What’s on your mind?

[AVBeatMan]

What's on my mind? Setting up my brand-new 13" M1 MBP with 1 TB SSD and 16 GB RAM!!!

When I got up today I certainly was not anticipating this happening.....but in the early afternoon as I was doing my usual online routine, I idly went into the Apple store site and ran the specs, not expecting anything except the usual "Unavailable" indication, so was startled when I realized that my local store actually had inventory!!! Today! NOW! After I picked my jaw off the floor, I placed my order and about an hour and a half later a nice young man from the Apple store, playing courier, handed me the bag containing the box with my lovely new machine! I'm still in kind of a daze, actually!

I unboxed her but haven't yet unwrapped her from the protective plastic around her, as I'm not quite ready to set her up yet and I know that once I lift the lid I'll be wanting to get right to that.....

Instead, because she was still pretty cold from being exposed albeit it briefly to our chilly outdoor temperatures today, I left her to warm up and become acclimated to the house here while I made a quick trip to the library and got those books returned, that whole thing out of my way. With regard to computers, I have a couple of things I need to do (primarily clean out stuff in my email client) before I'm ready to set up the new machine and I'm thinking I'll do the needful tonight and then spend tomorrow happily setting up and playing with the newest member of the household.

Having that courier service is just terrific and certainly it is invaluable this time of year where there are going to be a lot of people at a mall anyway, not to mention particularly THIS year with the whole pandemic thing going on..... I placed my order, using Apple Pay and my Apple Card, and that way I will be getting the nice little percentage back from Apple, too.

I had thought that 2020 might be the first year in a very long time when I had actually not bought anything new from Apple, no exciting products, having other priorities for the most part and dealing with what had been local unavailability, but bingo, I came in under the wire with this!!!

I got the same machine just over a week ago. Kept checking the Apple Site and then one day, boom! One available. I think I was physically shaking as I placed the order, fully expecting someone to beat me to it! Drove to the store and in and out in under 5 minutes.

It’s a beautiful machine and the best MacBook I’ve ever owned. It is lightening fast and a pleasure to use (as I’m sure you’re already finding out). I’m so glad a decided to hold out for the 16GB RAM and 1TB storage. Enjoy your machine!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I got the same machine just over a week ago. Kept checking the Apple Site and then one day, boom! One available. I think I was physically shaking as I placed the order, fully expecting someone to beat me to it! Drove to the store and in and out in under 5 minutes.

It’s a beautiful machine and the best MacBook I’ve ever owned. It is lightening fast and a pleasure to use (as I’m sure you’re already finding out). I’m so glad a decided to hold out for the 16GB RAM and 1TB storage. Enjoy your machine!

What's on my mind? Setting up my brand-new 13" M1 MBP with 1 TB SSD and 16 GB RAM!!!

When I got up today I certainly was not anticipating this happening.....but in the early afternoon as I was doing my usual online routine, I idly went into the Apple store site and ran the specs, not expecting anything except the usual "Unavailable" indication, so was startled when I realized that my local store actually had inventory!!! Today! NOW! After I picked my jaw off the floor, I placed my order and about an hour and a half later a nice young man from the Apple store, playing courier, handed me the bag containing the box with my lovely new machine! I'm still in kind of a daze, actually!

I unboxed her but haven't yet unwrapped her from the protective plastic around her, as I'm not quite ready to set her up yet and I know that once I lift the lid I'll be wanting to get right to that.....

Instead, because she was still pretty cold from being exposed albeit it briefly to our chilly outdoor temperatures today, I left her to warm up and become acclimated to the house here while I made a quick trip to the library and got those books returned, that whole thing out of my way. With regard to computers, I have a couple of things I need to do (primarily clean out stuff in my email client) before I'm ready to set up the new machine and I'm thinking I'll do the needful tonight and then spend tomorrow happily setting up and playing with the newest member of the household.

Having that courier service is just terrific and certainly it is invaluable this time of year where there are going to be a lot of people at a mall anyway, not to mention particularly THIS year with the whole pandemic thing going on..... I placed my order, using Apple Pay and my Apple Card, and that way I will be getting the nice little percentage back from Apple, too.

I had thought that 2020 might be the first year in a very long time when I had actually not bought anything new from Apple, no exciting products, having other priorities for the most part and dealing with what had been local unavailability, but bingo, I came in under the wire with this!!!

I hope both of you enjoy your new machines; they sound absolutely wonderful.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I hope both of you enjoy your new machines; they sound absolutely wonderful.

Are you considering an upgrade to your MacBook Air?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Are you considering an upgrade to your MacBook Air?

Not immediately, or, more to the point, not until Covid conditions permit a full resumption of my professional life, - which means international travel - which, in turn, will allow for the funding of such purchases.

