Thank You for Your Generous Support!

As a community-based resource, Low End Mac depends on its readers to help cover our expenses. We came to you on March 8 to request $2,000 in support to cover monthly expenses, taxes, and give us a bit extra to upgrade our old Macs and iPhones. You came through with flying colors!

Apple’s 30-pin Dock Connector

When Apple introduced the third generation iPod in April 2002, it added a new 30-pin dock connector that could charge the iPod from FireWire, as with all prior iPods, and USB, which finally came to the iPod with the 3G model. While the plug and port were unchanged, over time some pin assignments changed.

The Case Against TenSixFox

With Firefox preparing to leave behind OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, 10.7 Lion, and 10.8 Mountain Lion after Firefox 45 ESR* is replaced by the next Extended Support Release, I suggested it might be time for the Mac community to develop a branch of Mozilla that continues to support Snow Leopard. But maybe not.

Who Is the Low End Mac Community?

Low End Mac has been on the Web since April 1997, and one of the first community-building things we did was create an email list for Mac Quadra users later that year. While groups already existed for 68030 and earlier Macs as well as PowerPC Macs, 68040 Macs had been overlooked.

The Case for TenSixFox

Those using G3, G4, or G5 Macs with OS X 10.4 Tiger or 10.5 Leopard are no doubt aware of TenFourFox, a port of the latest Extended Release version of Firefox to these old systems. With Chrome and Firefox due to drop OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8 support, perhaps it’s time for a similar […]

Hands on an iPhone 5S

I’ve been using an iPhone 4S since the days when the iPhone 5 was the top-end model, so sometime in early 2013. That replaced an iPhone 3GS, which was the entry-level model when I got it in late 2010. And with iOS 9.2.1, the 4S has become remarkably sluggish.

Rules for Group Management

The goal of each of our groups is to create and maintain helpful user communities. The following policies have been established for Low End Mac’s Google Groups. They may be revised as necessary.

Netiquette for Email Lists

There are informal rules of Internet communication which are termed netiquette to help people use proper etiquette within forums and email groups. Some examples of poor netiquette are not signing messages, sending unsubscribe messages to the posting address (instead of the administrative address), or TYPING IN ALL CAPS (which is the equivalent of yelling).

Low End Mac Needs Your Help

I’ve been publishing Low End Mac for nearly 19 years. We’ve had our good years, which peaked around 2007. And we’ve had our bad years, one after the other ever since. We no longer pay our writers, myself included. We are a community based organization staffed by volunteers. We have expenses – hosting, phone, Internet, […]

LEM Swap USA

We are embarking on a new project, bringing our LEM Swap group, an email list we launched over 15 years ago, into the Facebook era. We’ve already launched LEM Swap UK, LEM Swap Canada, and LEM Swap Australia. Today we start LEM Swap USA. 

About The Rumor Mill

Okay, for those of you unsure about The Rumor Mill, here’s the lowdown: it’s a farce. There are no contacts at Apple Computer. There are no leaks from anyone reaching us. There is no Anne Onymus.

LEM Swap Australia

We are embarking on a new project, bringing our LEM Swap group, an email list we launched over 15 years ago, into the Facebook era. We’ve already launched LEM Swap UK and LEM Swap Canada. Today we start LEM Swap Australia. We’ll be adding LEM Swap USA soon.

Apple Will Be Apple

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in nearly 30 years using Macs, it’s that Apple will be Apple. They will change things for the better. They will change things for the worse. And they rarely change their mind.

Sonnet QuadDoubler Accelerators

Michael Roeder reports: I bought my Macintosh Centris 610 way back in 1993. It’s been a reliable and fun replacement for my Mac Plus. Because I have some way cool computers at work, I haven’t had the need to buy a new Mac of my own.

LEM Swap Canada

We are embarking on a new project, bringing our LEM Swap group, an email list we launched over 15 years ago, into the Facebook era. We’ve already launched LEM Swap UK, LEM Swap Canada, and LEM Swap Australia so we can learn from a smaller group before launching a group for the larger US audience.

Best Mac Pro Prices

Apple completely overhauled the Mac Pro in 2013, eliminating things like drive bays and expansion slots in favor of a radical new design that includes two video cards along with the fastest SSDs available. For those who need drive bays or expansion slots, there are lots of older Mac Pros to pick from starting below $200!

Best Mac mini Prices

Apple last updated the Mac mini in Late 2014, moving to a 1.4 GHz dual-core low-power Intel i5 CPU that can Turbo Boost to 2.6 GHz on the entry-level model and a very powerful 2.6 GHz i5 on the “better” Mini (power hungry users can upgrade that to a 2.8 GHz i5 or 3.0 GHz i7). System memory can no longer […]

Best Apple TV Prices

Apple reinvented Apple TV in Late 2015, no longer hiding the fact that it has an operating system. The 4G Apple TV has a 64-bit A8 CPU and a full-fledge operating system, known as tvOS. It’s also designed to run games and includes Siri.

Best Classic Mac OS Prices

Although the Classic Mac OS remains useful, it’s getting hard to find at a reasonable price. We hope these links help you do so, whether for System 6, Mac OS 9.2.2, or something in between.

The Mac Plus 30 Years On

Prior to 1986, the best Mac had 512 KB of memory with no expansion path, a 400 KB floppy drive, and no standard way of connecting a fast hard drive. The Mac Plus, introduced on January 16, 1986, changed all that.

Getting the Most Out of Your iMac G5

The PowerPC platform had a long life on Macs. The first Power Macs arrived on March 14, 1994, 10 years after the first Mac – the Power Mac 6100, 7100, and 8100, running the PowerPC 601 CPU at speeds of 60, 66, and 80 MHz respectively. The PowerPC G5 came to the iMac in August 2004, over […]