from the App Store, there was TouchMouse by Logitech. While the computer-end server apps for Windows and Mac OS X have continued to float around, the iOS IPA has all but seemingly disappeared. . […]
Earlier this week, Apple perpetuated its cycle of developer betas with a series of even more bug fixes, and iterative changes on the underpinnings of the OS. The last time there was a 9th developer beta in macOS was in 2022, with macOS 12.0 Ventura. . . 3.37 GB download size for individuals upgrading to […]
Last week’s 8th developer beta wasn’t the last before the upcoming iPhone release, as we now have a 9th Developer Beta for iOS 26. It may or may not be surprising, and there was always the possibility of seeing an RC build versus DB9. All in all, iOS 26 is close now, but there are […]
Have you ever heard of the app iAlarm from the early 2000s? There are a few Alarm Clock apps on the Garden from back in the day, but this app seems elusive anywhere I look for it online. There is no search term I believe I can use to uncover this anywhere, this seems to […]
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August 2025
When using a PowerPC Mac with Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5, you normally don’t have the ability to use a single Keyboard, Mouse, or trackpad to move the pointer, type, and copy clipboard content across multiple Macs. . . That is, until you download Teleport for Mac! A preference pane which lets you have […]
Even though this PowerBook is about to turn 20 this fall, what amazes me is how it’s able to handle some tasks to this day, in Mac OS X Leopard. The Radeon Mobility 9700 really pulls its own weight, making 360p YouTube streaming a bit more possible whilst simultaneously browsing the web. I’ve been enjoying […]
A new industry report shows Apple is to saturate just under half of all 2 nanometer production capacity at TSMC. The report also has some notable insights on the industry now, and for the immediate future. The 2nm process at TSMC went into production as planned. . . When can we expect M5 chips? We […]
The Low End Mac Mailbag is a collection of articles, pictures, submissions, etc; from LEM community members and individuals alike. Sometimes if something is particularly rare, interesting, or unique, I like to reach out and see if they would like to have it featured on the website as well. It’s always fascinating what people come […]
Yesterday, the 8th Developer Beta of iOS 26 was sent out alongside other DB’s including macOS 26 DB8. As many sources are saying, beta testing is wrapping up as the new iPhone is getting ready for launch. The timing of this developer beta suggests no more beta builds, but new ones may be out if […]
Today Apple sent out the 8th Developer Beta, with this build shaping up to potentially be the final one before the Release Candidate (RC) build. It weighs in at 2.52 GB if you’re coming from Developer Beta 7 on an M4 MacBook Air. We may or may not see a 9th Developer Beta if and […]
A while ago, I assembled a pile of 20-Inch 2006 iMac parts into a fully functioning Mac, albeit fixated to an L-shaped shelf contrivance. It worked for the time being, it’s been working pretty steadily for a while now, so I’ve been thinking about putting it into more of a case. I thought for weeks […]
Picture this: You buy a brand new M4 MacBook Pro, pick up a Samsung Odyssey G9 32:9 DUHD for an external monitor, you plug it in, and.. no matter what you do, all you get is a stretched screen. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what devices to avoid and what not to avoid beforehand […]
Have you ever thought about firing up an old PowerPC Mac, wanting to hear the good speakers, but unsure of what software to realistically enjoy them with? What better use for your old Mac, than to turn it into a pair of external speakers? With the magic of this app, you can do just that. […]
This update was sent out the same day as iOS 18.6.2, providing bug fixes and stability issues for users on macOS Sequoia. Apple deemed CVE-2025-43300 serious enough to be included in an update for older versions of macOS as well, bringing Sonoma to 14.7.8 and even Ventura up to 13.7.8. . . Even though major […]
This new update comes with a security fix, known as “CVE-2025-43300: Apple”. It mentions how a malicious image file may result in memory corruption. and also adds “Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals”. . . This isn’t meant to […]
Have you ever wanted to benchmark a Power Mac G4 MDD versus a 2018 Mac mini, directly? Well, now you actually can*! This is actually a Universal app, which works all the way up to macOS Mojave since it’s a 32-Bit app. See: Download – Power Fractal v1.4.1 (160 kB – External Link) . . […]
I never expected a $42 pair of refurbished Powerbeats³ headphones to last as long as these have, but here we are. I’ve had this pair for over 5 years now, and miraculously haven’t had a need to replace the batteries yet. Seriously, I don’t know how these headphones are even lasting this long! . . […]
Swiftly after the re-release of the 6th Developer Betas of iOS and iPadOS 26, Apple made the 7th Developer Beta available on Monday August 18th. This update may re-enable some features, fix bugs for certain iPhone users, while overall working towards a more stable build as we get closer to the release of iOS 26 […]
The 7th Developer Beta of macOS Tahoe is out just a week after the 6th developer beta. With the expected finalization of macOS Tahoe getting closer and the feedback from the first four developer betas taking shape, a more stable and legible Liquid Glass UI is emerging. . . A user may be prompted to […]
This app (in the form that I have it) can test the read and write speeds of volumes over the Local Area Network. Whether it’s selected as a folder in Finder or manually entered as an IP address, it’ll send data packets to and from the devices of your choice. Download: LAN_SpeedTest.app.zip (159 KB, LEM […]
A month and a half ago, I covered some deals which were going on at Micro Center, which applied in-store. Right now when you stop into any one of Micro Center’s 28 locations across the country, you can pickup a brand new M4 Mac mini for just $449. Or a ready-to-go (screen, machine, keyboard and […]
There’s iStat Menus, iStat Pro, and then there’s Temperature Monitor 4.96. It’s nice and simple overall, yet it gives you just enough customization to show the temperature stats you need on your PowerPC Mac. The best part is, there is a mini app which comes along with it. TemperatureMonitor4.96.dmg_.zip (LEM Software Repository, 3 MB) . […]
A few days ago, Apple released the third public beta of iOS 26 as well as a revised 6th Developer Beta of iOS 26. This comes after an earlier 6th Developer Beta of iOS 26 released on August 11th, with a slightly different build being 23A5318c. . . . This iteration of the Developer Beta […]
For iPads which have the 3-pin Smart Connector on the back, the port is typically reserved for keyboards, covers, and charging stands. When desiring proper fast charging, you’ll typically want to use the charging brick your iPad is meant to use, plus the USB cable. Now, there is another option. . . Introducing a new […]
Bluetooth File Exchange is another one of those things which remain working between a completely modern Apple Silicon Mac, and PowerPC-era Mac. I was able to directly connect a 15-Inch M4 MacBook Air with Bluetooth 5.3 and macOS Tahoe DB6 to a 2003 Power Mac G5 with Bluetooth 1.1 + Mac OS X 10.5.8, to […]
Since the last “Apple News Roundup: Mid-June 2025” article was published, many other things have been going on in the background at Apple which are worth mentioning, but may not have enough on their own to be featured in a full article on Low End Mac. This article is a roundup of many new updates from […]
Bluetooth 6.0 is the latest iteration of a wireless short-range data exchanging protocol standard, spanning way back to 1998. The latest version was 6.1, from May 7th, 2025. As of August 17th 2025, all of the latest Macs have Bluetooth 5.3. Devices with an M5 chip are likely to be the first crop of Apple […]
According to MacRumors and AppleInsider, Apple’s software engineers are testing iOS 26.4 internally, leaving some visitor logs on their website. This is an OS update which is expected to be out in spring, with some possible major new features. This is not to be confused with the 4th Developer Beta of iOS 26 which was […]
Even though major developments for macOS Sequoia and Sonoma are over, there will be security updates for some time. A couple weeks ago we saw a flurry of updates for existing and established versions of Apple’s OSes, with macOS 15.6 being among them. Despite how new this Sequoia update is, we’re already seeing an RC […]
