Brian

Yeah, I think Damien might have 60 Down? Maybe it’s 50. So no benefit for you upgrading to 10Gb Ethernet with your Mac Mini. Save the $100. Here I am wanting the 1200Mbps that I’m paying for, and you only have 50 down. 1Gbps Ethernet has a “Cap” of around 940 due to how the frames and packets are handled; in short, there is a bit of overhead with 1Gbps and you’ll never get the full 1000 down. 942 is about as close as I will get. That said, speed is relative and in reality all a person / household “needs” would be about 300 down but 50 is doable. I’ve known people that only have 3 down, as in three down, and .5 up. THAT IS SLOW. 5G Cell Phone is more Marketing and Buzzwords than anything. Hopefully 6G will be a real improvement in the future. 5G is “okay” but isn’t the 2nd coming of Christ that it’s made out to be. Please report back on your new Mac setup. Just as a forewarning, you will need to have / use the latest Photoshop CC version to work with the M2 chips. This isn’t a big deal if you are on the Photoshop CC Photographer’s Plan, but could be an issue if you are using PS CC 2019 or earlier.

Here's the deal with current Apple Products: There is no upgrading after the initial purchase. If you need more of something, whether that's HD Capacity, RAM, Video GPU Performance, you are buying a new computer. When it comes to my recommendations, I tend to go a little over-board and recommend the more expensive options. Why? Not to spend your money, which I'm very good at doing (spending other people's money,) but I want their computers to last for about 7-8 years, instead of forking out thousands every 24-36 months or so, which is what Apple wants you to do. Heck, they'd love it if you purchased a new computer every 18 Months!! When I configured my 27" iMac back in 2017, I really tricked it out. Got the better video card, better CPU, added RAM, etc. My cost ended up being around $3800, after tax. Of course, since I'm in the States and that's US Dollars. I tell you this to illustrate my new configuration, IF I had to purchase a new Mac today. The cost is about the same, if you think about it, because I am forced to get all of the upgrades at the time of purchase. So without further ado... ...this is what I'd buy today: I will say the new Mac Mini M2 Pro Model, with some tweaks, is really something. It's actually more powerful than last year's Mac Studio for half the cost! Now I would not buy the lower-end Mac Mini computers, start with the model on the right, the one for A$1999 and tweak a few things: Upgrade the CPU to Apple M2 Pro with 12‑core CPU, 19-core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine (Adds A$450). The reason is, we want the better Video GPU because each time that Adobe Updates Photoshop, it relies more on the GPU than the CPU. In fact, it's more important to have a better video card than to have a fast CPU! Upgrade to 32GB Unified Memory. While it's true that the M1 & M2 Macs treat memory differently, there is no upgrading after the fact, since everything is built into a single chip. 32GB on a M2 Mac is more like 64GB on a Intel-based CPU; it's more future proof. Upgrade the HD to 1TB Storage. Two reasons...one 1TB gives you A LOT more wiggle-room to do things, and two, the smaller HD configurations use slower chips, so you are penalized for going with a cheaper configuration. The bandwidth that the larger HDs use is a lot faster with a 1TB version instead of a smaller drive, like a 256GB model. Surprise!! Now, if you want to go larger, that's up to you and your wallet. For me, a 1TB Internal Main Hard Drive is fine, even in 2023. You could always get a 12TB External Thunderbolt Drive, or even something larger, at a later date. You definitely want a Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 EHD, they are quite fast and they feel very much like the internal drive as compared to a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 EHD. The last thing you can upgrade is the Ethernet Port. Unless you have a 10Gb Ethernet Setup (Switches / Routers and the like) there is no benefit to 10Gb Ethernet. I even think Australia doesn't have really fast Internet as it is, so I'd leave this option at the default to save some money. As a speed comparison, my download speed is 940Mbps and upload is 40Mbps. If I want to go faster, and I will with my next computer, I will need a 10GB Ethernet Setup. (Well, anything more than 1Gbps, but I'm going the Full Monty and getting a 10Gbps setup in the next few years when my wife and I purchase a new home.) As it stands, we are at A$3349, before any Tax and AppleCare. Plus, that's using an existing keyboard and mouse, which saves you around A$418. Here is the configuration again: By going through Apple's Website, you are getting the Premium Hardware options. The above configuration, you will not be able to buy at Harvey Norman's or your other local retailer. So yes, you need to go through Apple. To save time and have a little more security, if you have an AppleStore close to you, ship it there. I'd hate to have a A$6000 computer sitting in front of your door. Now, people will recommend that you can use a 3rd Party Display and they will work "fine" with a Mac Mini. Even Apple Salespeople will tell you this... ...what they don't tell you is that they will look like shit. That's the issue. So before you ask, "Is it really worth it?" my answer is Yes. If you want and are used to the "Full Apple Experience," then you need to purchase the stupidly over-priced Apple Studio Display for A$2499. That's why I jump up-and-down about the Displays with current Mac products, especially if you are editing Photos or Video. So brace yourself, here it the cost so far: A$5848. Man, things are so expensive in OZ. That's before the full AppleCare and such. Now, for the good news; you are buying a stand-alone display, so going forward, you can keep the display and then just upgrade the Mac Mini when it comes time. So you might get 2-3 computers out of that monitor; granted it sucks on the front-end, but you are saving money on the back-end and in the long-run.

