There are a number of myths surrounding the Macintosh: It’s only for artists. There aren’t enough programs. It’s slow compared to Windows PCs. It’s terrible for gaming. And it’s always been overpriced.
It’s that time of year again when lazy journalists trundle out lists instead of sitting down and writing articles. Never one to break an honorable tradition, Jason Walsh adds Low End Mac to the list of publications that includes just about every magazine, website, and newspaper in the world.
One of the best things Apple ever did for Power Mac users was design the CPU daughter card introduced with the Power Mac 9500. Apple, Power Computing, and SuperMac all used it in their PCI models running PowerPC 601 and 604 CPUs.
Apple began selling its first computer in July 1976. Apple Before the Mac looks at the Apple II and Apple III era that predate the Mac.
Many Mac users from way back in the legacy era consider the old ADB Apple Extended Keyboard II to be the best keyboard Apple ever made. Others of us might debate that, but the Extended Keyboard II was certainly the biggest, heaviest keyboard Apple ever made, covering a vast expanse of desktop and weighing in […]
A year after introducing the Xserve G5, Apple boosted its top speed from 2.0 to 2.3 GHz while making dual processors standard. That’s a bit slower than the fastest Power Mac G5, which runs at 2.5 GHz, but there’s much less room for a cooling system in the compact Xserve. Although clock speed is only 15% […]
PC Magazine’s Jim Louderback calls the eMac one of the ten worst products of the year. You know, the computer Mac site after site calls Apple’s best computing value ever. The machine we use at Low End Mac.
Jason Walsh examines Scribus, an intriguing alternative to the overpriced behemoths of Quark XPress and Adobe InDesign.
Back in November, we took a quick peek at Scribus running on Linux and promised to give it a go on the Mac. That’s what we’re doing today.
Lauded by some, despised by others, ThinkFree Office has clearly made an impression among Mac users – but what exactly does free mean? And do you get what you pay for?
2004 – Backup is one of those things most computer users fail to do on a regular basis, and there are several reasons for it.
Another alternative to the big boys of design – and this one is free. This week The Low End Designer is taking a break from the beloved Macintosh to have a quick squint at what the open-source world of Linux has to offer designers.
Richard Hunt is a London-based freelance graphic designer. He’s been working freelance for five years and has refused to upgrade to a new Mac since then, when he bought a secondhand Mac. Jason Walsh investigates.
This article incorporates the Low End Mac Designer survey results and some interesting comments, so without further ado, let’s get to it.
This week the low-end designer tackles more typographic woes, including leading, kerning, tracking, and justification.
Spec for spec, the 1.2 GHz 12″ iBook G4 matches the 1 GHz 12″ model it replaces with one change: a nominally 20% faster CPU, although in reality the Early 2004 model runs at 1.07 GHz, making the Late 2004 model only 12% faster. AirPort Extreme 802.11g WiFi is now standard, and the retail price is $100 […]
Apple simplified the iBook line in October 2004 with two basic models, a slower 12″ and a faster 14″. Replacing a 1.0 GHz Combo drive model and a 1.2 GHz SuperDrive model introduced just six months earlier, the 14″ 1.33 GHz iBook G4 offers 24% more power than the 1.07 GHz (nominally 1.0 GHz) model at […]
Has Apple heard our pleas for a lower-cost modular Mac? The single processor 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5 knocks US$500 from the price of it’s dual-processor sibling while matching it in almost every specification. The only significant difference, besides a single CPU, is the use of a 600 MHz memory bus vs. 900 MHz on […]
Last week’s Low End Designer article was the most popular piece in the series so far. Clearly word processing is something that Low End Mac readers are interested in, but what about what happens with the text afterwards? This week, The Low End Designer looks a basic typography.
Text processing is the least glamorous aspect of design work – and probably the most important. This week, The Low End Designer looks at some alternatives to Microsoft Word, the 800-pound gorilla of the document processing market – and perhaps deservedly so.
Last week, the Low End Designer took a look at a few supplemental applications that can be used in conjunction with the major design and layout programs. This week we’re looking at drop-in replacements, and it’s Quark XPress that’s getting the chop.
2004 – One of the advantages of using a Mac is the wealth of software available for the platform. Of course, this runs contrary to common wisdom – the Mac is thought to be a poor cousin to Windows in terms of the number of applications available. This is literally true – there are many […]
It’s not uncommon for even the most Mac-oriented user to have a PC sitting in the corner. Why? Usually for testing designs. So will the prospective low-end designer need to get a Windows PC? Maybe.
Where did the computer go? It’s behind the flat panel display in the iMac G5! And the mouse and keyboard are available as wireless models with Bluetooth (which remains optional and can only be installed at the factory) – that means less cable clutter than most users are used to. Not just smaller and lighter, […]
This week The Low End Designer looks at printers, mass storage, and graphics tablets, all considered essential items to finish off the studio – but are they?
By this stage, anyone following this column should have collected a Mac or two and some software. This week we’re looking at obtaining a flatbed scanner. All of the information here intended as nothing more than examples – and hopefully an aid to understanding scanners, rather than an inducement to purchase a machine from a […]
In last week’s edition of The Low End Designer, we took a quick detour from hardware to look at the issue of Quark XPress. This week we’re focusing on software, and Quark will once again rear its head.
Last week you had the rant; this week you get the information. Jason Walsh examines the options when it comes to choosing inexpensive Macs for design work.
In this series of articles, Jason Walsh takes a look at how to run a design studio on low-end Macs. Whether you want to get off the upgrade treadmill, are just out of art school and want to set up shop on a budget, or just want to pick up a few tips and tricks, […]
How long should a laptop last?
Less than a year after unveiling the original Power Mac G5, Apple released a new line of G5 models, each with dual processors and an 8x SuperDrive. As before, the entry level model uses 64-bit PCI slots and only supports up to 4 GB of RAM vs. PCI-X slots and an 8 GB RAM ceiling in the […]
Have you ever wanted to plug a low-cost PC keyboard into your Mac’s USB port, only to find that a few minutes of trying to type is driving you crazy? Or have you ever wanted to pick up an inexpensive USB keyboard for your ‘Book so you can have all those extra keys or be […]
Nearly a year after the Xserve G4 hit 1.33 GHz, Apple unveiled the Xserve G5 with single or dual 2.0 GHz G5 CPUs and a 1.0 GHz system bus (vs. 167 MHz on the G4), providing over 40% more overall processing power. Other changes include an 8 GB memory ceiling on the single-processor model, four times […]
For the first time, Apple offered a SuperDrive as an option on the iBook, making the 14″ 1.0 GHz model (actually 1.07 GHz) a very affordable, very portable way to burn DVDs. The “1 GHz” model is often sold on the used market as a 1.07 GHz iBook G4. Despite the fact that the CPU […]
In addition to a 33% speed boost over the 800 MHz Late 2003 model, the 2004 iBook uses a 1.07 GHz G4 processor with a 512 MB level 2 cache – twice as big as on the previous iBook G4. Another improvement is 256 MB of RAM on the system board (twice as much as […]
