Evolv-ing Thread

[Steamer861]

Yup the newer ones. Have no upgrade capability . I use. 2010. MacBook Pro I’ve. Updated to Catalina (unsuported. Version). with 8 gigs of ram & 500 gig SSD. It’s. A very. Solid Unit! It may have cost twice what a windows laptop did back then, but sure seems worth it. Now!

 

[MikeE3]

So do tell us MikeE3, how much time have you wasted searching for drivers, waiting on updates, etc. compared to your Microsloth days? In your opinion, looking back, do you believe all the extra cost you paid was outrageous?

I hate to beat a dead horse, but they all come with a full 'Office' suite of always free upgrades and NO BLOATWARE.

I have 2 issues with Apple, mine just never die, and in order to have that sleek, thin form they now solder most components to the motherboard.

Drivers: I've never searched for a driver ... ever! And once I hooked up an ancient scanner and it just worked. Then I unplugged it and gave it away. I was curious if it still worked and Apple made it easy to to that.

Updates: I'm 99% happy with getting and installing updates. I used to be 100% happy. But lately I've had a few issues installing them. During a re-boot sequence of the install a couple times the re-boot didn't complete, leaving you staring at a black screen wondering if it's doing something or hung.

Extra cost: I'd call it extravagant not outrageous. I'm buying Macbook Pro's with the big screen upgraded processors, SSD's, and memory from the base models. We could get by with Macbook Airs but spend the extra money to get the bigger screens. (The new Airs look like the way to go if you don't care about screen size and need a robust processor)

Office Suite: This bugs me. They keep dumbing it down, taking features away from Pages and Numbers to make them compatible with the feature set for the iPhone and iPads. I got fed up a couple-few years back and now use Microsoft Office for Mac.

Apples dying: er, umm I've had two 2011 Macbook Pro's die. It was a know problem for a long time that there were cold solder problems with the GPU onto the mother board. Apple denied it for a long time. But finally stepped up to replacing 'for free' any MacBooks with the problem. But it took losing a lawsuit filed in California for them to step up to it.

Mine died with that problem and even beyond the Apple Care warranty because of the lawsuit, I had the mother board replaced. I had them test my wife's for the problem (yes they had a diagnostic routine to test for the issue somehow). Her's passed the test. Then a year later it too died. Took it to Apple and they said sorry, it's over 5 years old and is beyond it's 'lifespan' for support and parts. I was .......

At the same time my replacement mother board Macbook was showing the same problem symptoms again.

So since we were finally sucked into the Apple fan crowd we bought two new Macbook Pro's in 2018 to replace her dead one and my dying one.

What I like most is the 'no time at all' spent fixing something an update broke or even getting an update to install properly (OK, I did have a couple issues in the last 10 years ).

Oh, and knock on wood ... I run no anti virus s/w and have never had a malware or virus issue to resolve.

Sorry for the long post, but yo u asked and I'm stuck home due to this quarantine thing so here I sit telling my tale.

 

[mikepetro]

I started back at work today, good to still have a job, but it is rather scary.
I would hate to catch something and bring it home to my wife!

 

[BillW50]

I'll never buy an Apple machine because they constantly whine to developers to come out with a Mac version. I have the same issue with Linux too. It seems that everything comes out for the Windows platform.

There was a piece of advice back in the early 80's when OS lines were not that clear. And it said to pick the applications that you want to run and then pick the OS that will run them. It's so simple. Yet many do the opposite and then whine.

As for reliability. I reluctantly switched to Windows back in '93. And my two Compaq Concerto (convertibles) are from '93 while running the very first Windows version I started with. And they still work just as well as they did when brand new. Well except the batteries barely hold a charge anymore.

 

[dwcraig1]

I ordered one of these from Ebay for $2.77, C to A adapter

 

[ShamrockPat]

What I like most is the 'no time at all' spent fixing something an update broke or even getting an update to install properly (OK, I did have a couple issues in the last 10 years ).

