Like clockwork, Apple introduces a new iPhone model (or set of models) every year. In September 2012, the iPhone 5 was the new one. We’re now three generations beyond that. How viable is the iPhone 5 today?
I just have to say Thank You! to everyone who has contributed to Low End Mac in March and April. Both months you have brought us beyond our goal, and it means the world to us. Yesterday we passed our funding goal for April.
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.
The way we talk on the Internet fundamentally changed over the past 20 years. When I came online through AOL in the mid 1990s there were chat rooms and instant messaging clients. I still remember the *beep* of my ICQ client when receiving a message all those years after.
After months of warnings every time I launched Google Chrome on my 2007 Mac mini running OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Google has finally abandoned that platform. And OS X 10.7 Lion. And OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. (Not to mention Windows XP, which isn’t a Mac OS but definitely has a lot of users […]
Commodore was the third player in the 68000-based personal computer market, going up against the Apple Macintosh and Atari ST. Commodore had acquired Amiga in 1984.
Frankly, we can only think of one good reason for running OS X 10.5 Leopard on an Intel Mac: You don’t have enough system memory to run OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard decently and you’re not willing to invest in more RAM.*
Macs tend to be pretty trouble-free, but sometimes things happen. Maybe you had to force-quit an application, or a program refuses to launch, or the spinning beachball of death won’t stop, forcing you to manually power down your Mac. All of those could mean it’s time to do some hard drive and system checks.
I can’t believe how affordable SSDs have become. Last year I put a 256 GB Samsung SSD in my 2.0 GHz 2007 Mac mini for $90. This time I put a 480 GB Crucial SSD into my Late 2008 Aluminum MacBook (also 2.0 GHz) for $110!
Today’s Mac computers are amazing. They’re sleek, slim, extremely powerful, and filled with features like iCloud, AirPlay mirroring, Notification Center, and so on. So why are old Macs holding more value now than ever before, and does it make more sense to buy a new machine or a used one if the cost difference between […]
While reading through The Nehemiah Effect, a book coauthored by a friend, I’ve spent some time musing over things like a vision statement, a mission statement, core values, attitudes, objectives, and goals. It’s really helped me look back over my life to see who I am while I defined these things for Low End Mac.
Last week, I looked at whether partitioning or formatting USB flash drives in other ways made a difference, and I found out that the stock FAT format tends to produce the best results overall. Today I’m testing striped RAID arrays using the same flash drives in 2, 3, and 4 drive configurations.
Thanks to about 90 readers, we surpassed our March fund raising goal by nearly 20%, giving us enough to cover our 2015 taxes, pay our monthly business bills, pick up a nice used 16 GB iPhone 5S, and acquire a new SSD for one of our MacBooks. If we hit our $800 goal this month, I […]
The iPhone SE seems to have been an instant hit, but what – if anything – will Apple follow it up with?
When you buy a USB flash drive, it comes preformatted for use on Window PCs. But will it work more efficiently if its reformatted in a Mac-native format? We just had to find out.
In late 2015, I reviewed the budget Microsoft Lumia 435 handset. Now its 2016, and I check it out upgraded to Windows 10 Mobile.
Tired of being a perpetual bridesmaid in the personal computing world even though it’s the most valuable company in the world, Apple has acquired Microsoft and today begins the process of upgrading Windows 10 users to OS X 10.11 El Capitan.
Apple may be able to do amazing things with Xserve machines and Mac OS X Server, but that doesn’t mean they’re the only ones who can offer affordable services to Macintosh users.
I take a hands on look at the new ‘budget’ 4” special edition iPhone.
If you’re a loyal Low End Mac user, chances are you’ve heard of TenFourFox, the popular Firefox fork for PowerPC Macs. Few, however, have heard of TenFourFoxBox, a program for your OS X 10.4 or 10.5 PowerPC Macintosh that turns ordinary websites into web apps. While it does not require you to run TenFourFox alongside it, […]
Microsoft just released Windows 10 Mobile to existing handset owners. I check it out and give you my initial thoughts.
I hadn’t realized how much work it would be to move my wife from her iPhone 4S to an iPhone 5S. The project took many, many more hours than anticipated.
Recently announced, the iPhone SE is the much rumoured return to 4” iPhones. So what do I think of it?
Windows 10 Mobile might be the shiny new beast from Microsoft, but you ought to check if your handset will be eligible for it, as a lot won’t be – and this hasn’t gone down well with fans.
Until yesterday, Apple had never designed a low-end iPhone. Every single iPhone model had been designed as the top-end iPhone and only became low-end as newer models arrived. The iPhone SE changes that.
As a community-based resource, Low End Mac depends on its readers to help cover our expenses. We came to you on March 8 to request $2,000 in support to cover monthly expenses, taxes, and give us a bit extra to upgrade our old Macs and iPhones. You came through with flying colors!
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 […]
Microsoft is finally rolling out its final release of Windows 10 Mobile to existing handsets, but whether your beloved Windows phone will get it is a good question.
Last Sunday, March 13, we tried to launch a site redesign that had looked just fine on a test server. Well, some problems cropped up, but things are looking pretty good right now.
If you have an old iPhone or iPod with the 30-pin dock connector, there are some real deals out there for charging on the cheap.
When Apple introduced the third generation iPod in April 2002, it added a new 30-pin dock connector that could charge the iPod from FireWire, as with all prior iPods, and USB, which finally came to the iPod with the 3G model. While the plug and port were unchanged, over time some pin assignments changed.
If you have ever tried to network unlock a phone in the UK, it could be a frustrating experience. Well now it is a little easier.
I take a look at the Lumia 535, the large Quad Core mid-range Windows Phone from Microsoft.
With Firefox preparing to leave behind OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, 10.7 Lion, and 10.8 Mountain Lion after Firefox 45 ESR* is replaced by the next Extended Support Release, I suggested it might be time for the Mac community to develop a branch of Mozilla that continues to support Snow Leopard. But maybe not.
Low End Mac has been on the Web since April 1997, and one of the first community-building things we did was create an email list for Mac Quadra users later that year. While groups already existed for 68030 and earlier Macs as well as PowerPC Macs, 68040 Macs had been overlooked.
