I Hate Computers

[mpeirce]

All the components are made the same way, with the same technology, out of the same materials, and sometimes in the same factory. Maybe the case is more stylish, but under the hood it's the same stuff.

While that was somewhat true in the past when Macs ran Intel CPU's, it's not so much true currently.

Apple designs it's own silicon these days. Most people buy laptops and Macs running Apple silicon is a very much tuned for excellent speed without draining batteries.

They also contain lots of custom processors for things like video encode/decode, machine learning, along with up to 76 CPU cores. There are other significant differences if you look into it.

Anyway, there's a reason that Apple Macs are going through a real renaissance.

(Tomorrow night there's an Apple event where they may well introduce the next generation, M3 based, Macs).

 

[jollystomper]

My issue isn't computers that don't last but not enough room for all the computers .

I built couple of dollies that I can put my tower servers on and roll them under 2 tables so they are not in the way.

Of course, than only handles 8 of them. 2 others, however, do look nice as abutments to end tables .

 

[dixonge]

I'd love to see that spec for spec comparison. Putting aside "religion" about which OS is better, I question the premise that Apple computers last longer by any objective measure.

I'll grant that you might find them a better value for your particular use case. But frankly, to a lot of people, they're a fashion statement. They'll gladly pay more just to be in style. All the components are made the same way, with the same technology, out of the same materials, and sometimes in the same factory. Maybe the case is more stylish, but under the hood it's the same stuff.

"Most experts agree that the average Mac computer can operate optimally for approximately 6 to 8 years, while the average Windows device is best retired around 4 years."

https://simplemdm.com/blog/mac-vs-pc-cost-of-ownership/

This matches my IT experience. 4-year replacement cycles were standard when I worked in a Dell shop. As someone else has already noted, Apple has diverged from the rest of the computer manufacturing world with its own CPU and GPU chips across all devices. In addition, they are more able to fine-tune the software and hardware integration since it is all done in-house.

A large part of my IT time was spent in two areas: anti-virus and drivers. Both are a MAJOR PITA w/ PC's, a constantly moving target. In my personal tech life I have owned and built everything from desktop to micro, Windows to Linux to Chromebook to Mac. I'm now firmly back in the Apple ecosystem and a large part of that is not needing to constantly troubleshoot and fix ****, although my wife does often need help as she has some sort of anti-electronics force field surrounding her... lol

 

[target2019]

I built couple of dollies that I can put my tower servers on and roll them under 2 tables so they are not in the way.

Of course, than only handles 8 of them. 2 others, however, do look nice as abutments to end tables .

One great thing about having a basement is that when the kids leave, it's all yours.

Since the mid 90's I've had a basement room where I could break down or set up systems. Once the rest of the basement was freed up, I had room to set up desks and shelves. It became a large electronics playroom for me.

I once had three all-in-one macs on worktables, trying to recover valuable family videos on a client's mac. I had to buy a special cable as new mac had different ports than the old system with failing drive. He was very greatful to receive the videos of their very young children, all neatly copied to the new machine.

Of course this was a system that no Apple shop would work on. They were happy to sell the guy a new 27" imac, but had no solution for the old one. The model was no longer supported.

I think that is a significant point that most are not aware of. Every hardware/system combination is only supported for so long, then your manufacturer dumps you into the waiting hands of whatever repair shop you can find.

 

[david born 1950]

I took a long time before I tried to use a computer. I never owned one, just used library computers. It was not until 2011 until I got a mobile phone (a flip phone) and was not until 2018 until I got a prepaid Tracfone, a smart phone. It is an immense advantage to have Internet everywhere.

Word and Excel are my mainstays on library desktop computers. However, my whole approach towards either desktop or mobile is this: I do not, unlike most people, save things to these devices. Instead, I keep all my data (banking, inventory, contact lists, anything else that I need to keep) on flash drives. When I update something (I have banking lists of withdrawals and deposits from 2007, instantly available) I save to the file in my flash drive, then, immediately, I send myself an email with an attachment (I have two emails: I send from Yahoo to Google) and, if the flash drive gets lost, I can easily download. I save NOTHING to a desktop computer or mobile phone. I do not even lock my phone. To me, it is simply a tool for doing what I have to do. - David

I have now been elevated to 'cover sheet wannabe'. [Mod Edit]

 

[athena53]

The last couple of years were not so good for me with these devices. Two years ago, I lost a 2-year old HP laptop because it wouldn't charge. Repair guys told me it was probably the charging port and they could open it up for $85 but if the port was integrated with the motherboard they'd have to replace the entire guts of the machine. I took it home, downloaded all the mission-critical files before it died completely, and gave up on it.

Last May, not wanting to lug the replacement laptop with me on a trip to South America, I took a smaller, ancient (8-year old) Asus with me. I'd updated passwords, downloaded mission-critical apps and the night before the flight, when I was staying at an airport hotel, it died. Display began flashing, needed a new display driver (found out from a Google search on my phone), there was none available for my ancient Windows OS and my computer didn't support an upgrade to the OS.

So- last month I started out in E. Europe with a new tablet computer I'd bought a couple of months earlier so I had a bigger screen than my phone (I like reading library books and needed to get the church newsletter out). I went to the Tesla Museum in Belgrade and they demo'd a 250-volt generator after making sure that no one in the room had a pacemaker. I didn't consider the fact that the tablet was in my backpack on the floor when they discharged the generator. Got back to the hotel and half the display was black. What WAS displayed kept changing from app to app without my touching the keys.

So... do I get the award for the most bizarre computer failure?

I'm leaning towards Mac for my next PC but I hope that won't be for awhile, and I know that the Tesla incident probably would have killed a Mac, too.

