1999 – I have an issue of BYTE magazine from many, many years ago with a cover story on benchmarking (along with one on a new computer from Apple called Macintosh). It’s a topic the computer industry has followed with keen interest for decades.
1999: Once upon a time there was a compact computer called the Macintosh. It used small disks, a small keyboard, and a small screen. Then a company called Radius invented a revolutionary device: a full page display for the Macintosh. Unlike conventional displays, this was a portrait monitor – taller than it was wide.
1999: Mark Twain is purported to have said, “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Whether he actually said it or not, the fact remains that statistics can and do lie. Of all computer users, Mac users should know it best.
A Limited Mac At 350 MHz, it may not seem a whole lot faster than the Revision D iMac, but the new “Kihei” iMac uses a 100 MHz system bus – plus RAGE 128 graphics and 2X AGP for superior video performance. In addition to regular iMac features, the new iMac has two separate USB […]
code name: Lifesavers Skipping right past 300 MHz and coming on the market just three months after the 266 MHz Revision C iMac, the Revision D iMac runs at a speedy 333 MHz. In addition to a 25% faster CPU, the iMac 333 ships in the same five colors: tangerine, grape, lime, blueberry, and strawberry. […]
The PowerBook 1400 was available in several different configurations, including two different displays (dual-scan and active matrix) and three different CPU speeds (117, 133, and 166 MHz). Only the 117 MHz version merits a Road Apple rating – and only because Apple left out the Level 2 (L2) cache.
So you have an iMac or Blue & White G3, and you totally love it – but you need to buy a low-cost removable-media drive. What should you get? With this criteria, you have three options: a Zip drive, a SuperDisk (a.k.a. LS-120) drive, or a standard floppy drive.
The Macintosh IIcx, IIci, and Quadra 700 share the same case design, and some users have found it a challenge removing the hard drive. That’s a shame, because the IIcx was designed for ease of construction. Apple demonstrated assembling one from part in under two minutes, if I recall correctly. You can use any standard […]
1999 – If you haven’t read Fred Langa’s latest anti-Mac tirade, you’ve missed a great compilation of misinformation and innuendo. (By now most Mac users know that Fred Langa seems to have a low tolerance for Apple Computer, the Macintosh, and especially the iMac.)
1999 – Like any other computer, the iMac, has it’s occasional problem. I’m not talking about a problem like, “Oh no, I got lime, but I wanted grape” or “Where’s the serial port?” I’m talking about bigger problems, like the devastating flashing question mark.
For the past several weeks, we’ve been buying and installing new Power Mac G3s at work. You know, the Blue and White ones.
1999: A special thanks to Jeffrey Cho of The iMac NewsPage for bringing this one to my attention: Has the Age of Disposable Computers Arrived? The US$299 WEBzter Jr. from Microworkz is one of the first PCs to emulate the iMac by shipping without a floppy – but with a 56k modem, so it’s Internet […]
1999: I received a nice note from Road Warrior reader and PowerBook 1400 user Albert Juwono of Indonesia this week.
Standing as it does, not only head and shoulders, but knees and ankles above its competitors in terms of name recognition, Adobe Photoshop is in danger of becoming a generic term for image editing software. An overwhelming majority of graphics professionals use it, and a great many amateurs as well, despite the fact that it […]
1999: I’m not alone in my burnout. I received a lot of email after last week’s column on burnout. Several writers, including a fair number of webmasters, said it helped them put things in perspective and reduce their hectic pace a bit. I’ve been slowly recovering from a few consecutive days that thoroughly drained me.
IF YOU’RE NOT DUTCH, YOU’RE NOT MUCH That’s been a common bumper sticker here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for as long as I can remember. Our most prominent ethnic group, if not our largest, is Dutch-Americans.
1999: I’m going to begin this week’s column with a couple of soapbox issues. First, the much-maligned passive-matrix (STN) dual-scan flat screen displays.
This article was written in 1999, the days of the Classic Mac OS (then at version 8.5), which was designed for a single CPU – and the G3 was then bleeding edge. We now have OS X, which supports multiple CPUs, CPU cores, and hyperthreading, but some of the problems discussed in this article remain […]
1999 – When I told my friends and family that I had just bought a new iMac, I got pretty much the same response: “Eww! A Mac!!! Gross.”
1999: Some people still don’t get the iMac. The new InfoWorld (15 March 1999), in a sidebar on page 40, comments, “There is still no floppy drive on this computer….” Duh!
1999: Computers have fascinated me since I read the first Radio Shack flyer about the TRS-80. And once I got my hands on a personal computer, I discovered my destiny. I was born to be a computer geek. (See Geek Like Me for more on that topic.)
What upgrades are practical for an older (pre-Power) Mac?
1999 – I cut my teeth on personal computers in 1979 on an Apple II+. Back then, the computer (not including floppy drive and monitor) cost over $1,500. Today, the 300 MHz Power Mac G3 is about the same price without floppy and monitor.
1999: I have never seen a review of an email list before, but I thought it would be helpful to have someone check one out to see what is on the list, and whether or not joining the list would be worth the effort and the crowded email box. I have done such on “The […]
1999 – I’ve received a lot of questions about the Power Mac/Performa 5200 and 6200. Here are some recent ones.
1999 – Apple wants us to think different, right? So, why do all of our Macs look the same?
Have you heard about iCab, the new shareware Mac-only web browser from Germany?
1999 – DH writes: I have a Performa 550 (20/160/2x, built in 14″) with a failing hard drive. I also need to replace the keyboard, mouse, and printer.
Got an old Color Classic, LC, LC II that’s just too slow to keep using? Using an LC III, LC 520, or LC 550 that just doesn’t pack enough power? If so, Sonnet Technology had a solution in the Presto 040 accelerator, which can push these older Macs to Quadra level performance.
The Color Classic (also sold as the Performa 250) uses a 16 MHz 68030 CPU, but the Sonnet Presto accelerator provides either a 25 MHz 68040 or a 68LC040 (a 68040 without a math section), which are much more powerful. But how much more powerful is it?
The Color Classic uses a 16 MHz 68030 CPU, so performance should be comparable to a 16 MHz Mac IIcx or Mac LC. The tested unit also has a 16 MHz 68882 math coprocessor. The hard drive is an 80 MB Apple branded drive formatted with Apple HD SC Setup 7.3.5.
I got home last night to find a box from Contour Design waiting for me. Contour Design? It didn’t quite ring a bell, until I got inside and saw the green box marked UniMouse.
1999: Apple’s upcoming consumer portable, code-named P1, fills the missing “fourth box” of Apple’s systems portfolio. The P1 is still about 3 months from its expected introduction, but it has been generating a lot of buzz since early December. Although no details have been confirmed, many Mac experts and people familiar with Mac technological progress […]
1999 – NKM writes: You wrote in What about 7500 Upgrades? that, “There are also some nice G3 upgrades for the 6100, although I would find it difficult to justify that much expense on such a limited design.”
1999: Did you hear the one about the two 16-year-old boys in Canada who registered appleimac.com – and have now been threatened by Apple’s lawyers? If not, read Teen in Dispute with Apple Over Domain on Cnet.