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

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.

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.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Miscellaneous Ramblings Mailbag

Transferring AppleCare, Low Cost Pismo G4 Upgrade, Benefits of G4 on OS X, and Memory for NuBus Macs

Charles Moore - 2003.10.27 - Tip Jar

iBook failure and AppleCare

From: Jeff Hewitt

Hey Charles!

I recently upgraded from a PB 5300ce to a 700 MHz iBook. While I've been overjoyed with its performance, I've recently begun to experience the random shutdowns referred to in your most recent LEM column, and am greatly troubled. The gentleman I purchased the 'Book off eBay advertised that the 'Book had 9 months of AppleCare left, but I received no documentation on this. My question is as follows: How does Apple track whether or not one of it's products are still under warranty? Does the warranty still apply even tho I am not the original purchaser? And am I eligible to upgrade the warranty?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer! Love your column!

-Jeff Hewitt

Hi Jeff,

Wow! From a 5300 to a 700 MHz iBook is quite a performance leap.

If your iBook is registered with AppleCare, its serial number will be on file with Apple, and my understanding is that AppleCare coverage is transferable, so you should, *I think* be OK.

I would suggest contacting AppleCare, explaining the situation, to find out for sure where you stand.

Glad to hear you enjoy the columns.

Charles

Lower cost Pismo upgrade

From Tim Lee

Charles,

Try FastMac for a cheaper upgrade. 500 MHz @ $239.95 and 550 MHz @ $289.95.

I met with these guys at Mac Expo Paris, and they claimed to be the people who did the actual work for the other players, but have decided to have their own shop front now. At least that is what I understood them to mean.

I bought a G4 upgrade for a Blue & White at a far lower cost than I had ever seen it anywhere else.

Tim Lee

Hi Tim,

Thanks for jogging my memory on that one - an unfortunate omission from the article. I posted an item on the FastMac Pismo upgrades in the 'Book Review last Friday.

Another reason the FastMac upgrades are less expensive is that they require you to send in only your processor daughtercard, not the whole computer.

Charles

Go with a G4 for OS X

From Fred Goff

Folks who say there's not difference between a G3 and a G4 except AltiVec are right. What they fail to mention is that OS X, the operating system itself, makes heavy use of AltiVec. You will see an improvement in OS X performance by using a G4 chip as opposed to a G3 chip.

Hi Fred,

You're right, although I expect there's not much in the difference between a 900 MHz G3 and a 500-550 MHz G4.

The real shortcoming of the Pismo for OS X is, of course, its lack of Quartz Extreme support. My 700 MHz iBook, which does support QE, is quite lively in OS X.

Charles

TiBooks and wireless

From Robert Friede

Hi Charles,

I'm using a 1 GHz TiBook nowadays and by default enjoy the usual abysmal AirPort signal strength. I have tried some of the items you're touting this week and thought I'd provide some feedback.

QuickerTek's Whip provides moderate improvement, although having an antenna stuck to the back of my machine's lid and attached by a wire generously running out of the PC Card port is no aesthetic triumph. QuickerTek's Stub (I have what QTek says is an early model) provides only the slightest improvement over the internal antenna. I have tested these with all three ABS models.

For me, using an Orinoco/WaveLAN Gold 802.11b PC Card beats QuickerTek's offerings hands down in Jaguar with the addition of essential Jaguar-compliant software from SourceForge.

Internet Connect won't work now, but it's easily replaced by Jon Sevy's functionally superior freeware AirPort Modem Utility.

Other goodies there, too.

Still waiting for someone to produce a good 802.11b/g PC Card for Macs!

Best wishes,
Bob F

Thanks for the report, tips and links, Bob.

Charles

Question on RAM for NuBus Macs

From amacman

Which should I get or which is better EDO SIM OR FPM my 6100, 7100, 7200, 8100, 840Q?

Where is there a list of sellers on VRAM and cache memory?

And which VRAM will fit other models or are interchangeable?

Hi amacman,

Other World Computing is a good source for RAM for the NuBus Power Macs and for the Quadra. You can check stock numbers for compatibility among your various machines

Unfortunately, they don't appear to have video RAM or cache memory upgrades for any of these units.

You might also try Galaxy On-Line.

Charles

Letters sent may be published at our discretion. Email addresses will not be published unless requested. If you prefer that your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.

Go to the Miscellaneous Ramblings Mailbag index.

Charles Moore has been a freelance journalist since 1987 and began writing for Mac websites in May 1998. His The Road Warrior column is a regular feature on MacOpinion, and he is a news editor and columnist at Applelinks.com. If you find his articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Miscellaneous Ramblings

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Miscellaneous Ramblings ©1999-2010 by Charles W. Moore. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2010 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

Low End Mac's Amazon.com store

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.