Virus-Free Macs, G5 Delays, Joys of Mplayer, and Negative Mac Reviews
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.
Other World Computing has the Upgrades, Enhancements, and Accessories for getting the most from your Mac. Quality Products, Competitive Prices, Expert Support Staff - 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.
New iMac 800Mhz Memory 4GB $98, 2GB $50. Click to Maximize your Macs...
Dirk Pilat - 2003.09.17
Arrrr!
Walk the plank and jump off the mast, you horrible little man!
(Note to self: When referring to Bill Gates, stop using pirate speech, as neither funny nor appropriate.)*
Good day, dear virus-free members of that more and more elitistic cult of Apple users. Now that we all have stopped grinning and gloating to our Windoze using friends after our OS has once again been kept free of any weird script-kiddies virus catastrophes, it's time to clean the inbox of "re: movie" files and go back to work.
I gather the electricity is up again wherever you read this, as I am pretty sure this column is not yet syndicated for international print use. The news roundup this past week for the Apple community has actually been quite positive, but only if you're not waiting for one of the new G5s, in which case there seems to be a slight delay in your order.
As Slashdot reported recently, Virginia Tech has ordered 1,100 Dual 2 GHz G5s and apparently have jumped the cue with this project. The orders for VT have been (so we're told) prioritised, and everybody else will just have to wait. If this baby works, the project is to jump into the Top 5 of the Linpack Supercomputer list, which I think is a first for an Apple powered cluster. Good luck to them and happy wiring.
The other customers waiting for their supercomputers will have to wait a bit, though.
The next bit of good news is the first prerelease of the upcoming 1.0 version of Mplayer. I don't know about you guys and girls, but my Mplayer has slowly but surely replaced the rather clumsy QuickTime player - at least on my humble and aging 500 MHz iBook, it plays AVIs. MPEGs, MOVs, and even has taken over playing streaming content destined for the (still in stone age beta) Windows Media Player rather snappy even in larger windows. Kudos to this Hungary-based project.
Access to a range of free software that works is obviously one of the numerous benefits of having a *nix-based operating system, and everybody who has Fink and X-Windows installed will vouchsafe for that.
There is bad news as well: According to Germany's most influential computer mag c't, Apple's current hardware is overpriced and underperforming: They compared the iBook to its cheaper PC colleagues and, although it got good points for usability and design, it wasn't able to keep up with the Windoze colleagues when it came to speed, ports, screen, and, of course, price.
They looked even less favourable on the smallest of the new G5s (1.6 GHz PowerPC G5): Although they congratulated Apple on the brilliant design and accessibility of the hardware, they criticised the rather old video card and the price. With 10.2.7, they did not see a significant speed increase compared with the 1 GHz G4s and commented that hopefully later OS X versions would give the user the speed increase we'd all be hoping for.
The most damning, however, was the comparison to a 2.6 GHz Pentium 4 machine for a third of the G5's price, which outshone the Apple's performance in every category. That really hurts.
So all there is left to do is cross our fingers and hope that Panther might put the tiger in the tank of the smaller G5s.
Literally speaking.
* Editor's note: September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day. This has nothing to do with Bill Gates, Microsoft, sharing music files, or Macs. It just seemed the right place to drop a link. ;-) dk
Recent Down But Not Out Columns
- Thoughts and advice on replacing a two-year-old iBook G4, 02.01. This iBook G4 has taken a beating. Does it make more sense to buy a new iBook G4, wait for the Intel models, or look at the used market?
- iBook on last legs, Mac mini saves marriage, and Macintel meanderings, 01.23. With the iBook G4 "falling apart at the seams", does it make more sense to buy a new G4 iBook or wait for the Intellified next gen iBook?
- First impressions of the 14" iBook G4, 11.13. "Apple has managed to produce a machine that combines everything I want from a portable computer with appropriate processor performance for a competitive price."
- More in the Down But Not Out index.
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: Blue & White Power Mac G3, Jan. 1999 - The most colorful Power Mac introduced an innovative 'drawbridge' enclosure.
- List of the Day: SuperMacs is for those using Umax SuperMac clones.
- 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.
About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts


