Computing Resources Advice For Mac

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Computing Resources Advice For Mac Rating: 8,8/10 9805 reviews

Monday, January 22nd, 2018 Author: Do you keep your Macs for longer periods of time than do most of your friends? I’ve been accused of hoarding my old Macs; for example, keeping an original 2006 Mac Pro running long after it should have been retired. The same is true of a 2011 MacBook Pro; I only need to replace the battery, which is no longer holding a charge, and it will be as good as new. The point is, Macs routinely have longer lifetimes than most personal computers, and it only takes a few tips, a bit of maintenance, and an upgrade now and then to keep a Mac running well, and extend its usable lifetime well beyond the norm. Keep Your Mac Clean and Help It Keep Its Cool Keeping your Mac clean can help it run at lower internal temperatures, which can prolong its life by not putting undue strain on internal components. At one time, it was an easy task to open a Mac up and clean out the dust bunnies that had collected over time. Now, except for the Mac Pro and Mac mini, the inside of a Mac is somewhat difficult to get to.

But you should still inspect your Mac to ensure none of the intake and exhaust vents are clogged by dust and debris. If you need a bit of help in cleaning the interior, check out the Once you have your Mac’s cooling system shipshape, don’t forget that when you’re actively using your Mac, its location can have an impact on its ability to keep cool. When using a MacBook, don’t place it on pillows or soft material that can block airflow. Likewise, with desktop Macs, make sure the position they’re in doesn’t block airflow.

As long as we’re on a cleaning spree, don’t overlook the keyboard, mouse, trackpad, and display. That will help keep these peripherals looking good and working well. Perform Routine Maintenance Routine maintenance can do a lot to extend the life of your Mac.

It not only can keep everything operating in top shape, it can also help find possible trouble spots before they start severely impacting you or your Mac. Disk maintenance is often overlooked even though it can find, and in many cases, repair issues before they become problems. Disk Utility has long included a Disk First Aid feature that can be used to verify and repair problems. Can help keep your drives performing at their peak, as well as let you know when problems are beginning to appear. Another maintenance task that can be run to keep your Mac in good shape is Safe Mode, a special boot environment that will run a few tests as well as delete font, system, and kernel caches that can cause some very strange behavior when any of them become corrupt. You can find out more in the Rocket Yard guide:.

(Disk Utility’s First Aid tool can verify and repair many common problems your drive may encounter.) Upgrade Hardware Over time, your Mac’s hardware may seem to be slowing down; more likely, you’re just using a lot more of your Mac’s resources than when you first got it. One way to help alleviate the slowdown is to increase the resources available to your Mac: more RAM, larger disk storage, or perhaps faster storage. All or some of these can speed up your Mac, giving it a longer usable life. RAM upgrades: I try to buy Macs that have user upgradeable RAM, but this isn’t always possible, especially when Apple has soldered the RAM directly to the Mac’s motherboard.

However, you may be surprised to learn that even some Macs that don’t provide easy user access to their internals still have RAM that can be upgraded. When I need to upgrade my Mac’s RAM, is where I look to see what upgrades are available, and in many cases, view the upgrade video that may be available for a specific Mac model. Storage upgrades: One of the best upgrades that I’ve performed for many of my older Macs is to replace the rotational disk drive with an SSD. This type of upgrade can really put the spring back into your Mac, and remind you of how impressed you were with your Mac’s performance that first day you brought it home.

Even if you have a more recent Mac with an SSD already installed, increasing the SSD size can be helpful, and the old SSD can be put into an external enclosure for additional storage. You can use the for information about the SSD you need for your specific Mac. Another storage upgrade option is to use a fast port, such as Thunderbolt 2 or Thunderbolt 3, to connect a to your Mac. This lets you enjoy the benefits of faster storage without having to take your Mac apart to replace disks.

It also provides the possibility of building high performance RAID storage systems to meet your particular needs. Battery Care and Maintenance If you’re using one of the MacBook models, then you probably already know that the battery that keeps your Mac running when not connected to the mains is often cited as the reason for replacing the Mac.

