The iPhone Air is the thinnest iPhone to-date, measuring in at 5.6 millimeters thick. The device is more “form over function”, highlighting aesthetics over additional battery, cameras, and thermals. It contains a 3149 MAh Lithium-Ion battery which is somewhere between “small and medium” sized this day in age. Having an A19 Pro chip means it […]
Category Archives: Low End Mac
- 'Book Value
- 'mini value
- 10 Forward
- 75 Mac Advantages
- Adam's Apple
- Apple Archive
- Apple Before the Mac
- Apple Everywhere
- Apple History
- Apple, Tech, and Gaming
- Back & Forth
- Benchmarks
- Best Tools for the Job
- Building Bridges
- Classic Mac Nostalgia
- Classic Mac OS Software
- Classic Restorations
- Collection Spotlight
- Compleat Guides
- CustoMacs
- Developer Transition Kits
- Different Branches
- Digital Fossils
- Down but Not Out
- Early Mac Clones
- Edelweiss
- Embracing Obsolescence
- Empowered
- Hacking Your Mac
- iBasics
- iBasics Classic iBasics articles for the Classic Mac OS
- iMac Channel
- In My Palm
- Interviews
- iOS & iDevices Articles about iOS and iOS devices: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
- iOS Accessories
- iOS Apps
- iOS Hardware iOS devices and accessories.
- iTed Talks
- Kitchens Sync
- Leo and Mac
- Linux to Mac
- Low End Campfire Discussion Campfire style storytelling of Apple finds, exciting discoveries and more.
- Low End Mac FAQs
- Low End Mac Mailbag
- Low End Mac Round Table Low End Mac round table discussion.
- Low End Mac Tech Journal
- The Serker Files
- Mac "Extras"
- Mac Accessories
- Mac CPU Upgrades
- Mac Daniel
- Mac Fallout Shelter
- Mac Gaming
- Mac Happens
- Mac History
- Mac Lab Report
- Mac Life
- Mac Metamorphosis
- LinuxPPC Chronicles
- Mac Musings
- Mac OS X Software
- Mac Resources
- Mac Restorations
- Mac Scope
- Mac to Windows Articles about using Macs and Windows PCs together.
- Mac UK
- Mac USB & FireWire
- MacInSchool
- Macinthoughts
- MacPaint and Its Children
- Matt's Macs
- Maximize Your Mac Jason Schrader's tips on getting the most out of your Mac hardware.
- Bluetooth & Wifi Upgrades
- Memory Upgrade Options
- Menagerie of Macs
- Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Moore's Mailbag
- My First Mac
- My Turn
- Older G4 Macs in the Age of Leopard
- One More Thing
- Online Thrifter
- Orchard
- Overclocking Your Vintage Mac
- Plays Well with Others
- PPC Linux
- Printer Reviews
- Reality Check
- Recycled Computing
- Second Class Macs
- SETI on Mac
- Software FAQs
- Stop the Noiz - Frank Fox tries to cut through the static and get to the facts.
- Taking Back the Market - Tim Nash on how Apple can retake its markets.
- Tangerine Fusion
- Tech Spectrum
- Tech Stuff
- The 'Book Page
- The Efficient Mac User
- The Lite Side
- Bumper Snickers
- The Low End Designer
- The Mac Pack Rat The every day adventures of a Macintosh Pack Rat. Repairing and using lower end machines for productive daily work.
- The Mobile Mac
- The Odyssey
- The Power of Mac
- The Practical Mac
- The Productive Mac
- The Review Vault
- The Road Warrior
- The Rumor Mill
- The Value Equation
- Things Macintosh
- 10 Commandments of the Church of Macintosh
- Triassic Mac
- Unofficial SuperMac Support Site
- Using WordPress - Tips on using WordPress, particularly as deployed at Low End Mac.
- View from the Classroom
- Busman's Holiday
- Teacher Tools
- View From the MacCave
- Vintage Mac Living
- Vintage Mac Workhorses
- Wallpaper Collection
- Welcome to Macintosh
- In House with Low End Mac
- Working with Vintage Macs
- Zis Mac - Alan Zisman on Macs, iOS, and other tech.
