24″ M4 iMac (2024)

On Monday October 28th 2024, Apple announced the M4 iMac, the first with this most advanced chip. An M4 iPad Pro exists and was released to the general public on May 7th, 2024, being the only other device with an M4 chip at the time. The physical dimensions and design are all the same, but […]

24″ M3 iMac (2023)

Apple gave the iMac a fresh new look in April 2021, the first major iMac redesign in a long, long time. While the new Apple Silicon iMacs are a multicolored throwback to the PowerPC era, they still retain an aluminum body with a glass screen, with a starkly different appearance. The new look changes the […]

24″ M1 iMac (2021)

The M1 iMac arrived in the second wave of first generation Apple Silicon Macs, and is the first Mac to receive a redesign alongside the new chip. Gone are the 21.5″ and 27″ screen options of the Intel era, and none to replace the larger option. November 2020 saw the announcement of the M1 Mac […]

Mac mini (2023)

Launched as an iterative upgrade to the previous generation, the M2 chip offers improved CPU and GPU capabilities, making it quite ideal for everyday computing and creative workflows. The base model configuration released with 8 GB of RAM, causing some debate as to whether or not it is still an adequate amount of memory for […]

Mac Studio (2023)

The M2 Max/M2 Ultra Mac Studio was released just over a year after the original, seemingly following its own trend in contrast to other Apple Silicon Macs. Dropping and shipping same day, June 5th 2023 was when it was announced. Retaining an identical exterior to the previous generation M1 Max / M1 Ultra Mac Studio, […]

Mac mini (2020)

The M1 Mac mini was the very first commercially available Apple computer with an Apple Silicon chip. A predecessor, Apple Developer Transition Kit exists based off of the A12Z Bionic chip, however, most have since been returned to Apple as per the loan agreement. The M1 Mac mini introduces a 5 nm 3.2 Ghz 8-core […]

Mac Studio (2022)

There was a time in the PowerPC era roughly 20 or so odd years before the Mac Studio’s release, in which Apple sold a rough equivalent to the Studio itself. Perhaps it’s a stretch saying such a thing – however, the Power Mac G4 Cube did offer the same G4 Processor and most of the […]

Mac Pro (2023)

The announcement of Apple Silicon at WWDC 2020 marked a major transitioning point for Apple, mainly focused on their return to a proprietary CPU platform. The compound effect of years of improvements on the iPhone ARM CPU platform had finally made their way to the desktop consumer market, and by extension, the Pro market. Akin […]

Mac Pro (2019)

Although the outgoing Mac Pro had a 6 year run, it received few, if any updates during that time. In the weeks, months and years preceding the release of the 2019 Mac Pro, the crescendo of silence surrounding the Mac Pro led many to believe Apple was going to axe this model from the lineup. […]

Maximizing the GPU in your MXM-based iMac

Between 2006 and 2011, many iMacs shipped with a removable internal graphics card known as an MXM GPU. MXM (Mobile PCI EXpress Module) is an interface pioneered by Nvidia around 2004, originally intended for laptops, which had gone through several iterations before slowly phasing out as a platform interface connection standard. As our Macs age, […]

Mac mini (Late 2018)

The Mac mini seems to be the Mac that Apple forgets about for years between updates. The 2014 model came out two years after the 2012, and the 2018 a whole four years after the 2014. It may have been a long wait, but the new model is a huge step forward from the Late […]

iPhone 7

The big stuff first: The iPhone 7 is waterproof, no longer comes with a built-in headphone jack, and adds Jet Black to its color lineup. It’s the same size as the iPhone 6 and 6S, and there is no longer a 16 GB model – choices are 32 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB, but […]

PowerPC 601 Upgrades for 68040 PDS Macs

The Apple Power Mac Upgrade Card (APMUC) plugs into the 68040 Processor Direct Slot (PDS) of the Centris 650, Quadra 650, Quadra 700, Quadra 800, Quadra 900, and Quadra 950 and provides PowerPC 601 power. With an adapter, it also works in the Centris 610 and Quadra 610. It is not compatible with 68040-based Macs […]

Dynamac and Dynamac EL

Thanks to Richard Savary for sending information about the Dynamac. Mentioned in Byte (May 1988), the jet black Dynamac EL weighs 18 pounds, uses an 8 MHz 68000 CPU, has an 800K floppy, and shipped with 1 MB RAM (expandable to 2.5 MB or 4 MB). It was essentially a portable Mac Plus.

12″ MacBook (Early 2016)

Just over a year ago, Apple introduced a whole new model under the MacBook name – barely a half-inch thick and just a touch over two pounds. The Early 2016 model takes the next step forward with Intel Core m3, m5, and m7 processors and Intel HD Graphics 515.

iPhone SE

It’s been rumored that Apple was working on a new low-end model to replace the 4″ iPhone 5S, and that new model is called the iPhone SE. It looks like an iPhone 5S, but it has the same A9 CPU as the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus which gives it double the power of the 5S. It’s […]

Low End Mac’s Guide to iPhones, Part 1

From the first iPhone launched in 2007 with its 480 x 320 3.5″ display, ARM processor running at 412 MHz, and EDGE networking through today’s iPhone 6S and 6S Plus with their 750 x 1334 4.7″ and 1080 x 1920 5.5″ displays, dual-core 1.85 GHz A9 CPUs, and 4G LTE networking, we’ve seen a lot of […]

Low End Mac’s Guide to iPhones, Part 2

Prior to the September 2012 introduction of the iPhone 5, every iPhone had used a 3.5″ display. Since the iPhone 5, all screens have been larger than that. At the same time, Apple abandoned the 30-pin dock connector it had inherited from iPods and adopted the new Lightning connector. This also marked the debut of […]

iPhone 6S

Claiming that “the only thing that changed is everything”, Apple unveiled the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus on September 9, 2015. Well, not everything. The 2015 models look just like the 2014 iPhones at first glance, although there is a new rose gold color.

iPad Pro

Considering how poorly Microsoft has been doing with its Surface, it’s quite remarkable to see Apple jumping into the same product category with the 12.9″ iPad Pro, which arrived in November.

iPad mini 4

The iPad mini 4 is faster, thinner, taller, and lighter than the iPad mini 3, boasting a 30% faster CPU and 60% faster graphics, which it replaces. That’s due in part to the 1.5 GHz A8 processor and in part to having 2 MB of system memory.