Good-bye, PowerPC

Six years after Apple switched to Intel, I am finally back owning one, but sadly leaving the PowerPC Mac world behind. In 2006, I became one the first to jump to Intel with a 1.83 GHz iMac. It replaced my 1 GHz G4 eMac, and the difference was amazing. The sheer processing speed of the new […]

Is Leopard Killing My PowerBook?

I have been running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard on my 500 MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 for a few months, and it ran very well, but the last week it has developed serious problems, and I am beginning to wonder if they are related to running Leopard.

Adding USB 2.0 to a Titanium PowerBook G4

2009 – Despite my 867 MHz Titanium PowerBook G4 (TiBook) being introduced in November 2002, making it nearly seven years old, it is still an excellent machine. Being an 867 MHz model, it is the earliest Titanium model to officially support Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and it copes with it very well.

Leopard Runs Very Nicely on PowerPC Macs

2008 – There has been lots of talk on various Apple discussion websites and Mac mailing lists that I subscribe to about how Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is not geared towards PowerPC Macs and was developed with Intel Macs in mind. I disagree with this.

15″ PowerBook G4 (Late 2002)

A bit more than six months after bumping the fastest TiBook from 667 MHz to 800 MHz, Apple once again updated the titanium workhorse with faster processors (867 MHz and 1 GHz) and ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics (with 32 MB of video memory on the slower model, 64 MB on the faster).

15″ PowerBook G4 (DVI)

A bit more than six months after speed bumping the TiBook to 550 and 667 MHz, Apple overhauled the titanium workhorse with still faster processors (667 and 800 MHz); a brighter, higher resolution screen (1280 x 854 vs. 1152 x 768); and ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics with 32 MB of video memory. This is […]

667 MHz 15″ PowerBook G4 (VGA)

Just nine months after releasing the first titanium PowerBook, Apple replaced it with two faster models – this is the faster of the two. Both models share the same logic board, but they run the bus and CPU at different speeds. The 667 MHz CPU in this model runs on a faster (133 MHz vs. […]

My TiBook, Part 6: Nearly Perfect

2001: Thanks to several readers who emailed to suggest I pick up one of those plastic fish tank thermometers to measure the temperature of various parts of my PowerBook G4. Unfortunately, we had freezing rain overnight, so I don’t know when I’ll be venturing out to find one, but it sounds like it should work […]

My TiBook, Part 5: A Portable CD Burner

2001: Monday morning, I received a Podium CoolPad from Road Tools. It’s a compact device measuring 11″ wide and 8.7″ deep. The base has a swivel, so you can easily turn a laptop from side to side. It also comes with adjustable risers, which let you raise the back of your notebook computer from 0.5″ […]

My TiBook, Part 3: It’s Hot!

2001: Yes, it is a bit odd to own the newest PowerBook at Low End Mac. It doesn’t seem very low-end, does it? I could try to justify it: Apple has announced a 733 MHz Power Mac G4 and also has a 500 MHz PowerBook G4, after all.

My TiBook, Part 2: Migrating Everything

I got my PowerBook G4 on Wednesday afternoon, spent a couple hours getting it ready, and shared my initial impressions Wednesday evening. Then I got to work moving all my files from my aging SuperMac S900 (a 1996 Macintosh clone with many upgrades) to the new TiBook – it took hours.

My TiBook, Part 1: First Impressions

2001: For the past couple days, we’ve been hearing rumors that TiBooks (the Titanium PowerBook G4) are shipping. My dealer told me yesterday that mine had shipped from Taiwan via FedEx. They promised to let me know as soon as they had an ETA.

The Mac and the Restless

2001: Macworld Expo has come and gone, and Mac users certainly weren’t disappointed. A slew of great announcements and one sweet sweet PowerBook release kept the Mac folk happy.

15″ PowerBook G4 (Early 2001)

The titanium PowerBook was announced on 2001.01.09 at the Macworld Expo. It is smaller and lighter than any of the G3 PowerBooks that preceded it, measuring just 1″ thick and weighing in at 5.3 pounds. Construction is titanium and carbon fiber, making for a very tough, very light computer.