Low End Mac

this light!

A screenshot of PhotoShop 0.87's early icon, a little black and white bitmap of a photo shop as used in the 1980s for quick photo processing.

A screenshot from Back to the Future before Marty takes the DeLorean back in time, showing the '88' display, and the little photo booth he's driving straight towards

From the '80s, PhotoShop 0.87's original icon in '89, and Back to the Future from '85 showing a photo shop next to the numerals '88 as Marty drives a DeLorean (built in '81, '82 and '83) towards it.

Then PhotoShop went on in the Future to 86 trust in Photos like something out of 1984.

Updated to macOS 26.2 Beta (25C5048a), system-wide dark theme turned dark purple for a sec. Wouldn't it be nice if window colors could be changed system-wide like this?

Thank you for joining & continuing to be a better part of Low End Mac, we are growing faster than ever as of late!

Hey everyone, I’ll be back into writing articles soon, but have decided to take a short break as I’ve been at 100% a full year nonstop mostly on my own. The website and everything I share is a labor of love - and I don’t want to burn out from it. I plan to setup a donation box soon enough!

Is this cursed

*screams internally in PCI to PCIe adapter gibberish*

Time to finally dust out the 2008 Mac Pro and give it some new thermal paste! For fun, I added an extra 2 USB-C ports on an alpine ridge card, on top of a titan ridge card I had in there.

It’s gonna keep Mojave, and soon enough dual boot with a newer macOS.

Apple Lisa 2 (Macintosh XL) - Low End Mac Introduced on 24 January 1984, the Lisa 2 adopted the same 400 KB 3.5″ floppy drive as the simultaneously introduced Macintosh. It was available with the same 5 MB ProFile hard drive as the original L...

Page restored. New thumbnail created for web previews in Photoshop CS4, on a Power Mac G5.

lowendmac.com/1984/apple-l...

Intel-Mac CPU Index as a list - Low End Mac These links provide a quick way to access CPU specs for Intel-specific chips used on Macs. Name Mac Model Core 2 Duo E7600 Late 2009 21.5/27″ iMac Core 2 Duo E8135 Early 2008/9 iMac 20″ Core 2 Duo E82...

Tech specs on every Intel CPU used in a Mac.

lowendmac.com/intel-mac-cp...

Tech Specs Index - By Year - Low End Mac 1983 > 1984 > 1985 >  1986 >  1987 >  1988 >  1989 >  1990 >  1991 >  1992 >  1993 >  1994 >  1995 >  1996 >  1997 >  1998 >  1999 >  2000 >  2001 >  2002 >  2003 >  2004 >  2005 >  2006 >  2007 >  20...

(Note: This is an incomplete feature still being built)

I've been working on something brand new on the website that's still yet to be completed, but is partly there. Year 2016 onward are completed for now, I have to finish this. Wanted to see what people think!

lowendmac.com/tech-specs-i...

Recent site changes and updates: Week of November 9th - Low End Mac In continuation of the site updates posted before, we will continue covering changes in the form of periodic posts whether they’re big or small. We want our readers to see the changes done to the site...

lowendmac.com/2025/recent-...

Now on instagram and Threads, too! (Apologies, keep forgetting posts are un-editable).

www.instagram.com/low.end.mac/

The 25 Most Important Macs - Low End Mac 2009 – Others have published their thoughts on the Best Mac Ever, the 10 Best Macs, and the 25 Best Macs, but I’m taking a different approach. I want to identify the 25 most important Macs ever, clone...

A throwback to a 2009 article by Daniel Knight! (Retroactively added a thumbnail preview, of course). Thinking about doing a 2025 version of this!

lowendmac.com/2009/the-25-...

Modernizing PowerPC: j5create JVCU100 1080p webcam - Low End Mac The j5create JVCU100 1080p webcam is one I picked up years ago in 2019, to use with my Mac Pro 3,1 back then. After spending a few minutes exploring a curiosity and going through the entire process of...

New article! A focus on modernizing PowerPC with hardware, today.

lowendmac.com/2025/moderni...

The AI Dystopian Future Of Being A YouTuber: My Thoughts - Low End Mac YouTube AI has essentially killed my channel with 1 little warning mark on my channel. AI is being over used and it's hurting YouTubers

New article from Greg Hrutkay!

lowendmac.com/2025/the-ai-...

Guide to NuBus Video Cards - Low End Mac This is a not-quite-comprehensive guide to NuBus video cards for the Mac. Also see our Guide to LC PDS Video Cards, Guide to 030 PDS Video Cards, and Guide to Video Cards for 68000 Macs By Brand Apple...

Missing links restored, page refreshed. Please let us know if there are any more broken links.

lowendmac.com/2025/guide-t...

Low End Mac Bug Reporter - Low End Mac If you have a screenshot or something you’d like to upload, you cannot do it in this form and instead must do it in a different form. Click here for this form where you can submit screenshots. Loadin...

Moving forward, anytime there’s an issue with the website pleases submit them here. You can find this page under the software page from the site’s menu. This will help keep me organized and keep track.

lowendmac.com/low-end-mac-...

Working on some things using an iPhone Air camera, printer paper cutout, and a few different light sources.

I ran a modern Linux desktop on a Pentium 1, and it was quite surprising... www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DiK...

Trying something new with lighting effects - Low End Mac I felt inspired to try new things with lighting effects, just to experiment and snap a couple pictures. This cutout and set of photos is mostly just a draft, and could pave the way for further ideas. ...

Just trying things with lighting effects.

lowendmac.com/2025/trying-...

I thought it was just me, when I mount the networked Power Mac G5 volume on the finder desktop

You’ve heard of the Unix 2038 Problem.


I bet you haven’t heard of the GPS 2038 problem.


Every GPS navigation device in existence experiences an integer overflow every 19.6 years.


Last time, it wiped out iPhones, NOAA weather buoys, and a number of flights in China:

Everyday.

IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi Standards, Late 2025 - Low End Mac In order for computers and devices alike to be able to communicate wirelessly, a set of technical standards were drafted known as IEEE 802.11. Using radio waves, our devices talk back and forth to Wi-...

New article! A brief overview of the current Wi-Fi standards already out in Late 2025.

lowendmac.com/2025/ieee-80...

It’s a real “Plus.”

The first time I got my hands on an iMac G5 in Mid-2010, that's when I knew I had to upgrade from the Power Mac G4. I didn't get a Power Mac G5 until 2011, and used this iMac G5 in tandem with the other daily drivers until then. Had no idea at the time how unreliable this would be down the road..

YouTube restores CyberCPU Tech's videos, but not for Greg Hrutkay or Britec09? - Low End Mac On October 30th 2025, Low End Mac highlighted how YouTube was taking down videos about nonstandard Windows installs. In the days since there’s been a new development, but for some the event still loom...

On October 30th 2025, Low End Mac highlighted how YouTube was taking down videos about nonstandard Windows installs. In the days since there's been a new development.

lowendmac.com/2025/youtube...