9 Top Mac Design Applications of 2004

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.

Xserve G5 (Early 2005)

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% […]

iPod U2 Special Edition

On October 26, 2004, Apple released a special edition of the 4G iPod to coincide with U2’s album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The U2 Special Edition is black with a red clickwheel and the signatures of the band members engraved on the back. The special edition iPod included a $50 discount coupon for purchasing The […]

12″ 1.2 GHz iBook G4 (Late 2004)

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 […]

14″ 1.33 GHz iBook G4 (Late 2004)

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 […]

Power Mac G5 (Late 2004)

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 […]

17″ iMac G5 (2004)

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, […]

Scanning the Scene with a Flatbed Scanner

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 […]

Why Design Using Low-End Macs?

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, […]

4th Generation iPod

The fourth generation (4G) iPod introduced the click wheel that we’re all familiar with today. Rather than 4 buttons surrounding the scrollwheel or a row of buttons above the scrollwheel, these functions are now controlled on the scrollwheel itself, a feature that had arrived with the iPod mini in January 2004. The four buttons that once surrounded […]

Power Mac G5 (Mid 2004)

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 […]

Xserve G5 (Early 2004)

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 […]