The white macbook is a great mac.  However, there is a limitation with the macbook that came out in 2007 - specifically the macbook 3,1 with a core processor, 512MB - 1GB RAM, and was installed with Tiger 10.4.  You may have this model come with up to 120GB of hard drive storage.

The issue with this macbook is that if your hard drive fails, then your hard drive upgrade can only upgrade up to a maximum of 250GB storage.  The firmware on this mac doesn’t allow it to be upgraded past 250GB of storage.  So, if you try to install a 320GB SATA Hard drive, it won’t work.  You can try to slave it to another mac to ensure it’s FAT or HTFS+ format, or try to boot via target mode, or try to rig it with the disk utility function.  The fact of the matter is that the firmware of the mac is not able to handle higher than a 250GB hard drive.  So, don’t waste your time!  Grab a 250GB hard drive and a coke and have a nice day.

You can call this one of Apple’s encouragement motives to ensure mac users cannot keep upgrading their current 2-3 year old laptop, and not buy a new mac.

It’s very easy to lose sight of your important e-mails with so much spam or the high quantity of e-mails.  Wouldn’t it be nice to separate your unread, new e-mails from the ones you opened already?  Yes, there is the default way of spotting new e-mails by bold text; however, they do sometimes get lost if you have to scroll down your screen to find them.

In Mac Mail, you can create an Unread Smart Mailbox to highlight new emails.  This mailbox will just pull in all unread e-mails.  When you open one, it will then kick it over to your regular mailbox with the rest of the read e-mails.

Here’s you how you can set up your smart mailbox:

1. Go to Mailbox -> New Smart Mailbox
2. Click drop-down box under contacts text and select message is unread
3. Name the smart box: unread e-mail

This smart mailbox creation is a great way to control your Mac Mail while still being e-mail efficient.

The new iMac has launched today.  It boasts the nice shiny 24″ screen that we’re used to seeing.  The mac comes with iLife 09 package and Leopard.  The speed is not much faster; however, at 2.66 - 3.06GHZ processing and 2-4GB of RAM.  That is the biggest letdown that the speed doesn’t top the older iMacs.

Starting at $1,499, this iMac is definitely a good deal.  There is not much of a difference with the older iMacs except for the lower price, slightly thinner design, and iLife 09 package.  That being said, it is a good investment if you currently don’t have a mac.  If you have an apple computer, this new computer’s specs do not warrant such a mac upgrade.

iLife is a nice software suite that comes for free on all Macs.  The software includes: iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD.  The new iLife 09 comes with all new Macs.  So, if you still have iLife 08, you’ll need to upgrade to the new version for $79.

Is this upgrade to iLife 09 worth it?  iPhoto alone validates getting this upgrade.  iPhoto 09 has a new Faces and Places bundles which organizes pictures by face and/or location.  The Faces option is not perfected and may require entering one’s name first before it can recognize it again.  The Places feature is spot-on as is GPS technology which is what powers it.  iMovie allows for more video integration in between clips, and also stabilitize herky-jerky videos.  Garageband provides more tutorials and freebies on how to play the piano and guitar, as well as provide some more functions to mix and play music.  iWeb and iDVD are pretty much the same.

So, if you’re a big photo and movie creating buff, go get iLife 09.  Otherwise, stay put.  You won’t need a mac specialist or Apple guru to assist on this one.  Software installation here is a snap.

Your mac was fast when you first got it.  Now, a few months later, your mac is slow and needs a jump start.  There a four steps you can do to get your mac back in the fast lane.

1.  Unplug any new peripherals one by one.  Unplug your iPhone, printer, or other USB or firewire device one by one to see if your mac is faster after each removal.  Sometimes, a usb or firewire cable can fail and cause a slow computer.
2.  Remove any new software.  If you just installed Norton for mac or some other multi-layered software, and then your computer slowed down right after, get rid of it.  It can be the culprit.
3.  Remove any unnecessary loading programs.  You might need all your programs, but you certainly don’t need them all to load at startup which can definitely slow down your mac.  Press and hold the shift key after logging in to temporarily disable all programs from loading at login.  If you computer seems to have more pep, then you’ll need to isolate the slow starting program and remove it.
4.  Your hard drive might be failing.  To check this out, go to Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities folder and select your disk and click Verify disk to check for any errors.  If you find any errors, you should contact a data recovery specialist or computer repair company to assist immediately so you don’t lose important information.

If you’re looking for the best wireless router that is the fastest and widest range, look no further.  The Airport Extreme is the most solid router out there.  If your current Linksys, Netgear, or Dlink is not cutting the mustard, meaning your signal strength is low or not found, go the Apple route, get the Airport Extreme. 

In situations where constant router reboots where necessary or wireless extenders were not reaching duplex or townhouse floors, the Airport Extreme always seemed to provide the necessary wireless coverage.  And don’t worry, this wireless router is meant for Macs and PCs, and may be used with both.

