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 […]
Author Archives: Dan Bashur
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 […]
Back from the Low End Mac Mailbag is another excellent piece from longtime reader and now contributor, Adam Goff. Enjoy Adam’s excellent take on how Mac OS 9 is still alive and kicking today – over 24 years later! Introduction – It’s the late 1990s/early 00s.. Macs (and their accessories) Become Fashion Trends In 2002 […]
Fresh to the Low End Mac the mailbag from long time reader Adam Goff: “I recently made the personal decision to “un-OCLP” a few of my Intel based Macs and thus prompted a desire to create an easy to follow guide for those who need to create install media on their Mac computers running Mac […]
Introduction and Background A little over 5 years ago I wrote about the mid-2010 Mac Mini being an outstanding Low End Mac for using as a media server in my article titled “Mid 2010 Mac Mini: The Perfect Low-End 1080p Media Center“. It checks many of the key boxes given the fact that it can […]
Once upon a time (for those somewhat new to the Mac platform), there was this innovative connection that showed up in the late 1990s – early 00s called FireWire that came around shortly after the advent of USB (at least in terms of the consumer world – FireWire had been in development since the mid […]
Some History on the Best Mac Value Ever: The Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1 The Mac Pro has went through many iterations over the years and with the advent of Apple Silicon, things have certainly come to a crossroads. The Mac Pro 4,1 from 2009 and the slightly revised Mac Pro 5,1 (sold from 2010 […]
The Mac Pro 5,1 has rode a heck of a wave thanks to a talented team of developers who have worked hard to keep these old machines running smoothly with OpenCore/OpenCore Legacy Patcher (and some other tools/patchers that were developed earlier such as the dosdude1 patchers) and has allowed the Mac Pro 5,1 (as well […]
Mac Pro Evolution Each design of the Mac Pro over the years has had its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to overall system architecture and design, including the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) options available. Many factors are at play when determining what kind of graphics card you can run with your Mac Pro as […]
Dear Low End Mac friends: Apologies for the very long hiatus on new articles on the website. Things haven’t been easy for a while. Over the summer/early fall, our founder Dan Knight decided to step away after around 24 years of running Low End Mac and its day to day operations as Editor in Chief. […]
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 of features, functionality, and price to truly be ideal […]
-->This is a bit of a throwback to my article from May of last year – Tri-Booting a Mac Pro 2,1 – not long before I had just procured my Mac Pro 5,1 (well technically a 4,1 that was flashed to a 5,1 with dual Intel Xeon 5680 CPUs with 12 cores at 3.33 GHz). […]
It’s safe to say that the Mac Pro 5,1 will reach the end of the line at some point in the next few years – even in terms of user base extended support such as patching tools that have allowed Catalina (and now Big Sur) to be installed keeping these Macs up to date for […]
Hello Low Enders! It’s been a while, so I’m going to enlighten all of you with a great new series on using the Mac as a media hub and how it has evolved over time. As we have gotten newer Macs throughout the years to integrate into our home theater setups, serving as our digital […]
Hi Low End friends! Gather around! It’s time for another late night campfire story! Just like the camping trips you might enjoy with family and friends, and gathering around the fire, sometimes you need a late night snack and reach for a delicious Peanut Butter and Jelly out of the […]
Hi Low End friends! Let’s call this article part of a “new take” category of Low End Mac. Welcome to Low End Mac Campfire Discussions. Now relax and think of yourself in your backyard with family or friends, enjoying your favorite beverage and wondering where all the time has gone surrounding our favorite Low […]
Expansion and I/O Challenges with Older Macs Imagine the average 8-12 year old Mac sitting on your desk today.. Many are getting long in the tooth and have limited external upgrade potential or simply can’t even keep up with the best options offered today in terms of approaching optimal throughput for external graphics (also known […]
Hi Low Enders! It’s the Bash man again, with another happy episode of trials and tribulations getting my Mac Pro 2,1 in a stable triple boot state (queue crickets, darkness, and crackling campfire as you roast marshmallows and read on).
