If like me, you follow Stephen Hackett’s 512 Pixels, then you know that every couple of months products from Apple’s past are added to the list of Vintage and Obsolete hardware no longer supported by the company. But what do these lists of legacy products mean, and how does an older Mac or ancient iPod make the lists?

Age Matters…

Vintage [Apple] products are those that have not been manufactured for more than 5 and less than 7 years ago.

This includes any iPhone, iPad, iPod, Beats, or Mac models that have stopped being manufactured in the last five years. (Not necessarily five years from the date you purchased your Apple hardware.) Or course there are a couple of exceptions that can extend your vintage Apple product’s support, but these exceptions are restricted by where you live or where you purchased your product.

Obsolete [Apple] products are those that were discontinued more than 7 years ago.

For these products Apple has discontinued all hardware service with no exceptions. Even if you bring your obsolete product to a third-party Apple Authorized Repair Center they won’t be able to receive replacement parts from Apple.

Exceptions…

Short of living in Turkey, or purchasing your Apple products in California, there is very little you can do to have your Vintage Apple hardware repaired by Apple. A couple of exceptions are asking for an exception from an Apple store for a mission critical piece of Apple hardware. If Apple has enough replacement parts in stock for your vintage model they may provide an exception for the standard price of the repair.

Third-party Apple Authorized Repair Center’s are also an option for vintage or obsolete Apple hardware in need or repair. Many third-party Apple Authorized Repair Center’s keep parts in stock for various vintage and obsolete models, and if they don’t have it in stock they may be able to savage it from dead Apple hardware or buy it on eBay.

Today there is more custom hardware in Apple products than ever before. This makes repairing yesterday’s Apple hardware with off-the-shelf parts nearly impossible, and all the wiser to sell or replace your older Apple hardware before it makes the list.

I repair people’s Macs for a living. Often the task requires reinstalling the operating system, and installing updates. Before I return a computer to its owner I always remove the temporary user account I created, and reset the machine back to the Setup Assistant. By following these commands, the owner has the chance to connect to wifi, create a new user account, and sign into iCloud the next time they turn on their computer.

1. Boot into Single-User Mode by pressing ⌘-S at startup.
2. Once the command-line prompt appears type the following commands.
3. mount -uw
4. rm -R /Library/Preferences/
5. rm -R /Users/username
6. cd /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Defaultusers
7. Type ls to list the contents of the directory.
8. Delete the active user account, by typing rm username.plist where username is the name of the active account.
9. rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
10. reboot
11. Mac OS X will restart, and the Setup Assistant will launch automatically.

If you are preparing the Mac for a new owner, press ⌘-Q and click Shutdown. The Setup Assistant run again the next time the Mac is restarted.

For Macs running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and earlier, follow these steps.

1. Boot into Single-User Mode by pressing ⌘-S at startup.
2. Once the command-line prompt appears type the following commands.
3. mount -uw
4. rm -R /Library/Preferences/
5. rm -R /Users/username
6. rm /var/db/netinfolocal.db
7. rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
8. reboot
9. Mac OS X will restart, and the Setup Assistant will launch automatically.

Have you ever tried to install OS X from a USB Flash Drive and received this error message?

This copy of the Install OS X Mavericks application can’t be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading.

The issue is not with your installation media, but rather with your Mac’s time and date. Follow these steps to set it right.

1. While booted from your OS X Install Media, launch the Terminal from the Utilities menu.
2. Enter the date command to report your Mac’s known time and date.
3. If the time and date are not correct, you can set it using the date command.
4. Follow this format date mmddHHMMccyy where mm equals month, dd equals day, HH equals hours, MM equals minutes, and ccyy equals year. (Example: Today’s date would be 120310002014.)
5. Press Return, and your Mac will confirm the current time and date before the prompt.
6. Type exit or press “Command + Q” to quit the Terminal and resume the installation process.

I first started seeing this error message in OS X 10.9 Mavericks, but date verification may be present in older versions of OS X. When ii doubt try setting your computer’s data to the year your version of OS X was released. For a complete listing of OS X release dates visit the Robservatory.

Apple’s trend of replacing user-upgradable parts with components soldered to the logic board has begun. The following is a list of the first Macs in a given form factor to have their upgradable memory and storage replaced with components that are not upgradable short of replacing the logic board.

Macs with Non-Upgradable Memory

The first Macs in a given form factor with non-upgradable memory. Every Mac since has had its RAM soldered to the logic board with the exception of the Mac Mini (2018 Macmini8,1).

• MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015, MacBook8,1)
• MacBook Air (Mid 2008, MacBookAir1.1)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012, MacBookPro10.1)
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012, MacBookPro10.2)
• iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2014, iMac14.4)¹
• Mac mini (Late 2014, Macmini7.1)

Macs with Upgradable Memory

• Mac Mini (2018 Macmini8,1)
• iMac (21.5-inch All Models)
• iMac (27-inch All Models)
• iMac Pro
• Mac Pro (All Models)

Macs with Non-Upgradable Storage

The first Macs in a given form factor with non-upgradable storage. Every Mac since has had its SSD soldered to the logic board.

• Mac Mini (2018 Macmini8,1)
• MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015, MacBook8,1)
• MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2018, MacBookAir8,1)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports, MacBookPro13,2)²
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016, MacBookPro13,3)

Macs with Upgradable Storage

• iMac (21.5-inch All models)³
• iMac (27-inch All models)⁴
• Mac Pro (All models)

To anyone who thinks Apple’s move to integrated components is a fad soon to be reversed, think again. The days of the Macintosh II, and “user-upgradable everything” are over. If you see your computer as more than a sealed appliance, you are no longer Apple’s customer.

1. The iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2014, iMac14,4), and iMac (21.5-inch Late 2015, iMac 16,1 or iMac16,2) feature LPDDR3 soldered to the logic board.
2. The MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports, MacBookPro13,1) and MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports, MacBookPro14,1) have a PCIe-based SSD on a proprietary daughter-card.
3. Conventional 2.5 inch hard drives and 2.5 inch SSDs can only be used to replace a factory installed 2.5-inch hard drive, otherwise mounting cables and brackets are absent.
4. Conventional 3.5 inch hard drives and 2.5 inch SSDs can only be used to replace a factory installed 3.5-inch hard drive, otherwise mounting cables and brackets are absent.

Readers ask me when is a good time to Repair Disk Permissions?

My answer, “when is the last time you booted into Mac OS 9?”

Many things you install in Mac OS X are installed from package files (whose filename extension is “.pkg”). Each time something is installed from a package file, a “Bill of Materials” file (whose filename extension is “.bom”) is stored in the package’s receipt file, which is kept in LibraryReceipts in Mac OS X v10.5 and earlier. These files don’t take up much disk space and you shouldn’t put them in the Trash. Each of those “.bom” files contains a list of the files installed by that package, and the proper permissions for each file.

In Mac OS X v10.5 or earlier, when you repair disk permissions Disk Utility reviews each of the .bom files in LibraryReceipts and compares its list to the actual permissions on each file listed. If the permissions differ, Disk Utility reports the difference and corrects them.

Prior to 10.6 you could use any version of Disk Utility on any version of Mac OS X to Repair Disk Permissions. It didn’t matter because the disk permissions being inspected were always compared to the defaults stored in the local LibraryReceipts directory.

Starting Mac OS X v10.6 and later, Disk Utility doesn’t even look in the LibraryReceipts directory when you Repair Disk Permissions. All it does is reset the Base Systems disk permissions back to the default as specified by version of Disk Utility you are using.¹

• Disk Utility can not repair permissions on any drive that does not have Mac OS X installed.
• Disk Utility can not repair permissions on any third-party software.
• Disk Utility can not repair permissions on any Apple software outside of the Base System.
• Disk Utility can not repair permissions on any files in your Home Folder.²

Given all of these limitations what is Repair Disk Permissions good for?

Back in the days when Macs were capable of dual-booting into Mac OS 9 disk permissions were a big problem. Mac OS 9 didn’t respect disk permissions. It treated every file as if you were root.

If you booted into Mac OS 9 and ran some common applications, compressed and decompressed files, moved or renamed files, or (worse) ran a disk utility like Norton, they could completely destroy the permissions for many files that OS X needed to boot or run correctly.

Since this was a relatively common occurrence and a huge support issue, Apple introduced the Repair Privileges Utility. Starting with Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar the Repair Privileges Utility was combined with Disk Utility. Repair Disk Permissions offered early dual-booting Mac users a quick way to fix their systems and get Mac OS X working again. But now that Macs can’t boot into Mac OS 9, why do we need to repair disk permissions?

The only time you need to run Repair Disk Permissions is if you changed a system-level permission you shouldn’t have. Apple tries to educate users on changing permissions in knowledge base articles like this one, but warns incorrect commands may result in data loss andor unusable system software, reduced system security andor exposure of private data. It is best to leave system-level permissions alone. Sure the freak power outage, cosmic ray, or a runaway installer might mangle some permissions here or there, but those are rare occurrences.³

Leave Repair Disk Permissions for the people who need it most. Gullible people who don’t know what they are doing, and still insist on Zapping their Mac’s PRAM every third Sunday.

