Don't know if I will (probably not) but I'm thinking about getting a mid range Apple system. Not a phone but a computer. To be honest it would just be a 'toy' and a learning device to give me something new to do.

If anyone is using an Apple computer I'd appreciate any input as to a system that would be considered as a high novice level or medium intermediate level system. Just for space consideration I'd prefer a laptop. LOL! I live in a one bedroom apartment and have 2 desktops and a laptop along with a Microsoft and an Android tablet. Then there is the total of 157 inches of displays between four screens.

Any ideas?

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No recent experience for me, but quite a few years back I purchased 2 iMac computers -- the classic style all in one with the different colors for the monitor casing. One was for my father and the other for me as reference to be able to teach and support him in using it. The Apple universe just wasn't for me.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

Sorry Jay the only Apple tech I have is my iPhone.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Thanks.

Just looked on New Egg and found a Apple Macbook Air 13.3" refurbished for $429.00. It was introduced in 2017. Only has a 128 GB SSD but also has a SD card slot that could be used for added storage. No HDMI to add an external monitor but does have Bluetooth so I could probably cast to either of my new TVs.

Still not sure but just may pick this up. Since refurbished items tend to go quickly I'll have to decide soon.
https://www.newegg.com/silver-apple-macbook-air-a1466-everyday-value/p/1TS-00BN-00019

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Decided to get the thing.

Almost didn't order but decided what the heck. It drops my 'slush fund' under $1000.00 but that will be back over in two weeks so no big deal. I just like to keep my slush fund over a grand. Since New Egg showed only three available I didn't want to miss the price of $429.00 when, if new, the cost is supposed to be $999.00.

Since I'm not sure about Apple I added a year of warranty coverage which I normally don't do. I did not get an SSD card for added storage at this time but that is easy to get later.

Looking at independent reviews the only real downside of the unit is that it uses a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) instead of LED for the display. The only issue with a TFT display is that text can, sometimes, be a bit fuzzy around the edges. Since I doubt that I'll be doing programming or word processing on the thing I don't see it being a factor.

I don't really trust battery life claims but this unit is supposed to get over 10 hours.

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That's not a bad deal at all. My doctor's office used the MacBook Air devices for years as the doc went room to room. Have fun with it.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

I hope to have fun Steve but even more I hope to learn a bit. I haven't run anything Apple since the original Macintosh and even that was through an emulator on my Atari ST system. Since the Macintosh and Atari ST both used the same Motorola CPU the emulation was quite good.

Tracking says I should have it next Wednesday. I always worry when I order something refurbished but have never actually had an issue. Well... actually my Asus laptop showed up with no OS installed and a bad battery but I had plenty of Windows 7 Ultimate codes and intended to go from the Home edition it was supposed to have to Ultimate anyway. The battery was replaced without my even returning the original so I find it hard to call the laptop an issue especially since I'll have had it for 10 years come January and it runs Windows 10 just fine although the boot time is slow.

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For us, learning *is* fun.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

I agree Stephen, I love the learning when it comes to technology, I'm not saying I remember it all but I love the process.

At the moment I'm down to 1 laptop, I gave my Asus to my granddaughter, she was 7 on Tuesday and will be moving to juniors at school when they return in September so will need a computer.

I want to play with 11 but I can't put it on this HP as there isn't enough room and I don't want to start messing around with a virtual space and want to leave this one running 10.

Trouble is at the present I don't fully understand the specification that is needed on a new machine to run it. I've been looking around a bit but don't really know what to buy yet.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

I don't think the final minimum requirements for Windows 11 have been nailed down. I am running the beta on 2 fairly old machines that don't meet the published requirements with secure boot and TPM. Any new machine, with the exception of some budget models, should be fine for Windows 11.

-steve

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

This is true.

Something I find odd with this I5 Macbook Air put out in 2017 is that I could have gotten a 2015 version with an I7 for the same price but the I5 version beats the I7 as to performance in just about every benchmark.

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I'm rather impatient and so want to try it out but think I'll try and wait a bit longer before getting a new machine.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

If you wait until the holidays for a new system you should have options to buy a system that already has Windows 11 installed.

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Going back to the Macbook Air I ordered, searches show that it has no software security. I'm thinking about going with MBAM Premium and either Avast or AVG free versions. I intend to also do system images but have yet to find if the thing has built in imaging software basically due to my not yet searching that aspect. I DO wonder if my Acronis True Image boot CD would work. My Acronis boot CD is Linus based so needed device drivers would likely be included. Since it does a sector by sector image I don't see where the OS concerned should matter. The catch 22 on that is that I'll need another proven image solution to try before trying Acronis. If I just try the Acronis boot CD and it fails on a restore I'd be a bit stuck although, if Acronis reported the backup as successful, it would probably be good to go. Shoot, to be honest, I don't even know if this thing uses an NTFS file system. I think that it would but don't actually know.

