Ask Jacob

In general I will just end up getting a basic 1TB Lacie drive for my backup drives. I have one of these set as a TimeMachine Backup drive and another for making whole system clones of my computer that I keep off site.

But if you just want to backup small Data files that will total under 8GB per year, look at a LaCie USB itsakey drive.

This will store a years worth of your data and you can easily take it with you.

- Jacob

In general a new Intel Mac mini or refurbished Mac mini is a great replacement for most PowerPC systems. I use one as my primary home computer and can say that I have yet to find its limit.

The only drawback for you will be working with software that was designed to run on a PowerPC processor, it will have to be run in a special environment on your computer called Rossetta. Everything should work, but just may not be running at its full potential speed.

- Jacob

For the task of writing, email or documents, the older Macs are still a decent choice. It does not take increasing processor power to record key strokes as text.

The Web browsing aspect though is a different matter. Older computer hardware just is not capable of running modern web browsers and Internet development is now back in hyperdrive, pushing the limits of what you can do on the web. Websites that worked on your browser yesterday may be rewritten for modern browsers tomorrow and older computers will be left out.

If the exciting new parts of the internet are were you want to go, than older computers are going to have a hard time. FaceBook, Youtube, and the like, will want a better computer to display their content. For that you need some processing power, like you have with your Macbook Pro.

Those G3 PowerBooks are old enough now that out Mac trade in program has stopped accepting them as well, so even overclocked a G3’s use beyond a word processor is pretty limited.

- Jacob

When 10.6 was released without Power PC Mac support I was recommending that everyone grab 10.5 before it was gone for good. At this point your observation about 10.5 Leopard is correct and the advice to get a Mac Mini is probably good advice.

I have to say that I love may Mac Mini and think it is a good choice for most users looking for a desktop system. We regularly have used Intel Mac minis in stock is you’re interested in keeping costs down.

- Jacob

The simple solution is to select the update listed and choose ignore update from the “Update” menu. Assuming your drivers are updated and working for you then it should not cause any problems to skip the update. This sometimes can happen when you download drivers from the manufactures site (in this case HP) and Apple tries to overwrite them with different versions that are not newer or older, just different software builds. This deference prevents the update from fully installing and does not record the newer version in Software Updates records.

I hope skipping it works for you.

- Jacob

I would have to say that the best value Mac laptop is the white polycarbonate MacBook. It is a great system, and the latest version now has a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. For a little more you get a Aluminum finish and more RAM in the 13″ MacBook Pro.

These machines are fairly similar and should serve you well for another ten years. Hope this helps.

- Jacob

The MacBook Pro will boot up without the fan connected. The temperature sensors on your system will keep an eye on the temp and shut you down if it gets dangerous for the components. Just save often and keep an eye on the heat. If you let the heat rise to much it may shorten the life of your MacBook Pro Battery and hard drive, not to mention the remaining fan will spin full speed to compensate.

Good luck
Jacob

Yes you are correct that the Apple Cinema HD Display 23″ will require a better video card than what your Cube has.

That display needs an ADC connection from a card with 32MB of Video RAM. It is likely that your video card is underpowered for that display. Replacement parts are hard to find, we do not have any, but you may be able to find a card from a high end Cube for sale online.

Hope that helps
Jacob

I am sure that there is a way to fix an MacBook Pro power supply but I would not advise it.

I am the same type of person you seem to be. I will bust out a soldering iron instead of my wallet most times. Occasionally though, I just do not want to risk potential damage from a DIY project. For example when maintaining my car, I will not work on my own tires or breaks. This is because I value professional and inspected work when it comes to keeping me on the road, and stopping when I need to.

Just like tires, the computer’s Power Supply is where the “Rubber Meets the Road.” It is where the outside world connects to your computer and, just like a bad break job, errors in the repair can be costly. In general you will probably be able to make the repair and get a working power supply, but it is possible that a safety device will not get fixed and a power spike could damage your equipment.

In this case I would encourage you to buy a suitable replacement. To be honest I would not know how to advice you, as I have never attempted that repair before.

Hope this helps.
- Jacob

In general the first step in troubleshooting an iPod problem is to reformat the iPod and take it back to the original factory config. Make sure you have backed up your settings in iTunes first and that you still have all the songs and applications in your iTunes library.

To format your iPod, connect it to your computer and select it in the iTunes Device list. Then under the Summary tab select the Restore button and confirm that you are going to delete all data on the iPod. It will download the latest software for your iPod and then install it, it may take some time. When it is done, you can try restoring your setup from the last backup you made.

However before you go to this extreme, you may just have some file problem crashing the transfer process. If the problem is just seen during the iPod sync process you will need to remove the problem file from your iTunes library. This problem can be caused by a corrupt MP3 file or some other issue with the song files. Here is an Apple article on how to locate the offending iPod files and remove them.

Hope this helps,
- Jacob

All, but the last model, need a Power Mac G5 wireless antenna connected to the back of the case.

You need to make sure that G5 antenna is connected to the Airport port on the back of the unit. It can be put into the Bluetooth port by accident, or it sometimes is missing altogether. Both problems will cause poor wireless performance. If you plan on making the G5 wireless – and have the “T” antenna installed correctly – you can try to adjust the angle of the “T” so that it get the best signal quality. Try using the Kismac OS X wireless tool to get a more detailed view of your wireless signal strength.

Hope this helps – good luck making the G5 wireless!
Jacob

I think the Apple Time Capsule is a good solution for people who are using laptops and stay wireless 80% of the time.

The largest issue with backing up is remembering to do so. Time Machine makes backup easy and automatic. However, a small subset of people who never leave a computer at the desk long enough to backup to a USB drive were not being protected by Time Machine. Those people need the Time Capsule so that they too can take advantage of Time Machine’s automatic backup.

If you have a desktop, or leave your laptop connected to external devices on a desk for a few hours a day, you would be best served by using a directly connected external USB hard drive for your backups. The Airport Extreme base station will allow you to connect an external USB drive for network file storage. That drive will be accessible from the network or you can always connect it directly to a Mac and retrieve the data if one day your Airport fails. If the drive in your Apple Time Capsule fails it’s harder to get access to.

Hope that helps you make a decision,
- Jacob

The glass can be replaced easily, it is held on with magnets. However, there could be a problem if the bend in the case prevents the replacement of the glass. If the glass can not lay flat on the case, it may cause it to crack or let dust in. The glass for a 27 inch iMac should be $120-200 to replace but again the bent case is the X factor.

Bring it into a service shop for a better estimate of the work needed to get the glass replaced.

Hope this helps
- Jacob