Get to Know Your Mac

Apple sells many different types of Macs. As of press time, their product line is broken down into three major segments:

• Portables Apple sells two types of portable computers. Its PowerBooks, all in aluminum casings, are professional laptops, with fast processors, high memory capacities and the widest range of features. iBooks are consumer-oriented laptops, with affordable pricing, but more limited features. At the time of this writing, the PowerBooks come in three sizes: 12-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch screens; and iBooks come in two sizes: 12-inch and 14-inch screens.

• Desktops Apple currently sells three types of desktop Mac. The first is the aluminum G5, a tower model (though at press time you could still buy one G4 desktop as well). Apple claims this is the fastest personal computer in the world, and the G5 is full of technical innovations. The next model is the iMac, which, with its orientable LCD (flat) screen, has been one of Apple’s most popular models (though it is possible that by press time Apple will have released a new version of the iMac). Finally, the eMac, the only Mac with a CRT screen (that’s a screen with a tube, like in a TV), was designed originally for the education market, and its low price and excellent feature set makes it a fine Mac for home use as well.

• Servers Apple’s Xserve rounds out their product line. This enterprise server, which provides advanced features and uses Apple’s Mac OS X Server software, is a high-capacity server for companies that need to share and serve files and provide other network services. I won’t talk about servers or Apple’s Mac OS X Server in this book.

You may also have an older model Mac, ranging from a portable (iBook or PowerBook) to a CRT iMac or a tower model.

Did You Know? What You Need to Run Panther

Mac OS X 10.3 Panther is compatible with a Macintosh computer with PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor, built-in USB, and 128MB of physical RAM. The built-in USB requirement is important: any G3 Mac without USB cannot run Panther.

However, the 128MB minimum for RAM is really a minimum; I can't see anyone being very productive with so little RAM. In fact, at press time, most new Macs come with at least 256MB RAM. Buying additional RAM is the best investment you can make for your Mac. I'd strongly recommend you buy as much as you can afford, upgrading your Mac to at least 512MB. If you use demanding programs, such as graphics and layout software, you'll want to put even more RAM in your Mac, and, in many cases, as much as you can (Well, maybe not for the G5 Macs, which can accept up to 8GB RAM).