Which Mac Will Be My Next System?

I've always been curious about the Mac Studio and I'd initially had that on my list of must-have systems until the new Mac Mini M4s came out.

I now have tentative plans to buy the Mac Mini M4.  I want to use that system to heavy-lift creation of my videos, as well as to maybe utilize it for housing of my Docker containers.

I love my current M1 Mini but it is a base model and I'm somewhat limited in the above-mentioned use cases.  While I can crunch video footage, I usually have to kill all other resource-intensive running processes when doing that.  I've not even tried to use Docker containers on that system, since running multiple containers usually requires a somewhat robust system (plus there's some system overhead since Docker can't natively run on Mac systems).

The real difference between the Studio and Mini would be ports and connectivity to peripherals, which would be extremely beneficial.  

As well, you can better spec out a Studio, as the platform is designed to be more open-ended as it relates to performance.  UPDATE:  Nope!!  I was wrong - I can spec out more RAM and undercut the price (drastically) of a somewhat similarly spec'd Studio.

So, my dilemma is, which one would be better for me, a high spec (lots of memory) Mini or a decently spec'd Studio?

I'm Now Managing My Docker Containers Using Portainer

I sometimes end up breaking my container setups because I sometimes get confused with all the layers and config settings (and I don't even have all that many containers), so I began to investigate management alternatives.

Of course, I'm still leveraging a locally managed Linux system (Ubuntu) to run my containers.  I've not tried to install containers on Mac hosts and I'm not even going to try with Windows.  From what I understand, I've to use a VM to run Linux on a Mac host, or use Docker Desktop.  I'd rather just use native Linux since I'm a Linux power user...anything else appears to drastically add complications, plus it's kind of stupid to install Linux on a VM when I've a bunch of Linux hosts that I can immediately leverage.

I decided to try Portainer after watching some usage videos.  It was super-simple to get it running (it's containerized) and it was super easy to shut down my existing containers and run them on Portainer - I just copied each compose.yml into Portainer to set them up as containers.  While I could see the pre-Portainer container (before I'd shut them down), they were only partially manageable with Portainer.  Building them under Portainer gave me full control.

As well, I found where Portainer keeps it's underlying files so that I could leverage them (if need be).  I also keep copies of my compose.yml files (I do not use Git or GitHub for my files - yet).

I'm currently using five containers (three for Wordpress, one for Pi-hole, and one for Portainer), which allows me to use Portainer's community license setup, but I've also found that I can manage the currently running containers (all five) from Portainer, without licensing agents.

Portainer is something I'm going to be using as much as possible.  I haven't even tried the other solutions but Portainer gives me a more comprehensive method of managing my containers and I'm less confused with it than via CLI; I don't even need to experiment with the other solutions.  Yes, I can manage the containers natively, via CLI (as I was doing prior to using Portainer), but I'd rather not, especially as I run more stacks (I've recently started using Nextcloud and Owncloud containers - a bake-off).  I'm finding as I manage more containers, I sometimes get lost in the thick of them.  With Portainer, I'm less lost.

iPhone 13 PM sent to Verizon for Trade-in

Well, I've sent my 13 PM to Verizon to complete the trade-in process.  

I didn't really want to send it back, but the trade-in value ($1100) needs to go toward financing the 17 PM.  

I'm locked in now...LOL!  Seriously, though, I'm enjoying the 17 PM.

UPDATE (10/12/2025):  Verizon received my trade-in on 10/10.  They assessed it yesterday, and I  received the full proposed value of the phone, which was $1100!  For those folks who are sceptical, there it is - Verizon provided me the full trade-in value of the phone.  Keep in mind that my trade-in was relatively pristine.  It's used, yes - there was indication of normal usage across three years of ownership, such as some patina around the USB-C port.  The phone was in a silicon case during the three years of usage, but it was, considering that timeframe of usage, pretty clean.  It's all relative.  This was a great way to obtain a 1-TB iPhone, in my opinion...was the first time I've ever attempted to leap upward.  Maybe next time I'll go 2-TB.

Airpods Max - Repair of Connection Loss Issues

For the past 2 months, I've been experiencing connection issues with my Airpods Max headset.  At first, I though I was going to need to visit the Apple Store but I then decided to see if this was a common issue.

The headset would normally disconnect it's wireless connection whenever I moved the headset while it was on my head.  When loosing connectivity, I'd hear a lot of static and popping within the ear cups.  While I could always reconnect, the disconnects would frequently recur, sometimes within minutes of the last disconnect.  It was highly annoying.

I searched on the following keywords:  airpods max keep dropping connection.

I ended up watching the below video, which was super helpful!

I was able to remove the ear cups.  The connections were filthy.  I cleaned them and also used a Q-tip to clean the female connections.  Removing the cups wasn't difficult but also wasn't exactly easy.  Fortunately, I had a SIM card removal tool (although the tip of a paper clip can also be used).

I conducted a quick test and didn't notice any loss of connectivity.  I'll be on the lookout for any issues and if it happens within the next 2-3 days, I'll remove the cups again and reclean them.  Note:  I didn't use IPA to clean the connection points...I just wiped the connections with a paper towel.  At least I now know how to tear down the headset and clean the proper areas, though.