If you want to get the Airport wireless router with an integrated 500GB hard drive, you can pick up the Time Capsule 500GB.  Or if you want to double your space, go for the Time Capsule 1TB .

All of the routers are wireless N and have the capability to plug in a USB printer and share the printer to all your computers in the apartment.  The time capsule is cool way to have a backup.  Instead of having an external hard drive to plug into your desktop, you can just wirelessly back up files to the Time Capsule’s hard drive.  This backup feature is accessible to all wireless computers.

If you still don’t get a good signal, you can purchase an Airport Express extender via Apple:

We just bought 2 Airport Express units thinking that it was needed for a 2,500 square foot apartment, but the Time Capsule alone was able to light up the whole apartment with wireless.  We recommend to try the Airport Extreme or one of the Time Capsules first, with your wireless computer, and see if that does the trick.  You’ll just need to pop in the router’s CD that comes with it and it will guide you through the setup.

Buying a mac server is much easier than buying a Windows server.  Well, this is not a thing.  It is because their are not many options to choose.  The Xserve, for instance, is only offered with 80GB hard drives or 1TB hard drives.  What happened to the 300GB or 500GB hard drives?  This is definitely a stark level of hard drive space options.  Keep in mind that this is when configuring the apple server through Apple directly.  Obviously, you can purchase the server and replace the hard drives with different sizes, by who needs the hassle?  On the Windows side, you can choose from many different hard drive sizes.

Also, the Xserve comes with just 3 hard drive bays whereas with Windows you can have up to 7 or 8.  So, you’re tapped out with 3TB of space on the new Xserve whereas with Windows you can created up to 8TB.  With Windows, you can set up a mirrored hard drive configuration or up to RAID 5 which allows the server to still run if a hard drive goes down.  On the Xserve, you can set up a 3-drive RAID or mirrored set for server data security.

On a positive note, with the Xserve comes all the necessary software bundled in its operating system.  It contains a file server, print server, e-mail server, and unlimited computers can connect to it.  On the Windows end, you have to choose between many different flavors - Windows Enterprise, Standard, Small Business, 32-bit or 64-bit, and more.  So, the confusion of what to choose it thrown out the window.  Of course, if you’re a server specialist, you might like having all of the operating system options available for network optimization and customization.

Overall, it is a breeze ordering an Xserve due to the limited options and the overall stability.  If you have a total mac network, the Xserve is the way to go due to keeping the platform at the same level.  But, if you have a mac and Windows network, a Windows server is the better option.

The rumors are true: Steve Jobs health is unfortunately not up to par.  Jobs wrote a letter to the entire Apple company notifying them that he will take a leave of absence for health concerns and will return at the end of June.  He made note of his recent hormone imbalance that caused him to lose proteins and thin out.  Due to increasing interruption of the public’s nosey rumors of Jobs’ health and his health itself, Steve said those are the main reasons for his temporary departure.

Tim Cook will be the temporary day-to-day operations guy while Jobs, as CEO, will stay provide input with important product decisions.  We really hope Jobs gets better soon.  He is an icon in the technology industry and computer support field and deserves to be back on his feet soon.

iPhoto has always been the go-to product from Apple for organizing and presenting your photos.  Now, iPhoto has made album creation even easier with the new Faces and Spaces categories.

Faces allows iPhoto to recognize a face and can group that person in one folder.  For instance, if you want to make a slideshow of just Grandma, you can select Grandma’s face, and then iPhoto does the rest with grouping all of Granny’s photos for you in a folder.  This is possible with the new iPhone or GPS-ready cameras.  If you have older phones or cameras, you can write in the photo that it’s Granny, and then iPhoto has visual recognition to group the same precious Grandma in the same category.

Similarly, Spaces from iPhoto can group cities to the same folder.  If you want to group your Mexico pics from 2001 and other years, it will take them all and put them in one folder.  This is powered by iPhoto’s GPS ability.

These functions alone make iPhoto ‘09 a great tech product to buy.  It has great tech support via Apple’s help site and makes film strips and shows a snap to create.

Finally, you can use as many iPods as you want to listen to your iTunes.  In the past, only a handful of iPods would be able to be synced with iTunes.  Now, you are limitless, and so are your friends and family!  Also, songs will be priced according to age, 99 cents for new tracks and 69 cents for the oldies. 

Now, for the toys.  Schiller, the Apple exec, touted the Macbook Pro with 15″ and 17″ screens.  Both will start shipping at the end of January.  The big 17″ one will go for $2,800.  New version of iLife multimedia programs will be available in these models.

Lastly, 8 million songs will be offered DRM-free, or without digital rights management software.  This means it will be easier to share iTunes with others.  Also, if your computer crashes, it will be easier to restore your iTunes without having to worry about using a third-party software to recover your files.