Fitbit Sense Replacement

As you've previously read, I had problems with an 8-month old Fitbit Sense - it refused to restart and was stuck in a reboot loop where it would never progress beyond the Fitbit logo screen.

Fitbit, after spending 8-10 days evaluating the broken Sense that I'd sent back to them, sent a replacement.  The replacement arrived 2 days early, which is surprising since it took so long in being delivered from my address to Fitbit's return facility.

The replacement Sense appeared to be prepackaged in a plastic bag with standard Fitbit labeling.  I received nothing other than the pebble itself - no watchband, no charging cable or any other accessory.

It started without issue.  I immediately installed my third party metal band.  I then synched it to my phone using the Fitbit iPhone app.

It came with a 70% charge, but I wanted it topped off.  The charging cable that came with the original watch is not working properly, and I found that out during troubleshooting of the broken watch (this is a known issue - the spring-loaded pins on the charging cable loses it's "spring" the pins no longer make contact with the watch).  I'd ordered two new ones from Amazon.com a few months ago.  I used one of  them to charge the watch.  When I connected it, the watch black-screened.  My first thought was that this watch also died, as the first one die.  I watched it go to the Fitbit logo screen, thinking it would loop back - it started without issue.  I'm not sure why it crashed.  I'd just received it less than an hour prior to that.

This watch brand is very much untrustworthy in the extreme.  While I'm glad I've another Sense, I'm waiting for this one to stop working.  I do not want to go back to my Samsung Watch - while it is nice and it works, this Sense should also work (and stay working).

This Sense will soon be replaced.  I conducted some research the past few days and decided I do not want another Fitbit.  

At first, I was considering the new Sense 2 but Google appears to have severely nerfed it - whereas the Sense is a legit smartwatch, Google has removed a lot of the smart aspects of the Sense technology from the Sense 2, intentionally neutering it so that their new Google Pixel smartwatch can be better competitive.  That is sad as hell.  The biggest changes to the Sense 2 is that the watch is no longer capable of controlling music (which most folks use on Senses when working out) and they've disabled WiFi.

As well, the Google Pixel is not compatible with iPhones, so both the Sense 2 and the Pixel are not options for me.  One of the things I love about my Sense is that it's not locked to a specific OS. 

Garmin isn't an option, as it's fitness and health technology is the least robust in the smartwatch industry.  I want a versatile watch and Garmin appears to be tracking-centric.

Samsung isn't an option, as it's software is WearOS (Google and Samsung are joint developers of WearOS), which is not compatible with iPhones.

It appears I may be locked to Apple's Watch.  Apple Watch isn't a bad platform at all, but I'd prefer to not be locked to any particular platform - the industry is becoming silo'd and that's not a good thing for a consumer that wants options regardless of the phone brand he/she is using.

Of the Apple Watches, I want something that's supported and do not want to worry about Apple dropping hardware or software support any time soon.  That means I won't be getting any legacy Apple Watches.  I'll be focusing on either the Series 7 or 8.

In comparing the 7 and 8, the 8 may be newly released but it doesn't offer a lot more tech over the Series 7. The best thing about the Series 8 option is that I would have even longer support.  The con of the Series 8 in comparison to the 7 is that it'll cost more for not-so-much tech advantage.

I'm trying to keep costs low and I think I will look at refurbished Series 7 Watches.  

I looked at Best Buy's refurb Series 7s and their prices are high. As of 10/8/2022, the price for a certified used S7 45mm GPS Watch is $389!  They also offered taking trade-in watches, and I was curious so I checked what they'd give for a new Sense, but they only offer $25 for Senses - WTF.  This is what I hate about the technology world and why I keep everything that I have...all they're going to do is take your $25 trade-in and sell it to someone or sell it themselves for $100.  F that.

Amazon sells Series 7 re-certified Watches, but I've been told that Apple will sometimes not honor warranty claims on watches bought from Amazon.  The pricing on those phones weren't bad, though, so Amazon would've been a good option (while also buying 3rd party warranties through Amazon, which I should've done with the Sense when I bought it) if I hadn't have found an even cheaper option.

Note that I'm looking for a specific version of Series 7 Watch:  45mm, Space Gray, GPS variant.

I found that Apple carries Series 7s on their Certified Apple website.  I found what I wanted there and the cost is $313.  I don't have the money now, but I might have to do something soon because Series 7s are pretty much the rage at this point in time, as the public is now aware that the Series 8 has no huge advantage over the Series 7, and now folks with older than Series 7 Watches are now trying to buy Series 7 watches.

The plan is to get a 45mm GPS variant Series 7 within the next few months, whenever money comes in, but if I find that I can no longer find Series 7s on the Apple refurb website due to high demand, I'll just have to get the Series 8.

Fitbit - Replacement on the Way; Fitbit Support is Iffy

I've been without a functional Fitbit Sense since mid-July.  It is currently the end of September.  I'm only now getting a replacement.

I paid a good deal of money for this smart watch.  No, it's not an Apple Watch or Garmin product, but damn...since when is $200+ not a decent chunk of change?  I think most folks have lost their money sense nowadays.

