Ask Jacob

Yes, you can do a Migration Assistant move from a PowerPC based Mac to an Intel Mac. Just make sure you have, or buy a firewire cable to connect the two Macs. Most times, it will take a Firewire 400 to Firewire 800 adapter cable. The Belkin Firewire Cable is a good one.

- Jacob

The symptoms you’re describing do seem to relate to a video card failure. The Kernel Panic on restart may also point to a video card failing to identify correctly. How long ago was the video card replaced? If it was recent enough, it would be worth checking with the repair center that performed the replacement. In some cases, the repair on the video card, has it’s own warranty, and may qualify you for a replacement. I hope this information has been helpful for you.

Dennis Beaman
PowerMax Support

I would assume it is not a hardware issue because of the replacement of the keyboard and most times all buttons stop working with hardware failure. It could be a settings issue that is set to ignore special function values by default. In the Macbook Pro System Preferences, Select the “Keyboard” option. Under the Keyboard Tab look to see if there is a checkmark in the checkbox for “Use all F1, F2 etc. keys as standard function keys.” Remove the Checkmark if it is in that checkbox.

In that same Preference window is a [Modifier Keys..] button, click on that button. Then check to make sure that your [Option] key was not remapped to another function.

Hope this helps,
- Jacob

All Intel Mac Minis have combo analog / optical audio jacks so any used Intel Mac mini will work.

You will, of course, also need to pick up a Mini to Optical Toslink cable.

- Jacob

When moving from PowerPC based Macs to an Intel Mac, I always recommend using Migration Assistant when you first start up the new Mac. During the initial setup you are given the option to move data over from your old Mac. The new Migration Assistant now allows you to do that over a network connection. Below is a link to Apple article on this process. Most applications should run fine on your system. Universal applications will run at full speed and PowerPC applications can run in an emulation mode of-sorts. It is a good idea to download fresh copies of Universal software, if available online to replace older version moved over during the migration.

Network based data migration using Migration Assistant.

In most cases you should be fine. If your ethernet enabled migration is interrupted, it will pickup where you left off so you do not need to guard it during the process.

- Jacob

Both the Mac Pro and iMac allow you to upgrade the processor, however, the Mac Pro is far easier to work on. The real benefit is that you can now buy generic PC processors to do the upgrade. I have known a few people who have done that upgrade with success.

Mac desktops have only gotten easier to upgrade in the switch to Intel processors.

I hope this helps
Jacob

I have long felt that the iMac was a good alternative to the full-blown Mac Pro workstation. I do believe this still to be the case, but I do not want to mislead you into thinking it will be a limitless computer. The iMac will constrain some of your capabilities. It would not be an ideal computer for HD Video or After Effects work on the production level. The iMac will certainly handle most graphic design work but so to would your G5. The new CS4 requires an Intel chip due to only half the software included in the bundle. Photoshop and Illustrator, for example, will work on a dual G5 processor system.

If you are looking to focus on 2D still graphics, with some light instructional video demonstrations, then the iMac should work well for you. Bump up the RAM and hard drive on the 24″ iMac and you should have decent machine. You should also pick up a DVI to mini-DVI adapter to use your current DVI display as a second monitor on the iMac.

Hope that helps,

Jacob

The iMac is a good solution for a kid’s desktop system. Because of the requirements of Spore, I would suggest that you focus on used Intel-based iMacs.

I would also recommend that you at least look at the new iMacs as they have many of the features that your son would need for the game, without having to buy those features later. Also, because of the child’s age, you should have this computer in a public space with a separate “Parental Controlled” account setup. Here is a link to an older article I wrote about kids and computers.

It is a little outdated but the methodology in the article is applicable and the Parental Controls are similar in Leopard as they were in Tiger. Keeping the computer in a public space will also allow you to double task this system as a general family computer, that will help soften the initial expense of the computer.

Hope this helps
Jacob

It’s true that Mac computers are far less prone to viruses and other junk that makes for a frustrating experience on Windows machines. This is not to say that Macs are impervious to attack, but it rarely happens. Macintosh computers are great for any user who has no interest in becoming a computer security expert or continuing to invest in repairing and reconfiguring a computer.

Macs are refurbished for a legion of reasons, many of which have nothing to do with anything having gone wrong with the machine. A computer could have been refurbished simply because it was returned by a customer who found it not the right fit. Maybe it was a display machine or a loaner system. Those are often refurbished too.

It is also just as likely, however, that a refurbished Mac had some problem, real or perceived, and was returned. Those systems are repaired and re-boxed as refurbished by Apple. Be aware that computers are really modular, so if a component goes bad, simply replacing that component will restore the machine to factory-level conditions. However, it is always a good idea to include AppleCare with a Mac purchase, which gives you three years of hardware protection and worldwide service coverage (you know, for that trip to Spain you always wanted). If a computer has any lingering issues they’ll become evident within those three years and you should be able to get it fixed at no cost.

For your specific needs, if you’re looking for mobility, I think a MacBook laptop with 2GB of RAM will work perfectly and is a quality starting point – and they’re stunning little notebooks. If you want a bigger screen and don’t plan to take your computer out of the house, then the iMac is my favorite choice.

This is personal taste at its purest.

I like a matte screen and my wife loves glossy. We have had many an argument about it when buying a monitor. In the case of the iMac, it is not a big issue, and I have not been disappointed with the glossy iMac. A nice option with the iMac is that you can have both matte and glossy. The iMac supports two screens, one internal (glossy) and one external. If you bought a 20″ iMac and a 20″ Apple display together, you could use both displays side-by-side. One would be matte and the other one glossy, but it’s really mostly a matter of personal taste (and probably just getting used to one or the other as well).

The Northbridge chip is under the black heatsink in your PCI-e compartment of the Mac Pro. It is common for that chip to have readings up to 83°C or 182°F. Some people have taken to replacing the Northbridge heatsink in their Mac Pros to get things cooler, but I would not advise it unless you start to see temperatures above 170°F.

There is a little command you can type into the Terminal that will restart your dock. Anything that is minimized on it will be kicked off. First, open the Terminal application, it is in your Utilities folder that is in the Applications folder. When Terminal is open, type this text: “killall Dock” without the quotation marks. Press the return key and your Dock should disappear for a moment. When it comes back up you should have nothing on it except saved shortcuts, the trash, and applications.

I have fond memories of both beige systems. In theory, the G3 Desktop should be faster than the 7300/200 Power Mac. It’s possible that the 7300 had a processor upgrade over the years. That could easily make it faster than an un-upgraded G3 Desktop. Look at the System Profiler under the Apple menu to see what processor speed you have.

The 7300 could support 1GB of RAM via 8 128MB chips. It is probably OK to aim instead for 512MB via 8 64MB chips.
http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/r-d-64

This RAM for the 7300 is different than the RAM in the G3 Desktop. The beige G3 Power Macs used PC66 SDRAM and would only support 768MB total RAM via 3 256MB chips.
http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/r-g3-256

When Apple started selling USB-only iPods they compiled a short list of USB 2.0 card makers that they liked. It was aimed at PC owners because Apple would prefer you buy a new USB 2.0 equipped Mac, but the list is a good Mac resource too. Here is the link. On that list is IOgear, who I like because of their Mac/Linux support. The card has 3 USB 2.0 ports and 2 FireWire 400 ports. I know you already have FireWire, but I have always found having extra FireWire ports to be of great benefit.

Most bluetooth devices will have a Pair, Connect, or Link button somewhere on the remote control that will make it discoverable for a period of time. It is often in the battery compartment or on the bottom of a remote or mouse. Once you make a device discoverable, you then can use the Apple Bluetooth Setup Assistant to add the device. Some devices are only discoverable for 30-90 seconds, so you may have to hit the button a few times. Also if you are asked to enter a pass code, it is often four zeros, but refer to the devices manual.

Now if you just want to replace the Apple IR remote, that is available and much easer to use. It should work with your iMac right out of the box.

www.PowerMax.com/parts/show/l51929

The Leopard upgrade is often smooth, having done it on a dozen or so systems myself I can attest to that. I would, however, recommend that you buy an external drive and clone your system onto it. Use carbon Copy Cloner to make your clone.

www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

After you have a good clone of your computer’s hard drive, you can then upgrade your system to Leopard. If you encounter any problems, format the internal hard drive and install Leopard on the empty drive. Then use the Migration Assistant -which runs when you first start up Leopard- to pull the data from the cloned system you made on the external drive. Once you have everything running smoothly, you can format that external drive and turn it into your Time Machine drive.

Hope that helps… and you are going to love Leopard.

Although I love Carbon Copy Cloner, it is not always appropriate. This is particularly true for moving from a PowerPC Mac to an Intel Mac. The PowerPC and Intel Macs use completely different versions of Mac OS X. Both work the same but they are not interchangeable. In your case the best thing to do is use the Migration Assistant that runs when you first start up your new Mac. You can also launch the Migration Assistant after the first run; it’s a program in the Utilities folder. In addition to the personal files moved over, the Migration Assistant will also move over your application. The end result will be something similar to what you would of had if you used Carbon Copy Cloner.

The PCI cards you have will not work with the Mac Pro. Apple has started using a newer standard called PCI Express for expansion cards. PCIe is not compatible with older PCI cards. Although your cards will not work, I think the Mac Pro will do more than what those cards offered.

You can use that computer with the TV in a few ways. Which way you can connect to a TV will depend on what kind of video card you have. Some ATI cards have S-Video connections and that will connect directly to your TV. Then you just need to connect the audio. Apple also makes a DVI to Video Adapter if your video card has a DVI-I port.

