The Beanster Blog

NAS4Free on Wind U123H, the old clunker stopped charging this morning. Remember NetBooks? Yeah, those cheap Intel ATOM driven mini-notebooks... Well I still have one lying around, an MSI Wind U123H. I upgraded it from Windows 7 to 10 during the free period, but since it is about 9 yo hardware it isn't running so well. I've decided to re-purpose the Wind into a NAS or Networked Attached Storage. I want to use it as a Network Backup location for both Time Machine and Windows Backup, and maybe explore Media Server functions as well. Basically, I just felt the hardware was just gathering dust and wanted to do something more. I took out the 240Gb Toshiba 5400rpm with Windows 10, and plunked in the 500Gb Seagate Momentus 5400rpm that I had lying around. I was able to finally get it installed in a USB, early this morning around 1 AM. I decided it was time to shutdown the machine and call it a night. So this morning I noticed that the MSI Wind wasn't charging, I tried ...

I'm thinking up a new project... My partner's 2012 MacBook Pro 13in aka "MD101 ", has been having constant Beach ball of Death issues for the longest time. I suspect it's bad RAM or a bad HDD. Since she will be upgrading to a different machine, I am thinking of salvaging her old machine and upgrading some components. Specifically the 500Gb 5400rpm HDD to 480Gb SSD, and the RAM from 4Gb to 16Gb. 2.5" 480Gb SSD 6Gb/s SATA3 8Gb x2 PC3-12800 DDR3L 1600MHz SO-DIMM 204 Pin CL11 True, it is an old machine but it is also one of last MacBook Pros that can be easily upgraded . With these upgrades I am hoping to have a workable machine with better performance. I am also toying with the idea of having dual storage drives (replacing the built-in SuperDrive with a second HDD) but for now I am retaining the optical drive. I plan on running both MacOS Sierra and Windows 10 via BootCamp. I have already made inquiries on the components and hope to have some id...

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL I am really tempted to get a flagship Windows 10 Mobile device (might be the last for awhile, since the rumored Surface Phone is still uncertain), I am undecided between the Lumia 950 and the 950XL both flagships would be a HUGE upgrade from my Lumia 532 . I reckon since I am not upgrading to the iPhone 7 Plus (the removal of the earphone jack really really bugged me) I can update my secondary device instead. I sold my XiaoMi RedMi 1S earlier this month and have been exclusively using the Lumia 532 as my work device. Yes, I have said good bye to Android for now, my second mobile OS of choice is now Windows Mobile 10. Even if the *new* Microsoft seems less interested in their own mobile OS, Windows Mobile still gets periodic updates. I am really happy with Windows Mobile 10 even with the so-so hardware and the sparse apps, and am curious how the OS performs on beefier specs. I am still keeping my iPhone 6S Plus as my primary, so I'd still have ...

Dong~~~!!! Each time I boot / re-boot my MacBook Pro I hear the garbled chime because of my busted speakers. I re-boot multiple times a day because I use Windows on Bootcamp. I am really tempted to trade-in this 2012 Retina MacBook Pro 15inch and up & downgrade (basically compromise) to a 2015 Retina MacBook Pro 13inch. I've ruled out the MacBook Air 13inch as I really love the Retina display on my current system and can't see myself going back. Why not the 2016 MacBook Pro 15inch? Well I've pretty much convinced myself that USB-C might need a few more years before it's mainstream. And the cost, oh the cost. For the spec I want it's going to be 2x as much as the 2015 rMBP 13inch I'm eyeing. I do believe that my computer usage has changed quite a bit since 2012. I really haven't been playing that much games on my computer anyway. No change:  Retina display  8Gb RAM  USB-A x 2  SDXC  HDMI  MagSafe 2 Pros:  Smaller & Light...