If I'm paying that much for a product, I expect it to last more than 8 months.  I didn't get through 365 days before the watch stopped functioning.

The replacement watch will be at my door next week (Oct 5).  That's very close to 3 months wait time.  Granted, I didn't immediately escalate the issue to Fitbit, as I kept troubleshooting the issue, because I kept seeing Fitbit support posts making recommendations and I kept trying different solutions (none of them worked).

Fitbit support was extremely slow in all parts of the return process, almost as if they were reluctant to address the issue and were intentionally slowing the pace of things.  Even after they had received my watch (they wanted me to return it to them, and I did), they held onto it for close to two weeks before notifying me that they've initiated the replacement process.  I don't understand why it would take that long to assess a replacement for a watch that is locked to the bootup screen.  What part of this process would warrant two weeks of process time?  Yeah, we're still experiencing the negative affects of COVID-19 - I get that, but damn...

I'm very tempted to sell the replacement watch.  I no longer want it...what's to prevent the replacement from exhibiting the same issue?  I'm dreading trying to sell this thing, though - it's going to be a pain in the ass and I'll end up losing money in the process, since the Sense 2 was recently released.

I'm soooo tired of buying smart watches that aren't dependable.  I'll probably keep the Sense but only buy top-end smart watches from now on.  I know for a fact that Apple wouldn't have taken almost 3 months to replace a broken Apple Watch.  Even Samsung has better support than that (but that's not saying I'll buy another Samsung watch, either).

PC Gaming - GHPC, Steel Beasts Pro PE, and VTOL VR

 This past summer, I've been trying different types of PC games.  Yes, I bought Battlefield 2042, but I've done Battlefield games since the original (BF 1942)...it gets old.  

Prior to this year, I was playing War Thunder, mainly Air - arcade battles mode, Air - realistic battles mode, and some dabbling with air- simulation battles mode, which requires a stick, a throttle, and head-tracking.  Sim battles is also VR-compatible and I've also done that - it's fun!

I quit playing War Thunder last fall.  In trying to fill the void, I started playing IL-2 Stumovik: Battle of Stalingrad and it's different maps/campaigns, and also bought some premium planes.  That game is also VR-capable, but is more difficult to configure for VR, but it flies extremely well with TrackIR too.

This summer, I saw a game being advertised called Gunner, Heat, PC!  It is a moderate level tank simulator.  It's not quite easy and not quite difficult.  It plays better than War Thunder's ground battles model.  I liked it so much that I decided to become one of their Patreon members, helping to report bugs and donating funds to help the game grow.  In being a Patreon member, I was able to play their Patreon version of the game (which was available before the game made it to Steam).  September 2022 was the Early Access release date, so you can get that game on Steam now.  It's in an alpha state, so there are bugs but the devs have created a roadmap for the game, so it'll be growing over time.  It's a great game - I highly recommend it.

Lastly, I've been playing a hardcore tank sim called Steel Beasts.  I've actually been playing versions of this game for a very long time, close to 20 years.  I bought it around the year 2000 when it was being sold on a CD.  I still have that disk, too.  The game has evolved over time to be quite hefty.  The consumer version of the game is called Steel Beasts Pro Personal Edition (PE).  It's an expensive game now (it was also expensive 20 years ago, too).  The game is $115 if you're purchasing the unlimited license.  You can buy limited licenses (1 month, 4 months, and 12 months, at $9.50, $29.50, and $49.50, respectively).  With unlimited licenses, they send you a USB dongle that houses the license, which is required to use to play the game.  As well, every three years, there are major version changes, which requires licensing updates, which costs $40.

Steel Beasts is over-the-top sophisticated.  Up until recently, it had this very convoluted install process that was straight-up painful.  With the latest version, released a few months ago, the install process is a lot more simple.  As well, the difference between v4.1 (which I'd been playing a lot the past 2 years) and v4.3 (the latest version) is drastic!  The game appears to be better optimized (plays smoother and loads faster) but the graphics are actually stunning.  There's now heat blur and haze.

I've also recently been playing with the mission editor as an attempt to learn things about the game that I've not yet tried.  Creating/editing missions is tedious but the reward if you create a good mission is astoundingly satisfying!  I'm just dabbling in mission editing and created a mission where I've a US tank battalion pitted against a dug-in Soviet tank company, where the US tank battalion is forced to funnel it's forces into a kill zone.  The enemy is out of reach when the US unit comes out of a valley and there's no cover (it's a desert map), so you've to plan a way to get within range of the Soviet tanks without losing all your tanks.  Not only are the  Soviet tanks dug in, they're hiding behind small hills.  It's a works in progress but it was fun building the mission and was also fun playing it. 

I'm having so much fun with Steel Beasts that it will probably quickly replace War Thunder as my favorite game.  Note:  Steel Beasts is more of a training aid than a sim.  There's a lot to the game and you'll not be able to play it without studying up and running through it's training guides.  It's not something you're going to be able to play in 30 minutes, unless you can find user-created missions that are strictly designed for short duration gameplay.  The manual is close to 250 pages, so if you're interested, be prepared to study.