A couple of days ago, Apple made available the 6th developer betas of iOS and iPadOS 26. This is roughly a week or so after the 5th developer betas of iOS and iPadOS 26, with more small GUI design iterations (while Metal 4 groundwork is being improved), as we are readying for a RC (Release […]
There are only five days separating the release dates between the 5th and 6th Developer Betas of macOS 26, with Beta 6 now jumping over to a “rated-B” build. In terms of the development process, this means we have moved alot closer to a suitable version of this OS to become a Release Candidate (RC) […]
When a revolutionary technology is promised and the followup isn’t there, it sows distrust in the company. Worse yet, is when legitimate work is spoiled elsewhere because of these negative perceptions and experiences. What is going with Siri? With Apple, and their plans for AI? In order to gain a better understanding of the bigger […]
Now that Developer Beta 5 of macOS Tahoe is out, there are 3 new wallpapers that come along with it! This means there are a total of 15 new wallpapers begin included in this upcoming release. In Beta 3 of macOS Tahoe, they added 12 new nature themed wallpapers, including what appears to be the […]
Earlier this week, Apple sent out a flurry-wave of updates for their latest round of beta OSes, most notably macOS Tahoe Beta 5. Some say this seems like a stable build, all the while continuous UI changes are being made. Much like in Beta 4, the project dependencies and teams are working to figure out […]
When the Apple Macintosh debuted in January 1984, it revolutionized personal computing with its intuitive graphical user interface and accessible creative tools. Among these, MacPaint stood out as a groundbreaking raster graphics editor. It empowered users to create digital art with unprecedented ease. Its journey from LisaGraf to QuickDraw to MacSketch, culminating in the iconic […]
A little while ago, a community member of Low End Mac pointed out the jagged letters on the banner of the website, and I’ve thought about fixing it. The letters were rasterized and the original text layer was deleted, which probably resulted in this. I figured it wouldn’t be so visible being such a small […]
Yesterday iOS 26 Beta 5 was released, two weeks after Apple dropped an “m” build of Developer Beta 4. Even more visual changes come to the OS, as icons and small details are lining up alongside the work done with Liquid Glass. We also start to see new animations, refinements in existing animations, as well […]
When the Dual-Core PowerPC 970MP third-generation G5 CPUs came out in Mid-2005, Apple had to start using a brand new Mid Bridge chip for the Macs along with it. Since the AMD 8131 only had PCI-X bridges and no PCIe bus, they couldn’t keep the old chip, replacing it with the BCM5780. (Above: Block diagram […]
Have you ever wondered why there’s an AMD chip on the back of your Power Mac G5’s logic board, or what it’s even doing there? For higher end Mid-2003 thru Early 2005 Power Mac G5s, that’s the PCI-X “Mid Bridge” chip. This is what handles all your expansion cards! Although, it doesn’t appear in Late-2005 […]
The IBM CPC945 is a redesigned Northbridge chip mostly for the Dual-Core PowerPC 970MP CPU. It has technical upgrades over the IBM CPC925, including a faster HyperTransport Bus. It’s also capable of talking to the PowerPC 970fx second-generation G5 chip, which means it may be found in other Late 2005 Macs on the logic board. […]
While not at all an Apple product, the Xbox 360 shares some strikingly close DNA to Apple computers of the mid-2000s. Namely, the IBM PowerPC chip which powers the Xbox at its core. This chip was announced on July 7th, 2005 in Tokyo, at the Power Everywhere forum, alongside the third-generation G5 chip, the 970MP. […]
The G5 is a 64-bit member of the PowerPC processor family that is fully compatible with 32-bit code. The third generation of G5 chips were first used in the Late-2005 Power Mac G5. These were the very final PowerPC chips ever used in any Mac, and were the only ever Dual-Core PowerPC chips. This chip […]
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July 2025
It’s a combination of factors that keep me going on this platform: muscle memory, learned skill, perceived ease of use, having an excuse to keep a decades-old platform going.. the list goes on. Everything that went into this 2003 Dual 2.0 Power Mac G5 I use on a near-daily basis, ends up helping me make […]
Does anyone remember a time in the late 2000s, when there was tons of futuristic-looking concept art about future tech? Especially after the original iPhone came out, there were many mockups of sleek and/or touch-first types of devices. I know I have an iPod Chimera somewhere.. found it. . (Above: The 2010 iPod Chimera, Artist: […]
Metal is the current generation of low-level graphical API that Apple uses, which powers the hardware accelerated graphics on their OSes, namely macOS. Metal 1.0 was introduced on September 30th, 2015, alongside Mac OS X El Capitan and iOS 8. Before the Apple Silicon transition, the Metal API received regular major updates every 2 years. […]
This week Apple has announced a flurry of updates for certain versions of their operating systems, most notably macOS 15.6 and iOS 18.6. The iOS update comes with 29 security fixes. There are a total of 81 security fixes included in the latest macOS 15.6 update, some are described as quite serious. . (Above: Banner […]
Precisely as the headline sounds, the Apple Silicon iMac almost ended up having this same design cue as the intel iMacs. First shared by Kosutami on X and first reported by 9to5Mac (as well as MacWorld), are some pictures from before the EVT stage of the M1 iMac. “Fun fact: before the EVT Stage development […]
In continuation of the site updates posted before, we will continue covering changes in the form of periodic posts whether they’re big or small. We want our readers to see the changes done to the site, many small ones can be time consuming and hard to notice. . This article reflects the most recent updates. […]
For years now, myself and many others have made attempts to upgrade soldered RAM on PowerPC-based Macs, without any success. As I’ve found from my vast experience doing such upgrades on Intel machines, just swapping the chips is not all that needs to be done. The system’s BootROM also has to be modified in such […]
What started as an exercise to definitively answer the power consumption levels of a Power Mac G5, turned into some fascinating insights about the way I use electricity at home. Seeing the real-world numbers from a G5 was amusing, but what was truly eye-opening were the more modern devices I had around me and how […]
iOS 26 Developer Beta 4 and Public Beta 1 are out this week, with iterations to the UI and plenty of work going under the hood of the OS. There were two slightly different build numbers that went out, one a day before the public beta and the newer one has a matching build number. […]
As Apple puts it: “Pick a wallpaper, make it your own, download your design”. You can pick between the gallery, or customize the logo and background. The default image which shows up is purple, but the one customized looks more appropriate for Low End Mac. See: Apple – “Mark the moment – Pick a wallpaper. […]
On July 22nd 2025, Apple released the 4th Developer Beta of macOS 26 Tahoe, which is shaping up to be the potential Public Beta build anytime soon. It looks like the UI received further refinement, and the glimmer of glass-transparency effects has returned a little. Beta 3 before updating After update, before switching dark mode […]
In continuation of the site updates posted before, we will continue covering changes in the form of periodic posts whether they’re big or small. We want our readers to see the changes done to the site, many small ones can be time consuming and hard to notice. . This article reflects the most recent updates. […]
The G5 is a 64-bit member of the PowerPC processor family that is fully compatible with 32-bit code. The second generation of G5 chips were first used in the Mid-2004 Power Mac G5. The design of these were massively updated with strained silicon, with a smaller fabrication size. These chips were also used in the […]
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 […]
