Under the Radar 117: The iMac Pro
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welcome to under the radar a show but
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independent iOS app development I'm mark
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Worman and I'm David Smith under the
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radars never longer than 30 minutes so
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let's get started
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both you and I'm Marco had a I guess
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he's slightly belated Christmas present
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this year and that we both are I believe
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currently sitting in front of brand-new
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primary development computers
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specifically iMac pros and I think it
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seemed like an interesting topic to talk
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about both I think there's some
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interesting things to unpack a little
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bit about the machine itself I think
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it's probably also interesting to talk
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about why we both use this particular
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set up which i think is if I had a guess
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a minority of people use you know use a
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an iMac or in this case an iMac Pro as
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it as a primary machine versus using a
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laptop and then I think it's also
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whenever I get a new machine which is
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fairly rare you know fairly rare it's
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think you know it's not some nothing
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that I have to do very often it's an
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interesting opportunity to kind of look
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at my development set up see how
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portable it is and kind of take and take
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inventory and all the different things
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that you have to do just that one up and
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I think that process hopefully there's a
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few things to share and two to learn
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from there but first I think maybe a
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place to start is why do you use an iMac
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rather than a laptop as your primary
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machine I've done both like I've spent
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years as a laptop as my only machine and
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then just plugging it into a monitor
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keyboard a mouse like when I was at work
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and then bringing it home every day then
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this is a very very common situation
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people people use and and there are a
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lot of advantages to just having the
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laptop like that first of all you know
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cost wise you only have to buy and
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maintain an upgrade and and you know
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later buy again one computer you know
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there's a there's a pretty big question
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among a lot of people's minds about like
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do you need a laptop at all or can you
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just get an iPad but for a lot of
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developers that you know there is no
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question from the developers the answer
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is you can't do what you need to do on
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an iPad or it would be so cumbersome
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that that it would be you know very not
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practical for you so a lot of developers
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need laptops and so then the question
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only becomes do you have one computer or
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to know if you're going to have one
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you have a lot of advantages and things
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like you don't have to worry about how
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you sing file between them how you you
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know whether you set them up the same
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way and how like oh I forgot to install
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this app on this computer or it's
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configured differently and you can't
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quite figure out how the heck do I get
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Photoshop settings to look the way they
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look like my look I'm at the computer
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things like that like there's there's a
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lot of like pains in the butt around
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maintaining multiple computers that you
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if you just had the laptop you're
