Yeah, we're running the current Mac OS on a desktop machine that's, I think, 7 years old (though we have had to add memory over the years to keep up with the OS upgrades.) The OS upgrades run about $100 I think, less if you can get a person with a student discount to buy it for you. And adding RAM is pretty inexpensive and you can DIY or ask a techier friend to help. If your computer still runs okay, and you've got a pretty new hard drive, this would bring you up to speed much more cheaply.

In general, upgrading your computer to 10.4 (Tiger, rather than the more recent 10.5 Leopard, which comes with slightly higher overhead) would probably make it run a tad faster rather than it runs now - Apple has often been pretty good that way. And most software still seems to be supporting 10.4.

If you are savvy, you can probably find somebody with the full 10.4 Install Disc who doesn't need it (having either switched from Apple or upgraded to 10.5) who will sell it to you cheap or give it to you. I no longer have my copy, or I'd send it along.

Example: [link]

I will have to agree that putting Tiger in your tank may even help your iPod issue.

Back up what you can, first, tho.

Oh, and 10.4.11 is the latest after updates.

Also, what amount of RAM do you have? Laptop ram is fairly cheap right now.

I believe I updated my 9 year old iBook to 10.4.somethingorother (I'd have to go home to get the specifics). It works great, except the processor just can't keep up with streaming video (my processor's fault, not my OS's). I can synch up my iPod without any drama (although it did taunt me about my ancient USB ports, until I told it to knock it off).

Thanks, guys!

I thought I'd updated my RAM, but it must've been on my last computer. So I've only got 256 MB. I'm just learning that my sense of time passing when it comes to my computer is not all that tightly tied to the calendar. Weird.

My fear with buying Tiger is that it will be relatively obsolete fairly shortly (by my slow standards anyway). Would it really be better to go with that than Leopard? Like, should I fork over the cash for some more RAM and Leopard? Would that make more sense and last me longer? Or will $100 and Tiger be more than enough to get me through the next year that is all my two-year-old feels-new-to-me hard drive will probably last? And why does the Apple store not seem to remember that they used to make iBooks in their memory section? If the RAM/Leopard scenario ultimately makes the most sense, should I buy previous generation powerbook RAM?

I spilled some water on my MacBook at 2:00 a.m. Go up, dried what I could, took out the battery, inverted. Now it won't turn on.

Do I:

a) Leave it inverted or another 24 hours and pray
b) Try to pass it off as not liquid damage and get it repaired under warranty
c) Take it to TekServe, admit the stupidity, have them charge me $250 to take it apart and let each component dry individually then put it back together, find and broken parts, and charge me for them?
d) Get a new Macbook.

If a, b, and/or c don't work, I clearly will have to do d. c is the only one that costs money before d, but I think it's also the most likely to actually FIX it and avoid d in the long run. What do you think?

how much water and where? do you have a genius bar near you? I'm wondering if you should just take it in there?

It fell on the ground next to the computer and sort of seeped in before I woke up enough to panic. The Apple Stores in the city (New York) are booked solid for the next two days, but I could take it to TekServe, which invented the Genius Bar before Apple... borrowed... the idea.

The only question is if i tell them it was a spill or not. If I do, then they have a system to help fix it, but it costs. I I don't, they'll possibly warranty repair it, but probably discover that it's liquid damage and refuse. I would try that and then adjust later i necessary, but I'm afraid that would take me past the time when their liquid damage treatment might actually help.

Is it a unibody MacBook? Because the new models have a built-in liquid sensor, like cell phones have.

No. It's a white one, a bit less than a year old.