1. Therefore you need a 10.6 version of Disk Utility to repair permissions on a volume with 10.6 installed, and you need a 10.7 version of Disk Utility to repair permissions on a volume with 10.7 installed.
2. In Mac OS X 10.5 and later, while started up (“booted”) from the Mac OS X 10.5 installation disc, a user’s home directory permissions can be reset using the Reset Password utility.
3. You don’t need to run repair permissions before installing the latest Software Updates, because the Installer runs as Root and ignores disk permissions anyway.

When I worked behind the Genius Bar in 2003 there was no Concierge, no booking system, no appointments, and no Genius Bar assistant to help people get in line. Instead there was a sea of faces, impatient customers waiting to be assisted. In the old first come first serve model for Genius Bar management, it was not uncommon for a Mac Genius to help three people at once while trying to hold down a conversation with several onlookers. People used to race to the Bar when the Store’s doors first opened, playing musical chairs with the bar stools, fighting for their place in line. I will admit after leaving Apple in 2006 I would have nightmares about the faces staring back at me across the bar, and the stress that came from managing the queue.

As one might expect the first come first serve method of Genius Bar management was not well liked among customers and Mac Genius alike. At some stores a Genius would maintain a paper list of the people waiting in line. At others a limit of how many customers could be helped in an hour was enforced. We tried calling people on their cell phones when a appointment was available, and handing out buzzers that would ring when it was time to return to the bar. As the Genius Bar’s popularity grew it became harder to manage the flow of people gathered around the Apple Store’s primary attraction. My Store manager insisted we help everyone, but sometimes there wasn’t enough time in the day. Because we were one of the first Apple Store’s in the North East with a free parking lot people came from as far away as Upstate New York to see us. It was sometimes impossible to help everyone.

One day during a busy Saturday morning at the Genius Bar, a customer came in complaining his 17 inch PowerBook G4 would not boot. He was too impatient to wait in line, and wanted to leave it with me so I could take a look at it. With very few exceptions we never took in a machine without first reproducing the problem in front of the customer. There are just two many open ended interpretations to computer problems, and in order to know what is really going on, a Mac Genius needs to confirm the issue with the customer first. Because he was unwilling to wait, and because I was unwilling to take his computer from him without a diagnosis, he purchased a brand new 17 inch PowerBook G4 instead. While he was leaving he asked me what I wanted to do with it.

“What do I want to do with what” I asked.

“My old computer” he replied.”

“If you don’t take it, I am just going to throw it in the trash.”

I didn’t believe he was serious, and I still had a long line of customers in front of me. So I just shrugged, and told him maybe he could bring it in another day.

On his way out I watched in horror as he shoved his old 17 inch PowerBook G4 into the mall garbage can just outside of the Apple Store. When I found a free minute, I excused myself from the bar, and quickly chased after him to retrieve the PowerBook and see which way he had gone. By the time I had his 17 inch PowerBook G4 safely in my hands he was gone.

At the end of the day, after my shift was over, I went back to the 17 inch PowerBook G4 to diagnose what was wrong. It was a second generation model with a 1.33 GHz processor, 512 MBs of RAM, a 80 GB hard drive, and a slot-loading 2X “SuperDrive.” At almost $3,000 new, it was a not a machine to be left in a mall trashcan. The only thing I could find wrong with it was bad stick of memory, and a quirky optical drive that required cleaning. It booted immediately after the RAM was replaced.

Using the receipt from his recent computer purchase I contacted the customer several times, letting him know his computer had been fixed, and was ready for pickup. He informed me he lived several states away and was not interested in picking it up. When I told him I could mail it, he declined saying he didn’t want it back. For a couple of months it sat in the Genius Room waiting for a pickup that would never come. I eventually took it home.

For those of us already running Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion will be a minor update. Continuing the iOSfication of Mac OS X, Mountain Lion brings even more apps and features back to Mac from our iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches. Unfortunately not everyone will be able to take advantage of the polish Apple’s latest cat provides. Mountain Lion, like its predecessors will be leaving some Macs, and some Mac OS X features behind. The list might not be as long as last year’s, but any feature worth using is a hard feature to lose.

Hardware

At first glance Mountain Lion’s system requirements look pretty straight forward, Mac OS X v10.6.8 or later installed, 2GBs of memory or greater, and at least 8GBs of available hard disk space. It is not until you get to the list of supported models that you realize something is up, and not all of the Macs that can run Mac OS X 10.7 will be able to make the move to Mountain Lion.

