MacBook Upgrade

Reasons To Switch To Windows 7 From Mac OS


Reasons To Switch To Windows 7 From Mac OS: There may be some who think that my action to move to Windows 7 from Mac OS is a counterproductive action. It could be so, but still, this is something I need to experience myself (and maybe you too). By the way, this is my second day using Windows that I installed on my Mid-2010 MacBook Pro.

Also, read about Boot Camp common problem to install Windows on a Mac (Missing Create Install Disk Menu)

If you ask me why I did not upgrade straight to Windows 10, my answer is that Boot Camp only suggested me to install between Windows 7 or Windows 8 (depends on MacBook type). I had a bad experience with Windows 8 (which I think is a generic version of Windows 10), so I will stick with Boot Camp suggestion.

Also, read about things to do after installing Windows on your Mac.

In addition to adjusting to the Cmd switch that switches to Ctrl, I also have to adjust to the placement of buttons above the application window. I have lost track of my cursor several times when I wanted to find the buttons.

Software installation process is more complicated. Unlike a Mac that only needs to open the disk image and move the app directly to the Apps folder, the installation in Windows is determined by the installer itself, where it will go and from where I can open it. The same thing happens with the uninstall process.

Please note that this is not a Mac vs PC article since I’m a proud user of both.

Customization

Years of using the Mac and all I got were two color options (graphite and blue), and that only changed a very small part of the display. Not surprising at all, given Apple always controls everything that happens to all its products, even in the front end though. With Windows, I can freely customize, although I keep changing it to a minimum, considering I’m forgetful and tend to forget what I was doing before when my Windows display suddenly became messy.

You can change your theme by typing “theme” in the Start Menu and click on “Change The Theme”.

Softwares Are Easier To Find

Softwares for Windows are easier to find both in online stores and in retail stores. In my neighborhood, there is a large mall of nearly ten Windows software vendors, and only one that sells Apple products, it is an iStore that focuses more on hardware sales. I think this is a bit troublesome because not all applications are in the App Store. And expecting real-time answers about the software in the App Store is something impossible.

And believe not if I say the workers on iStore use templates to answer their customers? I hardly ever get new knowledge from my conversation with them. All I get is the impression, “oh, it’s so true”. They only reinforce the facts I find, not the solutions. When I asked what difference the official OS would have with my OS downloaded from the internet, he simply replied, “The official one has a dock”. That’s a silly answer.

This is different from my experience in the Windows software store. Although they are not official stores, they have a myriad of answers to what I am asking.And even giving me more ideas of what that software is capable of.

More Compatible Hardware

Just like its hardware, Mac’s hardware is harder to find, and tend to be ridiculously more expensive. I can say that if we take an ashtray, put Apple logo on it, it can be sold for hundreds of dollars. I just find out that my USB Modem is still working earlier. I thought it was broken since it was not even detected on Mac.

Windows Computer More Easily Found

This is a scenario where I decided to go for a walk and the misfortunes that always with me decide to walk with me. I accidentally left my laptop and phone at home. Then suddenly a writing idea popped into my head, and I knew that I would forget to write anything if it was suspended for a while. I’m senile, mmm … or have I ever written about this before?

I only have one choice, find the nearest internet cafe! or go home I’m willing to bet, the majority of internet cafes will rent out PCs, and not Macs. At least that’s what I met here.

Then why is this a consideration? Yes, you know how difficult it is to change the habits on the computer? Different software and hand gestures will obviously hamper our productivity. Imagine how panicky and ridiculous if we forget to close our browser window because it uses the wrong hotkeys.

Any Random Guy Is Using Windows

I’ve had to deal with several technicians over the web that I use. And there is often a misunderstanding between me and the technician because he uses Windows. The same thing I encountered when I was looking for tutorials about an app. The screenshots shown are screenshots of Windows. Of course, it is not Apple’s fault that they have chosen Windows as their primary device to work. Possibly, this reason is also one of them.

Giving New Life

Just like installing Linux on my old MacBook Pro, installing Windows also gives new life for this old man. High Sierra is cool, stable, amazing (add yourself what you expect from an OS), but it feels heavy when running on my MacBook. To prevent too much oath I am computing, installing Windows is the best choice besides installing Linux. Especially, the cool Deepin Linux. 🙂

Also, read more about Deepin OS.

Saving on Hardware

Although I rarely find hardware constraints on my MacBook Pro, or almost never. But it would be nice if we can get insight from hardware constraints that we find. The answer to this hardware constraint is tantamount to the experience I encountered with software constraints. Answer the Mac technician we can guess, that is … replace with a new one!