I also play VTOL VR, a VR PC flight sim that is flown using the VR controls!  The graphics fidelity is a turn-off for some folks but the game is highly immersive, mainly because the cockpit can by manually manipulated (ie, cockpit buttons can be actuated virtually, using your VR controls).  The game is also extremely popular.  There are three planes you can choose to fly, as well as a helicopter. 

I don't have a lot of footage of VTOL VR because it taxes my system badly.  With VR PC games, the PC renders the game footage, and also pipes it to the VR display.  The gameplay isn't bad in itself but playing the game and also recording it puts huge stress on the system.  I'm currently researching ways I can offload recording to another system (USB recording hardware).  Initially I flew this game while the VR headset was tethered to my gaming laptop.  I later determined how to play the game without a USB cable (I use Virtual Desktop, which enables me to play it while wirelessly connected to the gaming PC).  Flight footage of this game can be found on my Twitch channel.

My VR headset is an Oculus Quest 2 w 64 GB of storage.

My Twitch channel that I stream to -  unixfool - Twitch

I also have a YouTube page that has some recorded War Thunder gameplay:

War Thunder RB - Full Matches - YouTube

War Thunder - My ace matches - YouTube

iMovie & Mac Mini M1

I've a YouTube channel. Who doesn't, right?

Well, I did something I haven't done in awhile.  I recorded footage using my Logitech C922 Pro Stream, but using Photo Booth on my Mac Mini M1.

I've used Photo Booth in the past to capture footage but it was on my iMac 27" Core 2 Duo system...was decently fast in the day but always generated a bit of lag when recording footage that was long in duration - lag meaning that an audio delay developed.  The audio wasn't matching what was occurring on video.

I also used iMovie for the first time on the Mini M1.  It was super quick in rendering footage as I edited.  I did nothing complicated, though, but there's quite a bit of YT videos showing how well the M1 SoC works when manipulating video, so that's no secret and I won't get into the technicals.  The video footage was recorded as 1620 x 1080 and was 1.65 GB (18 min in duration).  iMovie encodes to YouTube as 1920 x 1080, so it crunched down the resulting YT video a tad.  I cut maybe 10 min of footage off the backend, added a title page, added a transition between that page and the video's beginning, and also added a fade to black at the end of the footage.

The iMovie process was super easy, but no different than that I remember - again, though, what made it a great experience was that there was zero lag when editing or rendering the video.

I will try to work more with iMovie.  I wouldn't mind buying something with more options/frills, but I need to be able to justify buying nice video editing software from Apple, since that software isn't cheap.

Apple Certified Refurbished Products Site

For those of you that want certified refurbished Mac hardware, the following is Apple's site for refurb items:  Certified Refurbished Products - Apple

I've been thinking of replacing my iMac with a Mac Studio (which would require me to find another display or use some type of monitor switch). 

I've also been thinking of a higher end Macbook.  MBPs are expensive and I want a decent amount of drive space (natively), so a decently spec'd MBP is going to run probably $1700, even refurbished, so I probably won't go that route.  Another option is to buy the latest M-variant of the MBA, with 1TB of drive space, which is doable.

I'm not sure which I want yet, but once I do, it will be bought from the Apple refurb site.

Back to Wearing My Samsung Watch (SM-R800)

I've a Samsung Galaxy Watch that my wife gave me for Christmas a few years ago.  It wasn't a new product when she got it for me (I believe the next version was released less than a year later).

This watch sits between their S3 and Watch 4 - they botched the naming convention for this watch and just named it Galaxy Watch, which is confusing as hell!

It replaced my Galaxy Gear S watch, which was a cellular networked watch.  That watch was functional but dated when I got it, as well.  I loved taking calls from that watch, though!

This particular watch is the 46mm BT version of the Galaxy Watch.  It works well enough but stopped being fully supported maybe a year ago (it runs on the Tizen OS, which has been depreciated).  Well, let me rephrase:  the watch is still supported; it gets occasional updates, but nothing like the current Samsung Watch products (because Tizen OS isn't supported anymore - it will eventually die).  The last update I got was 8/18/2022, a small update that enhances GPS stability.  The update prior to that was 11/2021 and was probably the very last large update.

I'd replaced this watch with a FitBit Sense, which is equivalent to an Apple Watch Series 7, but the Sense stopped working maybe a month ago (it won't charge).  I'm in the process of RMAing the device.  They'll send me another one once I send mine back to them.  

I bought the Sense using employee stipend funds (bought it during the thick of Covid - the employer gave us funds to use to stay healthy at home).  I should've just bought a damned Apple Watch instead, because Fitbits aren't really dependable/durable.  There's a chance I'll eventually have issues with the replacement.

To be honest, I may just sell the replacement and use the funds to buy an Apple Watch.

So, for now, I reverted back to my Samsung Watch and am liking it.  I love it's heft and it's UI is easy to navigate.  It's also GPS-capable, so it should be able to track my runs and other physical activities (using tethered software, I assume).  It's doing a lot of what the Sense does.  The only thing the Sense does that this Samsung Watch doesn't is sleep tracking and heart monitoring.  

