Macopinion

The Road Warrior MailBag (And From The Road Warrior Archive) - July 9/07

Re: RSS on MacOpinion

From David Anasco

MacOpinion RSS site now operational

feed://www.macopinion.com/index.php/site/rss_2.0/

Charles,

Thanks so much for getting this set up. I am doing less and less "surfing," and more and more letting the stuff I want to read come to me via RSS.

David

Sims 2 on a MacBook?

From Pretty Lady

I would like to know how can i run Sims 2 on a MacBook, because i've trying and it closes unexpectedly...Please answer as soon as possible

Hello PL;

The unexpected quits could be caused by a variety of things. You might try reinstalling the program and re-entering any registration information required.

The Sims 2 for mac System requirements are:

The Sims 2
Platforms: Mac
Genre: Strategy/Simulation
ESRB: Teen
Mac Release Date: June 2005

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.8 or later
CPU Processor: PowerPC G4/G5
CPU Speed: 1.2GHz or faster
Memory: 256 MB or higher
Hard Disk Space: 3GB free disk space
Video Card (ATI): Radeon 9000 or better
Video Card (NVidia): GeForce FX5200 or better
Video Memory (VRam): 32 MB or higher
Media Required: DVD Drive

Your MacBook should have more than enough power to run this program, although it does specify a PowerPC processor, so it will run in Rosetta emulation and is not Intel-native evidently.

You might find the comments on this forum helpful:
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-304960.html

Charles

From The Road Warrior Archive: 12" iBook and 12" Power Book - Brothers Under The Skin

Not a lot of mail this past holiiday week, so here's another selection from The Road Warrior archive. In January 2003 Apple had unveiled the 12" PowerBook - just two weeks after I bought a 700 Mhz G3 iBook in the last week of 2002, in order to qualify for an income tax deduction in that year.

I hadn't been expecting the 12-inch profressional machine, and had I known it was coming, I might have waited. The 12" PowerBook is perhaps my favorite PowerPC Apple notebook that I've never owned.

Nevertheless, the G3 iBook served me well, and is still in fine fettle more than four years later, and actually there was a lot of commonality between the littlest PowerBook and the 12" iBook, fraternal twins, if you will, were built by the same subcontractor and sharing a substantial amount of engineering. In the column below, originally published February 9, 2003, I explored and discussed these commonalities.

12" iBook and 12" Power Book - Brothers Under The Skin [First Published 02/09/03]

Is it just me, or is the 1024 x 768 12.1" TFT display Apple has used in the iBook since May 1, 2001, getting more respect now that it's also being used in the 12". aluminum PowerBook, which is turning out to be a smash hit for Apple? I haven't heard many comments about the 12.1" unit being " too small" lately.

Personally, I love this screen in my new 700 MHz "Opaque White" iBook. It's wonderfully bright, razor sharp, and despite its smaller size, I find it no harder to read than the 14.1 in. display in my Pismo PowerBook. In fact, I would say that it's easier on the eyes.

The most appropriate term is "jewel-like," a description I first heard applied in this context to the 800 x 600 10.4" screen introduced in 1995 on the high-end PowerBook 5300ce model, and later used in the PowerBook 2400c, and which had an almost identical DPI count as the 12.1" 1024 x 768. screen. The 10.4 in. 800 x 600 display had a pixel density of 105 dpi. The current 1024 x 768, 12.1" display has a pixel density of 106 dpi. The superb image quality afforded but these displays is attributable to those dense pixel counts. It's like blowing up a photograph. The larger the print size for a particular negative, the more visible the grain will be.

(For comparison, the first generation iBook's 12.1" 800 x 600 display had a pixel density of 85 dpi, as does the Apple 15" Studio Display. The PowerBook G3 14.1" displays are 91 dpi, as were the first two generations of the TiBook.)

Consequently, the 12.1" screen is an ideal choice for the 12" G4 PowerBooks, but the cool thing is that those of us who opt for an entry-level iBook get exactly the same display - albeit with more modest video support.

However, the display is far from being the only common factor linking the 12" iBook and the LittleAl book. In many respects, the LittleAl is essentially the G4 iBook that many Mac laptop fans have been pining for. It is apparent that a lot of engineering from the dual USB iBook was incorporated into the 12" PowerBooks. The many configuration similarities have to be more than coincidental. For example, both machines have 128 MB of RAM soldered to the motherboard, and a single RAM upgrade slot, which limits the maximum RAM configuration to 640 MB.

Both machines use a proprietary Composite video out cable dongle to hook up to external monitors. Both machines have pretty much the same array of interface connection ports.

