Can I Compare a sub-$200 Chromebook to a MacBook Air?

I bought a Chromebook. Back in April, I reviewed a loaner Chromebook, a CDN$269 Samsung model. Overall, I enjoyed the experience; the hardware was reminiscent of an 11” MacBook Air ultralight notebook with many limitations – partly the result of the dramatically lower price point and partly due to running Google’s Chrome OS, an operating […]

Get Netflix Working on Your G4 Mac

I’ve discussed the LocationFree player and base stations before, but there is one more use for these devices that many might not be aware of – the ability to control Netflix (and even a first generation AppleTV) from afar using any PowerPC G4 800 MHz or greater Mac (recommended spec for the I-O Data Mac […]

Jef Raskin, the Visionary Behind the Mac

Jef Raskin founded the Macintosh project at Apple, which led to the development of the Apple Mac and the popularisation of the graphical user-interface. He was Apple employee #31 and left the Macintosh team in mid-1981 after Steve Jobs took over the project.

Michael Spindler: The Peter Principle at Apple

Michael Spindler was born during the last throes of Nazi Germany. The family was split up before Spindler was born, because his father was forced to work at a munitions plant. The absence of his father during his early childhood appeared to make Spindler even more motivated to prove himself. He excelled in school and […]

The Rise of Google: Beating Yahoo at Its Own Game

Before 1995, search engines relied on databases of textual keywords to find relevant results. Whenever a user entered a search term, search engines such as AltaVista and Lycos would compare the search term to their databases of terms. The pages that had text most similar to the search term were considered to be more relevant […]

The Pixar Story: Dick Shoup, Alex Schure, George Lucas, Steve Jobs, and Disney

Pixar, a company that revolutionized the feature film industry, had an obscure origin. A group of researchers from the most elite research institutions in the US eventually gathered at a former diploma mill and later defected to Lucasfilm. Their division was purchased by Steve Jobs and became Pixar, which created Toy Story and is now […]

The Story Behind the Sony Walkman

The world took a big step towards the iPod generation when Sony introduced the Walkman in 1979. The device was not particularly advanced – portable tape recorders had existed for decades – but it was an advance in marketing. The Walkman was not promoted to professional journalists, like most portable tape recorders were at the […]

Keeping Up with Low End Mac

There are many ways to keep up on Low End Mac (LEM) as we add new content, update price trackers, and continue to migrate old articles from HTML files to the WordPress content management system.

A History of the iPod: 2005 to Present

More than any other product from Apple, the iPod has changed the company and the world. Before its introduction, MP3 players were the realm of small companies with limited budgets that were unable to provide content. After the iPod, the entire industry has evolved and grown to the point where the largest computer companies in […]

Think Different: The Ad Campaign that Restored Apple’s Reputation

In the months following Steve Jobs’ dramatic return to Apple on 1996.12.20, the press lost interest in the end of Apple’s eleven year interregnum. Instead, they were interested in Apple’s brand new build to order online store, a first for a major computer industry player, and (to Apple’s embarrassment) Umax’s updated S900 Mac clone that […]

A History of the iPod: 2000 to 2004

More than any other product from Apple, the iPod has changed the company and the world. Before its introduction, MP3 players were the realm of small companies with limited budgets that were unable to provide content. After the iPod, the entire industry evolved and grew to the point where the largest computer companies in the […]

The Story Behind Apple’s Newton

In the late 1980s, Apple appeared to be in the middle of a resurgence. John Sculley had forced out the volatile Steve Jobs in 1985, and a cadre of older, more experienced executives focused on building the Apple and Macintosh brands. The company was beginning to grow complacent, working to protect Macintosh revenues at the […]

Waze: Free GPS Navigation with a Social Twist

It all started with Mapquest in 1996. Suddenly you could used that new-fangled Internet for something practical, finding the best route from point A to point B – whether across town or across the country. All you had to do was print out the driving directions and keep them handy while you drove.

What Is Chromecast?

The tech world has been abuzz with news of Google’s forthcoming Chromecast device, something Google hopes will change the way you use your TV. What exactly is Chromecast?

Mac Sales Decline

Mac sales have really taken off since Apple switched from PowerPC processors to Intel x86 CPUs in 2006. According to Apple’s data, over 90 million Intel Macs have been sold, with a peak of 5.198 million in the 2011 holiday quarter.

Classic Mac OS Downloads and Updates

Need a copy of System 6.0.8, 7.0.1, or a newer version of the Classic Mac OS for your vintage Mac? You can dig through apple.com and try to find them – or you can download them using the updated links on this page. (Apple does rearrange things, making it more difficult to find things.) All versions […]

Meshing Low End Macs with Sony Gaming Gear, Part 2

I left off in part 1 discussing the necessary steps to get everything put together that will allow you to have total media bliss and harmony on both your PS3 and PSP using a low-end Mac to stream the content. Moving forward, there are just a few more things to consider that will allow you to squeeze […]

Microsoft Word for Mac FAQ

Microsoft Word began life as Multi-Tool Word for Xenix in 1983. It was renamed Microsoft Word and ported to MS-DOS in 1983, the Macintosh in 1985, and Windows in 1989. It has been the dominant word processing program on the Mac since 1988 and on Windows since 1993.