The 2003 Power Mac G5 was the first in a line of controversial 64-Bit PowerPC Macs, which suffered from above average hardware failures. While not the most popular Mac in the lineup of PowerPC Macs overall, the Power Mac G5 still packs a punch. . . Unfortunately, in addition to sometimes defective hardware, the Power […]
Here’s a write-up about another fascinating Twiggy disc. It contains several early demos that are also mentioned in Andy’s book and on his website, Folklore.org. . The disc boots into Finder 2.0 (25-Jul-82). I think the most interesting early demo was an early prototype for the Finder, written by Bruce Horn and myself in the […]
Yesterday I wrote an article detailing working with 16K resolution images in CS4 on an ’03 G5, and wanted to do a quick follow-up. As it turns out, the Mac can also handle 32K images! This is a whopping resolution of 30720 x 17280. To put it into appropriate perspective: “According to scientist and photographer […]
As of this week, iOS 18.6 is in its 3rd beta, getting closer to being the first major update to iOS 18 post-WWDC. There are other updates to this same wave of Apple OSes, such as macOS 15.6 Beta 3. . . Build Versions macOS 15.6 Beta 3 (Build 24G5074c) . iOS 18.6 Beta 3 […]
Elefont was the initial name for the bitmap typeface designed by Susan Kare in 1983 for the Apple Macintosh’s operating system. It was later renamed Chicago after Steve Jobs suggested naming fonts after “world-class cities” rather than suburban Philadelphia train stops, which Kare and her colleague Andy Hertzfeld had initially used. The name “Elefont” was […]
Who ever said a Power Mac G5 couldn’t be productive in 2025? It’s still enough to create and save 16K Images in Photoshop CS4! 16K is a display resolution announced alongside the new HDMI 2.2 specification, containing pixel resolution of 15360 by 8640. . . That’s way, way more than what’s used even in billboards, […]
Today, Low End Mac gains a new contributor, someone who will write his own articles on our very website – say hello to Janez J. Starc! An avid enthusiast for vintage Macs, Janez has written interesting articles about Twiggy Mac software (and many other things) on the 68kmla forums as well as tinkerdifferent. Along with […]
The imagination is a powerful thing, isn’t it? What would it look like if for some inexplicable reason, there was PowerPC OCLP? Today, through the combined forces of Apple Silicon, Photoshop, a Wallstreet Book and a G5, the imagination lives. . . Generations apart . The Screenshots In Conclusion This was a fun side project, […]
iOS 26 Developer Beta 3 has now been out for a few days, with a long list of release notes much like this week’s macOS 26 beta. . The new update brings some perceived performance improvements as well as reduced transparency, but I would still wait to put this on my phone if you’re unsure. […]
I can’t even believe I’m even saying this monitor is 7 years old, but it is. It’s not the largest display in my collection or the one with the most pixels either – but it’s my favorite. . . I snagged this Samsung IPS LCD 27″ curved display on Black Friday in 2018 for a […]
When you navigate to the system settings app in Beta 3 of macOS Tahoe, there are 12 new nature themed wallpapers, including what appears to be the new default wallpaper. These make beautiful additions to any desktop, and have been scaled down (in size and resolution) to work better on older Macs. Download: Tahoe_Landscape_Wallpaers.Zip (Google […]
Whether you’re running a Mac, an iPhone, an iPad, or another sort of Apple device, each device has it’s own operating system which also has a build number. A build number is a unique identifier for a specific version of an OS. Apple cranks out tons of builds of their OSes for employees to test, […]
After what appeared to be a distribution error which delayed the update for Apple Silicon Macs, Developer Beta 3 is out. A workaround quickly sprung up before this error was fixed, but now the conventional method works as it should. . . It’s been posted by users on social media that it has something to […]
The M4 Mac mini may very well be one of the most affordable and most powerful desktop Macs in recent history, starting at $599. With solid single core and multi-core CPU performance that beats an M1 Pro chip, it’s a no-brainer for anyone looking for strong CPU power. The M1 Pro still pulls ahead with […]
This page details the full hardware profile of the Apple Silicon “A1” Samsung S5L8900 chip. Name: “Apple A1” MFG: Samsung Released: June 29th, 2007 Codename: APL0098 Part Number: S5L8900 Fabrication Process: 90-Nanometer Transistor Count: ~125 Million CPU ISA: ARMv6 (32-Bit) . RAM Information: Memory Bus Width: 16-Bit Total channels: 1 Bit per channel: 16-Bit […]
With Mark Sokolovsky’s recent article, HDMI 2.2 is out: 16K at 60Hz, 96 Gbps, and more it’s clear there has been quite the evolution over the years with the HDMI standard. The same can be said with DisplayPort, as version 2.0/2.1 has already arrived providing approximately 80 Gbps of video bandwidth and is found on […]
In continuation of the site updates posted before, we will continue covering changes in the form of periodic posts whether they’re big or small. We want our readers to see the changes done to the site, many small ones can be time consuming and hard to notice. . This article reflects the most recent updates. […]
This page details the full hardware profile of the Apple Silicon A18 Pro chip. Name: A18 Pro Released: September 9th, 2024 Codename: APL1V07 Part Number: T8140 Fabrication Process: TSMC’s 3-Nanometer Transistor Count: 20-Billion CPU ISA: ARMv9.2-A . . Memory Bus Width: 64-Bit Total channels: 4 Bit per channel: 16-Bit Memory Type: LPDDR5X-7500 3750 Mhz […]
They say when you come to the dark side you get cookies, but in the world of technology you get a brand new version of macOS. This was the first version of macOS to use Dark Mode, after all, but the murky truth lays underneath. This was the final version of macOS to be able […]
macOS 15.6 is the first iteration post-WWDC, with the prior 15.5 update spending roughly 1.5 months in development. Earlier this week, the second beta of macOS 15.6 was seeded to developers, along with other developer betas. It doesn’t look like there’s anything new inside of macOS 15.6, but release notes show a single bug fix. […]
Be on the lookout for any suspicious-seeming zoom links or software update SDK “downloads” via Zoom, too. While DPRK state actors are targeting Web3 startups and crypto, it’s still better to exercise caution. Their tactics rely on social engineering for it to work, but the rest is actually a bit complex. . . An Executive […]
The team over at Dortania have once again begun their yearly endeavor of bringing the latest macOS to many unsupported Macs. It may be possible to install Tahoe on an unsupported Mac using the latest OCLP, although compatibility is not guaranteed. See: GitHub dortania OCLP macOS 26 project . See: Greg Hrutkay’s video on installing […]
iOS 18.6 has been in testing for a few weeks now, with Beta 2 rolling out now. Beta 1 was the first iteration of iOS 18 post-WWDC, after a prior 18.5 update spent roughly a month and a half in a state of development. Individuals can opt-in via the Software Update section of the System […]
The MacBook was a Mac ‘Book sold by Apple between Mid-2006 and Mid-2019, existing for most of the Intel era. The final model was a Mid-2017 12″ with the original butterfly keyboard design, and was succeeded by the MacBook Air in the entry level category. Of course, the last known MacBook was an endearing work […]
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June 2025
It’s important to have a backup plan and stick to it. Ideally you will have at least two backup systems in use, so if your backup drive dies, you have a second backup. My preferred backup system is to use SuperDuper to make bootable clones of my hard drive partitions and Time Machine to do […]
iOS 26 Developer Beta 2 has been out for about a week since June 23rd 2025, introducing some changes to the graphical elements and some tweaks. There was a part of me which felt I could trust running this first beta on my daily driver iPhone 14 Pro, and it worked out great. It was […]
This is an Apple-IBM DCTA-24090, a 4 GB internal hard drive that shipped with the PowerBook G3 WallStreet. I pulled it out of the ‘Book last week to test it with the 64 GB KingSpec SSD – the HDD was noisy and slow. See: SSD in a PowerBook: KingSpec PATA PA25-64 SSD.. yay or nay […]
Recently reported on MacRumors, a new bluetooth ID for a audio device in the Apple Codebase has been spotted. Although there is absolutely nothing beyond this point of information, it’s a strong indication of a new product to be released. . . Recently there have been plenty of rumors circulating about the AirPods Pro 3, […]
