Am I nuts...

[clay]

ka jowct wrote:
[quote=DewGuy]
Am I nuts for preferring a 13-year old MacBook Pro with a 7-year old OS over a shiny new M4 Mac mini with a modern OS and a large display?

It's been a little over a week with the mini and I'm just not feeling the love for it. It's all little things, but it's keeping me in a continuously bad mood and causing anxiety.

You could look for a used 2018 Mini with decent specs. It can run Mojave and would probably be fairly inexpensive and less of a PITA.
that's probably DewGuy's best bet in this situation if he's not liking the M4. Though I hesitate to advise looking for a 6 year old computer as a replacement with the various tradeoffs that come with that approach... The reality is that this stuff changes, and if you get off the train for too long, it's hard to get back on without working extra hard for a bit to jump back on.

I think the M4 is worth working with to address all DewGuy's challenges, but if that ship has sailed (to use another transportation metaphor), then a 2018 mini is probably the next best option.

[Robert M]

Ka,

Definitely. I lucked upon a brand-new Late 2018 Mac Mini with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB internal HDD. I got it for less than $400 on Amazon. It replaced a 2019 iMac whose display failed. After creating a user account on the Mini's internal drive, I changed a few settings, booted off the same external drive I'd been using with the iMac and was back in business within about 10 minutes. It runs Mojave beautifully.

Robert

[DewGuy]

Tiangou wrote:
I'm curious: Did you migrate your user account and settings to the new Mac or did you make a new user account?

I wonder how much of your difficulty is simply not starting out with all of the little tweaks you've made to settings over the years.

I did not use Migration Assistant. I created a new user account, and have manually moved my files, etc. to the appropriate places. Other than the Music App losing all the album artwork for ripped CDs everything that I've moved has worked with out problems.

Other the adapting to the larger display and full size keyboard, what's been getting to me are the little things. Like the wake from sleep problem that I was having. I know it can probably be tracked down and eliminated, but is a pain and is annoying and may entail more expense. Haven't had the keyboard and not working after waking up since Saturday, but am still having issues with the keyboard not waking it. I keep tweaking settings hoping for a elimination of the problem.

Then there's the wallpaper not changing. I know it's not important, but it worked on the MacBook Pro.

There are a number of things with Finder that are an annoyance, one is the fact that it doesn't replicate the behavior of High Sierra's finder that I now know was a bug, but I still miss it. Also on High Sierra the icons for changing the view from columns, to list etc. were all displayed and could be changed with one click. Now there's one icon with a list of views, so you have to click, scroll, select. Nothing big, just different for no apparent reason.

The fact that the magnification controls in Preview have been moved from the left to over on the right bugs me.

Other than the wake from sleep issue nothing major just annoyances.

I also need to make a decision on moving to Quicken Classic Deluxe from my old Quicken 2007. I know this will be a big change and may not go smoothly, but I'm also aware that doing this will entail an annual cost. Quicken Classic Deluxe won't run on High Sierra, so if I make this choice there will be no going back.

I can't really stay with the MacBook Pro much longer because of it's age. One way or another I need to do something.

Mostly I've never experienced this before with upgrading my Mac or the OS.

ka jowct wrote:
You could look for a used 2018 Mini with decent specs. It can run Mojave and would probably be fairly inexpensive and less of a PITA.

Yeah, but that's already 6-years old and Apple will obsolete it and I'd be in the same boat I'm in with the MacBook Pro.

[hal]

I think you're a little nuts (aren't we all?), but mostly I think it's aging and the fact that as we age, we like stuff just the way it is. When we were younger, we saw changes in the OS and immediately started poking around to figure out the new things. Now that we're older we see change and say, 'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?? It wasn't like that before..."

I used to stick with the OS that I liked, but one day decided that I was tired of the limitations and I wanted to be current (give the latest update a few weeks at most before I jump in) and for the most part, I'm happier about it all. There are changes with every update, but I manage to get things the way I like it. My Music app looks the same as itunes did under snow leopard.

But then there are piles of nuggets of OS that I never use that others might find indispensable and are damaged when they are changed - I just haven't come across any such nugget in my experience.

[ka jowct]

Robert M wrote:
Ka,

Definitely. I lucked upon a brand-new Late 2018 Mac Mini with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB internal HDD. I got it for less than $400 on Amazon. It replaced a 2019 iMac whose display failed. After creating a user account on the Mini's internal drive, I changed a few settings, booted off the same external drive I'd been using with the iMac and was back in business within about 10 minutes. It runs Mojave beautifully.

Robert

It's a very nice machine, with better selection of ports than you get with the non-pro silicon Mini models.

[chopper]

Depends. Do you need to do actual work on your computer or do you just want to spend a bunch of time being frustrated?

My wife has an M-something iMac it's pure torture to do actual work, find anything, etc. She hates it.

[ka jowct]

I have a lot of "obsolete" Macs. They do what I need them to do. I get your point, but I like all of them better than the M1 I'm typing on right now.

If I can get comfortable with something other than old, but fine for my needs, Adobe software, I may warm up to some of the newer OS versions. I just hate spending my time on finding and learning something I only need because of new hardware and OS versions. Doesn't help with the backlog of dSLR photos.

[Tiangou]

DewGuy wrote:
[quote=Tiangou]
I'm curious: Did you migrate your user account and settings to the new Mac or did you make a new user account?

I wonder how much of your difficulty is simply not starting out with all of the little tweaks you've made to settings over the years.

I did not use Migration Assistant. I created a new user account, and have manually moved my files, etc. to the appropriate places. Other than the Music App losing all the album artwork for ripped CDs everything that I've moved has worked with out problems.