In the spirit of the recent Apple event for the launch of the iPhone 17, I decided to fire up a quick project in Photoshop CS4. The wallpaper is available for download in 4K, in the linked .zip below. Alternatively, you may click on the image you see below for a scaled-down 2560 x 1440 […]
With the release of the newest batch of iPhones yesterday, you’re probably wondering what the artificial benchmarks are. I kept my eyes open for any unofficial real-world benchmark leaks, and thanks to one of our sources, we got our hands on some new info. Links to the benchmarks iPhone18,1: CPU / GPU . iPhone18,3: CPU […]
Did you know you can control your PowerPC Mac right from your iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad? Before it was pulled from the App Store, there was TouchMouse by Logitech. While the computer-end server apps for Windows and Mac OS X have continued to float around, the iOS IPA has all but seemingly disappeared. . […]
Earlier this week, Apple perpetuated its cycle of developer betas with a series of even more bug fixes, and iterative changes on the underpinnings of the OS. The last time there was a 9th developer beta in macOS was in 2022, with macOS 12.0 Ventura. . . 3.37 GB download size for individuals upgrading to […]
Have you ever heard of the app iAlarm from the early 2000s? There are a few Alarm Clock apps on the Garden from back in the day, but this app seems elusive anywhere I look for it online. There is no search term I believe I can use to uncover this anywhere, this seems to […]
When using a PowerPC Mac with Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5, you normally don’t have the ability to use a single Keyboard, Mouse, or trackpad to move the pointer, type, and copy clipboard content across multiple Macs. . . That is, until you download Teleport for Mac! A preference pane which lets you have […]
Even though this PowerBook is about to turn 20 this fall, what amazes me is how it’s able to handle some tasks to this day, in Mac OS X Leopard. The Radeon Mobility 9700 really pulls its own weight, making 360p YouTube streaming a bit more possible whilst simultaneously browsing the web. I’ve been enjoying […]
A new industry report shows Apple is to saturate just under half of all 2 nanometer production capacity at TSMC. The report also has some notable insights on the industry now, and for the immediate future. The 2nm process at TSMC went into production as planned. . . When can we expect M5 chips? We […]
The Low End Mac Mailbag is a collection of articles, pictures, submissions, etc; from LEM community members and individuals alike. Sometimes if something is particularly rare, interesting, or unique, I like to reach out and see if they would like to have it featured on the website as well. It’s always fascinating what people come […]
Today Apple sent out the 8th Developer Beta, with this build shaping up to potentially be the final one before the Release Candidate (RC) build. It weighs in at 2.52 GB if you’re coming from Developer Beta 7 on an M4 MacBook Air. We may or may not see a 9th Developer Beta if and […]
A while ago, I assembled a pile of 20-Inch 2006 iMac parts into a fully functioning Mac, albeit fixated to an L-shaped shelf contrivance. It worked for the time being, it’s been working pretty steadily for a while now, so I’ve been thinking about putting it into more of a case. I thought for weeks […]
Picture this: You buy a brand new M4 MacBook Pro, pick up a Samsung Odyssey G9 32:9 DUHD for an external monitor, you plug it in, and.. no matter what you do, all you get is a stretched screen. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what devices to avoid and what not to avoid beforehand […]
Have you ever thought about firing up an old PowerPC Mac, wanting to hear the good speakers, but unsure of what software to realistically enjoy them with? What better use for your old Mac, than to turn it into a pair of external speakers? With the magic of this app, you can do just that. […]
This update was sent out the same day as iOS 18.6.2, providing bug fixes and stability issues for users on macOS Sequoia. Apple deemed CVE-2025-43300 serious enough to be included in an update for older versions of macOS as well, bringing Sonoma to 14.7.8 and even Ventura up to 13.7.8. . . Even though major […]
Have you ever wanted to benchmark a Power Mac G4 MDD versus a 2018 Mac mini, directly? Well, now you actually can*! This is actually a Universal app, which works all the way up to macOS Mojave since it’s a 32-Bit app. See: Download – Power Fractal v1.4.1 (160 kB – External Link) . . […]
I never expected a $42 pair of refurbished Powerbeats³ headphones to last as long as these have, but here we are. I’ve had this pair for over 5 years now, and miraculously haven’t had a need to replace the batteries yet. Seriously, I don’t know how these headphones are even lasting this long! . . […]
The 7th Developer Beta of macOS Tahoe is out just a week after the 6th developer beta. With the expected finalization of macOS Tahoe getting closer and the feedback from the first four developer betas taking shape, a more stable and legible Liquid Glass UI is emerging. . . A user may be prompted to […]