If you’re like me, who has an “insider” acquaintance, you’re lucky enough not to have to replace all your MacBook pro lids just to overcome Wifi or Webcam constraints. This can be understood because Apple is a hardware manufacturer, and they sell Apple Care to guarantee the performance of its products.

This also happens if you use Windows on MacBook Pro or other Macs. Inevitably we have to take care of our hardware constraints to Apple’s official branch. However, if you use Windows on PC… congratulations, you have a lot of advantages and savings if one of your PC components is troubled.

Click here to read about how to resurrect your old MacBook.

MacBook Upgrade: The Easy Way To Resurrect Your Old MacBook/Pro


If you’re reading this, chances are you’re in one of the scenarios below:

Scenario 1:

Have an old MacBook/Pro and feel if your MacBook is not able to serve your needs well? Wait, do not let it be thrown away or sold at a cheap price. Because with a little effort (and cost) we will be able to prosecute MacBook Upgrade and make it endure for at least the next few years.

So let your nephew who has been begging for your MacBook waiting for a few more years. Because, you’ll fall in love with your MacBook (Pro) again!


Scenario 2:

You see someone selling a used MacBook on Amazon for a very cheap price, and you really crave it once.

Scenario 3:

You are a technician who is dismantling a MacBook belongs to a person who is in one of the two scenarios above.

Let’s Start Our MacBook Upgrade

Read the tips for MacBook Air here.

  • SSD

Older MacBook doesn’t have SSD since SSD was not even invented yet. But now you can easily replace your old HDD with SSD. SSD was first introduced in MacBook Air, hence the slim body and anti-shake. I even dropped my SSD on purpose and the data can still be accessed. SSD has no moving parts, so any kind of shaking won’t destroy the data in it (unless if the damage is done physically).

This can be done on MacBook Pro & MacBook

  • 2 SSDs!

The average SSD comes in a smaller capacity than the HDD. This actually makes sense, because anyway most of the data we can save in Cloud services.

Read more about Cloud storage here.

But this will be a problem if you need physical storage media to do video and photo editing (among other tasks) that require real-time data rotation.

This is when we’ll be using 2 SSDs at once, by putting it into the caddy that we then put into our MacBook.

This can be done on MacBook Pro & MacBook

  • Using RAID 0

If you still have an extra HDD, why not use two HDD’s inside your MacBook? Use the same method with the 2 SSDs above, insert your HDD, then make your 2 HDDs into one Raid 0. Raid 0 works to use both HDDs that you have simultaneously with speed as its primary goal.

I was tempted to make 2 SSDs into RAID 0, but I did not feel any significant change. Apparently, this is still a questionable thing to its usefulness.

Here is how we’ll do it:

  • Press Cmd and Space to open Spotlight
  • Type diskutil to open the Disk Utility
  • Go to File > RAID Assistant…
  • Choose Stripped (RAID 0)
  • Click Next
  • Choose your disks
  • Set the properties*
  • Everything should be well guided from there

*Be careful when choosing Chunk Size, as this will prevent the occurrence of the Bottle Neck effect. Remember how the Bottle Neck effect in the movie Saving Private Ryan? This is similar.

Choose a small chunk size if your MacBook data usage is small but often (eg typing blogs and other Office tasks), and use large sizes if you’re working on large data (for example, continuously applying Photoshop or Final Cut Pro X filters).

  • Resetting It Completely

After years of usage and hundreds of times installing and removing applications, lots of junk files are left on our Mac. Of course, we can use “app forced to us to install it”, know what application I mean?

But nothing is cleaner than actually resetting our Mac to be as new (even with the latest OS version).

First of all, make sure you have an internet connection.

The trick is to hold down the Cmd + R key when turning on the Mac. Then select New Install from there. Leave your Mac, and do activities as usual (unless your usual activity is to use a MacBook). Once that process is complete, your MacBook will look like new.

  • Other OS

Mac OSX is by far the most sophisticated OS I’ve ever had. But, just like what Apple always does, the older device would be rendered useless from one update to another. This is the time you should consider to run your old MacBook on other operating systems that run perfectly on your old MacBook.

Here is the list of other OS that runs smoothly on my MacBook Pro Mid-2010:

Read here to learn a trick for MacBook Pro on Deepin/other Linux.

  • Alternative Apps

Another way for MacBook Upgrade is by using alternative applications. Doing this can also make your MacBook feels lighter. For example, replace heavy Adobe Photoshop with GIMP, replace Adobe Lightroom with Photos, Replace Final Cut Pro X with iMovie.

Read more about Free Photoshop alternatives here.

