There are a number of instances when it could be really useful to know exactly which model of Macintosh computer you own. Here are instructions to identify which model you have.

Did you know that Apple has made Macintosh computers named iMac since 1998? That’s 14 years and counting of various iMac models. Do you know which specific iMac model you own? You may know that you have an 20″ Intel iMac, for example, but there are actually 4 different versions of the 20″ Intel iMac.

To distinguish your Mac from all of the similarly named Macs you need to know its Model Identifier, which can be found by doing the following.

• Click on the Apple menu, then select About This Mac.
• In the window that appears click either the More Info or System Report button. (You’ll see More Info if you’re Mac is using Mac OS X 10.1-10.6. If your Mac is using Mac OS X Lion then you’ll see the System Report button.)
• In either case, you’ll be taken to the Hardware Overview which will list your Model Identifier.

The Model Identifier lets you or others determine the nitty gritty details of your model. The Model Identifier is useful so the proper accessories or cables for your Mac can be provided. It lets you know specifically what type of memory (RAM) you need to buy for your Mac. It also helps you determine the age of a Mac in case you’re looking at a used Mac. I don’t have all of the nitty gritty details memorized for each model. Instead, I use either the MacTracker Mac or iOS app or the EveryMac web site to lookup the details once I know the Model Identifier. In March 25′s Tech Tip it will be important to know your Mac’s Model Identifier so you can buy the correct cables to connect your Mac to your TV.

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Are you wondering how long your Mac will last or how frequently you’ll need to replace it? This is a very difficult question to answer, since many factors can affect the durability, longevity and compatibility of a computer. I’ll do my best to provide some concise and useful guidance.

My shortest answer is that many of my clients replace their computer about every 5 years. Some clients who have high-end needs might replace their computer every 3-4 years, and it’s worthwhile for them to migrate to Apple’s latest and fastest hardware more often. I have many clients who have been able to stretch their computers to last 7 years or more.

Often customers will replace their computers because their previous computer’s compatibility or performance is no longer adequate. Macs will typically function for many more than 5 years, but if it breaks after 5 years it’s not always cost-effective to repair. The need to make significant upgrades to a Mac’s hardware can also be cause for replacement. The most common upgrades needed are adding memory, installing a larger hard drive or installing a newer version of Mac OS X. These upgrades can be cost-effective if you are able to do the work yourself. If you have to hire somebody to do the work, the labor charge alone can negate cost-effectiveness.

In recent years, I’ve found that web browser compatibility often drives customers to replace their computer. The two most common uses of a computer are sending emails and viewing web sites. The people who make web sites, like banks, often employ ever newer web site technologies to keep their web sites current and secure. These changes often require ever newer versions of web browsers like Safari, Firefox and Chrome. As these web browsers get upgraded, it becomes necessary for their developers to occasionally drop support for older versions of Mac OS X as well as older or slower processors. For example, Macs using older PowerPC processors like the PowerMac G5 and iMac G5 can no longer run current versions of Safari, Firefox or Chrome. This means users might not be able to properly view or access some web sites. Thus, these computers increasingly will need to be replaced since they are becoming become less and less useful. Interestingly, PowerMac G5 ands iMac G5s were made between 2003 and the end of 2005 and are more then 5 years old, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that they need to be replaced.

I don’t have any specific data to support the following claim, but I think the rate of replacing computers is increasing. I think that customers used to replace their computers less frequently then every 5 years. These days, a new Mac has a minimum cost of about $1000, so it’s not easy for many people to replace their computer that often. With the recent advent of the less expensive tablet computers like the iPad, I find some hope. These devices and their capabilities are rapidly evolving. I think that in the coming years many casual computer users will be able to use an iPad for their email and web browsing needs. Thus, when you next replace your Mac, it is reasonable to consider if the computer could be replaced with an iPad. If you were to need to replace your iPad every 4-5 years, it would be a less expensive proposition.

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On July 20, 2011, Apple released Lion, their newest version of Mac OS X. One should plan their upgrade to Lion and not rush into it. Lion, Mac OS X 10.7, costs less then many previous updates to Mac OS X. If you purchase Lion from the Mac App Store it costs only $30. Apple doesn’t sell it on disc any longer, but they indicated that they’ll make it available on USB flash drives in mid-August for $69.