This is the first year in a quarter of a century that I have not been out of the country.

 

[Clix Pix]

Thanks, AVBeatman and SS! I have not yet set up my new machine -- that's on this afternoon's agenda! I always have to organize myself first, get out the list of passwords and other nitty-gritty details that I'll need, etc. I do the setup manually, I don't use Migration Assistant. I also don't keep a lot of stuff in the cloud, either.

However, I don't do a clean install in the sense of completely reinstalling the OS; I simply go with the OS as it is, and first, of course, updating as needed, and we just had a recent Big Sur update. Then I go through and tweak all the settings in the different places, getting the desktop and other things set up the way I prefer. All my bookmarks show up automatically thanks to iCloud, of course, so I'll then go into my different forums and favorite sites I visit frequently and do the needful login on each. Once that's all done, I then plug in an external drive and add select photos folders to the Pictures Folder, my iTunes library to the music folder, etc., etc. I expect the process will be a little more streamlined this time than in the past, and somewhat different than earlier machines and earlier versions of the OS. Looking forward to getting it done so I can just enjoy the new machine!

SS, even with the vaccines, it may be another year or possibly longer before you'll be able to resume your professional travels and such; I am wondering if your MBA is going to hold out that long! For your sake I hope it does.....

 

[Apple fanboy]

Not immediately, or, more to the point, not until Covid conditions permit a full resumption of my professional life, - which means international travel - which, in turn, will allow for the funding of such purchases.

This is the first year in a quarter of a century that I have not been out of the country.

Can’t really see that until 2022 tbh. Hope you’ll be okay until then. Could you find work to do with domestic elections? I know my Mum used to do counting of votes etc.

 

[AVBeatMan]

Clix Pix (or anyone else), can you recommend a USB C Hub for my Mac? I've been looking at a few but any recommendations would be appreciated.

Also, When you say you're going to add your iTunes to the Music folder, do you subscribe to Apple Music or are they your own purchased music? I ask as when I subscribed to Apple Music Apple replaced all my own music with their own digital copies. I have my library on an external hard drive but am a bit confused how iTunes (or what is now Apple Music) works?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Can’t really see that until 2022 tbh. Hope you’ll be okay until then. Could you find work to do with domestic elections? I know my Mum used to do counting of votes etc.

Well, since last February my work as an international election observer has been more or less put on hold, as conditions are pretty grim in some of the countries where I observe elections, and candidly, I will be pleasantly surprised if matters improve significantly before next autumn, but I don't expect that to happen.

Likewise, sort of capacity building of civil society aid projects I have worked on, in a political capacity, are also more or less on hold for now, a situation that I doubt will change before summer, or, more likely, autumn.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Well, since last February my work as an international election observer has been more or less put on hold, as conditions are pretty grim in some of the countries where I observe elections, and candidly, I will be pleasantly surprised if matters improve significantly before next autumn, but I don't expect that to happen.

Likewise, sort of capacity building of civil society aid projects I have worked on, in a political capacity, are also more or less on hold for now, a situation that I doubt will change before summer, or, more likely, autumn.

Grim. Hopefully something comes along. But until the vaccine is widely available (and not just in the rich western countries), I think our lives will continue to be directed by COVID matters.

 

[Clix Pix]

Clix Pix (or anyone else), can you recommend a USB C Hub for my Mac? I've been looking at a few but any recommendations would be appreciated.

Also, When you say you're going to add your iTunes to the Music folder, do you subscribe to Apple Music or are they your own purchased music? I ask as when I subscribed to Apple Music Apple replaced all my own music with their own digital copies. I have my library on an external hard drive but am a bit confused how iTunes (or what is now Apple Music) works?

Actually, I don't use a USB-C hub, although from time to time I have thought of getting one. I don't keep a lot of things plugged into my machines, even the primary 15" one, and I have all the appropriate cables with appropriate connectors for the ports. Both my machines that I have had since 2018 are USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 and actually, by the time I bought the 2018 machine I was already equipped with external SSD drives which had both USB-C - to USB-C cables and USB-C to USB-A cables, which I needed when making the switch from my 2015 MBP to the current one. That said, I imagine that things will be a little different now with USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 hubs and the new M-1 processor, so probably a good idea to do some research prior to buying anything, make sure that there is actual compatibility. I think there's a thread or two here on MR that addresses that.....

I am still using just iTunes, did not and don't plan to subscribe to Apple Music. Along with purchases I have made through the years in iTunes, I also have added various tracks or entire albums from favorite CDs -- some of which may not even be available in iTunes or Apple Music now anyway. Hm, come to think about it, the process which I have used in the past to simply copy the iTunes/music folder on the older machine to an external drive and then plop it down in the equivalent folder on the new machine may not work quite the same way..... Heh.... I will have plenty of space on the new machine to install my iTunes library, since the machine has 1 TB storage. Although I keep most of my photos on external drives (archival and current) I have never tried putting the iTunes library on an external drive and then instructing iTunes to retrieve the music from there, since I don't keep external drives plugged into my machines all the time.