It’s like circumcising many functions, but we can use several small separate apps to get similar results, without the temptation of trying hundreds of tool functions in Photoshop that we don’t need have never touched before (and this is related to the chunk size we discussed earlier).

That concludes our topic about MacBook Upgrade, see you on the other topics.

MacBook Upgrade: The Easy Way


If you’re reading this, chances are you’re in one of the scenarios below:

Scenario 1:

Have an old MacBook/Pro and feel if your MacBook is not able to serve your needs well? Wait, do not let it be thrown away or sold at a cheap price. Because with a little effort (and cost) we will be able to prosecute MacBook Upgrade and make it endure for at least the next few years.

So let your nephew who has been begging for your MacBook waiting for a few more years. Because, you’ll fall in love with your MacBook (Pro) again!

Scenario 2:

You see someone selling a used MacBook on Amazon for a very cheap price, and you really crave it once.

Scenario 3:

You are a technician who is dismantling a MacBook belongs to a person who is in one of the two scenarios above.

Let’s Start Our MacBook Upgrade

Read the tips for MacBook Air here.

  • SSD

Older MacBook doesn’t have SSD since SSD was not even invented yet. But now you can easily replace your old HDD with SSD. SSD was first introduced in MacBook Air, hence the slim body and anti-shake. I even dropped my SSD on purpose and the data can still be accessed. SSD has no moving parts, so any kind of shaking won’t destroy the data in it (unless if the damage is done physically).

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This can be done on MacBook Pro & MacBook

  • 2 SSDs!

The average SSD comes in a smaller capacity than the HDD. This actually makes sense, because anyway most of the data we can save in Cloud services.

Read more about Cloud storage here.

But this will be a problem if you need physical storage media to do video and photo editing (among other tasks) that require real-time data rotation.

This is when we’ll be using 2 SSDs at once, by putting it into the caddy that we then put into our MacBook.

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amzn_assoc_tracking_id = “digressingme-20”;
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amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = “SSD Caddy”;
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This can be done on MacBook Pro & MacBook

  • Using RAID 0

If you still have an extra HDD, why not use two HDD’s inside your MacBook? Use the same method with the 2 SSDs above, insert your HDD, then make your 2 HDDs into one Raid 0. Raid 0 works to use both HDDs that you have simultaneously with speed as its primary goal.

I was tempted to make 2 SSDs into RAID 0, but I did not feel any significant change. Apparently, this is still a questionable thing to its usefulness.

Here is how we’ll do it:
  • Press Cmd and Space to open Spotlight
  • Type diskutil to open the Disk Utility
  • Go to File > RAID Assistant…
  • Choose Stripped (RAID 0)
  • Click Next
  • Choose your disks
  • Set the properties*
  • Everything should be well guided from there

*Be careful when choosing Chunk Size, as this will prevent the occurrence of the Bottle Neck effect. Remember how the Bottle Neck effect in the movie Saving Private Ryan? This is similar.

Choose a small chunk size if your MacBook data usage is small but often (eg typing blogs and other Office tasks), and use large sizes if you’re working on large data (for example, continuously applying Photoshop or Final Cut Pro X filters).

  • Resetting Completely

After years of usage and hundreds of times installing and removing applications, lots of junk files are left on our Mac. Of course, we can use “app forced to us to install it”, know what application I mean?

But nothing is cleaner than actually resetting our Mac to be as new (even with the latest OS version).

First of all, make sure you have an internet connection.

The trick is to hold down the Cmd + R key when turning on the Mac. Then select New Install from there. Leave your Mac, and do activities as usual (unless your usual activity is to use a MacBook). Once that process is complete, your MacBook will look like new.

  • Other OS

Mac OSX is by far the most sophisticated OS I’ve ever had. But, just like what Apple always does, the older device would be rendered useless from one update to another. This is the time you should consider to run your old MacBook on other operating systems that run perfectly on your old MacBook.

Here is the list of other OS that runs smoothly on my MacBook Pro Mid-2010:

Read here to learn a trick for MacBook Pro on Deepin/other Linux.

  • Alternative Apps

Another way for MacBook Upgrade is by using alternative applications. Doing this can also make your MacBook feels lighter. For example, replace heavy Adobe Photoshop with GIMP, replace Adobe Lightroom with Photos, Replace Final Cut Pro X with iMovie.

Read more about Free Photoshop alternatives here.

It’s like circumcising many functions, but we can use several small separate apps to get similar results, without the temptation of trying hundreds of tool functions in Photoshop that we don’t need have never touched before (and this is related to the chunk size we discussed earlier).

That concludes our topic about MacBook Upgrade, see you on the other topics.