MacVillage.net

The world isn’t perfect, we all know that. We can’t always use our beloved Macs at our jobs or schools, we also know that. This coming year, I will be taking time to address these issues which seem ignored by everyone else. I will be writing a whole series of articles about working in a dual platform environment and making due while in the office with Windows, and how you can really complement your Mac with a Windows computer, and vice versa. Believe me, they are more similar than anyone gives them credit for.

At first I would like to give you the rundown of what I have to work with:

In the Mac corner wearing Blue & White: B&W G3
Blue & White G3 400 MHz
256 MB RAM
1 40 GB Hard Drive
1 12 GB Hard Drive
CD/DVD Drive
Zip 250 Drive
10 BT Ethernet connection to home network
Mac OS 9.2.2 and Mac OS X 10.1

In the PC Corner wearing a funny looking flag: IBM ThinkPad
IBM ThinkPad
Pentium 4M 1.8 GHz
512 MB RAM
CD-RW/DVD Drive
Floppy Drive
40 GB Hard Drive
Windows XP
Wi-Fi Network access at home, 10 BT Ethernet at school


One should note a few things:

1. The Mac is an older computer, yet still provides more than enough power for most common tasks including Web Development.

2. The Windows computer will be used mainly during the week, the Mac is the “weekend hot rod” from this point forward.


Initial ideas

I decided to go with Netscape 7 for Email because of its robust features and security. It’s not Outlook, and it doesn’t have Outlooks vulnerabilities. Netscape 7 is also a branded Mozilla, a great open source child.

Since I will always be with the Laptop and not with the Mac, Email will be based on the IBM Thinkpad. Netscape is great here because I can at any point copy my profile to the Mac and get my email on the Mac. So I am not stuck forever with the PC. But more on this later.

I also decided to install VNC on the Mac so that I can connect to it remotely while away.


In the near future I will be going into each of these topics in detail. Since I know many are in similar situation as I take a new look at Macs on the Dark Side. Stay tuned.

Apple today announced a revamped PowerMac G4 line, the first time all models ship with dual processors, apparently Apples way of keeping up with Intels 2 GHz + processor speeds. [Link]

The new G4′s features speeds up to 1.25 GHz x2 (dual processor of course), and a signifigantly improved bus taking after the Xserve. This packs quite a punch.

The new PowerMac G4 also has a modified case, though still similar to the QuickSilver design. The drives now appear in the middle of the tower rather than towards the top. Personally I don’t think this will be much of a success. Many users keep their computer on the floor. This just means more bending to get to the drives. Not something a person with a bad back is going to like doing.

An interesting note is that Apple now defaults to the ATI Radeon 9000 Pro, the first time ATI has been the leading Graphics card provider in quite some time. One may remember they were included in previous G4′s, but only for the low-end models. This new card is much faster than ATI takes credit for and is still relatively cheap. The NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti graphics card is available for those with deep wallets.

One bitter-sweet change is that instead of the large optical drive on top, and the space for a Zip drive below, the PowerMac G4 now features two large optical drive bays in the front of the computer. This is kind of odd considering a SuperDrive can do it all anyway. The extra cost of putting in a second drive would not really be worth the money. The only real advantage would be to burn copies of CD’s quicker, and to be able to work with a CD while listening to a CD.

Unfortunately it appears Apple dropped support for the Zip drive. It is no longer available as an option, and Iomega will have to do some work to make it available to G4 users. While the Zip drive technically can interface just fine, and even fit in the larger optical bay with a kit included in the Zip ATAPI package. The user would have to remove the door that covers the drive or else putting a disk in would involve some long finger nails to pry the cover open. Despite the high price tag on disks, Zip disks are still very popular, especially in businesses. External drives are clutter. Hopefully the covers can easily be removed.


One sure to be changed occurance is the PCI and Graphics cards being placed over the processor/heatsink. This is sure to cause some Graphics cards to go bad. Just look at that heatsink. Dual processors generate some heat. Heat rises. Right to the already warm cards. That is going to be a serious issue. Even with the fan blowing air directly out the back, keeping the air flowing away from the graphics card, it will still generate more heat then in the past. As G4 Cube owners know, graphics cards can be sensitive to heat (many cube owners disabled fans on the graphics cards to keep their computers quiet, and damaged the cards). One should note that in the PR photo, the enormous heat sink has been removed.

One thing that is disappointing is the price of the 1.25 GHz system is $3,299. They should have made sure to keep it under $3,000, the magic number these days. Making the standard drive in it 80 GB rather than 120 GB would cut $100 right there. A user can always upgrade when ordering. It’s marketing. When the high end system goes up, it becomes a more expensive system regardless of the fact that the 1 GHz system yesterday was $2,999 is now $2,499 and is improved.

Overall, the new line features some needed improvements, but it appears that there may be a few mistakes. It will be interesting to see how this model fairs over the next few months.