Yeah, I, too, am confused about how iTunes and now Apple Music works, so you are not alone in this!

 

[Apple fanboy]

Clix Pix (or anyone else), can you recommend a USB C Hub for my Mac? I've been looking at a few but any recommendations would be appreciated.

Also, When you say you're going to add your iTunes to the Music folder, do you subscribe to Apple Music or are they your own purchased music? I ask as when I subscribed to Apple Music Apple replaced all my own music with their own digital copies. I have my library on an external hard drive but am a bit confused how iTunes (or what is now Apple Music) works?

I use the LMP one. https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/1535173552...XhczamqVJX8VaVGqM8abdnvsC9mmAaskaAmaFEALw_wcB

For my monitors I buy the appropriate USB c to whatever I need cable.
I tried the tiny USB A to USB C adaptors but they don’t push enough power even for a keyboard. I’ve got 2 going back.

 

[Clix Pix]

I think it is better to have a hub which comes with a power adapter rather than using one of the smaller bus-driven ones, as the latter are using the machine's own power, which may be insufficient, depending upon what one is trying to do.

Yeah, with these machines having only two Thunderbolt 3 ports, and both on the same side at that, most people will want a hub of some sort in order to have additional ports available, whether for USB-C, USB-A or Thunderbolt 3/4. I don't plan to plug the new machine into my monitor, nor to use more than one external SSD with my new machine, and won't be keeping it plugged in all the time anyway, but it will be nice to have that extra port available along with the charging port. While it is not a huge deal for me on the 12" MacBook, there have been times when I've really wished for at least one more port along with the single one provided on that machine.

For someone whose only machine is the M1 13" MBA or MBP, yes, additional ports provided by an external source are going to be really necessary.

 

[Clix Pix]

While I had this on my mind I checked the Cal-Digit site for what they have to say about compatibility:

Apple Silicon Mac & CalDigit Dock Compatibility – CalDigit

www.caldigit.com

 

[AVBeatMan]

I was thinking of something a little cheaper like this;

Anker 555 USB-C Docking Hub (8-in-1) PowerExpand Adapter, 100W Power Delivery, 4K 60Hz HDMI, 10Gbps USB-C & 2 USB-A Data Ports, Ethernet Port, MicroSD & SD Memory Card Reader, for MacBook Pro and More

Model Number: A8383 Anker 555 USB-C Hub (8-in-1) The High-Speed Data Transfer, Pass-Through Charging, and 4K Media Hub All The Ports You Need Turn your device’s USB-C port into 8 ports, allowing you to transfer data in seconds, stream media in unrivaled clarity, and provide high-speed pass-throug...

www.amazon.co.uk

OR this

VAVA USB C Hub 8-in-1 Multiport Adapter with 4K HDMI Port, 1 Gbps Ethernet Port, USB C Power Delivery, SD/TF Card Reader, 3 USB 3.0 Ports for MacBook Pro and Type C Windows Laptops

VAVA USB C Hub 8-in-1 Multiport Adapter with 4K HDMI Port, 1 Gbps Ethernet Port, USB C Power Delivery, SD/TF Card Reader, 3 USB 3.0 Ports for MacBook Pro and Type C Windows Laptops

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[Apple fanboy]

I was thinking of something a little cheaper like this;

Anker 555 USB-C Docking Hub (8-in-1) PowerExpand Adapter, 100W Power Delivery, 4K 60Hz HDMI, 10Gbps USB-C & 2 USB-A Data Ports, Ethernet Port, MicroSD & SD Memory Card Reader, for MacBook Pro and More

Model Number: A8383 Anker 555 USB-C Hub (8-in-1) The High-Speed Data Transfer, Pass-Through Charging, and 4K Media Hub All The Ports You Need Turn your device’s USB-C port into 8 ports, allowing you to transfer data in seconds, stream media in unrivaled clarity, and provide high-speed pass-throug...

www.amazon.co.uk

OR this

VAVA USB C Hub 8-in-1 Multiport Adapter with 4K HDMI Port, 1 Gbps Ethernet Port, USB C Power Delivery, SD/TF Card Reader, 3 USB 3.0 Ports for MacBook Pro and Type C Windows Laptops

VAVA USB C Hub 8-in-1 Multiport Adapter with 4K HDMI Port, 1 Gbps Ethernet Port, USB C Power Delivery, SD/TF Card Reader, 3 USB 3.0 Ports for MacBook Pro and Type C Windows Laptops

www.amazon.co.uk

Anker are a good brand. Not heard of the other.

