Depreciation Game a Gamble, Best OS for 12in PowerBook, Opera 9.5 Fast with Unique Features, and More

• Depreciation Game a Bit of a Gamble
• Best OS for 12" PowerBook
• Opera 9.5 Is Fast and Has Unique Features
• Tighty Righty

Depreciation Game a Bit of a Gamble

From Jeffrey:

Charles,

Like you, I see the value of buying "low". I tell my friends that I live on the dull edge of technology.

A while back, I purchased a refurbished PowerBook G4/867 MHz for about $610. They still sell for about $560. And I guessed well, because I happened to pick the slowest model that runs Leopard, and it has held its value well. I'm happy with it.

I could have very easily ended up with an 800 MHz model with a Radeon Mobility 7500 or a faster G3 iBook, and I am rather fortunate today that I didn't. But there was no skill involved in that decision. It's just that playing the low-end game is sometimes a gamble.

So now there much discussions that Snow Leopard will be Intel-only. You know, my Quicksilver, recently upgraded to 2x800 MHz, is not getting any younger. It is inevitable that I will be in the market for a replacement project machine in the not-too-distant future. In fact, I've already been looking. Used G5s are a lot more cost effective than Xeon Machines right now, but I certainly would not want to purchase any machine whose maximum possible OS is the same as my Quicksilver.

So to me right now, playing the low-end game means playing a waiting game. I just feel now is not a good time to be buying in the used Mac market.

Regards,
Jeffrey

Hi Jeffrey,

Yes, you just got in under the Leopard wire with that 867 MHz PowerBook. How do you find it handles Leopard. My 1.33 GHz PowerBook struggles a bit with 10.5, but then I push it pretty hard.

As for Snow Leopard, I will be extremely surprised if it ships with PowerPC support. Dropping PPC code is a major element of the Mac OS X 10.6 slimming-down program, and some of the new features are integrated with Intel chip technologies so that nominal support for PPC would not amount to much difference from Leopard anyway. My guess is that OS X 10.5.whatever will be the ultimate OS version for PowerPC.

Charles

Best OS for 12" PowerBook

From Craig:

Hi,

I found your article when I was looking for info on my "antique" 12" 867 MHz PowerBook G4. The problem I am having is finding out what may be the best configuration for my machine. The strange sense that this computer is getting old and slowing down has me wondering if there is an optimal version of OS X to use to return this puppy back to when it seemed more snappy. I guess that means I am fine using whatever older versions of software are compatible, but I really love this little guy so much and want to keep it useful as long as possible.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

-Craig

Hi Craig,

The 867 MHz 12" PowerBook originally shipped with OS X 10.2 Jaguar, as did my own contemporaneous 700 MHz G3 iBook.

Based on personal experience with that machine and my two 550 MHz G4-upgraded Pismo PowerBooks, all of which are still in active service, my pick for optimum performance is OS X 10.4.11 "Tiger", which strikes a "sweet spot" balance between features, speed, and stability.

While your 867 MHz G4 is officially supported by OS X 10.5 "Leopard" (indeed, it's the slowest Mac that makes the Leopard cut), I wouldn't recommend it. Leopard is sluggish enough on my 1.33 GHz PowerBook G4, and I really wouldn't want to run it on a slower Mac. I still have OS X 10.4.11 installed on another partition of its hard drive, but Leopard's features (especially Spaces and Time Machine) have roped me in, so I've resolved to put up with the less-than-stellar performance until my imminent upgrade to an Intel Mac, but for your 867 MHz unit I think Tiger is the ticket. It's what In would use on that model anyway.

Charles

Opera 9.5 Is Fast and Has Unique Features

From Leif:

Charles W. Moore 2008-06-18 06.18:

Thanks. Glad you like the review. I'm already getting used to the new interface, and I'm pretty happy with it, although I never found the old one particularly confusing.

Yes, the tab behavior is improved (iCab had tab configuration nailed nicely years ago).

I've experimented a bit with Opera's email module but never used it for serious work. If they don't get Odysseus working with reasonable dispatch I may give it more consideration as an alternative to Eudora. I like it better than Thunderbird or OS X Mail.

Hi Charles,

What is so great with Opera is that it is so snappy. Windows and tabs opens fast! Including the email tab. And the IRC tab and other tabs. It is clear to me that Opera care about many things that the others are no near caring for. Just think about the "adapt page to Window" features it has. It reminds a lot of how Opera Mini does it on the mobile. Or think of the panels - press it, and the page adapts.