Lion introduces a number of new features and changes, some of which are confusing when you first encounter them. Thus, the first step in planing the upgrade is to read about these new features either on Apple’s web site or in this excellent PDF-book Take Control of Using Lion ($15).

Next, wait for Mac OS X 10.7.1 or 10.7.2. Inevitably, all new products contain bugs. Some minor, some major. If your Mac is currently pretty stable then I would hate to see you lose productivity by upgrading to Lion and then encountering bugs, so let Apple release one or two minor releases which’ll address the most significant bugs. If the past is any indicator of the future, I would expect 10.7.1 to be released about a month after 10.7.0 was released.

Before upgrading your Mac it’s typically best to do some research to make sure that all of the applications and peripherals you use throughout the week are compatible with Lion.

Roaring Apps is building a list of application compatibility information based on submissions from users like you and me. Apple has an article listing printer and scanner compatibility information. Additional research for applications or peripherals can be conducted at the manufacturer’s web site.

Once you’ve read about Lion’s new features, waited for Apple to release some bug fixes and determined that all of your applications and peripherals are compatible then you’re ready to upgrade to Lion.

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I strongly recommend the AppleCare Protection Plan (APP) for all MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac and MacPro purchases under most circumstances. I know that extended warranties have a poor reputation in general, but I think AppleCare is a good value for most Mac models. For the rest of this article I’ll simply refer to the AppleCare Protection Plan as AppleCare.

Every Mac computer comes with 90 days of free telephone tech support and a 1 year hardware warranty. By purchasing AppleCare, both the telephone support and hardware warranty are extended to 3 years. AppleCare covers the cost of parts as well as labor in the event of a repair.

It’s very useful to know that you can buy AppleCare as long as the original 1 year hardware warranty is still in place. Additionally, AppleCare is transferrable. If you sell your Mac within 3 years of initial purchase, AppleCare coverage transfers with the computer. This can slightly increase your Mac’s resale value, but it also gives the buyer some reassurance should they detect a hardware issue after they purchase it. AppleCare is available for all new Macs or refurbished Macs bought from Apple. It does not cover accidental damage.

MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs – The price for AppleCare is currently $249 for every laptop model except the 17″ MacBook Pro. For this model the price is $349. Apple has tiered flat-rate pricing for all laptop repairs. The last time I checked the lowest price was about $300. If your laptop is outside of it’s one-year hardware warranty and it breaks, one repair would have paid for the cost of AppleCare. Since laptops are typically carried around, they can sustain a lot of wear and tear. One repair within 3 years is not at all uncommon, thus I think it’s worthwhile to purchase AppleCare for MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs. Over a dozen years, I have owned 4 Mac laptops. I know that I’ve bought AppleCare for at least the last 3 and used it on each of them. One had the CD/DVD drive and a fan replaced. On two of them the motherboard was replaced. All of these repairs were fully covered by AppleCare.

iMacs and MacPros – AppleCare for iMacs costs $169. AppleCare for MacPros costs $249. iMacs and MacPros repairs are not tied to tiered, flat-rate pricing. Each replacement part is priced individually. While fans and other small components may be inexpensive, Apple’s labor rate is around $90-100 per hour. So again, AppleCare quickly pays for itself. AppleCare covers the monitor built-into the iMac. In addition to the computer itself, AppleCare also covers an external monitor purchased at the same time as the Mac.

Since AppleCare can be purchased at any time within the first year of initial purchase, I have some clients who don’t purchase AppleCare initially for their iMacs or Mac Pros. Instead, they wait 6 to 9 months to see how the Mac performs and then make a decision. The first 6 months of a computer’s life is not necessarily a good indication of how it’ll perform after 2.5 years of use, but if the Mac has problems in the first 6 months then it seems prudent to buy the insurance of AppleCare in case other problems develop.

I typically don’t recommend AppleCare protection for Mac minis as strongly since AppleCare costs $149 but the price of the mini might be as little as $600. If a business were buying a Mac mini server or if a person were purchasing an Apple laptop at the same time as the Mac mini, then I would recommend it more strongly.

I don’t recommend AppleCare for iPhones, iPods, iPads or AppleTV either due to the relatively low price or the fact that the devices are more likely to be dropped or stolen than require a repair due to a part defect.