 

[Conutz]

Grim. Hopefully something comes along. But until the vaccine is widely available (and not just in the rich western countries), I think our lives will continue to be directed by COVID matters.

It is expensive. Our government (South Africa), recently paid $19.2m (US) to GAVI. This is a deposit representing 15% of the total cost of securing access to vaccines for 10% of the population. If the cost is all proportional and doesn’t include some form of access/membership fee, we would need $1.28 billion for the entire population. Scary for a “poor” country - it looks like it may very well be a very long process.

 

[Apple fanboy]

It is expensive. Our government (South Africa), recently paid $19.2m (US) to GAVI. This is a deposit representing 15% of the total cost of securing access to vaccines for 10% of the population. If the cost is all proportional and doesn’t include some form of access/membership fee, we would need $1.28 billion for the entire population. Scary for a “poor” country - it looks like it may very well be a very long process.

That is indeed a lot of money. But the cost to the economy of doing nothing is catastrophic to not only the economy, but also for the population.

 

[Geekbabe]

Grim. Hopefully something comes along. But until the vaccine is widely available (and not just in the rich western countries), I think our lives will continue to be directed by COVID matters.

Thanking my lucky stars that I received my first Pfizer vaccine last Monday, 2nd dose on January 11th, I am a hospital worker who also has cancer, praying for the world to get the vaccine & soon!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Anker are a good brand. Not heard of the other.

Agreed, Anker are excellent.

 

[MacBH928]

MacOS is a truly beautiful OS. Its like an interactive painting including its smooth movement and animations+stability&reliability. SJ deserves to be in history just for making this OS. Even my Macbook hardware feels like an extension to the software.

Use Windows for 5min to feel the difference.

 

[Clix Pix]

OK, so I've been spending some hours with my new M1 machine and adding things to her, tweaking settings in her, etc., and so on...... She hasn't broken a sweat! After a while I went into Facebook, which usually midway through my browsing and participation causes both of my other machines to start getting pretty warm and then downright hot, not to mention eventually slowing down, but this little machine? No problem! She didn't get warm, she didn't start to send me messages about how much FB was affecting her and slowing her down, she just kept right on trucking. Fans didn't even kick in. WOW......!!!!

 

[Apple fanboy]

On my mind is the falling snow. Mrs AFB was going to get fresh vegetables this morning, but I’ve said I’ll take her. She’s a nervous driver and I don’t want her to worry driving through country lanes.

 

[kazmac]

Thanking my lucky stars that I received my first Pfizer vaccine last Monday, 2nd dose on January 11th, I am a hospital worker who also has cancer, praying for the world to get the vaccine & soon!

So glad to hear you are okay and thanks for being a health care worker too. Thank you.


@Clix Pix YAY! Congratulations on your MBP purchase. It’s a great machine. Glad you found one.

Mom is getting a little relief from med and anti-inflammatory vitamins.

Lots on my mind which I‘ll just keep mum about, but YAY! Blue Jay sightings in our front tree 30 minutes ago. 💙💙💙 Three Blue Jays were hopping about the tree, the ground and the roof gutter. I did not record everything (so excited I forgot to hit record the first time ), but I now have a few seconds of one Jay probing the roof gutter for something to eat.💙💙💙

I hope everyone is okay.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Books, Brexit, family, friends, and yes, evegtables are on my mind, among other matters.

 

[darkpaw]

What's on my mind? Oh a few things...

1. My company is unlikely to survive beyond the next few months because COVID has wiped out all my contracts.
2. I haven't worked since March 31st, and the UK government's support schemes only entitle me to about £400/month. My mortgage and bills are £1,600/month.
3. I've been trying to sell the company's 2019 Mac Pro and a 2020 13" MacBook Pro (bought because I was supposed to start a new contract but it got cancelled, and it's too late to send it back to Apple) on eBay for months, but no one will bite. People are watching my auctions, then never making an offer. What's the point in doing that? The only "people" who get in touch about an auction are scammers.
4. Because of my age I'm unlikely to get the COVID vaccine any time soon, so this stupid UK lockdown cr*p will continue for me for months. I wanna go to a pub!
5. I was supposed to go to New York with my niece, but again, COVID has killed that idea, and I now have £2,600 in BA Future Travel Vouchers I can't use, and $2,000 in cash I can't use (which I'll change back if I need the money, but at a massive loss).
6. Oh, and the Right-Wing Tory Extreme Brexit that's being forced on us in three days.

Yeah, not at all great. Others have it worse than me, cancer, coronavirus etc., so I can't be 100% grumpy about this year, but it's still stressful.