There is a longstanding tech myth that’s been around for a while – that charging your devices overnight ruins the battery. While there is a grain of truth in this as it stems from the days of Nickel-Cadmium batteries and the literal PowerBook 5300 fires in early production, we’re deep into the Lithium-Ion era, and […]
Author Archives: Mark Sokolovsky
In any Mac and many devices, the CPU is just one part of an interconnected system, whether you’re on a Power Macintosh 9600 with a 300 Mhz 604e, a M4 MacBook Air, a iMac Pro, or use an iPhone 17. Mostly in the modern era, if you paired a decent CPU with any mechanical hard […]
Good morning everyone, As always, thank you for taking the time out of your day to stop by and read, and being a better part of our online community. As the website continues to grow and evolve into 2026, we want to recognize the reality that visitors will arrive using a broad range of devices; […]
As of a few days ago, we reached 14K members in our FaceBook group – 7 months and 2 days after crossing over 13K members on June 26th last year. This is the most we’ve ever had in our group ever, and we’re happy to keep growing. Low End Mac has had a presence on […]
There came a point in time where an idea dawned upon me which I wanted to try out: how would my Power Mac G5 run while cooled with frigid, outside Arctic air? I thought about it for a while, not wanting to damage the precious build I’ve carefully crafted for so long. With […]
Nearly a quarter-century ago, the second generation Quicksilver Power Mac G4 was announced alongside an updated, brighter 20-Inch Apple Cinema Display. The 2002 Quicksilver Power Mac G4 started at 800 MHz for the base model at $1,599 USD, with a single processor. (Pictured: A community member’s Quicksilver used as a Pro Tools rig in […]
16 Years Ago today, Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPad – a third category device between iPhone and MacBooks touted as being “far better at some key things“, such as: Web Browsing, Email, Photos, Video, Music, Games, and eBooks. Originally shipping with a custom build of iPhone OS 3.2 that allowed wallpaper changing, […]
It’s been a busy month back at Apple, as they’re gearing up for the eventual release of the M5 Pro & M5 Max MacBook Pros, sending out iOS updates for older devices, and just announcing the AirTag 2. The Low End Mac Newsletter is a consolidation of some recent events, announcements, OS updates, etc; into […]
I had this keyboard sitting amongst my pile of keyboards for quite some time – probably a few years or more. I can’t remember exactly how I got it, either; as I had a few of these, it was stuffed away for a long time, and I assumed it was half-broken like the other one. […]
So what exactly can a cheap aluminum Mac mini do these days? Or more specifically; a Mid-2011 2.3 Ghz i5 base model, in 2026? Here at Low End Mac we want to help you get the most out of your Apple gear, so today we’re taking an in-depth look at one to see where they […]
Picture this: It’s midday, crisp, an outrageously bright snow-sun reflection nearly blinding, as flurries are whisked and recycled by the howling wind under the cerulean sky, resettling upon the land over and over. The air pierces, chiseling the landscape as it dances, as the glistening ground below gleams with fervor. Download full resolution: Low-End-Mac_SnowStorm.jpg.zip (4169 […]
So you have a password to protect your user account, but how about passwords to protect your folders and app data as well? Here’s a neat lil’ app for PowerPC Macs called Espionage – simply Drag-N’Drop a dollar to the window, or add app data from the “+” in the main window once you setup […]
There’s a new Bluetooth hack out in the wild which could potentially hijack your headphones, potentially track your location, a hack which could wreak havoc if put in the wrong hands. Whether or not you’re an iPhone or Android user, this exploit may affect you depending on which headphones you have. Known as WhisperPair, it […]
Is a 6th Generation iPad of any use in 2026? Released back in March 2018 with an A10 Fusion chip, 2 GB RAM and Touch ID, it can update up to iOS 17.7.10, and was the final iPad with the original 9.7″ screen size. If you’re just looking for a regular ol’ iPad, this may […]
Imagine if you could pause and unpause apps on your PowerPC Mac, so it could focus all the CPU power it can muster toward a single app? This is precisely what the app Bokeh does, which sits as a Rose Icon, on the menu bar. It doesn’t always stop everything from going on […]
For those of us who aren’t into smartwatches, it’s easy just not to buy one. It’s an extra device to charge, small, sometimes easy to lose, and depending on how you use one there’s no guarantee its battery will last as long as the iPhone’s battery. I consider myself a very light Apple Watch user, […]
Something I check every now and again mostly since 2020: does YouTube still stream in 720p on a Power Mac G5 today? More specifically, can an original Power Mac G5 Dual 2.0 get it done? The answer, remarkably, is still a yes. This day and age with our media-centric forms of content consumption, […]
It was a cold, record-setting winter in Late 2009 when I was in the process of switching from PC to Mac, I decided to tinker around with Windows XP in such a way where I decided to call whatever I made.. into “my own operating system”, and gave it a kinda cheesy name. Indeed, I […]
Hey everyone, The Timeline View for our Article Index is complete – you may now browse all our articles by year and month! Tweaks will be made over time to incorporate new features, info, etc; but for now, the structure and function is there. I hope this makes it easier for everyone to browse our […]
Happy new year everyone! Over the past year our website has seen many changes, many articles made, graphics created, and more being added to the website. While over the past month I’ve been writing less articles, I’ve turned my attention back to the structure/functionality of the website. Since our founding, our writers have made a […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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! . […]
. 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 […]