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Category: Pro Tips

Is it time to trade the Mac Pro for something else?

Is it time to trade the Mac Pro for something else?

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Reading Time: 7 minutesThis is a question I receive daily now, and it’s not for the reason you may think. The Mac Pro (4,1-5,1), when properly specced out, is more than capable to hold its own even next to an M1 Mac Studio. In some regards, it even beats the Studio (yes, Apple’s performance exaggerations were quickly debunked). So why do Mac Pro owners want to consider trading their beast for something else? They’re expensive to run. One area the Mac Pro has…

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Why you shouldn’t buy a second hand Mac – Rebuttal

Why you shouldn’t buy a second hand Mac – Rebuttal

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Reading Time: 11 minutesEarlier this year (2022), Karen Haslam wrote an article for MacWorld UK, titled “Why you shouldn’t buy a second hand Mac“. I don’t follow Karen’s writings or MacWorld so this article did not pop up on my radar until just two days ago (mid-March 2022 at the time of writing). When this article was linked on Facebook, I read it and obviously disagreed with its contents. It wasn’t until I scrolled back up I saw the author’s name. That name…

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macOS Monterey, is your Mac ready for it?

macOS Monterey, is your Mac ready for it?

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Reading Time: 4 minutes“Coming this fall” is what the macOS Monterey product page states. Well, fall is here, and Monterey is expected to be released soon. Once it is released, you do not want to be caught off guard like Karen Haslam did last year. This MacWorld editor “lives and breathes Apple” yet has no clue how to prepare for a macOS upgrade. Don’t be like Karen, be adequately prepared. This article aims to help you be just that! macOS Monterey system requirements…

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Quick guide to installing OpenCore on a Classic Mac Pro (cMP)

Quick guide to installing OpenCore on a Classic Mac Pro (cMP)

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Reading Time: 9 minutesOpenCore is, for lack of a better word, amazing. If you don’t know what OpenCore is, read about some of its benefits here. I have no experience (yet) with other versions of OpenCore, such as the Legacy patcher, but I fully intend to explore that as well at some point. This post is the quick and easy guide that should have anyone up and running with OpenCore on the cMac Pros in minutes. This guide may have steps in it…

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A better way to check your backups

A better way to check your backups

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Reading Time: 6 minutesLast year I wrote the piece “Check your backups” which focused on optical media backups. Backing up and checking those backups is an ever-evolving process, we always look for faster, easier and more reliable ways to backup our data but checking backups has always been pretty much the same tedious, time-consuming process. Today I want to tell you about a little utility that I’ve had for years but never used; IntegrityChecker by diglloydTools. Part of a suite that I’ve been…

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Turning a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro into a 2010/2012 5,1 Mac Pro – 2021 Edition

Turning a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro into a 2010/2012 5,1 Mac Pro – 2021 Edition

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Reading Time: 7 minutesNOTE: The below mentioned procedures may no longer work. I intend to look into it and update this article at some point but this can take many months. Proceed if you want, it might work, it might fail. Check the comments for possible workarounds and solutions found by others. Hanging out in the various Facebook groups and other communities, I rarely run into anyone anymore that has a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro that still runs the stock firmware. But there…

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3D Printing and one often overlooked, ignored or misrepresented problem

3D Printing and one often overlooked, ignored or misrepresented problem

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Reading Time: 6 minutesIn the last week of 2020, I took up a new hobby; 3D Printing. Prior to receiving the printer, a good two weeks of non-stop research was done looking into almost all aspects of 3D printing and I learned a lot. This research definitely saved me a good amount of time once I received the printer and apart from some calibration issues, I was printing good-looking stuff after about a week. One of the things I researched was the potential…

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Troubleshooting – Part 1

Troubleshooting – Part 1

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Reading Time: 4 minutesBasic troubleshooting has become a lost art it seems. What used to be the first things people tried when running into computer trouble is now an “oh, wait, I should try this!” step after all else has failed. Looking to get people back into the art of troubleshooting, I decided to start a series, aptly named: “Troubleshooting”. This is Part 1 of… unknown. I’ll keep adding parts until I run out of ideas. New parts may come out at any…

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A bit about S.M.A.R.T. Status

A bit about S.M.A.R.T. Status

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Reading Time: 7 minutesPart of a conversation between me and my neighbor this week: Me: “Sounds like the drive is failing, have you checked the S.M.A.R.T. Status?” Him: “What’s that?” Being a geek and neck deep in various tech projects every day for the last two decades it’s sometimes easy to forget there are people out there that may have never heard of something I take for granted. Sure, readers of this blog are probably pretty in touch with their inner geek but…

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Check your backups!

Check your backups!

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Reading Time: 3 minutesYes, you’ve heard me say this plenty of times if you know me. I keep repeating it because it’s THAT important! Today I was going through my ridiculously, insanely large stash of backup discs to check for disc rot (we’re talking optical media here) and data integrity. This is something I try to do twice a year but usually end up doing just once a year because it takes up a few days time. What does this process entail? •…

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