• White plastic iMacs with Model Identifiers iMac5,1, iMac5,2, and iMac6,1 will not make the cut due to outdated graphics chipsets.
• All plastic MacBooks that pre-date the aluminum unibody redesign with Model Identifiers MacBook2,1, MacBook3,1, and MacBook4,1 will not make the cut due to outdated integrated Intel graphics chipsets.
• MacBook Pros released prior to June 2007 with Model Identifiers MacBookPro2,1, and MacBookPro2,2 will not make the cut due to outdated graphics chipsets.
• The original MacBook Air with Model Identifier MacBookAir1,1 will not make the cut due to outdated integrated Intel graphics chipsets.
• The Mid-2007 Mac mini with Model Identifier Macmini2,1 will not make the cut due to outdated integrated Intel graphics chipsets.
• The original Mac Pro and its 8-core 2007 refresh with Model Identifiers MacPro1,1, and MacPro2,1 will not make the cut due to a 32-bit boot EFI, although there is a work around.
• The Late 2006 and Early 2008 Xserves with Model Identifiers Xserve1,1, and Xserve2,1 will not make the cut due to a 32-bit boot EFI, although the same work around may apply.

The official Mountain Lion release date is just around the corner, and as it approaches I am sure we will learn more about which models are supported, and what workarounds can be taken to update an aging Mac one last time.

RSS

RSS has been part of Mac OS X since the release of Safari 2 and Mac OS X 10.4 on April 29th, 2005. One of Mac OS X Tiger’s 150+ new features, RSS in Safari allows users to read news feeds from within the browser and stay up-to-date with new content as it is published. Safari’s RSS capabilities were never a threat to dedicated readers, but provided a quick way to peruse a publications feed, distraction free, prior to subscribing.

Starting the release of Mac OS X Leopard on October 26th, 2007, Apple took a second shot at publicizing the potential of RSS by including it in Mail 3. RSS in Mail gives users the ability to subscribe to feeds and read articles alongside the email in their inbox. Mail proved to be a better RSS reader than Safari, but neither method provided much in the way of sharing articles, or syncing feeds between devices. In Mountain Lion both RSS in Safari and Mail are gone, replaced with Reading List in the browser and the chance at using a dedicated client instead of a half-hearted attempt in Mail.

X11

XQuartz (commonly referred to as X11.app) is Apple’s version of the X server, a component of the X Window System, for Mac OS X. The current version of XQuartz implements support for hardware-accelerated 2D graphics (in versions prior to 2.1), hardware OpenGL acceleration and integration with Aqua, the Mac OS X graphical user interface. X11 was initially available as a downloadable public beta for Mac OS X v10.2 and later included as a standard package for Mac OS X v10.3, which can be downloaded from Apple’s website. In Mac OS X v10.4, X11 was an optional install included on the install DVD. Since Mac OS X v10.5, X11 is installed by default. As of OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has dropped dedicated support for X11.app; users are directed to the open source XQuartz project instead.

Because The X Windowing System and X11.app were written with the MIT open source license these technologies will continue to be available for Mac OS X even if Apple does not want to support them. I suspect X11’s lack of Retina display support, and Apple’s move away from freely distributed applications might have something to do with X11.app’s abandonment.

Mac OS X

The biggest feature missing from Mountain Lion might be the Mac in its name. Starting with the release of 10.8 the name of Apple’s Macintosh desktop operating system will be OS X. The “Mac” has been removed from the name.

The first version of Mac OS was 7.6 released in January of 1997. Prior to that the Macintosh operating system was referred to as “System Software” and could be acquired for the price of floppies from many Apple resellers, and user groups. When Steve Jobs returned to the company he founded in 1996, the Macintosh operating system was officially rebranded as “Mac OS”, and Apple began charging for new releases.

“Mac” is a powerful brand name among computer enthusiasts, but “Apple” is recognizable by almost everyone. The removal of Mac from OS X might signal a future where the lines between OS X and iOS begin to blur, and we are all buying Apple’s instead of Macs. Whatever the course, I’m hoping that during the continued iOSfication of OS X we don’t forget all of the good things the Mac has given us over the years.

If like me, you are still using a Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and want to continue syncing your iCloud email, calendars, and contacts, then these are the insturctions for you.

iCloud Email

Email is the only iCloud service Apple currently supports in Snow Leopard. Setting up Mail.app for iCloud email is easy once you know the server settings.

You can sync your iCloud Calendar with Snow Leopard’s iCal by following these steps.

