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Mac Musings

Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986, sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. He's been sharing his musings on Low End Mac since July 1997.

The Late 2009 iMac value equation, 2009.10.21. With larger 16:9 displays, the new iMacs bring a lot of value to the table, but there are some close-out bargains.
The Late 2009 Mac mini value equation, 2009.10.21. We called the Mac mini 'the best value in desktop Macs' two months ago, and the refreshed Mac mini only improves that value.
The Late 2009 MacBook value equation, 2009.10.21. The redesigned consumer MacBook uses unibody construction, gains LED backlighting and battery life, but loses FireWire.
Thinking different about the next consumer MacBook, 2009.10.05. The white MacBook design is old, and the market is clamoring for smaller, lighter, and more affordable. Here's how Apple could provide it.
Sauce for the goose, 2009.10.07. EU regulators are forcing Microsoft to offer Windows users a choice of browsers. Apple ought to offer Mac users the same thing.
2 Macs, 2 operating systems, 1 mouse, 1 keyboard, 2009.09.29. We've made the move to 'Leopard' at Low End Mac headquarters, but we also need 'Tiger' and Classic Mode. Teleport makes it easy to use two Macs side-by-side.
Microsoft vs. Linux, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 2009.09.09. Although Linux has just 1% of the market, Microsoft perceives it as a great threat. Why doesn't Redmond see Linux as an opportunity?
Why is it called Windows 7?, 2009.09.02. Ever since Windows 1.0 shipped in November 1985, Microsoft has maintained a consistent version numbering scheme. XP was 5.1, Vista 6.0, and 7 comes next.
Mac mini the best value in desktop Macs, 2009.08.25. Although the iMac is faster all around, the Mac mini provides plenty of power at half the price. Even with the cost of upgrades, it's the value champion.
Apple gaining back-to-school shoppers despite lack of netbooks and low-end laptops, 2009.08.20. From the headlines other sites are using, you'd think that Apple was losing back-to-school shoppers, but a thoughful analysis of Retrevo's survey shows the opposite is true.
The 64-bitness of Mac OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard', 2009.08.19. Although Apple is promoting 'Snow Leopard' as a fully 64-bit operating system, it defaults to running in 32-bit mode.
The road ahead: 64-bit computing, 2009.08.19. Personal computers started with 8-bit CPUs, Macs started out with a 24-bit operating system, and 32-bit computing is starting to give way to 64 bits.
The perfect Mac: MacBook Pro or iMac?, 2009.08.11. The 15" MacBook Pro with antiglare could be the perfect Mac, but the iMac also has much to commend it.
Net Applications cuts Mac market share by half, 2009.08.04. Real world data is now weighted by country, resulting in higher figures for Windows and IE, lower ones for Macs, Linux, Firefox, and Safari.
MacTablet could run both Mac OS X and iPhone OS, 2009.07.30. What if Apple's anticipated tablet computer could run either Mac OS X or the iPhone OS - or both concurrently.
Sorry, Henry, Apple's Mac business is not shrinking, 2009.07.23. Henry Blodget finds a dark cloud behind Apple's silver financials - and pigs can fly.
Low end G4: Migrating to an older Power Mac, 2009.07.06. To use the fastest G4 upgrades, you may have to move to an older Power Mac.
Amazon.com v. interstate sales tax: Everyone loses, 2009.07.01. Amazon.com is standing up to states that are trying to have it collect sales tax on interstate commerce, which most see as a violation of federal law.
Intel's promise fulfilled: More processing power per processor cycle, 2009.06.30. Apple promised improved CPU efficiencies when it announced the move to Intel in 2005. Three years of MacBooks show the progress.
Low-end mac & cheese, 2009.06.26. Windows PCs are like macaroni and cheese you buy from the store. Macs are like homemade macaroni and cheese.
Google making Gmail more secure, 2009.06.17. Gmail is free, fast, spacious, and already offers a secure access option, and now Google is preparing to test secure email by default.
Broadband growth, phantom traffic jams, and psychohistory, 2009.06.17. Mathematics has always fascinated me, and I love deconstructing research to try to determine what's really going on.
4 years later: Looking back at Apple's switch to Intel, 2009.06.15. "Apple survived with its unique hardware platform for over 20 years, but it since transitioning to Intel it has reached a broader market than ever before."
The June 2009 MacBook Air value equation, 2009.06.11. The updated MacBook Air is faster and less expensive, but close-outs and refurbs are priced competitively.
The June 2009 17" MacBook Pro value equation, 2009.06.11. The new model is a bit faster, but are older models better values?
The June 2009 15" MacBook Pro value equation, 2009.06.11. With an entry-level 15" MacBook Pro selling for $1,699, the midrange MacBook Pro line seems poised to take off.