As an add-on I stated before that I could have gotten a 2015 version of this system with an I7 instead of the I5 in the 2017 version that I ordered. The only reason that I stated in that post was that the 2017 I5 beat the 2015 I7 on benchmarks... possibly different generations of the chips. There was also another reason. The 2017 I5 version includes an SD card slot that I can use for extra storage by adding something like a 256 GB SD like I did with my Microsoft Surface 3. The 2015 I7 version did not offer an SD slot. That was probably the bigger deal breaker for the 2015 I7.

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https://kb.acronis.com/content/61659

Cloning a Mac

Thanks David.

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Mainly @ dvair.

Just double checked and my Acronis 2019 should be OK. If not I also have Acronis 2021 but prefer 2019 going with a Linux based boot CD. I just don't like having Acronis actually installed as it seems to take a lot of system resources. I install, create recovery media and then uninstall.

I hope to be able to clone to an external and test by booting from the external. I actually prefer a clone backup over an image anyway even though I still do images.

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I don't have it installed either, installed it to create recovery media and then uninstalled. I created both a Windows and Linux USB drive so I can use either. I wasn't going to renew my license but may now that 11 is coming out.

Sounds like we go in the same direction but we've discussed that before.

LOL! Back to @ everyone...

I HOPE that I can figure out the BIOS on this Macbook Air to be able to setup boot device priority! To be honest I don't really expect much difference in the BIOS but one never knows. The thing is that I can't test a clone backup unless I can boot to the clone which would involve a BIOS change to have a USB drive set to boot before the hard drive or having a boot menu option where I can hit an F# key to bring up a menu of bootable devices. Actually the latter is how I do the clone backups on my main system. I put in the CD and hit the F11 key on the post screen after a restart. Gives me the option to boot from my main drive, clone backup or optical/USB.

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Glad that I ordered the Macbook Air when I did. I paid $429.00 and the price has already jumped to $550.00.

Going to be a busy second half of the week. Macbook is slated to arrive tomorrow, 8/25 and I will be tutoring a new computer user starting Friday... Then, of course, there will be NFL football and MLB baseball taking time... Gonna be busy.

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Indians aren't going anywhere, so you have plenty of time on your hands.

Wildcard is still a remote possibility but not very likely. Just too many pitching injuries; hard to deal with losing your top three starters...

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The little beasty is here and the appearance is pristine.

Charger works and seems pretty quick. when turned on the battery was at 63%. After an hour it is at 100%.

Logitech wireless mouse attached without issue but the scroll wheel seems reversed. Might find something in settings to correct. No big deal as it does work. Scroll wheel is back to normal with a settings change.

Firefox is installed but looks rather weird, totally different than the Windows version.

Edge is installed and will probably be the default. Actually looks better than the Windows version as it includes an extended menu bar.

Office 365 is installed.

This was posted with Edge on the Macbook Air.

<edit>
I did run in to one issue with Office 365. The thing came with Mac OS Mojave v10.14 so I had to install an older version of Office 365. Every time I do a restart Office wants to upgrade but can't due to the Mac OS version. Looked and was a bit surprised to find that upgrades for Mac OS seem to be free. MacOS Big Sur v11.5.2 is currently downloading. Will note the results.

Advertised 10 hour battery life MAY be understated. Been running on battery for about 70 minutes and the battery indicator still shows 94%

<edit>

Firefox is now fine on the Macbook Air. I think the initial issuee was that I didn't understand the dialogs and it never really installed.

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YEA!

Upgrade to MacOS Big Sur went fine even if it took a while.

Still had an issue with Office 365 as I no longer had the option to upgrade. Just uninstalled and then installed the current version. It went fine. . As a note there is no Programs and features for uninstalling like in Windows. You open a listing of all apps and just drag what you want to lose to the trash can. When you empty trash it does the actual uninstall. This allows for removing multiple apps at the same time.

Networking to my two desktops went quick and easy. Have yet to do for my Laptop and Surface as they are not powered on.

The 'dock' (Think Taskbar) is quite similar to Windows Taskbar as to pinning and launching apps.

One thing I don't like is that there is no option for changing the DPI to increase text size. You have to go to a lower resolution.

Another grumble is that you don't seem to be able to change mouse pointere, only the size.

All in all it doesn't seem like a bad little system.

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I'm glad to see that you're having fun.

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"