My tech discipline is in need of reconditioning

Finally, I got around to backing up the drive on my 2011 vintage MacBook Pro.  My last backup was on 12/31/2018 ... kind of a New Year thing I guess.  I had to put a new battery in the MacBook myself in mid January of this year (Apple throws owners of old devices to the curb).  As soon as I get a firm word on when Apple will no longer send software updates I'll buy a new one.

I suppose I should consider going back to making triplicate backups on separate storage devices with one of them stored offsite ... but I dunno ...  sometimes it is hard to muster the energy to keep up with everything ... if I don't do it I may someday wish I had ... if I go to the extremes and wind up never needing it I may someday wonder why I bothered.

I was schooled to avoid living a life full of "shoulda coulda woulda" regrets ...  I guess it is better to have the backups and not need them than to kick myself for being a lazy old bastard that knew better ...

Two years on 13’’ MacBook Pro

Having worked with Microsoft based systems since the beginning of time, the past couple of years have been most refreshing, but not without challenges.

The only palpable hardware problem was the power supply cable shedding the insulation beginning at around the eighteen-month mark.  An ugly layer of electrical tape now covers around two-feet of the non-replaceable cable.  An $80 brand new power supply will arrive here on Monday.  Apple gets low marks for not engineering the low-voltage cable to be a simple plug-in replacement to the power supply, BUT all of the Microsoft platforms do it the same way that Apple does, but with far less elegance.  Apple and competitors make huge money from selling complete power supplies just because of cable / connector failures.  I went through four power supplies in six-years on my last Toshiba laptop; only once was due to a failed power unit, the balance was because of cable connection failures.

Battery health on my MacBook has been hanging right around the ninety-percent mark (after 415-cycles).  The battery is not user replaceable, but I do not hold that against Apple.  I went through three batteries in six-years on my last Toshiba laptop, so I believe this Apple is showing better battery life than I experienced from the competition.  Should this MacBook battery last another year, I’ll probably have Apple replace it as a preventive measure (and upgrade the memory to the max while they are at it).

Overall, my two-years of experience with Apple hardware, operating system, and software has been good.   I’ve had an Apple TV (which is more than a “toy”) for a while (I am too cheap to be saddled with a cable TV bill), and have had the Apple Time Capsule for around a year-and-a-half.  Recently I added a fifth generation iPod Touch to the mix. I’ll continue to be an Apple customer for as long as they suit my needs, and don’t piss me off too badly.

Again with the long boot time for my MacBook Pro OS X Mountain Lion

It’s all pretty much the same as I reported the last time (near two months ago); the fix was to reinstall OS X, only this time I did it via the recovery screen.  It has been suggested by many that my 16-month-old hard drive is failing, but it continues to pass all the tests that I have available.  There has been no sudden program crashes or data loss; the only symptom is the boot time.  I’m learning more about OS X and my MacBook Pro than I ever wanted to.

The last time, I waited until the time between the start-chime and the log-on screen degraded to over 8.5 minutes; this time I restored the OS when the boot time grew (suddenly) to 3.5 minutes.

This is a “vanilla” MacBook Pro with righteous OS and software updates and has no exotic software installed.  Further, I don’t drop into Unix to play around with things.  I suppose that if the drive doesn’t fail before then, I’ll have it replaced and the rest of the box tested when the battery needs to be replaced by an authorized tech.  I don’t regret buying the MacBook Pro, but only because I have my wife’s new Windows 8 HP system to show me how bad things can really be.  After 30-years of messing with computers, there is little fun left in it for me. 

Long boot time with my MacBook Pro OS X Mountain Lion

The short of it is that I downloaded a fresh, unpatched, version of Mountain Lion from the App Store, installed it, and my boot time went from 8-minutes to under a minute, which is where it was when I bought it around 14-months ago.

The (condensed) longer version is that I spent a few days researching and performing a myriad of trials, tests, and solutions from others who had run into this problem, none of which did my machine any good, with the one exception being the idea of reinstalling OS X.  I’m not sure when the problem started on my machine because I only reboot once or twice a week (I usually just close the lid and let the laptop sleep between sessions) and am usually distracted during the spin time on startup.  When I originally went from Lion to Mountain Lion, I saw no problems with the boot time; for whatever reason, something went wrong on my end since then.

I find Apple products to be far less trouble than MS Windows systems, but I would not feel comfortable using the term “trouble free.”  IMHO, Apple is the best thing at this moment in time.

HP Pavilion g7-2217cl with Windows 8 and IE-10 NOT RECOMMENDED

While it works okay via an Ethernet cable to the router, the Wi-Fi just plain sucks.  Sometimes it connects, most of the time it fails.  On the rare occasions that it does connect, more often than not it loses the Internet connection or moves slower than a 300-baud modem.

I’ve worked on Microsoft products since the beginning; I am not a novice.  I’ve owned more PC and laptop brands than I care to remember.  I updated every piece of software (and drivers) and I’ve run every diagnostic.  I’ve Googled the web for answers and all I find is a large group of people with the same problem(s) and no fix.  This has been a big waste of time and money.  Bill Gates should go out, purchase a few of these laptops, and see for himself what a wonderful piece of crap Windows 8 truly is.

In case you are wondering, my wife’s old Toshiba (with the broken hinges) on Windows 7 still works fine on the Wi-Fi, as does my MacBook Pro.  Something is hinky in Windows 8 and my best advice is to avoid it as you would a syphilitic blind date.

Blogging to you live from high atop a new 13-inch MacBook Pro

My strategic budget plan needed alteration shortly after my previous blog post.

The final error message from my old Toshiba was “YOUR MOTHERBOARD IS SMOLDERING.  FOR YOUR SAFETY AND COMFORT, PLEASE REMOVE THE COMPUTER FROM YOUR LAP AND DO NOT INHALE UNTIL THE ROOM IS ONCE AGAIN SMOKE FREE.”

The new MacBook is paid for, but now it will be a bit before I save enough for new furniture that I promised.  My cash and carry lifestyle is a bit inconvenient at times, but it keeps the wolves from my door.

This is my first Apple purchase.  In fact, the last Apple computer I did any work with was an Apple IIe.  When I mentioned that to the store sales geek his response was "whazzat?" 

It has been a long strange trip down the silicon road for me.  The first computer I bought was a Sinclair ZX81, which was just before the Timex Sinclair.  Then Commodore, then on to a string of MS-DOS boxes (anyone remember the 8086 processor?).  The many MS-Windows I had for personal and professional use were good enough and got the job done but the time is right for a change.  I’ve decided to move on to the world of the Apple… just don’t expect to find me lounging around Starbucks.