[Update March 2013: AppleCare for iPhones and iPads is now AppleCare+. These plans now cover up to two incidents of accidental damage for a service fee of $49 each incident. Coverage may be purchased within the first 30 days of ownership, but purchased at a different time than the device, the device will require a Genius Bar appointment prior to AppleCare purchase to verify that it is in undamaged condition before being covered. For more details you can visit the AppleCare page for iPhone or iPad.]

Another option for iPhone and iPad repair in the Seattle area is JCD Repair. They let you schedule an appointment and tell you the full repair price up front.

If you buy your Mac using a major credit card, the credit card company might double the manufacturer’s warranty. Please call your credit card company to verify and get the details. One client was able to get their iMac’s replacement motherboard covered by their credit card company due to this coverage. The client had to pay for the repair up front, then they were subsequently reimbursed after submitting the requisite paperwork. Utilizing this coverage is not as quick and easy as AppleCare, but this protection could help you if you didn’t buy AppleCare within the first year.

Some homeowners insurance policies or specific riders might be a reason to not buy AppleCare. Some insurance policies even cover accidental cover that is not covered by AppleCare.

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Adding memory (RAM) to a computer is one of the most common upgrades made to a computer. Many people think that this will speed up a computer. Adding memory to a computer can slightly improve its performance if the computer didn’t previously have sufficient memory installed to accommodate the applications running simultaneously. Let me elaborate to add some clarifying detail.

A computer’s processor (CPU) is a chip which carries out the instructions of an application. The faster the processor, the faster tasks can be completed. Currently, common processor chips are the Core Duo, Core 2 Duo and Core i3, i5 and i7. These processors typically run at speeds around 2.0 to 3.0 Gigahertz (GHz). The speed of a computer’s processor is generally the largest factor in the computer’s performance. Typically, it’s not possible to either speed up or replace a processor in today’s desktop or laptop computers. Thus, people have to make other changes to improve a computer’s performance.

Applications such as Microsoft Word are permanently stored on the hard drive. When one opens Microsoft Word, large parts of it are copied into memory (RAM). As one opens more and more applications, one uses up all of the available memory in a computer. Eventually, the computer will start to use virtual memory. It’s beyond the scope of this article to explain virtual memory, but trust me when I indicate that it’s slower then regular memory.

If one were to add more memory to a computer, the computer would need to rely on virtual memory less when a lot of applications are open simultaneously. Consequently, the computer’s performance would be improved. It’s common to need to add memory to a computer a few years after it was purchased, especially if one has installed updated versions of applications like Word or the Mac operating system, Mac OS X. This is because new versions typically require more memory than their predecessors and thus utilize the computer’s memory faster, causing it to begin using virtual memory sooner.

Here are a few Wikipedia articles which could be useful if you want to dig deeper to try to understand some of the terms that I mentioned above: RAM (random access memory), CPU (central processing unit), GHz (gigahertz), virtual memory.

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Do you want to clean up your Mac hard drive? Is your hard drive nearly full and you don’t know why? OmniDiskSweeper (free) can help with both of these situations. OmniDiskSweeper will scan all files and folders on your Mac and list them by size, starting with the folders taking up the most space. This helps you to focus your clean-up efforts on the folders that are taking up the most room on your Mac’s hard drive.

People often erroneously think that their Mac is running slowly because the Mac’s internal hard drive has so much stuff on it. This is rarely the case. Unless the hard drive is over 90% full, the computer’s performance is not affected by the amount of information stored there. I should be clear to mention that when the hard drive is nearly full, typically starting around 90%, the computer’s performance is significantly affected. If your hard drive is this full, please download and use OmniDiskSweeper to help you clean it up.

OmniDiskSweeper conveniently shows all the invisible files and folders on your Mac. Over the years, I’ve seen several hard drives that were filled with spurious log files or errant backup copies of data — all of which happened to be invisible. These invisible files and folders are part of the Mac operating system, Mac OS X. Some of them are critical files, so don’t throw away any invisible file without being sure that you have a full, bootable backup of your Mac and you know what you’re doing. If you’re unsure check with a Mac expert or hire a Mac consultant.

Using OmniDiskSweeper is easy.

