Computer Woes

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electrolux137

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 30, 2022
Messages
175
Location
Los Angeles
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I may be "in absentia" for a while... My Mac died last night. I am waiting for a technician to come look at it but until I find out what's wrong and whether or not I can afford to get it fixed, I won't be on-line very much. Just one more problem I don't need right now. Please keep Arlee and me in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks...
 
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I'm in a client's office right now. I put my hard drives in her Mac and they're fine, Thank God. (System Drive, Data Drive, Backup Drive). So the problem is something else. Still waiting for the Mac technician to get here. Just hope it's nothing expensive....... *sigh*
 
That's why I use Microsoft. They may have their faults but the computers can be picked up dirt cheap if you need a quick replacement. Macs are just far too expensive for me to even consider. I could literally buy a CAR for the value of one.
 
I love my Macs

I've been a Mac user for almost 25 years and I find them far more reliable than 'Win-blows' machines. Granted, they're not immortal but they're reliable and I don't have 'Big Brother' forcing unwanted updates on me, nor have I had to clear a bunch of 'shovelware' off in order to make it usable. And I've never had a registry error on any Mac because they don't have a registry!

Hope you can get yours working again without too much heartburn.
 
it most likely could be the motherboard. and regardless of operating systems I stick I have both OS, windows and Linux. I prefer the windows because if anything were to go wrong I am VERY familiar with it. people have personal Preferences and like the saying goes " all mechanical and electrical things are prone to failure no matter how it works."
 
I am an IT technician. Where I work there are veterans of the IT industry. Guys there have worked for BAE systems. Nokia, IBM and so many others. Our college has windows PC's mainly with a couple of MAC rooms for the media and music students. We swear by Macs. Their build quality is just sooo good. Solid chunk of beautifully machined metal, keyboards and mice which feel quality and no waiting around for boot-up and we have 0 problems with them. Inside they are quality machines as well. They last for years and apple support is brilliant.

Needless to say, I got a MacBook pro 2015 model with force touch track-pad and I love it. Never go back to a PC.
 
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No news on my Mac. My very busy computer tech still has it and hasn't called yet.

I have been cross-platform literate for many years. Got my first PC in 1986 and have used Macs since 1990. My preference, by a wide margin and on many fronts, is the Mac.
 
That was a GOOD ONE!!! Touché ...HEEHEEHEEHEE!!!
smiley-smile.gif
 
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I heard from my Mac technician this evening. The problem is big but not as big as it could have been.

What happened was that the video card failed. It's a painful expenditure for me, but, again, it could have been a lot worse. I'll have to wait a few days for him
to get and install the card. Hopefully I'll be back in business by this coming weekend. Maybe sooner.

The best part of all this is that I didn't lose any of my data. Again, I do have a backup drive but with the Mac dead in the water, all the backups in the world would not have helped.

Thanks for all-y'all who commiserated.......
 
I prefer Macs too

Sorry to hear about the problem you had with your Mac Pro Charles, but glad you got it resolved. True, a video card can be expensive, but thank God it wasn't the system board. That would have been far more expensive. I currently have two computers, a 2006 Mac Pro, and a 2007 MacBook Pro. Both are running OS X, Windows 10 (in a boot camp partition and under VMware) and OpenSUSE Linux. I run 90 percent of what I need for work under OS X and the odd work program that is "Windows Only" under Windows 10. I run Linux because we use it as a server platform, and I use it as a learning tool and guinea pig for testing things out. Both Macs are very speedy, and run all the latest versions of softwae without a hiccup. How many people do you know that have a Windows machine that is 8 or 9 years old and still running? I can't tell you the last time I had a system crash under OS X. Crashes a plenty with Windows (but not as much with the newer versions). Basically, I like all of the platforms and they all do what I want them to do. I like Apple hardware because it really lasts. True, it does cost more, but you do get what you pay for. And it holds its value too. Resale prices on used Macs is up there too.
 
Only a month ago I considered changing up to my Macbook Air '11 since the Macbook 13.3" from 2008 is beginning to slow down due to its older components. However upon discovering a social site auction group online, I managed to get an old iMac for £200. I couldn't be happier. It previously used OSX 10.7.5 when I bought it and having used that OSX system before I was quite happy to keep it.

