Compiled by Charles Moore
and edited by
Dan Knight
- 2005.09.30
PowerBook, iBook, iPod, and other portable computing is covered
in The 'Book Review. News about Apple's
transition to Intel CPUs and other Intel developments is covered in
The Macintel Report. iPod news is
covered in The iNews Review.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
News & Opinion
Tips
Products
News & Opinion
A New iMac: Why Wait Till Next Year?
BusinessWeek's Cliff Edwards reports:
"Even though Apple is moving to new Intel chips for 2006 models,
the latest iMac G5 is cool
enough to pull doubters off the fence
"When Apple
earlier this year announced it would begin using Intel chips in its
2006 Macs, dumping the IBM PowerPC architecture, I wondered whether
it might be a case of cutting off its nose off to spite its face.
It seemed likely to me that sales of its current iMac line would
fall off a cliff as people waited for new x86 systems.
"That is, until I got the chance to test a $1,799 iMac with a
20-inch display and the Tiger operating system under the hood.
Simply put, the latest iMac and its accompanying software put fun
back into computing. Everything from videoconferencing to
downloading podcasts was so easy that it made me want to weep for
joy. And the 2-inch-thick, all-white chassis and brushed aluminum
stand looks more like a work of art than your typical PC."
A Windows User's Introduction to the Mac
mini
informit.com's Paul Ferrill reports:
"If the Apple Mac Mini has you curious about adding this to your
setup or switching from a PC, you'll want to read up on Paul
Ferrill's journey back into the world of Apple after a long hiatus.
Here you'll get a personal tour of some features of OS X
Tiger, to compare them to similar Windows functions.
"Apple Computer's Mac Mini has made a lot of people think about
either switching from their PC or just adding it to their existing
setup. Here I'll describe my adventure in stepping back into the
world of Apple after a long hiatus. I'll look at some of the
features of OS X Tiger and compare them to the similar
functions on the Windows side."
Hard Drives Are Here to Stay
BusinessWeek says:
"Chang Gyu Hwang is chief executive of the world's largest
supplier of flash memory chips, South Korea's Samsung. Over the
last few weeks, he has been quoted as hailing the start of the
'Flash Rush Era.' Flash memory chips - specifically, a type of
flash known as NAND, which is used to store data in devices such as
music players and digital cameras - will in time challenge and may
even replace small hard drives.
"To Bill Watkins, chief executive of Seagate Technology, the
world's largest manufacturer of hard drives, that sounds like a
challenge. Samsung also manufactures hard disk drives, but in much
smaller quantities. 'It's kind of funny,' says Watkins. 'I see so
much opportunity that I would be more than willing to take his hard
drive unit off his hands.'
"...Watkins isn't worried about hard drives becoming obsolete
anytime soon - not with a market of 380 million units this year and
420 million next year, according to market researcher IDC. The CEO
of the $7.5 billion company says that flash memory and hard drives
will coexist for some time."
Tips
How to Reset the Mac mini's Power Manager
An updated Apple Knowledge Base article says:
"The Power Management Unit (PMU) is an integrated circuit
(computer chip) typically found on a computer's logic board. As its
name implies, the PMU is responsible for managing all aspects of
the computer's power. It controls hard disk spin down, sleep and
wake, some charging aspects, and how any devices attached to the
computer affect sleep.
"If the settings in the PMU become corrupted, it can result in
operational anomalies such as your computer not turning on, not
displaying video, or not waking from sleep, among other things. In
these situations, you may need to reset your computer's PMU.
"Resetting the PMU will not resolve issues in which the computer
stalls or is unresponsive. A PMU reset should only be used as a
last resort in the case of a hardware failure or when the power
management system is suspected. Resetting the PMU returns the
computer hardware, including NVRAM, to default settings and forces
the computer to shut down."
How to Reset the iMac, eMac, and Mac mini
An updated Apple Knowledge Base article says:
"On some desktop models, the computer's power button replaces
the power reset button and programmer's switch.