The Radius Rocket was an impressive piece of technology, essentially a Macintosh Quadra on a NuBus card that can be used with any Mac with NuBus slots – from the 1987 Mac II through the speed bumped Late 1994 Power Mac 7100 and 8100. These screen shots show a Mac running System 6 with the […]
Hello everybody I’m Greg Hrutkay of LEM and also Hrutkay Mods. I’m generally a LEM Facebook admin and moderator when I’m not being a Tech YouTuber. Rarely do I ever get the itch to write, but I have noticed just recently with the announcement of the last macOS for Intel systems another topic is starting […]
We’ve hit another milestone with our Facebook group, reaching 13,000 members as of June 25th, 2025. There was a point in time where we previously were at 13K members, however, many fake/bot accounts were purged. Low End Mac has had a presence on Facebook since December 2008 – growing over time with an organic community […]
The HDMI forum just announced a brand new update to the HDMI specification. This includes major upgrades in available bandwidth, screen resolutions, as well as a new HDMI cable feature name called Ultra96. HDMI is now up to version 2.2, up from the previous 2.1b specification from August 2023. Download: HDMI-2-2-Specification-Overview-20250625.pdf.zip (1.8MB) . (Above: Illustration […]
Many readers of this website are familiar with OCLP, and the art of installing an unsupported version of macOS on an old Mac. Why not have the icons to match, and more? Let’s imagine what some different PowerPC and early-Intel era Macs would look like, with macOS Tahoe on the desktop. . Download: Unsupported Macs […]
The first Developer Beta of macOS Tahoe dropped on the first day of WWDC, after much internal testing for macOS 26. As with any developer beta before the GM (Golden Master) build, things are subject to change.. including the Finder icon (again). . . macOS Tahoe development timeline Up until June 9th WWDC: Internal Testing […]
Yesterday on X, Mykola Grymalyuk announced his departure from the Open Core Legacy Patcher team, saying he will be joining Apple’s Bug Bounty team over in Seattle this coming week. “Unfortunately I will have to step down from my role with OpenCore Legacy Patcher, but super excited for what’s to come. Thank you everyone who’ve […]
If you tried to plug in a FireWire device like a first-gen iPod to any Mac running the macOS 26 developer beta, you may be surprised to find nothing happens. That’s because there’s no more FireWire support. Apple could do a 180 and not do this, but that’s unlikely. Take a fine comb and look […]
The PowerBook G3 WallStreet is a notebook I never owned in my entire lifetime, and now I finally have one! I’ve come across nearly every model PowerPC Mac since I started tinkering with Macs, but the PowerBook G3 series remains elusive – except for the time I helped an acquaintance work on a stack of […]
While the week of WWDC is over, there are other tidbits worth mentioning but may not necessarily receive an entire article all on their own. . . App Store promo codes for in-app purchases Later this year, Apple is going to open the door for developers to create and distribute promo codes for any sort […]
This is the first iteration on macOS and iOS post-WWDC, after a recent May 14th update spent roughly a month and a half in a development state. Individuals can opt-in via the Software Update section of the System Settings app, as long as your Apple ID is associated with an Apple Developer account. Key […]
With the announcement of macOS Tahoe at WWDC25 this year on June 9th, we finally know what should or shouldn’t officially support the new update coming this year. Some of us including myself are running on a 2018 Mac mini, so we must now start dealing with what to do. Recently Greg Hrutkay of Hrutkay […]
As the week of WWDC ends, Low End Mac has restored its usual banner theme with a liquid glass twist. Clear your browser cache to see the new site banner! . . The new banner The latest site banner takes inspiration from this year’s WWDC and Liquid Glass themes, while staying true to the Low […]
Back from the Low End Mac Mailbag is an interesting hardware experiment from a rising contributor in our FaceBook group, Architecture. Enjoy this interesting One Stop Systems P7R4 7 Slot PCI Expansion Unit – and how it works with a Beige Power Macintosh G3! Introduction “Testing an 13 slot PCI Expansion Chassis on a G3 […]
At-a-glance, you’ll notice your desktop is mostly the same after updating (although some settings are reset such as internal drives in Finder). It’s familiar if you’ve used macOS Sequoia – but feels totally different for sure. Different in the sort-of way Yosemite was to Mavericks, or Aqua was to Platinum. . Is this Frutiger Aero? […]
Without a doubt, the latest crop of devices from Apple are set to perform the best on the latest OS update even if it’s no longer the original OS the Mac shipped with. While it can be challenging to imagine or quantify precisely how fast macOS Tahoe will be upon it’s debut to the public, […]
For those who want to add a little flare to their desktop and wanted the new wallpapers in particular – here they are! Due to the compression which happens on WordPress, a larger wallpaper is provided in the link below. You may also click on the images, which will enlarge to 2560 x 1657.The images […]
The tagline on Apple’s website reads “New Look. Even more magic.”, with an OS release date set to arrive this fall. Although you can download the developer beta right now, it is still far from being a completed consumer OS update. . . The last major iOS redesign was with version 7 – Apple says […]
Does the new style look familiar to you? Even though they talk about a “Glass UI”, there are many Aqua-themed visual cues in WWDC this year, especially to the intro for the new macOS. This year the transition in the presentation started as a Sequoia wallpaper, with a water droplet morphing the visuals before ultimately […]
Low End Mac is gearing up for WWDC25 – get ready for some new articles! Clear your browser cache to see the new site banner for this week. Low End Mac WWDC25-Inspired Icons (Free Download)
. Bill Atkinson was instrumental in the development of the Xerox GUI, Apple LISA, and Macintosh, being brought onboard by Jef Raskin though the University of Washington on April 27th, 1978. Bill was studying Neurobiology and rendering 3D images by writing programs. “Dear Friends and Family, We regret to write that our beloved husband, father, […]
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May 2025
Does anyone else remember those chunky polycarbonate white iMacs from the mid-2000s? For a short while in Late 2006, Apple also made a 24-Inch model as well. Imagine what it would look like if we took an M4 chip and one of those and just… fused them together? . Click on the images when scrolling […]
Not everyone is a fan of the original Apple Magic Mouse or the Magic Mouse 2, some even give it about as much flack as the original Round USB mouse. Not to borrow an old slogan.. I “think different.” Ergonomics are the chief complaint about the device itself, the sharp edge of the multitouch surface […]
First covered yesterday by Marko Zivkovic of AppleInsider.com, it appears as though some Intel Macs will be dropped from the list of supported models while the absolute latest generation of intel Macs will continue onto this new update. The report cites “anonymous people familiar with the matter.” This topic was also covered on 9to5Mac just […]
The latest and greatest device to bear the same name as the revolutionary “1000 songs in your pocket” was a spec-bumped version of the 6th Generation iPod touch. Featuring double the ram, and base storage of its predecessor as well as other iterations. This device can officially run all the way up to iOS 15.8.4, […]
Quietly made available on May 27th 2009, the 13″ Mid-2009 MacBook was a silent upgrade to the lineup of portables, released without much fanfare or any press release, for that matter. This was the second “older-style” A1181 MacBook model sold after the debut of the Aluminum Unibody MacBook, and the final “older-style” MacBook before Apple […]
With the annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) ’25 less than a month away, we anticipate the release of multiple new versions of existing Apple OSes including the successor to Sequoia, macOS 16. While much is still under wraps, there are some known additions coming to this new macOS which are noteworthy in and of […]