1. Visit iCloud.com.
2. Click on the Calendar button.
3. Click concentric curves on any calendar to bring up the calendar sharing preferences.
4. Check Public Calendar and write down the webcal address.
5. Uncheck Public Calendar.
6. Launch iCal.app.
7. From the Menu Bar choose iCal, then Preferences.
8. Click the Accounts tab.
9. Click the plus button to create a new account.
10. Choose the CalDav account type.
11. Enter your iCloud email address as your username.
12. Enter you iCloud password.
13. Enter “caldav.icloud.com” as the server address.
14. Click Create.
15. Access to the acount is not permitted. Click Go Offline.
16. Click the Server Settings tab.
17. Change the Server address to “pxx-caldav.icloud.com” where “pxx” equals the webcal server address you copied down from iCloud.com.
18. *Take note of the server path”xxxxxxxxprincipal”, you will need it for syncing your contacts.
19. Enter the port number 443, and check “Use SSL” to complete the configuration.
20. Quit and relaunch iCal.

Contact Syncing

Similar steps can be used for configuring Address Book.

1. Launch Address Book.app.
2. From the Menu Bar choose Address Book, then Preferences.
3. Click the Accounts tab.
4. Click the plus button to create a new account.
5. Choose the CardDav account type.
6. Enter the following string as your username “xxxxxxxx%40xxx.com:password” where xxx is replaced with the appropriate parts of your iCloud email address, and password is replaced with your iCloud password.
7. Enter you iCloud password.
8. Enter “carddav.icloud.com” as the server address.
9. Click Create.
10. “Address Book couldn’t discover the account settings…”, click Create again.
11. Click the Server Settings tab.
12. Change the server address to “pxx-contacts.icloud.com/xxxxxxxx/principal” where “pxx” equals the webcal server address you copied down from iCloud.com, and xxxxxxxx is equals the unique iCloud ID you acquired from your iCloud calendar’s server path.
13. Enter the port number 443, and check “Use SSL” to complete the configuration.
14. Quit and relaunch Address Book.

If Address Book does not accept these settings you may need to edit the Configuration.plist in ‘~LibraryApplication SupportAddressBookSources’ to make sure the settings appear correctly.

If you have ever encountered a problem with your Macintosh you might have been advised to zapreset the PRAM, but what is the PRAM and what does it do?

The PRAM, or parameter random access memory, is a small amount of non volatile storage on your Mac’s logic board. It uses a built-in battery or capacitor to retain specific system settings even after the power to your computer has been turned off. Macs with Intel processors use a similar system for storing these settings called NVRAM, or non-volatile random access memory. For all intents and purposes PRAM, and NVRAM are the same thing, and can be zapped the same way.

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. (You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.)
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.

Zapping the PRAM has always been a simple procedure to perform, and depending on your Macintosh the list of system settings saved in PRAM could be rather extensive. The PRAM on a Macintosh running the Classic Mac OS can retain any of the following system settings.

• Status of AppleTalk
• Serial Port Configuration and Port definition
• Alarm clock setting
• Application font
• serial printer location
• Autokey rate
• Autokey delay
• Speaker volume
• Attention (beep) sound
• Double-click time
• Caret blink time (insertion point rate)
• Mouse scaling (mouse speed)
• Startup disk
• Menu blink count
• Monitor depth
• 32-bit addressing
• Virtual memory
• RAM disk
• Disk cache

Back when the Classic Mac OS was more common, zapping the PRAM gained the notoriety of being a miracle cure because it returned so many important system variables to their default values. As time went on and the Classic Mac OS evolved more of these important system settings were moved out of PRAM and retained in preference files stored on the hard drive. By the time Mac OS X came along only a small selection of system settings were still retained in PRAM, and zapping the PRAM lost the miracle cure title it never truly deserved.

• Display and video settings such as refresh rate, screen resolution, color depth
• Startup volume choice
• Speaker volume
• Recent kernel panic information, if any
• DVD region (Resetting PRAM does not allow you to change the DVD region.)

Unlike prior versions of the Mac OS, Mac OS X does not store network or memory settings in PRAM. If you experience a network issue, resetting the PRAM will not help. Many of the memory conflicts that crashed the Classic Mac OS and gave zapping the PRAM its miracle cure reputation are no longer an issue in Mac OS X. Zapping the PRAM on a computer running Mac OS X has no affect on system stability because memory settings are no longer stored in PRAM.

Zapping the PRAM should never be used as preventative maintenance. Recent kernel panic logs are sometimes stored in PRAM and their routine removal could make tracking down a hard to diagnose issue even more difficult.

Zapping the PRAM is best used to diagnose or repair video, sound, or startup issues in Mac OS X.

If your computer is not displaying video, or is displaying a unusual refresh rate, resolution, or color depth, zapping the PRAM is a good first step. Issues with undetected auxiliary monitors can often be corrected by zapping the PRAM.

If your computer stops producing sound, or is unable to detect additional analog audio hardware like headphones, zapping the PRAM is a good first step.