So everything works as expected with Firefox? Did you update Chrome or did you let CleanMyMac do it for you? If CMM did it, chances are it screwed things up. I'd un-install and re-install Chrome. This isn't the first time that I run across Chrome being stupid. Once I had to format and completely redo a Windows Terminal Server, JUST to get Chrome working. (The customer only wanted to use Chrome.) I get that Chrome is fast, but it's a pain-in-the-ass when it breaks. Time to move some files to a EHD. You never want to go above 70%-80% Full on ANY HD, internal or external, when it comes to a Mac. Once you do, weird things start happening and performance takes a hit...but I don't think that is the problem now, I really think your Chrome is screwed up if things work in Firefox.

Hmm. I have no idea. Has Photoshop updated recently? Can you try going back to an older version? If regular screenshots aren’t uploading, I’m wondering if your Catalina is corrupted or you might have an issue with your HD. What happens if you use Firefox? How old is your Mac?

Macs have always been expensive. Even the original Macintosh Computer in 1984 was $2499. Adjusted for inflation, that cost would be around $6437.89 in today's money. Chances are, it would be marketed around $6499 today. Which, if you think about it, is about the cost of a Mac Studio Setup. Macs aren't "better," just "different." Honestly, a Windows Computer will be the closest thing to your budget, so before you go buy something, check with me first. With the way things are, you get A LOT LESS for your money and you need to be careful with Windows Computers.

Hard drives do not care of what they are hooked up to. What is the difference is how they are Partitioned and Formatted from the factory. Manufacturers know that people pay more for Apple's products, so they will charge more for "Macintosh Only" or "Mac Compatible" products. It's called the "Apple Tax" and is complete Bullshit. So purchase a quality HD, I like G-Drives myself, and format them using my above instructions. The ONLY difference, is to not use a Time Machine EHD as a storage drive. A TM drive is to be left alone and only function as a Time Machine EHD, got it? For your Data EHDs, those are dedicated to storing photos and such.

Everything is more expensive now. The days of the $999 PC that's good enough are long gone. Your budget for a Windows Setup should be around $2400 or so. Figure $1800-$2000 for the computer and about $300-$500 for the monitor. Plus the cost of a Calibrator.

Oh, you can use any display... ...what they don't tell you is that they look like shit. That's the issue. That's why I jump up-and-down about the Displays. You are editing photos. It counts. Especially if you are charging people money for said photos. Now if you are just taking photos for you, and really don't care about the quality, just how many "Likes" and "Hearts" you get from Friends / Family, then buy whatever. Remember, Salespeople are trying to get you to spend money. I'm trying to give you the right information. For FREE. Yes, you can use any display, but since you are here, you are doing photo editing work, so the Display is kinda important. I will say the new Mac Mini M2 Pro Model, with some tweaks, is really something. $2199.00 That's before you add Tax and AppleCare. Plus, that's using an existing keyboard and mouse, which saves you around $400. Combine that with the Standard Studio Display for $1599, again...before AppleCare and Tax will run you $3799. I just did a quick "Add to Bag" for everything, which comes out to $4288.76. Of course, your final price will depend on your location and what your tax rate is. So conversationally speaking, plan on $4300, give-or-take, for a Mac that's "Good for Photo Editing" and should last you about 5-7 years. Or more. Basically, this Mini M2 Pro with Studio Display is very similar on how I would spec out a 27" iMac, the only difference is, that in the future, you should be able to just update the computer and save the screen, which in the long run saves money. Here is what my shopping cart looks like: Here are the specs again:

Everything looks fine. Does the EHD show up on the Desktop now? If so, head to System Preferences >> Select Time Machine. Then all you have to do is click "Select Disk" and choose the new EHD. Then click "Use" and let Time Machine do it's thing. It might prompt you a few messages, tell it yes and that you want a Full Backup. The first backup always takes the longest and then each backup takes less and less time.

