May 2006: Back when I was 13 years old, I wrote an article for Low End Mac called Guide to P1 Features (1999.02.24). The article was just me being excited about the rumored Apple iBook (codenamed P1), and I talked about what I thought Apple might release.
Author Archives: Paulo Rodrigues
This is my guide to Macs that you probably don’t see every day and that might be worth more than the average Mac a few decades from now. Many of them are very solid systems and are rare for reasons other than their design, while several others are Road Apples.
2001: When Apple introduced built-in ethernet, the port Apple standardized on wasn’t the regular “wide-phone-jack” connector used for 10Base-T ethernet on today’s systems. Instead, it was a proprietary new connector called AAUI, a combination port that supported both 10Base-T and the then-popular 10Base-2 Ethernet (a.k.a. Thin Net) – the catch was that you needed to […]
2001 – Apple’s desktop computers began to include Harman/Kardon speakers in October 1999, when Harman/Kardon’s brand-new Odyssey digital speakers were included with the new slot-loading iMacs.
2001: Apple has been making CRT monitors since the late 1970s. Their last model, the Apple 17″ Studio Display with ADC, ended the line of perennially pricey displays with a myriad of off-the-wall features and ever-changing proprietary connectors. Yet there probably hasn’t been one model that somebody doesn’t love.
2001: The “Read Before You Install” document on the Mac OS X install CD says that installing Mac OS X on a FireWire or USB drive is unsupported. That means it doesn’t work, right?
A senior programmer high in Microsoft’s Windows XP development team has written me with details on many additional improvements WinXP packs that were previously unknown to testers of XP Beta 2. The focus of the email was on the bugs in XP Beta 2.
Got a Mac in your bedroom? Great – you can use it as an alarm clock! Here’s how to do it.
2001: The trackpad was launched by Apple in May 1994 as a replacement for the much-lauded trackball in its PowerBooks. It has been implemented in every subsequent Mac portable. It was used in lieu of a mouse in the Twentieth Anniversary Mac and is also used by the majority of PC notebooks now in production. […]
2001: Melonsoft’s Cabrio is a new and innovative Mac-only MP3 audio player.
Our Fair Computer Company has released some quirky yet useful features in its computer systems and OS, and then advertised them very little – if at all. Apple’s SCSI Disk Mode and it’s modernized offspring, FireWire Target Disk Mode, are excellent examples.
2000: Author’s Note: This article is purely speculative – no John Does or rumor sites were involved its writing. This is solely based on what the author hopes Apple could have in the works.
2000: The new iBook SE has a new feature called processor speed-stepping. Working similarly to the technology that prevents Mobile Pentium IIIs from running down notebook PC batteries too quickly, it allows you to slow down the G3 processor from 466 to 366 MHz, the same speed as the base model.
2000: To get feedback on a product in development or to get a new version of a program out early, software developers often release a “public beta” version of the program.
2000: Being a Low End Mac reader, you’ve probably also been to the numerous articles on other Mac advocacy sites whose stories are linked to in the Around The Web section of the home page.
2000: We all know that the Newton, once Apple got all the kinks out, was a fantastic platform. And we all know that Palm, despite it’s numerous former Apple developers, doesn’t have such great Mac support. And we know that the Palm OS allows for competitive models from other manufacturers – the Handspring Visor is […]
June 2000: Since it’s unlikely that you spent the last few months in self-hypnosis by swinging your mouse back and forth, you probably heard that ATI leaked information about Apple’s new products before Apple announced them. And you probably heard that Apple “punished” ATI by removing all mention of their new Radeon chipset and using […]
2000: Apple’s newly released USB Printer Sharing 1.0 has a revolutionary new feature for non-networkable USB printers: It allows them to be networked! But wasn’t there something like this a few years ago?
2000: Apple’s use of easy-to-use (and downright cool) slot-loading CD- and DVD-ROM drives in their iMac line shows that Apple has come a long way since using those awful CD caddies on their early CD drives. Those frustrating and easy to lose caddies actually helped Apple sell the smart but lethargic PowerCD, which was a […]
2000: Slashdot is a fantastic source for Linux news and a variety of other user-posted topics. One of the biggest independent computer news sites on the Internet, it has among the best implementation of technology, while keeping a very simple and quick-loading layout. However, it has one largely unnoticed weakness: Its Apple news.
Apple’s slot-loading iMac has arguably the best audio system available since the 20th Anniversary Macintosh. Engineered for three years by Harman/Kardon and utilizing rare-earth magnets, the Odyssey speakers provide unparalleled clarity and frequency response.
2000: You want to know how to make your old computer faster than it was when you bought it? Just erase everything on your hard disk!
What is Compaq thinking these days? The world’s biggest computer company, world renowned for its cheaply built computers sometimes lacking a plastic case, which we all know is the best way to make them, has suddenly turned to a bizarre concept…
2000: Apple’s computers and other products have been grossly underrepresented by PC reviewers since before PCs were called “IBM compatibles” (remember that?). When they do get around to discussing or reviewing Apple products, they barely mention the products – or the article seems like a report from Mac Bash Fest 2000.
2000: Apple’s new breed of yet-to-be-announced “beyond-the-box” computers – which don’t fall into the four main categories of professional and consumer desktop systems and portables – will bring big changes to Apple’s marketing strategy.
New PCs from manufacturers like Compaq, Sony, and Gateway have gained some stylish design elements. Even the horrid eOne, with its copycat design and limited upgradeability (limited by how big a sledgehammer you have), looks better than a beige metal box.
The Apple USB Mouse has been criticized for its diminutive size and hockey-puck shape. Numerous reviewers have rated the pointing device unfavorably stating to the tune of: “it is too small to be comfortable” or “it’s too easy to unknowingly turn it sideways.” However, I believe that the Apple design team did an excellent job.
1999: The iBook is the number-one selling notebook, and it has helped push Apple’s notebook market share to 11%. The new iMac is the evolutionary and ridiculously popular redesigned version of the revolutionary and ridiculously popular iMac. Why would Paulo Rodrigues (that’s me!) choose the Tangerine iMac DV over the Tangerine iBook?
1999.11: One of the new iMac’s best improvements is the new Harman/Kardon Odyssey sound system, which was three years in the making. It’s this easily overlooked feature that makes the new iMac really stand out from its hushed relatives, not to mention it’s PC competitors.
In case you don’t remember, Voom is the stuff under Little Cat Z’s hat in The Cat In The Hat Comes Back by Dr. Seuss. It cleaned up all the snow and turned it back to its original snow white color. “So what?” you might ask. “What does that have to do with computer sales?”
