Memory Upgrade

First of all the issue of the maximum quantity of RAM. Recently I’ve been told that the 32 bit Windows OS can use no more than 2 GB to RAM. Of course there are techniques or software for changing that, however, the standard OS does not support it.
On the WEB there is quite a bit of confusion concerning the availability of the RAM memory under Windows. So people claim this and others claim that, there seem to be no way of knowing what’s true or not.
More and more people can afford a memory upgrade, and more users have experiences with these greater amounts of RAM.

If you want to know more, Google on the subject and I guess then to the site of Microsoft as a main reference point, which I presume will not lie about what their OS can or can’t do.
It seems that the 2 GB limit has an effect on how much an application can use. So if you have like 4 GB installed (and recognised) the limit for application X = 2 GB. the other 2 GB can be used by another application. Sounds logical? Not really… if you have for example a heavyweight application such as graphical programmes, then you want to use all available RAM, right?
Nevertheless? As a Windows user I never had this problem because I did not have more than 1 GB installed at any time.
Apple, like so many times, is different! The amount of RAM you have installed, a application can use in full. And how much you can install is limited by your computer. For example a MacBook has a maximum of 2 GB, an iMac 4 GB, and a Mac pro has no limit or it should be something like 32 the GB!!!! Now I understand why Apple is such a big competitor in the graphic industry or for the individual user who want tot use as much memory as possible: audio editing, video editing, desktop publishing etc. A while ago I have ordered an RAM upgrade for both my Mac’s at http://www.interngeheugen.com/. With this upgrade I will bring my Mac’s to the maximum. My MacBook will go to 2 GB, and my iMac to 4 GB. After done some research on the WEB, I found out that there are much differences in the price you have to pay for the same size memory modules, however, it’s another brand. If you look on the official site of Apple, then you have to pay for a 2 GB upgrade for a MacBook: € 400, - whereas on the site I ordered my upgrade the same quantity of memory (’Kingston’ no small brand I think) I have to pay just € 52, -!!!

For the 4 GB upgrade of the iMac I paid € 95, - whereas the Apple store will bill you for the amount of nothing less than € 950, -
Question: why this massive difference? I have absolutely no idea! Why does Apple ask for an equivalent product so much more? The Apple site states that their product is much better, but this claim is not proven yet. The modules which you can buy elsewhere are by not definition worse. , and I believe the quality is the same. The only difference is the price you have to pay! I have this memory installed for many months now, and did not once have a problem! So people: watch out where you buy your memory modules. Wanna pay more: go to the Apple Store, wanna pay less, shop around and pick a good brand (like ‘Kinston’) for a bargain.

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Label Your Files With Color

On the Mac you can use color labels to mark files or folders you want to stick out, or simply mark them for any reason. Maybe you want certain files to stick out because you use them more often than others. This sounds very simple and that’s just what it is really. You will learn to like this method so much that when you are working on a Windows machine you would miss it enormously! Believe me this will happen to you too! ☺ This is one of innovations with which Apple distinguish themselves from the competition for many years now.
My first iMac ( 1998 ) had that functionality build in. So we are talking about nothing new here!
As a Windows user I did not miss this feature though. And the main reason was that I just did it in another way. A clumsy way really, lookin’ back at that period in time…
What you do not know, you can’t miss… right?
Now and again when working with one of my PC’s (yes I have more than one, to be precise; One stand alone Pentium 4 and a notebook Pentium 4) I have the feeling of missing the functionality of ‘marking’ my files and folders. One get used to do things a certain way I guess, and if this way of doing things is more intuitive, well you gonna miss it very soon in another environment!
In Windows I can’t mark files in any way, and that annoys me. I can’t distinguish one file from another in appearance. Yes I could use high caps… (right…) or use an exclamation mark to make the file go to the top when sorting on alphabet. But that’s about it, nothing more Windows can do to help me.
Lets say I have certain folder with a lot of files in it, and I want the files I use the most to appear important. So that when I look at the folder I see the most important files first. Common sense right?
With my Mac I can do just that. Normally I give these files a green label. I guess you all know the yellow marking pen you use to accentuate bits of text or words on paper, so it catches your eye immediately… the labeling method is kinda the same way.
On paper you can’t remove these accents though. On your Mac you can change whatever you want. Use a different label or remove it all together.
Another use of labeling I use very often is the labeling of downloaded music which I have or have not listened to yet.
When a certain track or album has been listened to; then I give it a green label. When I look at my music folder I see what I’ve listened to and what not. Very handy feature for a geek like me!
If I find a certain track or album worthless… well it gets a red color, so that I can throw it away at some point.
You could argue that I could simply throw it away immediately, well is a bit complicated… if I throw an album away while I have a complete discography of an artist it would make my collection incomplete. When marking red I know its not worth to listen to again.
We can also use the labels as an actual organizational tool!
By using the OS X Smart Folder feature, we can group files by the color of the label you chose. So for example, say you decided to mark all of your MP3's that you very much like with GREEN, you can then create a Smart Folder to automatically group all of these songs in one place. It then automatically updates whenever you label a new MP3 with that color. Nice!