Continuing to use the Samsung Watch even once I get the Sense replacement, wouldn't be the worse idea, I guess.

We'll see.

The Apple Watch Series 7 is still on my radar, too.

Comply Premium Earphone Tips & Spigen Ultra Hybrid MagFit Case

I posted about buying Airpod Pros earlier in the year.

One thing I absolutely hate about them (and all AirPods) is the fact that they won't stay in my ear.  I shouldn't have to spend this amount of money for ear buds that won't stay put.

Now, I'll say right now that my ear canals are hairy.  I'm not a hairy guy by any means.  It took me YEARS to grow a fully fleshed-out mustache and I can't grow a full beard (I have no problem growning a goatee).  My legs aren't extremely hairy, nor are my arms or chest (or armpits).  My ear has a good amount of hair growing from the ear canals, though.

At first, I tried clipping my ear hairs, and it works, but it's a bit tedious and I don't like the barbed feeling of the ends poking into me when I insert the Airpods.

I was close to selling them and getting a pair of Beats instead, as I heard they're much better at staying in place.

I was reading the MacRumors forums this week and saw that someone mentioned that they used a product called Comply premium earphone tips.  I ordered a set two days ago.

They arrived today and while sitting on my patio drinking a beer, I tried them.

OMFG.  They work. They work very well.

I'm using the medium set (these came in a set of three, sized small, medium, and large).

I also bought a magnetic ear buds tether, as well, but I think I was overly redundant.  Honestly, I wouldn't have known these would work, because I've tried at least 5 other sets of ear bud tips - only the sixth set worked.

It's time to wear out these AirPods!

Note:  I also bought a Spigen Ultra Hybrid Mag (MagFit) clear case.  I want to get a MagSafe battery, but at $99, maybe I'll put it on my Christmas list.  

Some Mac-specific Questions

 I've some Mac-specific questions.

1. I added keywords to many of my pictures and videos in the Photos app.  I've created smart folders on my MBA.  The photos and videos are stored in iCloud for sharing with other Mac hosts.  When I view those photos on my Mac Mini, I can see the keywords but the smart folder criteria was never copied/synched to iCloud.  I'd rather not create another set of smart folders on the Mini.  The question is:  is there a way to copy/export smart folders from one system for import into another system?  This might also be a good iCloud feature request for photos.

2. Can smart folders be shared across a network?

I'll attempt to answer these questions myself via research and trial/error, but I wanted track the research here.

UPDATE:

I ended up enabling iCloud photo sharing on my Mini, which copied all my photos and videos to the Mini.  I just noticed that all of my created smart folders were copied over to the Mini, too!   There's no need to delve into question 2.

UPDATE 2:

Sometime in December 2022, I disabled iCloud photo sharing on both the Mini and my MBA, as the pictures had consumed my 200 GB of iCloud space.  They are backed up, which is good, but I can't currently view the photos as active photos.  This is a major reason why potential Apple device owners should carefully evaluate drive space options when considering the purchase of Apple appliances.

Browser Extension - Workona Tab Manager

Since I've been using the Mac Mini and Macbook Air, I've migrated my browser usage to Microsoft Edge.

Why?  I like the way Edge manages tabs.  I can have many tabs but the tabs that aren't being actively used are disabled until you begin to use them (they're on standby, using minimal memory).

I decided that I wanted to use the same browser and tab manager browser extension combination on my gaming machine, which runs MS Windows 10 Pro.

The results were disappointing.  While the browser extension works, it also apparently kills YouTube audio.  No matter what "fixes" I applied, the only solution that allows YouTube audio is removing the Workona Tab Manager browser extension.  When I removed it, I regained audio.  When I reinstalled it, I lost audio.

I left the following review for the Workona folks:

So, I can either continue to use Workona's Tab Manager on the Macs and find another for the Windows box, or I can find a good one for all three.  I haven't decided what to do yet.

UPDATE:

I decided to stop using Workona's products.  I've been using Tab Session Manager the past 3 months.  It's simple enough to use and doesn't have any bad side affects.

UPDATE 2 (12/10/2023):

I noticed maybe 3-4 months ago that Microsoft Edge has something that is very similar to Workona, called Workpsaces.  I'm able to use the workspaces based on the types of projects I'm working and can swap from one to another at my whim.  I'm using this in conjuction with Tab Session Manager.

UPDATE 3 (5/24/2024):

Noticed awhile ago (maybe 8 month ago) that, if I switch to another Mac and use MS Edge, the workspaces I created and use on one Mac is accessible fron other Macs.  I basically no longer lose track of browser tabs.

Photos and Duplicates - Grrrr!! But Hours Later, Success!

 I've been playing with Photos and smart albums.  I like smart albums a lot, but I'm running into an issue where I'm seeing LOTs of duplicates within the Photos app.

As mentioned in the prior post, I've made a backup (and I've removed the duplicates).  I think I'm going to delete everything that's in my Photos app and then import all of the photos that is in my backup archive.  I'd have to start over with my attempt at organizing using smart folders, but that's OK.

You'd think that Photos would have a built-in duplicates management system.  Supposedly, iOS does, but I didn't see the feature in my Photos app on my iPhone 13 Pro Max (using v15.6).

