In early 2004, I bought an eMac G4. It was a 1 GHz model and my first brand new Mac. It wasn’t until 2008 that I picked up a 1.25 GHz model, and I also bought two 800 MHz models (ATI ones).
Category Archives: Tech Spectrum
I have been writing for Low End Mac for just under four years and have written over 70 articles on various topics in that time, but why do I do it?
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 […]
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 […]
I recently purchased a MacBook – an Early 2009 model – on the premise that (based on the Developer Preview at the time) it met the requirements for the forth coming Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which is due out this summer.
If anyone has an original iPhone and doesn’t do much surfing, I would urge you to install whited00r on it, breathe new life into your aging (but still very capable phone), and marvel at the speed of it.
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 […]
If you are using an unofficial carrier, you might find yourself running into problems when trying to set up mobile internet settings of MMS settings.
I spent all day arguing with my fellow local Mac group members about Apple’s decision to release another version of OS X less than twelve months after Lion – and the rapid pace at which Apple is making Macs outdated. Then it suddenly struck me: Why am I bothered? I’m not going to be in the […]
The last PowerBook G3 model, referred to as the Pismo, is fondly regarded as the ultimate PowerBook by many, and I tend to agree.
Whenever a new version of Mac OS X is released, it is always debated whether it is an improvement over the previous version and whether it could slow down your machine, particularly if you are not running the latest hardware.
I had to write this, as I have spent most of this weekend infuriated by Apple and its disgustingly aggressive planned obsolescence strategy.
The iPhone has been around since 2007 and been revised and upgraded a number of times, but with the iPhone 4S being so advanced, is there room for the original iPhone in 2012? The short answer is yes. But it does depend on what you do with it and what you want a smartphone for.
Back in 2006 when Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel, I was at the forefront. It would be the last time for a while that I owned a current Mac.
In 2007, I entered the G4 portable world. I loved my Lombard PowerBook G3, but the call for a G4 got too much, and I picked up a bargain 400 MHz Titanium PowerBook G4.
Prediction and rumours have been a part of the Mac world for as long as I have: If it’s not about hardware revisions, then it’s about new devices or what the next version of the Mac operating system will bring. 2012 will be one of the most interesting years in the Mac world for a […]
Today is the 13th anniversary of the Blue & White Power Mac G3 – one of the most attractive Mac towers ever. This was in the era when Apple decided to move away from the boring grey boxes that Windows machines and the previous Power Macs had used.
If you are a fan of Low End Mac, chances are you are using at least one PowerPC Mac, so you are in the same boat as other PPC Mac users with software support dropping very fast – even though your hardware is still very capable. If you are reading this article, then I bet […]
Web browsing on older Macs is harder. How long can the PowerPC platform survive? I use my iBook for web work and writing – nothing heavy – but this is becoming more and more tricky as each month passes.
It is very simple to install Tiger on a G3 Mac that doesnt officially support it. I did this trick a few years ago to get Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger installed on an unsupported Lombard PowerBook G3, and it seems very few people know about it or can get it to work, so I thought […]
I love to mod my Mac and personalise it, and over the years I have done some crazy things. But my latest idea has gained me some very interested looks. A few years ago I painted a Lombard PowerBook G3 white and wrote iBook on it. It was a bad and quick effort painted on […]
I have been running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard on my 500 MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 for a few months, and it ran very well, but the last week it has developed serious problems, and I am beginning to wonder if they are related to running Leopard.
I’ve been using Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard on an unsupported Mac for a few months now. It is a 500 MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 with 1 GB of RAM. It runs a lot better than you might think, and I am happy using it for my daily machine. But how does Leopard compare to […]
2011 – Could Intel Macs soon become low-end too? “Low-end” Mac usually refers to G3s and G4s – or, if you are very retro, then the likes of PowerBook 1400 and the Macintosh LC.
Email has long been the principal online communication method. But do we rely on them as much as we used to? Have recent years seen a massive decline in email use?
I am still enjoying the announcements from this year’s WWDC. The details about iOS 5 sound great, pushing Apple further forward in the portable world. iOS 5 got me thinking about the PowerPC platform.
I have just become the proud owner of an iPhone 3G, an utterly brilliant device. However, I own a 500 MHz G4 Titanium PowerBook, and an iPhone requires USB 2.0. Can I get round this?
Custom firmware is everywhere in the Android world, and thanks to the whited00r team, we now have optimised firmware for older iPhones.
I leapfrog from browser to browser, checking out latest releases and trying to find the fastest and most stable version on my older PowerPC Macs (my current workhorse is a 500 MHz TiBook). But what about Safari, Apples offering to the browser market?
2011 – Several weeks ago, I bought a used 500 MHz TiBook and installed Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard on it. How well does it run, given that it is way under the minimum requirements (867 MHz) set out by Apple for Leopard? Surprisingly well.
