Category Archives: Low End Mac

Analysis, advice, editorial, opinion, and commentary.

ThinkPad X41 Revived

Austin Leeds,  Low End Mac, Low End PC - 2012.05.09 -

There’s just something about a ThinkPad. Whether it’s the solid build quality that gets you or the strange charm of that boring black case, the ThinkPad line manages to capture that feeling of portable, professional power like none other (well, unless you’re from our sister site, Low End Mac, where the PowerBook G3 Pismo reigns […]

1998: The iMac Saves Apple

Simon Royal,  Low End Mac, Tech Spectrum - 2012.05.04 -

Steve Jobs unveils the iMac on May 6, 1998. There is so much to say about the original iMac: Not only is it iconic in the Apple world, but in the whole computing world. Apple was really struggling prior to the launch of the iMac, on the brink of going under.

Mac (In)security

Daniel Knight,  Low End Mac, Mac Musings - 2012.05.02 -

After the Flashback malware made a mockery of Mac security, Eugene Kaspersky said of Apple and Mac OS X, “I think they are ten years behind Microsoft in terms of security.”

Signalex USB Notebook Cooler: Cheap but Effective

Simon Royal,  Low End Mac, Tech Spectrum - 2012.05.02 -

I am a low-end user mainly due to financial constraints, and therefore I am always on the look out for inexpensive accessories and cables. One of my favourite haunts is my local Poundland. People in the UK know what this is, a chain of stores where every item is £1. I am sure folks in […]

2001: Apple Introduces the Dual USB ‘IceBook’ iBook G3

Simon Royal,  Low End Mac, Tech Spectrum - 2012.05.01 -

On May 1, 2001, Apple toned down its consumer portable range from the marvelous colourful and oversized Clamshell iBook to the sleek white “IceBook” (more officially called the “Dual USB iBook”). In 2009, I took a break from the Mac world, sold my Titanium PowerBook G4, and moved to Linux. Shortly after coming to my […]

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: Perhaps the Best Version Ever

Simon Royal,  Low End Mac, Tech Spectrum - 2012.04.27 -

Prior to OS X, Apple had a rock solid operating system that was fast and stable, but by the time Mac OS 9 was released in 1999, it was looking very dull and dated, especially compared to what Microsoft was offering in the shape of Windows NT 4 (released July 1996), Windows 98 (released June 1998), and […]

Is the End in Sight for Built-in Optical Drives?

Simon Royal,  Low End Mac, Tech Spectrum - 2012.04.17 -

Ask what is the first thing in a computer to fail – especially in Macs – and the most likely answer you will hear is the optical drive. I have had countless internal optical drives fail or become so unreliable that they are practically useless, and this seems even more common in laptops (or machines […]

Flashback Malware a Wakeup Call for Mac Users

Alan Zisman,  Low End Mac, Zis Mac - 2012.04.16 -

A big reason for Windows users to consider a move to Mac has been the virtual nonexistence of Mac malware. Computerworld reported the existence of a million different computer viruses at the end of 2008 – but that’s been almost entirely an issue for Windows users.

15 Years of Low End Mac: Looking Backward and Forward

Daniel Knight,  Low End Mac, Mac Musings - 2012.04.09 -

Back in 1997, Apple was beleaguered, the World-Wide Web was just seven years old and only starting to be known outside of the geekiest tech circles, and online resources about older Macs were few and far between. I had this program called Claris Home Page on my Mac and my first real Internet account (as […]

32-bit Kernel Core 2 Duo Macs Can Run 64-bit OS X

Simon Royal,  Low End Mac, Tech Spectrum - 2012.04.03 -

I recently wrote about some Core 2 Duo Macs not being able to boot to a 64-bit kernel (see More Macs Left Behind by Developer Preview 2 of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion), and since then I have done some further research. After my article was published, I was contacted by a fellow reader who […]

How Secure Are Macs?

LEM Staff,  Low End Mac, Low End Mac Round Table - 2012.04.02 -

The Classic Mac OS had well under 100 viruses through its history, and Mac OS X has even less after 11 years. (Can you name even one?) That’s no reason to be complacent, because while OS X viruses are virtually nonexistent in the wild, there are other types of malware designed to infect Macs. Most […]

My Experience with the Local Apple Store

Simon Royal,  Low End Mac, Tech Spectrum - 2012.03.29 -

Being a low-end Mac user gives you little experience of the shiny new world of Macs and essentially the Apple Store. I have peered through the window of the recently opened local store, drooling over all the latest Apple gear inside. If you use an older Mac, chances are you are more than used to […]

Should I Run the Latest Version of Mac OS X?

LEM Staff,  Low End Mac, Low End Mac Round Table - 2012.03.19 -

Last Thursday, Nancy Caroll Gravly shared her opinion on The Mac Observer, essentially saying that there is no legitimate reason not to be running the latest version of OS X on your Mac. Here at Low End Mac, that caught our attention. Our thesis is that you often don’t need the latest hardware and/or operating […]

Good-bye, PowerPC

Simon Royal,  Low End Mac, Tech Spectrum - 2012.03.14 -

Six years after Apple switched to Intel, I am finally back owning one, but sadly leaving the PowerPC Mac world behind. In 2006, I became one the first to jump to Intel with a 1.83 GHz iMac. It replaced my 1 GHz G4 eMac, and the difference was amazing. The sheer processing speed of the new […]

3rd Generation iPad

LEM Staff,  iPad, Low End Mac, Tech Specs - 2012.03.11 -

In 2012, The New iPad – as Apple called it – got its first Retina Display with a 2048 x 1535 pixel screen. It also received a quad-core graphics processor as part of its dual-core A5X CPU. It is commonly known as the 3G iPad.

See more Low End Mac links in our archive.