Mac Musings

Mac Musings 2006 Archive

• Corporate greed at work: The RIAA, MPAA, Apple Computer, and Universal Music, 12.06. These four companies are examples of what's wrong with corporate greed today - wanting money for doing nothing.
• Tablet Mac? Ultralight MacBook? Or both in one?, 12.05. Rumors predict a tablet Mac and a thin-and-light MacBook Pro. Perhaps it's a single computer....
• Why older users love Macs, 12.04. Metafacts says that 46% of Mac users are 55 and older. Apple says it's closer to 20%. Why would older computer users gravitate toward the Mac?
• Upgrade the Power Mac or buy an Intel Mac mini?, 11.30. With 1.8 GHz dual G4 upgrades selling for US$600, it might make more sense to add a Core Duo Mac mini than upgrade the processor.
• The Universal Zune tax: Coming soon to an iPod near you?, 11.29. Universal Music's CEO calls iPod users thieves and suggests that Universal will attempt to negotiate a fee for every iPod sold.
• The high-end iPhone: How Apple could grow a new market, 11.15. If Apple expects to penetrate the cell phone market, it needs a full-featured product that stands apart and integrates well with the Mac.
• How soon will the Mac mini go Core 2?, 11.09. The Mac mini is the last Mac not using a Core 2 CPU. It's just a matter of time. And how about a Mac midi?
• The MacBook Core 2 value equation, 11.08. The Core 2 Duo is about 10% more efficient, and the 2.0 GHz MacBooks get even more improvements, which improves their value.
• The MacBook Pro Core 2 value equation, 10.25. More power, more RAM, bigger hard drives, faster SuperDrive means better value, but Apple also has some excellent deals on refubished Core Duo models.
• Firefox and Safari continue chipping away at Microsoft's dominance, 10.11. The latest browser numbers are in, and both Firefox and Safari are big winners. The big loser? Internet Explorer, of course.
• Apple's worst business decisions: Another perspective, 10.03. Apple's poor business decisions predate the Macintosh. Let's hope they learn from their mistakes.
• How iTV will become Apple's 'next big thing', 09.20. Just as the iPod began as an expensive device with a limited audience and grew to dominate the field, Apple's iTV will become the dominant computer-TV interface as television goes digital.
• Microsoft Zune incompatible with Microsoft Plays For Sure media, 09.19. If you use a Plays For Sure player with DRM content (instead of an iPod), don't expect to use that content on Microsoft's Zune. It's incompatible.
• Inside your notebook's battery: Ordinary AA Li-Ion cells, 09.08. That expensive battery in your notebook computer probably holds less than $30 worth of off-the-shelf AA Li-Ion batteries.
• The new Mac mini value equation: Core Duo entry level changes everything, 09.07. For the first round, the top-end Intel Mac mini offered far more power for your dollar, but that's not the case with the newly introduced models.
• The iMac Core 2 value equation: Practically perfect pricing, 09.06. The new iMacs, build with Core 2 Duo processors, are a great value - and refurbished prices on the older Core Duo models are right where they should be.
• Nvu and SeaMonkey can supplement, but not replace, Claris Home Page, 08.30. You'd think it would be easy to create a low-end WYSIWYG webpage editor that surpassed 9-year-old Home Page 3.0 - and you'd be wrong.
• Save the G3s: The case for G3 support in OS X 10.5 'Leopard', 08.22. The last G3 Macs were still on the market three years ago. Cutting off all G3 support in Leopard just doesn't make sense.
• The Mac Pro value equation: Where's the sweet spot?, 08.10. Four Intel cores, three CPU speeds, three hard drive sizes, three video card options, G5 trouncing speed with universal apps. Is it for you? Where is the best value?
• Optical ADB mouse wanted, but who will build it?, 08.03. Low-end Mac users with ADB mice simply don't have an optical mouse option. We'd like to change that, even if it means distributing it through Low End Mac.
• The case for a Macintel minitower, 08.01. For some the Mac mini is too little, the Power Mac too much. Apple should make a "just right" model that fits between them.
• Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard': Which Macs should make the cut?, 07.19. Looking at all of the models supported by Tiger, there's just one Mac that Apple should probably drop support for in Leopard. Just one.
• Higher resolution content, video iPod speculation, and Apple's big file size problem, 07.13. Apple says movie downloads would weigh in at 1.5 GB, but at iPod video quality, that seems 2-4x bigger than necessary. What is Apple planning? And how will they move all those big files?
• Is the new edu-iMac a good value or simply too compromised?, 07.10. The new education-only iMac is mostly the same as the consumer model, but how big an impact will the Intel graphics have on performance?
• iTunes and the French interoperability law, 07.05. "Interoperability is a ruse to break Apple's dominance in the digital music market one nation at a time...."
• Drive matters, 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?
• Apple needs to offer less Mac for less money, 06.07. As nice as today's Macs are, they offer a lot of features the budget buyer doesn't need or want to pay for. Why not give them what they want?
• Myth busting: Microsoft PlaysForSure is not 'hardware neutral', 05.30. Tech journalists have an obligation to clear things up for their readers, not act as PR flaks, obfuscate things, and mislead their audience.