If your computer takes a long time to boot, can’t find a startup volume, or attempts to boot over the network without cause, zapping the PRAM is a good first step.

Zapping the PRAM is an important quick fix for diagnosing certain Mac related issues, but it is not a miracle cure. Before zapping the PRAM know what it does and does not do in order to better target your diagnosis and discover the true remedy to your Mac’s ailment.

Should you buy AppleCare? Every Apple product comes with 90 days of complimentary telephone technical support and a limited one year warranty. AppleCare for Mac extends your service and support coverage to three full years from the date you purchased your computer. It gives you global repair coverage, and direct access to Apple experts for questions on a wide range of topics.

But at up to $349 per computer, AppleCare for Mac can be a considerable investment. That is why you should know what AppleCare for Mac covers, and what it does not.

AppleCare for Mac covers:

• All included hardware and accessories.
• One compatible Apple-branded display if purchased at the same time as your computer.
• An Apple-branded mouse, Magic Trackpad, Apple Battery Charger and keyboard if included with the Covered Equipment (or purchased with a Mac mini or Mac Pro).
• An AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme Base Station, AirPort Time Capsule, Apple memory modules (RAM) and Apple USB SuperDrive if used with the Covered Equipment and originally purchased by you no earlier than two years before the Covered Equipment purchase.
• Apple will provide technical support for the Covered Equipment, Apple’s operating system software and Apple-branded software applications that are designed to operate with the Covered Equipment.
• Apple will also provide technical support using the graphical user interface for server administration and network management issues on Apple’s operating system server software.

In short AppleCare for Mac covers everything that comes in the box, and a number of Apple peripherals you may already be using with your Macintosh. AppleCare even gives you basic support for Apple pro applications like Final Cut, Logic, and Mac OS X Server.

AppleCare for Mac does not cover:

• Installation, removal or disposal of the Covered Equipment.
• Damage caused by a product that is not the Covered Equipment.
• Accident, abuse, misuse, liquid contact, fire, earthquake or other external cause.
• Operating the Covered Equipment outside the permitted or intended uses described by the manufacturer.
• Service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
• Covered Equipment with a serial number that has been altered, defaced removed, or modified.
• Covered Equipment that has been lost or stolen.
• Cosmetic damage, preventative maintenance, or defects caused by normal wear and tear.
• Issues that could be resolved by upgrading software to the then current version.
• Modification to the Covered Equipment, the Mac OS, or Consumer Software in a manner for which is not intended to be used or modified.
• Third-party products or their effects on or interactions with the Covered Equipment, the Mac OS, Mac OS Server, or Consumer Software.
• Apple software other than the Mac OS, Mac OS Server, or Consumer Software as covered under the applicable Plan.
• Mac OS, software or any Apple-branded software designated as “beta”, “prerelease,” or “preview” or similarly labeled software.
• Damage to, or loss of any software or data residing or recorded on the Covered Equipment.
• Recovery and reinstallation of software programs and user data are not covered under this Plan.

In short AppleCare for Mac does not cover accidental damage, loss, theft, or normal wear and tear. You must use your computer and its software as intended. If you manage to deface your computer so that it is no longer identifiable, it is also not covered. AppleCare requires you to upgrade to the latest version of the software, but does not cover “beta”, “prerelease,” or “preview” releases of that software. Finally it is your responsibility to backup and reinstall your data and system software.

So should you buy AppleCare?

It depends on what kind of person you are, how often you replace your computer, and the price of the individual plan.

Are you a technically independent person, who always turns to an online forum before picking up the phone to ask a computer question? If the answer is yes, half of AppleCare’s value goes straight out the window.

However, even if you are a technically savvy individual, no online forum, pirated repair manual, or iFixit set of screw drivers will help you repair your computer if you don’t have the parts.

Today computers aren’t fixed with soldering irons and bails of wire. When computers fail, their faulty parts need to be replaced. And with Apple’s computers becoming smaller and lighter more functionality is riding on fewer parts. Replacement parts are even more expensive and proprietary than ever before.

You can’t get replacement parts by walking into an Apple Store, or ordering them on Amazon. You have to go to an Apple Authorized Service Provider, who will charge you labor to install them. AppleCare is the only affordable option to get genuine Apple replacement parts.

When to always buy AppleCare

• If you are purchasing a new Mac with a compatible Apple-branded display, or have a lot of eligible Apple accessories. AppleCare will cover them.
• If you can get the educational discount. AppleCare can be discounted by over $100 if you work at or are attending an educational institution.
• If you live far away from an Apple Store and plan on asking a lot of technical support questions after the first 90 days.
• If you are buying a MacBook, and battery life is important to you. AppleCare now covers MacBook batteries that retain less than 80-percent of their original capacity within the first three years.

