October 2019 - Monthly Mini-Bytes

macOS 10.15 Catalina - Should you update? macOS Catalina has been released so should you upgrade? No. Not right now. We'd recommend waiting. This is a major release of the Mac operating system and is compatible with machines from 2012 forward. But, it is a new release and our normal recommendation is to wait a few weeks until upgrading. Once a new system is out in the wild issues will crop up and waiting gives Apple time to patch up any bugs that appear. Also, Catalina does not support many older applications. If you have been getting by with an ancient version of Office or Creative Suite, it is almost assured that they will not work in the new system. Be very careful about your critical applications and their compatibility with macOS Catalina. You don't want to be stuck outputting hundreds or thousands of dollars on unplanned upgrades. The good news is that our initial impressions of Catalina are excellent. From what we have seen, there is a noticeable speed improvement over Mojave. But our advice to wait and check your applications still stands. It's better to be stable and working than cutting edge. To learn all about the new features of macOS Catalina visit: https://www.apple.com/macos/catalina/

Your iPhone Decision Matrix The new iPhones are out, so the big question is which one to get? First off, as we have always suggested when purchasing a mobile device get the latest-and-greatest... period. With that being said Apple has introduced three versions of its flagship iPhone 11. To make this easy, if you want the biggest screen, then the iPhone 11 Pro Max is the way to go. It is the biggest. But for most the smaller screen sizes work fine, which means it's a choice between the iPhone 11 or 11 Pro. The good news is that it comes down to photography. If you are really in to photography then the three camera system on the iPhone 11 Pro with its software enhancements make it the iPhone for photographers and videographers. For the rest of us, the iPhone 11 is a great deal. It has the same processor and internal bits of the Pros, but comes in at a much more palatable price. So in summary: Need the biggest screen: iPhone 11 Pro Max Heavy in to photography and videos: iPhone 11 Pro Just need a really good phone: iPhone 11 To learn more about the iPhone line click here: https://www.apple.com/iphone/

Slow Mac with Old Hard Drive? If you have a Mac from 2015 or newer that has the old style SATA hard drive, you know how much they have slowed down in recent years. The only way to fix the issue is to get a new machine with a solid state drive, but there is an unsupported yet workable option that we have seen used out in the field. Macs give you the ability to run the system from external hard drives. This is not the best option, but it is possible to purchase an external solid state drive, migrate to it, and then run the Mac from it. Does it work? Sure. Is it the best idea in the world? Not really. It's a bit like towing a new engine behind your car and using that to drive. Hmmm.... bad analogy, but that's all I have. The thing is that in order to take advantage of the speed and efficiencies of new systems like macOS Catalina, you need the hardware to be able to handle them. A solid state drive is critical to this.