The June 2009 13" MacBook Pro value equation, 2009.06.11. The new 13" MacBook Pro has a lot to offer over the discontinued Unibody MacBook, but where's the best value?
The May 2009 MacBook value equation, 2009.06.11. The 2.13 GHz MacBook White is worth the difference in price vs. the close-out 2.0 GHz model, but the best value is in used MacBooks.
Best non-holiday quarter ever for Apple, but MacBook sales took a big hit, 2009.04.23. Record income and profits for a non-holiday quarter, sales growth for the iPhone and iPod, but a drop in Mac unit sales - especially notebooks.
How about an 802.11g card for the original AirPort Card slot?, 2009.04.16. There are a lot of old Macs with 802.11b AirPort Cards still in use and with poor security. Someone should make a plug-and-play 802.11g replacement card to provide better security, higher throughput, and improved range.
12 years of Low End Mac, 2009.04.07. Twelve years ago, I put a handful of Mac profiles on my personal website. Today hundreds of thousands visit the site every month.
Microsoft doesn't get it, 2009.03.31. The PC world rejoices at Apple's February sales drop, celebrates Lauren's $699 laptop, and says we pay $500 for the Apple logo. They just don't get it.
Is the computer you have the computer you need?, 2009.03.24. "There's a saying that the good is the enemy of the best. Maybe we should turn that on its head and proclaim that the best is the enemy of the comfortably adequate."
At 20 years, the Web is a wealth of information and connectivity, 2009.03.20. "We can bemoan the increasing level of trivial information posted on it and the growing amount of time so many spend connected to it. Or we can look at the breadth and depth of the Web, realizing that it is rich in information...."
$600 million LCD antitrust settlement should benefit end users, 2009.03.12. LG, Sharp, and others have been found guilty of price fixing and fined by the Department of Justice, but why don't they take the next step and distribute money to retail customers?
The 2009 Mac Pro value equation, 2009.03.04. In terms of sheer power, the Nehalem-based Mac Pro is designed for heavy listing. But how much power do you really need?
The 2009 iMac value equation, 2009.03.04. The new iMacs used improved Core 2 Duo CPUs, nVidia GeForce graphics, and offer more value than ever before.
The 2009 Mac mini value equation, 2009.03.04. With a more efficient CPU, nVidia GeForce graphics, and a SuperDrive at the entry level, there's never been a better time to buy a Mac mini.
Apple won't ever make a Mac netbook, 2009.02.23. Netbooks are small, cheap, and underpowered. Apple should offer a subnotebook, but not something underpowered or cheap.
The 25 most important Macs, 2009.02.17. The 25 most significant Macs in the first 25 years of the platform, continued.
The 25 most important Macs (part 2), 2009.02.17. The 25 most significant Macs in the first 25 years of the platform, continued.
PowerPC architecture was not a failure, 2009.02.16. CNET's Brooke Crothers calls PowerPC a failed architecture, but 12 years of PowerPC Macs, IBM's blade servers, and three game consoles tell a different story.
Low end Macs in an economic recession, 2009.02.16. "If ever it was important for a website such as Low End Mac to exist, this worldwide recession is it."
Today's Macs: Many descendants from a common ancestor, 2009.01.27. The Macintosh legacy as it shows itself in notebooks, consumer desktops, and pro models.
Why Mac desktop sales are on the decline, 2009.01.22. Apple believes that desktops are unimportant, and by not offering updated models regularly, it makes them unimportant to potential buyers.
The nVidia MacBook White value equation, 2009.01.22. Moving the MacBook White to GeForce 9400M graphics and doubling memory while retaining FireWire and Mini DVI make this a hands-down winner.
Was the Macintosh IIci the best Mac ever?, 2009.01.19. Introduced in 1989, the Mac IIci was fast, had integrated video, included 3 expansion slots, and could be upgraded in myriad ways.
The misunderstood Macintosh Portable, 2009.01.19. Often ridiculed for its nearly 16 lb. weight, people forget that the Mac Portable wasn't designed to be a laptop computer.
Psystar spews more nonsense in its bid to commoditize the Mac, 2009.01.14. Psystar claims it has a right to install and resell OS X on computers because it legally purchased copies. That violation of copyright could eventually ruin the Macintosh.
Surprise, average broadband throughput is lower than maximum throughput, 2009.01.08. If a service is advertised as 8 Mbps maximum, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the average speed is below that number.
The 17" Unibody MacBook Pro value equation, 2009.01.07. The new model is a bit faster, a bit smaller, a bit lighter, and has an incredible 8-hour battery life.
No, an overgrown iPod touch is not a netbook, 2009.01.06. BlackBerry pretends its Storm is a netbook, but a netbook needs to be big enough for a typable keyboard.
Happy birthday, Macintosh, 2009.01.02. January 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the Macintosh. Here's how Low End Mac plans to celebrate the event.