However, last week I upgraded to El Capitan OSX 10.11.1 and I'm even more happy. The fonts, the colours and the clarity has improved and it brings it into line with my Macbook Air'11.

Put simply, even a second hand Mac built by a knowledgeable Mac technician can be cost effective.
 
Its touch and go with me. Years ago I bought a second hand refurbished black Macbook 4,1 similar to what I already own and bought it purely for use in schools. Bought from a seller on Amazon UK claiming to be an expert builder... The computer barely lasted three years and when taken to a Genius bar appointment, the computer was opened up only to find that several incompatible boxes had been slotted in for more or less a cheap rip off sale. I was livid but for the price I paid I couldn't have bought a new Mac anyway at the time. Lesson learnt there - I never buy refurbished computers off Amazon UK now.
 
Macs and Windows

Working as an IT tech for over 10 years in a middle school I find that both can be a pain in the butt. We have iMacs, Macbook pro laptops, Dell Lattitude series laptops of various models. We also have Dell Optiplex desktop workstations. Of all these the most reliable by far are the Dell desktops. In the 8 years we have had them only 4 have gone out for outright failures such as a bad hdd or power supply. Otherwise it has just been occasional re-imaging and a switch over to Windows 7. The Dell laptops aren't bad either but more of those go out for repair for things like damaged LCD screens and keyboard spills and the ocassional system board issue.

The Macs have had there issues too, especially the Macbook Pro's and the OSX 10.6-10.8 operating systems. The Macbook Pro laptops have suffered the most issues with the vast majority of them needing to be sent out for power supply cable's with the magnetic ends breaking off, faulty keyboards and system boards and the famous no power problem despite being charged up all night. The Macs also do not play very well with either Novell or Active Directory and the Mac server goes down twice as often as the Windows servers. I have also gone through a total of 3 iMacs since 2007 with the past 2 suffering from failed hdd's. My current iMac with OSX 10.8 is suffering from an unresponsive internet lockup issue that nobody has yet been able to resolve leading me to believe that the same issues with 10.6 carried over to 10.8. I'm going to try upgrading to 10.9.5 to see if this problem still occurs. Google searching this issue finds many others with these same issues. Using Chrome, Firefox or Safari all produces the same result.

Windows can be a pain also with the lovely genuine advantage anti-piracy system flashing up telling the user that there operating system may be counterfeit. Then there are the Windows profile issues and I could go on. The point here being that neither is without it's faults. When I ask a tech or admin staff which they prefer they almost always answer that both have there issues and 6 guys might prefer Apple and another 6 could say Windows so it goes without saying.
 
I build my own boxes

Been using one Microsoft is or another since I started with DOS and deskmate from Radio Shack. If you buy quality components a Intel/windows machine can be rock solid reliable. My last box was a AMD hex core running win7 and its still working since built in 2011. My latest build is a I7 980 and Win 10, which I'm still dialing in 10 but the board is a older Asus P6T Deluxe which is a high quality server grade board.
I can't afford a Mac and I can build a much nicer box with all the features I want for cheap.
I spose I could build a hackintosh now that they use Intel stuff but I understand windows and everything is way cheaper to deal.
I have hard drives that still work from 95/96 and all my old boxes still usable are in use by family members and still work.
I've had boxes fail hard with bad motherboards and things, upgrade the board and move on. Most just became outdated or slow so I upgraded and passed em on.
Most hard drives lasts about 5 years too, but some just won't die. I usually run a machine 5 years before I upgrade here.
 
I was a bit annoyed earlier this evening with Windows 8 or whatever the heck they have added to the Nokia Lumia phone that failed to go onto the Mac 10.6.8 on my friend's computer. In the end the Nokia phone and associated software from online sources works fine on 10.11.3 El Capitan but no use on Snow Leopard at all.

No fault of the Apple Mac though, but rather of Windows who have fallen out of favour with Apple and their reluctance to give drivers that would work with the phone. My friend can't abide her Nokia phone and is now looking to get Android since I gave her a quick try out of my old Samsung Galaxy phone.

'end of the day be it a Mac or a PC, sometimes the branding from another device can often be at fault.
 

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