• The Aperture 1.1 update fiasco: Stock Power Mac G5 Dual and Quad video no longer recommended, 05.18. "The normal configuration of Apple's three current Power Mac models includes Nvidia GeForce 6600 graphics, the original version of Aperture supported it, but with the update it's no longer recommended."
• The MacBook value equation: Incredible value, 05.16. With a widescreen display, dual-core CPU, fast bus, and $1,099 base price, the MacBook isn't just a great value - it could gut sales of the 15" MacBook Pro.
• Why I will probably buy another Mac, 05.11. OSnews' "alcibiades" says he'll probably never buy another Mac. As someone who uses a computer to be productive, I can't see going any other way.
• Inexplicable Cocoa ligature problem solved, 05.09. My eMac was automatically replacing "fi" and "fl" with ligatures in Cocoa programs. A reader sent me a simple solution to this frustrating problem.
• Cocoa ligature behavior can drive you crazy, 05.03. The Mac OS is inexplicably and automatically replacing "fi" and "fl" with ligatures on one of my Macs, and I can't make it stop.
• The 17" MacBook Pro value equation, 04.25. Apple's newest MacBook Pro runs at 2.16 GHz and has a larger screen than the equally costly 15" MacBook Pro.
• How about a USB keyboard with a built-in wireless mouse transceiver?, 04.12. A wireless mouse is a wonderful thing, and a wired keyboard isn't a hassle. Why not put the wireless transceiver in the keyboard instead of it being a separate device?
• Class action madness: Applying common sense to the iPod battery and volume level cases, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 03.31. Class-action lawsuits make lawyers rich regardless of how many members of the class actually benefit, and settlements usually cost companies a lot less than they should. Here's how to fix that.
• France and the end of DRM as we know it, 03.22. The French are requiring interoperability between Apple's and Microsoft's DRM schemes. The best solution is a public open source DRM scheme everyone can use.
• What's the better value at the same price, a 2.7 GHz dual CPU or 2.3 GHz dual core?, 03.15. The Apple Store has refurbished 2.7 GHz dual processor Power Macs and 2.3 GHz dual-core Power Macs at the same price. Which is the better choice?
• The solution to piracy is quality content at fair prices, 03.14. Apple has demonstrated that people will pay a fair price for digital music and video. Offering a carrot instead of a stick is the solution to piracy.
• The Intel Mac mini value equation, 03.01. For the difference in price, the Mac mini Core Duo has it all over the Core Solo model for anyone who uses their Mac heavily.
• Control hard drive spindown with Apple's free CHUD Tools, 02.17. Energy Saver can spin down your hard drives, but it gives you no control over the spindown delay. CHUD Tools gives you that control.
• What going Intel really means for Apple, 02.16. ZDNet's Paul Murphy argues that going Intel is a disaster that cheapens the Mac brand while producing slower computers. Here's why he's wrong.
• MacBook Pro value equation revisited, 02.15. The MacBook Pro is shipping at higher speeds than expected. But is it time for you to go Intel, or should you stick with PowerPC a while longer?
• If iPod/iTunes Music Store is anticompetitive, Microsoft's PlaysForSure is even more so, 02.09. If Apple can be sued over the iPod/iTunes/iTMS connection, surely Microsoft's PlaysForSure initiative is worse because it ties you to the Windows platform as well as PlaysForSure players and services.
• Comparing Apples to Apples: When is Macintel faster? When does PowerPC make more sense?, 01.29. Benchmarks show the Intel Core Duo flies through native code but plods through PowerPC programs. Will PowerPC or Intel give you the more productive workflow?
• Mac sales off: Why Macintel and PowerPC are hard to sell today, 01.26. Between Apple's extravagant claims for Intel-based Macs and their failure to reduce prices of PowerPC models, it's no surprise Apple is falling short of sales projections.
• The Mac Plus after 20 years, 01.16. The Mac Plus broke Apple's original mold, offering expandable RAM, SCSI hard drive support, double-sided floppies, and LocalTalk networking.
• Four times the power makes the MacBook Pro 'totally lustworthy', 01.12. Apple claims the MacBook Pro is four times as powerful at the PowerBook G4. Then add iSight, Front Row, and a remote control, and it's another winner for Apple.
• Macworld or iPodworld?, Dan Knight, Macworld Expo Report, 01.11. Walking the Expo floor, you have to wonder if the iPod has eclipsed the Mac.
• The iMac 2006 value equation: Intel changes everything, 01.11. The performance gain with Intel's Core Duo CPU gives the newest iMacs Power Mac Dual performance at iMac prices.
• Intel inside iMacs, MacBook Pro, 01.10. Updates to iLife and iWork. Mac OS X 10.4.4 available and fully Intel native. iMac and 15" PowerBook leap to Intel CPUs.
• About time to replace five-year-old PowerBook G4, 01.06. This old workhorse is showing its age - missing feet, scratched titanium, worn paint, missing backspace. Time for something better, but what?
• PowerBook 1400: Dated and a bit slow, it's still very usable, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 01.06. Apple's PowerBook 1400 was considered small and quick in 1997. Today it can still be a great little field computer.
• Looking back at the future from 1992, 01.03. Some predictions made about the Mac in 1992 are finally coming true today.
• A refreshed look at Low End Mac for 2006, 01.02. We've made some changes to our appearance at Low End Mac, starting with a new typeface for our logo

More Mac Musings in the archive: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010