There are days when the odds appear to be stacked against you.
Just after posting this morning's video, and the post on electricity, I touched the mouse on my MacBook Pro and got absolutely no response. Seconds later the machine crashed. When it rebooted it refused to connect to the Internet. Further reboots made no difference. It has said that it has a problem with macOS, and I know what happens next. After I have done a complete new backup (or two) I factory reset the machine, which is what Apple would do, and see if that solves the problem. Then there is the tedium of having to restore the whole thing which, if it works well, is relatively routine, but I've never had it work perfectly to date.
And if things do not work well, I will be off to Apple to hand it in for repair again, and will be forced to buy a backup machine. We used to run one of these, but it got passed to James when he joined the team, and so there is none available now.
I have to admit that there have been occasions over the last two years, which is the period during which we have been running the YouTube channel, when I have felt that we have been operating largely for the benefit of Apple, and occasionally Sony, such has been the cash outflow in their direction.
If service is a little disrupted today, it is because I will be working on an iPad, which is a useful backup machine, but nothing like as good as a MacBook Pro.
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Deep deep sympathy! Having spent the last few years extracting myself from (some of) the big software giants (Micrsoft, Alphabet, and replacing failing hardware components (my desktop machine is the equivalent of the knife with a new handle and a new blade – it still has the original case), I’ve been clambering up near vertical learning curves for some time.
For laptops I buy 2nd hand from phone shops and install Linux.
I’ve never owned an Apple device – great graphics/video machines – but their business model is getting a bit toxic regarding repairs and interoperability with industry standards and their privacy principles are wobbling.
Good luck! (Looking forward to some inspired typos from the iPad!)
TyPOes? From me?
Get on the internet and find the picture of Garfield standing behind a computer with ‘Error’ on the screen and holding a chainsaw while saying ‘Compute This!
Here it is!
https://media.tenor.com/kMceO3aWqFQAAAAe/computer-error-computers.png
🙂
1st day of priority booking for the Buxton Festival and I kept getting online message ‘page not available – error code 404’ – so Shanks’s pony took over and I walked to the box office – the sun is shining! I remember the 1st computer I encountered was the size of a room and you walked through double dust-proof doors to access it – the paper coming out from the print process was huge and we called it ‘elephant bog bumf’ – those were the days!
Just remember that ‘re-boot your computer’ does not mean that you kick it.
🙂
Do you need to work with Apple? They are very expensive and for half the price you could get a very good Lenovo and I find them extremely reliable.
This current machine apart, I have never had any problems with Apples, at all. I had nightmares with Microsoft machines in the past and overall I found the Apple framework vastly more reliable and better for creators. I will be sticking with it.
It always surprises me the number people who like the expensive and restricted ecosystem of Apple. I know, I know, it’s “intuitive” (it’s no more intuitive that other systems), and it “just works” (your experience today suggests otherwise).
Other options exist.
But, really, the best of luck getting it going again.
To be fair, my 15 years of experience is that Apple almost invariably works perfectly and everything links together which is an enormous advantage for the way in which I work. This is an exception..
Life was so much easier when the debate was Chevy vs. Ford or Lincoln vs. Cadillac! LOL! LOL!
🙂
Richard, use Time Machine any BackBlaze for your backups. they won’t stop your Mac from crashing but will save you a lot of grief.
I have just restored from Time Machine.
I do regular back ups.
Get a chromebook!
We would have to redesign many of our work pocesses as a reuslt. Life is busy enough without having to do that
I swear by Chromebooks, cheap, go for years,no back-up worries but maybe its limitations would not suit your requirements.
If we could use all the video editing software and the like that we depend on on a chrome book I would be interested. But when I last investigated that was not possible.
Linux and Open Source, Richard. Why pay a Trump kowtowing company?
Rgds.
Because I do not have weeks to transtion.
And a lot of software that we use would not be available.
I had a mac crash on me. I downloaded and installed chromebook OS. It is super fast and efficient as a second computer. Recommended even with really old macs
Thanks
I agree that the Mac ecosystem provides a very stable framework for creators. Although, developing cross-platform applications ensures that users on Windows and Linux don’t get left behind when they need fast, reliable utility software.