I have been thinking... It might be a good idea to wait until 2017 to revisit the MacBook Pro upgrade issue. I am hoping that Apple will cut the price next year 2017 once the pent up demand for the super expensive notebooks starts to subside. Besides, it will be more economical to wait for USB-C to become the present rather than the future. Maybe "dongle hell" can be minimized. By the way, if the next iPhone and iPad comes out with USB-C, I think it will force other companies to adapt USB-C faster. I'm not sure if Apple is ready to replace lightning tho. Let's see how courageous they really are. I will just have to make do with my 2012 Retina MacBook Pro which is still working well apart from the annoyance of busted speakers.

I have been toying with the idea of purchasing 2015 Retina MacBook Pro to replace my Mid-2012. I get to keep USB-A, HDMI, SDXC, and MagSafe. I'm not sure if this is the correct path to go but I haven't come to terms with the dongle fiasco that is the 2016 MacBook Pro. I really want TouchID tho, but it's not putting me over the edge. The only thing I am sure about is 256Gb is not enough. For my use case, which means dual booting into Windows. I think 512Gb should be minimum, especially since modern Mac components can no longer be upgraded. Another thing I am considering is going with a 2015 MacBook Air 13in. While this will be a downgrade in the screen and horsepower department. It will be a boost in the up time department and the weight will be less. Alas, this would also mean no more games for me. Which makes me a bit sad. I could treat the MBA as an interim notebook while everyone gets used to USB-C. Or I could stick it out with my Mid-2012 and it's busted spe...

Should users be forced to live in "Dongle Hell" while Apple forces everyone to evolve & adapt into the USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 era? Why did we have to lose MagSafe, USB, HDMI, SDXC, all at the same time? Why is the system RAM limited to 16Gb? Why is the GPU not NVIDIA? Why can't you plug your 2016 iPhone 7 or 7+ to a 2016 MacBook Pro without purchasing a USB-C to lightning cable or USB-C to USB dongle. BTW your 2016 Lightning EarPods  also won't work with the best laptop ever. Why do we need to use dongles? Would it be less painful if the 2016 MBP had two USB-C and two USB? Apple Inc., is anorexic. The obsession w/ thinner & lighter is unhealthy. Making EVERYTHING thinner & lighter means sacrifices. Sacrifices that users must pay high prices and endure until such time that what ever they think is best, becomes the norm. For the first time since the iPhone 3GS, I am thinking of not updating because they got rid of the 3.5mm jack which I use daily. I switc...

Last Thursday, my Microsoft Lumia 535 got stolen.  As far as I can remember this is the first mobile I have ever lost in 18 years of using cellphones  I tried to use find my phone & to ring it but alas the person who took it turned it off. Calling both numbers on the dual sim device yielded nothing.  All my devices have passcode lock, and I've sent the Lock Command again with a message. So at least my data is safe for the time being, since it's a work phone I have minimal personal info. I've initiated the erase command and hopefully when the person who has it connects it to free wifi it will be locked and my data will be wiped from the device.  It irks me that I no longer have a Windows Phone. I must now move to my XiaoMi RedMi 1S as my work phone, which is an ok phone but I really took a liking to Windows Mobile 10 and it's UI, and I am still uncertain if the exchange email address bug in Android has already been fixed. I loathe the thought of...

Last Sunday, I was lamenting that my Lumia wasn't getting software updates (I regularly check using Phone update in settings). Which was why I was playing with my XiaoMi RedMi 1S (now on MIUI7, it started on MIUI5) which was getting updates almost every other week. My girlfriend remarked about my Lumia. Which prompted me to do some googling on the preview build. As I've written almost a year ago I wasn't too pleased with the earlier builds and had to do a restore . Anyway in my googling I found out that my Lumia 535 had a Windows 10 upgrade but the funny thing is you had to download another app (very similar to the desktop version of the OS) to get the upgrade. My question is why not just push the upgrade via the regular phone update built in to Windows phone 8.1 like what Android or iOS? I did a hard reset (and wiped my SD card too) before updating using the Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor App (available on the Microsoft App Store, search for it on your phone) it took a...