73 6 Basic Peripherals To operate your Mac, you need a few essential pieces of equipment besides the computer itself. You need input devices (a keyboard and a mouse, generally) to control the computer, and a monitor to see what you’re doing. Monitors and keyboards are provided with new Performa model Macs. Most of the time these devices meet your needs, but you may want more features to do more work (or have more fun).
174 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals Contributors Contents John Christopher (JC) is the chapter editor. Monitors ........................................................................175 Finding What You Need...........................................................175 Small Color Monitors ...............................................................179 Medium-Size Color Monitors ...................................................181 Large Color Monitors................................................
Monitors Monitors ( JC) Not all monitors are made alike. The choices you make when choosing a monitor will determine whether you see your work in 256 colors or a million, and the quality of the screen will determine whether you get a headache after an hour, or work comfortably all day. In this section, we’ll describe what to look for in a monitor (often called a display), find out which ones will work with your Mac, and run through some of the many choices on the market.
176 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals Pixels and resolution (JK). The image you see on a Mac’s screen is made up of many tiny dots called pixels. The amount of information that fits on a screen depends on how many pixels it displays, which is called the screen’s resolution.
Monitors 177 The bigger the monitor, the more pixels it has, and the more memory is required for a given bit depth. The number of colors you can actually get out of your machine depends on the video capabilities of your Mac. So, for example, a Mac’s built-in video support may be able to put 32,000 different colors or grays at once on a 16-inch screen, but only 256 at once on a 21-inch screen, because it has so many more pixels. With a 24-bit display card installed, the same Mac can produce 16.
178 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals Image quality (JK/AN/BB). A monitor’s refresh rate—how often it redraws the image on the screen—helps determine how steady and solid the image looks. (Don’t confuse the refresh rate with the screen’s ability to keep up with the mouse when you move a graphic around on the screen; the latter depends on the speed of the Mac and its graphics acceleration, if it has any.) The refresh rate is measured in Hertz (times per second)—abbreviated Hz.
Monitors 179 Energy Star ( JK). To cut down on energy consumption, the Clinton administration set up the Energy Star program. Energy Star requires all computer equipment sold to the U.S. government to drop its power consumption below 30 watts when it’s not being used. The Energy Saver control panel can be configured to switch an Energy Star–compliant monitor into low-power mode and dim the screen to black.
180 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals Accelerating Graphics With NuBus and PCI Cards ( JC) For boosting the speed that graphics are displayed and seeing more colors on screen, you might look into purchasing a graphics accelerator card. Starting with the Macintosh II series, most desktop Macs have NuBus expansion slots built-in.
Monitors In the 14-inch size I like the price of the NEC MultiSync C400, and again the long and thorough warranty. My second pick here is the Apple Multiple Scan 14 because it’s full of high-end features and comes at a decent price.
182 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals Portrait Display Labs’s Color Pivot Monitor ( JC) Ever wish you could see the entire page of the document you’re working on without scrolling up and down? Portrait Display Labs has the answer with its two-in-one monitor the Pivot 1700 ($1,100). In portrait mode, the Pivot displays a complete 8.5-by-11 page (perfect for Web surfers and designers).
Keyboards Comparing Monitors Model Viewable Image Area Outstanding Features Price 12.4 inches Stereo speakers, headphone jack $360 Small Color Monitors Apple Multiple Scan 14 Apple Multiple Scan 15 13.3 inches Stereo speakers, headphone jack $480 NEC MultiSync C400 13.2 inches Front panel controls, tilt-and-swivel stand $330 NEC MultiSync XV15+ 13.8 inches On-screen help manager $500 Sony Multiscan 15SX 13.
184 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals Key feel. Every keyboard has a slightly different feel. Do you prefer a hard, solid keystroke or a softer, mushier one? You’ll need to do some hands-on testing to decide. Ergonomics. Using a keyboard a lot can also put you at risk for various injuries, some of which can become permanent disabilities (see Appendix A for more on this).
Keyboards The Cheap Keyboard Challenge 185 ( JC) Mom always said, “cheaper isn’t always better” and in most cases the old adage remains true. Yet as consumers, we never stop looking for products that are high in quality and low in price even though the two almost never go hand in hand. Bearing this in mind I set out on a mission in search of the cheapest, high-quality keyboard I could find through three mail-order catalogs.
186 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals A number of companies besides Apple make extended keyboards. DataDesk was one of the first. I find their Mac101E ($120) lighter yet more satisfying to the touch than Apple’s or other companies’ boards. MicroSpeed’s Keyboard Deluxe Mac ($125) is certainly worth checking out as is the Soft Touch Plus (about $50 mail-order) from Adesso.
