iPhone, Apple, and Smartphones

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Apple's Trick to Make You Pay Twice

There is much overlap in the capabilities of the different Apple devices. Phones and tablets have gotten very powerful, with some of them being as powerful as desktop computers. However, for anything that requires effort, a desktop computer is far easier to use.

I can use my phone to write an email. For a short email or text message, it is convenient. However, long messages take too long to write, and I would rather use a computer.

I have found tablets useful mainly when I was traveling and a portable screen was handy, but my phone is also a portable screen. Tablets are also useful in businesses where a portable screen is necessary.

Thursday, August 27, 2026

The Android Tablet Problem

This says what I have been saying for a long time: most people don't need a tablet. We have phones with 6+ inch displays that can handle most of our portability needs, and we have PCs with large, comfortable displays for when we don't need portability.

I have seen professionals, such as medical personnel and mechanics, carry tablets with them to do whatever work they need to do. In these cases, a larger screen makes sense. Tablets could also be useful for students who need some sort of portable screen to do their schoolwork.

I feel the same way about laptops. For decades, I have known many people who wanted a laptop instead of a desktop computer, but they really didn't need the portability. They just thought laptops were "cool." However, laptops often cost more than desktops and are full of compromises. The components are designed for portability, which means you take a hit in performance, while the keyboard and screen are far worse than what you can get with a desktop.

Portable devices are also almost never upgradeable, even for things like memory and storage.

If I needed a portable screen, then a tablet would make sense, but I don't. I paid around $420 for a 16-year-old 32-bit iPad, and I never got my money's worth out of it. I still have it, but it is so out of date that it won't run anything.

The best tablets, which cost quite a bit of money, can outperform a desktop computer, especially the ones from Apple, which are almost always more powerful than their Android counterparts. However, who needs super-desktop performance in a handheld device? Only people who do high-productivity work, such as video editing, really need that kind of performance. But for this kind of work, why not use a desktop computer?

The low-end iPad (https://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPad-11-inch-Display-All-Day/dp/B0DZ77D5HL) has performance comparable to that of a good-quality laptop and outperforms some older desktops. For the mundane tasks that most people will perform on a tablet, this is more power than they need. In past years, budget iPads have been discounted on Black Friday to around $220, which would be a steal today. I suspect they won't be quite that cheap this Black Friday.

I've seen budget Android tablets that aren't as powerful, but they are less expensive and still perfectly adequate for basic tasks.

When it comes to Apple versus Android, I definitely prefer Apple's operating system. It is more intuitive, far less complicated, and, in my experience, less prone to viruses. I've seen people get viruses on their Android phones. My past experience with tablets is that I also prefer the feel of Apple devices in my hands. They seem to have a better tactile experience.

Amazon makes the Fire line of tablets. Although they retail for $150 or more, they are often half-price on Black Friday, and I paid $80 for mine. The newer models aren't much more powerful than the 2019 model I bought, and their processor performance is poor. However, they were designed for streaming video, listening to audiobooks, and reading books, whether from Amazon or another company such as Netflix. At these tasks, these cheap tablets work amazingly well. They can also play some Android games.

If I needed a portable screen for watching videos, then a Fire tablet would make sense, but I don't. I found mine useful exactly once, when I took it on vacation.

For basic Internet tasks such as web browsing and email, Fire tablets work, but they are slightly slow.

Saturday, May 9, 2026

New Advanced Chip Fab

On Sat, May 9, 2026 at 12:31 PM Larry wrote:

(1401) New American Chip Factory That Terrifies TSMC - YouTube

Processor on my 2009 i7 iMac: i7- 860

Processor on my 2017 i5 iMac: i5- 7500K
Processor on my 2017 i7 iMac: i7- 7700K
Processor on my 2020 i7 iMac: i7-10700K

The first iMac was 45 NM. The next three are 14 NM.

My complaint about the time period from 2010 to 2020 is that advances in processors seemed to be very slow. The i7-10700K is only twice as fast because it has twice as many cores. It wasn't until Apple came out with the M1 that we saw a big change.

The Ryzen 9 7940hs processor on my Minisforum computer is 4 NM. In theory, it is about 60% faster than the i7-10700K, but I think that the mini-computer thermal throttles. Maybe the iMac does too, but it has a big cooling system relative to the compactness of the all-in-one computer.

Compact computers tend to use laptop parts. The "M" in M1 is for "Mobile". iMacs use smaller versions of memory and storage, and so does my mini-computer.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

So This is Peak Foldable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFUB_jL_XcM

@john2001plus
0 seconds ago
When a phone unfolds from 6.6 inches to 8.1 inches, why bother—especially with a $1700 price tag? Normal phones range from 6.1 to 6.9 inches, which is fine for everyday use.

It seems to me that people want a tablet in a phone, but an 8.1-inch display falls short of my 11-inch tablet. Maybe the argument is that you can have one device instead of two, but for this price you could get two devices.

Saturday, June 7, 2025

The Beatles vs Apple Computers Legal Battle

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CxpuQMDccRA

Sunday, April 27, 2025

i7-7700K (2017) iMac problems

After selling my 2017 i5 iMac to a woman from Scottsburg and setting up my 2020 iMac, I needed to prepare my recently purchased 2017 iMac (with an i7-7700K) for resale.

The first step was to remove the Windows partition and erase everything on the computer — and that's where the problems began.

