I'm thinking of switching, where should I go for info(besides here!)

A

AlanG

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A quick background. I am a retired software engineer/architect with 40 years experience in IT. I've worked on many OS, including MacOS9 and early MacOSX (up to Lion) on my old Motorola iBook(which is still in use as an iTunes player for my HiFi) but mostly I've been using Linux for the last 15-20 years. However, while Linux is fun it isn't great for photo and video editing and I've been running a Windows box dedicated to that.

Both of these PCs are getting long in the tooth (2010 and 2012 respectively) so I need to replace them. I'm tempted to jump to a MacMini M1 with 512GB and 16G Ram to replace both boxes. MacOSX has moved on a long way from Lion and I'll need to get up to speed. Where are the best web sites, YouTube channels, books etc, for somebody like me? (I've seen MacOSX for seniors/dummies etc but they are just too basic) I'll want to have all the usual Office/Internet type stuff plus my photo and video editing tools plus a lot of software development tools too.

I have a lot of specific questions which I'm hoping I can ask here. But I'm also looking for more expansive descriptions of how MacOS does things, or how I do things on MacOSX. Some of it will be very basic, some of it possibly quite sys admin type stuff (I have quite a complex home network with around 30 connected devices)...

My most pressing one is trying to understand the MacOSX naming jungle. Big Sur? High Sierra, Catalina, Monterey? Which order do they come in? Big Sur seems to be the latest, but I see references to the others too. I'm guessing I can just focus on BigSur. Right?
 
Welcome to our place. You will find a lot of help right here. And we all jump in to help.

The MacOS puzzle:
The latest is Monterey (12.2)
Some models may still have Big Sur (11.x) on them
Catalina (10.15)
Mojave (10.14)
High Sierra (10.13)
Sierra (10.12)

Any machine you get - get the most RAM you can.
 
FWIW, the Geniuses at the Apple store MAY be a help here. Visit and see if they have a genius familiar with what you want. Make an appointment for when you want (and also, they would be prepared. Pay for an hour or so. MIGHT be well worth the $.

Welcome back to the fold---hopefully!
 
Cheryl said:
Welcome to our place. You will find a lot of help right here. And we all jump in to help.

The MacOS puzzle:
The latest is Monterey (12.2)
...

Any machine you get - get the most RAM you can.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sorting out the names. Is there any logic to them? Do they go North-South or vice versa? Or something else? Just curious. :)
As for RAM it's a must-have for photo/video work. 8GB is the bare minimum for many of my applications, and I know from experience they run slowly with that. If I could get 32GB in a MacMini I would do it!
And since I plan to keep this for at least 10 years the lack of upgradability of RAM in the mini is one slight cause for concern.
 
SGilbert said:
FWIW, the Geniuses at the Apple store MAY be a help here. Visit and see if they have a genius familiar with what you want. Make an appointment for when you want (and also, they would be prepared. Pay for an hour or so. MIGHT be well worth the $.

Welcome back to the fold---hopefully!
Click to expand...
Thanks. I take it from the comment that an Apple Store "genius" is an actual thing? Like they have dedicated staff called "genius"? And you can book these in advance? We don't have any Apple Stores nearby (probably about an hour away is the nearest) so booking would be a necessity.
 
AlanG said:
Thanks for sorting out the names. Is there any logic to them? Do they go North-South or vice versa? Or something else? Just curious. :)
Click to expand...

The names that I didn't list (Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Lion, etc) were named after cats. But then they ran out of cats. It appears they then went to desert names. (Mojave, etc) I don't know of any other rhyme or reasoning other than they decided to name their upgrades. I had given up on keeping track and just follow the numbers. Now they have jumped from 10.15 to 11, and the recent 12.
 
AlanG said:
Thanks. I take it from the comment that an Apple Store "genius" is an actual thing? Like they have dedicated staff called "genius"? And you can book these in advance? We don't have any Apple Stores nearby (probably about an hour away is the nearest) so booking would be a necessity.
Click to expand...
Yes, they are actual people. ANS...they speak English!
Yes, you can book a time of your convenience.
I don't work for Apple, so I do not know the prices, or the particular expertise of what you are looking foe, but Apple can assist you on the phone.
AFTER you purchase a Mac, you are entitled to a complementary 1on1 session. BEFORE, as I said, I do not know $'s

Give us a call when you’re ready and we’ll get you the help you need.
1-800-MY-APPLE
7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Central (Monday through Sunday)
 
Thanks for the help so far.
However, I'm still looking for learning material. For example, when I had my iBook I had two helpful books:
  • MacOSX Unleashed
  • MacOSX Hacks
Both of these are about the level of information I'm looking for.
But neither has been updated in the last 17 years. (although much of it is probably still relevant)

Now, searching Amazon, the best I can find are books like the Missing Manual and MacOS for Dummies.
I'm sure these are fine as beginners guides but I'm looking for something a bit more in-depth. Surely there
must still be books like that around - there are literally a dozen or more of them for Windows and Linux!

Similarly with web sites and YouTube channels.
I have found one YouTube channel by Elaine Giles that seems at the right level but has quite a niche
focus on publishing and graphics - they are also a bit long for easy watching often reaching 90-100
minutes long.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.
 
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