Of course there are some significant differences as well. The LittleAl's aluminum case compared with the iBook's polycarbonate housing is in obvious one. The LittleAl isn't just an aluminum iBook with a G4 processor. It is substantially smaller than the iBook.

The LittleAl has an NVIDIA GeForce4 420 graphics accelerator, as opposed to the iBook's last year technology ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics card, and its combo optical drive is slot-loading, while the iBook's is a tray-loader. And you can get an optional SuperDrive with the LittleAl, while at the other end of the scale, the 700 MHz iBook comes with a plain-vanilla CD-ROM drive. LittleAl also is available with optional 54Mbps AirPort Extreme, and includes Bluetooth support, while neither is offered for the iBook, at least as yet.

LittleAl has a 133 MHz system bus, compared with the iBook's 100 MHz bus; it sports PC 2100 DDR SDRAM instead of the iBook's PC 100 SDRAM; comes with a 40 GB hard drive, while the iBooks have either 20 GB or 30 GB standard; it supports monitor spanning rather than just mirroring with external monitors; it has a real audio-in analog mini-jack, unlike the iBook with which you're stuck with USB audio in, and it comes with a wider selection of bundled software. The keyboard used in the aluminum PowerBooks is superior to the one that graces the iBook.

The LittleAl's G4 processor is of course another major distinction, and in some respects the 12" PowerBook's main raison d'etre. With LittleAl now available, I would not be surprised to see Apple go with at least one more generation of G3 iBooks, which would suit me fine, especially if they bump it up to the 1 GHz IBM 750fx chip. I continue to maintain that the G3 is a better laptop processor than the G4 because of its lower power demands and heat generation, and it's been interesting to note that the main complaint one is hearing about the 12" PowerBooks from early adopter users it is that the little darling gets too hot for some people's comfort. I can well believe it. My G3 700 MHz iBook certainly gets hot enough.

Part of the PowerBook's heat issue is doubtless related to the aluminum case itself. Aluminum is an excellent heat conductor - much more efficient than polycarbonate plastic, or even titanium. That's why my wife's Lagostina pressure cookers have an aluminum heat sink bonded to the bottom of their stainless steel pressure vessels. I'm not sure what the ultimate solution to this problem will be, as demand for hotter (figuratively and literally) processors in laptop computers will continue. Perhaps water cooling. I understand that my PowerBook G3 2000 is partly liquid cooled, and it certainly runs a lot cooler compared with the little iBook. The old Gauge Pro utility indicates internal processor temperature of about 107 degrees F these winter days. Unfortunately, Gauge Pro doesn't recognize the 750fx chip and the iBook for comparison, but the latter is obviously running a lot hotter than that based on "feel." And reportedly, the LittleAl is even hotter.

The dual USB iBook in its various permutations has proved to be an excellent little computer, and indications are that the 12" PowerBook will be as well. It is testimony to the "rightness" of the original dual USB iBook concept and engineering that nearly two years later Apple has been able to utilize it as the basis for a new higher-end machine.

The introduction of the 12" PowerBook (and its BigAl 17 in. sibling) have deepened Apple's portable line of substantially in what Steve Jobs has declared "The Year of the laptop." Am I sorry that I upgraded to a new iBook just two weeks before the LittleAl was unveiled?. Nope. For me, the iBook is still the best choice. For one thing, the base 12" PowerBook sells for 80 percent more than my 700 MHz, iBook -- too much for my wallet, and I don't really need the G4 or the other AlBook bells and whistles, nice as some of them would be to have. I'm very happy with my iBook so far.

However, if you can afford the extra capital outlay, The LittleAl is shaping up to be a great computer. You can't go wrong either way -PowerBook or iBook.

12" iBook and 12" PowerBooks Specifications And Features Compared<BR>


Processor

iBooks
700MHz PowerPC G3; 800MHz PowerPC G3

12" PowerBook
867MHz PowerPC G4

Processor Cache

iBooks
Level 2 Cache: 512K at 700MHz; 512K at 800MHz

12" PowerBook
Level 2 cache 256K

System Bus

iBooks
100MHz system bus

12" PowerBook
133MHz system bus

Memory Config and Support

iBooks
128MB of built in PC100 SDRAM
Single 1.25-inch standard SO-DIMM slot (3.3V) supports up to 512MB SO-DIMM for a total of 640MB of SDRAM

12" PowerBook
256MB of PC2100 (266MHz) DDR SDRAM (128MB built in and 128MB in SO-DIMM slot); supports up to 640MB

Hard Drives (Standard)

iBooks
20GB or 30GB Ultra ATA hard disk drive

12" PowerBook
40GB Ultra ATA/1004

Combo Drives

iBooks

Tray-loading 16x8x8x24x-speed (maximum) Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW); writes CD-R discs at 16x speed, writes CD-RW discs at 8x speed, reads DVD-ROM discs at 8x speed, reads CD-ROM discs at 24x speed. 24x CD-ROM drive on 700 MHz iBook.