I used Boot Camp to remove the Windows partition I had previously created, which should have reclaimed the 1.6 TB I had allocated to Windows. While the program successfully deleted the partition, it reported an error when attempting to reclaim the storage space. I then tried using Disk Utility (the Mac partition tool), which also failed and told me to try running it from Recovery Mode, which didn't work. A few years ago, I tried the same thing on my old, dying 2009 iMac, and that attempt had failed too.

Newer iMacs have a built-in feature to securely erase everything automatically, but while the option exists in macOS, it doesn't actually function on older models. So, the recommended method is to boot into Recovery Mode, reformat the drive, and reinstall the OS — a process I had successfully completed on the iMac I just sold.

Unfortunately, the 2017 iMac with the i7 processor reformatted the drive but threw an error during the OS installation. It simply refuses to install. At this point, I have a $400 paperweight with no operating system.

I'm starting to wonder if the 2 TB hard drive might be defective. It is, after all, an eight-year-old computer.

Next, I'll try creating a bootable USB flash drive with the macOS installer using my 2020 iMac. According to everything I've read online, that's the recommended next step if the OS won't install through Recovery Mode. It is probably what the repair shop would try.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

The WORST iMac to buy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yvY-tYh0bM

My Super Weird 2020 iMac "Review"

I see that two people are selling this computer for $500 on Facebook Marketplace. I am tempted to get one.

This is an 8-core machine with 16 threads (hyperthreaded). This is comparable to my 8-core mini computer, but less powerful. This machine is 7% slower than the 8-core M4 chip.

My point is that there are cheaper options than Apple Silicon. It can run Windows. It is upgradable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMFCVvy0rkE

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

The Problem with Laptops and Heat - and the problem with Apple computers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq9O99TgFv4

@john2001plus
0 seconds ago
0:34 It is ironic that the video features the Minisforum UM790 Pro. Mine overheated and died after 14 months of heavy use. I argued with the manufacturer about the warranty, but they told me that the seller on AliExpress was responsible for warranty service. The seller agreed to inspect it if I shipped it to China. It took six weeks to arrive, and now the seller is examining the dead computer to determine whether they will provide warranty service. Mini computers use mobile components, making them similar to laptops. I now realize that a mini-computer is unlikely to have adequate cooling.

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Apple Watch $20 Million Payout: Are You Eligible And How Do You Claim?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2025/01/31/apple-watch-20-million-payout-are-you-eligible-and-how-do-you-claim/

Friday, January 17, 2025

Linus Tech Tips on The Tonight Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vybLi25Q8Fw

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Fwd: Failure of Minisforum UM790 Pro

Mini computers have been really popular and many people think that traditional desktop PCs are on the way out. Instead, people will buy mini computers, laptops and tablets.

This is mostly because of Apple, which has released some very powerful small devices. Mini computers often use laptop parts, and the 'M' in Apple's M-chip series stands for "Mobile". Apple uses the same powerful processors in laptops and tablets.

AMD claimed that their Ryzen 9 7940hs is an M-chip killer. I knew that I wanted something like this, and I waited four years to get the right chip. It has twice the processing power of the M2 chip, and unlike Apple, the computer I bought has upgradeable storage and memory which they don't charge you a fortune for.

However, mine failed after 15 months. I'm not sure if it is fixable. The motherboard is custom to this computer, and might not be replaceable. However, I could buy the cheaper "barebones" model that lacks memory and storage, and transfer those from the broken computer.

The processor uses up to 55 watts under a full load, which is almost as much as a 60-watt lightbulb. I could feel the heat coming off of the computer, and I was concerned about this. Maybe a regular desktop would be easier to cool. (By the way, a competing mini-computer company overclocks the same processor and it uses 65 watts.)

Apple often uses less power to keep their computers cooler.

Minisforum is a Chinese company apparently in Hong Kong. Some might claim that this is typical Chinese-made quality, although everything is made in China.

I sent a complaint to Minisforum...

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: John Coffey <john2001plus@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jan 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Subject: Failure of Minisforum UM790 Pro
To: <support@minisforum.com>

Failure of Minisforum UM790 Pro.

I purchased a Minisforum UM790 Pro from Ali Express on August 22, 2023. It arrived in about five weeks. Because of circumstances in my life, I was not able to use it until late October 2023. The computer lasted less than 15 months.

I bought this computer because I wanted a powerful computer for chess analysis. It is five times faster than my other computer, and I often ran it at 100%.

I was a little concerned about the heat the computer produced. I could feel a steady stream of hot air coming from it. I thought that it would be okay because you have advertised it as having "Cold Wave 2.0". I assumed that the computer was capable of running at 100% for long periods.

This morning I was doing some intense chess analysis on the computer and it suddenly quit. I tried to power it back on, but it would not turn on. I disconnected and reconnected the power and it would not turn on. Five minutes after the initial failure I saw orange sparks like a tiny fire come from the left side. I could smell smoke. I disconnected the power.

To use an English expression, I assume that the computer is "fried." Other than doing intense chess analysis, I have not abused the computer in any way.

I am not sure if I can get this repaired. I don't know if the motherboard is replaceable or repairable.

I was hoping that you could advise me.

I am disappointed in the quality of the computer that it would fail this way. However, I am considering getting the less expensive barebones model and trying to transfer the memory and storage to the new computer.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Friday, December 20, 2024

Introducing the credit card sized Cardputer!!

https://youtube.com/shorts/bx4Mef6K23o?si=T0pCZ5QHuVPZLbyo

Our phones could be powerful computers. We just need easier ways to wirelessly access peripherals and cast to a screen. Or to another computer. Then your computer could be portable.