What analogy can I make? Have you been aboard a not so large boat of wood in heavy weather? Comes a wave and hit the boat, and you feel how the whole construction shakes. You know you will survive. But it is not like a elegant Viking ship, which just "cuts" the sea, without buzz and fuzz or shakiness. ;-)

Back in Mac OS 9 and below, windows opened so fast. OS X slowed things down. Opera give me that old feel - sort of.

I love iCab - of course, but on my computer it is frequently a bit sluggish.

I too have not given the email part of Opera enough "heed". But it is tempting to go for one app with all included.

I like the Scandinavian design analogy ;-) Elegant without getting in the way.

PS: Have you tried Scribe?

lh

Hi Leif,

You're right again. Opera's responsiveness is a big reason why it's such a pleasure to use.

I like your sailing analogy. I'm a sailor, although I haven't had time (or a boat) to do any for several years. I've lived on boats ranging from an 85' ferro-concrete schooner to a 26' Fairey Marine Atalanta mahogany sloop we used to own. I've never sailed on a Viking ship, but I have sailed multihulls - the largest a Piver Lodestar 35' trimaran, and the smallest the Hobie Cat 14' I owned for about 15 years, so I do know what you mean about "cutting" through the waves without drama.

Also agreed about the snappiness of OS 9 compared with the sluggishness of OS X. The Finder is quicker and more responsive on my old 233 MHz PowerBook WallStreet running OS 9 than it is on my 1.33 GHz G4 PowerBook running Tiger or Leopard. Maybe the cure is an Intel Mac.

I actually prefer to use separate applications for Web surfing and email, but I must check out Opera Mail again, since it's reportedly improved, and it wasn't bad before.

I hadn't even heard of Scribe before, but it looks interesting. I'll check it out. Thanks for the tip.

Charles

I'm more a poet than a sailor. ;-) I guess I was a bit carried away in the way I described it. I have only sailed a little in my youth, with friends and in school, including with a "modern" relative of the old Viking ship. (See http://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Åfjordsbåt.) However, that was all very nice experiences.

I have a WallStreet, BTW. But it has long since stopped working . . . I tried to revive it last year - because the issue is that pressing the keyboard makes it restart. (I read that it is a known issue.) So I regret I tried to upgrade it. (I have become more reluctant to many such things . . . it takes time and concentration and investigation to keep old horses in order.)

Understand using separate applications for Web surfing and email. However, Opera Mail is very "invisible" you could say - I understand that was one of your goals.

Also, have you tried the Hugin adaptation of Opera? Basically it disables all browser functionality so it becomes a standalone mail app.

I have experimented with, with Opera 9.2. However, there might be Mac incompatibilities - still. However, I have not tested it with Opera 9.5, for which the Hugin skin recently was updated. See this post: http://my.opera.com/Rijk/blog/2008/04/28/updates

lh

Hi Leif,

Thanks for the follow-up.

Hadn't heard of Hugin.

Since I basically always have Opera open, the separate application thing probably shouldn't be an issue for me, and as you note, the Mail module is pretty much invisible unless you want to see it.

WallStreets are essentially antiques now. Ours hasn't really been used since my wife switched from it to an iBook last fall. It still works fine though.

Charles

Tighty Righty

From Marc:

Hi, Charles!

I enjoyed your political analysis of Mac users. I'm also an Apple devotee (one PowerBook, an Apple TV, and Time Capsule to back it all up), and I'm a science-fiction writer - so most people naturally assume I'm a flaming liberal bomb-thrower. Ah, if they only knew the truth of my tax-cutting, oil-drilling, free market ways!

Of course, that only makes it more fun when they buy my books. I love capitalism!

All Best,
Marc G

Hi Marc,

Cool. Glad you liked the article.

Capitalism rocks; the most potent engine of general prosperity, high living standards, and social freedom ever devised.

Be thankful you live in the US - the most congenial environment for conservatives on the planet. Much less so here in Canada, although we do have fairly robust capitalism, but also high taxes, nearly three times the rate of labor unionization as the US, and lots of liberals.

Tax Freedom Day for the average Canadian family fell on June 14th this year - the median date they paid off the total tax bill imposed on them by three levels of government - federal, provincial, and local - and finally commenced working for themselves. I don't have this year's figure, but US citizens typically celebrate their Tax Freedom Day sometime in April.

In a poll released on the weekend, Canadian respondents asked how to define their political views answered:

• Very liberal: 12 per cent
• Liberal: 39 per cent
• Conservative: 38 per cent
• Very conservative: 3 per cent

In the same poll, respondents in the United States answered:

• Very conservative: 10 per cent
• Conservative: 47 per cent
• Liberal: 30 per cent
• Very liberal: 7 per cent

So, despite Mr. Obama's current popularity spike, you Americans are still majority conservative by a comfortable margin.

Charles

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