Computer update 2022

After 4 years, my MacBook died on me during a holiday abroad last week. A flat battery would not recharge again to bring it back to life. I upgraded to a new computer instead of fixing my old one.

I am trying to remember the Macs I went through since 2008:

• Air
• 17” MBP
• 15” MBP
• 27” iMac
• 15” MBP
• And now: 14” MBP

Of these, the iMac is still running in great shape as the living room computer.

Updating a computer used to be a huge deal in the 1990s and 2000s, because you had to get your data across, or worse, recover your data, or even worse: give up on your data. Now, computers have become a disposable tool. Get a new one, quickly install your software, and you are good to go with all data being available and backed up online.

Some thoughts on the 2022 machine:

• Again a laptop. Mobility is important. Even more now than in my previous life as a designer, a critical bug in one of my sites might need patching instantly, no matter the place on earth or time of day.
• I am on continuing my 1 big monitor, laptop as side screen setup. There was a time I would run 2 giant 27” monitors side by side. Just too much stuff: I would use the space to add Twitter feeds, email inboxes and other distractions. It is better to focus. The small screen is my “copy paste” scratch pad.
• I went for the more compact 14” screen. The 16” machine is too bulky. Especially given my monitor setup in the my day to day office. Less heavy, and it fits in antique hotel room safes that have not been updated over the past 20 years.
• I took it easy on the performance upgrades. Some of my earlier machines had custom high end specs. I think it makes more sense to upgrade more frequently. This M1 processor is a huge step in performance for example, easily outperforming a few extra MHz on an i7 CPU.

Let’s hope this one will last a few good years.

P.S. It is good to see that SlideMagic is running snappy on the new machine….

This is a repost of today's blog post, the original can be found here.