Here at Restorations HQ, we really like System 7.5.5. It has the right balance of vintage feel, hardware compatibility, and modern data exchange capabilities. It runs on almost everything* from the Mac Plus to the Power Mac 9500/180MP, a range that includes most of the models we’re interested in – and it’s free.
Category Archives: Low End Mac
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The June 2007 17″ MacBook Pro is the first Apple notebook to offer an even higher resolution 17″ display. If 1680 x 1050 isn’t enough for you, you can upgrade to a 1920 x 1200 screen for just US$100 more.
Ever since Apple released the first MacBook one year ago, the company has sold the MacBook with matched pairs of memory, recommended that users only upgrade with matched pairs, and stated that the MacBook has a 2 GB memory ceiling.
Silence is golden, and you haven’t experienced silent computing until you use a laptop computer with no hard drive at all. That’s the promise of flash drives.
Internet Explorer 5.1.7 works in OS 7.6.1!
Let’s face it: High voltages are scary. When someone says “kilovolts”, you usually hear “killovolts”, right? And if you fire off a quick search on the Web, you find dire warnings everywhere that reinforce your natural fears. The warnings are so numerous and frightening, in fact, that it’s easy to believe that a CRT can […]
Yesterday Kirk Edwards asked, “Where are the Mirrored Drive Doors processor upgrades?” I replied that I didn’t know of any – and then did a little investigation.
2007: Has Apple been shortchanging MacBook and MacBook Pro buyers ever since the first Intel ‘Books shipped? That’s what Fred Greaves and Dave Gatley think.
Apple did it again. Like clockwork, they upgraded the MacBook six months after its last update. The Mid 2007 models are a bit faster, have larger hard drives, include 802.11n wireless, and the top models use a faster SuperDrive. Prices remain the same.
2007 – During my time as a Mac fan and user, I have accumulated a suite of free applications that all serve a purpose for me. I use the ones that I list here on regular basis, and theyare perfect at performing the jobs they are designed to do.
Six months after moving the Macbook to Intel’s Core 2 Duo CPU, Apple upgraded the MacBook again. The improved model is faster, has twice as much RAM on the low end, includes a faster SuperDrive (2.16 GHz models), and has bigger hard drives.
2007 – Just before the Intel transition began, Apple was having a problem with their notebooks. No, I’m not referring to the lack of a G5-equipped PowerBook, but to the parity that was shared between the consumer and professional models.
We’ve been having quite a discussion about G3 support in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard in the Low End Mac Mailbag, but I think this exchange merits a bit more attention. Kris Finkenbinder has some important things to say about the need for Apple to continue support of G3 Macs in the next version of the […]
2007 – There have been a number of rumours and columns on various Mac websites suggesting that Apple could be preparing to release a “true” replacement for the 12″ PowerBook G4.
With these patches and tips, you’ll never again need to use an unreliable, inconvenient third-party hard disk driver to format a hard drive for your Mac.
2007: When Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985, there were only two Macintosh computers: the original 128K and the 512K “Fat Mac”. When he returned in 1997, there were PowerBooks, Power Macs, and Performas – each model name followed by a four-digit number. Jobs decided to simplify and focus the product line with four quadrants: […]
2007 – This week we’ve asked Low End Mac’s writers to share some of the software tools they use that aren’t as well known as the standard set of Mac apps – Safari, Mail, Photoshop, Microsoft Word, etc. Today Michel Munger tells us why he loves the Thunderbird email client. dk
Sometimes it takes a while to put one and one together to make two. In this case, the iPhone plus Apple TV equals the future of computing.
Welcome to Different Branches. For my first entry, I’m providing an introduction and what to expect from this column in the future.
How do the Intel Core Solo, Core Duo, Core 2, and new quad-core CPUs compare? That’s the question Primate Labs addresses in their latest Geekbench Comparison.
2007 – There’s no feeling like putting your foot down on home soil when returning from a trip abroad. I have the impression that this is what I’m doing by returning to Low End Mac on its 10th anniversary.
2007: One of the more frustrating aspects that still plagues me with computing is the amount of time spent trying to get from A to B before actually getting to the task at hand.
2007: Ten years? Has it been that long? Well, not necessarily for me. Dan Knight, Low End Mac’s publisher, dropped me an email back in 2000 asking if I’d like to contribute to this fine website. Young enough to have the time, I figured why not? A column every two weeks seemed easy enough, and […]
Apple introduced the Mac Pro as a fully customizable quad-core computer in 2006 and updated it to eight cores in April 2007. The buyer could choose as little as 1 GB of RAM or as much as 16 GB. 160, 250, or 500 GB in drive bay one, and optionally 500 GB in bays 2-4.
Ever since I can remember, I have loved computers. For the last ten years I’ve loved the Mac OS, but now I seem to have found something better – the Lisa Office System (LOS).
In the world of personal computing, you can never have too much speed, too much RAM, too much drive space, or too many USB ports.
As you all may know, several weeks ago I found the Lisa Emulator (LisaEm) at lisa.sunder.net. After I downloaded it, I installed the ROMs and installed the Lisa Office System (LOS). After I played around with the emulator for a while, I wrote a review of LisaEm. The review contained several screen shots of LisaEm in […]
2007: One of the biggest hassles of the vintage Macintosh hobby is loading software onto your first older Mac. To get that vintage Mac up-and-running, you need to be able to write downloaded software onto disks that an older Mac can read. And that’s what we’ll talk about: Free tools for writing Mac floppy disks […]
I had the great honor of interviewing an important person the other day. His name is Ray Arachelian, and he’s the creator of the Apple Lisa Emulator. Without him, there may have never been a way for anyone without a Lisa to see the LOS in action.
Eight years ago, when I was 11, I came across the Lisa Emulator Project. I had heard about Apple’s Lisa, but I had never had a chance to use the Lisa Office System (LOS). The reason was that the emulator project didn’t have a working Lisa emulator, and neither did anyone else – until now.
