Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

I'm managing it on a 12 year old computer! It's time to upgrade though. Going through the process of setting up a NAS at the moment.

Apple Watch.
Worth it or not?

I've moved across to Apple with a MacBook Air, iPad and iPhone. I've currently got a Garmin Fenix but fancy a change and the Apple Watch seems the obvious choice.
Most people I know with them think they're great but I guess you're bound to say that when you've just spent £350 on one!

Basically, will I regret it when I compare it to my Fenix??

Personal opinion - it’s worth it. I have had three of them. But, I have an Apple phone so it seemed like the obvious and easy choice for me.
Which magazine rates it at the top too - if that’s useful to you.
Edit - Which doesn’t rate it at the top. Odd considering I’m pretty sure I read an article about it. Apologies for fake news!

Apple Watch.

Worth it or not?

100% worth it

If you pair your fenix with specialist sports devices and use turn by turn mapping then you might regret it. If not, you won’t.

How often does an Apple Watch need charging? I think it is basically daily. I quite like only needing to charge my Fenix every week or so.

yeah daily, I put it on charge in the morning for 30 mins or so, good for the day, aliexpress charger and a rubber stand that holds them upright.

That's one thing I'd miss with the Fenix but from the bits I've read, half an hour when you're having a shower and having breakfast should be enough to keep it going.

Apple watches are the best smart watches by a country mile. I'd have one if I could stomach having an iPhone.

We have this kicking around.

I could put an SSD in it but otherwise it’s pretty much done isn’t it? Assume no more OS upgrades :(

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I could put an SSD in it

yea, that would make a massive difference

otherwise it’s pretty much done isn’t it?

also you could upgrade the RAM to 2x8GB

Assume no more OS upgrades :(

actually you should be able to upgrade this to macOS High Sierra (10.13) if you wanted to..

I’ve got this same model and OS, with a 1tb ssd in it, maxed out with ram. It’s fine for web browsing but anything more is a bit of a grind.

I have an older 2012 Air that officially is not supported by Big Sur but there are workarounds to that. My partner is using that for over a year without any issues. Monterey should also work

..unfotunately not.
Everything from Mojave (10.14) on will not work on his early 2011 MBP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_Mojave#System_requirements

You could try this.....https://chromeenterprise.google/os/chromeosflex/

My Air is also not officially supported but there is a whole community behind it to make it work
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-11-big-sur-on-unsupported-macs-thread.2242172/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-12-monterey-on-unsupported-macs-thread.2299557/

Thanks all. @mrJL any suppliers for ram and ssd you’d recommend?

Assume there are guides online on how to do it but any obvious gotchas I should be aware of?

I used crucial. The ram is pretty straight forward, the ssd was a bit fiddlier but I still managed it despite zero electrical fiddling experience. Definitely consider the cost of all that though. Always up for keeping a device alive but there might be most cost effective options out there

Yeah. Probably doesn’t look great lined up against used more modern kit.

Exactly. The thought of you spending north of £100 on making a device that performs like the one I’ve got does make me pause for thought

My Air is also not officially supported but there is a whole community behind it to make it work

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac­os-11-big-sur-on-unsupported-macs-thread­.2242172/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac­os-12-monterey-on-unsupported-macs-threa­d.2299557/

..oh wow, wasn't aware of these efforts.

Does it make sense though (does your old Air run the new OS well)?

SSD is £50 so I'll give that a go. All it needs to do is basic web browsing so £50 and a couple of hours of my time to get a couple more years out of it might be money well spent.

That’s less than I thought. Worth a go in that case

Putting in an ssd did make a huge difference to that machine now that I think about it

Idk if it applies to macs as well, but RAM seems to have gone up quite a bit over the years. So an small SSD is still usually a no brainer, but IME RAM is only worth it on something still halfway decent. And even then you'd often be better off putting the money towards something newer.