Briefly: computer take-back program, OS X 10.4.7

[AppleInsider]

Apple Computer is kicking off its free computer take-back program this week. Meanwhile new builds of the company's forthcoming operating system update are also making the rounds.

Free computer take-back begins

Apple on Wednesday announced the launch of its free computer take-back program, offering US customers environmentally friendly recycling of their old computer when they buy a new Mac.

Beginning today, the Apple Store online store and Apple retail stores will give US customers the option of recycling their unwanted PCs, regardless of the manufacturer.

The program was announced back in April of this year.

When a customer chooses to participate in the program, Apple will send an email with instructions and a label for free shipping and recycling. Customers will need to simply package their recyclable equipment and attach the label provided.

All equipment received by the program will be recycled domestically and no hazardous material is shipped overseas, Apple said.

Through its recycling programs, Apple has processed more than 21 million pounds of electronics worldwide since 1994. The company also offers a free iPod recycling program through its US retail stores, which offers customers 10 percent discount incentive on the purchase of a new iPod.

New Mac OS X 10.4.7 builds

Just before breaking for this past holiday weekend, Apple released to developers a second round of pre-release Mac OS X 10.4.7 software builds, according to reports.

The new builds are listed as Mac OS X 10.4.7 build 8J2115 (Intel) and Mac OS X 10.4.7 build 8J115 (PowerPC). There appear to be no major issues with the software and a release looks ripe for shipment sometime next month.

Mac OS X 10.4.7 is expected to deliver bug fixes and enhancements to a broad range of Mac OS X components, including Mail, Safari, Synching, and iChat.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[fuyutsuki]

Originally posted by AppleInsider
The company also offers a free iPod recycling program through its US retail stores, which offers customers 10 percent discount incentive on the purchase of a new iPod.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

... which offers naive customers 10 percent discount incentive on the purchase of a new iPod in case they forget their old one may still have value 2nd hand exceeding that

Me, recycle a Mac? Never! Not because I'm anti-environment, but because re-use is way better than recycling whenever something can still have a viable purpose / looks good on my shelf.

The Sierra Club guys picked on the wrong company to harass for low recycling of their old computers, if you ask me. How many 5, 10, 20 year old PC's are there still being coveted by geeks? There's a fair few Macs!

[JeffDM]

Originally posted by fuyutsuki
... which offers naive customers 10 percent discount incentive on the purchase of a new iPod in case they forget their old one may still have value 2nd hand exceeding that

Some people don't want to deal with it, I suppose. I don't think anyone would trade a functioning iPod, but if there is something in the iPod that still works (screen, drive, circuit board), it may still be worth more than the trade-in value. If it's just a dead battery, then that can be replaced for under $50.

The fact that they would take back non-Apple machines on trade-up is nice.

[nagromme]

The three Rs, starting with the best:

Reduce - get computers that serve longer (Macs) and buy fewer!

Reuse - an older Mac can be perfect for someone with limited needs. Freecycle.org or eBay will hook you up!

Recycle - at least keep it out of our landfills and water. A lot of those materials can be useful again!

"All equipment received by the program will be recycled domestically and no hazardous material is shipped overseas, Apple said."

Excellent. Apple is moving from doing "OK" with the environment to being quite responsible. AND neatly solving the problem of how to get rid of that old Dell.

[Addison]

10.4.7 hmm, I don't expect any improvements with this that I will notice. After 5 years of OSX it looks like they have got rid of most bugs and each update no longer seems to break printer and scanner drivers

What are they going to offer with Leopard, why should I upgrade? Unless I buy an Intel Mac, I doubt Leopard will have anything for me. For Intel, we might just see a Windows environment to allow windows applications to run without re-booting, but to do so would raise the risks of developers just not bothering to write anything for OSX anymore.

[King Friday]

It's too bad that they couldn't offer the option of simply handing over the equipment to be recycled while you're at the Apple retail store. It might be easier for some than to scrounge around for box, pack the stuff, then drive to FedEx. But this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Let's see... I've got a 286, an old Pentium, a K6 Aptiva, Mac SE, Classic, Classic II, Color Classic, LC 475, Duo 230, Duo 280, 5500/250, and iBook/466 lying around. How many Macs would I have to buy before they're all gone??

[fuyutsuki]

Originally posted by King Friday
Let's see... I've got a 286, an old Pentium, a K6 Aptiva, Mac SE, Classic, Classic II, Color Classic, LC 475, Duo 230, Duo 280, 5500/250, and iBook/466 lying around. How many Macs would I have to buy before they're all gone??

"Just" 3 to see off those old pc's. The rest should be either sold separately or as bundles on ebay or the like ... you should at least make a little money from the experience.


As for what Leopard will have in store ... Resolution Independence bring it on!

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by nagromme
Reduce - get computers that serve longer (Macs) and buy fewer!

I don't think this is applicable anymore. After all, look at the latest Mac models. All the ones that even approach affordability now use integrated graphics, which can't be replaced and which are going to cause the computers to become obsolete even faster than usual. With new graphics technologies coming out, users will be forced to buy a new computer to handle them. Then, add in the lack of expansion in most of Apple's machines since the original iMac came out. The MacBook is probably the only laptop on the market that doesn't have a card slot of some sort in it. Now you may not think that's a problem, but look at all the machines that didn't come with USB 2.0 way after it came out. Only two years later, those machines didn't even work well with the iPod anymore! And of course, to get a card slot, you'd have to pay $2000 for a MBP...

