The Challenges of Technology

Over the past month, I have faced more than a few challenges with my Technology. Primarily the issues have surrounded my MacBook Pro and it finally got to the point that I had to take some action. Being that the computer is nearly six years old, I was not prepared to spend any more money on it. So the only option was to look at the possibilities for a new computer.

A New MacBook Pro

When it comes to looking for a computer to replace my current MacBook Pro, I knew I would be looking at Apple again. I do own a PC Laptop, but after so many years using Mac OSX I find it somewhat tricky going back to a PC.

There was a little time spent researching my options more so based on Price on Tuesday night. With an excursion to both the Apple store and some other stores on Wednesday morning. I had some ideas of what I wanted, but through the outing, I discovered another model that might just work for me. I spent much of Wednesday night watching reviews on Youtube about the model I found.

The specific model I found was the mid-2015 MacBook Pro 15″, 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (quad-core), 16GB memory, 256GB SSD & Intel Iris Pro Graphics. Even though this was an older mid-2015 model, it has still been a current model until very recently, from what I can tell.

The other options I was considering were all 13″ MacBook Pros. The biggest difference was the processor which was an Intel Core i5 (dual-core) and the amount of memory installed as standard at 8GB. While the processor did not concern me as much, I was very much looking for 16GB of memory. In the 13″ models this would have added another AUD $300 to the price, which would have made one model the same as the 15″ version and one still a little cheaper.

I opted to go for the 15″ version in the end, but that was the next step of the challenge. The stock availability was not great, but after a little calling around from the store, I visited soon had one secured.

The Transition

Having spent the last five and half years using the same computer, it has been a long time since I have transitioned between computers. So it was an experience that I have not had to carry out for some time. But I am trying to make it a somewhat purposeful process for me as well.

Even though I have maintained a time machine backup on my previous MacBook, I opted not to restore this to the new one. In favour of taking an approach to bringing in only what I need when I need it. In the beginning, this is going to cause me some challenges as I discover files I need that are on another drive and finding them. But I think in the long term this is the best approach to build new more focused systems.

Likewise, with the installation of software. I have been very purpose driven behind what I install. I will discuss this a little more in a section below.

Password, Usernames & Favourites

One of the biggest downfalls that I have come across in the transition is passwords, usernames and favourites. I got very used to having them saved for use in the computer. So in the last 48 hours, there has been a lot of guessing which password and username work for which sites. With quite a few visits to the Forgot Password link on websites. Thankfully as part of this process, I am taking some steps to keep some form of record for this. Although that is not a process, I will talk about, for some level of security to it.

One of the biggest loses I see at the moment is the internet favourites. While they are very likely in the time machine backup, I am not sure if I can extract just these, something I need to take a look at still. I think there is probably only a small handful that I would be disappointed to lose. But if I cannot recover them, that is no big loss.

Applications

One aspect of changing computers that I remember from the past was all the applications that I would install. Before switching to Apple with my last MacBook Pro, I was somewhat well practised at moving to a new computer. So much so that I had a list of applications I would just work on installing. Of which I rarely if ever used more than about half of them.

In getting started with this new computer, I have worked to install the least number of applications I can. There are a handful of background applications that I installed, including Rescue Time, Setapp and Dropbox. The other applications that I choose to install are based on what I use all the time. These included Google Chrome, Ulysses, Microsoft Office & Adobe applications (Photoshop, Lightroom, Premier & Audition).

Good Practices

Through a lot of the transition to a new computer, I am trying to put in place some good practices. Things like not installing software just because I can, not copying every single file I have and creating better workflows.

Be Purposeful

One aspect of this is trying to be purposeful in how I approach things. You can see this above in the applications that I have installed. I install each one because it is something that I frequently use, not just because it is on a list of applications that I own. The same with how I work with files, 80% of the data I had on the computer before I handly use. Especially now that I am working with a smaller hard drive, I need to be mindful of how I use the storage space.

Being purposeful with how you approach many aspects of using a computer can be extremely useful to many people I think. The more data and applications you have the more time you are going to spend trying to find the things you need.

Keep Records

Another aspect of what I am trying to do in moving to the new computer is to keep better records. Some of it is things like passwords and usernames. But there are also other things like the export settings in Lightroom and the watermark that I use. Along with many other little things that I am sure to come across as I go along.

Keep On Moving

Even though I have had a rough week with Technology this week, I am trying not to let that slow me down. You will see on Sunday in the weekly roundup there was still a full week or content. Which will include this post, which is the first piece of content that I am writing on the new computer, less than 24 hours after making the purchase.