Goodbye Macbook Pro

The last time I bought a new Mac it was a 2011 Macbook Pro.  I was quite satisfied with that Laptop for a number of years.  You could actually replace/repair RAM, Optical Drives, and Hard Drives in that model.  After some time I got rid of that Macbook when I started having issues with the dedicated GPU.  I moved up to a 2014 Macbook Pro that I bought used off eBay.  I kept that for about a year before selling that to get a used Mac Pro since I had always wanted a Mac Pro.  I liked the power that the Mac Pro had but didn't like the size and heat it generated and sold it to get a 2015 Macbook Pro again off of eBay.  I have been using that for a while now but have decided to part ways with it.  I looked back at my usage for the last year or two and there have been very few instances when I really needed to have a Laptop and used it away from my Desk.  I decided to sell my Macbook while the value was still decent and pick up a 2018 Mac Mini.  The Mac Mini gives me more power for the price and you can actually still upgrade the RAM on these.  It's not an easy process but there are plenty of videos on YouTube to lead.  Should have my Mac Mini next week and am anxious to see how well it performs.  

New Mac

I had been thinking off and on for some time that I did not need a personal laptop anymore and finally went ahead and sold my Macbook Pro. I do about 95% of my computing at my desk so it just didn't make sense for me to look at MacBooks again when I was ready to upgrade. I wanted something I could attach my own monitor and keyboard to but a Mac Pro was out of my budget. I settled on a Mac Mini. I decided to get the Server Version so that I could get the Quad Core i7 processor with hard drives that I could stripe for faster disk access. I have only had this setup for a couple days now but I am impressed with how well setup drives two monitors and everything runs very smoothly.

Trying Out a New Video Adapter

One of the drawbacks to having a laptop as your primary computer is the lack expansion capabilities. Video is one of the things I have wanted to expand for some time and I had not found anything promising until now. I have my Macbook Pro connected to a 22" Dell Monitor and I love the widescreen, but there are times that I wish I had a little more space to work with. I did a little searching today and found a device made by Diamond that allows you to connect additional monitors using USB on your Laptop. It has to be USB2 to work with this device but that shouldn't be a problem on most modern laptops. When I get my adapter later this week I can plug in a 2nd 22" Widescreen to my Macbook Pro and have more space when I am working on websites now. Will post more later when I receive the adapter and give it a try.

Mac Stuff

I have wanted to take a look at the iPad since it came out and finally got a chance to take a look at one today. It is an interesting device but I have decided that I will not be getting one. I can't justify having multiple devices with 3G accounts so I will have to stick with my iPhone for now. I am hoping that they will announce new iPhones and tethering this summer and that will make it easier to use my Macbook Pro when I am away from home. There are a couple of places I go with regularity that do not have any WIFI access and that limits what I can do when I am there. I still use my Macbook at my Desk more than away but it is nice to have the ability to take it with me as I go other places.

 

New Web Development Tool - MAMP

For the last couple of years I have been doing all my Web development and testing using a Linux Virtual Machine that allowed me to setup a development image that was close to what my actual production environement was.  This worked pretty good but I probably wasted quite a bit of time building the system and installing all the write tools.  I found a new tool for my Mac called MAMP that is going to mean I won't have to waste that time in the future.  This MAMP program installs the Apache, MySQL, and PHP environements on my Mac and the Pro version includes some tools to allow me plenty of control over virtual hosts, mysql databases, and the apache modules that are loaded.  I wish had found this months ago.  I have been testing this for a couple days now and it works great.  The sites load and work locally just as they do on their hosts and I no longer have to keep Fusion running with a Linux VM all the time. The Pro Version is $58 and well worth the money in my opinion.

 

iPhone First Impressions

I am just winding down my first day with my new phone and I am glad I made the switch. The iPhone is a great companion for my Macbook. I can't believe how much easier this phone is to use than my old windows mobile phone. The biggest reason for the switch was my desire to keep my personal and business life seperate.

 

The Switch is Made

Some time ago I wrote that I was looking at making a switch and I just wanted to follow up to note that I did indeed make the switch this time.  I have been using a Macbook as my primary workstation for over a month now and I really like it.  I am still figuring out how to do many things on OS-X but I find it to be a very usable and powerful OS that I am enjoying getting to know.  The Macbook is a much nicer laptop than any Windows laptop that I have ever used in the past.  One of the things that I was a little apprehensive about was my Calendar and contacts since I had previously used my Windows Smartphone to Sync my Home and Work Outlook Accounts so that I had my Calendar with me all the time.  I found a nice little utility for the Mac that talks to my Windows Smartphone and lets me sync it with Ical and Address book on the Mac.

 

Mac or PC?

You may have noticed a couple weeks ago I posted that I was switching from my Windows based Laptop to a Macbook.  The switch did not last long but it was due more to my unfamiliarity with the Mac Hardware than it was the platform itself.  I used the Macbook for several days before I encountered a hardware problem.  The problem turned out to be a bad stick of RAM.  That can happen to any system but I wasn't really thrilled with the way the Mac indicated that it had a problem.  It just sat there and beeped at me and would not start instead of giving me some kind of helpful error message.  I ended up sending the Macbook back to Apple but I have been regretting that move since then because I really did like OSX better than Windows.  I may end up getting a newer Macbook in the near future if I can sell my Laptop first.  I found the Mac to be a pretty easy platform to get used to and OSX handled multi-tasking much better than I have ever experienced with Windows.

Making a switch

After thinking about this for some time I finally made the plunge and will be switching from my Windows based Laptop to a Macbook.  This will be pretty new for me since I have not used a Mac on a regular basis for better than 10 years.  I just decided that I wanted to simplify things a little in my computing environment and this was how I am going to do it.  Will post more later about my new adventure with the Macbook. The system should be here later this week or early next so look for more info then.