Ask Jacob

You are in the space between the Mac Pro and the iMac user. The 24″ iMac will handle most of your needs now, but with very little room to expand. Both are going to handle your Adobe programs at faster speeds than the dual G4. Both would require a least two gigs of RAM, but the iMac maxes out at 3 Gbs, so if your files get bigger you will be up against a wall again. You will have to get the VRAM upgraded in the iMac to 256MB but the 24″ iMac will let you change the graphics card down the road. Of course, by then you are probably going to want a new system anyway.For the money I think you will be happy with the iMac for now and just plan on upgrading in two to three years to a Pro system. You can trade in the iMac towards the Mac Pro later on and get the big system when you have the money in the bank. For now up the hard drive size, RAM, and VRAM in the iMac.

The B&W G3 will work well with Mac OS 10.3, but you may want to add extra RAM. Another 256 MB would put you at a good level. 10.4 Tiger is even a possibility for you (http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/requirements.html) but unless you have a DVD drive you will also need to request a CD installer package after you buy Tiger. The form can be found here (Tiger Media Exchange Form). Your B&W computer is not going to be screaming fast in OS X, but it should get you working on basic tasks like web browsing.

I bought a Gamepad similar to the one you are looking at two years back and have tried it with many games. Even though it is “supported” by the Mac, it still has not worked worth a damn. The games have to have support for the controllers for it to work, and many Mac games do not support these Logitech Precision Gamepads. Most of the USB gamepads support InputSprocket games, so your games may work with it even though it is not technically supported.The best advice is to see what other users of your specific games are using and see if you can pick up one of those controllers.

Bluetooth headsets will work well in almost all Voice Over IP (VOIP) programs like Skype. Once you pair the headset with the Mac, it will act as a Mic source and Speaker source to the Mac OS. If the program does not use the Mac OS sound handling, you may have to set it in system preferences first. But it should work fine after that. I used to use one with iChat AV. The main thing to remember with VOIP is that a wireless headset and a wireless internet connection could interfere enough to degrade your call. Connecting to your router with a hard wire when using VOIP is always recommended.Happy free calling.

Apple makes this great little adapter for hard drive-based color and video iPods. It’s called the Apple iPod Camera Connector (http://www.powermax.com/product/Apple_iPod_Camera_Connector/f98029.html). It plugs into your iPod and allows you to connect the USB cable from your camera and pull over your pictures. Here is a link to supported cameras: (http://www.apple.com/ipod/compatibility/cameraconnector.html). If it works with your camera it would be a perfect excuse to get a bigger iPod.If you buy it let me know what you think of it.

I have a 12 year old daughter and as you can imagine she has all the gadgets. Like you though, I will only spoil to a point. The first one I will buy, but the second one is all her responsibility.The trip through the washer has probably killed the battery and it will need to be replaced. There are some replacement batteries out there, but you will have to crack it open and install the battery. Instead, you may want to get a battery extender to power the nano. ILuv (http://www.i-luv.com/) makes a host of battery extenders that are meant to add play life to iPods, but in this case it will become your son’s only battery. It is an easy fix and can be bought with his allowance.Good luck from one dad to another.

I am not a big fan of the white keyboards or the clear plastic cases Apple has chosen to use for this very reason. Keyboards are hard to clean and even harder when they show every hair and crumb. PowerMax uses a 150 lb. air compressor to clean our equipment. It works better than canned air, although it’s still difficult. Find a friend with pneumatic tools or a nail gun and use their compressor to blow out the particles inside the keyboard. Hold the nozzle at a 45-degree angle and work the air blasts along the space in between the keys. To whiten the keys, use Formula 409 and a rough cotton rag.That has had the best results for me, I hope it works as well for you.

I will fight my nature to make a short answer long and just say yes. You need a PCMCIA (AKA PC Card) USB 2.0 card for your laptop. I would recommend the D-Link card, just remember USB 2.0 cards only work in Mac OS X.

Hope that works for you.

