Samsonite Modern Utility Laptop Backpack for 15.6" Laptop

You all know that, prior to purchasing the MBP I now own, I was using a M1-era Macbook Air 13".

I'd been carrying that in a small tote that I got from work - swag from McAfee.  It was a small laptop/tablet bag that was surprisingly adequate for a 13" MBA.  I used it a long time and used it to fly out to California and New Orleans.  It'll fit under a seat on a plane and still leave room for your feet.

I'd not planned on getting a MBP when I was in California.  I could've waited until I got back but it was a snap decision and once I saw that an MBP was locally available while I was in CA, I was stubborn.

I bought the MBP and then realized that a 14" laptop wasn't going to fit in my current bag (plus, I still had my MBA with me), so I had to buy a new bag just to get it home.

What did I buy?  I bought the Modern Utility Laptop Backpack for 15.6" Laptop, which is made by Samsonite.  It's charcoal in color.  It fit most of the existing gear I had brought with me, as well as the new gear - MBP and accessories; Airpods Max and accessories; 11" iPad.  I couldn't believe that it held all of my electronics and didn't feel heavy.

There are two pockets designed for flat electronics (tablets and notebooks).  Those pockets were lined with cushioning for protection of the electronics.

I like this setup better, not only because it will fit a 14" MBP, but because it's a non-bulky backpack.

It has a TON of pockets.  I tried to stash like things in every pocket and ran out of things before I ran out of pockets.

The straps are comfortable - I did a lot of walking/toting.

I really like this bag!

I'll still use the little side pack for my MBA but I might not use the MBA all that much.  I may do a factory reset on that one and sell it, although I'll ask the wife if she wants it first.

I've a New Macbook!

Today, I bought a new Macbook.

I wanted another portable Mac but didn't want an Air.  I also wanted something with a bit more horsepower than what I already had, as my Air is a base model.

I wanted more than just 8 GB of memory.  

I wanted more than just 256 GB of drive space.

I wanted a bigger screen than 13".

I wanted a system that offered a bit more longevity.

I wanted to be less compromising.

Here are the specs of the new notebook:

Make/Model:  MacBook Pro 14" (MRX43LL/A - Release Year 2023)

Chip:  M3 Pro

Memory:  18GB

GPU:  18-core

CPU:  12-core

Drive capacity:  1TB SSD

Color: Space Black

I've also gained ports/connections when compared to my MBA:  I now have MagSafe, an extra (3 todal) Thunderbolt port, an SD card slot, and an audio cable port.  The system also has fans, to keep temps down - the Air doesn't have fans.

The whole system certainly seems less fragile than my Air.

So, I wanted more than just 8 GB of RAM because the Air was always using a LOT of swap because it would easily run out of memory.  I was always having to close apps to get the system to release memory.

I wanted more than just 256 GB of drive space because I was always struggling to perform OS updates with the Air.  The Air's drive space was always 75-80% consumed and I believe that SSDs require some extra drive space for TRIM management - if I was always at 80%, I'm sure that TRIM was close to being adversely affected.  I'd been using external drives as workspace, but that doesn't solve the 80% consumption of system drive space.  1 TB gives me a lot more elbow room and it also gives me serious trade-in power, as well.

Regarding display size, 14" is significantly better than 13".  On paper, it seems like a small difference, but practical-wise, it's a noticeable difference.

When I buy notebooks and PCs, I always compromise.  I didn't want to do that with this one.  Actually, I did compromise - I actually wanted a 16" MBP but that's immediately a $2000 system, and a base system, too.  To have the system I wanted in 16" variation would've put me at $2500+ and that amount assaults my sensibilities, so I had to compromise.  This system was $1800.  I've spent that amount in the past on a gaming laptop and that laptop was obsolete rather quickly.  I worry less about that with a MBP.  I can easily see myself using the MBP 5-6 years.

I also bought a set of Airpods Max.  I have a set of Beats Studio Pros that haven't faired well.  They're rickety AF right now.  I've put a LOT of use on them, to the point that I am expecting them to fail soon.  I needed a good headset and I've historically not had good experiences with what I've chosen in the past.  I decided to splurge on the Max.  I actually hate the Beats Studio Pros...they're inferior to anything that is Apple-branded, as Apple purposesly neuters the Beats products so that they won't be competitive with the Apple brands.  They're designed mainly for users who want to use them with Android smartphones.

I'm excited to try this new gear, as I've some backlogged video editing that I need to catch up on.  I'll report my usage experience as I use the new equipment!

UPDATE (3/31/2025):  Uhmmm....this laptop has GREAT sound!  I thought my Macbook Air sounded great.  Apparently, MBPs have a six-speaker system.

UPDATE (4/6/2025):  I installed homebrew and then fastfetch.  Screenshot --

Birthday Gifts

Yesterday was my birthday.  I'm now 57 years old.