So in summary, while it may once have been true that Macs had longer lifespans than their PC counterparts, I don't think this is the case anymore unless you buy the very most expensive models. If anything, Apple seems to design things so that you'll have to replace the computer more often, to make them money. And if you complain about this to Mac fans, they usually reply with something like "Well, I replace my computer every year / every week / every five minutes! If you can't afford that, then you're a loser!"

[JeffDM]

Originally posted by CharlesS
I don't think this is applicable anymore. After all, look at the latest Mac models. All the ones that even approach affordability now use integrated graphics, which can't be replaced and which are going to cause the computers to become obsolete even faster than usual. With new graphics technologies coming out, users will be forced to buy a new computer to handle them. Then, add in the lack of expansion in most of Apple's machines since the original iMac came out. The MacBook is probably the only laptop on the market that doesn't have a card slot of some sort in it. Now you may not think that's a problem, but look at all the machines that didn't come with USB 2.0 way after it came out. Only two years later, those machines didn't even work well with the iPod anymore!

Apple and Microsoft are designing their operating systems to scale back should the graphics not be up to spec. So far, most of it is fluff anyway. As yet, one does not need a 3D card to surf the web or perform office tasks

I have an iPod mini that I attach to the work computer through the front USB 1.1 jack. It's not that bad, IMO. It takes longer to do a full charge than it would to do a full track refill.

[- J B 7 2 -]

I hope 10.4.7 fixes the iSync issues with the Motorola v557 phone.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally posted by Addison
10.4.7 hmm, I don't expect any improvements with this that I will notice. After 5 years of OSX it looks like they have got rid of most bugs and each update no longer seems to break printer and scanner drivers

What are they going to offer with Leopard, why should I upgrade? Unless I buy an Intel Mac, I doubt Leopard will have anything for me. For Intel, we might just see a Windows environment to allow windows applications to run without re-booting, but to do so would raise the risks of developers just not bothering to write anything for OSX anymore.

You'll notice several changes in CUPS 1.2

[lundy]

All the ones that even approach affordability now use integrated graphics, which can't be replaced

Neither can the ATI chip soldered onto the MBP motherboard. What's the point? I sure as heck don't want Apple to make the MBP a half-inch thicker to accommodate some huge-ass PCI express slot.

[maimezvous]

I am in the process of switching to Mac and I have a question. Do the updates to the Mac OS come free to mac owners?

[JeffDM]

Originally posted by lundy
Neither can the ATI chip soldered onto the MBP motherboard. What's the point? I sure as heck don't want Apple to make the MBP a half-inch thicker to accommodate some huge-ass PCI express slot.

Notebook add-in video cards aren't like that. There are mini cards, not unlike miniPCI intended to allow modular graphics. It doesn't need to make the notebook thicker either, it could be in-line with the rest of the board as an edge connector.

[noah93]

Originally posted by maimezvous
I am in the process of switching to Mac and I have a question. Do the updates to the Mac OS come free to mac owners?

Yes and no. All the updates to the operating system you currently hace installed is free ( 10.4.6 >> 10.4.7), but if they release a whole new version of OS X (10.4.? >> 10.5), then you have to pay $129 for the upgrade. It is not that bad, because each upgrade includes so much over the last that the price is worth it for all the time you save, and how much more productive you become.

Oh, and welcome to the mac community!
Noah

[maimezvous]

Originally posted by noah93
Yes and no. All the updates to the operating system you currently hace installed is free ( 10.4.6 >> 10.4.7), but if they release a whole new version of OS X (10.4.? >> 10.5), then you have to pay $129 for the upgrade. It is not that bad, because each upgrade includes so much over the last that the price is worth it for all the time you save, and how much more productive you become.

Oh, and welcome to the mac community!
Noah

Thank you very much Noah. I assumed as much about the different versions of the same OS, but I wasn't quite sure about the different OS versions.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by lundy
Neither can the ATI chip soldered onto the MBP motherboard. What's the point? I sure as heck don't want Apple to make the MBP a half-inch thicker to accommodate some huge-ass PCI express slot.

Yeah, but at least the ATI chip will take longer to be obsolete. The GMA 950 is pretty much obsolete right at the time you buy it. It lacks hardware features that even a low-end card from ATI would have.

[melgross]

Originally posted by maimezvous
Thank you very much Noah. I assumed as much about the different versions of the same OS, but I wasn't quite sure about the different OS versions.

You can often get it for $109 to $119 on Amazon or OWC, among others. I've even seen it as low as $99.

[ZachPruckowski]

Originally posted by Addison
10.4.7 hmm, I don't expect any improvements with this that I will notice. After 5 years of OSX it looks like they have got rid of most bugs and each update no longer seems to break printer and scanner drivers

What are they going to offer with Leopard, why should I upgrade?

Well, it seems to me that 10.0-10.2 were the "growing pains" releases of OS X. 10.3 added some features, and 10.4 did a lot of stuff under the hood (more Core APIs, kernel reworking) as well as adding features that likely be improved on (Dashboard, Spotlight). So I imagine 10.5 will be a building on the stuff that get added to 10.4, as well as fixing other things from 10.2 that need a boost and were untouched in Panther and Tiger (Finder anyone?)