Official documentation says this controller requires at least macOS Ventura 13.2 or above, and that USB wired connection is only available for macOS or iPadOS with USB-C ports. Even if you can adapt a USB port to a Type-C on a PowerPC Mac and get a peripheral connected, a newer device is overwhelmingly likely not […]
More than an interesting thought experiment or project, the idea suddenly returned when I saw two USB-A to USB-C style adapters at a convenience store of all places and thought: “Why not”..? For a while I’ve thought about adding USB-C ports to my Power Mac G5, although I never thought to pick up or lookup […]
A little while back I covered an up-close comparison between the Sky Blue tone of the new M4 MacBook Air and Silver, as some early adopters are saying it is challenging to distinguish at times from Silver. It was noted that Sky Blue can give the impression of Silver but when you put it right […]
We’re halfway through may and this year’s World Wide Developer Conference at Apple is set to kick off in roughly a month, and the latest update dropped for the Apple Developer app contains new WWDC ’25 stickers. As rumors circulate online about what’s potentially on the horizon between devices and operating systems, one thing has […]
Timothy de Denaro is a longtime tinkerer of Macs from our LEM FaceBook and put together one of the most decked-out and modified Macintosh SE 30s ever! Housed wholly in a clear case, wielding two monitors (an external one of course), and.. it even has a USB port..?! . . The USB port is adapted […]
After spending roughly a month and a half in beta, iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 is now available for everyone to download who is currently already on iOS 18, or those who are eligible on a supported device. Looking at the OS update patterns over the last few years, we can anticipate a few more […]
Time and time again, the ports on our devices change – prompting many of us to consider at one point or another whether or not to start buying USB-C accessories. Back when the TouchBar MacBook Pro came out, I held out for a while as accessories in general felt overpriced.. not that I was looking […]
After spending roughly a month and a half in beta, macOS 15.5 Sequoia is now available for everyone to download who is currently already on macOS 15 as well as anyone wishing up upgrade with a supported or OCLP capable Mac. Keep in mind if you’re running an unsupported Mac with Sequoia on OCLP, the […]
Right after the start of fall on October 7th 2019, Apple released macOS Catalina after having been announced June 3rd that same year at WWDC 2019. This version of macOS is named after the Santa Catalina Island, a place off the coast of Southern Cali. This the 7th version of macOS with a California themed […]
This was an incredibly busy week despite lesser articles being written, as much of the time was spent restoring the Tech Spec index to its prior form. We announced this issue at the beginning of the week, and went into detail in a later article. This article reflects the updates to the site within the […]
It’s been almost 2 months since I picked up an M4 MacBook Air 15″ on the day of it’s availability, having replaced the M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16″ as my day-to-day mobile workstation away from the desk. Once I realized I wasn’t locked-into retina mode, it was a game-changer. On PowerBooks and older MacBook Pros, […]
Everyone, thank you for your continued patience as this matter is being sorted out. There will be 2 more milestone updates on this specific topic after this post to keep our readers informed of the progress being made. 2 Days ago, a website plugin meant to clear out any participant bot accounts inadvertently wiped out […]
The eMac G4 was the last of any gumdrop-shaped Macs with a CRT display, feeling like a direct spiritual successor to the iMac G3 versus the iMac G4 taking on a wholly new form factor. These days finding an eMac feels more challenging than say 10-15 years ago, when those seemingly littered the marketplace for […]
Aqua was a UI that dominated much of macOS’s existence from 2000 – 2013, losing bits and chunks of it’s style along the way while morphing into multiple different versions that longtime Mac users have grown to love. The very last version of Aqua to contain any elements of the original Aqua was OS X […]
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April 2025
While we recently talked about adding Intel CPUs to our tech spec index, there have also been a number of ongoing changes and updates which haven’t been covered before, so they will be covered here for our readers. This article reflects the updates to the site within the past week, which wouldn’t otherwise be known […]
In continuation of the expansion of the Tech Spec article and information index on Low End Mac, all Intel CPUs presumably ever shipped with a Mac have now been added to the tech spec index! This effort involved the creation of over 220 new articles and an unusually long index list page as a result […]
This page details the full hardware profile of the Apple Silicon M1 chip. Name: M1 Chip Released: November 17th, 2020 Codename: APL1102 Part Number: T8103 Fabrication Process: TSMC’s 5-Nanometer Transistor Count: 16-Billion CPU ISA: ARMv8.5-A . . Memory Bus Width: 128-Bit Total channels: 2 Bit per channel: 64-Bit Memory Type: LPDDR4X-4266 (2133 MHz) ~Bandwidth: […]
Over the years of being a technology enthusiast I’ve had the opportunity to snap photos of many different electronics, with quite a few close-ups that seemed wallpaper-worthy in my opinion. So went into my photo collection, grabbed up a few I thought were best, and wanted to share them here with everyone. Click on the […]
For the first time ever in the 5 years of the RAID0 array up and running on the Dual 2.0 Power Mac G5.. I ran into a file system/file corruption error. Fortunately, I had the array backed up so I had it back up and running within less than a day. R/W speeds are the […]
In the world of tech this is an ancient tablet from Late 2013, but looks rather modern if you ignore the lack of Touch ID and sit it beside a 9th generation iPad from 2021. And for $20, perhaps is worth a second look as to whether or not it’s useable this day in age. […]
Four years ago today, the world saw the first Apple Silicon Mac to come out after the initial set of three shipped alongside the transition to Apple Silicon. While the M1 Mac mini gets your foot in the door and lets you “BYOB”, some were looking for that familiar all-in-one which also provides a great […]
What originally started as a way to reorganize the splash page for the tech spec index quickly evolved into a deep-dive into every tech spec article – turning into a multi-week long retooling and design project that culminated into a completely re-engineered tech spec index. It seemed like there was a good amount of positive […]
As some of you may know, I’m a huge fan of using Adobe Photoshop (specifically CS4 an on G5 Macs), and I recently re-acquired a hard copy of the Adobe Photoshop CS4: In a Classroom, the book which I used to learn the program to begin with in the early 2010s. In addition to brushing […]
How about a USB 2.0/3.0 SATA 6G adapter that works with just about any hard drive or solid state drive and even has fast transfer speeds on a PowerPC Mac too? Check out – the Apricorn USB to SATA 6G adapter. This PNY SSD previously wouldn’t work inside a PowerPC Mac as it wouldn’t be […]
Early Intel Macs saw their heyday in the early 2010s with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, and then some people patching onto Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite.. before ultimately stopping at Mac OS X El Capitan as many Macs lacked SSE 4.1. Many early Intel Macs were eclipsed by later ones with more processing power, but […]
The Apple Silicon steam is rolling, the Intel Macs are in their twilight zone, and PowerPC Macs can still be used in one way or another. Here at Low End Mac, we believe in the long term value of Apple hardware – we want to help elevate your Mac. These apps are already circulated, should […]
As some of you may know, I’m a huge fan of using Adobe Photoshop (specifically CS4 an on G5 Macs), and I recently re-acquired a hard copy of the Adobe Photoshop CS4: In a Classroom, the book which I used to learn the program to begin with in the early 2010s. While I haven’t had […]
1998: In the computer world, it is all too easy to get so bedazzled by the latest and greatest that one’s vision becomes clouded. Currently, the latest and greatest PowerBooks are the G3 Series II “PDQ” models, and they are indeed fabulous machines.
