We believe in the long term value of Apple hardware. You should be able to use your Apple gear as long as it helps you remain productive and meets your needs, upgrading only as necessary. We want to help maximize the life of your Apple gear.
Know Your Mac’s Upgrade Options, Phil Herlihy, The Usefulness Equation, 2008.08.26. Any Mac can be upgraded, but it’s a question of what can be upgraded – RAM, hard drive, video, CPU – and how far it can be upgraded.
Golden Apples: The 25 best Macs to date, Michelle Klein-Häss, Geek Speak, 2009.01.27. The best Macs from 1984 through 2009, including a couple that aren’t technically Macs.
The ‘Better Safe Than Sorry’ Guide to Installing Mac OS X Updates, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 2008.12.16. Most users encounter no problems using Software Update, but some preflight work and using the Combo updater means far less chance of trouble.
Why You Should Partition Your Mac’s Hard Drive, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2008.12.11. “At the very least, it makes sense to have a second partition with a bootable version of the Mac OS, so if you have problems with your work partition, you can boot from the ’emergency’ partition to run Disk Utility and other diagnostics.”
The Future of Up-to-Date Browsers for PowerPC Macs, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 2009.08.31. With Intel-only “Snow Leopard” shipping, software support for PPC Macs will continue its decline. Also, a look at SeaMonkey 2 and Camino 1.6.9.
Optimized Software Builds Bring Out the Best in Your Mac, Dan Knight, Low End Mac’s Online Tech Journal, 2009.06.30. Applications compiled for your Mac’s CPU can load more quickly and run faster than ones compiled for universal use.
Tips for Installing or Reinstalling Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, Adam Rosen, Adam’s Apple, 2009.06.10. Mac OS X 10.4 uses less memory than Leopard, supports Classic Mode on PowerPC Macs, and, unlike Leopard, is supported on G3 Macs.
Is Leopard Slower than Tiger on G4 Macs?, Simon Royal, Tech Spectrum, 2009.04.17. Truth be told, when you have 1 GB of RAM, Leopard benchmarks an insigificant 4% slower than Tiger.
Is It Worth Maxing the RAM in Old G3 and G4 Macs?, Simon Royal, Tech Spectrum, 2009.04.15. Increasing memory can make your old Mac faster and make you more productive, but it probably won’t improve resale value by the amount you spend.
The 25 most important Macs, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2009.02.17. The 25 most significant Macs in the first 25 years of the platform, continued.
PowerPC Architecture Was Not a Failure, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2009.02.16. CNET’s Brooke Crothers calls PowerPC a failed architecture, but 12 years of PowerPC Macs, IBM’s blade servers, and three game consoles tell a different story.
Will Snow Leopard Support Some PowerPC Macs?, Simon Royal, Tech Spectrum, 2008.11.26. It just doesn’t make sense that Apple would ship a new OS that won’t support Macs sold less than three years ago.
The future of PowerPC Macs and software as ‘Snow Leopard’ approaches, Simon Royal, Tech Spectrum, 2008.11.13. Apple phased out Classic Mode and G3 support with ‘Leopard’ last year, and next year’s OS X 10.6 won’t support any PowerPC Macs. Will other developers abandon PowerPC as well?
How to clone Mac OS X to a new hard drive, Simon Royal, Tech Spectrum, 2008.10.07. Whether you want to put a bigger, faster drive in your Mac or clone OS X for use in another Mac, here’s the simple process.
9 browsers for G3 and older G4 Macs compared, Simon Royal, Tech Spectrum, 2008.09.26. The latest versions of Opera, Safari, Shiira, iCab, Radon, Firefox, Demeter, Sunrise, and Camino that run on Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger”.
Tiger vs. Leopard: Which is best for you?, Simon Royal, Tech Spectrum, 2008.09.22. Two great versions of Mac OS X, but unless your Mac is well above the minimum spec for Leopard and has lots of RAM, stick with Tiger.
SheepShaver brings Classic Mac OS to Intel Macs and Leopard, Alan Zisman, Mac2Windows, 2008.05.20. Mac OS X 10.5 doesn’t support Classic Mode. Neither does Leopard. But SheepShaver lets you emulate a PowerPC Mac and run the Classic Mac OS.
G4 Mac mini, a Limited Mac, Dan Knight, 2007.11.14. The smallest, cheapest Mac ever could have been faster and even cheaper if Steve Jobs hadn’t insisted it had to be so small.
External $100 Sony DVD burner likes Macs, Brian Gray, Fruitful Editing, 2007.10.10. The box and manual say nothing about Mac compatibility, but this 18x USB 2.0 DVD burner is plug-and-play (at least with Tiger).
The Mac mini is dead: Why it missed the target, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2007.07.26. The Mac mini is compact, elegant, and affordable (for a Mac). What the market wanted was expandable and affordable compared with a Windows PC.
One year with my ‘free’ Mac mini, Hardy Menagh, Empowered, 2006.11.20. “For something the size of a fruitcake, the mini is a powerful little computer.”
Drive matters, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2006.06.14. There’s more to picking the right hard drive than size, spindle speed, buffer size, and price. But how can a 5400 rpm drive ever outperform a 7200 rpm drive?
