Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: We Make DIY Upgrading Easy! Maximize your Apple MacBook / MacBook Pro. Up to 8.0GB Memory, up to 1.0TB HD & More. Easy Guide + Free, Detailed Installation Videos. Click here

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Vintage Mac Living

Pre-2006 Software: The Big Reason You Shouldn't Buy an Intel Mac Today

- 2006.11.09

You can't read anything on the Mac Web today without hearing how great the new Intel Macs are - and why just about everyone should have one.

I think everyone is jumping the gun just a bit. Sure, the Intel Macs are faster and better in just about every way compared to their PowerPC ancestors, but there's one big drawback: software written for PowerPC Macs.

In order to run any PowerPC applications - any OS X applications written before 2006 - you have use Apple's Rosetta PowerPC translator. That means the programs are going to run slower - and they're going to require 2-4 times more memory.

Photoshop

This is bad news for people who need to use Photoshop, which hasn't yet been ported to Intel.

Photoshop users upgrading from a Power Mac G5 Quad to a Mac Pro for the speed boost may be very disappointed when they find that it isn't running Photoshop any faster than their G5 did. Instead, it's running slower and using twice as much RAM to get the job done. (See New Photoshop Bench: Quad Mac Pro Versus Two G5 Power Macs.)

And it isn't just Photoshop that doesn't have universal binaries yet; there are a number of applications that don't including Microsoft Office.

Education

Then there's the school issue. Schools are going to have a hard time using classic Mac educational software (that is, programs written before OS X). I've talked about this before, and there is a solution in the form of the SheepShaver emulator.

The School District doesn't allow the use of Open Source software on the school's computers.

But SheepShaver may not help a lot. My friend Kevin is a computer lab teacher/tech at a local elementary school. He told me that there are two problems with using SheepShaver:

  1. The School District doesn't allow the use of Open Source software on the school's computers.
  2. Even if he could use the software, he wouldn't want to.

I can understand why he wouldn't want to. It takes a lot of time to set up SheepShaver, and if other computer teacher/techs are anything like Kevin, they're too busy (trying to repair/replace all of the eMacs that are dropping like flies) to deal with going around the school and installing SheepShaver, the classic Mac OS, and all of the programs on each machine.

It's like I always say to Photoshop users and anyone who needs to use software that doesn't come in universal binaries: Stick with the PowerPC machine you already have. Buying a new machine now would be a waste of your money. Just wait until the Universal Binary version of the software you use is available (by then there will be a faster Mac Pro on the market - and it might cost less, too).

Schools: Instead of buying new Intel hardware and either installing SheepShaver on it or buying new software, keep your current Macs or go on eBay and buy a pallet of Power Mac 5500s for $100. It will save you time and money. LEM

Recent Vintage Mac Living articles

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Vintage Mac Living articles copyright ©2005-07 by Ted Hodges. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.