Beware the Thinkbook x10 ‘Laptop’

I don’t know if you’ve seen the ads on Facebook for a 9″ Windows 10 notebook selling for $120 and up (advertised as 80% off), but if you’re looking for a Windows notebook computer, it may not be for you. And if you’re the PC go-to guy for family and friends, you need to know […]

In Search of Charles W. Moore

Former Low End Mac writer Charles W. Moore has not been heard from since October of 2017, and being a well-known author in the Mac web-verse – and of course, here on this site – his silence is a bit worrisome. I am in search of the writer and friend.

Future Operating System Interfaces: Will Apple Bring It to the Forefront?

At WWDC 2018, the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which began on Monday, the next release of macOS, version 10.14 Mojave, was announced, bringing with it yet another round of new features and improvements. However, one thing has remained forever unchanged at its core: The user interface. When will Apple — or the competition for […]

Forward Into the Past

Most of my computers were older when I got them – and much older when I moved on to something newer. I got my first Mac, a Mac Plus, in early 1990, over 4 years after Apple had introduced it. I earned enough Apple points during the holiday sales promotion to get it and a […]

My Subsequent Adventure with Apple’s 17-Year Retail Venture

Apple, Inc. opened its first two retail store locations 17 years ago – in May 2001 – in McLane, Virginia and Glendale, California. A year later, in 2002, my local store, Apple Bay Street in Emeryville, Calif. was opening its doors for the very first time. Let’s take a look back at the Apple Store […]

When Good Thrifts Go Bad

This is a cautionary tale about listening to your gut feeling. I have always preferred the look of a blackbook (black MacBook) and had come across one on a local selling website. It was advertised as a 2008 MacBook in working order, except that the trackpad button didn’t click so it required an external mouse. […]

How to Put an mSATA SSD in SATA Mac

Back in 2005, SATA was a big step forward for the Mac. The original SATA specification supports transfer rates up to 1.5 Gb/sec. Most Macs used UltraATA at 66 or 100 GB/sec, and SATA had 50% more bandwidth than UltraATA 100. From there, SATA has become even faster.

Commodore PET and CBM

The Commodore PET 2001 was one of the first three personal computers that came to market in 1977, launching the home computing era along with Tandy/Radio Shack and Apple. Commodore’s entry was unique for having an all-in-one design.

Online Thrifter’s Tips and Tricks

If you’ve got the passion, patience, and money, you too can be an online thrifter. For this week’s article, I thought I would share some of the tricks I have used to amass my collection at a fraction of the price.

21 Years of Low End Mac

When I started adding some profiles of Macs to my personal web space in April 1997, who would have thought that it would grow into something enduring? We used Macs at work, I had a Mac at home, and I was teaching myself how to make web pages using Claris Home Page. So I put […]

PowerBooks with CardBus Support

The PC Card was originally called the PCMCIA card when it was launched in November 1990. It is compatible with the Japanese JEIDA memory card 4.0 standard and supports a 16-bit ISA-compatible data bus. PC Cards may be 5V, 3.3V, or both, and 3.3V cards have a key that prevents them from being plugged into […]

Will Macs Switch to an Apple Branded CPU?

After years of barely growing the number of Macs sold, in 2006 Apple moved to Intel CPUs – and sales took off immediately. Prior to 2005, Macs had peaked at 4.5 million units in 1995, dropped to 2.7 million in 1998, and hit a new high of 4.7 million in 2005.