When I received the good news a few weeks ago I wanted to celebrate by buying myself something special. As I searched on the Internet the troubles that I was having with my 11 year old MacBook Pro became a bit of a frustration. Insufficient RAM, programmes that couldn’t be updated because the operating system was an old one, keys with loose caps etc etc. So I decided that the answer was a new laptop. I couldn’t really afford another Pro but the Air was relatively reasonable particularly if you went for the M1 chip rather than the M2. The difference? I’m not really sure but it kept within what I could afford so … M1 it is.
The draw back with the M1 was that there appears that none were on hand in North America so it had to be brought in from China. On the 21st of February I received a cheery message advising me that my new toy was on it’s way. Hurrah!
I decided to track the package’s progress with UPS. It left Shanghai and made its way to Tokyo; then onward to Anchorage; hence to Louisville, Kentucky. For some reason it spend four days languishing in that fair city – which I have been given to understand is two days more than most tourists. It continued on the journey to Hamilton thence to Mirabel. A final spurt brought it here to Charlottetown and its home on Water Street. In nine days the damned thing travelled more than I have in the past four years!
“So you were all set to go!” guesses my faithful reader. Incorrect. I had to transfer the files and apps from old to new. Fortunately Apple makes it easy to do it with their Migration Assistant. You pair the two over the wireless network, hit the continue button and everything is migrated. And all it takes is 37 hours. No faithful reader, you read correctly 37 hours and eight minutes to be exact. Note to self: should you ever have to do this again clean up the old computer!
Being Apple none of my accessories fit the available ports (2 thunderthighed or something) as the connections are no longer lightening. So I had to buy a new mouse (I confess I am a failure at the trackpad) and say goodbye to the disc player. Strangely there is a port for headsets and it’s the plug in sort. The sooner we follow the EU and stop companies from doing this sort of thing the better for all of us.
As for the “Magic” Mouse it is as sensitive as my Aunt Maude, of late memory, was about her moustache. An accidental swipe with the wrong finger can get you into a great deal of trouble. Hmm that doesn’t sound …. never mind. Sadly I am one of those people who doesn’t read the manual because: I’ll figure it out!” I usually do though it may take months.
Yes I knew I am wailing and whingeing about a brand sparkling new computer but if I can’t wail and whinge to you dear faithful reader, Who?
Damn I just did something with that bloody mouse and everything went big!
The word for March 14th is:
Whinge wĭnj, hwĭnj: [1.noun 2.verb]
1.1 A complaint.
1.2 A whine.
2.1 To whine.
2.2 To complain in an annoying or persistent manner.
Dialectal alteration of Middle English whinsen, from Old English hwinsian to whine.
Willy Or Won't He 
Oh so sweet to have a new Mac laptop! And I’m with you, gimme a mouse all the way. Those trackpads are hopeless.
So nice to have you back; you are absolutely right about the needless (?) changes in port sizes, etc.,forcing you to replace a number of peripherals, rendering obsolete an equal number of them. May Aunt Maud and her moustache rest in peace.
Think of it as hours of fun in your future!!!
Cathy
Yay! But so frustrating that they always require new accessories.
The sooner we follow the EU and stop allowing what? Ports for headsets?
Maybe your Scottish Laptop was spending so much time in Kentucky so a three-letter agency could fit it with a tracking device? Let us hope not, but such things have been known to happen, and you are a famous VIP with international diplomatic ties. Let us be thankful that your laptop did not make a pit stop in Moscow.
(Oh to have a computer with an M1 chip. I am drooling the way others drool at Fearsome’s blog.)
Congrats on the new present to yourself. Although it might prove frustrating at first, you’ll soon be a wiz. I agree with you regarding the mouse.
Nothing like a new frock to brighten up the day! Good for you!
Around the turn of the decade, I replaced my old MacBook Air. In a chatty tech support call shortly after purchase, I mentioned I’d upgraded the processor choice to ‘future-proof’ the machine. There was a pause on the line, which I realized later, meant the tech was thinking ‘Nice try’, and the brand new M1 machines soon rolled off the assembly line. You can never drop your guard;-) Enjoy that lovely new laptop!
Ah to have the finances to get a new computer. My MacBook Air (I could not justify the price of a Pro either) is 6 years old. I think I have one more OS update before it can’t be updated any more. Planned obsolescence or how to keep sales going up. I did contribute to Apple’s bottom line this year with the purchase over time (2 years) of a iPhone 14! Like you shiny things lift my spirits.