Alright, I just hooked up a brand-new EHD that I received for Christmas. I'm on macOS Big Sur. Here are screenshots: First, open Disk Utility. (Duh! You already know this part.) Then select the EHD in the right column. Right-click on the EHD and select get info. Take a snip of the pop-up Window (Command + Shift + 4) and post it in this thread: As you can see, the current file system is ExFAT, which is what we do not want. So I'm going to close out the "Get Info" Pop-up and Right Click on that drive in the left column. Then select "Erase." A Pop-Up Box will appear, I want you to select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for your EHD. Do NOT check the "Case Sensitive, Encrypted" plain Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is perfectly fine. ' The pop-up box will appear once more, give it or change the name, in this case I just put a 1TB at the end, and then click Erase. After a few seconds, it should have a "Operation Successful" Message. Then simply close out the Disk Utility. Your new HD should appear on the Desktop, as per my instructions above. See if you can access it. If you can, try creating a simple folder on it to verify read/write access. If you can create a simple folder, great! We can then tell Time Machine to use this drive. It looks like Apple changed a few things and my instructions are a bit dated. Now, if you are getting an error message, I'd say something is wrong and that drive could be faulty. Before we continue on with Time Machine, let's have another go at that drive. Oh, for those wondering, if you are going to be using an External HD for Time Machine Purposes, it needs to be Partitioned / Formatted with the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) setting. APFS WILL NOT WORK WITH TIME MACHINE.

One more thing. Your USB Ports. See the two Mouse / Keyboard Dongles (Thingys)? See how there is a SS above each? Those are USB 3.0 Ports. That's a complete waste of those faster USB Ports. They really need to be in the USB Ports below the Ethernet Port: These USB Ports are 2.0 Ports and are meant for a Keyboard / Mouse. Save the USB 3.0 Ports for External HDs and Calibration Devices and such.

Were you successful in getting Norton / Symantec un-installed? Is it running any better?

The "Plus" should be fine for most. But to help you choose, they have this: Choose the perfect Webroot antivirus product That said, the complete isn't that much more and I'd opt for that one. Hmm...tough call. You can't go wrong with either. I'd say spend the extra $12 and get the $47.99 version. You can always downgrade next year.

Sweet!! Yeah, I figured Windows was messed up. I'm glad you opted for a Extra Warranty, it just paid for itself.

Unplug the non-fuctioning TM Drive, and follow the instructions above. Basically, once it's done formatting, it will ask you if you want to use if for Time Machine. Tell it yes. Also, your Time Machine Drive needs to be just that, a TM Drive only. Absolutely NO other data files on this drive. I can't stress this enough.

Apple wants you in their whole Ecosystem. Using iCloud, their Photos App, the whole sha-bang. As soon as you start thinking like a Photographer, who just wants the Raw files to be edited in Photoshop / ACR...things get tricky; ahem...just a royal pain-in-the-ass to accomplish.

In the above photo, the Port on the left, where your have a \ ____ / is a HDMI Port. The one on the right is a 15-Pin VGA Port. (The one with the three lines/rows of pins and the screw-in connectors) AVOID USING THAT 15-PIN "ROUNDED" PORT. That's the one I'm talking about with today's modern flat screens. You want to use either a HDMI Port or a DisplayPort. OK, now for the bad news... I've run into your problem before. It's a Pain in the Ass to get fixed. Sometimes, either Windows or your computer gets confused, and it will ignore the Video Card and only work with the ports that are built into the Motherboard which makes you think the Video Card is dead. So going forward, these are the ports I want you to use: From Left to Right in the above photo, the Ports are DisplayPort | HDMI | DisplayPort | DisplayPort Got it? We need to get ONE Display working. Don't worry about the 2nd one, I want to see if that Card is working / being recognized by the computer. We might have to call Dell on this one if we can't get it working. Now I need to know what cable did I tell you to purchase. I need to know both of them, particularly the Port Types on the end. Oh, are both of your Displays the same model? Or do you only have one Display and I'm misunderstanding things?