When to never buy AppleCare

• If you are prone to accidents or theft. AppleCare does not cover loss or damage.
• If you have a credit card insurance plan that doubles the manufacture’s warranty of electronic goods like computers.
• If plan on replacing your computer once a year. You can buy AppleCare anytime within the first year.

What about iPhones, iPads, iPods, Apple Watch, and the Apple TV?

AppleCare for these devices only covers your purchase for an additional year. It does not cover accidental damage without additional cost, and does not cover theft. If you get a new device every year, do not buy AppleCare. And even if you don’t, seek out alternative insurance programs that cover theft and accidental damage.

Apple may be adding 250+ new features to Mac OS X Lion, but just like Snow Leopard before it some features are scheduled to be taken away.

Early Intel Macs

Lion’s aggressive system requirements excludes early Intel Macs without a 64-bit compatible processor. This includes the first few versions of Intel powered iMacs, MacBook Pros, Mac minis, and MacBooks equipped with “Yonah” processors. (All versions of the Mac Pro contain 64-bit Xenon processors capable of running Lion.) Even the first 64-bit Core 2 compatible Macs that make the cut will require additional memory to run Lion. The base system requirement is 2GBs, and that is enough to max out those early 64-bit machines. It has been more than five years since the first Intel powered Macs were introduced and it comes at no surprise that they will not be supported by Lion. Snow Leopard made the logical cut of dropping support for PowerPC powered Macs, and Lion is making a similar break from the 32-bit machines of the past.

PowerPC Software

Snow Leopard dropped support for PowerPC powered Macs, but continues to run software written for PowerPC processors by way of Rosetta a lightweight dynamic binary translator distributed by Apple. Lion will drop support for Rosetta and with it support for all PowerPC applications.

Lion’s refusal to run PowerPC applications may be a political move or it may be technically unfeasible, since Lion is adopting a strict 64-bit only architecture. Whatever the reason Lion can not run PowerPC applications, and installing the Rossetta binary included with Snow Leopard makes no difference. PowerPC compatibility has been removed from all of Lion’s Mac OS X Frameworks.

Users with legacy devices and applications that require PowerPC compatibility will feel the sharpest sting from Lion’s move away from Rosetta. But even the latest Intel compatible applications that include PowerPC compiled components will experience reduced functionality while running under Lion. Microsoft Office 2011’s MSQuery tool, and Adobe CS5’s pre-compiled droplets and scripts are just two examples of major Intel compiled applications with PowerPC components incompatible with Mac OS X Lion.

Adobe Flash Support

Thanks to the iOS’s inability to play Flash video Apple’s reluctance to include Flash support in its products is world renowned. But up until Lion, Mac OS X has always included the Flash plugin by default, and at one time Flash playback was even part of QuickTime. Say what you will, Apple hates Flash, Apple is moving towards HTML5, Apple wants to control the experience, or Apple is concerned about Flash based security vulnerabilities. No matter the reason Flash Support will not be included in the default installation of Lion, but will continue to be available as a third-party plug-in from Adobe.

Java Runtime Environment

In 2001 Java was an important development option for porting existing applications over to Mac OS X, but as time went by Apple’s Java runtime became less important to the future of Mac OS X development. By 2005 Java bindings for the Cocoa frameworks proved to be unpopular by developers and were depreciated before the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. In 2010 Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard saw the depreciation of the entire Apple produced Java runtime and the introduction of the Mac App Store where Java apps would not be permitted. The writing is on the wall, the Java Runtime Environment will be removed from the default installation of Mac OS X Lion and replaced with an on-demand download. Security concerns and the continued cost of development are most likely the reasons behind this dropped feature. Look for an Oracle maintained version of Java for future versions of Mac OS X starting with Java SE 7.

Samba

Apple began integrating [the open source software] Samba into its operating systems in 2002 with the release of Mac OS X v10.2 “Jaguar.” With Samba, Mac OS X’s ability to interact with Windows has grown over the last several years, evolving from everyday file sharing between co-workers into Mac servers capable of hosting account profiles and entire home directories for Windows users to access from their networked PCs.

As Mac OS X adopted more of Samba’s tools, the team behind Samba gradually transformed the open source licensing for its software. The latest version of Samba is offered only with General Public License Version 3 (GPLv3) licensing, which includes restrictions that essentially prevent Apple from incorporating it into commercially packaged software like Mac OS X.

Samba’s disappearance from Lion will not herald the end of Windows networking technologies in Mac OS X. Instead Apple is hard at work building a new suite of built-in tools that will allow Mac OS X Lion to continue communicating with Windows networks.