Hi Low Enders! It’s been a while, but like a fine wine some vintage Macs just get more sought after with age. One of those happens to be the PowerBook G3 “Pismo”. The Pismo PowerBook was announced this very day 20 years ago while Apple was in the middle of their “Think Different” campaign […]
Dear Low End Mac Friends: It’s been a while. Life and other typical duties keep one busy, but when something extraordinary comes up, there’s always time to talk about it with our community. In this article, I will be discussing an interesting piece of hardware (a display to be precise) – the RCA MM36100. […]
Greetings Low End Mac friends! It’s been a while since I have written an article solely dedicated to Apple Tech and Gaming, but this one fits the bill perfectly. A while back I had gotten a hold of a Sony Trinitron KV-36HS420. I covered that TV in the article TV Technology: No ‘Catch-All’ Solution for Low […]
With every story there are two sides. While there was certainly some negative sentiment in my previous article – Original Apple TV: Apple’s Improper Abandonment and What to Do – you have to also take the good with the bad. Change forces us to move forward sometimes and get creative.
Apple left the 1st Generation Apple TV behind as of May 25, 2018. You can no longer connect it directly to iTunes. Even if you attempt to sync authorized content to it through an authorized Mac, it’s over.
I’ve been doing a bit of reflecting lately, and it’s hard to believe that the G4 Cube is turning 18 later this year and that it’s now been over 8 years since one of my earliest articles was published, Reimagining the Mac Cube for the Intel Era.
It’s been a while my Low End friends, but moving your whole life is never easy. Settled nicely into my next home now, I have some catching up to do! Let’s start the New Year off discussing the age-old “idiot box” – better known as your television. As we all know, not all TVs are […]
Something odd has happened over roughly the last 5 years. Moore’s law is hitting a brick wall (or at least it would seem so). As a result, the difference in a 5 year old Mac today versus a 5 year old Mac from 1995 in the year 2000 or a 5 year old Mac from […]
In an update to my article, Low End Wireless Hard Drive Review: The EMTEC P600, I have been able to discover some of the more intricate features of the wireless hard drive and how it can fit into a variety of “real world” usage cases. Here are some of the things of note after learning more about […]
There are lots of convenience and “smart” features these days when it comes to your TV viewing experience. One of the greatest features has traditionally been the ability to control a wide variety of devices with one. This began with the time tested universal remote control that still dominates many home theater set-ups today.
There are now a great variety of wireless hard drives available, but so far only one is available at a true low-end price, offering an unprecedented overall value to the consumer, while being compatible with a wide variety of Macs, PCs, iOS devices, and Android devices. Behold the EMTEC P600 Wi-Fi Hard Drive.
I still love my Early 2011 17″ MacBook Pro, as do many others despite its potential to exhibit a known graphics fault (see Apple Recall regarding discrete GPU failure), and it continues to be my daily driver and likely will remain that way for the next 4-6 years – unless Apple decides to reverse its course on a few […]
Nearly a decade has has passed since the last run of PowerPC Macs hit Apple’s store shelves and provided us with one last hurrah on “thinking different” and being part of the trope of “crazy ones” who simply would not conform to the norm.
For the first time on the Mac (via Steam), gamers will be finally getting the opportunity to simultaneously enjoy a new release title, alongside console gamers from the legendary team of director Koji Igarashi (affectionately known simply as IGA by fans) and master composer Michiru Yamane. For those not fully aware of these two Japanese […]
I just vacationed in Myrtle Beach, SC with the wife and kids, and like many other tech savvy media fanatics with children who visit hotels and resorts, I was well aware that you just don’t know for sure what kind of WiFi, data connectivity, or display/HDTV you are going to have at your disposal to […]
Where were you on 9/9/1999?
The 17″ MacBook Pro has seen its time come and go, as sad as that reality may be. Apple stopped making its largest sized flagship portables after 2011 in favor of smaller 15″ class Retina Display units that pack more pixels along with more graphics and processing power into a smaller package.
