13″ Intel MacBook Pro, 2 or 4 TB Ports (2020)

Just like the 2019 model year, the 2020 intel model year is differentiated in name by its amount of thunderbolt ports. The awkward naming scheme caused confusion to some, when in reality it was separating the low/higher end 13″ models, like the non-TouchBar models that came before it. The 2020 model year 13″ MacBook Pro […]

13″ MacBook Air (Mid-2017)

This was the very last and final A1466 ‘Book, a design dating back to Mid-2012 with the release of the Ivy Bridge Intel CPUs. The base’s i5 was bumped from 1.6 to 1.8 Ghz, and the i7 option remains the same as what was available in 2015. The ’17 ‘Air comes with 8 GB of […]

12″ MacBook (Mid-2017)

On June 5th 2017, Apple released the third and final iteration of the 12″ MacBook, marking the end of the line for this model, as with using the name “MacBook” by itself to refer to an Apple notebook. The A1534 is produced for another 2 years through July 9th 2019, and the “MacBook” name is […]

12″ Core M MacBook (Early 2015)

On March 9th 2015, Apple reintroduced the MacBook after a 4-year hiatus, becoming the #1 thinnest Mac at the time. Most simply referred to this as “the new MacBook” during its production, before settling into calling it “the 12-inch MacBook”. It wasn’t cheap, starting at a hefty $1299, matching the cost of an entry-level 13″ […]

CustoMac: Gutted 20″ ’06 iMac + eGPU

Nearly 20 years ago, this was a white Late 2006 20″ iMac. Today, it’s fastened to two wooden shelf pieces, supported by a… shelf bracket. Modifications done: Ripped out the Radeon x1600 chip, Bluetooth and wifi antenna is out of a 17″ 2006 MacBook Pro, Thermaltake smart 700W external PSU, A T7600 2.33 GHz Core […]

CustoMac: 3.1 Ghz i7-5557u-upgraded 11″ 2015 MacBook Air

The 11″ Early 2015 MacBook Air ships with a 2.2 Ghz i7-5650u as a BTO/CTO option, making it the absolute fastest 11″ ‘Book ever. This hasn’t at all stopped users online from shoehorning an even better CPU in there, which inadvertently or intentionally upgrades the GPU also. Out with the old Intel HD 6000, in […]

Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 – 10.6.8 for PowerPC

The official “De Jure” Mac OS X Snow Leopard was announced at WWDC 2008, released August 28th 2009, and ultimately was never intended to run on PowerPC in the end. For a long time, it was known there were PowerPC-compatible beta builds of OS X Snow Leopard, however, these builds remained seemingly elusive until 2020. […]

Mac OS 9 Overview

Below are some of the key features of Mac OS 9. This information is adapted from Technote 1176 and other online resources. More details in the Technote and elsewhere. (Note: This article is a copy/paste of an existing LEM article, however, due to the errors presented on that page, it has been instead migrated here. […]

Mac CPU Index

Over the years, Apple has used various different types of processors for their Macs: Motorola, PowerPC, Intel, and Apple Silicon. This page is dedicated to all the different types of processors used in Macs over the years, their specifications, and performance level. Due to the varying numbers, performance metrics, and various different benchmarking apps done.. […]

14″ MacBook Pro (2021)

I’m getting “heavy” 2009 Aluminum 15″ MacBook Pro vibes off of this. Is it the keyboard, with the return of the scissor switch? Is it the screen real estate, and return of physical buttons as opposed to a Touch Bar? It has rounded edges similar to a TiBook rather than tapered edges of the unibodies.. […]

13″ MacBook Air (2022)

Just like the M1 Pro ‘Books before it, the M2 MacBook Air is totally redesigned, from head to toe. The design language is identical to the newer MacBook Pros – increasing the screen to body ratio, while also adding a notch to the top of the display to house the FaceTime camera/components. Gone is the […]

ATI Radeon X850XT vs Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL: 20 Years Later

In the world of computer upgrades and peripherals, the age-old question has come up time and time again: do I get this one, or that one? Whether “Apple or Microsoft”, “Intel or AMD”, “iPhone or Android”, “ATI or Nvidia”.. competitors seek to have an advantage over the other, as so to convince someone to buy […]

Mac hardware upgrades: Sonnet Encore/ST G4 1.6

In the world of Mac CPU hardware upgrades for your Power Mac G4, the Sonnet Encore/ST G4 1.6 is an aesthetically pleasing one, shaded with vibrant yet deep purple colors. Although it wasn’t a Dual CPU model, it was available seemingly for a long time, and was still available for purchase in December 2010 off […]

13″ M1 MacBook Air (2020)

The M1 MacBook Air was among the first 2 commercially available Apple notebooks with an Apple Silicon chip. For $999, you get a front row seat on how mobile CPUs have progressed over the years to be powerful enough to run macOS. The new Apple Silicon MacBook Air features 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, Thunderbolt […]

Fanxiang 1 TB mSata SSD in a Hi-Res 15″ PowerBook G4: So far so good

It’s been nearly a year since the SK 128 GB mSata SSD was taken out in favor of a larger capacity, 1 TB Fanxiang SSD. Since the Hi-Res PowerBook G4 15″ 1.67 isn’t limited to a 128 GB storage drive capacity, it seemed a suitable candidate to take advantage of this upgrade. The largest drive […]

16″ MacBook Pro (Late 2023, M3)

Now available in Space Black versus Space Gray, the M3 Pro MacBook Pro 16″ is terrifyingly fast. Almost feels like a wider, 2023 version of the PowerBook G3 Lombard. The M3 Pro cranks it up a notch over the M2 Pro, boasting even higher performance and efficiency core clock speeds, and newer, more power efficient […]

16″ MacBook Pro (Early 2023, M2)

The M2 Pro/Max 16″ MacBook Pros were sold to the consumer market by Apple for a grand total of 286 days in 2023, making it one of the shortest-lived Apple computer models in history. There are some benefits to having an M2 Pro/Max over their M1-series counterparts, however, the M3 Pro/Max series released soon thereafter […]

13″ M2 MacBook Pro (2022)

The M2 MacBook Pro and Air were the second generation refresh in an entry level Pro lineup of ‘Books based on Apple Silicon. For $1299, you get a couple noteworthy upgrades over the M1 – bumped performance core clock speeds from 3.2 to 3.49 Ghz, 2 additional GPU cores, 100GB/s memory bandwidth vs the M1’s […]