Front Row

Front Row, the TV-oriented media center playback system for Mac OS X, was first added to Macs in 2005. It provided a simple 10-foot user interface suitable for displaying photos, music, and videos in a living room settings. Apple stopped bundling Front Row compatible IR remotes with its computers in the end of 2007, and the last update to Front Row was made in 2008. Since then the Apple TV and AirPlay have taken over the role of a Mac compatible media extender for the living room. The only customers sad to see Front Row go are Mac mini enthusiasts who continue to use their pint-sized Macs as an entertainment center.

56k Modem

The last Mac to have a built-in 56k modem was the legendary PowerBook G4 John Gruber documented in his review Full Metal Jacket. Since then Macintosh users who rely on dial-up internet or telephone faxing have had to purchase an optional USB Modem from Apple.

The decision to drop the built-in dial-up modem is reminiscent of Apple’s decision to drop built-in floppy drives. With the rise of broadband Internet and the general availability of wireless networking, it is likely that Apple felt that it was of more use for people to have default wireless instead of default dial-up.

With the release of Lion Apple is dropping support for 56k modems entirely. The previous USB modem driver emulated the design of Motorola SM56 and will not be rewritten for 64 bit. Alternatives such as the USRobotics 56K USB Faxmodem, and Zoom Model 3095 V.92 USB Mini External Modem do exist, and are reported to work under Lion.

The seven major features left out of Lion will be missed most by the people who used them, but a forward thinking operating system like Mac OS X can only keep evolving when legacy runtimes are left behind.

With the absence of easily obtainable installation media Mac OS X Lion looks like it might make for a difficult clean install. Not so, Apple was hiding the official installation media disc image under our noses the entire time.

1. Purchase and download Lion from the Mac App Store on any Lion compatible Mac running Snow Leopard.
2. Right click on “Mac OS X Lion” installer and choose the option to “Show Package Contents.”
3. Inside the Contents folder that appears you will find a SharedSupport folder and inside the SharedSupport folder you will find the “InstallESD.dmg.” This is the Lion boot disc image we have all been waiting for.
4. Copy “InstallESD.dmg” to another folder like the Desktop.
5. Launch Disk Utility and click the burn button.
6. Select the copied “InstallESD.dmg” as the image to burn, insert a standard sized 4.7 GB DVD, and wait for your new Lion Boot Disc to come out toasty hot.

It is important that you burn your Lion boot disc or backup the Lion installer prior to installing Lion itself. If left in the Applications folder the installer will be removed after the Lion installation is completed. If you are reading this article after upgrading to Lion all is not lost. A fresh copy of the Lion installer can always be re downloaded from the Mac App Store by clicking on the Purchased tab with the Option key held down.

With the Lion boot disc you can boot any Lion compatible Mac, and install 10.7 just like you installed previous versions of Mac OS X. You can even use Disk Utility’s Restore function to image your Lion boot disc image onto a external drive suitable for performing a clean install on a computer without an optical drive. Clean installs with Lion are easy once you find where Apple has hidden the secret boot disk.

My backup strategy is simple. I have two computers, in two different locations, synchronized in real time over the web using Dropbox. Each computer is backed up hourly using Time Machine on two separate external hard drives. Time Machine keeps hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups for all previous months.

• If I mistakenly delete or overwrite a file on either computer I have thirty days worth of revisions on Dropbox, and twenty four hours worth of hourly revisions on both Time Machine backup.
• If Dropbox fails to synchronize or inadvertently deletes files on both computers and the web, I still have two Time Machine backups in two different locations.
• If my house burns down I may lose a computer and a Time Machine backup, but I will still have all of my files backed up to the web via Dropbox, and my second computer with a working Time Machine backup.
• If the city of Boston burns down I may may lose both of my computers and both of my Time Machine backups, but I will still have all of my files backed up to the web via Dropbox.

Keeping an updated clone of either computer’s hard disks is not important to me. If either computer fails, I have a second computer. I keep my software needs simple so I can restore either computer from backup in under two hours.

Maintaining my data on a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is not the same as having a backup. When files are deleted from first drive n a RAID they are deleted from the second drive. There is no such things as revisions in RAID, and it is not uncommon for the RAID controller to fail and data to be lost on both hard drives. If a RAID protects you from anything it is a single hard drive failure.

If I wanted to strengthen by backup strategy I might include a separate off site backup made at regular intervals independent of Dropbox. I might perform my Time Machine backups on a more redundant backup media like a RAID. No backup strategy is failure proof, but having your data in three locations, on two different mediums, and at least one offsite location is the goal. This is called 3-2-1 backup, and it is how I backup my data.