I got two gifts.  My wife bought me a DJI two-way charging kit.  My sister bought me a Wheeler F.A.T. Wrench.

Regarding the DJI two way charger, it's a battery charger for DJI drones.  This is is for my Mini 3 drone.  I currently have two batteries.  The charger is basically a caddy that can hold up to three batteries.  It charges the batteries one at a time, starting with the battery that has the lowest charge.  It can also be used to charge other things (drone remote, phone, GoPro, etc) and will use whatever battieres are in the caddy to charge other things.  This also gives me the excuse of buying a third battery.  I might buy the Intelligent Plus battery, as it has up to 51 minutes of power, but it will mean that I'd have to register my drone, as that battery has extra weight that will put the drone over 249g.

The Wheeler wrench is a inch-pound torque wrench, mainly for use with firearms.  I wanted this for use in installing optics and other things that require precise torquing of bolts and screws.

Besides that, I bought myself PC game, Armored Brigade II, which I posted about a day or two ago.

I'd thought about getting a new Apple headset since my Beats Studio Pro has one leg in the grave.  We'll see.  I've a long flight to CA coming up and I might purchase that headset before I fly out.

Armored Brigade & GHPC

What have I been playing lately?

I've been playing quite a bit of Gunner, HEAT, PC (or GHPC), mainly due to their recent updates that contain the Leopard tank.

I also recently bought Armored Brigade, after seeing PhanFantasy review it a few months ago.  I only started playing it maybe 2 weeks ago, and ended up loving it so much that I also bought Armored Brigade 2, which isn't released on Steam yet.

I like the above-mentioned games because Steel Beasts, while I love that game, is a bit too much for me.

As much as I like Sea Power, it's a bit much, as well.  I'm not going to lie, though - Armored Brigade has quite a bit of a learning curve too, but not as much as Sea Power or Steel Beasts.

I'll continue to study both versions of Armored Brigade, and will also continue to play GHPC.

Pihole & Docker FTW!

I'd been planning to mess with Pihole but didn't want to mess with a Rasberry Pi.  I did some research and found that I'd the option to install Pihole on a running Linux system.  While looking at what that entailed, I also found that I could easily do it with Docker, too.

I've been running a Ubuntu system for a while now.  It is mainly a box I set up for use with NextCloud.  I hate NextCloud and stopped using it and the Ubuntu system.  The system was pretty much idle until I decided to set up a Wordpress instance in Docker for development of my Wordpress site that's on my Linode instance.  Whenever I'm trying something new in Wordpress, I test it on my Dockerized Wordpress instance first.  Eventually I'll work on replacing the Wordpress instance on my Linode host with a Dockerized instance.

Since I already have Docker set up on the Ubuntu box, I decided to give Pihole a spin in Docker.

I used this website to set up Pihole in Docker.  The whole setup was quick and painless.  In fact, my Wordpress setup uses three different Docker containers, and with Pihole now running, I'm now using four containers on that Ubuntu host.  None of them are consuming resources (thus far).

I'm now testing Pihole.  I'm totally unfamiliar with it but it doesn't appear to be a high maintenance setup.  At some point, I'll want to back up the Pihole configs, though, so I won't have to spend a lot of time setting it up again (when/if I end up blowing away the instance).

I've several hosts on my LAN using the Pihole setup and my daughter is trying it, as well.  She had a Rasberry Pi and was planning ot install Pihole on it, but I told her that this is far simpler - she should use the Pi for something else, IMO.

I've added some ad lists (block lists and some whitelisting), as well.

The biggest pain as far as adware goes is Youtube, and I don't think Pihole is going to be able to block Youtube ads when using the Youtube app.  I've had some luck blocking Youtube ads on my Macbook, but I view videos on the browser when using that notebook (and I've the uBlock Origin browser extension installed in MS Edge).

New Keyboard for My Mac Mini - Royal Kludge S98

When I bought my Mac Mini, I bought it without buying a keyboard for it.  Not long after purchasing the Mini, my older iMac died.  I ended up trashing the iMac, as I couldn't repair it (was unwilling to pump anymore money into it and it was over 10 years old.  Prior to it dying, I was using it as a monitor for my iMac and other systems (using Target Display Mode).

With the iMac gone, I still had the Magic Mouse and the keyboard that came with the iMac.  What I hate about the keyboard is that it eats batteries.  As well, I like full sized keyboards.  So, I thought I'd buy a nice keyboard for the Mini.

I purchased the Royal Kludge S98, mainly because it was a full sized keyboard (or nearly so), it could be used with other computers (it has 3 BT profiles), it's wireless, and it was a mechanical keyboard -- I've never owned a mechanical keyboard.