12" PowerBook
Slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW): reads DVDs at 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at 10x speed, reads CD-ROM disks at 24x speed. Optional slot-loading SuperDrive.

Display

12.1" iBooks
12.1-inch TFT XGA active-matrix display
Support for millions of colors at 1024-by-768-pixel resolution
Support for resolution scaling to 800-by-600-pixel and 640-by-480-pixel resolution with millions of colors

12" PowerBook
12.1-inch (diagonal) TFT XGA active-matrix display
Support for millions of colors at 1024-by-768-pixel resolution
Support for resolution scaling to 800-by-600-pixel and 640-by-480-pixel resolution with millions
of colors

Graphics Support

iBooks
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics accelerator with 16MB or 32MB of dedicated video memory and AGP 2X support

12" PowerBook
NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 32MB of DDR SDRAM video memory for 2D/3D graphics acceleration

Peripheral connections

iBooks
Two 12-Mbps USB ports
One 400-Mbps FireWire (IEEE 1394) port

12" PowerBook
Two 12-Mbps USB ports
One 400-Mbps FireWire (IEEE 1394) port

Video Out Support

iBooks
VGA, S-video and composite video output Video outport for mirroring with an external display or projector [requires included VGA video adapter]; S-video and composite video output to TV through Video output port (requires optional Apple Video Adapter, sold separately). Mirroring only.

12" PowerBook
VGA output using included Apple VGA Display Adapter. S-video output using included Apple Video Adapter. Composite video output using included Apple Video Adapter. Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports up to 1024 by 768 pixels on the built-in display and up to 1600 by 1200 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

Audio

iBooks
16-bit CD-quality stereo sound output minijack
Built-in stereo speakers
Built-in microphone
Headphone out (minijack)
Support for external USB audio devices such as microphones and speakers

12" PowerBook
Audio line in (minijack)
Headphone out (minijack)
Built-in stereo speakers with midrange-enhancing third speaker
Internal omnidirectional microphone
Support for external USB audio devices such as microphones and speakers

Ethernet

iBooks
Built-in 10/100BASE-T

12" PowerBook
Built-in 10/100BASE-T

Modem

iBooks
Built-in 56K V.92 modem

12" PowerBook
Built-in 56K V.925 modem

Wireless networking

iBooks
Built-in antennas and expansion slot for optional 11-Mbps AirPort Card; IEEE 802.11b compliant

12" PowerBook
Built-in Bluetooth 1.1; AirPort Extreme ready (requires optional AirPort Extreme Card

Battery

iBook with 12.1-inch display:
47-watt-hour lithium-ion battery provides up to 5 hours of battery life on a single charge

12" PowerBook
47-watt-hour lithium-ion battery (with integrated charge indicator LEDs) providing up to 5 hours of battery life

Size and Weight

iBook with 12.1-inch display
Height: 1.35 inches (3.4 cm)
Width: 11.2 inches (28.5 cm)
Depth: 9.06 inches (23.0 cm)
Weight: 4.9 pounds (2.2 kg)

12" PowerBook
Height: 1.18 inches (3.0 cm)
Width: 10.9 inches (27.7 cm)
Depth: 8.6 inches (21.9 cm)
Weight: 4.6 pounds (2.1 kg) with battery and optical drive installed

Bundled Software

iBooks
Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, QuickTime, iCal, iChat, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, DVD Player, AppleWorks, Mac OS X Mail, Microsoft Internet Explorer, EarthLink (includes 30 days of free service), AOL, Quicken 2003 Deluxe, World Book 2003 Edition, Mac OS X Chess, Otto Matic, Deimos Rising, FAXstf, PixelNhance, and Acrobat Reader; Apple Hardware Test CD

12" PowerBook
Mac OS X, QuickTime, iCal, iChat, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, DVD Player, Mac OS X Mail, Microsoft Internet Explorer, EarthLink (includes 30 days of free service), Acrobat Reader, Art Directors Toolkit, FAXstf, FileMaker Pro Trial,
GraphicConverter, Microsoft Office v. X Test Drive, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, QuickBooks for Mac New User Edition, Developer Tools, Apple Hardware Test CD

CM