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totally fine with on the other hand when
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you only have one and say something goes
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wrong and you need to bring it in for
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service and be without it for a few days
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you are kind of out of luck and you know
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you have a problem in that situation so
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there are advantages both ways if you
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have multiple computers you can also
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intentionally set things up differently
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between them so you can have like you
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know your work desktop that it has
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certain things on it versus your
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personal laptop or vice versa you can
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have you know your windows will be
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preserved on your desktop and you can
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come back come down and you know sit
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down in front of it and start work
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immediately as opposed to you know
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plugging in your laptop rearranging
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everything you know closing the things
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we're running at home certain things
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you're running at work so there are
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advantages and disadvantages on both
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sides I personally find the ergonomics
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of a laptop for long term work pretty
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rough when it's used as a laptop so I
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find that for for getting work done all
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day I really want to be sitting in front
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of a desktop screen positioned you know
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away from my face by a few feet lift it
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up to the right height and then a
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keyboard that is low in front of me and
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a split organ ah McNall keyboard that's
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the style that I find most comfortable
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organ honestly that that reduces my RSI
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issues a mouse on once on my right side
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a trackpad on my left side so I have two
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input devices one for each hand this is
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the kind of setup I like and then the
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monitor should be as being as possible
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because that is directly related to how
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happy I can be in how productive I am
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with what I'm doing on my computer all
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that basically leads to you know either
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the laptop plugged into a big monitor
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and keyboard when you're working or the
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iMac and really either these options are
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totally fine but when you use a laptop
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stop it's not a very good desktop you
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you not only have issues with like you
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know just the pains of connecting and
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disconnecting every day and bringing it
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back and forth but then also laptops
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don't cool themselves very well under
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sustained load or especially if using
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clamshell mode where the laptop is
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closed and you're plugging the monitor
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and it really doesn't cool itself well
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they're usually louder when they're
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under low because they have these little
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tiny fans they usually have lower
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powered parts the laptops tend to lag
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behind the consumer imax in cpu
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performance by a couple of years and GPU
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performance by maybe more laptops are
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more constrained with things like what
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kind of storage you can put in them how
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much storage have what kind of upgrades
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how much RAM you can put it in the
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current lineup and then things like
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ports and peripherals and you know
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desktops to have more ports and
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different ports and better ports usually
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and so there's desktops can be better in
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a number of ways and I really like
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having both the the like reliable