The “.pps” file extension indicates that it’s a PowerPoint presentation and that would be readable by Microsoft Office. It will also be readable by Apple’s Keynote application. Keynote is included in the iWork package, which costs far less than MS Office.

www.powermax.com/parts/show/s-ma790z__a

You can also get a free 30 Day trial version of iWork to see if it will do what you need it to do.

www.apple.com/iwork/trial/

For free, there is always OpenOffice which is an open-source project to recreate and improve on the functions in MS Office. It is a little harder to use but once you have it working, it may be just what you need.

porting.openoffice.org/mac/download/index.html

Well I would join in with you with complaints about the plastic iMac keyboard, that is if I hadn’t left mine in the box. Although I have not had the functional problems that you have, I don’t like the way the older Apple keyboards work. I used the Macally iKeySlim from my previous Mac from day one with my 2.16GHz iMac. Recently I replaced my Macally keyboard with Apple’s new Aluminum keyboard.

http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/n40067

I love this new Apple keyboard and think it is worth every penny I paid for it. Apple is never going to admit that they did not get perfection on the last model keyboard but at least they have replaced it with a truly outstanding evolved version.

I also dislike the caps lock feature of any keyboard. Despite the occasional angry email, it serves no purpose. Well luckily you can turn it off in OS X 10.4. Go to System Preferences and select the “Keyboard & Mouse” section. Under the Keyboard tab click on the “Modifier Keys” button. Change the Caps Lock popup menu to “No Action” and click on the OK button. Now you will no longer write half a sentence in all Caps.

Missing items from the list view when those items are still on your computer is a strange problem. I have seen the Mac OS fail to draw all items in a list but that will always leave a big white space where the items are supposed to be. That problem is often fixed by using the scroll-bar on the right to move the blank space in and out of view. You may have to shrink the window so that only a portion of the list is visible. Then you can scroll up and down.

It sounds like you are having a different problem than what I have described above. In your case I would expect that it could be a file permissions problem. To fix file permissions go to Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. Select your hard drive and then click on the Repair Disk Permissions button under the First Aid tab. After it is done running, restart your Mac and see if you still have the same problems.

After that, if some items are still missing, make sure that you have not inadvertently moved your missing applications to a folder inside the Applications folder. I have seen some cases were half the applications were in the Office 2004 folder and a turned down triangle in one view would show everything but in another window the folder was not expanded to show everything.

It’s wonderful that you might get a MacBook for Christmas. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray/HD-DVD playback on computers is still in turmoil. The problem is that most movie studios believe that putting their movies on a computer-readable format will open the door for massive piracy. So although there are HD-DVD and Blu-ray drives for computers, those are restricted to data discs only. You can’t get store-bought High Definition movies to play on your Mac.

Apple has yet to include a Blu-ray or HD-DVD drive in any of their standard Macs. These drives are obtainable however. PowerMax can install them in the Mac Pro and some drive makers sell Blu-ray upgrades for Macs. Apple may have skipped the High Definition disc issue because computer companies are only allowed to support the data formats of these new discs. If it becomes possible for movie studios to be comfortable with Mac playback of HD movies, then perhaps Apple will start to include those drives.

Yes Apple is going to be a little hard to pin down on an answer to this one. A modified sine wave inverter will work in most short-term uses. UPS units that have just enough battery power to let you save your work and shut down, these are modified sine wave. The chance of a modified sine wave inverter causing damage to your computers is slight, but the longer you run off of it, the greater your chance of causing minor damage to your computers.

For longer run times off of battery power, or generator power, sine wave inverters are recommended. This is definitely a recommendation and not a requirement. The modified sine wave inverter will do the job well, and the damage you could suffer will be minor. It is more likely to take months of the life of the computer as opposed to killing it outright.

The cause of the problem may be hard to pin down but here is something to try. You can take the identifier number that is reported by FSCK and track down the affected files. When you run fsck, it should report both the inode number of the file, and its name. If the inode number is nnnnn, follow these steps to get the pathname to the file:

Open Terminal, located in /Applications/Utilities.

Type:

sudo -s

Press Return and you will be prompted for your administrative password, the one you chose when you installed Mac OS X.

Type:

find / -inum nnnnn -print

Replacing “nnnnn” with the inode number and if the reported inode number has a letter at the end, only use the numbers.

This should give you the path to the affected files. If all the files are associated with the same function of your Mac (i.e. all Safari Cache files), then you can assume that it is related to a bug in that application. If you find that they are all random files, then I would have you completely erase your drive.

If you have an external drive that will fit the full contents of your drive, I would recommend using Carbon Copy Cloner to backup your entire drive.

After you have an exact copy of your drive, insert the grey restore DVD that came with your Mac. Restart your computer and hold down the “C” key to boot up from that disc. Once booted from the Disc, go to the Utilities menu and select Disk Utility. Now select your internal hard drive and go to the Erase tab. Click on the Security Options button and then select the option to write zeros over the drive. One pass will do, because you are just trying to make sure that the drive is in good condition. This could take many hours so don’t be in a rush when you start this process.

After it is done writing zeros you should do one more step. Click on the Partition tab. You must have the internal hard drive, and not the volume, selected in the left column for the Partition tab to be visible. Change the Volume Scheme popup menu from “Current” to “1 Partition.” Next click on the Partition button. With all this drive formatting work done you can quit Disk Utility and install a clean copy of OS X 10.4 on your Mac. Once the installation is done, start moving through the setup screens. When you are asked if you want to move files over from another Mac, answer yes and connect the external drive you cloned your old System onto. It will treat that like an old Mac and move over all your important files and applications.

That should fix your drive problems if it was a formatting error. If you still have problems after doing all of the above, then it may be a hardware problem. An Apple Authorized service center can help you if it is hardware related.

Unlike all the other components of a laptop, batteries perform with uncertain results. Whether because they are a chemical-based system, or because of the variance in manufacturing, batteries’ performance is difficult to predict. Two batteries bought at the same time from the same company could age differently. This is this nature of the battery and its nature makes me suspicious of claimed better performance. I think third party batteries are fine to use and I have no personal horror stories. For older laptops I would recommend a third party battery because the battery cells often are of a newer design, but for Macs only a few years old it is not likely to make that much of a difference. If the price is better for you on the Oncore battery then it would be a fine choice, but do not expect it to be noticeably superior to the Apple replacement battery.

The Mac world has changed considerably over the years, but the switch to Intel processors has probably had the most impact. Intel-based Macs can run Windows, Linux, and OS X in a variety of ways.

Boot Camp lets you decide what OS you want to run when you start up your computer. When you choose to run Windows via Boot Camp, your Mac is just like any other PC. You also have most of the problems of Windows, but it lets you run heavy-duty Windows applications at incredible speeds. You can then restart the computer into the Mac OS to do everything else, in a safe and productive environment. This solution works well for people who do only a few tasks in Windows for a set amount of time.

For the people who have to use a Windows application many times a day, restarting the computer is going to be a time waster. For that reason the best way of running Windows on an Intel Mac is with a program like Parallels. Parallels lets you run the Windows OS and the Mac OS at the same time, side-by-side. You can even set it up so that the few Windows programs you use will appear to be part of your Mac OS. Both Booth Camp and Parallels require you to by a copy of Windows to install on your Mac. If you have a copy of Windows XP SP 2 already, you can reuse that on your Mac.

With regards to hardware, you are locked into Intel-based Macs if you want to run Windows in the above ways. PowerPC Macs will not work, meaning that any Mac with a G3, G4, or G5 processor is not going to do what you want. You will have to buy a MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, Intel Mac mini or Intel iMac. The good news is that all the Intel Macs will also run the new Mac OS, Leopard, perfectly.

I hope this helps and as a side note: I’m an Evergreen graduate and drank many a night in your Fish Tail Brew Pub. I do miss the seasonal cider. Keep up your good work!

Any video card with a built-in ADC port will work to power the Apple 17″ ADC CRT display. However, DVI to ADC adapters will not provide enough power for the CRT display. Those adapters only work with LCD-based ADC displays. Your bigger problem is finding an Apple original video card with an ADC port. There are some private sales that sell those cards but increasingly it is difficult to 2XAGP cards with an ADC port. Most video upgrade cards we sell for older G4 towers are the PCI version, like the ATI 9200 card.

www.powermax.com/parts/show/h79812

This card only has a DVI and VGA display connector and would not work with your CRT display. The 9200 card is a great choice for running a newer Apple LCD display, if you want to upgrade your display as well.

In most cases I have had great success running my older applications in Classic. Classic is an OS 9 emulator that runs in OS X. Unfortunately, Classic only works on PowerPC Macs with an OS of 10.4.x or lower. The new Leopard OS will not support Classic and Intel Macs will not support it in any OS. An iMac G4 or iMac G5 would be a great computer to run both new programs and older programs.

If you had your heart set on a new Intel Mac, then there are ways to get older applications to run on the latest Apple hardware, but they take a little effort to get running. I like Mini vMac.

minivmac.sourceforge.net

There are always a few concerns with putting a larger hard drive in an older portable Mac. Laptops are designed with only their original configuration in mind and newer drives have the potential of drawing excessive power or generating more heat than the PowerBook was designed to dissipate. All that being said, I know many people who have happily upgraded their Mac Laptop’s hard drive, without any problem. I personally have cracked open my fair share of personal Mac Laptops to get a little more storage space.

Most drives that are 120GB or smaller are a safe bet when upgrading older Macs, of any flavor. I think though that an 80GB 2.5″ drive is the best value for gigabytes vs. dollars. Look at this MCE drive upgrade kit, it has the drive and all the tools needed to swap out that 10 GB drive.

www.powermax.com/parts/show/a-mce-ms80gx

Microsoft discontinued Internet Explorer (IE) for the Mac several years ago. Although the Mac version was similar to the Windows version, it did not possess the capabilities that most sites want when they ask for IE. Microsoft integrated some portions of its Windows Operating system into its Windows version of the IE web browser, in order to make websites more capable. The technology was called ActiveX. Because the browser and OS work together, web programmers could include more application-like behavior on their web pages. Also, malicious web programmers could take control of your system and cause all sorts of unwanted behaviors. The result was a security nightmare that plagued IE users for many years. Eventually Microsoft found a way to secure ActiveX use in IE. Often, banks or other financial institutions still use the ActiveX for added account-managing features. Most sites are opting to rewrite their sites for a common cross platform browser, like FireFox. FireFox can run similarly on many different kinds of computers.If you have to use the Windows version of IE for that one website, then you will want to use an Intel-based Mac running a virtual copy of Windows XP via Parallels.http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/s-50245Parallels will let you run any number of Windows applications right next to your Mac applications. Unfortunately, this will only work on Intel-based Macs. Hope that helped.