The usual complaints are that the battery no longer holds a charge, won’t accept a charge, or when charged, has a very short runtime, perhaps an hour or less. The solution to this type of battery problem is to either. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Batteries are considered consumables; they have a limited lifetime and are expected to fail at some point. Apple’s battery guidelines state that batteries used in the MacBook product line should retain 80% of their original capacity after a set number of charging cycles. The actual charging cycle or cycle count varies depending on the specific battery. You can find out more about how to check a battery’s cycle count, as well as how to check up on the MacBook battery’s current condition, in the Rocket Yard guide:. Even though you know the battery will eventually fail, there are quite a few steps you can take to prolong its life: Avoid temperature extremes: MacBook batteries generally have a preferred ambient operating temperature between 50° F and 95° F.

Using your Mac on cold days can result in a temporary reduction in battery performance. Using the battery when the temperature is above 95° F can lead to permanent reduction in battery performance.

Charging the battery when the temperature is above 95° F can cause further damage, reducing the battery’s runtime. The MacBook battery also has a storage temperature limit of -4° F and 113° F. At colder or hotter temperature extremes, the battery can undergo permanent damage, even when not in use. That’s not to say the MacBook’s battery is going to fail because you took your MacBook to the ski resort; just don’t take it outside on really cold nights. Likewise, Death Valley in the summer may not be an ideal place for your MacBook’s battery. Battery storage: If you don’t plan to use your MacBook for a long time, it’s a good idea to have the battery at around a half charge and then power the Mac off; don’t leave it in a sleep state.

This can help prevent a deep discharge from occurring, which can adversely affect the battery’s ability to hold a charge later. A half charge is the safest condition for the battery to be in when storing it for any lengthy time period. Exercise your MacBook’s battery: You may be tempted to always leave your MacBook plugged into house current.

This isn’t a good idea since keeping the battery at a full charge for an extended length of time can lead to an overall capacity loss and a shorter life. Instead, use the battery as it was intended: to power the MacBook from time to time. Maintain Software With Updates Keeping your software up to date can help keep your Mac operating in top condition. It may be that you’re happy with the version of the Mac OS you’re using now, and have no need for any of the new features in subsequent versions. But updating your system usually brings new security and performance fixes that may help extend your Mac’s lifetime.

(Keeping your Mac’s software up to date can alleviate many security issues present in older versions of the OS.) System updates have also, on occasion, poorly impacted older Macs, so the decision to upgrade is bit of a tossup. I’ve always tried to keep my older Macs at the latest version of the operating system they support. There are valid reasons not to upgrade, such as the need to use an app that is not supported under a newer version of the OS. So, the best thing is to do a bit of research before deciding whether or not to upgrade to a newer OS. Back Up Regularly The last suggestion for extending the life of your Mac is to understand that at some point, a failure may occur, or an upgrade to a newer Mac will be required. Having a current set of backups as well as archives of important data will make the change an easier one.

Stop by the Rocket Yard article for some suggestions on backup strategies. How Old Is Your Mac?

If your Mac has a few years under its belt, let us know what year and model Mac you have, as well as how you’re using it, and any upgrades or repairs you’ve performed to extend its useful life. For more tricks and guides for macOS Mojave, High Sierra or earlier, check out our. I have a MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2010). I have replaced the battery once.

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It should have been replaced sooner but no local stores carry it. The nearest Apple rep would only do it after a pricey diagnostic service. I bought the tools and it was easy to replaced. The only other thing I have done is upgrade the RAM from 2GB to 8GB. That is the highest I can go but it made a HUGE difference. My MacBook runs faster than the PC I use at work and faster than my husband’s Acer. I have thought about replacing the hard drive but it works fine for my everyday use.

I bought this MacBook to replace a Toshiba laptop that died after one year. I’ve had to use time machine once to restore my machine. Other than that, it has been smooth sailing. I’m still running my mid 2010 Mac Pro 12 core, 64GB ram, two 1TB SSD drives and a 4TB SATA Drive. I’m still using the original ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card. Although I’d like to upgrade that and some of the other old components.