2008

Practical iMac G3 applications and upgrades, 12.22. Used G3 iMacs are going for a song these days, but are they worth spending money on, let along upgrading?
Picking up a used Power Mac G3 or G4: Is it worth it?, 12.18. In some cases, shipping can cost more than the computer itself. Where are the best values?
Why you should partition your Mac's hard drive, 12.11. "At the very least, it makes sense to have a second partition with a bootable version of the Mac OS, so if you have problems with your work partition, you can boot from the 'emergency' partition to run Disk Utility and other diagnostics."
No high definition iTunes video for you, 11.19. The October 2008 MacBooks are preventing users from viewing some high-def iTunes content from being viewed on their external displays. Poor form!
Anticipating Macworld: Nehalem, Snow Leopard, and updated desktops, 11.18. Intel's Core i7 CPU has to make it way into the next Mac Pro, nVidia GeForce graphics will drive the iMac and Mac mini, and 'Snow Leopard' will unleash the animal within.
One Used Mac can make a difference, 11.12. Instead of scrapping out old Macs for raw materials, what if the Mac community worked to restore them and give them away to those with no computers?
A brief history of portable computing: From Dynabook to netbooks, 11.06. 40 years ago Alan Kay dreamt of a two pound handheld computer. Portables have made a lot of changes since 1981, but haven't yet matched the Dynabook.
The Unibody MacBook FireWire fiasco didn't have to happen, 10.30. Some are claiming that Apple had no choice but to eliminate FireWire with the new MacBook design, but Apple could have eliminated ethernet instead.
The October 2008 MacBook value equation, 10.15. Apple changed the entire MacBook lineup on Tuesday. How do close-out prices compare to the new ones?
What would an $800 MacBook mean for the Mac mini?, 10.09. If Apple does release an $800 entry-level MacBook next week, the $600 Mac mini is going to look very overpriced.
Low End Mac needs help moving to Joomla, 10.08. We've settled on Joomla as the content management system that should work very well for Low End Mac, but we're running stuck with templates.
Mac nano? Brick? How small could Apple make a Mac?, 09.23. The iPhone and iPod touch show how small Apple can make a computer. What if Apple wanted to build a very, very small Macintosh?
With 10% of the US notebook market, where will Apple go next?, 09.19. Apple increased its share of the North American notebook market by 60% over the past year and moved to fourth place. What can it do for an encore?
'I invented the iPod', 09.15. Before CDs came to market, Kane Kramer conceived of a portable personal digital music system that anticipated the iPod and iTunes Store in many ways.
The 2008 iPod value equation, 09.10. Apple has redesigned the iPod nano, slimmed down the iPod touch, simplified the iPod classic line, and introduced new colors for the iPod shuffle.
Tomorrow's solid state drives and notebooks, 09.04. Flash drives are great but have some shortcomings. Some thoughts on building better SSDs and notebooks to use them.
Looking for a content management system that's as easy as Mac, 08.29. Low End Mac needs to move to a content management system, but the few we've tried just don't cut it for people used to the simple elegance of the Mac.
MacDrought: 4 months with no new Macs, 08.27. The most recent Mac update was over four months ago, and the Mac mini has been unchanged for over a year.
The iMac Legacy: The G3 Era, 08.15. 10 years ago today, the original iMac went on sale. One of the most popular lines of computers ever, the G3 iMac would be Apple staples for nearly five years.