• Download OmniDiskSweeper and install it in your Applications folder. Double-click it to open.
• From the list, select the hard drive you want to scan. OmniDiskSweeper uses the term sweep to imply scan. The scan can take 10-15 minutes or longer, depending upon how much data you have.
• When the scan is complete you’ll see a columned window (see below) listing all folders sorted by size.
• If you’ve identified a file that you want to delete, you can select it in the column browser window then click the “Delete” button in the lower left corner.
• If you want to look at a file or folder, select it in the column browser and double-click the icon in the lower-right corner. This will reveal the file or folder in the Finder so you can look at it more closely.

Happy hunting. I use OmniDiskSweeper regularly and find it an indispensable tool for cleaning hard drives.

OmniDiskSweeper File Browser

If your friends who own a Windows-PC would like to clean-up their hard drive you could direct them to Extensoft’s free Disk Analyzer.

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Do you want to know how to perform some routine preventive maintenance on your Mac? Here’s my recommendation of helpful preventive maintenance tasks as well as instructions on how to perform these tasks. You don’t need to have advanced knowledge to perform these tasks. These recommendations assume you are using Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) or newer.

Overview

• Daily – backup your data files.
• Weekly – update your bootable backup.
• Monthly – check your hard drive to make sure it’s not getting too full.
• Monthly – perform the following tasks using Maintenance (free): Verify your hard drive’s SMART status and its file structure (the invisible directories), repair your hard drive’s permissions, run the Daily, Weekly and Monthly maintenance scripts and delete the System, Application and Font caches.

More Detail

Daily Backup – I strongly believe everybody should have an automated backup system and, ideally, a comprehensive backup system. In other Tech Tips I provided detailed instructions on how to setup Time Machine. Time Machine is Apple’s backup application that comes with Mac OS X 10.5 (and newer). Time Machine will automatically perform hourly backups of one’s data, assuming the Mac is on and the backup hard drive is connected.

Weekly Bootable Backup Update - It’s useful to be able to boot (start) your Mac from another hard drive if your Mac is not able to start from its own internal hard drive. This could happen if the internal drive is starting to fail, an OS X update didn’t install properly or for a myriad of other reasons. In other Tech Tips I provided detailed instructions on how to setup Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable backup of your Mac’s hard drive.

Monthly Check Hard Drive’s Fullness – A Macintosh computer’s performance will slow noticeably if it’s hard drive is more than approximately 90% full. It’s easy to make sure the drive is not getting too full by doing the following steps: Click on the hard drive’s icon on the Desktop, typically named Macintosh HD. Go to the File menu and select Get Info. Compare the values listed next to “Capacity” and “Used.” If the number of gigabytes of data listed in the “Used” section is 90% or more of the hard drive’s capacity then you need to free up some hard drive space. You can use Omni DiskSweeper (free) to help you determine which files are using the most storage space on your hard drive. Then you can either move some data to another hard drive, archive it to a DVD or delete it.

Monthly Maintenance Tasks – You can perform all of the maintenance tasks that I recommend using a free application aptly named Maintenance. Download the Maintenance disk image (Maintenance.dmg), double-click it to open and then drag the Maintenance application to your Applications folder to install it. Double-click the application to open it.

When you open Maintenance, it’ll display a message indicating that it’s checking your hard drive’s SMART status. SMART is an acronym which stands for Self Monitoring And Reporting Technology. It’s a simply diagnostic tool built in to most current hard drives. Next, Maintenance will ask if you want to Verify your startup volume (hard drive). Before you start this process please save and close all open documents and then quit all applications. Once the verification process is complete you’ll be prompted to enter an adminitrative-level account name and password. You’ll then be presented with a list of available tasks. I recommend inserting checkmarks into the first 5 items (see below). Click the Execute button to have Maintenance do the following: Repair Permissions, Execute Maintenance Scripts and empty the System, Application and Font caches. Wait while these tasks are completed. This could take 10-15 minutes.

Maintenance Task List

No harm should come if you were to perform the other tasks, but I find that they are more troubleshooting than preventive maintenance.

If you want to learn more about maintaining your Mac, I encourage you to read the $10 PDF book Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac.

Titanium Software makes Maintenance as well as Onyx which can do everything that Maintenance can do plus a whole lot more.