The system still runs like a champ after 8 years and I’d like to make it to 10, but we’ll see how it handles this next OS. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Apple stops ignoring the creatives and actually produces a modular mac pro that all of us want and need. Otherwise, after 22 years of illustrating on a Mac, I think I’ll be switching to a PC and moving away from the Apple platform to google based cloud services. It’s just a wait and see at this point, but after 5 years of Apple ignoring the needs of creatives, I don’t have much hope that they will put the effort in to support the people that kept them going in the 90s.

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My music machine is a 15″ G4 Flatpanel from 2002, those active Harman Kardon speakers are still wonderful after all these years. My daily drive is a 2012 MacBook Pro, complete with optical drive, USB ports, SD reader, thunderbolt and video out (all the things a laptop should have):-). I have swapped the hard drive for a 1Tb SSD and increased the RAM to 16Gb (all from MacSales).

The machine works fine and has never had a problem. Software is a different matter, I still run OS Sierra since High Sierra doesn’t support my version of MS Office, and I refuse to move to MS’s newer cloud-based subscription model. Here’s the background. I have a 15″ MacBook Pro late 2008/early 2009, 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, model 5,1. A year ago, the HD died. So I decided to try to resurrect it for about $500 rather than buying a new MBP for about $3000 or more, do the work myself, and maybe get a few more years out of it. That wasn’t a lot to lose since it was essentially dead anyway.

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So I maxed out the RAM to 8 GB, replaced the HD with a 1TB SSD, and replaced the battery (OSX said it was bad) with a MacSales battery (but only lasts 1-2 hrs doing ordinary Internet, MS Word and Excel stuff). Other than the battery life which I can live with, what a kick in the pants on performance–better than when new!

Couldn’t be happier.well, yes I could be happier with respect to OSX. Now here’s the issue. Apple says that you can’t install an OSX past El Cap on that MBP. Is that true?

Or is there someway to get past that to install a later OSX like Sierra or High Sierra? And if there is, would there be adverse side effects? I’m at a crossroads with my MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011). I can definitely upgrade the RAM from 8-16 GB, which hasn’t been done.

I can also upgrade to an SSD Drive. But how much performance will I gain and how much longer will it last with software demands?

I’m a graphic artist and photographer, heavily use Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and InDesign apps amongst others. It’s not my main system but I do like to use it somewhat regularly – although that’s becoming more and more difficult with its sluggishness.

Should I do the upgrades or sell it for what I can and look into something newer? Can’t really afford a new system right now but I’d rather invest my money down the road if upgrades aren’t going to cut it. Appreciate any advice. I have a 2010 iMac 27inch, which for six years used for promoting music, publishing magazines, so, heavily used with Photoshop, Indesign and audio software. In 2015 decided to change the hard disk, thinking there’s going to be a time when the original would fail. That year purchased a new iMac 27inch i7 and maxed out the memory. Using the original iMac for music production now, with Cubase & Komplete software, plus various plugins, it still performs faultlessly.

Before the iMac’s I had a G4 Power Mac for ten years, only replacing the hard drive & dvd drive, gave it to my father who used it for a couple years before giving it away still working to a friends young son. I had a 2006 Mac Pro that I used until it would no longer support the latest OS, maybe about 2014. Was still happy with it, but I am uncomfortable not having current OS and apps, mostly Photoshop and related apps.

I could only plug and play as a replacement into my setup a MacBook Pro, or a Mini. (The issue is an external monitor that serves two machines.) I opted for the MacBook, but wasn’t happy with it, so got a loaded Mini.

It doesn’t quite do the job. It sounds as if the new Pro, if it ever is released, is going to have a $10K price tag, which I cannot justify.

I can keep an older Pro going fine until Apple makes the OS unusable. All this makes a return to Windows, which I really don’t want to do, more and more attractive. Any thoughts, recommendations, suggestions most appreciated. Windows is a high price to pay, beginning with the essential $50 a year Anti-virus software subscription. These days you don’t need a hypothetical Mac Pro to get high performance. Even the currently available iMac Pro is overkill for most people.