Apple never made matching keyboards for the Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian iMac G3. They instead used the standard black-keyed and clear plastic cased Apple Pro Keyboard. This was the same for all the slot-loading iMacs after Apple ditched the fruit names for the colors. Up to that point the keyboards matched the iMac color. It is important to note though, that PowerMax can’t always match the keyboards and mice that originally shipped with the computer. You just have to imagine some of the filthiest keyboards you have ever seen and then smile at the notion that if we can’t sanitize it, we toss it into the recycle dumpster.

Stuttering audio playback can certainly indicate a failing optical drive. Sometimes you can bypass an intermittent problem through software. In iTunes, you have the option of using error correction when encoding from a CD. In the current version of iTunes, that option is in the preferences under Advanced. Mark the checkbox for “use error correction when reading Audio CDs” that you find under the “Importing” tab. Now try encoding that audio CD and see if the playback is OK. If everything plays back fine, you could keep that drive going as-is for some time. But if it fails or you want to replace it with a fully functioning drive, then a MCE super drive is the way to go.

www.powermax.com/product/MCE_Internal_18x_DVD-_+R_RW_Upgrade_for_Power_Mac_G4_G5/a-mce-dvdr18xdt-d.html

MCE drives have all the features of a modern Super Drive, and the compatibility for older versions of the Mac OS.

The max gigabyte capacity of a MacBook Pro or MacBook hard drive is constantly changing. Apple, of course, uses standard computer components wherever possible and the hard drives in a Mac are going to be the same as what you find in any PC store. That means that through the year speed and compactly will increase for all computers. Mac Laptops use 2.5″ SATA drives that spin 4200 RPM, 5400 RPM, or 7200 RPM. In many instances, the larger the drive is in terms of gigabytes, the slower it will spin. A slower spinning drive can affect the rate you read and write data to the drive, affecting system performance. At the moment, the largest hard drive you can get in a Mac laptop is 250GB, but it will spin at the slower 4200 RPM speed. So if you are looking for the most storage space, and you work with less system-taxing programs, 250GB is a fine choice. However if you work with video or need the most from your Mac Laptop, then look at the 160GB 7200 RPM drives.

You can boot an Intel Mac from an external drive, but due to a partition scheme change on the new Intel Macs, you have to format the drive with a GUID Partition Table. This is an option under the Partition tab in Disk Utility. Click on the Options button to see your partitioning options and select GUID. Once formatted, you can clone over an OS. Not all install discs let you install on an external drive, so be prepared to clone if necessary. Carbon Copy Cloner is my choice for cloning.

As for external boot drive recommendations, LaCie drives are a great option. The LaCie 500GB Hard Disk eSATA is great for having a versatile boot drive that will work on any Intel Mac system.

I don’t believe that you made a bad purchase, but it may not do what you need. Most USB 2.0 cards will not work in OS 9, so you must have OS X 10.2 or higher on your PowerBook. Also, USB PC Cards (AKA PCMCIA cards) will not provide bus power to any device. So a USB printer or USB hard drive with its own power supply will work on your card, but a bus-powered device that doesn’t have its own power cord, like your flash drive, will not work reliably. Sometimes adding a powered USB 2.0 hub in between the card and flash drive will let the two work together.

testIt should not matter what computer you copied over the OS from, as all versions of OS X can boot any version of Mac, as long as it is a point version higher then what the computer came with from Apple. This is true with the exception of PowerPC Vs. Intel versions of the Mac OS. If it is a software problem you should be able to restore that functionality by downloading the latest Combo update for the Mac OS. Provided you are not already running 10.4.10. If you are then you will have to download the 10.4.11 update when it becomes available.

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10410comboupdatev11intel.html

Now if this does not fix your problem, you may just be having a problem with an unintentionally changed preference. Go to System Preferences and select the “Keyboards & Mice” section. Now click on the Keyboard tab and make sure that there is no check mark next to “Use the F1-F12 keys to control software features.” Uncheck it and close the window. Now try to use those special keys.

Well you are on the right track to securing your Mom’s Mac. Although it is called Parental Controls, this is the best way to administer a novice user on a Mac. The main thing is to have two user accounts on the computer. One account is going to be your administrator account and should be named Admin. Give the Admin user account a good password that you will remember but is hard to guess. This account will practically never get used. This is mostly there so you can run software update and install application when needed. Give this account information to your brother or any person willing to be the dissuasion-maker in regards to this computer. If you give this account info to your mom, then it will defeat the purpose of locking down the second account.

The second account is going to be a standard account with all your mother’s information. When you are logged into your admin account, create a new account by going to the System Preferences and selection “Accounts.” Click on the Padlock icon and enter your password. Now click on the “+” button under the Account List window. In the dropdown window enter your mom’s name, and give her a simple password. Do not mark the checkbox next to “Allow this user to administer this computer.” Now that this account is created you can click on the Parental Controls tab. Mark the check box for “Finder.app & System,” then click on the configure button.

Restricting the Finder and System is where you should do all of your work on an adult’s account. As you mentioned, Simple Finder is too simple and not the best option for anyone over the age of seven. The “Some Limits” option should be selected and under that only mark the check boxes for “Burn CDs and DVDs” and “Allow supporting programs.” You could also mark the checkbox for “This user can only use these application:” but I do not think that is a good option for protecting your mom from herself. If you were there everyday to adjust the settings, then it would be OK, but this will often cause you more tech call than it will save you from. Once you click the OK button you only have to set her account as the one that the computer boots up into. This is done in the in the Login Options section near where you found the “+” button before. Click on Login Options and then mark the checkbox next to “Automatically login as:” From the pop up menu select your mom’s user account and enter her password.

Now you should restart the computer and make sure that everything works as you expect. Your brother will have to login as the Admin user to setup the printer or you will have to do that prior to shipping everything.

Hope that all works out.

DVI cable connections have been a source of confusion for many Mac users. It is not too hard to understand the difference behind them, but the industry has made it a mess of acronyms that could confuse anyone. I will try to give you some basic info on the DVI options out there.The foundation of all the connections is the plug form. DVI is really just a reference to the shape of a plug. Everything after the “DVI” is describing the number of active pins in that DVI connection. DVI-D is the most practical and basic DVI connection. It is just a simple connection that only works with the digital video signals. Most “DVI Monitors” will have a DVI-D connection. The DVI-I connection as all the same pins as DVI-D but has a few extra pins that carry an additional analog signal. The analog plugs are mostly unused when attached to a digital display. Because of the analog pins present, DVI-I connections can be downgraded from DVI to VGA via an adapter cable, as opposed to DVI-D connections that are digital only. If you are connecting a DVI LCD to a computer DVI-D is what you want, but DVI-I will also work too.The third option for Mac Users is DVI-Dual Link. This is similar to a DVI-I connection, but it has even more active pins that can carry the huge amount of data that 30″ Apple displays need. A DVI-Dual Link plug can run any of the above connections, right down to VGA.I hope that helps. It only sounds confusing but it is not that bad.

You do not need to be worried if your hard drive disappears off the Desktop. You can set the computer to not show your hard drive or other items on the Desktop, and that same setting can bring it back. Click once on your desktop and then select Preferences from the Finder menu. Under the general section you will see three checkboxes under the “Show these items on the Desktop:” Mark all three of them and see if that brings back your hard drive.Hope that helps, let me know.

BigFoot is not a virus, but the remnants of a pre-Spam era. BigFoot was one of the many companies that tried to assert itself as the White Pages of the internet. They provided a service that would look up publicly listed email addresses for you when you were composing an email. This was a LDAP based service that would watch what you type and see if it had a match in the BigFoot database. Unfortunately, spammers quickly used email list servers like BigFoot as a source for their mass emailings. Soon email listing services were avoided by everyone.Many email programs included support for BigFoot and other LDAP servers like it, and they often can accidentally get activated. If you use Microsoft Entourage then you need to go to the Tools menu and mouse down to Accounts. In the Accounts window click on the Directory Service tab. Look for any reference to BigFoot, or anything else for that matter, and remove it from the list. If you use Apple Mail, then you need to make changes to the Address Book’s preferences. From the Address Book menu in the application select Preferences. Then select the LDAP tab and remove the unwanted items from the list.Other email programs you might be using will be set up similarly, and you just need to remove the settings for LDAP or Directory servers.Hope that fixes it for you.

The great thing about using Parallels for Mac is that you can run any version of Windows or Linux you want on your Mac.

You just have to tell Parallels what you want to do before you install the non-Mac OS into a Parallels Virtual machine. Some versions of Windows Vista are not licensed for installation on virtual hardware like Parallels. You will want to use the Ultimate version of Windows Vista to comply with the Microsoft license. Also, you will want to run the Service Pack 2 version of Windows XP. This is only for security and is not about licensing. You can install any version of XP, but I recommend that you immediately upgrade it to the SP2 version, in order to prevent getting a virus on the PC side of your Mac.

You don’t need anything fancy from your version of Windows when you run it in Parallels. Just get a version that will work best for what you are doing. In most cases, XP Home will serve you perfectly.

I had not heard about any OS limitations with the B&W G3s, so I went back to the service benches and tested it out. I used a Rev A 350MHz G3 B&W with 256MB of RAM. I installed a fresh version of OS X 10.4.3 onto the drive and then updated to 10.4.10, in addition to all the other available security updates. It runs fine, albeit a little slow. I watched some YouTube videos and other activities without errors or problems. I think you should be safe updating your computers to 10.4.10. The one limiting item of a Rev A B&W is its drive size. It will not work well with a PATA (ATA/EIDE) hard drive bigger than 6GB connected to the internal drive cable. Perhaps the people you spoke to had upgraded to larger drives, and are experiencing problems unrelated to 10.4.9. If you need a bigger drive in a Rev A B&W G3, it is recommended that you use a PCI-based hard drive controller card.