I haven't taken any pictures or videos in maybe a week, but I'll be sure to check and backup any recent videos and photos before I commence with this project.

UPDATE:

From my Notes - 

8/13/2022

I started playing with smart albums in Photos on my MBA.

I ran into the issue of many pictures having 3+ duplicates.

I want to start fresh (I’ve a backup of my photos, and the backup has zero duplicates).

I deleted the photos that are in the Photos app on the MBA, then went to disable Photo in iCloud.

Since iCloud will wait for 30 days to delete the photos, I logged into iCloud from a web browser, and am currently deleted them all manually.  iCloud won’t let me delete more than 1,000 pictures at a time, and waiting for the deletion to complete takes a few minutes.

UPDATE - deletion is done.

I had to wait until iCloud registered that there were no more photos/videos being stored (I waited for the iPhone to show no files in Photos as well).

Importing the photos from my backup drive was trivial.  I went from 2500+ files to 1,586!

I re-enabled Photos in iCloud (in the Settings configuration panel on the MBA).  I’m currently awaiting for the iCloud backup/sync process to kick in now.

I deleted all the tags I was using, since there were duplicate tags too (some were all lower case and some had the first letter capitalized - gahhh!!)

I kept my smart folders, though…there was nothing wrong with those and I can edit the filters easily.

This refresh worked better than I’d thought!

One thing I need to ensure of is that I positively need to backup my backup (I’ve a beefy NAS).  It’s already holding my iTunes music (which I also cleaned up - it had a ton of duplicates too, and wasn’t well organized).

It’s late right now (3:30 AM).  I’m waiting for tomorrow to finish up this project and for iCloud to backup the photos I’ve just restored.

————

It’s now 4 PM.

I checked at 12 PM and iCloud had just finished backing up all the videos and photos.  That took quite a while and the dataset wasn’t all that large, either (27 GB).

I spent the last 2 hours creating keywords and assigning them to the photos and videos.  Since I’d kept the old Smart Folders, I just had to adjust them to use the new keywords I’d created.

This is REALLY nice.  As well, the keywords that are assigned to the photos appear to be synced with my iPhone, as I can now search the photos on my phone using the keywords that I created and and assigned.  I’m wondering If I should do another backup now, to solidify those keywords - I do NOT want to have to create and assign keywords again.

MacOS and Smart Folders

Below are my notes from learning a bit about smart folders in MacOS.

Copied from a Notes entry:

8/3/2022 - Smart Folders

I want to better organize my photos and videos (that are stored in Photos and currently shared to iCloud).

I also wanted to try using Smart Folders.

I’ve also never backed up my photos, so I got the idea that I could save my photos as a backup, while also sorting them (Photos contains both videos and photos), and also removing duplicate photos.

• I copied all of the photos and videos to my Extreme Pro SSD
• I copied all the files to PNG format.
• Several of these files are actually videos (.mov), which I coped as well.
• I then created two smart folders
• A smart folder for images (PNG)
• A smart folder for movies (MOV)

One thing I had a problem with is determining how to get the smart folders to only search a certain drive.  By default, when created smart folders, the criteria is set to search the native SSD.  I couldn’t find a way to change this to search against the Extreme Pro.

I decided to cheat by assigning all the files on the Extreme Pro SSD the following tag:  Extreme Pro.  If they were photos, I added the “photos” tag and if they were movies, I added the “movie”, “quicktime”, and “video” tags. 

I noticed that there are many duplicates of photos (they’re appended with (1), (2)…).  I need to study up on how to use smart folders to eliminate the duplicates (if possible).

https://osxdaily.com/2020/09/17/how-find-duplicate-files-mac/ can help with this.

Once I get the duplicates removed, I’ll need to go through them and get rid of any needless photos/videos.  The plan is to archive them all, as well as not have them taking up iCloud space and hard drive space on both the Mini and MBA. 

I also couldn’t find a way to refine an existing smart folder’s name, so I created a new one and gave it the name I needed, then saved it.  I then had the problem of having the original smart folder and couldn’t find out how to delete it.  The following URL helped to delete that folder:  https://www.wikihow.com/Remove-an-Item-from-the-Finder-Sidebar-on-a-Mac.

8/4/2022 - Smart Folders 2

After watching a few videos on Youtube about how to create searches and saving the searches as smart folders, I did the following:

1. Opened new Finder window
2. Used Cmd+F (to find files)
3. Chose the following as “Search:” - Extreme Pro
4. Searched for File extension =  PNG
5. Saved as “Photos - Extreme Pro”
6. The above resulted in saving the search as a smart folder.

Now Working! - AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition

 October of last year (2021), I posted about issues with AMD's video card and gaming software management console.

I tried various tutorials to get it to work and went as far as uninstalling all video drivers from the system using several different driver removal software packages.  None of it worked.

I've been manually checking for driver updates since I couldn't get the console software to work on my system.  I'd check maybe every two months.  I refused to follow most recommendations of reinstalling the OS just to get this to work and I cursed AMD every time I had to do this manually.  It's not difficult to do, but this is 2022...I shouldn't have to be doing this manually.  I'd also check to see if I could get that console software to run after every update...it never worked (it wouldn't give an error but would flatout not work).

