The Lance J. Technoweb

I've been using my late 2009-vintage A1342 MacBook as my primary computer for many years,  but I have just upgraded to a 2020 "M1" MacBook Air . There was nothing wrong with my old MacBook, except that it could no longer run a supported Mac operating system.  So I decided to repurpose it as a utility laptop that I can drag around to different sites to perform basic network maintenance functions. My old MacBook had a Sandisk 1 TB SSD inside, which is far more than it needs now.  I ended up pulling out  the 1 TB drive and putting it into a USB3 enclosure so that I can archive bulky files on it (photos, email, videos and documents).  Instead of the 1 TB drive, I put a very inexpensive 60 GB SSD into the MacBook.  60 GB is plenty of space for what I plan to use it for. Thank you, MacBook A1342.  Your 11+ years of service have been amazing.

Ouch, a watered-damaged MacBook!  Maybe someone spilled some water or other liquid onto the keyboard.  This is bad!  Immediate action is in order, with seconds to spare. This is how I address a water-damaged device.    TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! If it still works, turn it off immediately! Make sure it is unplugged.  Don't plug it back in. Do NOT try to plug it in or turn it on again.  Really. Open it up.  This requires the appropriate precision screwdriver kit.  Don't have one?  Take it to a shop!  Do NOT use the wrong tools. Disconnect the battery Mop up any water with paper towels. Is there water everywhere?  Pull out the board and other components to do some further mopping up in the tight spaces. Put the parts, except the display and battery, in a slightly warm oven (maybe 90 °C, or 190 °F) for 4 hours to help encourage the drying of parts.  Water can get under components, we want to encourage that water to evaporat...

At this time we have installed Sierra on about 50% of the Macs we maintain, and so far it is going well.  Performance and reliability seems on-par with El Capitan: No kernel panics No significant bugs/failures or "first party" app crashes No app compatibility issues No performance issues No data migration issues (we use Migration Assistant)  Here is our hardware minimum: 4 GB of RAM.  We have Sierra running well on machines with 4 GB of RAM.   Although the majority of our Macs have 8 GB, 4 GB is totally acceptable.  We haven't had a machine with less than 4 GB of memory for several years. As we've said earlier, if you're upgrading from less than 4 GB of RAM and need to buy new RAM, we suggest buying 8 GB. Amount Today Advice Rough Price Less than 4 GB Go to 8 GB $40 4GB + Do nothing $0 Non-Traditional Drive.   As of earlier this year, we no longer have any traditional hard drives in o...

I'm the type that tries to get the most bang out of a computer - where many consider a 3 year old computer "end of life", I can easily double that lifespan. A lot of people ask me what I've done for upgrades to the Macs I manage.  Here are some examples of what I did. 2009 MacBook (6 years old) 1 TB Hybrid Drive (originally a traditional 120 GB drive) Seagate 1TB Laptop SSHD 4 GB memory (originally at 2 GB) G.SKILL DDR2 RAM 2009 MacBook Pro (6 years old) 250 GB SSD (originally a traditional 250 GB drive)  Kingston 240GB SSD 4 GB of memory not upgraded.  I find 4 GB to be plenty powerful. 2010 MacBook (5 years old) 250 GB SSD (originally a traditional 250 GB drive) Kingston 240GB SSD 8 GB memory (originally at 2 GB) G.Skill DDR3 RAM  Although 4 GB is powerful enough, I was upgrading it from 2 GB.  So using the principle of upgrading as few times as possible, I moved it to 8 GB. 2011 iMac (4 years old) 8 GB memory (original...

My iMac (2011, 21.5-inch model) was feeling down.  It was running out of disk space and everything was slowing down to a crawl. So a about six months ago I decided to upgrade my iMac with a larger hard drive and increased memory, restoring performance to be faster than ever.  It was far cheaper to upgrade my Mac, and it was much easier than I expected. It took me about 30 minutes to do the upgrades, and my iMac is much, much faster. Here are the specific parts I used for my upgrade: Hard Drive I went with this 4 TB Seagate Hybrid drive for a few reasons: It's HUGE.  At 4 TB, it is eight times bigger than the stock 500 GB hard drive. It is affordable.  Per GB, it is far cheaper than any SSD. Being a "Hybrid" SSD/Hard drive device, it is FAST.  The modern OS really expects fast disk devices. This sped up my Mac a lot. It is a one-for-one replacement for the old device.  It easily fits inside the case. [Update: this driver has remained fast...