Although there are several devices that will share printers on a network, my current favorite is the New AirPort Extreme base station. Not only will it share printers and hard drives, it will also act as a gigabit router.

Apple Airport Extreme Station

You can connect many printers to the base station’s USB port via a USB hub and have them all simultaneously shared. The complication will come from the HP Color LaserJet 1600 printer. It is not Mac compatible and probably won’t work on the base station. That printer may need to be connected to your HP desktop and shared from the Windows printer-sharing feature. It may turn out that the LJ1600 will one day be supported–you might even find that it does work when connected to the base station now, but there is no guarantee.

Here is a link to printers that have been tested to work with Apple’s wireless printer sharing equipment:
Click Here for details.

It is not an official list, but can be helpful. If you already have an investment in good networking equipment then the base station may not be the best solution because of the expense added to your network. In that case, you can always use the OS X printer-sharing feature to share the other two printers. The option is in the System Preferences in the Sharing section. It is limited, but would work as a low cost option.

Seeing as you are having connectivity issues, I will try to give you a few different things to try so you do not have to wait around for the next set of instructions. The first is centered around the Mac remembering trusted wireless networks. You can tell your Mac to connect to “any” network, without adding it to the Preferred Network list. That network list could be your problem. To make these changes, select System Preferences from the blue Apple menu. Now click on the Network section and double click on AirPort from the Network Status window. Under the Airport tab, change the “By default, join” popup menu from Preferred Networks to Automatic. Click on the big Apply Now button in the lower right corner and test it on the network. If that fails to work for you, can completely remove the default Airport settings and see if that change helps. The preference file is located here: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plistDrag it to your desktop first and it will make a copy of itself for safekeeping. Now drag it again, but this time, place it in the Trash. You will have to enter your password. Now go back to the Airport System Preference section and change it back to Preferred networks. There should be no entries there now. Try joining a network and see if it works. If it still does not work, and networks you could join before don’t work, then you can copy the file on your desktop back to its original place.

The other possibility is that your Keychain is remembering the wrong passwords for some of the networks, or thinks it knows the network’s password, when it doesn’t actually have a password for the network. The Keychain is where OS X stores your passwords when you ask your Mac to remember them for you. You can look at your passwords through a utility called Keychain Access. It is in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder. In the application, click on “All Items” in the left section of the window and then sort the list by kind. You can sort by any header category by clicking on the header (Name, Date, etc.). Delete anything that is an “Airport Network Password.” Try connecting now.

The only other possibility I can think of has little to do with your computer and more to do with the router being used. Most times we do not think about it, but Airport and Wi-Fi networks have channels just like TV. Wi-Fi is standard and around the world you can use channels 1 through 11 any place. Europe however, uses two additional channels in their Wi-Fi. These two channels, 12 and 13, are commonly used outside the US–but US-built equipment cannot communicate on those channels. It could be that you are trying to connect to a base station using channel 13 and your Airport card does not go that high. If you are able to ask someone in the know the locations where you’re having problems, check to see what channel they’re using. The only solution to this European router issue is to get a European-made Wi-Fi card.

Most Mac laptops have two batteries. One is the big removable battery but there is a second, smaller battery inside. Both batteries are rechargeable and replaceable. If both are completely drained, then you will experience boot-up problems. The best fix is to reset the power management unit (PMU), turn it on, and let it charge for 24 hours, uninterrupted. Below is a link to the PMU reset procedures for most G4 PowerBooks.

PMU Reset procedures

You can upgrade the hard drive in a Mac laptop. The drives used in a G3 or G4 PowerBook are standard 2.5″ PATA (AKA EIDE or ATA) drives. Currently the largest PATA laptop drive is 160GB. The larger laptop drives are SATA based 2.5″ drives and will only work in Intel-based Mac laptops. MCE makes an upgrade kit that will come with tools and instructions. It’s cheaper to buy the naked drive and use your own tools, but this is the best way for the casual tech to upgrade their drive.

MCE upgrade kit

I would also recommend getting an external drive enclosure to place your old drive into. That will let you copy info over to the new drive. Also, this way you’ll have an extra backup drive at the end.

Click for detailed spec

These days battery charging has become something of a black art. The best data today suggest that heat is the biggest killer of rechargeable batteries. Fully charging a battery creates the most heat and that is why batteries gradually lose charge with each cycle. The best thing you can do to preserve the life of a battery is to remove it from a computer and keep it in a cool place. You don’t need to put your battery in the refrigerator, but keeping it out of direct sunlight is a good idea. Also, watch the overall heat of your system because you could be cooking the life out of your battery. In the end we have to remember that batteries are designed to be used and Apple has done a great job at making a laptop battery that lasts. If it is convenient to pop out the battery when you are at a desk then do that, but if that causes problems don’t worry about leaving the battery in the computer.

I suspect that the problem is not with the speakers but the headphone jack. When Macs detect power traveling through the headphone jack, they automatically mute the internal speakers and change the output source to the headphones. What you are describing sounds like there is a short circuit in your headphone jack that is tricking your Mac into thinking headphones are plugged in. Look in the headphone port to see if there is any debris or a broken headphone jack. If it looks clear, you should next try cleaning it with a Q-Tip-like tool dipped in rubbing alcohol. If that fails, then it could just be a failing audio jack. The problem is that the jack is part of the logic board. A service center could possibly repair the problem but the likely repair would be to replace the logic board. Admittedly, that is not a cost effective option. You can always us PC speakers connected to the headphone port replace the internal speakers.

Drive size limits on older Macs used to be a simple problem to fix with a PCI ATA controller card. However, most Mac-friendly products are no longer being made. Every manufacturer is moving from PATA hard drives connectivity to SATA hard drive models. In your case the best option is to use an external drive case, which will see your full drive size.

Click here for more details.

When a laptops battery stops charging there can a few things at the root of the problem. Interestingly, the most common culprit is an under-powered power adapter. Apple has a habit of using cosmetically similar power adapters with different wattage ratings. Most iBooks will only need a 45 Watt power adapter, but many PowerBooks need a 65 Watt power adapter. Both the 45 and 65 watt Apple adapters are identical, and to further complicate the matter, a 45 watt adapter will look like it’s functioning perfectly on a PowerBook. The problem is that despite appearances, a 45 watt adapter only runs the computer and barely charges the battery. This causes a short battery runtime like you are experiencing. The only way to see what adapter you have is to look on the edge of the adapter. It will have a 45W or 65W marking. You would think with the confusion from the old adapters, that Apple’s new MagSafe adapters would all be the same wattage. Sadly Apple does the same thing with MacBook/Macbook Pro adapters as they did with iBook/PowerBook adapters. The MacBooks use 60 Watt adapters and the MacBook Pros use 85W adapters.

Even though most power adapters are linked to the right computer from the factory, sometimes refurbished or pre-owned computers end up with mixed-up adapters during the re-box process. If you find that you have the wrong adapter, it is just a matter of contacting your salesperson for exchange information.

The other possibility is that the battery has aged to a point of losing life. Rechargeable batteries can only be recharged a set amount of times before they start lose life. After that point, the battery will have an increasingly shorter run time on a full charge. Batteries are tested before resale, but in some rare instances they are closer to end of life then indicated in the testing process. This would again be covered for a period of time and you can contact your sales person for your options.

The last possible cause is faulty power management. This is the least likely possibility and there are two parts to it. There is a PMU reset that will clear bad settings. Here is are some links to reset instructions for a variety of Macs:

docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86760
docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319
docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449

If that fails then it could be power management hardware, and that needs to be worked on by an authorized service center.

When working with Boot Camp, it’s important to have the latest version. Boot Camp is beta software, and so fixes and improvements occur regularly. Also, when new computers are released, Apple has to update the driver install disc for the Windows side. Without the updated Windows driver disc, the new hardware Apple is using will be partially incompatible with Windows. The easiest way to fix the problem is by downloading the newest version of Boot Camp.

www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

Go ahead and install it but you don’t have to resize your partition or reinstall Windows. All you need to do is burn a new driver disc. After that, you can restart into Windows and install from the new driver disc. Everything should install into Windows without those error messages you had received before. You will probably want to keep looking for Boot Camp updates over the next few months, and then burn new driver discs after each update. Apple is slowly making its hardware just as compatible in Windows as it is in OS X.

You can certainly get a quote from me or by calling into our sales line. We would need to know the screen size and all the details, but sending us the serial number would let us get most of that info. Unfortunately, we do not buy computers outright. We take them as trade towards another purchase. In the past this would have been a problem for people who need to use PCs for work, but everything has changed in the last year. Now Intel-based Macs can run both Windows and Mac operating systems, essentially giving you the best of both worlds. A MacBook could be set to boot into either Windows XP/Vista or Mac OSX. Some users will boot into Windows during work hours and then use the Mac OS when they are at home. There is also the option of running Windows and OSX together with the Parallels Desktop software. Intel Macs have made it so you do not have to choose one OS over the other; all opportunities are available for the modern Mac user.

Getting a broken tip out of any port can take some skill but it is possible. Many years ago I worked as a locksmith and we had a tool to remove broken key parts from locks. You will have to make a tool like the locksmithing tool. All you need is a small paperclip and a metal file with a square edge. Unbend the paperclip straight and file the tip into a point. On the pointed end use the file’s edge, held at a 45 degree angle, to make triangle cuts on one side of the paperclip’s shaft. You want the paperclip to look like a saw blade. It only needs teeth for the first 1/4-inch of the paperclip. Now you have your tool. Remove the battery and insert your paperclip tool, pointed end first, into the power port. You want the smooth side of the paper clip pressed tight to the inner edge of the port. Push the tool down as far as it will go. You want to get the tool between the tip and the plug wall. The teeth should be able to grip the broken tip. When you have the tool between the tip and wall, start pulling out the tool. The tip should come along for the ride. It may take a few tries.