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Have you wanted to change your Mac’s behavior so Apple’s Preview is used, rather than Adobe Reader to open all .pdf files? You can control which application is used to open any given file type such as .xls, .doc, .jpg, .tiff, or .awk files.

In this example, we’ll configure a Mac to use Apple’s Preview as the default application to open all .pdf files.

• Locate a .pdf file on your Mac.
• Click once on this .pdf file to select it.
• Click on the File menu and select Get Info.
• In the Get Info window which appears, locate the “Open With” section. Click once on the triangle to the left of “Open With” if the section is not already expanded and visible.
• You ‘ll see the current default application listed. Click on this application’s name and select Preview from the list. If you don’t see your desired application, scroll to the bottom of the list and select “Other” then browse your Mac’s hard drive to select your desired application.
• Click the “Change All” button that appears below this list.
• You’ll be asked if you really want to make this change. Click “yes” you do want to make this change.
• Close the Get Info window.

That’s it! You’ve now configured your Mac to use Apple’s Preview as the default application to open all .pdf files.

Every so often, you might want to override the default behavior. For example, you might want to use Adobe Reader to open a particular .pdf file. To do this, click on the particular .pdf file. Drag it and drop it onto the application icon for Adobe Reader. It’s easiest to do this if you’ve already added Adobe Reader to your Dock. To do this, go to your Application folder, locate the application named Adobe Reader and drag it to the Dock. This will permanently add it to your Dock.

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All batteries will eventually experience diminished efficiency, storage capacity and will need to be replaced. However, regularly recalibrating your Lithium-ion battery will help to prolong your battery’s life and health, which will help reduce the frequency with which you’ll have to buy a new battery.

Apple recommends recalibrating your battery at time of purchase and then every few months after that. Battery University recommends recalibrating your battery every 30 charge/discharge cycles. Apple provides written instructions on how to recalibrate your battery. For years, I had a repeating event on my iCal calendar that sent me an email reminder which included a copy of Apple’s instructions. Recently, I started using Watts (30-day free trial, then $6.95) which lets me monitor the health of my battery, reminds me to calibrate my battery, then guides me through it.

Apple indicates that one should expect current Mac laptop batteries to retain 80% of their charge capacity after 1000 full charge/discharge cycles. Watts lets you keep an eye on this and alerts you if your battery is unhealthy and needs to be replaced. If you have the Growl notification application installed, Watts can be configured to display useful notifications and reminders to recalibrate your battery. I recommend Watts. Check it out, you might find it helpful.

Here’s a copy of Apple’s current instructions for recalibrating your battery if you own a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or PowerBook G4 with a dual-layer DVD drive.

• Plug in the power adapter and fully charge your PowerBook’s battery until the light ring or LED on the power adapter plug changes to green and the onscreen meter in the menu bar indicates that the battery is fully charged.
• Allow the battery to rest in the fully charged state for at least two hours. You may use your computer during this time as long as the adapter is plugged in.
• Disconnect the power adapter while the computer still on and start running the computer off battery power. You may use your computer during this time. When your battery gets low, the low battery warning dialog appears on the screen.
• At this point, save your work.  Continue to use your computer; when the battery gets very low, the computer will automatically go to sleep.
• Turn off the computer or allow it to sleep for five hours or more.
• Connect the power adapter and leave it connected until the battery is fully charged again.

Personally, I find it inconvenient to try to incorporate the above recalibration process into my day-to-day use of my laptop. Thus, I tend to do this on a Friday evening, when I’m done using the computer for the night. I save all of my documents and quit all applications on the laptop. Then, I open a QuickTime movie and set it to loop continuously. I then disconnect the power cord so the laptop is running on battery. Sometime during the night, the laptop’s battery will be depleted and the laptop will automatically go to sleep. Then it can sit there for a number of hours. On Saturday morning, I”ll connect the charger to charge it up, which can take a couple of hours. When I’m ready to use the laptop the battery is fully charged and ready to go.

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Do you want to check to see if your Mac is still under warranty from Apple? The technical support section of Apple’s web site lets you easily check to see if your Apple device is protected by either its built-in or the extended hardware warranty. Here are simple instructions on how to do so.

