In this modern age of multicore processors and gigabytes of RAM, I began wondering how low-end of a computer I could get away with using in 2014.
The PowerBook 2000 (FireWire), a.k.a. Pismo, is the Energizer Bunny of Apple notebooks. It just goes on and on and on, with many owners of these now machines still using them as their main workhorse computers.
The Lombard PowerBook G3 (officially the PowerBook G3 Bronze Keyboard) was rolled out on May 10, 1999 – exactly a year after the first WallStreet iteration of Apple’s PowerBook G3 Series laptop line debuted, also at the Worldwide Developers’ Conference (WWDC). While the Lombard superficially looks similar to the WallStreet family, it had taken a […]
Apple got a lot of mileage out of the PowerBook G3 nomenclature – some might argue more than they should have attempted to.
This Compleat Guide installment might well be named the Short and Sweet Guide to the Original PowerBook G3, since it only covers one model with a single revision that was in production for less than six months.
Back in 2003, the 12″ Little Al PowerBook represented one of the most convincing smash-hit model introductions in Apple history. Sharing much of the general layout, engineering, and the 12″ display of the 12″ iBook, the baby PowerBook added an aluminum housing and G4 power – plus most (but not all) of the usual slate of […]
Apple’s 17″ PowerBook G4, announced at Macworld Expo in January 2003, essentially eliminated any reason other than lower cost for owning a desktop computer for most of Mac users. With that big screen, plenty of speed, and an inventory of features undreamed of even in high-end desktops only a handful of years prior, this PowerBook […]
In early 2013, I reviewed the Mophie Juice Pack Plus for the iPhone 4 and 4s. I take another look at it and this time see how it performs under iOS 7.
The 15″ PowerBook (or AlBook) was rolled out by Steve Jobs at Macworld Paris in September 2003. After eight months of anticipation following the release of the 17″ and 12″ aluminum PowerBooks in January of 2003, it turned out to be pretty much what PowerBook fans had been hoping for and expecting.
In its day, the Titanium PowerBook G4 (or TiBook) was the most successful PowerBook sales-wise Apple had ever offered. Built from January 2001 to September 2003 in the same form factor, at the time it was the longest-running PowerBook model. Or was it?
I very much enjoyed reading Carl Nygren’s 2008 column, Graphite Clamshell iMac Still a Real Eye Catcher and Useful Tool about his Graphite clamshell iBook SE. Wow! A cherry clamshell complete with built-in DVD drive, manuals, and CD for fifty bucks. I’m envious.
Way back in the earliest days of the Macintosh, Apple did something very clever. In addition to standard OS calls for disk access and standard graphic routines every programmer could use, Apple adopted standard keyboard commands and recommended they be used in every app.
Looking ahead at what 2014 and 2015 could bring for iPhone and iOS users, here are my thoughts.
Back in 1997, when Low End Mac was getting started, Apple’s future was anything but certain. Could it find a white knight to come in and rescue the brand? Would Steve Jobs be able to keep the “beleaguered” company afloat?
Microsoft is to end extended support for Windows XP in April 2014, but with so many people still hanging on to the decade old OS, what are their options?
I’m not a fan of Windows, and after a lot of headaches with the computer my children use over the past few months, I decided to switch them to Ubuntu and see how they get on. Good-bye, Microsoft?
As Mac popularity grows so does the interest in developing threats for the platform, and while it is far more secure than Windows, it’s not 100% safe. Do we need to think about Mac anti-virus?
MacWrite was bundled with the original Macintosh and was the Mac’s default word processing program. MacWrite was developed by Randy Wigginton, Ed Ruder, and Don Breuner of Encore Systems. It defined the WYSIWYG word processing category and continued as freeware through version 5.0.
We all get nostalgic about certain things. For some, it’s the first car. And sometimes, it’s the first Macintosh.
When Apple released the iPhone 5, it came with a new design of earphones called EarPods. I recently bought a pair – but are they worth their money?
I had a friend, Michael. We’d played music together in a local band, but by day he was a camera-person at a Vancouver TV station. He’d gotten a Mac early in 1984, pretty much as soon as they became available in Canada. He’d demo’ed it to me, and while I thought it was pretty neat, […]
Over the summer of 1997, Apple brought the era of authorized Macintosh clones to an end to keep Apple solvent.*
Apple became a household name in the third quarter of SuperBowl XVIII when it aired the enormously popular 1984 ad promoting the upcoming release of the Macintosh.
This article was originally published on 2001.05.29 and is adapted from a series of articles and sidebars in the February 1984 issue of Byte magazine. Although some of the details included in this article are specific to the original Mac, many also apply to other compact Macs, such as the Plus, SE, SE/30, Classic, and Classic II.
My road to the Mac has been a long one. While some of my earliest experiences with computers were on a Macintosh, it would take another 15 years before I would come to own one myself. Along the way I would discover a passion for computers and technology that continues to this day.
Almost everyone complains about the cost of cable and satellite TV, but few actually takes the steps necessary to ditch those overpriced services and use their internet connection to fill the void. That’s our goal in this series of articles.
A lot of people go on and on about how “great” their PS4 is or their Xbox one, and many of these people missed the start of it all! The Commodore, the Sinclair Spectrum, the Atari, etc. It’s when computers started becoming more interesting and fun to use, when you were eager to actually get […]
Many people describe their first experience of using an Apple computer as “uplifting”, “simple”, and “straightforward”, but despite being a die-hard Mac user now, I found it very different.
Sending files back and forth via Bluetooth has been common for over 10 years, but it has always been missing from the iPhone despite supporting Bluetooth for audio headsets. AirBlue offers a superb solution.
In 2008 I wrote a short article for Low End Mac; little did I know it would spark a regular column, over 100 more articles, and strengthen my love of all things Apple. In 2014 I am still hooked on Macs and reminisce about my first Mac.
In iOS 7 Apple decided to remove one of the most handy features of iOS 5 and 6, the Tap to option for quick posting to Twitter/Facebook. But a jailbreak tweak brings it back.
Cutting the cable (or ditching the dish) can be a great way to save money. A lot of great content is accessible via the Internet, from sources like YouTube, Netflix, iTunes, and others. But there may be times when you’ll miss your local channels, whether for emergency news and notifications or just local programming. If […]
Apple introduced its first G4 notebook, the Titanium PowerBook (TiBook), in January 2001; the last one was discontinued in Sept. 2003 and replaced by the 15″ aluminum PowerBook G4. All titanium models have 15.2″ displays, two USB 1.1 ports, FireWire 400, one CardBus slot, room for an 802.11b AirPort Card (not the newer 802.11g AirPort […]
The Power Mac G4 offers a lot of power, expandability (3-4 PCI slots and several drive bays), and upgradability (1.5 to 2.0 GB maximum RAM) with prices starting as low as $60.
Your best bet G4 iMacs are the last generation models (1 GHz 15″, 1.25 GHz 17″ and 20″ models), which have better video, support 2 GB of memory, and are the only G4 iMacs to include USB 2.0 ports. (Whether you’re looking at flash drives, scanners, printers, iPods, iPhones, or almost anything but keyboards and […]