Also, MCE makes a 12″ IBook battery charger that should work for your friend’s iBook.

It is interesting that Safari alone is causing the problem. I would first check to see if browsing the Internet in another application creates the same issue. Try downloading the Firefox browser and use it instead of Safari for a while. If the problem does not occur with Firefox, then throw out your version of Safari and get a new version. A good way of getting a fresh version is to download the Combo update for your Mac OS and install it. The combo update should have Safari. If a fresh version of Safari still causes the crash, then try using it from a different user account. You should create a new user account just for this test. Only use it for testing. The problem will not happen in the other user account if a setting of yours causes it. If you find the crash is caused by one of your settings, delete the Safari Folder in your user accounts Library and the "com.apple.Safari.plist" file in your preferences folder.

It is altogether possible that the crashes are independent of Safari. Some G5 towers need to be thermally calibrated, but that is not a likely cause. Calibration work can be performed at an Apple Authorized Service Center. More likely it is a RAM issue. If there was extra RAM installed, try removing it and see if the problem continues. Remember RAM is installed in pairs so remove two sticks at a time from the same numbers slot. The RAM in slots labeled 1 is most likely from Apple but try just having one pair of RAM, stick in at a time for testing, and then test another pair.

Not all OS discs are made alike. Some of the versions of OS 9 are only for use in Classic and others are only equipped to support specific hardware. Starting with Mac OS X 10.2, Apple did not provide a separate OS 9 install disc as part of the software included with new computers. OS 9 had to be installed as part of the restore or separate install. It may be that your iMac OS 9 is not a full version but instead a version intended to be used mostly through OS X Classic. If that is the case then you are going to have troubles. A good test is to try launching “SimpleText” to see if that OS 9 Application works. If SimpleText works then the base part of OS 9 is functioning. At that point it is just a matter of troubleshooting your extensions and trying to repair them. It may be better and faster to buy a used retail copy of OS 9. The good news is that any version of OS 9 will run on a B&W G3 tower. Just perform a clean install of the retail OS 9 and you should be fine.

It is possible that your Safari web browser is damaged. I would recommend downloading a different web browser to see if the same problem exists with both browsers, but of course downloading is the problem. This becomes an impasse from time-to-time, how do you download a new browser without a working browser?

To solve this you should be able to create an FTP connection to mozilla.org and get a copy the FireFox browser that way. Click once on the desktop to switch to the Finder. From the Go menu select "Connect to Server…" In the server address window type in this address:  "ftp://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/" without the quotes. Once connected, you should see a new item on the desktop and in the Finder window that is called "releases." Open up "releases" and navigate to the latest version of FireFox. At the moment it is 2.0.0.3 and you get to it via this folder path: /2.0.0.3/mac/el/Firefox 2.0.0.3.dmg. Drag the file to your desktop and then double click on it to mount the install disk. To install, just drag the application to the Applications folder. Now start up FireFox and see if that works. If FireFox works, then you just need to get a new copy of Safari. If it does not work or you could not create an FTP connection, that would mean that there are bigger system problems or settings. An Archive and Install from your 10.4 Tiger disks may be the best solution.

When my daughter started 6th grade I bought her a new G4 iBook 12". It was probably a little too nice for her but I had given her an older computer as a training laptop for a year. It survived, so I figured she had the experience to keep a new Mac in good condition. If this is the first computer you are giving your child, then I would recommend a pre-owned unit. The iBook series has been the best kid-resistant computer ever to come from Apple. Even with my daughter’s successful laptop training, she has dropped her iBook. It did survive without any problems but it taught me a lesson. In the home, the regular location of any young child’s computer should be in a public place. The mess factor is my first reason for not allowing a computer in a young child’s room. Drinks magically spill, things are stacked on top of anything, and level surfaces are often scarce. Another problem with letting a child have a computer in their room has to do with online activities. The scary things that happen to our kids online are far less likely to happen if we can look over the child’s shoulder and see what’s going on. But the most important reason to keep this new computer out of your daughter’s room is so you can see her. Even though my daughter wants to hide in her room at this age, I still want to see her whenever possible. She maybe glued to that iBook for as long as we let her stay online, but I have the ability to interact with her during those times because the computer is in a public place. The computer is on a special desk right next to the kitchen and when I cook, she can chat to her friends online and tell me what happened in her day at the same time.

OK, now to your actual question. I would have you look at an iBook G4 for your daughter. You could also go with a MacBook, which has many of the same features as an iBook and will support future software upgrades better than an iBook.

The refurbished iBook we have is also a great option.

Microsoft makes a student version of their Office application suite of software. You can install one copy on up to three computers.

Region codes are the legacy of an archaic distribution model. Its sole purpose is to allow movie studios to charge different prices and release movies on different dates in other countries. That Apple was forced to abide by the Region code scheme is a disappointment, but it was necessary in order to license DVD video playback. The better solution, as opposed to buying a new DVD drive, would be to use another DVD-playing application. VLC is one of the best multi media players I have seen for cross-file video playback and is a good alternative to Apple’s DVD Player.

First you will need to get a copy of VLC. It is downloaded for free from here: www.videolan.org/vlc/. You will need to set it as your default DVD video player. In the System Preferences select "CDs & DVDs." In the CDs & DVDs window, change the “When you insert video DVD:” pulldown menu to Open another application. Select VLC and click on the Choose button. You should be all set from here on out. VLC in most cases will play DVD VOB files without setting a region code. Some Intel Mac laptops have had trouble using VLC for DVD video playback, but you should be fine.

Well, whether you like a glossy or matte finish on your display screen is like asking "do you like butter or jam on your toast?" The answer is of course I like both, but you may not. The glossy screen provides vibrant color that draws you in. Matte-finished displays are good in many different lighting situations and are what we are accustomed to. Matte displays offer accurate color but glossy displays offer brighter, more saturated images. Many people who work outdoors prefer glossy over matte because of the brightness. In the end it has more to do with individual taste, but overwhelmingly the public chooses matte displays. Glossy is not often selected and it sometimes is returned.

I hope this helps some, but if you can’t find a glossy screen MacBook to examine in person, then you should buy a matte screen model.

The root of your problem has to do with the software you are trying to install. Any file that ends with a ".exe" is a Windows-only application. There is nothing installed on a Mac that will run it. You are not doing anything wrong. The truth is, when using a USB flash memory drive like the Memorex Mini TravelDrive, you do not need any software at all. As long as you are plugged into a USB port on the computer (don’t use the keyboard ports), the drive should just show up on your desktop. The files on that drive are just extra applications, you do not need to use them to copy files to the drive.

The truth is in most cases you wouldn’t want the features that the Windows-only application offers. You can safely trash any file on that drive to make room for your own files. If you are only going to use this drive with Macs, you can use the Disk Utility to erase the drive before you move your files onto it.

Yes, most Intel Macs will work for gaming, but there are a few things you should consider when buying a Gaming Mac. You will want a Mac with a minimum of 256MB video RAM for the best gaming experience. Upgraded VRAM will also make sure that you can play future games that will require that much VRAM. That Video RAM requirement will point you towards a 20" or larger screen iMac, or a mid-range to high-end MacBook Pro. If you have funds for a Mac Pro, it certainly will fulfill your gaming needs but it is overkill for the games you are interested in. If a 256MB VRAM Mac is priced outside your budget, 128MB VRAM is sufficient to play contemporary games to their fullest. The only drawback to 128MB VRAM is that, with the exception of the 24" iMac, you can’t upgrade the video card in an iMac or MacBook Pro. Games will always require more VRAM, System RAM, and processor speed in the years to come. With 256MB VRAM you have some breathing room before you must upgrade again.

The other consideration for a Mac gamer is Windows. As much as I hate it, games are generally released for Windows before they are for Mac. So in that instance I would also recommend that order your Intel Mac with Windows XP installed via Boot Camp.

This will allow you to play PC-only games on your Mac by using the Windows operating system. Most of the games you want to play are made for the Mac, but as a gamer, you will probably want or need to boot into Windows XP from time to time, at least for a few more years.

Any time a graphics card has a fan and is two expansion slots wide, you should expect some extra noise. The good news is that the difference between the 7300 GT fan noise and the X1900 XT fan noise is not substantial. Also as a whole, the Mac Pro is quieter than many of the previous Power Mac towers. So depending on what computer you are coming from, the Mac Pro with a X1900 card could be quieter.

Over the years dealing with people and their computers, I have found that noise is the most subjective computer quality. I remember one fellow who demanded we change out his Superdrive because the tray made too much noise when ejecting. We tested it, and everyone who could get away from his or her desk had a listen. Everyone agreed that the drive sounded normal and it worked perfectly. Our customer again insisted that the noise was loud enough that it caused him embarrassment at work. Wanting to help as best we could, we replaced the drive with another new Superdrive. He came back days later wanting his old drive back because the new one was worse. I could not have told you the difference between the two drives eject volume to save my life. I have no doubt that this person was being truthful; he heard what at least a dozen people couldn’t. For that person, the X1900 would not be a good choice.

From my ears the X1900 has a good fan that produces little extra noise. My best advice is to get the equipment that you need in order to do what you want. Then arrange your workspace to meet your visual and acoustic preference.

Often the service being loaded tells you what portion of the system is having trouble. As the progress bar moves along the text around it should indicate what is loading. Try restarting your Mac a few times to see what it locks up on, and if it is the same thing each time. Then restart your Mac with the "Shift" key held down to get a safe boot. If the safe boot works and you have identified what the problem area is, then you should see if it is something you can reinstall or repair with Disk Utility.

Now if you can’t even safe boot, then you will need to do an Archive and Install from the latest OS X install disks that you have. Archive and Install is selected within the install options section of the installer. The Options button is at the bottom of the window where you select the destination drive. That will fix your OS software without over writing your personal data. Then you should "Repair Disk Permissions" from the Disk Utility. At that point you can try to upgrade your system again.