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consistent set up where like my desktop
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screen never changes sighs so the
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windows are always in the right spots
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and everything's always like where I
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left it and and all the apps can stay
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running or not stay running or whatever
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else you can have stuff running in the
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background that like serves media to
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your house for instance because it's
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never asleep or never close or never off
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or whatever else so there's a lot of
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advantages to a desktop and I think that
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the decision is made even easier when
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you work at home for yourself then you
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don't have to worry like about having
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the same computer between work and home
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all these reasons I just really like
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having a desktop if you are a developer
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and you get a desktop computer the one
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you probably want is the iMac gotta say
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it's it's a great computer like even and
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for the last three years I used a
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regular 5k like you know non Pro I'm at
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cuz I'm AI Pro didn't exist I used a
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regular iMac and it's great it is you
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know they're pretty good machines they
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they really are very compelling with the
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features you get the the combination of
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like then I screen the 5k you know
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retina 5k resolution and this beautiful
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color or screen and everything and
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having everything be you know fairly
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tidy fairly all-in-one it's it's just a
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really nice overall package so
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I use an iMac in general and not even
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considering whether it's a pro or not
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because a it's a desktop B it's a really
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good desktop and and C I think it's the
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best choice and and in many ways the
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in Apple's current lineup for the kind
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of things that I like yeah and I think I
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use a iMac for the same read many of the
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same reasons like I've used the retina
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iMac since like I bought a maxed out
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first-generation retina iMac like as
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soon as I could get a Retina screen in
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you know the 27-inch size I mean that
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was huge I remember how just at the time
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how amazing that was for things like
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doing iOS simulator work on the iPad or
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like the whole iPad simulator like it
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would just be any of this simulators
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honestly would just be these comically
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huge things it's like what I can have a
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retina you know monitor that's this big
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because that was what sold it for me
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initially and then I just got used to it
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and I really liked it and in some ways
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like some of the things are kind of
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silly like I like that my yeah like that
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my like I have a work set up and that
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works that up for me you know it's
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downstairs and when I'm at work I'm at
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work and I don't have a comb from my
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most comfortable place to work
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is down at that desk and I think it
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helps with a temptation to like work in
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other places or at other times when I
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maybe shouldn't be working because you
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know I feel very separate when I'm down
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here working and so like I can still I
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have a 12-inch MacBook that I can do
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work on it's certainly slower and
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smaller and not as good but I can get
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worked on there but it's it's
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uncomfortable and so it's a nice thing