Now lets create a Smart Folder to group all of files labeled with green into one folder.

1. Go to the Finder. In the menu bar at the very top of your screen, select File > New Smart Folder. A new Finder window will popup with no files inside.
2. Next we’ll be creating the “rule” that finds all the green-labeled files. In the upper-right corner of the new Finder window you will see a plus sign. Click on the plus sign to create a new rule.
3. You’ll see a couple of new drop-down items. Click on the first one that says “Kind” and select “Other…” from the bottom of the menu. You’ll be presented with numerous additional attributes you can use. We want to find the attribute called “File label” and select it. The select Okay.
4. The rule has now changed to let you pick the color label of your choice. In our example, we’ll select the green label. After selecting your label, your Mac will search all the files on your computer for any labeled with green and will then show you the results.
5. If you’d like, you can now save this Smart Folder by clicking on the Save button.
   
   

Nice Fonts on Apple Mac

Since my first Apple computer I have been astonished by the way text was presented on screen! Compared to my PC monitors the screen of my iMac was superb, but also the characters (fonts) were so much better looking on Mac than on my Windows computer; better readable.
I say astonished, but it was more an effect of surprise to see that there was a computer brand that made a difference, and made every thing look more nicely. For some reason Windows holds on to the screen presentation of fonts in a dot like way, whereas Apple always presented the fonts in a way that it seems there are no dots at all. Maybe that sounds complicated…
If you have or use a Windows machine, just look closely at the figures and characters on screen. Most of the characters seems to exist of a number of somewhat square cubes. For the elderly among us… it looks a bit like how a matrix printer reproduced fonts on paper.

In the image below (from Wikipedia) you can see what the difference is between the two methods. Apple presents fonts in the manner on the right, and Windows according to left. I have to say that the way a font is presented may vary because some applications overrule the OS. Normally the OS dictates the way for applications though. Because of this it’s possible that the standard
aliased font of Windows may be overruled by application ‘X’ so it will be ati-aliased.

Anyway, look at the pictures and ask yourself the question what you like best, which font and shape looks best?
If you ask me… the aliased one is way to ugly to be a in the competition! It looks so backdated! But hey, that’s what I think. Maybe you think anti-aliased fonts are too vague… and you like the crude lines for some reason. It’s a matter of taste really.

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The Apple Mac Experience!

My history with computers goes back a while. I started with a Commodore 64 and then an Atari ST and from that I went to ‘IBM’ computers, (my first was a Packard Bell 386) I got involved with PC’s and worked with these machines for a very long time. Every computing task thinkable was done with PC’s from spreadsheets and word processing, to optical character recognition (OCR). And of course I’ve played lots of games on PC’s!
Somewhat ten years ago I had my first Mac experience with the light blue iMac.
A good friend of mine introduced me to the world of Mac with such enthusiasm that I had to see and feel this for myself. I entered a brave new world of computing!
Especially I liked the way the Mac managed things differently, a refreshing new way of doing things. Just because of the fact that OS8 & OS9 where not capable of doing ‘everything’ I wanted to do with my computers, and to be more specific; do everything I could already do with my PC, I turned back to using my PC more than the Mac. It was a painful decision, because like I said I really liked this Mac. But hey… if it does not do everything you want or have to do… it’s a run race.

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Last year, on February 7th 2007 I bought for the amount of € 217,- an upgrade of ‘Vista’ Home Premium; Microsoft’s brand new operating system and was very disappointed in how it worked and what it did or did not do! I was so disappointed that after a few weeks of trying to get things working, I went to the local Apple store and bought myself a MacBook. With this my appreciation for the Apple brand was renewed.
In my future Blogging I will tell you all about why I like my Mac so much.

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