I fiddled with my son's laptop today. A friend of mine gave him an old laptop, and it's purpose was general computing. It was running SLOW. It had all sorts of lag. Even after a System Restore. Sound familiar? So I removed McAfee Antivirus and it was "better," but still had lag. Then I used the McAfee Removal Tool, which kills all of the other software that McAfee leaves behind. Finally, after removing ALL things McAfee, did the lag go away. (The lag completely went away when I replaced the HD with a SSD Model.) Those two things made the problems go away. I'm really thinking it's your Norton / Symantec killing your speed. There is a program that I hear called CleanWipe, but that program can be a bit risky as there are a lot of spyware/malware laced files, so I'm not going to link to anything. I did find the Norton Remove and Re-Install Tool, you might want to give that a try when you are ready to Nuke it. I also found this web page as well: Uninstall Norton Family. It's been years since I've really dealt with Norton / Symantec. My company abandoned it about 20 years ago when it started causing lag issues; we actually had to increase the RAM on several of our client's computers that we just sold them due to Norton sucking up resources. Norton and McAfee both SUCK, in all honesty, the Windows Defender that's free from Microsoft does a pretty good job for what it is. I do not like either Norton/Symantec & McAfee, unfortunately...they have a lock on the market and people don't know any better so that's what gets installed. Then performance takes a hit.

“Rounded” is VGA. “Diagonal” on both sides is HDMI and DisplayPort has only one Diagonal side. What displays do you have can you take a pic of their ports? Stop using Rounded. it’s messing with my brain.

Laptops are such a moving target. By the time I find one to recommend and people come across that link, the laptop is usually discontinued by the manufacturer. I know people just want me yo tell them what to buy, it’s just so tough keeping up. Laptops only last 45-90 Days before they are replaced with a different model. It’s insane. I’ve written several articles in this subject and pinned them to the top. Frankly, I don’t know how to explain to people what to look for more than I have already. You will need to dive in the tech specs of the model you are looking at. Look for a IPS Display Panel Type, Dedicated GPU with Dedicated Video Memory. At LEAST 16GB RAM and a 1TB HD. Any modern i7 or i9 CPU is fine. The display panel type is the hardest thing to find. 98% of the laptops out there don’t have them and you need IPS if you are editing photos / video. Start by looking at Gaming Laptops. For Webroot, the middle one is fine.

From this photo, the ports that are closest to the Power Cord is your video card and what you should be using. From left to right, or bottom to top, is DP - HDMI - DP - DP. If you are forced to use the ones that are the two by themselves, that is an issue. Something happened to the video card or something got screwed up in Windows. You should be using that video card. If you have been using the two ports themselves all this time, that’s a problem. In addition, there are DIsplayPort to HDMI Adapter Cables. So if your Displays only have HDMI ports, you will need those adapters. So what happen when you hook up your display to that HDMI port on the video card?

It sounds like you have an issue with the Video Card. Could you take a photo with your Smart Phone of the back of the computer with all of the ports? You do not want to use the 15-pin VGA Port on your display. VGA is an analog signal, that has been around since 1987 and meant for CRT (Tube) Displays up to about 20", not today's fancy flat-screens. Especially for someone who is editing photos! The issue is, we could replace the video card if it's separate from the motherboard. The bad news is, we might have to upgrade the power supply to support the new card. So as much as it pains me, $160 is A LOT cheaper than blowing $700 for a video card and another $150 or so for the power supply. Post a photo here of your computer's monitor ports. I want to see what you have.

