Palm Zire 71

I bought my Palm Zire 71 new. I’d been using an M130, and the 71 seemed like a great step up. I used it for several years, then in 2008, I had a bad experience where I was unable to charge it and couldn’t access the information on it. I went analog as a result […]

Regional Mac and Apple Facebook Groups

We are helping to launch localized geographically based Apple/Mac groups to facilitate local support, local pickup of used gear, and perhaps – at the discretion of each group – the opportunity to get together for a swap meet.

How Fast Is Your Data Bus?

Processors keep getting faster and faster. Hard drives and SSDs are getting faster and faster. System memory gets faster and faster. Graphics processors get faster and faster. Network speeds get faster too. So why does so much feel slow?

In Search of Charles W. Moore

Former Low End Mac writer Charles W. Moore has not been heard from since October of 2017, and being a well-known author in the Mac web-verse – and of course, here on this site – his silence is a bit worrisome. I am in search of the writer and friend.

Future Operating System Interfaces: Will Apple Bring It to the Forefront?

At WWDC 2018, the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which began on Monday, the next release of macOS, version 10.14 Mojave, was announced, bringing with it yet another round of new features and improvements. However, one thing has remained forever unchanged at its core: The user interface. When will Apple — or the competition for […]

Forward Into the Past

Most of my computers were older when I got them – and much older when I moved on to something newer. I got my first Mac, a Mac Plus, in early 1990, over 4 years after Apple had introduced it. I earned enough Apple points during the holiday sales promotion to get it and a […]

My Subsequent Adventure with Apple’s 17-Year Retail Venture

Apple, Inc. opened its first two retail store locations 17 years ago – in May 2001 – in McLane, Virginia and Glendale, California. A year later, in 2002, my local store, Apple Bay Street in Emeryville, Calif. was opening its doors for the very first time. Let’s take a look back at the Apple Store […]

When Good Thrifts Go Bad

This is a cautionary tale about listening to your gut feeling. I have always preferred the look of a blackbook (black MacBook) and had come across one on a local selling website. It was advertised as a 2008 MacBook in working order, except that the trackpad button didn’t click so it required an external mouse. […]

How to Put an mSATA SSD in SATA Mac

Back in 2005, SATA was a big step forward for the Mac. The original SATA specification supports transfer rates up to 1.5 Gb/sec. Most Macs used UltraATA at 66 or 100 GB/sec, and SATA had 50% more bandwidth than UltraATA 100. From there, SATA has become even faster.

Online Thrifter’s Tips and Tricks

If you’ve got the passion, patience, and money, you too can be an online thrifter. For this week’s article, I thought I would share some of the tricks I have used to amass my collection at a fraction of the price.

21 Years of Low End Mac

When I started adding some profiles of Macs to my personal web space in April 1997, who would have thought that it would grow into something enduring? We used Macs at work, I had a Mac at home, and I was teaching myself how to make web pages using Claris Home Page. So I put […]

PowerBooks with CardBus Support

The PC Card was originally called the PCMCIA card when it was launched in November 1990. It is compatible with the Japanese JEIDA memory card 4.0 standard and supports a 16-bit ISA-compatible data bus. PC Cards may be 5V, 3.3V, or both, and 3.3V cards have a key that prevents them from being plugged into […]

Will Macs Switch to an Apple Branded CPU?

After years of barely growing the number of Macs sold, in 2006 Apple moved to Intel CPUs – and sales took off immediately. Prior to 2005, Macs had peaked at 4.5 million units in 1995, dropped to 2.7 million in 1998, and hit a new high of 4.7 million in 2005.