I have several Macs at home and I will often use the share features of iTunes and iPhoto to do what you want. This is done in the preferences of both applications. Look for the "Sharing" button on the top bar of the application preferences. Check the checkbox next to "Look for shared music" and "Share my music." Do this in iTunes and iPhoto on both computers. Now you will be able to access all your music and photos from any computer. It even works to play music from another computer and send that music to the AirTunes port on an Airport Express. Just look for Shared items in the left hand "Source" column of iTunes and iPhoto. 

I hope this functions as you wanted. There are other complicated ways to do this but this method will work best without constantly re-synchronizing.

Linksys makes many network products and there are a variety of ways to connect them to your Macs. If you are using the wired broadband router, you will have Ethernet wires running to your Linksys router from the computers and an Ethernet cable from the Linksys router’s "Broadband" port to your DSL/Cable modem. If you have a setup that looks like what I have described, just simply unplug the power from both the DSL/Cable modem and the Linksys router. Wait 60 seconds and then reconnect power to the DSL/Cable modem. After another 60 seconds, reconnect power to the Linksys router. Now try getting on the Internet from your computers.

You may also have a wireless Linksys router. It will have a single Ethernet cable running in between the DSL/Cable modem and the router. This router will also have antennas on it and your computers will connect wireless to this router. This setup should be powered down and then back up again as I described above, but there is an added step at the end. After everything has powered back on, go to your Airport icon next to the top right system clock on each computer. It looks like an arched triangle with grey or black bars. Click and hold on it to reveal a menu. Select your wireless network from that menu. When the Airport icon bars are black you should be connected to the Internet.

I hope that gets you connected again and if not write back with your specific model of Linksys router.

Video artifacts can be the result of several causes. Drivers would be the first thing to check and the simplest fix. During your upgrades to this B&W PowerMac did you install a new video card? If you did, look for an updated video driver for OS X. Also look to see if the processor upgrade card you are using has two drivers. Perhaps one is for OS 9 and the other is for OS X, and only one was installed. Because the green lines are only displayed in OS X and not 9, it suggests a problem with just the OS X operating system. However a hardware problem can cause this as well. Bad video memory on your video card can result in symptoms like this. I have seen video RAM issues that only appear in OS X and not OS 9, so it would fit your experience. The only way to fix bad video RAM is to replace the card. However, before you go and buy a new video card, I would first check the next reasonable suspect. That last suspect is your firmware on the logic board. Follow this link to a list of firmware upgrades and check to make sure that you are up to date. If all else fails, replace your video card. The ATI 9200 is a good choice.

PowerMax charges $90 an hour for service and it would probably take 30 minutes to determine what is wrong with your iBook. To check if the hard drive is the culprit you can try a few things. If you have another Mac you can try to boot your iBook off its hard drive. By holding down the “T” key when restarting, a Mac will boot into Target Disk mode. Then you can put a FireWire cable in between the iBook and the Target Disk Mac. The last step is to restart the iBook with the “Option” key held down. At that point you will be able to select the Target Disk Mac’s hard drive to boot off it. If it boots without problems off the other Mac’s hard drive, then you have found the source of the problem. It could be the OS install or the drive itself.

The other option is to boot off a software install DVD and try to format the hard drive and reinstall the operation system. If you do not own a copy, you can buy a used copy or a new version of OS X. When you boot off the install DVD, there will be a Utilities menu were you can find “Disk Utility.” Select Disk Utility and format the iBook’s hard drive, then install the OS. If the problem does not clear up, that means you have a hardware problem and need to send it in for service.

It does take significant work getting into the guts of a G4 iMac. It would not be impossible for you to do the job but I would not recommend it unless you have the proper tools and thermal paste. Here is a link to a take-apart article if you want to give it a try.

You should check to see if your drive is truly dead or just damaged. If Disk Utility will not fix the drive you can try Disk Warrior. Disk Warrior has saved many of my drives and is a great tool to keep around.

The other alternative would be to make an external FireWire drive your replacement drive. Any Mac compatible drive would work but I like LaCie drive. With an external FireWire drive on and connected you will be able to install an OS and set it as your default boot dive. Everything will work as normal even though it is on the external drive.

Other than RAM, you’re going to need software and firmware updates. If your mom has a fast Internet connection you can just bring the RAM. Otherwise, you should burn a disc with what you need and bring it with you. The most impotent thing to update is the iMac firmware. Here is a link to all the firmware updates needed to install OS. You will also want to get all the available OS 9 updates and the 10.3.9 Combo Update. All those items are free downloads from Apple’s website. As for RAM, there are two main types of G3 iMacs and each take a different type of RAM. For the best performance I would suggest you buy a 256MB stick of RAM. Anything more is not going to help much, but anything less is going to leave your mom’s system running slow. If the computer has a slot in the front the CD slides into, then you are going to want a full sized stick of PC133 RAM (PN R-PC133-256). If the iMac has a tray that comes out then you are going to need a SODIMM stick of RAM (PN R-WS-256). Also, if it is the latter iMac, you are going want detailed instructions on installing the RAM, as that model is hard to open. Here is a link to the instructions you will want to print out. That should take care of your mom.

Whether or not to upgrade your optical drive depends on what you plan on doing with your computer. If cost is your primary concern, I would recommend just getting the CD set of Tiger. That’s going to be your cheapest option by far. The real reason to upgrade should be based on how long you plan to use this computer. More and more programs are going to come on DVD and one day Apple may not release OS updates on CDs. In the long term, you are probably going to want a DVD player and even a DVD burner. It may come to pass that you are planning on using the G3 as it is today and trading up in a year or two. In that case, you will not want or need an external optical drive as most newer systems have DVD players or DVD burners.

If you decide to get an external DVD drive, look for one that supports Mac booting. To install off a DVD it will have to be a supported external disc drive. I often recommend LaCie drives for compatibility.

Dot Mac has an effective Spam filter that catches much of the Spam sent daily. The problem is no matter how clever Apple is at filtering Spam, the senders of Spam are determined to get it to you. Their persistence is impossible to counter 100% of the time, and every so often they find a new way around Apple’s guard. What you are seeing could be the temporary success of the spammers. They will likely soon be caught and stopped, but it may take some action on your part as well. On the Dot Mac servers there are plenty of known Spam lists and special “intelligent” filters to look for Spam-like attributes. Mail that gets past those filters is then sent to your computer but not necessarily to you. Within the “Mail” application is additional Spam filtering tools. In the Mail Preferences is a “Junk Mail” section. There you can turn on filtering by checking the checkbox next to “Enable Junk mail filtering.” Work with the default settings for a little while and work to train the filters. “Mail” will learn about what you consider Spam and will start taking care of it automatically for you.

The reality is that we all get Spam, tons of it. Dot Mac just has been taking good care of it for the most part, but they can’t get it all the time. So lend Apple a hand and soon they will beat back the slimy Spammers. That is until Spammers find a new attack.

There are a few things that can cause an issue like what you described. It could be a loose cable in between the logic board and the display. It could also be a faulty cable shorting out. There is also a chance that your iBook is part of the iBook Logic Board Repair Extension. If you go HERE and check your serial number as described on that web page you will be able to determine if it is covered for repair. Apple could cover your repair and save you a good sum of money.

Take a look at the link and see if it saves the day, otherwise take it in for service.

You certainly can add a second drive in Quicksilver G4. Out of the box every G4 Mac tower can support at least two internal drives. Macs of course ship with one drive, so you can add another just by setting its jumpers as a "secondary" drive (MDD G4s use "Cable Select") and placing it on top of the first drive. There will be an extra space on the ribbon cable and power cable for that second drive. Apple made two generations of Quicksilver G4 towers. The first generation could only work with hard drives 120 GB or smaller. The second generation, made in 2002, can see drives up to 500 GB. All these PATA drives for the Quicksilver are 7200 RPM drives. The bigger speed issue is with the PATA bus speed on the logic board, that is the system’s true bottleneck. What you may want, for the best performance, is a PCI SATA card and a newer SATA hard Drive. Sonnet makes an affordable card that will fit in one of your open PCI slots. Then you just need to find any SATA hard drive that has a Molex power connector . This is going to be your best solution for getting large capacity and fast-writing hard drives into your Quicksilver G4.

Although the Intel-based Macs all use SATA hard drives, Macs do not yet support eSATA without the use of expansion cards. The eSATA standard is a variant of internal SATA. The only substantial difference between SATA and eSATA is that eSATA was designed for external drive use. There are advantages over FireWire or USB that comes from SATA native communication. In external FireWire drives, for instance, data has to be converted into a FireWire-friendly format and then converted back to a hard drive-friendly format, and then it can be written to the disk. This process of converting data eats up little bits of time.

Power Mac and Mac Pro users can use PCI or PCIe cards to add eSATA support. MacBook Pro users can buy a eSATA Express Card. Unfortunately other Macs are not able to use any expansion cards. It would not make sense to make a FireWire-to-eSATA device because that is what you get inside a FireWire drive enclosure. Your best bet is to continue using FireWire or USB external drives.

There are several complications with installing newer system restore disks on older equipment. The first complication comes from the difference between the PowerPC and Intel versions of OS X 10.4. If your Mac mini has an Intel processor, then the version of OS X you have will not run on the older PowerPC iMac. Even if your Mac mini has a PowerPC processor, those grey discs that came with the Mac mini will not install on any other type of Mac. Apple tries to prevent you from using those discs because it is technically stealing an OS sale from them. If both computers are PowerPC-based Macs, you could use a program like Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your 10.4.8 system onto the iMac. That would give the iMac OS 10.4.8, but it would also include all your data from the Mac mini. Mostly, it is best to upgrade the operating system from retail discs. The good news is that this year 10.5 will be released, and then you can buy a copy of that upgrade for your systems.

We also sell install discs of varying versions separately from our used Macs, so if you’re looking for a particular version, we may be able to help you there. We don’t include OS CD’s with our used Macs because many of them don’t come with when we acquire them, and often customers aren’t in need of the discs anyway, so we make them available separately for those who do.

