John Spahr

About a year ago, I reviewed the 2014 Mac mini on this blog. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it was still an excellent machine for productivity tasks, but it could also handle some more intense things you threw at it. Thus, it became my daily driver up until I upgraded to a 2017 MacBook Air a few months ago. That being said, I’ve still been using it some, so I thought I’d briefly share how it’s holding up these days. Here are my thoughts on this miniature Macintosh one year later! Performance  Over the last year, I’ve been impressed by how much this Mac can handle. It’s rocking a 2.6 GHz dual-core Core i5 with 8 GB of RAM and a Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB SATA SSD. What all that jargon essentially means is that it’s a moderately powerful little computer, although it certainly isn’t going to put newer Macs to shame. Regardless, I’ve been able to do lots of coding, video editing, and schoolwork on this computer, and it has generally worked pretty well. Granted, it can take a while...

Hey, everyone. As you may recall, I’ve been taking a break from software development lately, and this has given me more time to spend on my other hobbies. To achieve this, there’s one tool I’ve been using a great deal: my 2017 MacBook Air. I’ve had this compact computer for nearly a month now, and I seem to have come to a realization. If you want a thin, light, reasonably powerful, and relatively affordable Mac laptop, this might just be one of your best options. How come? Read on to find out! Design and Build This laptop’s design is one of the main reasons why you might want to consider buying one of these MacBook Airs. It’s fairly thin and super light, but it still keeps our beloved USB-A ports, MagSafe, and SD card reader. Furthermore, it has an excellent non-Butterfly keyboard, a nice trackpad, a sturdy aluminum chassis, and a fairly large 13-inch display. Said display isn’t the sharpest or most color accurate, but the worst thing about it has to be its atrocious viewing angles. Re...

Hi, everyone. As you may know, laptops really started to gain popularity in the early 90s, and at the forefront of this new clamshell computer craze was none other than Apple. Indeed, their innovative line of PowerBook laptops pioneered many of the things we take for granted on laptop computers today. So, when I brought home a free PowerBook 520, I was thrilled to try it out. Here’s my experience with this classic notebook over the last few days! Hardware To begin, I want to make it clear that this is a very chunky laptop. It's incredibly heavy, and it’s obviously not as portable as we’re used to these days. Regardless, some things do feel very familiar, like the built-in stereo speakers and trackpad technology these 500 series laptops first introduced. However, some features of this laptop are long gone now, such as its dual battery bays, array of ancient ports hidden behind a folding panel, and 3.5 inch floppy drive. It definitely looks its age, but there’s no denying that this P...

Nearly two months ago, I finally got my first Mac: a late 2014 Mac mini. While I usually don't review stuff on this blog, I thought I would make an exception for this device. My hope is that this review will be helpful and fairly unbiased while helping you make a decision on whether or not to get one of these Macs. So, how does this miniature Macintosh hold up today? Design The Mac mini's design has remained largely unchanged over the last decade. There have been a few small updates and tweaks to it, but nothing particularly major. This means that the 2014 Mac mini features the usual premium and minimal aluminum casing with a white status LED on the front. Overall, I'd say this Mac mini's design has held up pretty well! It's very small, being only 8 inches wide and long, while only having a height of 1.4 inches. It weighs a little over 2.5 pounds, so it's not too heavy, either. These dimensions make for a very nice and compact computer, and I think it fits in wi...