Category Archive

I haven’t been to an Apple store in a couple of years. My last experience wasn’t the best given how little Mac product presence there was. As the iPhone now generates nearly three-quarters of Apple’s revenue and profit, Macs clearly seem secondary to Apple. Recent news on the elimination of the Business- and Event-related positions have led many to believe Apple is ready to abandon the prosumer market. The lack of upgrades to the Mac Pro since late 2013 and the minimal performance upgrades to the latest MacBook Pro are clear indicators. Many wonder whether Apple is still committed to…

As a follow-up to my post on Thunderbolt eGPU for Macs back in September, this post details the next generation of Thunderbolt connectivity for most laptops including the Late 2016 MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 3. It is now integrated to the same physical port as USB Type C. The whole industry and Intel itself touted USB-C as the connector that does it all. So much so that Apple decided to drop all existing I/O in favor of USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 in its newest MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops. Apple announced the redesigned MacBook Pro at its October event. With…

Are you a Mac user who’s intrigued by the idea of Virtual Reality (VR) gaming? I was too but quickly realized there’s currently no support for VR on the Mac platform. The biggest name in Virtual Reality right now is the Oculus Rift VR headset and sensor. Oculus’ founder said he would have liked to make the device compatible for Mac users but that unfortunately none of the Mac computers in Apple’s current lineup has the graphical horsepower to run it. He’s right. Apple has always taken the safe and arguably low-cost route when it comes to graphics cards, also…

Not often does one get the opportunity to work with world-class experts in their field. It was a pleasant surprise for me this past weekend to have met Dave Bracey. He contacted me for help with his 17″ MacBook Pro. Dave is the Front of House engineer for Adele Live 2016 which started the first leg of its North American tour at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. Shortly after getting to town, Dave found his 17″ MacBook Pro no longer powered on. In less than 24 hours I got him back up and running. It was right…

Keyboard replacement on a unibody MacBook Pro is not a simple process. It involves taking every major component inside the laptop apart and removing many screws. Just how many screws are in a unibody MacBook Pro? The quick answer is around 100. The precise answer depends on the exact model year and screen size of your MacBook Pro. The one component with the highest concentration of screws is actually right under your finger tips. That keyboard you’re typing on is held together by at least 50 to 70 tiny screws. I recently replaced a keyboard on a unibody 15″ MacBook Pro (damaged due…

Data loss is one of those things you hope you never have to deal with. Macs are often perceived as well-built and extremely reliable. However the reality is that data loss can and does happen. It may be due to a failing hard drive, full hard drive or liquid spill. As we store more and more of valuable data on our computers, data recovery has become increasingly difficult with Apple’s introduction of flash storage hard drives to their laptop lineup. Let’s talk about the evolution of hard drives and why data recovery for Apple Mac laptops has become more challenging. As…

FirstTech was an important place to me. It was where I first explored Apple computers and began what is now a decade-long journey into Apple computer repair. FirstTech was not just the first Apple reseller in Minneapolis; it was the first Apple reseller anywhere, right here in Minnesota in 1977. In March 2014, FirstTech closed its door after nearly 37 years in business due to heightened competition. With retail, repair and managed service offerings alike, it had been a great alternative to larger box stores and even regular Apple retail stores. What I liked most about FirstTech was its unassuming, plain exterior…

The last time Apple refreshed its Mac Pro was nearly three years ago. Even back then, the components Apple used to build its halo Mac were not the latest and greatest. As longtime fans and pro users, you and I know this is the typical offering from Cupertino. For many years, this wasn’t a big deal because you could simply upgrade the internal components as faster hard drives, newer graphics cards and more powerful processors became available. That was the appeal of the Mac Pro for hardcore Mac users. That upgradability ended with the Mac Pro trashcan design. Almost every component…

“My MacBook is sluggish and unresponsive.” “My MacBook Pro is insanely slow!” “I can barely use my Mac laptop. It’s crawling and takes forever to get anything done.” I hear these comments from customers all the time. Many deal with a sluggish MacBook for months, even years. If your MacBook or Macbook Pro is more than three years old, the hard drive is most likely to blame for the slowness you’re experiencing. The good news is that the hard drive can be replaced. MacBooks produced prior to 2013 typically contain a traditional spinning hard drive. A traditional spinning hard drive…