June 26th 1998: ClarisWorks doesn’t get nearly the respect it deserves. For a paltry $99 you can have a modular suite of applications that does everything 90% of users ever need to do with a computer. How many of us actually utilize the power features of fatware like Microsoft Office?
Low End Mac has been through a lot of changes over the years. For much of Low End Mac’s earlier days, we used Claris Home Page to edit and design our content (many different table-based designs). We switched to Cascading Style Sheets some years back and then to WordPress, so every now and again you […]
Apple has had some amazingly closed systems, some with not quite enough expansion, and a few that had so many expansion options that the mind boggles. This article takes a brief look at the most expandable Macs every by CPU.
The first video game console, the $100 Magnavox Odyssey, was released 45 years ago in September 1972. The Odyssey had up to three square dots on its black-and-white screen controlled by wired controllers. Plastic overlays were used along with dice, cards, play money, poker chips, and other board game accessories along with 12 different game cards (the […]
A lot has changed since the first Macintosh. Apple no longer uses a phone connector for its keyboard or DE-9 serial ports for its mouse, printer, and modem. As others have recently pointed out, the only connector still in use from 1984 through today is the analog headphone jack. Macs have always had some form […]
Editor’s note: Back in 2013 when Dan Knight still ran Low End Mac, it was around the time our website was transitioning over from HTML to WordPress. This article documents his experiences and some of his tips for others looking to migrate to WordPress. This article was complete, pulled out of our draft archives from […]
The Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, pronounced scuzzy) that every Mac from the Mac Plus on has supported (except for the iMac and the Blue & White Power Mac G3) is a mixed blessing. SCSI is a parallel interface, meaning that bits of data travel alongside each other rather than in tandem like they do […]
This day in age, a certain recent OS started shipping with it’s own built-in password manager app – and as it turns out, there’s been a password manager app out for PowerPC for a little while! Version 3.5.15 was out in 2010, so this app certainly falls into the category of abandonware. Password managers aren’t […]
This may be old news.. but I just only recently stumbled into this! If you’ve ever wanted to enable two-finger scrolling on your pre-2005 PowerPC ‘Book – there’s an app for that. iScroll 2 is a modified ADB driver, it works with Mac OS X 10.3 and up (although a certain version of the driver […]
You take the 10th-gen iPad from 2022, give it some iPhone 14 Pro parts, and bam – new iPad. No Apple Intelligence on this model due to system constraints, although it gains an extra 2 GB of RAM from the previous generation like how other Apple devices received a RAM upgrade across the line. Considering […]
During the 16th annual conference hosted by Apple at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Apple announced the transition to the Intel platform as well as the release of a developer transition kit (DTK). These were the first-ever released Intel computers by Apple, although the commercial debut for the first Intel Mac is at least […]
Back in 2021 roughly half a year after Apple Silicon was released to the consumer market, we got our first iteration of an iPad with a desktop-class CPU in it – the M1 iPad Pro. They chucked an M1 into an iPad Air a year later, and fast forward to 2025 – we now have […]
Earlier this week on April 2nd, Apple seeded the iOS 18.5 and macOS 15.5 betas, shortly after sending out the finalized version of iOS 18.4 and macOS 15.4. Both updates brought a massive list of security fixes, which makes it a strongly recommended up date if you haven’t already updated your device. This topic was […]
Here at Low End Mac we often cover PowerPC Mac App highlights and tricks, where you can read up about the different ways you can make your Mac work better for you. Whether you need to extend a desktop to a second monitor, enable window tiling, momentum scrolling or need to enable the “over 128 […]
Not all Macs are made equal. Many these days can extend their display and even support multiple monitors, however there was a time when the Mac you bought could only mirror the display externally. For those Macs such as an iMac G5 or an eMac G4, there is a piece of software known as Screen […]
Way back in 2012 Mac OS X Lion came with a brand new feature called Launchpad – it gave you quick access to your applications folder overlayed across the screen, and it continues to be a staple of macOS to this day, seeing hardly any changes from how it was originally introduced 13 years ago. […]
The company is also expanding the .DS_Store Apple Foundation Program to enhance learning opportunities for these small system files that seem to copy and paste themselves into oblivion at the Apple Finder Academy. Philadelphia, PA Apple today announced plans to expand in the City of Philadelphia, starting with the launch of the Apple .DS_Store online in […]
I must respectfully disagree with the new focus of Low End, er, make that High End Mac. Simply replacing your old Mac every two years, or three at most, isn’t the whole solution to Apple’s financial crisis or the consumer’s lust for power. Anyone who has followed computers for more than a couple […]
I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and I’ve come to the conclusion that absolutely everything has turned upside down since we started pushing beyond the Chinese Calculator. Our species was founded on the hunter-gatherer work ethic (Not the one where you gather hunters or the one where you hunt the gatherers either), […]
Featuring the groundbreaking M4 Extreme chip, the new Mac Pro sets a new benchmark for desktop performance. Designed for professionals pushing the limits of Al, 3D rendering, and scientific computing, it’s the most powerful and capable Mac ever made. (Credit for all photo mockups on this article go to @basicappleguy.com on BlyeSky!)