A regular 5K iMac is all the computer all but the most demanding of users will need for years to come. Of course no computer will last forever, given improvements in technology and software. Complaining about those improvements is shoveling sand against the tide; though, for some people, complaining never gets old. I guess, like an old computer, it’s a way of life. I’ve got no objection to old computers; I use them for years, until they will no longer support the current OS. The new iMac looks great; my only objection to it is that you can’t get to the monitor input in order to connect a second CPU; I need to use a Windows machine as well as the Mac, and don’t have the space for two monitors.

Tried Parallels, but found it’s use & maintenance more frustrating than switching back and forth between two machines. I’m a motivated buyer; just wish I knew what to buy! I have an early 2008 MacBook Pro.

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I have put in a 120 GB SSD drive, with 4GB 667 MHz DDR2 SRAM, and am running OS X 10.6.8 (I have some apps that won’t run on anything later). I also always sit the machine on a Chillbed laptop passive cooling stand (the company seems to have stopped trading. I probably should get an active stand).

I also have several Mac Pro Towers and a mid-2011 iMac 27 running later OS X versions (Lion to Sierra) all with big SSDs and lots of memory; and an early 2009 Mac Mini (with a superdrive, a 320GB HD and 8GB RAM) that I use for watching programs online on my big-screen TV unit. I started OS9 days with a grey blue g3. I upped the memory to max and it wasn’t enough. I then got a G4 and again maxed out the memory, I am not doing.ANYTHING. requiring that much memory, When the G4 died I was convinced to get a G5 and again I maxed the memory and I was still paging. When the g5 died and there was no real workhorse available for a year or two maybe more I had no option to go with an high-end IMAC.

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For the first year it was OK then after upgrading and upgrading the OS ‘s. It seemed every 6 months and then the damn patches. My IMAC has really hit rock bottom and I am almost to the point of chucking it all and going back to windows. One of the latest bugs is that Apple seems to set up Apple mail not to recognize attachments which cost me an extra 2 hours of work aday, Apple’s tech said update to high sierra. Now I am finding out unless you are a tech heavy you can’t back HS out. I think I am going to stick where I am forever. If you think running Windows is any less trouble, think again.

I agree the Mac is less than it ought to be these days. But you won’t find any Windows machine to be much of an improvement. To begin with you’ll need a $50 annual Anti-virus software subscription. Then you’ll need to replace all your software. And finally, there’s the issue of system maintenance. It’s just not as easy on a PC. There are no Windows equivalents of DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro, iDefrag or any other routine Mac maintenance tool.

There’s no Single User Mode to check system and hardware settings; there’s no Recovery HD to boot into for troubleshooting. There are expensive third-party options the offer to “fix” numerous problems, if you can trust them. So move to Windows if you like, but caveat emptor.

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MacOS High Sierra is available from the Apple App Store for all to use. How to Obtain Inst​allation.

Note: These steps will also work for macOS High Sierra. Known Issues Software / Site Issue AFS Clients Clients installed on High Sierra with APFS may cause kernel panics. Click Available Installers at the top to find it.

Do not upgrade to High Sierra until this patch is installed. You should also review the vendor documentation prior to upgrade. Deep Freeze Incompatible with High Sierra and APFS. Drop Box may not work properly with High Sierra and APFS. Microsoft Office Requires version 15.35 or higher in order to properly function. Upgrade Office prior to High Sierra. Sophos Antivirus Requires version 9.6.4 or higher in order to properly function.

Previously installed clients will auto upgrade to 9.6.4. Installers older than 9.6.4 should be deleted. Note: High Sierra has a new security feature called SKEL that blocks unauthorized kernel extensions like the one Sophos uses for on-access scanning. More information, including the download, are available on IS&T's page.

VMWare Fusion or higher is supported. Note: MacOS High Sierra is no longer able to read the legacy BIOS boot data from the boot disk when System Integrity Protection (SIP) is enabled, leaving the Boot Camp virtual machine created by Fusion without a correct boot sector from which to start up.