All Macintosh computers as well as iPhones and iPad come with a standard one-year hardware warranty. Apple offers an optional extended warranty named AppleCare Protection Program. This extended warranty can be purchased anytime during the first year while your Mac is still protected by it’s built-in warranty. To determine if your Mac  is covered do this:

• Obtain your Apple device’s serial number. It is printed on your device but it can sometimes be hard to locate, so use this page from Apple which explains where to find your device’s serial number. If you have a Mac that starts up you can follow these instructions instead.
• Go to the Apple menu and select “About This Mac”
• In the window which appears, click the “More Info” button which opens System Profiler application.
• The “Hardware” section will be selected on the left-hand side. In the right-hand side, near the bottom of the Hardware Overview, you’ll see the serial number listed. Select it and copy it.
• Go to Apple’s web page for checking your warranty coverage.
• Paste your Mac’s serial number into the field and click the Continue button. Your hardware coverage will be listed shortly.

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Here are instructions on how to use Disk Utility to securely erase a hard drive connected internally or externally to your Mac. These instructions were written for Mac OS X 10.4 to 10.6. The process is very similar on older versions of Mac OS X but the screens will look a bit different.

Requirements – You’ll need either the Mac OS X install disk that came with your Mac or another OS X install disk that’ll boot your Mac, such as a retail copy of the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 install disk.

I recommend securely erasing a hard drive before you recycle it or give it away. The instructions below include the option to re-install Mac OS X onto the hard drive at the end of the process.

If you’re securely erasing an external hard drive you do not need to use a Mac OS X install disk. Instead, you can simply open Disk Utility which you’ll find in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder. In Disk Utility, select the external hard drive and then follow the last few steps of these instructions to erase it using one of the Security Options described below.

Background – Technically, it’s not possible to erase or remove data from hard drives. Thus “securely erasing” is a misnomer. Instead, what we’ll be doing is over-writing the data on your hard drive with gibberish, a random string of bits of data. When you securely erase your hard drive you’ll have a choice of how much over-writing you want to do. This process can take many hours if you select the 7-pass overwrite procedure. I recommend starting this process and then letting it run over-night.

• Insert the Mac OS X install disc that came with your Mac.
• Note: The disc will begin the process of installing Mac OS X on your Mac. Whether or not you actually choose to install Mac OS X is your choice, but if you do, you’ll do it AFTER you’ve securely erased your Mac’s hard drive.
• Select your preferred language from the list presented.
• When you see the welcome screen for the Mac OS X Installer, go to the menu named Utilities and select Disk Utility.
• In the left pane of the Disk Utility window, click on the hard drive you want to erase.
• In the right pane of the Disk Utility window, click the Erase tab.
• Click the Security Options button.
• I recommend that you select the 7-Pass Erase options, but you could choose the 35-Pass Erase option. Here’s my description of these options.

Don’t Erase Data— This option does not provide any security. This option only over-writes the directories on the hard drive. Your files could still be recovered.
Zero Out Data— Provides a pretty good level of security. All of your files are over-written with a string of zeroes. There are forensics utilities that in theory could retrieve some data.
7-Pass Erase— Provides a lot of security. This is considered sufficient by government standards to erase data from a disk. It writes a random string of ones and zeroes over your data files seven times. It may take several hours or more to complete this process.
35-Pass Erase— Provides the maximum amount of security offered. This option takes an extremely long time, possibly more than one day.

• Click the radio button in front of 7-Pass Erase.
• Click OK.
• Click the Erase button next to the Security Options button.
• Confirm you want to erase and the process will be begin.
• If you want to install Mac OS X then go to the Disk Utility menu and select Quit after the erase is complete.
• You’ll be taken back to the Mac OS X Installer welcome window. Click Continue.
• Agree to the software license.
• In the “Select a Destination” window click on the icon for the hard drive which you just erased and then click Continue.
• Click the Install button to start the installation process. Depending upon the speed of your Mac and the version of Mac OS X which you are installing this process could commonly take anywhere from 20-60 minutes.

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As expected, Apple announced their first tablet computer in January. They call it the iPad. What is the iPad able to do and how is it innovative compared to PC tablets?

