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The 'Book Review

The 'Book Review

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, Apple Displays, MacBooks, iMac's, MacBook Pros, Laptop and iPod accessories and more. Apple A/C Adapters for laptops starting at $25.00 Call 1-800-941-7654 or Click Here.

OWC: Top Quality Memory for Faster Mac Performance 1GB/2GB/4GB Kits from $23.99/$47.99/$94.99 Expert Support, Free Installation Videos & Guides, Lifetime Advance Replacement Warranty - www.MacSales.com

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

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

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

MacBook/MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO DDR2 667Mhz 4GB Kit $84, 3GB Kit $60, 2GB Kit $40 1GB $20. Click to Maximize your Macs...

Compiled by Charles Moore and edited by Dan Knight - November 2, 2001

Except as noted, prices are in U.S. dollars, bold links are to outside sites, and regular links lead to 'Book profiles on Low End Mac.

Internal CD-RW Drive For 1st Generation iBooks

Wagener Media is offering CD-RW drive conversions for 1st generation iBooks. These CD-RWs will work in any of the Colored iBooks - 300, 366, 466 MHz models.

The drive is a 4x4x24x unit, providing these iBooks with a way to save data.

The price is $145 (requires return of your old drive mechanism core) plus shipping. Installation is $10 plus shipping, with a 24 hour turnaround via FedEx. Call for direct help or any questions!

iBook CD-RW

Rev. A vs. Rev. B TiBooks Benchmarked

And yet more benchmarking, this week Bare Feats' rob ART morgan got his hands on a new, 550 MHz TiBook and ran some comparisons with a Revision A machine. The Revision B unit offers a bigger performance boost than you might expect given the modest increase in processor speed, thanks largely to its doubled VRAM capacity.

It appears that Apple has worked at fixing the TiBook's poky FireWire throughput performance, although the iBook still has a slight edge.

Lots of cool graphs

Atek Super Mini Optical Mouse

The Atek Super Mini is Atek Super Mini Mousevery small mouse (that is not a redundancy in this instance) is designed with road warriors in mind.

Features

  • Perfect for mobile computing - only 2-1/2" long and 1" wide, small enough to use right on the palm rest of most notebook computers
  • Convenient to carry - extremely lightweight and occupies very little space in a laptop travel case
  • Smooth and precise optical technology - point and click with ease, speed, and precision
  • Left and right buttons, just like a regular mouse
  • Works on almost any surface - no need for a mousepad
  • Maintenance-free - no ball or moving parts to clean
  • USB version for use with Windows 2000, XP, Me, and 98
  • PS/2 version for use with Windows 2000, XP, Me, 98, NT, and 95
  • Mac users: USB version is compatible with Mac OS 8.6 or later. For button programming for OS 8/9 download the Atek free driver or use USB Overdrive. A driver is not available yet for OS X, but the right button does bring up the contextual menu.
  • Free travel pouch included
  • Cord length: 3 ft.

Retail price is $49.95

Fuel Cell Powered Laptops Coming?

TechReview's David Voss says that methanol micro fuel cells will soon be a reality, quoting Atakan Ozbek, vice president for energy research at Allied Business Intelligence, in Oyster Bay, NY, predicting that "In five years this could be potentially a billion-dollar-a-year market."

Not surprisingly, a race to commercialize the technology is in full swing and includes everyone from Motorola and Korean electronics giant Samsung to startup companies like Hockaday's. The competitors are betting on different designs - and even slightly different chemistries - but they share a common goal: taking a bite out of the $6 billion world market for rechargeable batteries.

Fuel cell battery packs small enough to actually fit in the battery compartments of laptop computers are predicted, which will essentially eliminate the biggest problem with unplugged laptop use - battery life limitations. As Voss notes, the storage batteries currently used in laptop computers and other portable electronics are basically just highly refined and developed 18th century technology that has little evident potential for improvement.