So, today, I checked and saw that there was a recent driver.  I downloaded it manually and installed it.  I checked to see if the console software would work - and it did!  I didn't change a thing with this system, so it wasn't something that I'd forgotten or didn't know how to do.

This tells me that it's a driver-, console- or installer-related issue.

I have noticed that my Nvidia GTX 1060 6 GB video card was still stronger than this AMD RX 6600 and between that and this console issue, was very close to getting rid of the RX 6600 and going back to the 1060 (it's in my storage closet).

Now I get to look at the console and see how well it compares to Nvidia's.

Newly-Installed Software on MBA M1

After watching a few videos on recommendations of free Mac software, I decided to download and install the following:

• Seashore - image/photo editor
• COT, or CotEditor - text editor that has sone coding capability (more advanced than TextEdit)
• CloudClip Manager - clipboard managing app
• AlDente Free - battery management app

I also saw the recommendation to install/use VLC, which was the very first software I installed on the MBA.

I will also be installing Audacity, as soon as they compile the software for Apple silicon, although I also have the option to use the Intel version, which would be translated by Rosetta.  Also, of all the software I installed, Audacity was the only one that I couldn't find at the App Store.  I got it at Mac | Audacity ® (audacityteam.org).

I may also install LibreOffice, which I use on my gaming PC (not sure how large the install for Macs).  For now, I'll rely upon Google's office suite of tools.

Of the bulleted software above, I'm running AlDente Free in the background and have the charge limit set to 80%.  When I installed it, my battery was at 100%, so I discharged it with AlDente to 80%.  I'll evaluate this software for maybe 6 months and if I like the results, I'll purchase the Pro version of AlDente.  And, up above, I lied. I said that Audacity was the only software I got from outside of the App Store, but AlDente was another I had to directly download from the author's GitHub.

Amazon Prime Sale - Sandisk 2TB Extreme Pro V2

This week I got a notice from Western Digital that they were having a two-day sale on Sandisk Extreme Pro v2 portable SSDs.  I almost bought it but checked Amazon and saw it on sale there as well.  

I ended up buying the 2TB version from Amazon, since I still had $70 to use from a birthday gift card.  With the gift card and the 50% off (from the list price), I paid $198 for a 2TB Pro V2 Sandisk portable SSD.

Now, I realize that both my Mac Mini (M1) and MBA (M1) will bottle-neck this SSD drive since their USB bandwidth is 10 Gb/s (USB 3.1 Gen 2), but at some point, I may get a new system that has the latest USB (3.2 Gen 2x2).  Think of it as future-proofing.

It would be nice for Sandisk to build these based on the Thunderbolt (v3) specs, though, especially since Apple has been using this spec for quite a while.

Macbook Pro 13" M2 & Potential NAND Issue

 I'm noticing some videos of the recently released Macbook Pro 13" M2 throttling SSD reads and writes.

I've also seen some posts on MacRumors.com describing the issue.

It appears that Apple may have only included one NAND for the 256 GB version of the MBP 13" M2, while the M1 variant of the same notebook has two NANDs.  Apple apparently was cutting costs with the M2 MBP13, to the point that the M1 MBP13 certainly outperforms it as far as SSD reads/writes are concerned.

This might not only affect MBP 13" M2s, but also MBA M2s.  We'll soon see if the community discovers that the MBA M2 is also affected by this issue.

See this MacRumors post for more information.

Other posts:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m2-fanless-heat-issue.2349274/

Purchased Applecare+ for the Macbook Air

 After seeing a month+ of many folks sharing that they've damaged their Macbooks' screens (either by dropping or neglecting to remember that the notebook is fragile), I decided to purchase Applecare+.

The thing about insurance is that you might not need to use it.  I wanted to have it in case I ever need it.

I think I use my Mac Mini more than I do my MBA, but every time I handle the Macbook, there's this nagging feeling that I'm going to drop it.  Maybe it's that slick feeling case.  Or maybe it's the fact that it feels ultra-light and thin..  The top case is very thin, in fact, to the point that it doesn't take much to damage the screen (evidenced by the high amount of posters at the MacRumors forums and sub-Reddits, sharing the damage they caused).

One thing that I noticed is that when purchasing Applecare+, the owner is given the option of subscribing annually ($99/year) or paying a lump sum of $199 for three years of coverage.  I'm not sure which would've been best for me, but opted for the 3-year plan since I'll have the MBA a while (longer than 3 years, more than likely).  

It just makes sense, to me, to buy the coverage (mainly for the accidental) and not worry so much about display damage.  Note that I'm only interested in entertaining my use case...I've no need to explore any scenarios outside of my own usage patterns.

And, no, I didn't purchase Applecare+ for my Mac Mini M1.  It's not mobile and I have less worry of dropping it than my MBA.

Macbook Air M1 - Passive Cooling and Waterproofing Discussion

I saw a forum post where someone was wanting a waterproof Macbook Air.

