Archive for October 2011

Since its launch, the Mac Mini has been a popular choice for a home theatre PC. Users even choose the Mac Mini over Apple TV because of having far more features and being more expandable and customizable. Besides the obvious home theatre PC, the Mac Mini can also be turned into a fun and useful music server.

Setting up an advanced music server has never been easier with the Mac Mini. So why the Mac Mini? Well first of all the Mad Mini is small, quiet and has very low power consumption (it consumes 13watts while idle). Although a very small computer, the Mac Mini Features a decent processor, has a generous amount of RAM and Hard Disk space. Both the RAM and Hard Drive can be upgraded if required. The final and most important thing about the Mac Mini is it has all the software preinstalled and ready to use for your music server.

To get started with your Mac Mini music server, you must also have an iOS device. This can be an iPad, iPod, or iPhone. Your iOS device will be used to control your music server remotely. The software that will be used is iTunes on the Mac Mini and iTunes Remote on your iOS device.

Modifying your Mac Mini into a music server quite a simple process. Firstly connect your Mac Mini up to your speakers, you can do that by connecting your speakers directly to your Mac Mini's audio port or preferably connect your Mac Mini to an amplifier with a HDMI cable (if your amplifier does not have HDMI, you can use an RCA to Stereo cable). Once you have connected your Mac Mini, you need to set up your iTunes library. You will need to add your songs to your iTunes library by ripping them from CD's, purchasing them from the iTunes store, or transferring them from another library. The next step to take is to set up Home Sharing on iTunes. This can be done by going to Preferences and Sharing, tick Share my library on my local network, you can choose to share the entire iTunes library or choose to share music only.

Once you have set up iTunes on your Mac Mini, you will then need to set up your iOS device. You must firstly download the iTunes Remote from the App Store. Once downloaded you must launch the application, go to Settings and choose Add an iTunes library. You will given a 4-digit access code (this will be used to pair your iOS device with your iTunes library). Go back to iTunes on the Mac Mini and click on your iOS device on the left hand menu. Now enter the 4-digit access code from your iOS device. Once that is done your iTunes library can be remotely accessed from your iOS device within WiFi range.

Your Mac Mini Music Server is now complete. Your entire library will be viewable on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch so you don't have to connect a display to your Mac Mini.

Released in October 2009, the new iMac joins the family of “Unibody” designed Mac’s. This follows the trend of the already popular Macbook Pro Unibody Aluminium design. The iMac is surrounded by aluminium back to front with a full aluminium stand to support it. There are only 2 removable parts on the iMac, the first is the bottom plate for RAM upgrades (much like the previous generation) and the front glass which gives you access to the iMac’s hardware. However removing the glass and any hardware is not recommended and will void any warranty on the unit, but does give the user the possibility of upgrading the hard drive.

During Apple’s transition from PowerPC to Intel Processors, the aesthetic design of Mac computers have also begun to transition from white polycarbonate plastic to an all new aluminium shell. The new iMac, alongside the Macbook Pro, Mac Pro and Mac Mini has joined Apple’s lineup of aluminium bodied computers.

The back plate of the Aluminium iMac can no longer be removed, this limits the consumers access to the hardware. The RAM however, can still be easily upgraded by removing a small plate on the base of the iMac, giving you access to add and remove memory.

The 4th generation iMac, alongside the Macbook Pro is Apple’s first computer to feature Intel Processors, as Apple plans to transition all existing PowerPC Macs to Intel. The design of the iMac is the same white polycarbonate plastic look as the previous iMac G5.

The iMac (Intel White) came with a: 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo (T2400) Processor, 512MB of DDR2 memory, 160GB or 250GB 7200-rpm SATA hard drive, ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDD3 SDRAM, 17-inch and 20-inch 16:10 widescreen display.

In late 2006, Apple launched a new 24-inch iMac to its existing lineup. The new 24-inch display boasts a 1920 x 1200 resolution, this makes it the first iMac with the ability to display full 1080p High Definition content.

The white polycarbonate plastic design was available until August 2007. The next iMac dropped the polycarbonate plastic design in favour of an aluminium enclosure.

Over the past few years, Apple and Steve Jobs have planned a special training program that will teach the companies executives to think like Steve Jobs. This has been overseen by Steve Jobs personally to make sure his vision and innovative thinking stays alive after his death.

Here is a compilation of the coolest and most creative and innovative iMac desk setups. You can see all these iMac desk setups and much more at Desktopped.

Apple have launched their new generation iPhone named the "iPhone 4S". Externally, the iPhone 4S looks identical to its predecessor the "iPhone 4" but internally its completely redesigned. Offering a significant increase in performance. Lets have a look at some of the key features the new iPhone 4S has to offer.

Dual Core A5 Processor
The Apple designed A5 processor was first introduced to the iPad 2, giving you 2 times more processing power and up to 7 times faster graphics while still giving you excellent battery life. The A5 processor will give the iPhone 4S a significant boost with running multiple apps, browsing the web and playing games.

The iMac G4 is the second generation of iMacs released in January 7, 2002. It replaced the previous CRT screen iMac G3. The design is completely different to the previous iMac G3, with a 15-inch and 17-inch LCD display mounted on a flexible arm, allowing you to move the screen back, forward, left, right, and swivel side to side. The computer is housed around a hemisphere base that held the screen. The design of the iMac G4 was dubbed the “iLamp”, as it was advertised as being as flexible as a desk lamp. The first iMac G4 was released with Mac OS X 10.1 “Puma” operating system.


There have been 4 major updates of the iMac G4, besides the routine CPU, Memory and Hard Drive updates, the later models featured USB 2.0 ports (upgraded from USB 1.1), a 20-inch LCD display with 1680 x 1050 pixels, Mac OS X 10.2 “Jaguar” and Mac OS X 10.3 “Panther” operating systems.

The iMac G3 is the first iMac released on August 15 1998. The iMac is an All-In-One design, just like the very first Macintosh. The iMac G3 had a very unique design compared to the competitors bland “beige” coloured computers. The outer shell was made of translucent plastic in “Bondi Blue” colour. that was surrounded by a 15-inch CRT monitor. The ports, CD-ROM drive and speakers were also within the case. The iMac G3 was sold in 12 other colours.

The iMac G3 was a “Legacy-Free” PC. Abandoning all peripheral ports and offering USB ports as standard. The 3.5 inch floppy diskette drive has been dropped. The keyboard and mouse were designed to be uniform with the iMac. The keyboard has black keys enclosed in translucent plastic and the mouse was a round “hockey puck” design that featured the colour of the computer.