Keyboards Type It For Me, Will You Mac? ( JC) Wouldn’t it be nice if your Mac automatically typed the date or added your name at the close of a letter or e-mail message? Well it can by using either of three different programs that create scripts or shortcuts. TypeIt4Me ($20) is a fantastic shareware program that maintains a list of words or entire paragraphs you use frequently. By invoking certain keyboard or mouse combinations the desired text appears instantly.
188 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals Non-English Keyboards ( JK) Apple makes standard and extended keyboards for all the major Western European languages, plus Japanese, Korean, Russian, Persian, Hebrew, Greek, Turkish, Icelandic, Finnish, and Flemish. To use them properly, you need the corresponding version of the system software. You can order both the keyboard and the system software through Apple dealers.
Mice and Other Pointing Devices Mouse Cleaning (SZA/SM/AN/RS/JK) Over time, gunk builds up on the rollers inside a mouse, making it feel rough and causing the pointer to skip jerkily around the screen. Luckily, there’s an easy way to fix it. Remove the ring at the bottom of the mouse by turning it (or sliding it, on some older mice) and drop the ball out into your palm. Then, using a penknife or pencil eraser, scrape or rub off the track of crud that you’ll see on the rollers inside.
190 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals Trackballs (BB/JC) Trackballs are a bit like upside-down mice. You roll a ball that sits inside a stationary holder, so they require less desk space than mice. Trackballs control the pointer more precisely than a mouse does (which is particularly important for graphics). They all have at least two buttons: one that’s like a normal mouse button, and one that can lock in the down position so you can drag objects or menus without holding the button down with your finger.
Mice and Other Pointing Devices A couple of the most popular touchpads available are the Adjustable Glidepoint ($80, Alps) and the QuePoint II ($75, MicroQue). Both of these touchpads feature programmable buttons—the Glidepoint has three and the QuePoint has four. You can also tap the surface of these touchpads to double-click on an icon. A nice feature of the Glidepoint is the ability to adjust its base for more comfort.
192 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals Pressure-Sensitive Tablets (AC/JC) Pressure-sensitive tablets let you imitate traditional painting media, such as brushes or charcoal, by changing the thickness, color, or opacity of a line in proportion to the pressure you apply with the stylus as you draw. A good tablet can recognize at least 120 pressure levels (although a lot of software still can recognize only 60). A stylus should also be light, cordless, and responsive.
Scanners Expanding Serial Ports ( JC) If you’re running out of places to plug in serial devices (such as modems, additional printers, or graphics tablets) you have a couple of expansion options. The least expensive route is an A/B switch box (for DIN8 pin devices) that you can purchase from a local computer dealer or mail-order company for about $25, which allows the connection of one additional serial device. You’ll also need a serial cable that runs about $10.
194 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals How Scanners Work ( JM) During scanning, light is reflected off (or passed through) the artwork and focused onto CCDs (charge-coupled devices—basically, light sensors) that convert the light energy to electricity. Color scanners use colored filters (or sometimes a prism) to read red, green, and blue values separately, and then combine the three single-color scans to yield a full-color image.
Scanners Types of Scanners 195 ( JM) The two most common types of scanners are: • Flatbed scanners. These operate like photocopiers; you place the artwork on a glass surface, and a scan head and light source move across it under the glass. Flatbeds can scan almost anything that has at least one flat side, even a slab of marble. Most of them can’t scan transparencies or slides, but a growing number of manufacturers offer attachments for that purpose. All flatbeds will scan up to at least 8.
196 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals The Visioneer PaperPort ( JC) Several years ago when computers were first introduced they were touted as a way to eliminate paper in the office. Today we are still buried in stacks of paper that move from left to right on our desks as we search for enough free space to work. The folks at a company called Visioneer got a brilliant Use the PaperPort idea and developed the PaperPort, to create a “paperless” office.
Scanners Color Flatbed Scanners ( JC) With nearly an infinite number of choices available we managed to whittle our picks for scanners down to the following, based on reviews in Mac publications and through word of mouth. At the top of the heap is the Silverscanner DTP ($800, La Cie) which competes and wins in both price and quality against other scanners on the market. The SilverScanner has an optical resolution of 400 by 800 dpi and a maximum bit depth of 30.
198 Chapter 6: Basic Peripherals Editors’ Poll: If You Were on a Desert Island and Could Have Only One Peripheral, What Would it Be? Why? BF: A joystick. What’s a Mac without games? Of course, this is coming from the games editor. If not a joystick, a Wacom tablet to allow drawing. BW: Assuming I had a functional Mac/Monitor/mouse and power source: A video camera and capture board, so I could produce my own shows and do stop-action animation with bits of coral and dead crabs.
