Apple Drivers
Apple-specific drivers provide the vital information your Apple operating system needs in order to identify and interact with each hardware device and software application installed on you MacMini, iMac, MacPro, MacBook Air, or MacBook.
You may be surprized to learn that as powerful and stable as the Apple product line is that just like any Windows-based PC it requires a series of "drivers" in order to connect, interact and function with the various hardware components and software applications installed on each of the Apple platforms. These drivers can become outdated as new software applications are released or more modern hardware is added (or connected) to your Apple computer.
Device drivers are small, simple but critical, programs that act as communication pathways between the Apple UNIX-based (aka Tiger, Leopard (OS-X)) the Windows Vista (or Windows XP) operating system, the software applications and hardware installed on the computer.
These drivers basically act as "translation programs" that convert the instructions and requests that you make when using software applications (i.e. I-tunes, Safari etc.) to a language understood by the hardware device (i.e. sound card, graphics card, printer, camera, DVD drive). The hardware device then executes the instruction from the driver and prints pages, downloads image files, plays music, displays an image or otherwise completes the task you have asked of the hardware device.
Without the proper driver, a device installed in the system will either work poorly or not at all. This is particularly the case if you have used the Apple Boot Camp software to partitioned your hard drive and are running both the Leopard OS and a Windows-based operating system.
Types of Apple Device Drivers You Should Know About
All Apple device drivers are coded specifically for the hardware component that they are designed to function with - even more so than their PC counterparts. Almost every device or hardware component installed in your iMac or other Apple computer product requires its own set of drivers to operate properly. There are however, some devices that can function using just the basic drivers installed by the Leopard or Windows operating systems - such as the keyboard, mouse, usb and sound card.
While these basic devices may work with the Windows default drivers it is unlikely you will experience the full functionality of these component and others (web cam, digital camera, graphics accelerator card, etc.) without the specific manufacturer driver installed.
Downloading The Right Device Drivers From the Internet
Device drivers are available from many online sources that offer programs and utilities to help you properly install the drivers into your Apple operating system - for both the Leopard and Windows operating systems. To download drivers compatible with you operating system and and your hardware devices, you must know the following:
- type of device (audio, video, imaging)
- company that manufactured the device (i.e. non-Apple printer)
- device model
- operating system (i.e. Tiger, Leopard, Windows XP, Windows Vista)
- correct version of the device driver to be installed in the system
Aside from locating the specific device drivers on the Internet, you will need to know the version of operating system running on your apple product. The driver has to match both the hardware device and the operating system in order to for your components and software to work properly. While the Apple site will likely be your best first stop in the hunt for driver updates - it will likely not be your only stop on the Internet.
Updating your device drivers can be confusing and time-intensive given the many different device drivers required by each hardware component in your Apple computer or the Windows operating system. There are however a number of excellent driver utility programs available from the Internet which will automatically update and install the correct drivers needed by your Apple. These applications save valuable time and takes the confusion out of you having to manually configure your system to resolve a problem or keep your iMac running smoothly.
Most Popular Drivers
- Acer Drivers
- APPLE Drivers
- Asus Drivers
- ATI Drivers
- Audio Drivers
- BIOS Drivers
- CD Drivers
- Canon Drivers
- Chipset Drivers
- Compaq Drivers
- Dell Drivers
- Digital Camera Drivers
- Display Drivers
- DVD Drivers
- eMachines Drivers
- Epson Drivers
- Flash Drive Drivers
- Gateway Drivers
- Graphics Card Drivers
- HP Drivers
- iMac Drivers
- Intel Drivers
- Jump Drive Drivers
- Keyboard Drivers
- Laptop Device Drivers
- Leopard O/S Drivers
- Lexmark Drivers
- Linksys Drivers
- Logitech Drivers
- Microsoft Drivers
- Modem Drivers
- Monitor Drivers
- Motherboard Drivers
- Mouse Drivers
- MSI Drivers
- Network Card Drivers
- nVIDIA Drivers
- Operating System Drivers
- PC Device Drivers
- Printer Drivers
- Realtek Drivers
- Scanner Drivers
- Sound Card Drivers
- Toshiba Drivers
- USB Drive Drivers
- USB (Port) Drivers
- Video Card Drivers
- Vista Drivers
- Webcam Drivers
- Windows Drivers