12″ MacBook (Mid-2017)

On June 5th 2017, Apple released the third and final iteration of the 12″ MacBook, marking the end of the line for this model, as with using the name “MacBook” by itself to refer to an Apple notebook. The A1534 is produced for another 2 years through July 9th 2019, and the “MacBook” name is […]

12″ Core M MacBook (Early 2015)

On March 9th 2015, Apple reintroduced the MacBook after a 4-year hiatus, becoming the #1 thinnest Mac at the time. Most simply referred to this as “the new MacBook” during its production, before settling into calling it “the 12-inch MacBook”. It wasn’t cheap, starting at a hefty $1299, matching the cost of an entry-level 13″ […]

CustoMac: Gutted 20″ ’06 iMac + eGPU

Nearly 20 years ago, this was a white Late 2006 20″ iMac. Today, it’s fastened to two wooden shelf pieces, supported by a… shelf bracket. Modifications done: Ripped out the Radeon x1600 chip, Bluetooth and wifi antenna is out of a 17″ 2006 MacBook Pro, Thermaltake smart 700W external PSU, A T7600 2.33 GHz Core […]

CustoMac: 3.1 Ghz i7-5557u-upgraded 11″ 2015 MacBook Air

The 11″ Early 2015 MacBook Air ships with a 2.2 Ghz i7-5650u as a BTO/CTO option, making it the absolute fastest 11″ ‘Book ever. This hasn’t at all stopped users online from shoehorning an even better CPU in there, which inadvertently or intentionally upgrades the GPU also. Out with the old Intel HD 6000, in […]

Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 – 10.6.8 for PowerPC

The official “De Jure” Mac OS X Snow Leopard was announced at WWDC 2008, released August 28th 2009, and ultimately was never intended to run on PowerPC in the end. For a long time, it was known there were PowerPC-compatible beta builds of OS X Snow Leopard, however, these builds remained seemingly elusive until 2020. […]

Mac OS 9 Overview

Below are some of the key features of Mac OS 9. This information is adapted from Technote 1176 and other online resources. More details in the Technote and elsewhere. (Note: This article is a copy/paste of an existing LEM article, however, due to the errors presented on that page, it has been instead migrated here. […]

Mac CPU Index

Over the years, Apple has used various different types of processors for their Macs: Motorola, PowerPC, Intel, and Apple Silicon. This page is dedicated to all the different types of processors used in Macs over the years, their specifications, and performance level. Due to the varying numbers, performance metrics, and various different benchmarking apps done.. […]

14″ MacBook Pro (2021)

I’m getting “heavy” 2009 Aluminum 15″ MacBook Pro vibes off of this. Is it the keyboard, with the return of the scissor switch? Is it the screen real estate, and return of physical buttons as opposed to a Touch Bar? It has rounded edges similar to a TiBook rather than tapered edges of the unibodies.. […]

ATI Radeon X850XT vs Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL: 20 Years Later

In the world of computer upgrades and peripherals, the age-old question has come up time and time again: do I get this one, or that one? Whether “Apple or Microsoft”, “Intel or AMD”, “iPhone or Android”, “ATI or Nvidia”.. competitors seek to have an advantage over the other, as so to convince someone to buy […]

Mac hardware upgrades: Sonnet Encore/ST G4 1.6

In the world of Mac CPU hardware upgrades for your Power Mac G4, the Sonnet Encore/ST G4 1.6 is an aesthetically pleasing one, shaded with vibrant yet deep purple colors. Although it wasn’t a Dual CPU model, it was available seemingly for a long time, and was still available for purchase in December 2010 off […]

Fanxiang 1 TB mSata SSD in a Hi-Res 15″ PowerBook G4: So far so good

It’s been nearly a year since the SK 128 GB mSata SSD was taken out in favor of a larger capacity, 1 TB Fanxiang SSD. Since the Hi-Res PowerBook G4 15″ 1.67 isn’t limited to a 128 GB storage drive capacity, it seemed a suitable candidate to take advantage of this upgrade. The largest drive […]

16″ MacBook Pro (2021)

I’m getting “heavy” 2009 Aluminum 17″ MacBook Pro vibes off of this. Is it the keyboard, with the return of the scissor switch? Is it the screen real estate, and return of physical buttons as opposed to a Touch Bar? It has rounded edges similar to a TiBook rather than tapered edges of the unibodies.. […]

13″ M1 MacBook Pro (2020)

The M1 MacBook Pro and Air were the very first commercially available Apple notebooks with an Apple Silicon chip. For $1299, you get a front row seat on how mobile CPUs have progressed over the years to be powerful enough to run macOS. The new Apple Silicon MacBook Pro features 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, […]