In part 2 of this series, I took the fan out of my 13″ MacBook Pro, cleaned it and lightly lubricated it. For about a day, the fan noise was almost non-existent and the heating issue was mildly approved. Unfortunately, the noise quickly returned along with the hot CPU. This problem had to be fixed one way or another or I was going to have to throw the computer out of the window since it had become painfully slow and buggy. The next plan was to buy a new fan and replace the loud, failing original. I also decided to double the RAM from 4 to 8 gigs since the back would already… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

In part 1 of this 3 part series, I discovered that my computer was not acting happy due to a fan issue. Catch up with the post here to follow my MacBook adventure. One goal of this project is to avoid the Apple Store and keep the cost down as low as possible. The fan noise is definitely out of control, the machine is running hot and it has become super slow. My next plan of action is to open up the case to clean and lubricate the fan. I took a few photos to explain how to open the machine, take out the fan and clean and lubricate. Remember, this is purely for… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

My adventure began with a week-long search of forums and websites for easy fixes for the fan issue. It seems the issue is common for fans to go out or become noisy and various fixes are posted across the web. This is an account of my journey through diagnosis and home repair. My goal is to begin simple and free and work up until my MacBook is like new again.

This post recalls diagnosing the problem and possible plans of action.… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

It’s Black Friday and that means you can save some cash on things you want for yourself or to give to family and friends. Discounts are good but you know what is better? FREE! And we’re giving away some awesome stuff today absolutely free. All you need to do is enter.

This item has a value of $69.99. What is it and how can you win? Read on!

 … Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

From the Editorial Staff of Gear Diary: Is there someone in your life who loves music? If so, here are five gifts with which you can’t go wrong.

We have to start this list with the 11″ MacBook air. It’s small, light, under $1000 and it makes working on the go a pleasure. You’ll quickly forget that it is as small as it is. Judie has one and loves it. Dan has one and loves it. Elana has one and loves it (and she NEVER raves about technology.) Get one at Apple.com

It isn’t often that an Apple product is our daily Gear Deal but that what our Gear Sponsor has for us today! This deal is on the 13″ MacBook Pro with a 2.3GHz Core i5 processor. This model dates from early 2011 and has the Thunderbolt port, Gigabit Ethernet, a FaceTime HD camera, the SDXC card slot and, of course, it has the durable Aluminum unibody design that has been such a huge hit. .Normally $1199 this laptop is just $1,037.99 with this deal. Thanks to an additional $50 mail-in rebate that comes all the way down to just $987.99. Better still, it will ship for free and there is no tax in most states… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Perhaps it was because I was using the Sony Vaio S-series laptop with its 15-hour battery, but I never really looked critically at the battery life on my 2011 15″ Macbook Pro. But recently I have been using it almost exclusively and have felt that I should be getting more hours between charges.

My assumption – particularly how the fans would spin up even when I was doing nothing particularly challenging – was that there was something related to the graphics card. So I looked around and found that the dynamic switching on the graphics cards will often leave the system stuck using the discrete card when the integrated is more than enough (for… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Today’s Gear Deal is something we have not previously highlighted as a deal. With Creative Labs’ Sound Blaster Wireless Audio Transmitter and Receiver Bundle
you simply plug the device into a USB port, and you can stream your iTunes music wirelessly to powered speakers. It requires no cables or network configuration and comes bundled with a remote control. Moreover, thanks to the fact that it uses uncompressed Xtreme Fidelity enhanced music the sound is great. Finally, with the remote control you can play, pause and skip through your music from the comfort of your couch.

Usually $119.99 our Gear Sponsor has tracked it down for just $69.99. It will even ship for free. Details

Recently, I was laid off from my day job.  As a result, for the first time in my life (literally!), my main system will be an Apple system, specifically 15″ MacBook Pro running OS X “Snow Leopard”.  And as I’ve made the move, copying my iTunes library over, setting up a backup disk, and all the other nonsense in which one must engage when one makes a big move of this type, I’ve noticed a few things.  If you’re someone who is considering making the jump, but has been hesitating for one reason or another, maybe my experiences here will help you make a final decision.

Let me state right out that I am most definitely… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

There’s an old story about three blind men. One grabbed an elephant’s trunk and thought it was a snake. One grabbed a leg and thought it was a tree trunk. Another grabbed… Oh you get the idea.

The bottom line is, when you look at only one piece of anything you are not going to see clearly… Or correctly. Yet time and again decisions get made upon this small-picture limited-think. Here’s yet another example. A post over on Cult of Mac today offers the following.

Here’s an idea: let’s cut Apple in half. Sure, the company is the most profitable on the planet and grabs more headlines than the U.S. President. The trouble, according

I’m totally sold on The Neat Company’s hardware/software combination that I reviewed a while back. It is a great way to move in the direction of being totally paperless and, best of all, it just works beautifully. I was bummed to discover that the Neat software was one of the things that would not work while I was running the beta version of OS X Lion but, then again, that’s the price you pay for running Beta software.

Well I’m happy to share with all of you that the company has updated their software and it is now compatible with Lion. As the email I received explains… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

By his own admission Steve Jobs is quickly moving us into a “Post-PC” era. This new era is not “post computer” era. Rather, it is an era in which computers look less and less like desktops or laptops and more like… well iPads and iPhones. (Perhaps a better name for this new era in computing would be “PC Rev2″.)

This process of moving into PC Rev2 will be sped up when iOS 5.0 is released this fall since it finally makes it easy to cut the cord. Yes, iPhones, iPod touches and iPads that have been slaves to Macs or Windows PCs will finally sync and update without physically needing to tether them to a… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Last week Apple released their updated MacBook Airs. I picked up an 11″ MBA with 4GB RAM and a 128GB ssd. I love the thing. There were a few reasons for the purchase. First, the new generation of MBAs are super fast. That along makes them a great choice. Second, this release brought back the backlit keyboard that had disappeared in the prior generation. I didn’t realize just how much I missed the backlighting until I had it again. Third, the diminutive size of the 11″ MBA makes it simple to being pretty much everywhere. As much as I love my iPad there are some things you just need access to… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

For the last few months I have been using a 13″ MacBook Air as my primary computer. It works beautifully. It is thin, light, and more than speedy enough for my needs. In addition, since the screen resolution is the same as the 15″ MacBook Pro I used briefly a few years ago I don’t feel like I’m compromising because of the size. All of that noted, however, there was part of me that, for these last months, had my eyes straying to (lusting for?) a different laptop. Yes, back in January Elana got an 11″ MacBook Air and I have thought about getting one (again since I owned one briefly when they were… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...

Yesterday Michael brought word that Livescribe’s Mac desktop software is not currently compatible with Mac OS X Lion. In other words, if you rely on Livescribe don’t upgrade to OS X Lion. This isn’t a surprise or even an issue since there are always small bumps along the way whenever new operating systems come out.  Issues emerge and, within a short period of time, are resolved. This time is no different.

I just got word that the same holds true for Sonos’ Mac Controller. It too is not currently compatible with Mac OS X Lion. I’ve been using Lion for a few weeks now and love it but had not noticed this issue… Continue reading on Gear Diary ...