I'm not sure why someone would want this.  The poster stated that it was for the sake of innovation, like adding needless features alone is considered to be innovative.

I explained that I've never spilled any liquids on any of the notebooks I've owned.  Sure, I'm speaking for myself, but self-restraint would prevent folks from accidentally spilling liquid on their notebooks.  I'd explained how I made sure I wasn't drinking over or even near my notebooks...that simple rule stopped me from ever having to worry about liquid damage repairs.  What of notebooks (in bags or backpacks) getting wet if caught in the rain?  Always check the weather before you leave an establishment, or don't take your notebook with you when/if you know it's raining.  If you need to go and you know it's going to rain, bring an umbrella or put your notebook inside a ziplock or plastic bag...it doesn't have to be airtight unless you're going underwater with it.

Some then made a quip of it being super simple to implement since the MBA was already sealed.

Wait.  What?

He thought that since the MBA had no fan, that the case was sealed (ie, no air gaps)

I told him that there is no way that the case is 100% sealed, even while the system is fanless.  I couldn't back this up, as there are no pictures or articles stating that there are no ports/ducts in the case, but I followed my gut.

I looked under my MBA M1 2020 and saw that there's a long rectangular cut underneath the display (when the display is lifted up).  At first I thought that this was where the ports were - I thought it was one elongated port, but I was wrong.  I felt along the port when opening and closing the lid, but couldn't find anything that suggested a true duct.

I powered down the notebook (not hibernated/sleeping).  I then closed the notebook and flipped it upside down.  I took a straightened plastic-covered paper clip and poked along the elongated duct.  I found that there are indeed two ducts within that elongated cut.  I thought they were hinges because they're covered by soft rubber pieces, but they flex away when prodded.

I also found this article: How The MacBook Air Cools Itself 2022 - The Mini Blog

That article clarifies some things.  

While it doesn't mention the two ducts, it does depict them.  The article explains that there are passive cooling mechanics designed into the system.  One passive cooler is the aluminum bottom plate.  It dissipates heat.  The system also has copper heat pipes, which are depicted within the article.  The article also explains that the CPU portion of the SoC (System on Chip) has what's called a cold plate over it, which helps dissipate heat.  

The below picture is an edit of what was depicted in the article.  The red circles indicate where the two cooling ducts are.  The copper heat pipes are circled in yellow.

What does this have to do with waterproofing a MBA?  Everything.  The MBA does not have fans and heat sinks on the hot bits to mitigate heat, as does the Macbook Pro and other non-Mac notebooks.  The MBA relies upon passive cooling.  A sealed case will cause issues with a system that uses passive cooling as the aluminum bottom alone won't wick the heat way.  What heat that is not dissipated by the aluminum bottom will not be able to leave the system, which is why the current MBA has the heat pipes and "exhaust" ports (the heat pipes absorb the heat and the pipes are pointed toward the ducts as another dissipation method).

The MBA, as it currently stands, is nowhere near being waterproof-capable, as you'd have to redesign the whole passive cooling system to account for the fact that the system needs to be air-tight to prevent liquid damage.

I explained to the forum poster that the ports are in place and that I've verified that they are ducts (showed him the pictures in the article and explained to him that I checked the ducts and they are indeed ducts).  He hasn't said a word in reply.

Now, with all that being said, his question was in regards to the new MBA (2022 M2).  Since the new MBA isn't yet released to the public, all I had to rely upon is the outgoing MBA (2020 M1).  

Note that I saw the bottom of the new 2022 M2 (internet picture) and saw that it has the same telltale elongated cutout on the bottom of the case, so I'm betting that the new MBA has the same exact ducting, since that system also uses passive cooling.

Macbook Air M1 & Multiple External Displays

 I saw several folks on Reddit complaining that the new M2 Macbook Air only supports one external monitor.  Technical specifications state that one 6K display is supported but I saw several posts over the past 30 days stating folks have been using multiple external displays with the M1 Mac Minis, which uses the exact same SoC as the M1 Macbook Air.

I decided to check with my Mac Mini M1to see what it would handle and if it could see more than one external monitor.

My Mac Mini is currently connected to an iMac 27" Late 2009 using a Thunderbolt-to-miniDisplayPort cable.  I switch between it and the iMac using Target Display Mode, which I posted about a few weeks ago.  My gaming PC uses a Samsung 34" UltraWQHD screen.  I disconnected it from my gaming PC and connected the display to the Mac Mini using and HDMI-to-HDMI cable, connecting it to the Mini's HDMI port.  The result is that the Mini is able to use both screens without issue, with both rendering in  1440p.

I then attempted to use the same two displays with my MBA M1.  Since the MBA M1 only has the two TB ports on the left side of the system, I had to use my Anker hub, which has an HDMI port.  I found that the MBA M1 can only use one of the two 1440p displays at a time, not both at the same time.  I did not alter the resolution.  NOTE - since the MBA only allows the usage of one external display, using a hub isn't necessary; you can use the aforementioned Thunderbolt-to-miniDisplayPort cable, which will give you the option of 1440p with the 27" iMac.