End of G4 models points to unprecedented value for used G4 Macs, Leaman Crews, Plays Well with Others, 2006.06.02. The PowerPC G4 may no longer have a place in Apple’s product line, but that’s a far cry from saying G4-based Macs are obsolete. If anything, their value is going to increase.
The sun has set on the G4, Ted Hodges, Vintage Mac Living, 2006.05.23. After seven years with the G4, Apple has discontinued the last model to use it, but that doesn’t make these machines obsolete.
NewerTech miniStack: A great drive even if you don’t own a Mac mini, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Reviews, 2006.02.08. Although it’s designed to match the Mac mini, the miniStack hard drive can add USB 2.0 and FireWire ports to any Mac while keeping your fast external hard drive cool.
Matias OS X and USB 2.0 Keyboards reviewed, Charles W Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 2006.01.03. Two very good, nicely priced keyboards for the Mac – one even has a USB 2.0 port for the iPod shuffle and other devices.
The macmini touchscreen edition, MacMartin, 2005.03.01. How to set up and use the Mac mini with a 7″ touchscreen LCD – no keyboard or mouse required.
Touchscreen VGA displays, mp3car, 2005.03.01. Seven 7″ to 10.4″ touchscreen LCDs that should work with the Mac mini. Prices: US$279-579.
Apple’s new $499 Mac mini after a month of use, Macs Only!, 2005.02.22. In short, it’s a terrific computer for its target market, 256 MB is enough memory, and the stock hard drive is a decent performer.
Mac mini versus Cube versus iMac versus Power Mac, Bare Feats, 2005.01.27. 3D gaming is good except at highest resolution settings, but “The mini’s ‘Achilles heel’ continues to be the hard drive, which is a 2.5″ notebook model running at only 4200rpm.”
The Mac mini experience, John Yanosko, OSNews, 2005.01.26. A one-time Mac user and current Linux devotee buys an Mac mini. How does it compare with his Linux box?
Apple to honor price protection on BTO Mac mini, MacMinute, 2005.01.26. “Following yesterday’s price drops on certain build-to-order (BTO) Mac mini components, Apple said it will refund the difference to affected purchasers….”
Apple’s new 1.25GHz Mac mini – How fast is it?, Macs Only!, 2005.01.24. Performance is very good, and the base 256 MB RAM doesn’t appear to be a bottleneck. However, the hard drive is slow – as expected of a laptop drive.
Many faces of the Mac mini, Leander Kahney, Wired, 2005.01.24. “Positioned by Apple as an inexpensive impulse buy for Windows switchers, the Mac mini is already being put to a wide array of uses….”
Going head-to-head with PC boxes, Gene Steinberg, Mac Night Owl, 2005.01.24. Will the Mac mini be appearing in Target stores soon? It could happen….
Mac mini, Steve Wood, Educators’ News, 2005.01.22. “…my first impressions are that the new Mac is everything Apple advertised and more.”
First Look: Apple’s Mac mini, Rebecca Freed, PC World, 2005.01.21. “If I were recommending a starter system to someone (who hadn’t already taken a side in the Mac versus Windows holy war), I wouldn’t hesitate to send them in the direction of the Mac Mini.”
The Mac mini: Inside and out, Dan Frakes, Macworld, 2005.01.20. How to get inside the Mac mini. “Now that I’ve done it, it won’t be difficult to do it again, but I’m not sure I’d recommend the procedure to some of my less-gadgety-inclined friends….”
Mac mini vs. cheap Dell, Gateway, HP, and Compaq PCs, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2005.01.21. Surprisingly, HP and Compaq – not Dell or Gateway – have the most price-competitive models. How do they compare with the Mac mini?
Is the Mac mini worth more than a low cost DIY Windows PC?, Adam Robert Guha, Apple Archive, 2005.01.21. If you’re already using a PC, you can probably build a new computer for a lot less than the Mac mini costs, but that doesn’t doom the mini.
Mac mini – the “just enough” computer, Giles Turnbull, MacDevCenter, 2005.01.19. “The ‘just enough’ approach will be sufficient to let the target audience experiment with OS X and see what they think. And it has the flexibility to be upgraded….”
1.42GHz Mac mini versus 1.4GHz Cube and others, Bare Feats, 2005.01.18. “The Mac mini is a decent performer when compared to Macs with CPUs running at similar clock speeds. Its ‘Achilles heel’ is the hard drive speed.”
Taking apart the Mac Mini (how-to disassembly video), Smash’s World, 2005.01.18. “Somebody leaked me this video… It demonstrates how to crack-open the Mac mini’s casing, which makes all parts available to the user via further disassembly….”
Mac mini: What you need to know, Jason Snell, Macworld, 2005.01.13. “…we’ve been gleaning what we can about the new $499 Mac from loving visits on the Macworld Expo show floor and technical discussions we’ve had with a few Apple officials.”
Headless iMac, Philip Machanick, MacIntelligence, Mac Opinion, 2005.01.12. “The Mac mini is not as crippled as the horrible under-Performas of the 1990s. It is pretty much an eMac in a smaller box, minus keyboard, mouse and screen.”