 

[target2019]

I worked on all types of systems. The only things I've bought since 2000 or so have been mid-range Dell desktops.

For travel we take a Google or Lenovo Duet tablet.

 

[easysurfer]

I'm impressed. That Tesla incident is pretty good bragging rights .

My personal experience of computer stuff zapped include frying a couple of CPUs trying to build a PC and blown capacitors on a bad board.

Oh, then there was this time I killed a laptop when I wasn't paying attention and tried to connect a cable to the wrong port and heard something sizzle.

 

[target2019]

On the flight back from Germany we experienced a lot of depressurization pain.

Next day I noticed my phone battery had swelled. Next next day she noticed her apple watch had same problem.

Am I crazy to associate those things?

 

[deserat]

"Most experts agree that the average Mac computer can operate optimally for approximately 6 to 8 years, while the average Windows device is best retired around 4 years."

https://simplemdm.com/blog/mac-vs-pc-cost-of-ownership/

This matches my IT experience. 4-year replacement cycles were standard when I worked in a Dell shop. As someone else has already noted, Apple has diverged from the rest of the computer manufacturing world with its own CPU and GPU chips across all devices. In addition, they are more able to fine-tune the software and hardware integration since it is all done in-house.

A large part of my IT time was spent in two areas: anti-virus and drivers. Both are a MAJOR PITA w/ PC's, a constantly moving target. In my personal tech life I have owned and built everything from desktop to micro, Windows to Linux to Chromebook to Mac. I'm now firmly back in the Apple ecosystem and a large part of that is not needing to constantly troubleshoot and fix ****, although my wife does often need help as she has some sort of anti-electronics force field surrounding her... lol

I currently work in IT. I had several personal PC issues last year-a Dell had the dreaded battery management issue, my Toshiba Portege (loved that lightweight laptop) got caught in the Win 10/11 upgrade mess - I don’t like auto update anything-ended up PopOS Linux on an HP designed for it. I am still doing a lot on computer mgmt at home. I’m at the point in my life where I don’t want to have to troubleshoot these issues-just because I can doesn’t mean I want my time spent on that anymore. I just want it to work when I need it to.

My colleagues who work with me all mostly have Macs at home. They say they are stable, last long, they can run virtual boxes for Microsoft if necessary and they aren’t spending personal time managing IT.

After I retire for good next spring, a Mac it is for me. I like tech but don’t want to hassle with it on my personal time.

To the OP, you’ve gotten great advice-the Chromebook or Mac would work for you. I now say you have to pick your borg and stay with them….

 

[Car-Guy]

I'm impressed. That Tesla incident is pretty good bragging rights .

My personal experience of computer stuff zapped include frying a couple of CPUs trying to build a PC and blown capacitors on a bad board.

Oh, then there was this time I killed a laptop when I wasn't paying attention and tried to connect a cable to the wrong port and heard something sizzle.

One of my earlier basic electronic classes the instructor once said that the same "stuff" was inside all electronic components. They are all made of "special white or blue smoke". Ever notice that when you see an electronic device leaking white or blue smoke it usually stops working? Clearly the smoke got out.

 

[braumeister]

One of my earlier basic electronic classes the instructor once said that the same "stuff" was inside all electronic components. They are all made of "special white or blue smoke". Ever notice that when you see an electronic device leaking white or blue smoke it's stops working? Clearly the smoke got out.

Back in the day, English cars were known for this.

 

[Car-Guy]

^^^^
I'll need to get some of that to put on my shelf of seldom used auto components. Right next to my bottle of blinker fluid and the box of muffler bearings.

 

[ejman]

Where do you guys find refurbished laptops with Linux already pre-installed or are you ditching windows after purchase? I've got an older System 76, but those have gotten expensive.

The Dell laptops I bought directly from Dell _they have a refurbished section in their website. The HP desktops from ebay refurbishers. The inexpensive ones usually come with Win 10 installed in an old fashioned mechanical hard drive. I just take it out or relegate to secondary hd and just install linux in a fast SS hard drive. The computers are really fast and responsive with linux on a SS HD. And SS hHD are cheap now particularly since linux doesn't need as much room as windows

 

[ejman]

With a Mac, you connect an external or networked drive, launch TimeMachine (Apple’s backup program) and tell it to backup your hard drive. That’s it - it runs in the background to Backup your entire hard drive. You can restore a file, a folder or the entire hard drive. When you buy a new Mac, you can restore the entire backup image to the new computer.

TimeMachine has worked the same way for over a decade. Apple - it just works

The version of linux i use mxlinux has a program called timeshift that does the same thing automatically

. I've only had to use it once but it sure came in handy.

 

[easysurfer]

The version of linux i use mxlinux has a program called timeshift that does the same thing automatically

. I've only had to use it once but it sure came in handy.

I've used Timeshift several times. It's one of those don't use Linux without it programs.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Try an external hard drive or SSD. You can plug it into a USB port and copy ALL your data files to it. Will have a lot more space than a flash drive. Not expensive.

Just make double sure you COPY and not MOVE the files!

 

[Trailwalker]

I've used Timeshift several times. It's one of those don't use Linux without it programs.

I learn something almost every day on these forums about something. Installed Timeshift on my laptop.

 

[Bluenose]

Like david born 1950 I send myself emails with the files as attachments for fear of losing them. Retiring at Christmas so will be returning my HP laptop to work. Debating whether I can get by on my iPad Pro or if I will need a laptop, 90 % of my time is browsing the internet though I do have some excel spreadsheets for finances. Going to look into Chrome but quite like having a tablet.