"The following computers do not have a power reset button or a
programmer's switch (NMI button, also known as a NMI or nonmaskable
interrupt button). You use the power button for these
functions.
- iMac (Flat Panel)
- iMac (17-inch Flat Panel)
- iMac (17-inch 1 GHz)
- iMac (USB 2.0)
- eMac
- eMac (ATI Graphics)
- eMac (USB 2.0)
- Mac mini
- Link: Desktop
Macintosh: Hold Power Button to Reset
Products
Low-cost 900 MHz, 1 GHz G3 Upgrades for PCI
Power Macs
PR: PowerLogix and Other World Computing have immediately
available a new 900 Megahertz ( MHz) PowerForce 750FX G3 upgrade
for PCI-based Macs including Power
Mac 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500, and 9600 models from Apple Computer, as well
as select Power Computing and
Umax clones.
The 900 MHz PowerForce 750FX G3 includes 512 KB of L2 cache also
running at 900 MHz and is immediately available for $139. With a
clock speed up to nine times faster than original stock 601 or 604
Apple processors, additional performance and software compatibility
are possible because of the modern IBM G3 750FX processor gains
this upgrade is based upon.
The PowerForce 1 GHz PowerForce 750GX G3 featuring 1 MB of
L2 cache also is available for $209.99.
The new PowerForce 750 G3 is the latest in the PowerForce G3
line, previously honored as "Editor's Choice" by Macworld
Magazine.
"Computers people thought were aging beyond the ability to use
Apple's latest advances are still viable," said Larry O'Connor,
president of Other World Computing, master distributor for
PowerLogix. "Even without using software like XPostFacto to use
Apple's Tiger OS, this upgrade makes applications running under OS
8.6 to OS 9.2.2 fly like never before. If it's not broke, don't
need to fix it or replace it. But you can buy one of these upgrades
to get a whole lot more from it."
The PowerForce 750 G3 upgrades also include a built-in fan sink
to aid CPU cooling, fail-safe protection circuitry, CPU Director
software and compatibility with add-on PCI cards.
Online ordering and more information on this new PowerLogix G3
upgrade are available online.
Kano X-Spand Pro eSATA Desktop Storage
Solution
PR: The new X-Spand Pro eSATA Storage System is the next
step in the evolution of performance enhanced desktop storage.
X-Spand Pro allows users to add up to 800 GB of high performance
serial ATA hard disk storage to virtually any Mac or Windows PC
with a serial ATA host adapter. X-Spand Pro is a simple and
affordable solution for uncompressed pro-video storage and
performance demanding backup for small business. With the removable
drive trays, the X-Spand Pro allows users to expand storage
hardware as their needs grow. The 'cable-less' drive expansion
trays make hot-swapping hard drives effortless. With its remarkably
compact footprint, the X-Spand Pro Storage System can be discretely
integrated into any office or desktop environment
Performance Driven
Serial ATA performance is now external for both Mac and PC.
eSATA provides up to 6x the performance of existing FireWire and
USB solutions and is hot pluggable. With up to 150 MB/s per SATA
channel, the X-Spand Pro commands SCSI storage level performance
but at a more cost-effective price per gigabyte. The X-Spand Pro
can be striped RAID-0 to support multi- stream DV, DVCAM, and
Standard Definition (SD) uncompressed video or RAID-1 for mirrored
drive redundancy for backup. With a huge 800 GB desktop capacity,
the X-Spand Pro also brings high performance versatility to small
business backup with short backup and recovery windows. Because the
X-Spand Pro hard drives act as independent drive volumes, the users
decide how to configure the storage system based on their specific
storage needs. The X-Spand Pro Storage will spark a revolution in
desktop storage possibilities.
Suggested retail price: $599
Desktop Mac
Deals
Low End Mac updates the following price trackers every two
weeks:
For deals on laptops, see our Best
Aluminum PowerBook G4 Deals, Best
Titanium PowerBook G4 Deals, Best
iBook G4 Deals, and Best White iBook
G3 Deals. For deals on iPods, see our Best iPod Deals.