There are few things to keep in mind when working with this new Mirrored Drive Door G4. The first thing is that all hard drives installed into this G4 must be set for “Cable Select.” It will take up to four hard drives, and all have to be “cable select” and the plug at the end of the PATA cable has to be used if only one drive is going to be on the cable. When you format drives for this computer you must make sure that they are formatted with OS 9 support. A good way to make sure a disk will support OS 9 is to format it from OS 9. So boot up from the backup and format the internal drive that you want to have OS 9 on. Then install 9.2.2 on it. Missing the OS 9 disk support is probably what’s causing your booting problems. You can put the old drive that worked on the 400 MHz G4 into the new MDD G4 but it will have to have the latest version of OS 9 installed on it.PowerMax has a good stock of original Airport cards. You can find them here: (http://www.powermax.com/product/Used_Airport_Card/a-51540.html) and they will work in both versions of the Mac OS that you use.As for salvage, we tend not to have much use for those computers for parts. We would be happy to recycle it for you but you may find that you can donate it to someone who does not need an ethernet jack.

Circular scratches on a disc are the hallmark of a damaged optical drive. A few things can cause the problem inside the drive. If the scratches are on the top of the disk towards the center, then they’re caused by the disc stabilizer locking up. A floating disk inside an optical drive presses the CD or DVD down tightly on the spindle that turns the disc. If that floating disk becomes stuck it will grind away at the media you put inside the drive. If the scratches are on the underside of the discs, then it could be some foreign object inside the drive or the laser lens making contact with the disc. If it is only happening on some disks then it is most likely the lens scratching the discs. An optical drive will move its lens closer to the disc trying to read it. If the disk is unreadable to the drive it may zoom in too far and impact with the disc.Even if it was caused by only one type of media, the damage may have been done and a replacement drive could be in order. Just make sure you test with media you do not care about. The problem with damage-causing drives is that it’s hard to trust them again, even when it only happened a few times.

When the input devices in our lives fail us slowly, it can be more painful than if they just stop working altogether. The Apple Mighty Mouseâ„¢ is not invincible like the cartoon character it was named after. It’s most likely a mechanical failure that can only be addressed by replacing the mouse. The hockey puck mouse was the last Apple mouse that could be taken apart and repaired. Now Apple makes their mice in a way that makes the product disposable. The good news is that your mouse is covered under the AppleCare warranty and it will be replaced.If you feel like trying to work out your problems with this mouse first, then there is something to try. Many people have encountered problems with the scroll ball, but most often the problem is having only one direction of scrolling. You may have an advanced case of this problem. The solution is simple. Using a cotton cloth, clean the scroll ball with light rubbing alcohol. Unplug the mouse and turn it upside down. Rub the scroll ball firmly with the alcohol-dampened cloth, trying to clean all sides of the ball. Let the alcohol dry and then plug it in. If only partial scrolling returns repeat the cleaning.Hope this salvages your mouse relationship.

The program you are looking for is The Missing Sync (http://www.markspace.com). I have not used it but have heard rave reviews. They support Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and the Sony PSP. It should solve your problems for a reasonable price of $39.95.I hope it is what you are looking for.

First thing, you need to turn off the PowerBook until you’re sure that it’s dry. Remove the battery and the power cord. To help it dry faster it’s OK to use a hair dryer on low, or a fan. You will want to make certain it’s dry before turning it on again. It may be that the keyboard was still wet and that is why it is not working. If after the extensive dry-out it still doesn’t let you type, then you probably will need a new keyboard. That work should be done by an authorized Apple service center. It should cost you under $100 for the repair.Good luck. I hope the hair dryer does it.

You can use an Airport Express to bridge a wireless connection to a wired computer. You will have to have another Airport Express or Airport Extreme base station as your main base station. They both will need the latest firmware to support the secure WDS connection. Join your two base stations through WDS and then connect the Mac Pro to the ethernet port with any ethernet cable. The gigabit ethernet port on the Mac Pro will auto detect what kind of connection is on the other end of the cable and adjust to that. It is easiest to set up WDS when both base stations are setup together so if you encounter problems then reset them both to “Default” settings. Then set them up through the WDS tab in the Airport Admin Utility.Good luck… and I know the growl your girlfriend gave you from experience.