Alright, that's a spinning EHD. Because 6TB SSD Drives are really-really expensive. This info will be important later. Follow these instructions: The first thing I want you to do, if you haven't already, is turn on the feature that allows you to see HDs and other "Mounted Devices" on your Mac Desktop. Open the Finder. The easiest way is to click the Smiley Face on your DockBar: Then head to the Finder Menu and select Preferences: Once there put checks next to these items and change the bottom to "Macintosh HD" if you want: From there, just click the Red Circle in the upper left corner to apply the changes. After you make this change, things like the Macintosh HD, any External Drives, Memory Cards from Cameras that are in a Card Reader and even portable DVD Disks will all appear on the Mac Desktop. This makes accessing them a breeze and is one of the things that has always puzzled me on why this feature isn't turned on by default. For example: Part 2 First, as you saw in my example above, your new EHD should appear on the desktop, though it may not. Here is an example of currently Mounted Devices on my iMac. You should see something similar if you followed my steps above: Now the fun begins! Let's get that new Hard Drive prepped for use on the Macintosh!! Click your Applications Folder, then open Disk Utilities. Head to Applications Menu >> Utilities >> Disk Utilities. This is where your Disk Utilities might look slightly different. Anyway, here is mine: While in your Disk Utilities Module, please make note of any additional Hard Drives listed in the left column. Pay special attention to the Hard Drives listed under the "External" Section. For this process, it is much safer to only have one EHD Mounted / Listed! It is imperative that you Eject and Remove ANY EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO ERASE!!! Your Disk Utilities Window should appear as follows, with only ONE External HD listed, and no Time Machine Drive either: You can Eject the EHD from Disk Utilities, just click the little up-arrow/line next to the drive you want to remove. Part 3 First select the EHD that you want to Format for use on the Mac in the left column: Then click the Erase Button at the top: Your Window should appear similar to this. At this point, give your new EHD its official name. Make it something Obvious, like WD 3TB or Client File EHD 3TB. Something recognizable and simple. You can only have so many characters for the name, so keep it short and simple: Then click the UP/DOWN arrows on the right, in the Format Section. If this was originally a Windows EHD, it will more than likely say, Windows NT File System (NTFS): A list will appear as follows: For a Traditional Spinning Hard Drive, ONLY SELECT THE MacOS Extended (Journaled.) DO NOT SELECT the "Encrypted / Case Sensitive" Options! For a Flash Based Hard Drive (i.e. SSD, m.2) choose APFS. Please Note! DO NOT use APFS for a Traditional Hard Drive! DO NOT SELECT the "Encrypted / Case Sensitive" Options! Again, it's either the "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" or the plain "APFS." Do not use any other option. For the people that do use those options, have reasons to do so. For the 99.9999% of us out there, including myself, we want to keep our Partition Types as simple as possible. For the majority of users doing this, your new External HD will most likely be the "Traditional / Spinning" type/kind, as SSD/m.2 Drives tend to be extremely expensive for capacities over 2TB. As time goes on, this will definitely change, but for now your Disk Utility Window should look something like this: Simply Click the Erase Button and let the MacOS do its thing: When finished, you might get a message from the MacOS asking if you want to use the EHD for Time Machine or not. If this is a Data Drive, tell it NO! Of course, if this EHD is meant for Time Machine, tell it "Yes." (Thank YOU Captain Obvious for that "On-the-Spot Report." Back to you Jim...) If everything goes as expected, and followed all of my instructions, you should see your new EHD mounted on the Mac Desktop: You will also see it as follows in the Disk Utility Module of the MacOS: Now if you have made it this far, open up Time Machine in the System Preference. Verify that the Time Machine Drive is correct by clicking "Select Disk." Here is a screenshot of my Time Machine settings. The 12TB G-Drive is my Data Drive and my 4TB is my Time Machine Drive. If you already had an empty Macintosh EHD, you could select it to be a TM Drive by selecting it here. But since this is a Western Digital Drive, I'm thinking you have a stupid exFAT Partition and that's why Time Machine is giving you grief; Time Machine requires a Mac Partitioned / Formatted Drive in order for it to be used for Time Machine. Make sense?

Monitors...as in two monitors? Have you tried just hooking up one to see what happens? It's very possible that the one with the green screen is dying and it's not a problem with your computer. Especially if one display is attached to the other. We need to simplify. Try swapping things around and get back to me.

Now, Apple does not make this easy. They really want you to use their iCloud Service or if you have a Mac, use AirDrop. Your phone isn't like a true camera; meaning you have to think differently. Honestly, the best way that I've found is to purchase EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. I will warn you though, while the trial is free, if you want to use this program long-term, you are going to pay for it. Like $180 pay for it. Otherwise you are forking out $100 a year. Here are some instructions. You are looking for "Phone to Computer." Before buying anything, download the free trial and see if you can transfer a photo or two. Here are some instructions.