I think that two 4k monitors is a too much for the bandwidth of the MBA M1 and I've seen articles mentioning that two 4K displays was too much.  I need to test to determine if it'll detect both displays if one is not 4K or if I have to lower the resolution on both for them to be detected.

There are solutions that will allow the usage of multiple displays with the MBA M1, but you've to install DisplayLink.  I haven't tried that yet.

To be honest, the 34" as an external (or second) display is extremely large...it's like having two screens when in 1440p.  That's actually quite enough space for me, but I'll make it a project of trying to get the two 1440p displays to work with the MBA M1.

Upcoming M2-powered Macbook Air & "Refreshed" M2-powered 13" Macbook Pro

 So, I saw the specs of the new and upcoming M2 Macbook Air.

The technical specifications for the M2 Macbook Air are here.

The technical specifications for the M2 Macbook 13" Pro are here.

Immediately noticeable is the fact that the M2 MBP is using the same chassis as the previous M1 Air, while also using the M2 chipset.  They almost certainly just shoehorned the M2 into the existing M1 Air chassis, as the case layout and specs are extremely similar.

Basically, the M2 MBA gets a proper refresh while the M2 MBP does not.

The major differences are:

The MBA has a 13.6" display while the MBP's display is 13.3".  Both systems' displays are LED-backlit with IPS technology.  Both had the same nit capacity.

The M2 MBA base machine will have the 8-core CPU with 4 performance and 4 efficiency cores, and 8-core GPU.  The M2 MBP base will have the 8-core CPU with 4/4 performance/efficiency cores and a 10-core GPU.

The M2 MBA option would be the 8-core 4/4 core with 10-core GPU.  There's no other option for the M2 MBP.

So, the base M2 MBP starts with the better hardware, and the M2 MBA can be optioned to use the base MBP chipset.

Battery comparison:  The MBA battery is rated for 18 hours of Apple TV playback, 15 hours of wireless web, has a 52.6-watt-hour LiPo battery and includes a 30W power adapter.  The MBP battery is rated for 20 hours of Apple TV music playback, 17 hours of wireless web viewing, and has a 58.2-watt-hour LiPo battery.

Both have the exact same RAM capacity and offerings.

Both have the exact same SSD capacity and offerings.

That doesn't seem all that bad, but as you further compare, you'll see that the M2 MBA now has a 1080P front-facing camera while the M2 MPB has the same 720P camera as the outgoing M1 MBA and M1 13" MBP.

The MBA now has a Mag-Safe charging port with two Thunderbolt 3 ports.  The MBP has the same layout as the exiting M1 MBP 13" - two Thunderbolt 3 ports.  Note that the MBP will lose a TB port when using a charger, since it doesn't have a dedicated charing port.  The TB and USB bandwidth capabilities are the same for both systems.

The MBA uses a non-Touch Bar keyboard.  The MBP uses the Touch Bar keyboard, otherwise both keyboards are the same, as well as the touch pads.

The MBA uses a new four-speaker sound system. Both use the same three-mic array and 3.5mm headphone jack.

Both the MBA and MBP M2s officially support only one external 6K display.  I'm not sure what's unofficially supported.  I've heard that the M1 MBAs and MBPs can support two 4K displays.

Price-wise, the M2-powered MBA base model will now cost $1199, while the upgraded M2 MBA will cost $1499.  The M2 MBP base machine will cost $1299, while the upgraded model will cost $1499.

All of the above hints that the M2 MBP may be performing a swan song and may be exiting the market.  While it's not really overshadowed by the M2 MBA, (they share the same chip and the chips are exactly the same), they do not share the same shell.  The comparison is not really fair since the M2 MBA got a real refresh and the M2 MBP did not - the M2 MBP got a new chipset but is using the same chassis as the outgoing M1 MBP 13".

It's almost as if Apple had a surplus of M2 SoCs that they wanted to utilize for the sake of usage...they had spare M2s and spare 13" MBP chassis and used both surpluses to make "new" systems.

It's odd behavior, to be sure.

We'll see if I'm correct in my assessment.

Compared to the outgoing M1 MBA, the incoming M2 MBA is apparently 20% more powerful/efficient.

Are Macbooks Durable?

 Some guy on one of the Mac subreddit groups wanted to secure his Macbook in his car with a tether to deter theft.

I left a comment saying that his main concern should be the heat inside a car.

The storage spec for current Macbooks:

Storage temperature: −13° to 113° F (−25° to 45° C)

The next argument was that a trunk would suffice.  I argued against that, as a truck would be just as hot (it is not a sealed compartment and the heat from the cabin would, in almost all cars with trunks, radiate into the trunk.  The next argument was that the trunk didn't have windows.  A car can get hot even if the windows were covered, as the car is basically a metal enclosure sitting under direct sunlight.  The storage spec for the current MBAs is 113 F.  That temp can easily be attained in a car's trunk.

The next argument was that MBAs are durable.  

THEY ARE MOST CERTAINLY NOT.  A simple Reddit search shows the following - reddit.com: search results - macbook cracked screen - and most of those hits are very recent.  Many of the posts include pictures of the damage too, so yeah, that statement was quickly debunked.

Folks, don't believe everything you see on the internet.