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that I have like the super comfortable
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great place to work and then I have a
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place that I can work and then yeah I've
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just rather than dealing with the like
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don't try all manner of things for
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dealing with the kind of like the two
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computer problem I mean there was
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actually even a period where I had a an
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external drive like I bought a external
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SSD hard drive that I would boot from
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and so I would plug it into my iMac and
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boot from that for a boot from that and
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then if I wanted to use it on my laptop
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I would unplug it and plug it into my
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laptop and boot from it there
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which works like surprisingly well but
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it's just like in kind of mind-bending
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it's a little cumbersome cumbersome is a
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good word yes there's not the most
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straightforward and so instead I just
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well I just work for my iMac and it's
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worked out very well for me like I'm I I
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was a little bit skeptical to start with
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and I think I used to also come from a
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world where I used to having the the two
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monitor setup like I was a very I used I
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typically had like my previous setup
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often was the you know laptop up on a
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stand so it wasn't like organ ah mcli
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gonna cripple me and then a big main
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display that was plugged into it I liked
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having the two monitors but honestly
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once like once the monitors went retina
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I'd really don't miss having the two
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monitors set up anymore like I'd like
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having just one big retina monitor you
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know and from a peaceful perspective
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it's like I have four monitors I guess
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from a you know the number of the amount
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of detail that I'm able to to reasonably
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look at so yeah and iMac is the machine
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for me and really at this point you know
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it was just a question of should I stick
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with the the ret just a regular 5k iMac
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or you know now that there's a you know
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the pro model I am a pro you know is it
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something that I should go to and in the
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end I decided it made sense based on
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just you know a variety of things that I
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guess we'll get into a lot of him around
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performance and ports and just trying to
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you know it's like if I use this machine
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so much I want to make sure that it's
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the best that I can reasonably have
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because it's it's what I use to make you
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know my entire living so it may as well
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be a sharp tool exactly and moving back
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just a moment to the dual monitor thing
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I I forgot the first mention that foot
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like I too went through you know a
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period where I used dual monitors and
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you know and we're you know first one of
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them was the laptop on a stand and then
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you know a big monitor usually a that's
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when I was using 24 inch monitors next
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to it and then you know eventually I
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upgraded to the laptop with a 30-inch
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monitor which is the same resolution as
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27 s that are in IMAX and then I decided
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that you know after years of using dual
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monitors this way I learned that I
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really don't use dual monitors very
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effectively that
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you know one of them would always be
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like the primary and then this whatever
