Low End Mac: Worth It!

Featured link: A place for the Classic Mac OS in the Age of Snow Leopard, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 10.19. Mac OS 9 has been out of production for nine years, but for basic tasks, such as word processing and email, it provides plenty of power.
Mac of the Day: 14" iBook G3/600 MHz, Jan. 2002 - The first 14" iBook ran at a comfortable 600 MHz.
Group of the Day: iMac List is the first and best list for iMac users, G3 through Intel.
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Newest Content

IDE Is Dead; Long Live SATA!: Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.04; SATA has displaced parallel ATA. While IDE hard drives haven't disappeared, the best deals are in SATA hard drives.
QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily: Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 11.04; The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
November 5 in LEM history: 01: iPod more than an MP3 player - The Apple Store - 02: Care for a Mac Plus - Top 10 ways not to get hired - Unsolved mysteries of the Internet - 04: Seeing iBook G4 is believing - 07: I can no longer move files using Mac OS X - Leopard on Pismo - Dell's 802.11g card for PowerBooks
Razer Orochi: One of the Nicest Mice I've Ever Used: Charles W. Moore, 'Book Value, 11.03; The author detests the trackpad on the 17" PowerBook. This notebook gaming mouse is an absolute pleasure to use.
Multiroom Audio with iTunes: Adam Rosen, Adam's Apple, 11.03; Apple's iTunes software makes it easy to stream audio to another room. All you need is the right hardware and sometimes an extra app.
Google Chrome Mac Preview Has Made a Convert: Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.02; Officially a developer preview, Google's Chrome has finally made it to Intel-based Macs. It's fast, elegant, and could be your next browser.
The Future of Personal Computing: Personal Servers and Low Cost Portables: Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.02; With WiFi everywhere, virtual network computing, and remote access, your iPhone, iTouch, iTablet, or MacBook Air becomes a gateway to your home or office computer.
More links in our editorial archive.

Recent Deals

Best Mac Pro Deals (11.03): Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
Best iPhone Deals (11.03): New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals (11.03): Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals (11.02): Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals (11.02): Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals (11.02): Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
Best Mac mini Deals (10.30): Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
Best G4 iBook Deals (10.30): Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
Best Classic Mac OS Deals (10.30): System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
More deals in our archive.

Around the Web

History: Lisa Earns Her Loyalty, Adam Rosen, Vintage Mac Museum, 10.30. "I'm finding that a Lisa can be like an ailing older family member: someone you love and respect, but as they age the relationship can get stressful."
Software: Optimized Firefox Mac Builds, Furbism, 10.31. PowerPC G3, G4, G5, and Intel builds include: Firefox 3.7 alpha 1, 3.6 beta 2, 3.3.3 final, and more.
Software: Firefox 3.6 beta 1 arrives with better performance, new personas feature, Fairer Platform, 10.31. Firefox 3.6 moves from alpha to beta. Personas let you change appearance with a single click. We've been impressed with the alphas. Give it a try!
Web: Say hello to .كوم as domain names go truly global, Jacqui Cheng, ars technica, 10.30. "The Fast Track Process, which begins in November, will enable countries to apply for new domain name extensions (such as .com or .net) in their own national language."
Opinion: The Psychology of the non-Apple consumer, Applepeels, 10.30. "I have often wondered at how someone could have a horrible experience with a computer and turn around and buy another one just like it."
Web: ICANN Approves Non-Latin ccTLDs, Slashdot, 10.30. Thought son the pros and cons of ICANN's decision.
Web: CANN Approves Non-Latin Character Domain Names, Jeff Gamet, Mac Observer, 10.30. "The coming introduction of non-Latin characters represents the biggest technical change to the Internet since it was created four decades ago."
Humor: A Comparative Study of User Intellect Based on Anti-Productivity Applications Included in Operating Systems, Spaceman, Airbag Industries, 10.29. Windows comes with Solitaire, a great time killer. Macs? They come with chess.
News: Apple stores upgrading from Windows-based EasyPay to iPod touch, Prince McLean, , 10.28. Apple eats its own dogfood: Some Apple Stores are already running EasyPay on Apple's iPod touch instead of a Windows PDA.
Advice: A Fresh Look At The 'Old' Rules of Upgrading, Grant, OWC Blog, 10.28. The old advice is still good: First, make sure you have enough RAM, next get a bigger, faster hard drive.
Software: How To Control Multiple Macs With Teleport, Henry Bennett, Mac AppStorm, 10.26. A great, free program that lets you use one mouse and one keyboard with multiple Macs. (We use Teleport at LEM headquarters.)
News: Firefox gains 30 million users in eight weeks, Tom Espiner, CNET News, 10.27. The headline says it all. Firefox is the #2 browser on Macs and Windows, and it's encroaching more and more on Internet Explorer.
Dark Side: Hasta la Vista, baby: Ars reviews Windows 7, Peter Bright, ars technica, 10.26. What's new, what's the same, and whether it's worth swiching from XP or Vista to the new Windows.
Review: MacBook Polycarbonate Unibody Teardown, iFixit, 10.21. Higher capacity battery than previous MacBook, and no more easy access hard drive.
News: Schiller: MacBook is Apple's best selling Mac ever, Jim Dalrymple, The Loop, 10.20. "If you thought the iMac is Apple's best selling computer ever, you would be wrong." Apple has sold 10 million MacBooks.
Tech: The Installer Log Says What?, Adam Rosen, Vintage Mac Museum, 10.19. "I recently learned of a hidden capability of the Apple Installer application, namely the ability to display the installation log in real-time."
AAPL: Apple Reports Record iPhone, Mac Sale, Non-GAAP Revenue of $12.25 Billion, Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer, 10.19. Most profitable quarter ever include 3.05 million Mac sales, 7.4 million iPhones, and 10.2 million iPods.
Security: Mozilla disables vulnerable Microsoft plugin for Firefox, Ryan Paul, ars technica, 10.19. "Mozilla has temporarily disabled Microsoft's WPF plugin for Firefox in order to protect users from a security vulnerability that was recently uncovered...."
Dark Side: Sneaky Microsoft plug-in puts Firefox users at risk, Gregg Keizer, Computerworld, 10.16. .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 quietly installs a Firefox plugin that creates a serious security vulnerability. Windows only, of course.
Benchmarks: Performance Comparison of Major Web Browsers, Jacob Gube, Six Revisions, 10.14. Five top browsers - IE 8, Safari 4, Firefox 3.5, Opera 10, and Chrome 3 - benchmarked under 32-bit Vista. Safari second to Chrome in 4 of 6 tests, and IE takes last.

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