The iMac Legacy: After the G3, 08.15. The G3 iMac influenced the whole industry, but Apple continued to move forward with innovative designs using G4, G5, and Intel processors.
The Mac App Store, 08.13. Just as Apple now sells iPhone apps through the iTunes Store, it could (and should) do the same with Mac software.
The Mac is a personal computer, not a PC, 08.06. "...the simple fact is that while the Macintosh is a personal computer, the world knows that it is not a PC."
Toward a better computer keyboard, 07.23. Today's standard computer keyboards have obsolete keys, poorly placed ones (Caps Lock), and aren't designed for the way we work today.
Record Mac sales, $1 billion profit, and a future product transition, 07.22. Apple reports sales of nearly 2.5 million Macs in the past quarter, along with highest ever profits for the June quarter. And it hints at a product transition that will impact margins.
The Mac's growing market presence, 07.22. Apple has always been a significant player in the personal computer industry, and it's growing sales at a remarkable rate.
The Windows death spiral, 07.16. Sure, Vista user share is growing, but it's not enough to offset defections to Macs and Linux. This is the beginning of the end for Windows.
More air: Expectations for future MacBook and MacBook Pro models, 07.08. Next generation 'Books are expected to include Intel's next generation Montevino processor, but wireless power and wireless USB could give Apple a leg up on the competition.
PowerPC's last chance: The Mac's history with the G5 CPU, 06.24. The introduction of the G5 Power Mac in June 2003 promised a bright 3 GHz future, and failure to achieve that paved the way to today's Intel Macs.
16:9 computer displays: Let's not go there, 06.17. "...there's no reason our computer displays should match the proportions of our television displays."
Left behind by Mac OS X or up to date with Linux?, 06.04. If you wanted up-to-date software, you may need to run the latest version of Mac OS X. But what if it won't run on your hardware?
Beyond the Mac mini, 05.15. What if Apple were to think different and eliminate the built-in optical drive, cut $100 from the price, and offer an expansion chassis?
50% Mac sales growth is only the beginning, 05.02. Apple has a great line of computers and an awesome operating system, but a prosumer model could make last quarter's growth seem normal.
The 2008 Penryn iMac value equation, 04.29. Comparing prices, features, and performance, three of four new models are value champions, and there are some surprising refurb values as well.
A $99 PC, a $399 hackintosh, and growing the Mac market, 04.15. There is a low-end market, which now includes a $99 bare bones PC and a $399 computer designed to run Leopard.
Windows XP is faster, but Mac OS X is superior in many ways, 04.11. Although Photoshop runs faster under Windows XP, the Mac's stability and better user experience give it the advantage.
The Apple Store, Intel Macs, and classic apps, 04.09. Visiting the Apple Store to drop of an eMac for repair provides an opportunity to lust after today's wicked fast Intel-based Macs and muse about the future.
Millions vs. thousands of colors: What's the difference?, 04.07. Once again Apple is being sued over a Mac that can display 'only' 262,144 colors per pixel, not the millions it claims. Does it realy matter?
2 useful online genealogy resources, 03.24. Geni is a free online tool for building your family tree, and Genealogie can be a wonderful source for those with Dutch roots.
March Madness and a Macintosh Performa, 03.24. Pete Tiernan of Bracketscience uses a 1995 Mac Performa and FileMaker 2.0 to do some of the best playoff analysis out there.
The rise of the Microsoft monopoly, 03.12. How Microsoft Word and Excel came to dominate both the Macintosh and Windows platforms.