This app (in the form that I have it) can test the read and write speeds of volumes over the Local Area Network. Whether it’s selected as a folder in Finder or manually entered as an IP address, it’ll send data packets to and from the devices of your choice. Download: LAN_SpeedTest.app.zip (159 KB, LEM […]
A month and a half ago, I covered some deals which were going on at Micro Center, which applied in-store. Right now when you stop into any one of Micro Center’s 28 locations across the country, you can pickup a brand new M4 Mac mini for just $449. Or a ready-to-go (screen, machine, keyboard and […]
There’s iStat Menus, iStat Pro, and then there’s Temperature Monitor 4.96. It’s nice and simple overall, yet it gives you just enough customization to show the temperature stats you need on your PowerPC Mac. The best part is, there is a mini app which comes along with it. TemperatureMonitor4.96.dmg_.zip (LEM Software Repository, 3 MB) . […]
For iPads which have the 3-pin Smart Connector on the back, the port is typically reserved for keyboards, covers, and charging stands. When desiring proper fast charging, you’ll typically want to use the charging brick your iPad is meant to use, plus the USB cable. Now, there is another option. . . Introducing a new […]
Bluetooth File Exchange is another one of those things which remain working between a completely modern Apple Silicon Mac, and PowerPC-era Mac. I was able to directly connect a 15-Inch M4 MacBook Air with Bluetooth 5.3 and macOS Tahoe DB6 to a 2003 Power Mac G5 with Bluetooth 1.1 + Mac OS X 10.5.8, to […]
Since the last “Apple News Roundup: Mid-June 2025” article was published, many other things have been going on in the background at Apple which are worth mentioning, but may not have enough on their own to be featured in a full article on Low End Mac. This article is a roundup of many new updates from […]
Bluetooth 6.0 is the latest iteration of a wireless short-range data exchanging protocol standard, spanning way back to 1998. The latest version was 6.1, from May 7th, 2025. As of August 17th 2025, all of the latest Macs have Bluetooth 5.3. Devices with an M5 chip are likely to be the first crop of Apple […]
Even though major developments for macOS Sequoia and Sonoma are over, there will be security updates for some time. A couple weeks ago we saw a flurry of updates for existing and established versions of Apple’s OSes, with macOS 15.6 being among them. Despite how new this Sequoia update is, we’re already seeing an RC […]
There are only five days separating the release dates between the 5th and 6th Developer Betas of macOS 26, with Beta 6 now jumping over to a “rated-B” build. In terms of the development process, this means we have moved alot closer to a suitable version of this OS to become a Release Candidate (RC) […]
When a revolutionary technology is promised and the followup isn’t there, it sows distrust in the company. Worse yet, is when legitimate work is spoiled elsewhere because of these negative perceptions and experiences. What is going with Siri? With Apple, and their plans for AI? In order to gain a better understanding of the bigger […]
Now that Developer Beta 5 of macOS Tahoe is out, there are 3 new wallpapers that come along with it! This means there are a total of 15 new wallpapers begin included in this upcoming release. In Beta 3 of macOS Tahoe, they added 12 new nature themed wallpapers, including what appears to be the […]
Earlier this week, Apple sent out a flurry-wave of updates for their latest round of beta OSes, most notably macOS Tahoe Beta 5. Some say this seems like a stable build, all the while continuous UI changes are being made. Much like in Beta 4, the project dependencies and teams are working to figure out […]
When the Apple Macintosh debuted in January 1984, it revolutionized personal computing with its intuitive graphical user interface and accessible creative tools. Among these, MacPaint stood out as a groundbreaking raster graphics editor. It empowered users to create digital art with unprecedented ease. Its journey from LisaGraf to QuickDraw to MacSketch, culminating in the iconic […]
A little while ago, a community member of Low End Mac pointed out the jagged letters on the banner of the website, and I’ve thought about fixing it. The letters were rasterized and the original text layer was deleted, which probably resulted in this. I figured it wouldn’t be so visible being such a small […]
Yesterday iOS 26 Beta 5 was released, two weeks after Apple dropped an “m” build of Developer Beta 4. Even more visual changes come to the OS, as icons and small details are lining up alongside the work done with Liquid Glass. We also start to see new animations, refinements in existing animations, as well […]
When the Dual-Core PowerPC 970MP third-generation G5 CPUs came out in Mid-2005, Apple had to start using a brand new Mid Bridge chip for the Macs along with it. Since the AMD 8131 only had PCI-X bridges and no PCIe bus, they couldn’t keep the old chip, replacing it with the BCM5780. (Above: Block diagram […]
Have you ever wondered why there’s an AMD chip on the back of your Power Mac G5’s logic board, or what it’s even doing there? For higher end Mid-2003 thru Early 2005 Power Mac G5s, that’s the PCI-X “Mid Bridge” chip. This is what handles all your expansion cards! Although, it doesn’t appear in Late-2005 […]