Imagine this: an alternate earth, with alternate economics, influences, design teams, and whatnot. In this alternate universe, Apple unveiled the Mac Studio in 2006, alongside the first generation of Intel Macs. The Mac Studio was released as an answer for a more powerful small form factor/ITX workstation, a step up from the Mac mini. In […]
We recently heard of the announcement of WWDC 2025 which is set to be in early June, alongside a design preview teased by the official logo for this year. For this year we can expect iOS 19 to be announced, with many rumors circulating around the potential to drop support for certain devices. While you […]
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March 2025
Luddite Mac is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek celebration of vintage Macs — and even Apple IIs. The point we always try to make at Low End Mac is that until it dies no computer is ever less capable than it was when you bought it, so try to make the most of it. Our other focus […]
macOS 15.4 is now out and available for all Macs running macOS Sequoia, for Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. Since this update covers such a long list of vulnerabilities, it’s strongly recommended you update to this right now. Apple covered the entire list in detail on their site. We also covered new features featured in […]
So you know how Xcode lets you run an iOS app in a simulator and how the current version of macOS Sequoia has iPhone mirroring? As it turns out, you can kind-of sort-of get an iPhone 3G going on your PowerPC Mac’s desktop! You might not be able to hold it or use it very […]
Being the latest yet smallest of the bunch, the iPhone 16e is the spiritual successor to the SE and mini series of iPhones released prior. Intended as an entry level device, it still manages to rock out with the latest hardware specs however it’s hardware redesign poised for a bumped MSRP. This isn’t a budget […]
Hey everyone, and thank you for taking the time out of your day to visit Low End Mac. In light of developments on retooling the website, some solutions were found on fixing the website’s navigation along with other pages! It has been noted by visitors; some of the main pages weren’t working, remarking on broken […]
While this website has been in the process of having new articles written for it whilst simultaneously having old information updated too, different ideas have been floated for how the site can be redesigned too. In line with keeping compatibility for older Macs, it has been decided not to massively overhaul the site theme, but […]
On November 12th 2020, Apple released macOS Big Sur for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, after having been announced June 22nd the same year at WWDC 2020.. This version of macOS is named after the coastal region of Big Sur in the central Californian coast, continuing the theme of California named locations started way […]
They say if you format a drive with the GUID partition table you can install virtually any size drive in a PowerPC Mac, only you may not be able to boot off of it. An Apple Partition Map is required to boot on a PowerPC Mac, however, this partition scheme is limited to 2.19 TB. […]
Every year at Apple’s WWDC in June, the event covers a swathe of topics focusing mainly on the major changes to their operating systems. There are times they’ll announce new products alongside, but mainly this keynote (or rather, sets of keynotes) are aimed for developers. WWDC also acts as a proverbial “state of the union” […]
This week at Apple we see a set of updates across the line for the different OSes, as well as some new features in places like Apple Music Classical, as well as the newer AirPods Max and Airpods 4. In a previous article done on March 10th, Low End Mac covered the iOS 18.4 / […]
On October 25th 2021, Apple released macOS Monterey for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, after having been announced June 7th the same year. This version of macOS is named after the Monterey Bay, continuing the theme of California named locations started way back in 2013 with Mavericks. This version drops support for many Macs, […]
On October 24th 2022, Apple released macOS Ventura for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, after having been announced June 6th the same year. This version of macOS is named after the city of Ventura in CA, continuing the theme of California named locations. Up close and thematically, this is very much the macOS we […]
On September 26th 2023, Apple released macOS Sonoma for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, after having been announced June 5th the same year. This version of macOS is named after the wine region in California’s Sonoma County, continuing the theme of California named locations. Up close and thematically, this is very much the macOS […]
Copyright laws protect work from being freely duplicated and redistributed which extend over to the makings of software and hardware wherever the law is unexpired. When the copyright holder no longer distributes the software, no longer enforces the copyright protections over their own depreciated software, or if the software is distributed but unsupported by the […]
Over the years the Photos app and Quick View in Finder have gained a set of photo editing features, allowing users to make basic edits to their picture/photo files without going out of their way to install something that could do such things. While these features are indeed convenient and helpful, they lack the refined […]
There are 28 Micro Center stores scattered around the nation in 19 states, and each one of them has Mac deals on the latest ’round on what Apple has to offer, as well as good pickings on refurbished M3 Macs, too. From the time of writing this article through the next 10 days, you can […]
On September 16th 2024, Apple released macOS Sequoia for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, after having been announced June 10th the same year. This version of macOS is named after the national park in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, continuing the theme of California locations. Up close and thematically, this is very much the […]
Back in 2015 Simon Royal wrote a piece about the Major and Minor versions of Mac OS X from Kodiak all the way up to El Capitan, which was the latest release at the time. Back in 2015, OS X was being released in “major” and “minor” release cycles, alternating between operating system releases that […]
When Apple teased the iPhone 16e they used a Liquid Metal style logo, creating another unique logo style in the long line of unique logos made for product teases/launches. Thanks to a post shared by @basicappleguy.com on BlueSky, I stumbled into a neat little website where you can upload your own logo and have it […]
Hardware virtualization uses a hypervisor to create virtual machines that run directly on physical hardware, allowing near-native performance. Emulation, on the other hand, imitates hardware entirely in software, enabling the execution of programs designed for different architectures but with significant performance overhead. With this in mind, we can imagine how certain operating systems should or […]
It didn’t take a lot of time making my mind up as I was open to the idea, but I wasn’t necessarily looking for a change right then and there. Every now and again I’d look up the different ‘Books especially while writing technical articles for this site’s index – keeping an eye on what’s […]
Some early adopters of the new Sky Blue M4 MacBook Air are saying the color looks a bit much like Silver, only looking like Sky Blue under certain lighting conditions. While I’ll agree the color is on the lighter side, when putting Sky Blue right up against Silver you can see a difference. The difference […]
Swapping out an optical drive for a hard disk drive to gain extra storage is a sensible way to upgrade your ‘Book if you’re not at all using optical media anymore. Especially if the benefits of storing a ton of stuff on local storage far outweighs the benefits of keeping a SuperDrive or Combo Drive […]
It was a relatively warm spring day as I was taking a long walk outside, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a 20″ 2004 iMac G5 sitting by the curb. It looked worn, the dirt on the bottom made me wonder if it was rained on. I asked for permission to […]
Last an article was posted sharing the M3 Ultra benchmarks for the new Early 2025 Mac Studio, showing just how powerful Apple’s new flagship chip really is. Below are benchmarks for the $1999 M4 Max Mac Studio with 14-Core CPU, 32-Core GPU, and 36 GB of RAM, Comparisons are also made against the M3 Ultra […]
Today the M4 MacBook Air, 2025 Mac Studio, M3 iPad Air, and 11th-Gen iPad were made available to customers around the world along with their respective device accessories. Apple also released some Apple Watch accessories and the new USB-C to MagSafe 3 charging cable in Sky Blue, too. Today, a brand new 15″ M4 MacBook […]
Does anyone else remember that old classic macOS app which had a set of googly eyes just sitting in the menu bar following the direction of the mouse cursor? Well as it turns out, there’s a modern version of this app which does practically the exact same thing. This app sits in your menu bar […]
You might be thinking the Sky Blue color, right? While this new color changes the entire aura of the MacBook Air and gives it a very desirable appearance, the design change is actually a lot more nuanced and can be hard to spot unless pointed out. First pointed out by iCulture.nl, “Apple finally fixes the […]
This wallpaper has been around for a while, and has seen multiple iterations of the same design depending on the color of the machine. This wallpaper is updated to reflect the new color of the new MacBook Air, so it matches. The wallpaper was first reported on and appeared on 9to5Mac, which can be navigated […]