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the secondary monitor was like off to
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the right or whatever it was just like a
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junk drawer like I would just I would
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have like you know maybe I put like my
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email client or you know Twitter or
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iTunes over there but it's like that it
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didn't really serve any purpose I wasn't
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usually looking over there and it didn't
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serve any purpose that just like hiding
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those windows when I wasn't using them
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wouldn't also serve just as well like I
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didn't I found that I was not
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well-suited to do monitors I thought I
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was for a while and if I'm gonna have
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you know only a 24 inch size sure give
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me a second one but once I stuff up to
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the 27 / 30 inch size I realized that
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just having one larger monitor worked
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better for me and it allowed me to avoid
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a lot of just like bugs and OS weirdness
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around dual monitors certain apps still
00:12:02
◼
►
don't really behave well with dual
00:12:04
◼
►
monitors there are certain other issues
00:12:06
◼
►
like if one of them is your laptop
00:12:08
◼
►
screen and the other is like an external
00:12:10
◼
►
monitor then you'll have usually a
00:12:12
◼
►
different pixel density between them so
00:12:14
◼
►
like if you move the windows to the to
00:12:16
◼
►
the you know other monitor it'll appear
00:12:18
◼
►
physically smaller or bigger because the
00:12:20
◼
►
two monitors are different pixel
00:12:22
◼
►
densities and all sorts of you know just
00:12:24
◼
►
weird little like OS weirdness around
00:12:27
◼
►
having dual monitors where like clearly
00:12:30
◼
►
Mac OS supports dual monitors but there
00:12:32
◼
►
are certain things that get a little
00:12:34
◼
►
iffy with them or that don't work the
00:12:36
◼
►
way you expect or things like full
00:12:37
◼
►
screen mode that kind of don't work at
00:12:39
◼
►
all you know or have weird limitations
00:12:41
◼
►
and it's just the entire computer
00:12:44
◼
►
experience I find for myself and you
00:12:47
◼
►
know this is personal preference but I
00:12:48
◼
►
find for myself just works a lot more
00:12:51
◼
►
smoothly and better and cleaner with
00:12:53
◼
►
just with one monitor that is as big as
00:12:55
◼
►
it can be rather than having two
00:12:57
◼
►
separate ones yeah exactly and it's now
00:13:00
◼
►
that I'm used to it it just feels like
00:13:02
◼
►
the right way to do it and and if you
00:13:04
◼
►
don't never feel lacking for space yeah
00:13:06
◼
►
even when I'm doing you know have lots
00:13:08
◼
►
of windows open like I use a I think a
00:13:10
◼
►
tool cool call size up which I know
00:13:12
◼
►
there's millions of these but where I
00:13:14
◼
►
can easily make a window an exact
00:13:17
◼
►
quarter of my screen
00:13:18
◼
►
and I find that works really well to
00:13:21
◼
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just be able to like keep it organized
00:13:23
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but to be able to take full advantage of
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thank you so much to Leno for supporting
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◼
►
our show so we both now have iMac pros
00:15:01
◼
►
and I think we have almost identical
00:15:04
◼
►
ones I know we both be both got the 10
00:15:06
◼
►
core model I believe and then I got the
00:15:08
◼
►
lower spec video card the 2 terabyte
00:15:13
◼
►
drive and I think it's 64 gigs of memory
00:15:17
◼
►
is what I ended up I don't know I had to
00:15:20
◼
►
check - it's like it's enough yeah I got
00:15:23
◼
►
the exact same setup but for gigs or 4
00:15:25
◼
►
terabytes inside a 2 terabytes in
00:15:26
◼
►
ancestry so yeah and so I mean I picked
00:15:29
◼
►
that configuration a little bit from
00:15:30
◼
►
your advice in terms of like the 10 the
00:15:32
◼
►
10 core seems to be a reasonable
00:15:34
◼
►
trade-off in terms of cost and
00:15:36
◼
►
performance and you know seem to be
00:15:38
◼
►
reasonable I got a base the base video
00:15:40
◼
►
card because I just I don't think
00:15:42
◼
►
anything I do is ever gonna really tax
00:15:44
◼
►
it or at least the if you know every now
00:15:46
◼
►
and then when I happen to do some Final
00:15:49
◼
►
Cut Pro work for like an app review or a
00:15:51
◼
►
youtube video and the export takes a
00:15:53
◼
►
little bit longer like it's so rare that
00:15:56
◼
►
that's not something I'm worried about
00:15:58
◼
►
but overall I think my initial
00:16:00
◼
►
impressions are that it's like it is
00:16:02
◼
►
noticeably faster it's noticeably
00:16:04
◼
►
snappier and like is it's a tangible
00:16:07
◼
►
improvement which you know you never
00:16:08
◼
►
really know like it's also at this point
00:16:11
◼
►
honestly it's the funny thing I've been
00:16:12
◼
►
using it for a couple of weeks and so
00:16:14
◼
►
now my main my brain is entirely
00:16:16
◼
►
recalibrated itself - this is normal so
00:16:19
◼
►
it's even hard to remember which is
00:16:20
◼
►
always something to keep in mind with
00:16:22
◼
►
these kind of improvements where you'll
00:16:24
◼
►
notice them for a day or two and then
00:16:26
◼
►
you just get used to it and then this is
00:16:28
◼
►
the new normal and so when it takes you
00:16:30
◼
►
know it's the things still aren't
00:16:32
◼
►
instantaneous or there are many things
00:16:33
◼
►
that still aren't like when I hit you
00:16:35
◼
►
know build and run it still takes a
00:16:37
◼
►
moment for Xcode to like do it stuff and
00:16:39
◼
►
so until those times actually go to zero
00:16:42
◼
►
it's still gonna I'm still gonna be
00:16:44
◼
►
aware of performance as a thing but I
00:16:46
◼
►
mean overall I'm very happy with it and
00:16:49
◼
►
I think I'm it's more it was just about
00:16:51
◼
►
it was time to upgrade from my my
00:16:55
◼
►
earlier computer and I think it's a it's
00:16:57
◼
►
a you noticeable upgrade whether or not
00:16:59
◼
►
