When friends and family need to buy a new computer or accessories, they often turn to me for advice. I've learned over the years that they're usually not looking for one of my "history of computing" answers that explains not only how much RAM the computer should have, but how RAM works and why more is better - they just want to know how much to get, and where to get it inexpensively

I've been using a Mac for 20 years, and a mouse for even longer. Clicking is second nature to me. For the last 13 years, I've been using trackpads, on laptops and even as external devices

Almost exactly a year after its initial release (see "MacBook Fills Out Laptop Line," 2006-05-22) and six months after the last processor jump ("MacBook Gains Core 2 Duo Processor," 2006-11-13), Apple has updated the MacBook line of laptops with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors that add roughly .16 GHz to each model, a standard 1 GB of RAM across the line, and larger hard disks

The Consumer Complaints Board of the National Consumer Agency in Denmark is claiming to have found evidence of a manufacturing flaw in Apple's iBook G4 - defective solder joints that fail after a year or more of use

.Mac Ebook Update Covers Latest in .Mac Webmail Access -- We just released version 1.2 of our comprehensive guide to Apple's .Mac service, "Take Control of .Mac." Written by Joe Kissell, the 204-page ebook provides everything .Mac users need to know to get the most of their $100-per-year subscriptions

For those who have been waiting for new Mac desktops to land, Apple has one message: eight is great. Last week the company added an 8-core Intel Xeon processor configuration to the Mac Pro

Keyboard Accessibility for Mac OS X -- In his TidBITS series on accessibility for disabled Macintosh users, Joe Clark bemoaned the state of adaptive technology in Mac OS X

If you're using Mac OS X, a massive revolution is proceeding unnoticed on your computer. No, I don't mean Unix, preemptive multitasking, or any other familiar buzzwords

I was almost overwhelmed with the responses to my "Double the Fun with Multiple Monitors" article in TidBITS-421. It seems that many people use multiple monitors, and those people who have several screens are as addicted to them as I am.

We forgot to mention the release of the PowerBook 165 a few weeks ago. It's not surprising, since it's simply a PowerBook 160 with a 33 MHz 68030 processor instead of a 25 MHz processor

Mobius Technologies has another option for SE owners who are running low on screen real estate and speed at the same time. The 15" full-page monitor is only 1-bit monochrome, but has a 78-Hz refresh rate and includes a 16 MHz 68000 accelerator card to double the speed of the SE