Earlier this week on March 4th, Apple came out with public betas across a variety of their OSes, including: iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and macOS. Covered earlier this week by 9to5mac, Public Beta 3 is now available for those OSes. You may sign up for the beta software on Apple’s Beta Software Program site. By consenting […]
With the release of the new M3 Ultra Apple Silicon chip there is a new proverbial “king” of Mac performance/specs, as this chip is aimed at the professional market and features the highest specs in the Mac lineup in Early 2025. While new product performance is often touted and contrasted against old products during launch […]
The ARM transition as well as new devices are not off topic at Low End Mac. It impacts the future of Apple, as the platform moves through its fourth hardware architecture with Macs. It will make Intel Macs and old iPhones low end sooner than you might like, but sooner or later the ARM Macs […]
Here are some of the pictures of the Mac Studio featured on Apple’s website in the product gallery. The design hasn’t changed between the first three generations, remaining unchanged through Early 2025 in its latest iteration. The renderings have their backgrounds removed and can be used as computer icons. Return to tech spec page M1 […]
To the surprise of the Mac community, Apple announced the third generation Mac Studio on 2025.03.05 and started shipping it the following week on 2025.03.12. The $1999 MS ships with a 14-core 4.5 GHz M4 Max chip and a 32-core GPU, and the $2499 has the 16-core CPU with a 40-core GPU. For those clamoring […]
Here are some of the pictures of the M4 MacBook Air featured on Apple’s website in the product gallery. The new color is Sky Blue, and in some images the background has been removed. These even may be used as computer icons! (Click to enlarge above) 13″ M4 MacBook Air (Click to enlarge above) (Click […]
With the new 13″ and 15″ form factors finally sporting the latest M4 Apple Silicon chip, the new MacBook Air enters slightly more powerful territory – joining the likes of the Mac mini, MacBook Pro, and the M4 iMac. This latest chip features faster clock speeds on both performance and efficiency cores over the base […]
Who could’ve predicted that certain technical iterations would stick around for much longer than expected? Back in the 80s and 90s, external and internal ports would seemingly iterate more frequently as years go by, with the computer industry being less developed then. It’s been two decades since the first Mac shipped with a SATA drive, […]
As was said in the 2021 article by Dan: “Using your TV as a display for your Mac (or any computer really) has taken a lot of twists and turns over the years. Each era as display technology has evolved has seen significant progression, but not until recently has TV technology had the right mix […]
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February 2025
Xodium from BlueSky has a beige Beige Power Macintosh 9600, which he once took to VCF West 2023. The name of this machine is “A Madman’s Dream v2”, and it comes with many upgrades as well as some internal lighting! “I unfortunately don’t have fresh pictures, but it has been shown off at VCF a […]
Certain iMacs from the early 2010s and late 2000s have an MXM GPU slot inside them, allowing for the graphics card to be replaced or upgraded. All 27″ and 21.5″ 2009 – 2011 iMacs have an MXM 3.0 slot, with the exception of the late 2009 21.5″ iMac with the base GeForce 9400m GPU. MXM […]
Ever since the Touch Bar MacBook Pro came out, I wanted it to be brilliant – many others included. However when Apple came out with the 2018 model year not only the problems for the 2016-2017 MacBook Pros were becoming more widespread, the specs were also a massive improvement over the 2017. Namely, the 2018 […]
Happy 2025 Low End Mac friends and welcome as always! I’m back after a long hiatus and plan to be writing more frequently again. That said – for this article, I’m going to keep it short and sweet as I swing back into things and will be highlighting a particular Low End Mac that was […]
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January 2025
Why the iPad mini 6? Here is one in Purple, 64 GB Cellular, and it looks fantastic! Goes right along with the purple of the iPhone 14 Pro. The way I look at it, it’s like a smaller and more powerful (and better colored) 2018 iPad Pro 11″, although I’ll admit the battery could be […]
I was really looking for a 2006-7 Mac mini for an eGPU project when I had stumbled upon an eBay listing for a 2009 mini. Needed some RAM, an SSD, and I already had a power supply laying around along with a spare DVD drive. I opted to get an Optical bay SATA to 2.5″ […]
The Early 2008 15″/17″ MacBook Pro sits in a unique position among the pre-unibody MacBook Pros having SSE 4 in its Core 2 Duo CPUs, standing heads and shoulders above the 2006/2007 models. As a result, it was able to piggyback off the same “wave” the Mac Pro 3,1 – 5,1 did with patchers such […]
This may be old news to some, but I totally forgot about it until I found out about it (again)! If you have a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad in Leopard on a PowerPC Mac, you can enable momentum scrolling just like an Intel Mac in two easy steps. . To enable natural scrolling on […]
It’s been a little over 6 years since the 2018 Mac mini was released on October 30th 2018, at the time of writing this article. Intel Macs are in their twilight era, as macOS Sequoia provides seemingly the last gasp of official OS support for the outgoing processor architecture. While “Macintels” miss out on certain […]
So you wanna have multitouch on your old ‘Book without necessarily buying a Magic Trackpad? The way it was theorized to be possible: Taking the multitouch trackpad out of an A1260 MacBook Pro and plugging it into an older A1181 2007 MacBook. Many have said this wasn’t possible or doable, claiming there was possibly a […]
Ah, the elusive method of booting on a PowerPC Mac: USB. For far too long it’s been said it’s not doable, or the results have been hit-or-miss, or the answer hasn’t been straightforward at all. Well today, there’s a surefire way to boot USB on PowerPC Macs – all thanks to DistroHopper39B from MacRumors. While […]
The very first Mac minis came with ether a Core Solo T1200, or one of two Core Duo 32-Bit CPUs. These CPUs hold back the 2006 Mac mini from being able to take advantage of a newer OS, increased RAM capacity, and overall better performance. Now in 2025 these first-gen Intel minis are cheap to […]
Longtime users of Windows will note that window tiling has been available since windows 7, a feature that recently made its way over to macOS Sequoia. But what if I told you this is something you could actually have done on Mac OS X Leopard, way back in 2010 even on a PowerPC Mac? Introducing […]
The 2020 5K Intel iMac was the very end of the line for any and all Intel iMacs, and was the third-to-last Intel Mac to be discontinued – selling until March 8th, 2022. This final model iMac receives some upgrades over the 5K 2019 model, as well as the notorious addition of the T2 security […]
As we are nearing completion of the “tech spec” index on Low End Mac with the release of the final remaining Intel iMac articles, we are looking into revamping existing articles overall. A lot of things have changed over time, much new software has released, community projects developed, etc; and it’s worth reflecting such things […]
The SuperMac Spectrum/8 LC video card is an accelerated 8-bit video card for the LC PDS (Processor Direct Slot). It originally retailed at US$799 and was MacUser’s third choice video card/19″ display option in the February 1992 roundup of LC PDS solutions.
This was nearing the end of the line for the Intel iMacs altogether, and perhaps you’re thinking: doesn’t this have a T2 security chip since it’s from 2019? Rest assured, it doesn’t. The appeal of the 2019 model 5K iMac is precisely about the jump-up to Intel Coffee lake, combined with the lack of a […]
A quarter of a century ago today, Apple introduced a brand new operating system to the world as a successor to Mac OS 9, the press release for this is still up on Apple’s website to this day. It replaced the base code and entire underlying system which all Mac OS versions were previously based […]
I was always the type of person who upgraded my phone every year through my carrier, until I wasn’t. I was always the type of person who looked at phone specs and conjured in my own imagination what the experience could be like. I’d get so hyped over the new stuff that my own excitement […]
I have already looked at the origins of the computer mouse in Mouse Design: 1963 to 1983, ending the story before the Apple Macintosh was introduced in January 1984, the first affordable personal computer to ship with a mouse and Graphical User Interface (GUI). This is the story of mouse development on personal computers, primarily […]
Certain older Macs are able to take advantage of adding an external graphics card through modification. This is article is broken up into 3 parts, as it contains a lot of information and pictures. Please refer to part 1 of the article for hardware/parts prerequisites. Sections 1 through 5 are contained in part 1, Sections […]
Hey Low End Mac friends! It’s been quite a while since I’ve written my last piece. Sometimes life and the real world gets in the way, but here we are again with a great piece that leads us up into the summer season when folks have a little more free time on their hands to […]
Today’s Macs are far more potent than they’ve ever been, particularly from a performance standpoint. Even if not everyone agrees on design these days, you have to admit they’re slimmer than ever, faster than ever, and some design refinements have been made over the years. In this case, why are some late Intel Macs still […]
