Resurrecting a Clamshell iBook, Part 3

On one fateful December day in 2007, my original 300 MHz Clamshell iBook suddenly stopped running on battery power. For four years, I spent hundreds of dollars on my iBook, replacing several internal components, including the logic board and the charger board. Why I didn’t think to replace the battery is beyond me, but I eventually […]

Adobe Flash Has Left PowerPC Macs Behind

This is somewhat old news, but Adobe announced the end of PowerPC (PPC) Mac support with the latest release of Flash Player (v10.2) in February 2011. (Read the system requirements page for Flash Player 10.2 for further details.) Although content created for Flash 10.1 and earlier will continue to work, anything that requires version 10.2 […]

Resurrecting a Clamshell iBook, Part 2

In Part 1, I reported that my Clamshell iBook was running Mac OS 9.2.2 on its old 6 GB IBM hard drive. Well, now I have my Addonics CF-IDE adapter (see Silence Is Golden: Running Your Existing Notebook Using Flash Memory), and I just have one thing to say: Meep meep!

Resurrecting a Clamshell iBook, Part 1

There’s nothing like the original iBook, even twelve years after it was first made. The unique styling, the tough case, and the optional built-in AirPort 802.11b WiFi all make it a very functional notebook computer. Add to that the incredible battery life for its day, and you’ve got the makings of a great road warrior […]

Why FireWire Failed – but Thunderbolt Won’t

Extreme Tech’s Sebastian Anthony says that Thunderbolt, which Apple introduced earlier this year, is already dead in the water. I beg to differ. Sometimes Apple has a better idea that the rest of the industry ignores, and it’s usually a simpler solution than the PC world embraces.

Testing OWC’s Legacy SSD in a Mirrored Drive Door Power Mac G4

Last December, I started a series on SSD (Solid State Drive) options for older Macs – see SATA and SSD Options for G3 and G4 Power Macs. At about the same time, Other World Computing (OWC) was preparing to address exactly that issue with a new line of “legacy” SSDs that would be plug-and-play compatible […]

Mac OS 9 Isn’t Dead Yet

The final release of Mac OS 9 occurred ten years ago, in 2001. Mac OS X was launched that same year, and Steve Jobs symbolically buried his old nemesis in 2002. The old Mac OS survived for another few years, running on dual-booting G4s or as Classic Mode under OS X, until the release of the Intel […]

Mac Panic

“What happened to my Excel?” my panicked wife asked. Tools were missing, and things just didn’t look like they had before. Had some gremlin messed up her Excel settings?

iMac (Mid 2011)

For 2011, the entire iMac line goes quad-core with Core i5 CPUs (and even faster i7 build-to-order options), moves to Intel’s Sandy Bridge chipset, gets Turbo Boost 2.0 technology, adopts the next generation of AMD Radeon HD graphics processors, and gains the Thunderbolt technology introduced with the Early 2011 MacBook Pro models. The 27″ iMac […]

21″ iMac (Mid 2011)

For 2011, the entire iMac line goes quad-core with Core i5 CPUs (and even faster i7 build-to-order options), moves to Intel’s Sandy Bridge chipset, gets Turbo Boost 2.0 technology, adopts the next generation of AMD Radeon HD graphics processors, and gains the Thunderbolt technology introduced with the Early 2011 MacBook Pro models.

27″ iMac (Mid 2011)

For 2011, the entire iMac line goes quad-core with Core i5 CPUs (and even faster i7 build-to-order options), moves to Intel’s Sandy Bridge chipset, gets Turbo Boost 2.0 technology, adopts the next generation of AMD Radeon HD graphics processors, and gains the Thunderbolt technology introduced with the Early 2011 MacBook Pro models. The 27″ iMac […]

6 Years with Tiger

2011 – Apple released Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger six years ago. It would become the longest lasting version of OS X ever, not replaced by a newer version until 10.5 Leopard shipped in October 2007 – 30 months later.

Creating a Workstation That Meets Your Needs

We take the Low End part of our name seriously at Low End Mac. Until six weeks ago, my newest Mac was a refurbished 2004 1.25 GHz eMac – and that’s not even a production machine. I picked up a secondhand dual 1 GHz Power Mac G4 to replace the eMac as my production machine […]

Working Around a Glitch in Teleport

I recently shared my story of migrating from my reliable old (introduced in January 2001) Digital Audio Power Mac G4 with its dual 1.6 GHz upgrade and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard to my first Intel Mac, a 2.0 GHz 2007 Core 2 Duo Mac mini running OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. But a few days after switching […]

MacBook Index

The 13.3″ widescreen MacBook was intended as a replacement for both the 12″ iBook G4 and the 12″ PowerBook G4, although those who appreciated the compact size of the 12″ ‘Books continued to hope for MacBook with a smaller footprint.

12″ PowerBook G4 to the Rescue Once Again

Greetings Low Enders! Sorry for the hiatus, but the holidays were busy for yours truly. Presents, getting ill, getting better, and MacBook Pro trouble, all while gaining some new tech and crazy upgrades galore kept me bogged down this holiday season. Now that the insanity is over, it’s time to get back to Low End […]

My First Intel Mac

2011 – I finally did it. I bought my first Intel-based Mac two weeks ago, and I’ve been making the transition from being PowerPC only.

Flash, YouTube, and .docx File Conversion for Mac OS 9

2011 – I got lots of positive and encouraging feedback on my article about going back to OS 9, Back to Mac OS 9, Because It’s All I Need. The main point of my article was that I could go back to OS 9, because it provides me with everything I want to do with a […]

Installing Mac OS 9 on the Mirrored Drive Doors Power Mac G4

The Power Mac G4 MDD (Mirrored Drive Doors) was the last Mac capable of dual-booting into both Mac OS 9 and OS X. The last of the G4 towers, this model was originally introduced in 2002, briefly evolved into an OS X-only configuration with FireWire 800 in 2003, then returned to the original design for another year.