Thanks! I think I had an issue once wanting to have the latest update ASAP. Now I'll wait a week or two as they're quite quick to resolve issues.

Oh, and knock on wood ... I run no anti virus s/w and have never had a malware or virus issue to resolve.

Same here, but now you've gone and done it

It seems that everything comes out for the Windows platform.

Sure Bill, Windows has the market share

And it said to pick the applications that you want to run and then pick the OS that will run them. It's so simple. Yet many do the opposite and then whine.

Yuppers, makes sense and true about the others

And my two Compaq Concerto (convertibles) are from '93 while running the very first Windows version I started with. And they still work just as well as they did when brand new. Well except the batteries barely hold a charge anymore

I had a motorbike battery last me around 17 years, it was a Yuasa I believe. One of our 10 year old MacBook Pro's is down to about an hour.

 

[ShamrockPat]

I ordered one of these from Ebay for $2.77, C to A adapter

The only issue with those is the outer housing might be too wide to plug into the other USB C port beside it at the same time.

 

[dwcraig1]

The only issue with those is the outer housing might be too wide to plug into the other USB C port beside it at the same time.

Your scaring me now.

 

[dwcraig1]

$10

 

[CMD-Ky]

I like your post a lot. I stayed with DRDOS until some time after Win 98 came out. There was one program that I needed that no longer would support DOS so I changed. Eventually I had to dump WordStar, Lotus 123 and Borland Reflex, for newer, brighter more graphical but, for my purposes, not better brands. But as you say, the software dictated the OS. With the advent of Windows, computers began to loose their luster, they became mere tools rather than the (not over stating) the miracles that they were for me and my career. And I understood them less and less, now I am a mere tenant of Microsoft.

I'll never buy an Apple machine because they constantly whine to developers to come out with a Mac version. I have the same issue with Linux too. It seems that everything comes out for the Windows platform.

There was a piece of advice back in the early 80's when OS lines were not that clear. And it said to pick the applications that you want to run and then pick the OS that will run them. It's so simple. Yet many do the opposite and then whine.

As for reliability. I reluctantly switched to Windows back in '93. And my two Compaq Concerto (convertibles) are from '93 while running the very first Windows version I started with. And they still work just as well as they did when brand new. Well except the batteries barely hold a charge anymore.

 

[ShamrockPat]

dwcraig1 I'm more optimistic with that $10 cable. Remember, one of those 2 ports will be used for charging so the other can be used for something else at the same time. I'll plug into both at the same time and update with a pic in a few minutes (with my beater vt133 so you know it's mine).

 

[BillW50]

I started back at work today, good to still have a job, but it is rather scary.
I would hate to catch something and bring it home to my wife!

Hopefully your first day back everything went just fine.

 

[Steamer861]

I'll never buy an Apple machine because they constantly whine to developers to come out with a Mac version. I have the same issue with Linux too. It seems that everything comes out for the Windows platform.

There was a piece of advice back in the early 80's when OS lines were not that clear. And it said to pick the applications that you want to run and then pick the OS that will run them. It's so simple. Yet many do the opposite and then whine.

As for reliability. I reluctantly switched to Windows back in '93. And my two Compaq Concerto (convertibles) are from '93 while running the very first Windows version I started with. And they still work just as well as they did when brand new. Well except the batteries barely hold a charge anymore.

Apple isn't for everyone! More advanced users can get buy with windows N/P

For some one like Me who just wants my computer to work, with out the blue screens & all the B.S. the goes along with windows, Apples a good fit

 

[Steamer861]

I started back at work today, good to still have a job, but it is rather scary.
I would hate to catch something and bring it home to my wife!