MIDI and the Mac.  It's easy, fun, and shockingly inexpensive! I enjoy fooling around with musical instruments, and so when Garageband originally came out several years ago, I was very excited to start using it with my cheap little Casio keyboard. Initially it seemed expensive and complicated to get the right parts together to connect the Mac to my keyboard via MIDI. I didn't want to spend a ton of money in professional-class electronics. I wanted to fool around. Happily, I discovered that it's inexpensive and easy.  If you know where to look, a Mac-compliant MIDI adapter can be purchased for under $10! That's right, for less than $10 I connected my Mac to my MIDI keyboard and by MIDI drum kit. I bought an MIDI-to-USB interface, in particular, one like this really inexpensive USB MIDI Cable available through Amazon . The adapter is a simple device that has a MIDI "in"/"out" connectors on one end, and a USB connector on the other.  The adapt...

Recently, I was asked by a good friend to help her buy a new Windows Desktop PC. I recommended that she buy a PC with something other then a near-obsolete processor - meaning a machine with an Intel Core2Duo or better, as I believe that a computer with a decent processor will have a good chance of not becoming obsolete as soon. Atom, Pentium, and Celeron are too close to being obsolete. And I also recommended that she get a machine with Windows 7 instead of the now-deprecated Windows Vista. And after I described what makes a decent desktop PC, I started to shop for one. And that's when I discovered that the Mac Mini is a bargain. A bargain mid-ranged desktop computer I went to the popular brand web sites: Dell, Compaq, HP, Gateway, ACER, etc. And I found that a machine of this class generally starts around $500+. And that for $500, you don't get wireless, bluetooth, or sometimes even speakers. WTF??? In contrast, the base model $599 Mac Mini is very well specified - it h...

I recently bought a new, modern HDTV: a 42 inch, 1080p Panasonic LCD TV. And one of the first things I wanted to do with my new TV was to hook it up to my trusty MacBook. Like many modern TVs, my new TV has a VGA input, so I figured that'd be the right way to hook it up. I got the following stuff together: Mini-DVI to VGA dongle VGA cable with integrated audio I plugged the dongle into the MacBook, and I plugged the VGA cable between the dongle and the TV. Sure enough, my Mac's video image immediately appeared on my TV. I figured with a little fine tuning, I'd get a great 1080p image! I was wrong. Attempt #1: MacBook to HDTV via VGA dongle and cable The major disappointment is that many new TVs, like mine, won't accept a high resolution 1080p-class signal over VGA. Although my MacBook's "Display Preferences" control panel displays a huge range of potential video resolutions, very few of them work adequately (or at all) with my TV. I wound up setti...

The hard disk in your Mac can fail at any time. And they often do. I'd guess that the chance of any computer owner having a hard drive failure within the next year is 10%, regardless of the age or brand of the computer. If your hard drive fails, the odds are very good that you will have NO HOPE FOR RECOVERY. All your photos, music and documents are likely to be GONE FOREVER. Backup is key if you don't want to permanently lose all your photos and music and other important bits of data. Here's how to do it on the cheap. Simple and Inexpensive Backup Devices For Your Mac The easiest way to back up your Mac is via the built in TimeMachine backup program. But to use it, you need to buy an external backup drive first. An external drive used to backup a MacBook My recommendation is to buy a USB 2.0 backup drive with 1 TB of storage. They're inexpensive (under $100), they have substantial capacity, and they're very easy to use. Personally, I love the inexpensive but v...

Today I'll show you how I go about to repair and clean Mac keyboards. This procedure is particular to the Apple white USB and Bluetooth keyboards, but a similar procedure should work on most other standard PC keyboards. My yukky keyboard being dismantled Keyboards are generally highly reliable devices, but they do have the nasty habit of collecting gunk that can make keys stick, or worse, completely non-functional. This guide shows you how to fully clean your keyboard so that it can be as good as it can be. My recently cleaned Apple Keyboard - like new again! Remember, some great keyboards can be found for under $30, so if you don't want to risk surgery, consider buying something like the Macally Keyboard and give your crusty console to someone who is willing to clean it up and give it a new life. What you will need: A clean, uncluttered work surface A one quart or one liter-sized plastic or glass container with a lid. A ball point pen, for levering off keys A small towel, ...

I've been reading a lot about how Apple "screwed up" the MacBook Air because it didn't include a "3G mobile phone modem". The idea that Apple should have included a 3G chipset is, of course, stupid. Just about every modern 3G handset out there can operate as a 3G modem for wireless internet. A handset can be connected to the MacBook Air via either USB or Bluetooth, automatically giving any Mac full wireless internet capabilities - over the cell phone network, without WiFi. So what are the pundits talking about? They're talking about the purpose built modem plans and cards that are sold by the mobile service providers. Of course, these cards exist just because many older laptops didn't have bluetooth. These purpose-built 3G cards are effectively obsolete. These power-hungry, service-dependent cards are still being sold because they work adequately well with old computers. But given modern handsets and bluetooth, the old cards won't be around...

