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: 6:45 PM o OMUG , August 11th,e LIVE2015 t Next Meeting , onlin Key articles..... iCloud and Dropbox— David A. Cox Is It Time To Replace YouTube classes are highly recommended Your Laptop’s Battery? and we are pleased to have him take the —page 2 time to share his knowledge and experi- ence with us. I hope all of you can make it to this meeting. Apple has released a 6th Generation iPod, the iPod Touch. It has been about Using Apple Diagnostics three years since this product was updated. To Troubleshoot Some industry analysts thought that Apple Your Mac— pg. 3 would drop the iPod from its product line, but not so. Featuring the new A8 chip, a 4” Retina screen, significantly improved performance, Apple is looking for it to be More About iCloud the “Apple Music” player of choice. Time and Dropbox— will tell. I had an iPod Touch a few years ago pages 4 and 6 and I admit I really liked it for both listening to music and audio books; unfortunately, I dropped it and broke the screen. And yes, I kind of miss it. But now that there is a new updated one, running the latest version of iOS—you guessed it—I have ordered one! Changing the subject: last month there was a daytime break-in at the Senior Center. While it was of some concern to us, we were pleased with the way we were noti- fied of the break-in and the actions taken by staff at the Senior Center. Fortunately for us, we now understand that the police have two suspects in custody. Well, that is enough for this month; don’t forget our upcoming meetings, both related to our information not being in just don’t understand completely the way regular programs and workshops. Burt A message from the prez— “sync.” The problems only get worse as we things work. If you use iCloud or Dropbox and Phil have worked hard to put together For many, the month of August brings vaca- some very interesting presenters and top- add new devices and services. Keeping our to organize and manage your information, tions and when traveling the popularity ics. Hope to see you all there at our next emails, pictures, videos, and music straight this month’s program will be especially of mobile devices like readers, tablets, and meeting and although there won’t be a across multiple devices quickly becomes useful. smartphones, etc., seems even more perva- workshop in August, they will start up again frustrating when it doesn’t work the way Burt and Phil have arranged for David sive. For Apple users, using our iPhones and in September. Don’t forget to bring a friend we think it should. In some cases, the prob- A. Cox, of PC Classes online.com, to make a iPads has become so routine, we don’t even or other guest. think of them until we have a problem. lems may be of our own making. With all virtual presentation on iCloud and Dropbox Many times the problems we run into are of the new devices and services, maybe we at our next meeting on 11 August. David’s —Bobby Adams Illustration above is montage of photo components from PC Classes online.com, merged in Photoshop by your MUGSHOT editor Best viewed in Adobe Reader August 2015 | MUGSHOT Newsletter | 1 Is it Time to Replace Your Laptop’s Battery? a third-party vendor. There are “OEM” batter- ning the computer without AC power, then ies on Amazon and eBay, but when I read the recharging it completely. Then repeat this — by Phil Davis fine print, I found that most of these batteries discharge/charge cycle a couple more times. are OEM-equivalent, and not from Apple. And Manufacturers recommend doing this peri- most of them, while about half the OEM price, odically to get the best performance out of get mixed reviews. your battery, so battery recalibration will now f you are like me, you rarely think about gives you a wealth of information about your After checking iFixit to confirm that this go on my maintenance reminder list. your laptop’s battery. Normally, it just battery. was do-it-yourself territory and easy, I was off I’m now a happy camper. And so is my Iworks. In fact, I challenge you to tell me For example: I learned that my battery which, to the web to search for a battery with a good computer. a the last time you gave some attention to this when new, was rated at 54 Wh, now had a ca- price and good reviews. Specs After Installing New Battery— vital component of your laptop. pacity 36 Wh, 68% of the original. Battery Health The Outcome Several weeks ago I had to face this ques- also gave a warning to “check battery” which I first ordered a 65 Wh high performance bat- tion and accept the fact that batteries are not was a bit redundant, but reinforced my sus- tery from Other World Computing for $99. I’ve infallible and that they usually have a shorter picions. I learned that the battery was now 5.7 had good success with OWC products in the life span than a laptop. years old and nearing retirement age. past and I liked the higher capacity battery How Do You Know If You Have A Problem? Being reluctant to bite the bullet (or in this which should give more running time. One way is if your trackpad stops accepting taps. case buy the battery), I decided to try recali- When this happens it’s usually a sign that the brating the battery. After draining and recharg- The battery from OWC included two small battery, located below the trackpad, has started ing it I cranked my computer up while watch- special-purpose screwdrivers that I used to swelling. This is bad and potentially dangerous. ing the state-of-charge meter. Things started remove the screws from the back of the com- So if this happens you need to unplug the com- off great with the charge at 100% (of course this puter and the screws holding the battery in puter and trudge to your favorite repair shop (or was only 68% of the original capacity). Looking place. I then disconnected the battery using think about replacing it yourself). Another sign good. I kept Battery Health running while do- a gadget called a spudger [2]. I slid the battery is if you notice that your battery won’t hold a ing productive work (surfing the web) on my in … or rather tried to slide the battery in. No charge for long. Since this happens gradually desktop Mac Mini. One hour later — down to go! The battery has three small indentations you may not notice the problem immediately. 51%. Yikes! Two hours later — 15%. Since reca- on one side that lets it slide under the screw It just insidiously creeps up. libration was useless I had to decide whether to holes for the case. Despite OWC’s compatibility The second one is the problem that got my get a new battery or a new computer. Since I claims, the indentations on their battery were attention. I was using my 13” MacBook Pro un- had recently put a new SSD in this beast I want- in the wrong place. Bummer. tethered from it’s AC umbilical cord and I hap- ed to keep it running as long as possible so a So, returning the OWC battery, I continued [1] pened to notice the state of charge indicator new battery was the obvious choice. Also, this my search and found a battery on Amazon from in the menu bar—it was dropping, almost in choice was a lot cheaper. a company called Key Power. This battery got real time. I had only been using the computer Finding a Battery good reviews, was also 65 Wh, had an 18-month for a few minutes and the charge had already My first step was to use the model number warranty, and cost $64. And, according to the dropped to 60%. A few minutes later it was be- of my computer to determine which battery I picture on the website, the indents were in the low 50%! I mumbled a few choice words and needed. In my case I needed an A1331 which right place. Two days later the new battery ar- started to watch the meter. While I watched also fits several other older 13” MacBook Pros. rived and, after going through the now familiar — 49%, 46%, 42% — and dropping fast. Some resources that you can use to help you replacement drill, cranked my computer up. Suc- Wow — maybe I have a battery problem. find your model includeApple Support, iFixit, cess. The whole installation took less than five Thank you Captain Obvious. and the free MacTracker app. minutes. The hardest part was keeping track of To verify the problem I turned to a program If I wanted to take my computer to an the tiny screws. The new 65 Wh battery should appropriately called Battery Health. Bat- Apple store (or mail it to Apple) they would re- not only give better performance, but should tery Health is a free app available on the Mac place my battery for $129. But they would not last the rest of My MacBook Pro’s life. App Store and should be a “must install” on all sell me a battery so that I could do the replace- The instructions from Key Power say to laptops.

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