Fuel cells, on the other hand, will keep producing electricity as long as they have fuel, which can be replenished, usually hydrogen or methanol.

PowerBook Battery Performance under OS X

Speaking of laptop batteries, TechnoJunkie's Bernie Case has posted a report on battery management efficiency on a Pismo PowerBook running OS 9 and OS X.

The OSes tested were OS X 10.1 and OS 9.2.1, and Bernie ran three tests: Idle performance, DVD playback, and Sleep performance. In order, battery performance under OS X was 12.25% worse, 2.7% better, and a dead heat compared with OS 9.

PowerBook Hard Drive Upgrade Deals

BUYAIB.com and googlegear.com are both offering exceptional deals on IBM TravelStar 20 GB 2.5" hard drives for about $100.

The newest members of the IBM Travelstar family of hard disk drives are the first in the industry to IBM TravelStarimplement Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motor technology for industry-leading idle and operating acoustic performance. In addition, these new TravelStar models support the fast Ultra DMA mode-5 interface for transfer rates of up to 100 MB/sec.

The IBM Travelstar hard drives provide areal densities up to 25.7 Gbits/sq. in., yielding up to 15 GB of capacity per disk, combined with an industry- leading operational shock rating of 180 G/2 ms, which makes these drives well suited for today's most demanding users.


Bargain 'Books

MegaMacs

  • PowerBook 3400c/200, 32/2 GB/floppy/CD/VST Zip/33.6K modem/ethernet/AC adapter/Targa Case, $599.99

PowerBook Guy

Global Deals

MacSelect

PowerMax

LA Computer Center

Recent 'Book Reviews

Recent Content on Low End Mac

  • Mac Pro overclocking, Windependence with Darwine, Blu-ray for Macs, and more, Mac News Review, 07.04. Also more on running Leopard on non-Apple hardware, Ubuntu on a Mac mini, the first autofocus webcam with Zeiss optics for Macs, and more.
  • Wouldn't life be great with an iSlate?, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 07.04. PDAs and smartphones are too small for some tasks, full-fledged Tablet PCs are overkill, and ebook readers are too limited. Apple has the tech to own this niche.
  • Mac of the Day: Original iMac G3/233, Aug. 98 - The Bondi blue wonder that bounced Apple back to profitability and into the public eye.
  • List of the Day: Mac Pro List is for those using a Mac Pro.
  • July 5 in LEM history: 98: The iMac: First of a family? - iMac Perfect for schools - 00: Apple is not your friend - 01: 75 Mac Advantages - Do you trust me? - 02: The joy of X with Classic - The good, the bad, and the intrusive - 05: No Quartz Extreme for Pismo - A brief history of NeXT - 06: Education iMac - iTunes and the French interoperability law - TopXNotes - Apple's secret battery reset utility - Misleading hard drive capacity
  • The Macintosh Portable started a notebook revolution, Carl Nygren, Classic Macs in the Intel Age, 07.03. Before Apple introduced the Mac Portable, notebook computers were text-based and ran MS-DOS. Ever since, graphical interfaces have been the norm for laptops.
  • More links in our archive.

Go to the 'Book Page.

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, Apple Displays, MacBooks, iMac's, MacBook Pros, Laptop and iPod accessories and more. Apple A/C Adapters for laptops starting at $25.00 Call 1-800-941-7654 or Click Here.

OWC: NewerTech NuPower Batteries for iBook and PowerBooks Designed+Built in USA to run longer, LAST LONGER TOO! Free Battery Recycling Return Label; Quality High-Capacity from $99.95

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

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

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

MacPro Memory 667Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $90 / 4GB $134 / 8GB $264. Click to Maximize your Macs...

  • Mac of the Day: Original iMac G3/233, Aug. 98 - The Bondi blue wonder that bounced Apple back to profitability and into the public eye.
  • List of the Day: Mac Pro List is for those using a Mac Pro.
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