Now that the MacBook Air has been revealed, many are curious about what's next. The MacBook and the Mac Mini continue to be lower-cost winners for Apple and their customers. It isn't costing Apple much to keep these designs around, and they continue to sell well. I don't suspect that Apple will substantially change these machines until Intel releases a compelling alternative to the Core 2 Duo platform. The MacBook Pro is also a winner, but its basic design has been around since about 2003. I suspect that the MacBook Pro will have a substantial redesign in mid-to-late 2008. Does the MacBook Air reveal the roadmap for the Pro? It's time for an update, and Apple's recent products should give us a hint of where its going: Thin and Gorgeous. Apple's most recent new products, the Nano, Touch, and Air, all follow that attractive theme. Products that don't fit that mold are clearly yesterday's designs. Apple's flagship notebook line no longer fits the ...

In the spirit of PC Magazine, here are thirteen reasons why the MacBook Air sucks. 1. $999 SSD option. Crazy-but-true, the 64 GB solid state "disk drive" option costs $999. I'm sure I could buy a 64+ GB solid state drive for much less. Although I haven't shopped for one, they should cost about $200, right? So Apple, why $999? 2. No Vista That's right, you buy this thing for $1799 (or more), and it doesn't come with the ultimate Vista - a $600 afterthought? If I want to spend money on a laptop, PLEASE include the Ultimate! 3. No MS-Office Again, you buy this thing, you can't even edit MS-Word documents - its an extra piece of software that wasn't included!!! This is getting painful! 4. No replaceable battery. My Olympus digicam used readily-available AA batteries. This thing uses a built-in weirdo battery.... that can't be replaced by normal users! What's the deal??? I want to use AA batteries, so if my battery runs dead on the airplane,...

My 12" PowerBook G4 developed a little warp or bend so that it didn't sit flat any more. It would wobble on a desk as I typed - annoying! It all happened when I dropped it on the front corner, distorting the case. A straight edge on the front palm rest clearly showed the bend. To fix it, I removed the battery and put some slight pressure on the corner, reforming it into its original shape. Then I used a couple small vice grips, covered in cloth, to reform the case, trying to work out the dent "in reverse order in which it was created". This process is much like how a body shop repairs a dented fender. The repair looks great - it isn't 100% perfect, but close to it. Now it looks great AND it sits nice and flat on my desktop. And I didn't need to buy a whole new case.

For years I've had an RSYNC backup solution for my immediate family's computers. Each computer would perform a remote RSYNC over SSH to my home Linux box on a daily basis. It worked great, but it was a pain in the butt for a few reasons: Lots of parts to maintain. A lack of on-disk encryption. No easy restoration process. Required me to have a server powered up all the time. Recently, I stumbled upon a Mac and Windows internet backup solution for the grand price of Free. It's called Mozzy Home, and its pretty darn good for the following reasons: It's free for the first 2 GB of storage It supports encryption - Mozy can't even see your file content (but it does appear that they can see your filenames and directory structure) It is super easy to set up The client software is pretty good, and supports easy restores. You can get a free Mozy Home account here (shameless referral code attached): https://mozy.com/registration/free The biggest limitation with the (free) M...

There are rumors that the Mac Mini is going to be discontinued. I disagree. Instead, I think it will evolve by being merged in with the Apple TV product. Of course, I don't work for Apple, so I have no idea if my plan is workable. But I do think that it is a possibility, as it considers: Leveraging current engineering projects Reducing manufacturing costs Simplifying the product line Staying reasonable in terms of product costs Here's my thought of how I would converge the Apple TV and Mac Mini concept into one compelling product: Stick the guts of a MacBook into an Apple TV sized case Drop out the LCD, the battery, the keyboard, the DVD Drop in a (cheaper, bigger) 3.5 inch HDD drive, in lieu of a 2.5" notebook drive. Add various Video Out options Provide a standard MacBook power brick Now you've got a fully capable computer - a computer as powerful as a MacBook - that basically cost nothing to engineer (other than reboxing the thing). You still have a computer ...

Now I am able to use my old HP LaserJet printer like a champ with Mac OS X - by using a low cost USB parallel printer adapter and a little bit of magic software. USB to Parallel adapters are inexpensive little adapters (generally under $20) that allow you to connect a printer using the old "parallel" connector standard over USB. There are generally two kinds of parallel interfaces on a printer: Either the 36-pin Centronics-style connector , or the 25-pin D-shaped printer connector . My HP used the bulkier 36-pin connector, so I bought an adapter with that style connector. The low-cost USB-to-Parallel adapter I use with my Mac But it all wasn't as easy as it should have been - even though I pluged it all together, my USB to Parallel adapter would either lock up after a single print job, or it wouldn't be detected by the Mac at all. I suffered with the situation for months, and even imagined purchasing a more modern printer. But perseverance paid off - I got it al...