Forward into the past: Finding older software for Macs, 03.12. It's not easy finding out what older versions of software are compatible with which versions of the Mac OS, let alone finding a place to download them.
When is 2.1 GHz slower than 2.0 GHz? When it's the new MacBook, 02.28. It's completely counterintuitive, but the 2.1 GHz MacBook benchmarks slower than the 2.0 GHz model it replaces.
The 2008 MacBook value equation, 02.28. Comparing close-out prices against the new white MacBooks, it's pretty close. But if you want a black MacBook, there are deals to be had.
The 2008 MacBook Pro value equation, 02.27. "Perhaps the best thing about the new models is what they've done to prices of last year's MacBook Pro line."
Feb. 10, 1993: Apple rolls out 6 new Macs at once, 02.11. What was Apple thinking introducing six new Macs in February 1993? Looking back at Apple's broadest product rollout ever.
Acquiring Yahoo: Microsoft is playing the same old game, 02.04. Microsoft has a long history of copying others, leveraging its dominance, and acquiring other companies when it can't take over a market on its own.
Restoring a Blue & White G3 and a 'Mystic' Power Mac G4, 01.30. Both of these Power Macs had been unreliable since they were purchased (used). Patience plus trial and error got them both working reliably with Mac OS 9 and X.
iCab 4: Try it, you might like it, 01.28. iCab has been a Mac-only browser since 1999, and the newest version is definitely worth a try.
The MacBook Air is nearly perfect, 01.16. The MacBook Air isn't quite the perfect replacement for the 12" PowerBook G4, but it comes mighty close.
Something new in the air, 01.15. Macworld Keynote roundup: Time Capsule, iPhone and iPod touch improvements, iTunes Movie Rentals, Apple TV 2, and MacBook Air, Apple's best notebook ever.
We need more than 2 USB ports in MacBooks, 01.14. There's something wrong when you can't plug a thumb drive, mouse, and printer into a notebook computer at the same time.
New Macs before the Expo? What is Apple thinking?, 01.09. It's unprecedented. Apple has never unveiled a new Mac just before the Macworld Expo. What does Steve Jobs have up his sleeves for the Expo?
The 2008 Mac Pro value equation, 01.09. The new Mac Pro models use quad-core Intel Xeon CPUs on a faster bus, add SAS support, and include Bluetooth. Is there any reason to buy the old ones?
Is DRM in Mac OS X anything to fear?, 01.08. Just because Apple has a way to incorporate digital rights management within OS X doesn't mean the company is going to follow Microsoft's example.

Mac Musings editorial archive

2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002/07-12, 2002/01-06, 2001/07-12, 2001/01-06, 2000/07-12, 2000/01-06, 1999/07-12, 1999/01-06, 1998, 1997

Guest Editorials

Color Classics on eBay, Bill Brown, 2001.07.09. Observations on Color Classic sales on eBay, along with some good general advice.

Interviews with Dan Knight

Dan Knight, founder of Low End Mac, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 08.08. A talk with Dan Knight, who started Low End Mac over 10 years ago.
Interview: Daniel Knight, Low End Mac, Muzamil Akram, ATPM, 2001.09.11. "If anything, the importance of good writing . . . will be a stronger asset in the 21st century than it was in the last decades of the 20th century."
Shawn King interviews Dan Knight on The Daily Report, The Mac Show, 2001.04.16. Topic: Low End Mac's "Best of the Mac Web" survey.
Interview with Dan Knight, Ian Sidle, MacWrite.com, 2001.03.13
Low End Mac's Dan Knight, MacMilitia, 2000.01.14
Dan Knight, publisher and webmaster, Low End Mac, Mac Daily, 1999.11.10

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