The PD726W is a nice projector with more than your average connection capabilities. The wireless presentation feature looks convenient, but I doubt that it will work through the Mac OS. That feature uses a built-in web server that lives in the projector. Often, device-based web servers use the Active Xweb programming language to actively communicate with the computer. That is why the Acer requirements for the wireless feature are Windows 2000 or Windows XP with Internet Explorer. Active X is a Microsoft proprietary technology and is, as far a I know, only available through Internet Explorer for the PC.

Some of these device-based web servers can switch from the Active Xlanguage to Java. If you can switch the language to Java, then it will work with any modern web browser. I did not see that as an option for the PD726W projector, but it could be an undocumented feature. Look around the menus and see if you can change that function.

Otherwise you should look at using Parallels and a copy of Windows XP to run Internet Explorer.

Apple no longer sells the tools you need to take your G3 iMac wireless, that’s why the Apple Store people could only offer you an extreme solution. You are perfectly right to think that a 600 MHz iMac will connect wirelessly. The original airport card that you mentioned will work, but you will also need an added part. Slot loading G3 iMacs like yours need something called an Interposer. The Airport card will slide into the Interposer and then get inserted into the iMac through the RAM hatch on the bottom of the computer. You need to remember to connect the antenna to the card before you slide the card into the iMac. Here is a link to instructions on installing the Airport card.

There is another solution to go wireless but it will only work in OS X. The Addlogi XWireless-G USB Network Adapter for Mac OS Xwill also work but it takes a little extra setup. Also, Addlogi Xwill not support OS 10.2.8 but I have tested it and found that if you use the 10.3 driver that it will work in 10.2.8.

Your WRT54G router should work fine, try running the setup utility from the PC and see if that fixes your problem. Also make sure that your DSL / Cable modem is plugged into the port marked as either Broadband, Internet, or WAN. You will want to also turn off the DSL / Cable modem before moving the connection to the wireless router. Then power up everything when the ethernet cables are connected.

The G4 Mac mini uses the same type of hard drive that iBooks and PowerBooks use. It is a 2.5" PATA laptop hard drive and can be found in sizes up to 160GB. The Intel Mac mini uses a 2.5" SATA drive similar to the ones found in MacBooks and MacBook Pros. SATA drives will not function in any G4 Mac unless it is a tower with a PCI adapter card.

So you will need to find a 2.5" PATA drive and you have to make some additional choices. There are three drive speeds and the speed of the drive will affect prices and size limits. Laptop drives are offered in 4200 RPM, 5400 RPM, and 7200 RPM speeds. Low drive speed can significantly decrease the performance of your computer. For that reason I would not recommend buying a 4200 RPM drive, despite their low cost. Instead, decide between storage space and speed. If your Mac mini is your workhorse, then choose a 7200 RPM 2.5" drive. You will be limited in size, but the speed of the 7200 RPM drive will increase yoru computer’s performance. However, if your computer is just a depository for your digital life and performance is not an issue for you now, the 5400 RPM drive will have enough speed. I would recommend either one of these following two drives:

For 7200 RPM drives
PN: G68346, 100gb Ata Mobile Hdd 7200 2.5in

Or for a 5200 RPM drive
PN: J36308, 120gb Eide 5400 RPM 2.5in Mobile Hdd

Both will cost about the same, but prices do fluctuate so call into the sales phone line to place an order. Note that any internal work on a Mac mini can be difficult. If you are not comfortable doing the work yourself, please seek the assistance of an Apple Authorized service center.

One final suggestion would be to use an external hard drive as the new boot drive. There are many Mac mini look alike drives that will stack underneath your mini and work as well as a 7200 RPM internal drive option. Look at this LaCie drive as an example: http://www.powermax.com/product/Factory_Refurbished_Major_Manufacturer_HD_160GB_Mini_FireWire_2MB_7200RPM/d-rl-301105ur.html

Final Cut Pro is definitely going to be faster on an Intel Mac. No one can say so by experience though. As of now FCP will not run on the Intel iMac. None of Apple’s Pro applications run on these new Macs quite yet. Apple says it will have versions that will run sometime in March, but there is another glitch. FCP is no longer sold as a program by itself (though PowerMax still has some in stock). It is only sold in Final Cut Studio, which also includes the $49 Intel software upgrade program. The just-discontinued stand-alone FCP will cost $99. Earlier versions can cost up to $699. Suffice it to say, it’s worth finding out what upgrading your software will cost before you upgrade to an Intel Mac.

Upgrade wisely!

This is a common question, particularly among PowerMax customers. PowerMax is one of the only places anyone can buy an OS 9 booting computer that have warranties, so we get people in your position calling every day. The bad news is that Intel Macs will not run classic applications at all. OS 9 is officially unsupported from Apple on Intel systems. The reason for this has to do with how the two emulators work. Classic was a component of OS X and not a stand-alone application. Rosetta is the same kind of OS component as Classic. In order for OS 9 applications to have worked on Intel Macs, a user would have to run Classic as part of OS X for the Power PC inside of OS X for Intel, which just isn’t realistic. The other option would have been for Apple to create a different emulator for Classic altogether, but they are no longer willing to support that level of older software.

The lack of Classic is going to be a problem for you and many others, so you’re not alone. The solution I have for you is basically what you suggested. What I would recommend is using two computers. Buy the best computer that you can find that will boot into OS 9. Install only your “Must Have” applications on it and keep that old system in the best working order possible. Then do everything else on your newer systems. Living a split digital life will not be overly convenient, but it’s going to be the best solution apart from finding a new program to replace your old one.

The comical answer to "What is the difference between a Core Duo and a Core 2 Duo?" is… "About 100 bucks." The reality is that the difference between both processor architectures is efficiency and data bit size. The Core Duo is a 32-bit, two core processor. The Core 2 Duo is a 64-bit, two core processor. Most programs you use do not utilize the double bit size of the 64-bit processors. Photoshop CS 3, although it could benefit from 64-bit processing, does not use 64-bit instructions. Someday Adobe plans on adding support for full 64-bit processing, but for now it will run Photoshop at 32-bits.

The efficiency aspect of Core 2 Duo processors adds some performance increases per clock cycle. A Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz computer would run a little less than 10% faster than a Core Duo 2.0 GHz computer. The real advantage of the Core 2 Duo efficiency is in power consumption. The Core 2 Duo chips run cooler and draw less power then the Core Duo processors, leading to better battery life on laptops.

FireWire-based camcorders are the most compatible with Macs. Although some USB-based camcorders will work with Macs, many do not. I have yet to find a FireWire camcorder that does not work with iMovie. FireWire is known by other names, such as IEEE 1394 or iLink, but they all work the same, and with the same reliability. The FireWire port on the back of your Intel Mac will work fine but you may have to get an adapter cable. The port your computer has is a FW400 six-pin connection, and most camcorders use FW400 four-pin connection. So you will need a FireWire 400 4-to-6 pin cable, but this is such a common configuration that most cameras come with this cable.

According to Apple the only computers that support 802.11n connections are Core 2 Duo and Xeon based Macs, which of course is true for those Macs with Airport already installed from Apple. However, there is an unsanctioned upgrade option using Apple parts. We have performed some tests in the PowerMax lab and verified that you can replace the wireless card on older Intel Macs with the Apple 802.11n card. We used the Mac Pro wireless upgrade kit to replace the older 802.11b/g cards in MacBooks and Macbook Pros. It’s not easy work to open your MacBook Pro and exchange the wireless cards but it is a clean upgrade without the need for bulky cards hanging out of the computer.

The larger question is whether the 802.11n functionality is necessary for what you do. The 802.11n Airport Extreme Base Station is definitely worth the money even for non-802.11n Mac owners. It has printer/drive sharing and other cool features, but the best benefit is even without 802.11n clients on the network it offers extended range. The truth is that your cable or DSL modem is serving up an internet connection slower than even 802.11b speeds, so you really will not get any internet browsing speed bump with 802.11n connectivity. Also, when you have 802.11g and 802.11n clients on the same network, everyone’s connection speed decreases. All your computers would have to be 802.11n-enabled to get the expanded network speeds. I do recommend the new base station for all Mac users, but not primarily for its network speed.

Believe it or not, an iMac would be the right choice for you. Although you are a pro user, current iMacs have plenty of power and quality screens. The 24″ iMac would be the best solution for your particular needs because the larger screen size will help you when working with large-format printing. A 20″ iMac would also work but you would want to consider adding an Apple 20″ display to extend your desktop. A $19.99 adapter will let you add any DVI display to an Intel iMac and increase your desktop. If you already have a good display, then you may just want to get the 20″ iMac and use it with your current display.

Hope you like it!

Unfortunately, we will not see any more PowerPC upgrades from Apple. That means what is available today is going to be the fastest PowerPC Macs available. A fact that makes planning easy, in a way. Buy what will work best for your workload today. Then start saving for the Intel hardware and software switch. If you are working fine now don’t panic and buy a computer because you are afraid it’s going away. PowerMax will always sell every generation of Mac we can get our hands on for as long as someone wants to buy them.

PowerPC based Mac minis only have one RAM slot. They take PC 2700 SDRAM in sizes up to 1GB. Intel Mac minis are like MacBooks without the screens and they have two RAM slots. Each slot can accept a PC2-5300 SO-DIMM up to 1 GB in size. Because Intel Mac minis have two RAM slots, they can work with up to 2 GBs of RAM. That can add a bit to the starting price, upgrading the RAM in a Mac mini to 2 GB will cost around $250. Although this is not an absurd price, I think 1 GB of RAM is the right price point. Upgrading a new Mac mini to 1 GB will only add $75 to its price.

