Recently, in line with other computer companies, Apple instituted a free computer and monitor “recycling” program. When you buy a new Mac computer or monitor, you simply tell the seller you want to recycle an old computer and/or monitor. You then receive an email with shipping instructions. Pack the computer and monitor in separate boxes (not more than 70 pounds apiece), and take them to a FedEx location with a printed copy of the instructions. They are then whisked away to, well, wherever they’re whisked away to. Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist).

The hardest thing (besides saying “Goodbye”) may be to determine when your Mac has reached recycling age, rather than either “resale age” or “reuse age”. In other words, my five-year-old Dual-800MHz PowerMac G4 “Quicksilver” is still a rockin’-fast machine, plenty powerful for the pro photo stuff my wife does. If I opted to go double-super-rockin’-fast and get a new Mac Pro machine when it debuts later this summer, I certainly wouldn’t recycle ‘ol Quicksilver.

Quicksilver still has plenty of giddyup for someone just getting started in digital media, looking for a bargain on an older machine. Quicksilver could also be retired to a “server farm” and live out his life serving and storing music and other data for all the other computers on the house (or the entire internet, for that matter).

Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for recycling - when the time is right.

Next up, I had some time this week to hang out with Apple’s new MacBook consumer laptops. You’ll remember that the MacBooks replace the iBook in Apple’s portable “stable”.

The MacBook’s 13-inch display has the glossy finish popular in many portables these days. I was concerned about the surroundings reflecting on the screen, but even in the bright Apple Retail Store lights I noticed very little reflection. The screen is bright and sharp, although the 16:9 aspect ratio doesn’t provide much vertical room in a 13-inch-diagonal space. This isn’t an issue, just an observation.

I saw no ill effects of the MacBook’s integrated graphics processor (an obvious cost-saving measure), which uses system RAM to power the display instead of a dedicated graphics processing unit. Reports are that only “serious gamers” (and isn’t that somewhat of an oxymoron, come to think of it?) will be disappointed by frame rates on the MacBook display.

© 2006 Peter F. Zimowski