Other the adapting to the larger display and full size keyboard, what's been getting to me are the little things. Like the wake from sleep problem that I was having. I know it can probably be tracked down and eliminated, but is a pain and is annoying and may entail more expense. Haven't had the keyboard and not working after waking up since Saturday, but am still having issues with the keyboard not waking it. I keep tweaking settings hoping for a elimination of the problem.

Then there's the wallpaper not changing. I know it's not important, but it worked on the MacBook Pro.

There are a number of things with Finder that are an annoyance, one is the fact that it doesn't replicate the behavior of High Sierra's finder that I now know was a bug, but I still miss it. Also on High Sierra the icons for changing the view from columns, to list etc. were all displayed and could be changed with one click. Now there's one icon with a list of views, so you have to click, scroll, select. Nothing big, just different for no apparent reason.

The fact that the magnification controls in Preview have been moved from the left to over on the right bugs me.

Other than the wake from sleep issue nothing major just annoyances.

I also need to make a decision on moving to Quicken Classic Deluxe from my old Quicken 2007. I know this will be a big change and may not go smoothly, but I'm also aware that doing this will entail an annual cost. Quicken Classic Deluxe won't run on High Sierra, so if I make this choice there will be no going back.

I can't really stay with the MacBook Pro much longer because of it's age. One way or another I need to do something.

Mostly I've never experienced this before with upgrading my Mac or the OS.

ka jowct wrote:
You could look for a used 2018 Mini with decent specs. It can run Mojave and would probably be fairly inexpensive and less of a PITA.

Yeah, but that's already 6-years old and Apple will obsolete it and I'd be in the same boat I'm in with the MacBook Pro.
Yeah... These were little generational annoyances when introduced, but you make a big leap in OS-version and you get slammed with all at once.

I can offer you this: Most of that stuff doesn't bother me because I use the equivalent keystrokes, which have not changed.

To swap views in a Finder window, use Command 1, Command 2, Command 3, Command 4...

To zoom in and out in Preview, use Command + and Command - ... Or my favorite: Zoom to a selection with Command *

Quicken is a big deal. I opted to not go with the new Quicken when I upgraded to Catalina and it was painful. I only used it for a register, so I purchased a cheap checkbook app from the App Store, and hated it. Tried a bunch more and settled on one called "CheckBook Pro" which is not the cleanest/best, but at least I'm not paying Intuit a venture capital firm a subscription for a product they cripple periodically.

[DewGuy]

hal wrote:
I think you're a little nuts (aren't we all?), but mostly I think it's aging and the fact that as we age, we like stuff just the way it is. When we were younger, we saw changes in the OS and immediately started poking around to figure out the new things. Now that we're older we see change and say, 'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?? It wasn't like that before..."

I used to stick with the OS that I liked, but one day decided that I was tired of the limitations and I wanted to be current (give the latest update a few weeks at most before I jump in) and for the most part, I'm happier about it all. There are changes with every update, but I manage to get things the way I like it. My Music app looks the same as itunes did under snow leopard.

But then there are piles of nuggets of OS that I never use that others might find indispensable and are damaged when they are changed - I just haven't come across any such nugget in my experience.

I've always tried to be forward thinking with technology, and I know that I need to move on from the MacBook Pro before the hard drive or something else hardware wise gives up the ghost, it's just stressful when not everything works or doesn't work the way you expect it to.

chopper wrote:
Depends. Do you need to do actual work on your computer or do you just want to spend a bunch of time being frustrated?

My wife has an M-something iMac it's pure torture to do actual work, find anything, etc. She hates it.

Fortunately I don't have to do work on the mini, so there's nothing really critical with migrating. Sorry to hear that your wife is having a hard time with her iMac, although the mini and the newer OS have given me trouble I've been able to get done what I've been trying to do.

Tiangou wrote:
Yeah... These were little generational annoyances when introduced, but you make a big leap in OS-version and you get slammed with all at once.

I can offer you this: Most of that stuff doesn't bother me because I use the equivalent keystrokes, which have not changed.

To swap views in a Finder window, use Command 1, Command 2, Command 3, Command 4...

To zoom in and out in Preview, use Command + and Command - ... Or my favorite: Zoom to a selection with Command *

Quicken is a big deal. I opted to not go with the new Quicken when I upgraded to Catalina and it was painful. I only used it for a register, so I purchased a cheap checkbook app from the App Store, and hated it. Tried a bunch more and settled on one called "CheckBook Pro" which is not the cleanest/best, but at least I'm not paying Intuit a venture capital firm a subscription for a product they cripple periodically.

I do try to use keyboard shortcuts. I never thought of keyboard shortcuts for Finder functions, I'll have to give 'em a try. I use Command + and Command - all the time in Firefox, but never thought of using it in Preview. Thanks for the tips.

I really don't like the idea of software by subscription. Mostly because of the money spent and never knowing how much it's going to cost in the future, but also because the software is ever changing.

At first I thought I could move to GNUcash, and then to Moneydance for our rather simple needs, but they're both dual entry and I don't really get how that works, plus both of them made an absolute mess out of my Quicken file going back to '92 (I think). I think I'll see if I can find something other the Quicken that will meet our needs, maybe CheckBook Pro would work for us.

[RAMd®d]

Nopes. you're not nuts at all.


This.

Regardless of the factors involved, you feel what you feel.

If someone had given you an NIB m4, and you had same experience, you'd probably feel pretty much the same way.

Maybe there's a Masked Man and silver bullet that will make the m4 be your main squeeze.

But when the whole of agita is greater than the some of it's parts, all one has left is what they feel.

How you go forward from here beats me, but going with what works for you in probably your best option.