The iPad is a new class of device at least for Mac users. It’s a tablet computer, and it fits somewhere in between a smartphone and a laptop. PC manufacturers have made tablets for over a half dozen years. These tablets typically required users to use a stylus or an on-screen keyboard for input and never sold well since they cost as much or more than a comparable laptop. The iPad differs from these PC tablets in two obvious ways. The iPad is a touch-input device and it costs less than a Mac laptop. The price range for iPads is $499 to $829 depending upon features and storage capacity. One primarily uses finger gestures and an on-screen keyboard to control the iPad.

The iPad is a versatile device that could replace a laptop for some users. This initial model’s strengths are in entertainment. It’s oriented towards consuming data not producing data. It’s capable of letting you listen to music, view photos and watch movies like an iPod and read books like a Kindle. It also has the ability to send and receive email messages and view web pages like an iPhone or a laptop. It also lets you view web sites and access your email. To increase typing speeds one can buy a special full-size external keyboard or use an external bluetooth keyboard. For a thorough description of what the iPad can and can not do, please refer to this MacInTouch article.

There are some important limitations and omissions based on the information that Apple has currently released about the iPad. While it will let you view and compose email messages, it’s unclear if you’ll be able to edit attachments. Apple has not indicated that it will be able to print. Curiously, it does not include a camera though it seems likely that this will be added in the future.

The iPad’s ability to handle Word and Excel documents is unclear. Not surprisingly Microsoft has not had time to develop versions of Word and Excel for the iPad. Apple has announced special iPad versions of Pages and Numbers, but their versatility remains to be seen. It’s unknown if they’ll be able to open and edit Word and Excel files.

Over the coming years the iPad will evolve and eventually could become a suitable replacement for a laptop for business users if these shortcomings are addressed. Currently, however, it only seems that it’ll replace a laptop for more casual users whose primary uses for a laptop are personal email, viewing web pages and handling music, photos and movies.

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Screen snapshots are pictures of a portion of the screen. Being able to take a screen snapshot can be very useful. I typically use this feature several times each day. Here are some reasons why I commonly take a screen snapshot:

• To capture the exact text of an error message that appears on my screen.
• To be able to print something that is not easily printed.
• To capture a part of the screen so I can send it as an email attachment, often in a set of step-by-step instructions. A picture is worth a thousand words.

I’m going to highlight the two most common ways that I take a screen snapshot. For a complete list of ways read this page. Simultaneously hold down the Command key (aka Apple key), Shift key and the 4 key. The cursor will change from the arrow to an icon of a crosshair. Position the crosshair in the upper left corner of what you want to capture, then click and drag to the lower right corner. Release when the entire desired area of the screen is selected. When you release, the snapshot will be taken and automatically saved to the Desktop. In Mac OS X version 10.6 the file will be named “Snapshot” followed by a date and time stamp. In older versions of Mac OS X the file will be named Picture 1, and subsequent snapshots will be named Picture 2, Picture 3 and so forth.

There are countless ways you can use these snapshots. You can rename them. You can double-click to open and print them. You can move your snapshots into folders to keep them organized.

Sometimes I don’t want to save a copy of the snapshot as a file on my Mac. Instead, I just want to capture something on my screen and immediately paste it into an email or some other document. In this case, I simultaneously hold down the Control key as well as Command, Shift and 4. I then position the crosshair the same way to capture the snapshot. However, in this situation the snapshot is saved to the Mac’s invisible “clipboard.” Now I can go to an email message or a Word file and use the Paste command to paste the snapshot.

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It seems pretty likely that Apple will be releasing a tablet computer in 2010 since there have been many articles in the past few months speculating about such a device. Tablet computers can be thought of as small, lightweight laptops without a traditional keyboard. Instead, the user typically interacts with the computer via a touchscreen or a stylus. Tablet computers have been around, in the world of Windows-based computers, for the past half dozen years but they have never experienced wide appeal.

Apple has scheduled a media event for January 26th where it is widely suspected that they will announce their new tablet computer. However, it won’t likely ship until a few months later. Here’s a link to a story that summarizes the breadth of speculation written in the past months about Apple’s tablet computer. I’m more interested in knowing what Apple’s tablet will be able to do and how Apple intends to innovate tablet computers to make them mainstream devices. This article has some interesting thoughts about that topic. Check it out.

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