Leveraging Apple Design

2000: A rip off of Apple’s G4 Cube appeared at Comdex last week. While we’ve heard nothing yet from Apple legal, it’s a sure bet that Apple will throw a lawsuit at DA Computing as soon as they’ve researched the matter a little.

Mac SE/30 Benchmarks

The Mac SE/30 uses a 16 MHz 68030 CPU and 16 MHz 68882 FPU, just like the Mac IIx and IIcx. The hard drive in this SE/30 is an Apple-branded Quantum LP80S formatted with Apple HD SC Setup 7.3.5.

Mac vs. PC in the Science Lab

2001 – When you are finally able to obtain a computer, it may be that you are offered a chance to help make the purchasing decision; you may be forced to accept a computer you don’t really want – or you might be faced with accepting donations of PCs or Macs, because that’s all you […]

Apple Abandoned Innovation

2000: In a previous article, I mentioned that Jesse Berst was jumping the gun by saying that Apple was offering nothing new. A particularly astute reader pointed out that, in fact, Apple has indeed stopped innovating. This reader was obviously a Mac lover and was in no way bashing me or Apple. So, has Apple […]

OS X Dooms Apple

I think we have enough time now with Mac OS X Public Beta to reach a painful conclusion: The transition will not work, at least not well enough to sustain the Apple we know.

AirPort Beats Wires

2000: When wireless networking first starting coming on the scene, I was very against it. All sorts of bizarre ways were coming out to make my PC access my network wirelessly. I remember the idea of using your power outlets as some sort of conductor to carry the signals and achieving about one megabit per […]

Computers in the Science Classroom

The reason this column is called Mac Lab Report is that these articles will chronicle the steps I took to go from a classroom with one computer to a classroom with 10 fully networked Power Macs in less than three years – at virtually no expense to our science department budget.

The World Wide Intercom

My occupation requires that I work in many parts of the world for extended periods of time. Due to this, I meet and associate with a very diverse cross-section of society. The one interest that transcends language, social status, and background is the vibrant desire to learn about computers and the Internet.

Sold on Mac for 10 Years

2000 – I was sold on the Mac a few months earlier, after having taken introductory classes on both the PC and Mac at a local university. The PC class was interesting but very code driven. It was DOS 3.3 on those big old IBM 8088s with the green or amber screens.

Trade-offs for Mac OS X Beta

2000: I seem to be experiencing a bit of déjà vu lately in regards to Mac OS X Beta and everything that surrounds it. It reminds me of when Windows NT came out – everyone was trying to figure out what to make of it. While technically superior to Windows 95, there were many trade-offs […]

I Love My iBook, but I Miss My Mac SE

Ten years ago this month I started graduate school, and I was determined not to wait in line at the computer center or rely on the kindness of friends who had their own computers. I needed my own machine. I had used PCs at work, but a friend let me use his Mac Plus to […]

Bring Back Beige

2000: The buzz in building around Mac OS X. If early signs are any indication, OS X will be the hit Apple hopes it will be. A good indicator of the popularity of the new operating system is the demand from the Wintel side to have OS X ported to their hardware of choice. With […]

Mac Classic II Benchmarks

The Mac Classic II uses the same 16 MHz 68030 CPU and 16 MHz 68882 FPU as the SE/30, the model it replaced. The computer was tested with the same external drive used for Speedometer 3 on the SE/30; the internal hard drive was also benchmarked.

Mac Plus Benchmarks

The Mac Plus uses the same 8 MHz 68000 CPU found in the original Macintosh and the 512K Fat Mac. The attached hard drive is a 160 MB Quantum, and the computer has 4 MB of memory. Because it is an older design, the Plus is generally considered to be about 15% slower than the 8 […]

My First Mac Was the First Mac

In 1985, I bought a Macintosh 128K from a friend who couldn’t grasp the potential of this little miracle (let alone a tenuous brush with reality). It came with an ImageWriter I printer, no hard drive, just the internal 400K floppy, and a mouse! The keyboard had no numeric keypad, function keys, or anything, but […]

Blame the Cube?

2000: There’s no nice way to say it: Apple stock tanked on Friday. AAPL opened at $53.50 on Friday, dropped immediately below the $30 mark, and closed the day at $25.75.

Internet Grandma

With all due respect – what a wonderful phrase. Often used as a precursor to a negative reply, but equally useful for a compliment or a sincere statement. It is with all due respect that I write this article about my 70-year-old mother and her first computer and Internet experience.

Software Piracy and the Mac

2000: In the age of broadband Internet access, pirated software (or “warez,” as it’s called) is easier than ever to obtain and use. Many users these days are getting DSL or cable internet and have CD burners, which is all you need to get and use warez from the Internet.

Macintosh vs. Windows 95

I ran across this memo on my hard drive at work. It was written in late 1996, when Windows 95 was making serious inroads by claiming to be “almost as good as the Mac.” This was not a good time for Apple: Between authorized Mac clones dividing the Mac OS market and Win 95 siphoning […]