Buying a new computer?

The biggest mistake I see when buying a new computer is buying too small a hard drive. Happens all the time! I've started so many data transfers only to discover the new computer has less space than the old one. This is usually because people go to Apple.com, start shopping, then buy the least expensive one.

As a general rule, almost no one should be buying anything smaller than a 1TB drive. Keep in mind, "memory" (aka RAM) is different than hard drive space. Unless you are a professional photographer, musician, or video editor, RAM is not as important as it once was so that's not where to invest your money. Instead, you need to consider a larger hard drive. The best thing to do is find out what size drive you currently have and how much of that drive you're currently using. Then base your decision on that. To find this information, go to System Settings/General/Storage. Example:




Don't get too worked up about what you see here. There's a lot of mislabeled data here. For example, an old music library that is no longer needed might be categorized as "documents". So don't worry too much about the labeling. If you're only currently using half of the space of your drive, you may be able to get away with buying the same size drive on your new computer. However, consider that our phones are constantly shooting higher and higher resolution pictures and videos and those take up space even when you'e chosen to optimizer your photo library.

While there is a way to store lots of data on the cloud, nothing beats good old fashioned local storage! In some cases, we are able to find unnecessary data that can be deleted but we'd need to work together before hand to determine that of course. If you have any questions as to which model is best for you, or you'd like to try and reduce the amount of old files before you purchase, I'm happy to walk you through what I think fits you best then assist with the data transfer once it arrives. Here's a quick guide to what you'll need for the data transfer ahead of our session. And as always, please email me if have additional questions.

TLDR: buy a big hard drive. Don't buy "memory" aka RAM.

Data transfers can now be accomplished remotely.

In today’s age of Zoom and remote sessions, it’s no longer necessary to take your computer offsite to do data transfers overnight. We can now do it all remotely but it does require a little preparation. Here’s what you’ll need.

1. Old computer
2. New computer (Just take it out of the box but don’t turn it on)
3. Backup hard drive (time machine) that’s been connected to the old computer recently.
4. USB to USB-C adapter if you don't already have one.. Here's the one I like.

We’ll meet over two sessions. The first session will only take a few minutes as we get the transfer going.

The second session will take around an hour as I remote in to the new computer and do the heavier clean up work.

You’ll only need to schedule the first session. Then we'll just communicate through the day as the transfer completes the first phase on its own.