Just be Careful! You have a good working knowledge of how you can get the Virus.
Be hyper vigilant , keep your distance wash your hands don't touch your face You'l be all right At least you have a job! A lot of people are getting hurt bad financially

 

[BillW50]

For some one like Me who just wants my computer to work, with out the blue screens & all the B.S. the goes along with windows, Apples a good fit

Ahh... but they do. My Windows 2000, XP, 7, and 8.x machines when I turn them on they are ready to go. No Blue Screens or anything. They just work. Windows 10 is different since at anytime it might want to update. And not all updates goes well. Worse, the more a machine goes through cumulative updates, the more slower and unstable they becomes. Although if you wipe everything out and reinstall from scratch and then throw all of the updates on at one time if you want before you start using it, this almost always works so much better than slowly cumulative updates overtime.

Strangely this is true for Windows and Apple machines. It is like they are purposely slowing down your computer month by month. Not enough for one to notice it from one update to the next. But very noticeable over a couple of years. So many people believe that their old computers are just slow and thus they need a new one. And the truth is I bet most of them only have to start over again and reinstall from scratch and it will be fine again. But buying a new machine every couple of years is indeed good for business.

 

[Steamer861]

No Blue Screens or anything. They just work.

Your results are more positive than mine! Thats for sure

I'v been running Mac OS since 2012 now, & I'v had more issue in one month with Windows PC's Than I'v had since 2012 with Mac OS! Thats no B.S!
Like I all ready said, I'm no computer genius, I have very basic skills that are enough to get me by with Mac OS

Also old OS's are vulnerable to attacks So IMO running old un supported OS's mite not be such a good idea

 

[BillW50]

Your results are more positive than mine! Thats for sure

I'v been running Mac OS since 2012 now, & I'v had more issue in one month with Windows PC's Than I'v had since 2012 with Mac OS! Thats no B.S!
Like I all ready said, I'm no computer genius, I have very basic skills that are enough to get me by with Mac OS

That isn't to say I've never seen an unstable Windows system before, because I have. But I don't think I ran into one that couldn't be stabilized. Probably the one that was the most challenging than others was Windows ME. I had to find older drivers and DLL files and switching things here and there and some configuration editing until I had it solid as a rock. Although it was truly a house of cards. I couldn't change anything in the OS without it falling apart.

Also old OS's are vulnerable to attacks So IMO running old un supported OS's mite not be such a good idea

So they say. Maybe for a brand spanking new system. But I haven't seen any Win9x viruses floating around lately, have you? The Internet servers are constantly scanning for malware and removing them. And how are you going to get anything if it has been scanned like 20 times before you get it? What you have to worry about is the stuff that was written hours ago that isn't in the malware definitions file yet.

But that is where sandboxing comes in (it isn't on stock machines, you have to add it). This is a staging area for something new coming into a computer. It can't infected anything since it can't change anything outside of the sandbox. In a sense it is quarantined. So there are many ways to keep your computer safe without OS updates and risking stability problems. And I don't understand why people would trust their machines to Microsoft for security anyway. They are just awful at it.

 

[mikepetro]

Hopefully your first day back everything went just fine.

It was a strange day. But safe, none of us got within 12ft of each other.

Also found out our return had something to do with stimulus money. The head cheese said something to the effect of "we will wait and see what happens at the end of 8 weeks".

 

[Steamer861]

Probably the one that was the most challenging than others was Windows ME.

Funny you would mention M.E. Quite a while back I had bought a Compaq PC with M.E. OS. This thing was a real POS! It wouldn't run right no matter what! It came to a point, I was going to make it work no matter what it took! After many many attempts & much frustration I had changed all most every part in the darn thing
Turns out it was a cable from the Mother board to the HD the whole time, for some reason or other thats all it was!

Hind site, if I factored in all my time & frustration I could have bought a Mac way back then

 

[awsum140]

If it was from the "PPP" at least some of our tax dollars are working. I think in eight more weeks things should be starting to move, albeit slowly, again. I sure hope so. I'm not big on going out normally, but when you tell me I can't I want to. Just stay safe, Mike. 12 feet sounds good to me.