After a year in the blogging desert

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It has really been a year since I wrote a blog and so many of you have told me lately that you miss it! I had no idea. So, I am back blogging! Thanks for the encouragement.

Update on my business: I have actually been busier in the last year than before the pandemic! Yes, it is hard to believe, but once I figured out the process of remote support, I am able to help more people in a day than I ever could with in-home support. Before the pandemic, so much of my day was spent driving and sitting in traffic. I can’t help anyone while driving, so it really was an expensive waste of my time.

Even as the world starts opening up again, and as my wife and I are now fully vaccinated, I am going to make remote support my primary means of tech support in the future. Yes, I will come to your home if I have to (to fix printers, install wireless routers and other tasks that require hands-on), however I am going to try to limit my in-home visits to a couple of days per month.

The upside for you is that I charge less for remote support and I can often fix things in less time than it takes to drive to your home! Plus, both you and I can stay in our PJs or sweats during the remote session (it has an audio channel, but not video). Also, you don’t have to clean house before I show up. In addition to fixing your Mac and mobile devices (via voice) I can provide remote tech training if that is something that interests you.

Tech news: The biggest Apple news of the last year is that Apple is ending its relationship with Intel. Intel has provided processors for Macs since 2005. At that time, it was a huge deal because Apple had previously made their own processors and partnering with Intel allowed Macs to run Windows natively. No one runs Windows natively on their Macs anymore. Some use Parallels Desktop, but that is different.

Apple has had great success in developing their own processors for iPhones and iPads. They have taken that technology and applied it to Macs! These processors are way more than just the processor part of the computer. They are called “system on a chip” and include system memory, CPU, GPU, Neural Engine and I/O, all in one chip! The result is blazing speed and low battery usage at levels that are best in the industry, way, way beyond what Intel ever provided. These Macs are the fastest Macs ever made by leaps and bounds.

The first products using this new “M1” chip are on the lower end of the Mac range. Introduced so far are:

  • MacBook Air

  • MacBook Pro (13”, similar design to 2016+ models)

  • Mac mini

  • iMac (24”, replacement for the 21.5”)

  • iPad Pro

Next to have the Apple “system on a chip” are the higher end. These are expected in the 2nd half of this year. This is based on rumor, so don’t take this to the bank:

  • MacBook Pro (all new 14” and 16”, rumored with the return of the MagSafe charger)

  • Mac Pro

  • iMac (replacement for the 27”, rumored to be a 32” model)

This is the biggest change to the Mac lineup since 2005. It is a really big deal. So, if you are in the market for a new Mac, make SURE to get or wait for the Apple chip versions. Do not buy an Intel Mac now, you will regret it down the road.

Of course, Apple introduced new iPhones last September, as they do every year. I am underwhelmed by them. 5G cellular is not that big of deal (yet) and the nearest system is in some parts of Seattle. To support 5G, they put in smaller batteries and 5G chews battery at a pretty good clip. Overall, I am more impressed with the 2019 phones (11 and 11 Pro) than the 12 series. The 2019 phones are only available on the Apple Refurb Store (to my knowledge). On top of that, I am not a fan of the non-Pro models (simply called 11 and 12). The main reason for this is the cameras. They have dual cameras, but the wrong ones. They have a normal camera and a wide angle camera. Not very useful. The Pro models have 3 cameras: normal, wide and telephoto. Telephoto is most useful in a phone camera. Wide angle is not that useful.

All that said, the iPhone 13s, due out this coming September, promise to have a leap forward in cameras and battery life. I will be keeping my iPhone XS (2018) at least until then.

We continue to enjoy YouTube TV as our live TV service (as a cheaper alternative to Comcast cable, Dish or Direct TV). We use it via our Apple TV device. That said, we are getting spoiled with so much Netflix and Hulu streaming in the last year. My tolerance for many minutes of commercials at regular intervals on TV is coming to an end. We may just pull the plug on live TV altogether soon.

I will end here. Lots more to talk about and I will be picking up the regular blogging pace again. Thanks for reading!