I've mixed feelings.  I like the keyboard a lot, but it doesn't have software for Macs.  It's software is Windows-only.  I would've liked to use the software's macro configurations.  As well, it doesn't have labeled Mac buttons (command and option buttons).

The specific version I bought was the Linear Viridian switch version in turquoise green.

I might try to buy Mac-specific keys for it, as the keys can be swapped out.  Maybe I'll get those two keys in red.

I like the keyboard screen in the upper right corner.  I like that I've the option for 2.4 GHz connectivity, BT, or USB wired connectivity.

I also love the lighting (it's RGB).  It also has a beefy battery - I can get a lot of use out of it, on one charge, if I disable the keyboard backlights.

I did notice one hiccup with the Mac Mini last week where I had the keyboard linked to it via bluetooth - I'd logged out of the Mac and came back later to do some work, but the keyboard wouldn't let me type out the password properly.  I noticed that it kept hanging on the 2nd character.  I had another BT keyboard handy and tried to log in with it and it was doing the same thing.  I thought it was strange.  I ended up doing a hard reboot (I hadn't thought of SSH'ing into the Mini to do a restart - I could've done that).  The system recovered and let me access it while using the S98.  I'm not sure if it was a keyboard-related issue but I've been using the Mac 2+ years and nothing like that has every occurred until I started using the S98.  I'll keep a watch to see if this occurs again.

UPDATE (2/5/2025):  Well I had the keyboard issue again, today.  Again, I don't think it's an actual keyboard issue, as I tried two different keyboards and both were doing the sme thing.  This go-around, it was the 6th character tht wasn't rendering on the first keypress.  After experimenting, I was able to press the key for the 6th character a second time to get it to register...doing that, I was able to log in successfully.  After I logged in, I typed in Terminal to see if I was having that same issue across my password characters - it rendered fine.  I then logged out and tried to log back in - I was able to successfully log in (I did this 3 times, successfully, to test).  I searched for some tips and most articles I saw suggested that there was a hardware keyboard issue, which is't the case here since I'm using two different keyboards that experience the same exact issue.  I also used Disk Utility to do a disk repair - there were no errors to repair.  I think there's a bug in the latest OS update (the latest OS update was applied a few days ago).  This didn't start occurring until after that OS update was applied.

UPDATE 2 (2/7/2025):  It happened again, just now.  It's definitely not a hardware issue, as I used my Mac wireless keyboard this time, too - I used all three keyboards and the issue still occurred.  As well, two characters weren't being recognized this time - characters 6 and 7.  This is so odd.

I'll report any issues with the keyboard, but I'm enjoying it thus far.

New Hobby - Drones!

 I've been interested in drones for a while now.  Maybe 5 years ago, my wife bought me a DJI Tello, which gave me the initial taste of using drones.

My daughter is a graduate of Embry-Riddle - she has a BS in UAS.  As part of her curriculum, she attained her Part 107 license.  For graduation, we bought her an expensive (at the time) quadcopter - the Mavic Mini (Fly More package - includes 3 batteries and a charger).  She has an aerospace-related position of employment, so we talk drone speak a lot.

This year, I was going to get a quadcopter and mentioned it to my wife.  She said, "Put it on your Christmas list."  I said, "It's expensive," because she usually balks at buying high dollar tech items.  She repeated, "Put it on your Christmas list."

I couldn't decide which I wanted but didn't want a super-expensive drone since I might end up not liking it.  I should've just picked what I wanted (I always end up compromising).  I initially couldn't decide between the DJI Mini 3 or the DJK Mini 4K.  Either one of those would be the drone with RC remote (has the integrated screen - no need to connect to your smartphone).  After a long bit of research, I decided on the Mini 3, mainly because it offered better tech specs and capabilities - mainly, the camera has better specs, then gimbal has better FOV, it captures higher spec video footage, and it has longer flight time.  The Mini 4K is basically an upgraded Mini 2.  I opted not to get the Fly More package (but should've).  I put it on my list.

Well, she bought it.  As well, she bought it during Black Friday, so there was a discount.  I ended up buying a hard shell carry case and extra battery.  I may buy a 3-slot charger and 3rd battery.  I may also just buy a 3-slot charger and 3rd 51-minute larger battery, but that would mean I'd have to register the drone since the larger battery will put the drone over the 249-gr limit.  That would mean I'd have to always use 51-minute batteries, as that's the only way the Remote ID would be enabled (or, I could just buy a standalone RID, but that would mean even more weight).  I think I'll just stick with the smaller batteries for now - if I've 3 of them, and they're rated at 38 minutes, that'll give me great flight times.

I also opted for the DJI Care Refresh program, which offers repair/replacement insurance in case of accidents or flyaways.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably opt for the Mini 4 Pro.  Maybe next year.  For now, I'll just enjoy the Mini 3!