The Intel iMacs support the use of external displays. This feature allows you to have two screens running on your iMac, the built-in display and an external display. Only the 24″ iMac has an upgradeable graphics card, this is for future advances in video card technology.It sounds like you are wanting to use the iMac’s built-in display to view video from the Mac mini. This would not be possible without a video encoder of some sort. The best option would be to buy an external display that supports multiple connections, DVI and VGA. Then have dual monitors on your iMac most of the time and switch sources from DVI to VGA on the external display when you want to work with the Mac mini. The DVI connection can stay connected to the iMac and the VGA cable could run to the Mac mini.That would get you the most use out of that extra display.Hope that works for you

This kind of .Mac connection failure is interesting because often it is a password or username typo. In this case you have entered the same information in the online .Mac login and it works. That would demonstrate that her account information is accurate and it is something with how the iMac is connecting to .Mac’s servers that has failed.. As long as you are using the same display name (the email address without the @mac.com) and the same password that gets you into the .Mac web-mail, then it should connect the computer to the other services.There was an issue this last summer with some .Mac users being cut off by the Wanadoo/Orang ISP. You can read the long discussion but this particular issue was resolved (Apple Discussion). One interesting solution that worked for some on this discussion was power-cycling the DSL modem and rebooting the system. In another instance the 10.4.6 update broke some users’ connection to .Mac (Apple Discussion). I believe updating fixed the issue, but an interim fix was to remove the passwords from the Keychain and preference pane, then reenter them. If your problem is related to these past issues, using some of the interim fixes could be worth a try. You should also temporarily eliminate any routers or hubs and just directly connect the Mac to the DSL/Cable modem’s ethernet port. It may even be worthwhile to take the iMac to another location. If you can connect to .Mac from a different ISP then you know the issue is with Hiedi’s ISP, but if it will not connect at both places then you know it is a system configuration issue.As a last ditch attempt, try to connect to the iDisk as if it was not hers. From the finders “Go” menu mouse over iDisk. There is an option to connect to another users iDisk in the pop-out menu. Click on that option and enter Hiedi’s information. Connecting that way should tell you if you are blocked to all .Mac services on her computer or just the one setup inside the system preferences..I hope that helps some, let me know how it works out.

A MacBook or MacBook Pro would be the best solution for the work you currently do and the things you want to be able to do. Both are laptops so you can take it with you when you DJ. Any new Mac will come with iLife applications for organizing you music and your photos. Part of iLife is iMovie for your future video editing. The Mac environment currently has no spyware or viruses and will likely be that way for a long time, even on Intel Macs. An Intel Mac is going to be faster than a G4, but the main reason you want an Intel Mac is for running Windows applications. Many commodity-trading software is for the PC only and you will need Windows to run it. On an Intel Mac you can use “Parallels” virtualization software to run Windows XP in a window with the Mac OS X. Then you can do your trading in Windows XP and everything else in the Mac OS. Windows viruses that find their way into the Parallels copy of Windows XP won’t hurt your Mac.Take a look at the MacBook, it should suit you well.

The Mac has always been about connection options and the Intel iMac is near the top of the heap for connectivity. The audio out jack on your iMac is a “Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack).” That means it can connect to headphones, stereo speakers, and 2.1 PC speakers all through the analog 1/8th inch minijack. Also, a special fiber optic cable can be used from that same minijack to get digital audio to a home stereo. For a recommendation on good 2.1 speakers I asked our Trade-In manager. He listens to many speakers that come in on trade and has just recently bought himself the Logitec Z-4 2.1 speakers (Logitech Speakers). He liked the quality and range of the sound along with the additional line-in jack on the volume controller.Hope you like them.. Let me know what you think.

The new MacBooks and MacBook Pros do not offer a built in 56k modem for Dial-up internet connections (Apple USB External Modem). You can use Apple’s USB modem with those laptops if you only have a Dial up ISP account. If you have a DSL or Cable Broadband internet connection then you can use the built-in ethernet port or built-in Wi-Fi (AKA AirPort) connections. For a wireless connection you also need a Wi-Fi router to connect to your broadband modem.Another option if you have a dial-up internet connection would be the Airport Extreme Base Station (Airport Extreme Base Station). That has a built-in 56k modem that will connect to your ISP and send that signal wirelessly to your new MacBook.That should get you connected. Good luck

Apple is using standard Intel processors in the new Macs. The current iMacs use the Core 2 Duo mobile processor. This chip is sometimes referred to by its code-name Merom. It is a 64-bit processor with 4MB L2 cache memory. Because it’s a standard Intel processor, all X86 operating systems will be able to communicate with it. Of additional interest is that the Graphics card in the 24″ iMac is removable and possibly upgradable. A first for any iMac.Hope that is the info you wanted.

One gigabyte of memory is plenty for most work you are going to do on a MacBook Pro. If you are working with big files or editing video, then I would say it’s worth the price to upgrade to 2 GB. Otherwise you can wait. However, an additional criterion for upgrading the RAM would be if you plan on running Windows XP through Parallels or through whatever Leopard brings us. In that case. you would be in effect running two operating systems and both would want to have 1 GB of memory. Not every program runs on Intel-based Macs but most do, and more are being updated every day. Most of your older applications will run on the MacBook Pro through Rosetta, and the rest will need to be upgraded. However, none of your OS 9 Applications will work. Many people have expressed concern over the heat generated from the MacBook (Pro) but it is only slightly more than the G4 models. Heat is always going to be an issue with a fast processor in a thin laptop.As for glitches and design mistakes, there have been a few. It is no more prevalent in Intel Macs than in other new Mac models. I think people are a little gun shy with the Intel switch than in previous upgrades. Apple’s newfound popularity also is responsible: it’s somewhat a case of over-reporting; that’s why it seems like the MacBook Pros are problematic. I have not found a single issue that affects more then a handful of units. The best advice that I would have for you is to buy a new unit and add AppleCare to it to cover any of these potential design problems. That way you are covered.Hope that helps and you are going to love the MacBook Pro.Jacob Loeb

The program you want to use for your AVI files is the versatile and free VLC (http://www.videolan.org/). It is a cross-platform “Swiss Arm Knife” media player. Give VLC a try and see if it solves your playback problems. Your keyboard, on the other hand, may need a trip to the service center see if the key is properly installed and if needed, get replaced.For word processing you have many options. You already have TextEdit in your applications folder. As a basic word processor TextEdit can type formatted text and spell check for you. If you want to use MS Word it is available for the Mac and has long been a standard of the business world. Apple’s own Pages is also a very good word processor, without some of the complications and hitches Word has. There are also less expensive yet capable word processors like Mariner Write (http://www.marinersoftware.com). Try some of those options; you truly don’t need your PC any longer.Jacob Loeb

Both the PowerBook and MacBook Pro have the ability to operate with the lid closed. In most cases this feature is used for docking a laptop to a full-sized monitor, keyboard, and mouse. If you connect an external keyboard to the laptop with its lid closed and press a key it will wake from sleep. The problem you will encounter is that when you shut the lid to put it away the MacBook Pro will go to the sleep power saving mode. You would have to keep a small USB keyboard connected to it so that you could wake it up and continue to record.Another option to consider is using a small LCD display connected as the primary monitor when inside the case. You can get 7″ VGA displays that would work as a simple Logic Express status indicator. These 7″ LCDs are made for in-car entertainment systems but will work mounted to the top of your recording rig. That, combined with a mini USB keyboard and travel mouse, would let you keep an eye on your recordings. As you know there is nothing worse than finding out that you missed a live recording because your equipment needed you to click another button.Let me know what you end up using and send pictures when you get it set up. I would like to put them up online.Jacob Loeb

The PowerPC to Intel switch is going to be far more difficult for the Professional Mac user than for home users. Both Quark and Adobe CS will run in Rosetta but at reduced speeds compared to what you are used to. Adobe further complicated your decision by announcing that they are not going to update their product line faster then planned. That means it will be 2007 before a Universal Binary is going to be available for the MacBook Pro. Because this is a work computer, I would caution you against making a decision based on trade value alone. Not only is your productivity worth more than equity loss on your PowerBook, but also I think that there’s going to be a demand for PowerPC equipment after they are discontinued.

Hold onto that Mac a little longer, at least until after September.

Final Cut Pro is definitely going to be faster on an Intel Mac. No one can say so by experience though. As of now FCP will not run on the Intel iMac. None of Apple’s Pro applications run on these new Macs quite yet. Apple says it will have versions that will run sometime in March, but there is another glitch. FCP is no longer sold as a program by itself (though PowerMax still has some in stock). It is only sold in Final Cut Studio, which also includes the $49 Intel software upgrade program. The just-discontinued stand-alone FCP will cost $99. Earlier versions can cost up to $699. Suffice it to say, it’s worth finding out what upgrading your software will cost before you upgrade to an Intel Mac.

The answer to your question is not going to be just a “yes, so we’re in trouble” or “no, we’re still safe.” Most things that make the Mac a safe system are going to be unchanged by the Intel switch. For one, Mac OS X was engineered with safety in mind. By leaving out the base of Mac OS 9 in creating OS X, Apple avoided the trouble Microsoft has had with Windows. When most of the operating systems were written, computing was much safer. Computers then didn’t connect to one another as much, and if you wanted to damage someone’s computer you had to break into their house. It’s hard to take something that was written from a trusting perspective and then make it secure afterwards. So Mac OS X was a clean start at the right time. The second safety of the Mac is in its market share. Macs still only account for around 5% of the world’s computers. Most virus writers use infected computers to spread to new computers exponentially. So trying to go after Macs would be difficult and slow because of the small numbers of vulnerable computers. The last built-in protection for Mac users is with the OS itself. Many viruses are sent as attachments in emails and require users to open those attachments. They are mostly .exe files or some other executable that requires Windows to run. Macs will not run .exe files so the pure difference in operating systems is a safety tool. Alas, we come to the exception to our uninterrupted Mac safety. The most difficult aspect of protecting a computer is not knowing what the next attack will be. PowerPC processors do work in a completely different way than Intel processors and that has always been a good difference as far as the viruses go. However, someday we could see a virus or worm that needs only an Intel chip and RAM to wreak havoc. And that day we all will suffer.

However, Mac users lost only one of our four Mac protections, but we have also gained more benefits than we have lost from this Intel switch. For now we are still safe.