was in a central one it's hard to say I
00:17:01
◼
►
think I was starting to notice some you
00:17:04
◼
►
know like my older computer every now
00:17:06
◼
►
and then would have some image retention
00:17:09
◼
►
issues or things like that that I was
00:17:12
◼
►
starting to notice that's like well it's
00:17:13
◼
►
maybe it's just time to to move on and I
00:17:16
◼
►
think the three years I think it had
00:17:17
◼
►
been since I got that computer it seemed
00:17:18
◼
►
like a reasonable time to upgrade but
00:17:21
◼
►
like it's a noticeable upgrade it's a
00:17:22
◼
►
good upgrade it's not like a
00:17:24
◼
►
mind-bending like wow this is amazing
00:17:26
◼
►
now I can do all these things that I
00:17:27
◼
►
couldn't do before but you know
00:17:29
◼
►
welcoming welcome improvement
00:17:31
◼
►
nethertheless yeah I don't have much to
00:17:33
◼
►
add I agree with everything you just
00:17:34
◼
►
said all the exact same experiences
00:17:36
◼
►
basically yeah and so one thing I both
00:17:39
◼
►
say that I do do like is I like the
00:17:42
◼
►
having extra ports on the back
00:17:44
◼
►
I found that to be quite nice where we
00:17:47
◼
►
have previously on the previous
00:17:48
◼
►
generation IMAX I only had four USB a
00:17:52
◼
►
plugs on the back whereas now I have
00:17:56
◼
►
four of those and four USB C or yeah I
00:18:00
◼
►
never know this probably that's under
00:18:01
◼
►
both three ports maybe as well it's yeah
00:18:04
◼
►
it's both it's their Thunderbolt 3 USB
00:18:06
◼
►
great whatever those are the small
00:18:08
◼
►
skinny ones I have four of those as well
00:18:10
◼
►
and that's been a welcome improvement
00:18:12
◼
►
but like I plug a backup drive into one
00:18:14
◼
►
of those like I have a thunderbolt three
00:18:16
◼
►
backup drive that I plug in there and I
00:18:19
◼
►
do daily snapshots on to and so it's
00:18:21
◼
►
nice to not have to because the one
00:18:23
◼
►
thing that I can never find like I and
00:18:25
◼
►
you can never have enough USBA ports and
00:18:28
◼
►
I mean I even have one of them going
00:18:30
◼
►
into a 12 port I think mine's only ten
00:18:34
◼
►
port but yeah it's like because I mean
00:18:36
◼
►
and they're all every one of them is
00:18:37
◼
►
used because they're all going out to
00:18:39
◼
►
some test device or Apple watch or
00:18:42
◼
►
something so like I have so many things
00:18:44
◼
►
in here that charge via USB so it's nice
00:18:46
◼
►
to kind of have those and then I now I
00:18:49
◼
►
have this other array of ports that I
00:18:51
◼
►
can plug drives into and things that I
00:18:52
◼
►
feel like should be plugged directly
00:18:54
◼
►
into the computer because I never felt
00:18:56
◼
►
good about plugging my backup Drive it
00:18:59
◼
►
you know into the hub because I mean
00:19:01
◼
►
it's fine it's a backup drive but it's
00:19:02
◼
►
it's the kind of thing where you feel
00:19:04
◼
►
like a direct connection would be good
00:19:06
◼
►
for bandwidth purposes well and also a
00:19:08
◼
►
lot of times direct connections are the
00:19:09
◼
►
only reliable connections you know for a
00:19:11
◼
►
lot of peripherals a lot of adapters and
00:19:13
◼
►
hubs and things they are like 99%
00:19:15
◼
►
reliable but not a hundred percent
00:19:17
◼
►
reliable and for a you know for certain
00:19:19
◼
►
tasks that matters a lot like you know
00:19:21
◼
►
things that are related to like my
00:19:22
◼
►
network connectivity where my audio
00:19:23
◼
►
interfaces for podcasting I need those
00:19:25
◼
►
to be a hundred percent and you know and
00:19:27
◼
►
and you know my keyboard like I can't
00:19:30
◼
►
have my keyboard drop you know 1% of its
00:19:32
◼
►
keystrokes or repeat things or be weird
00:19:34
◼
►
and I've I have had those issues with a
00:19:37
◼
►
lot of hubs and adapters I've used in
00:19:39
◼
►
the past so I rent you know this is a
00:19:41
◼
►
much bigger problem on the laptops and
00:19:42
◼
►
the desktops especially the more recent
00:19:44
◼
►
ones but there's there's a lot of
00:19:47
◼
►
reasons why the port's that are built-in
00:19:49
◼
►
to computers tend to be 100% reliable
00:19:53
◼
►
whereas anything that's broken out with
00:19:55
◼
►
a hub or anything tends to not be quite
00:19:57
◼
►
a hundred percent a lot
00:19:58
◼
►
time yeah and so it's great to have
00:19:59
◼
►
those extra ones and as a brief aside I
00:20:02
◼
►
my main like the way I typically I'm
00:20:04
◼
►
working when I have when I'm developing
00:20:06
◼
►
is I'll have you know a iPhone depend on
00:20:09
◼
►
which depending what I'm developing and
00:20:11
◼
►
what I where I am you know one of my
00:20:12
◼
►
various tests iPhones you know plugged
00:20:15
◼
►
into you know plugged directly into my
00:20:17
◼
►
computer with lightning I know you can
00:20:18
◼
►
do the wireless version of this now but
00:20:20
◼
►
I just like the lightning version
00:20:21
◼
►
because I'm old and curmudgeonly but one
00:20:25
◼
►
thing I was curious was is if the USBC
00:20:27
◼
►
to lightning cable would be a faster way
00:20:30
◼
►
to do that process than the USB a to
00:20:34
◼
►
lightning cable and so this last week I
00:20:36
◼
►
actually did an experiment that I
00:20:37
◼
►
figured I mentioned on the show where I
00:20:38
◼
►
you know is just basically benchmarking
00:20:41
◼
►
how long it took to move files and
00:20:42
◼
►
things back and forth when it was
00:20:44
◼
►
plugged in via the USB C to lightning
00:20:47
◼
►
versus USBA to lightning turns out it's
00:20:49
◼
►
basically the same it's basically a wash
00:20:51
◼
►
between the two which makes me think the
00:20:53
◼
►
the bottleneck is on the phone rather
00:20:55
◼
►
than on the on the computer because
00:20:58
◼
►
clearly more data could be pushed
00:21:00
◼
►
through the USB C port to the lightning
00:21:04
◼
►
cable or the lightning cable is the the
00:21:07
◼
►
bottleneck but along the shorter is I'm
00:21:08
◼
►
feared I'd mention it here that it's I
00:21:10
◼
►
pre while I appreciate having the extra
00:21:13
◼
►
USB C ports because now when I can have
00:21:15
◼
►
a dedicated direct connection as my
00:21:17
◼
►
primary development plug it's not a it's
00:21:21
◼
►
not there for speed it's pride is there
00:21:22
◼
►
for a reliability and not having to go
00:21:24
◼
►
through the hub so you know he went some
00:21:26
◼
►
you lose some I suppose yeah actually
00:21:28
◼
►
minor feedback on that I would be
00:21:30
◼
►
interested to see if the test is the
00:21:32
◼
►
same if you if you're using a 10.5 or a
00:21:35
◼
►
twelve point nine inch iPad pro because
00:21:37
◼
►
those I think are the only iOS devices
00:21:40
◼
►
that actually have USB three support on
00:21:44
◼
►
their Lightning port as far as I know
00:21:45
◼
►
all of the iPhones and every iPad except
00:21:48
◼
►
the ten point five and twelve point on
00:21:49
◼
►
pros the the internal USB parts of their
00:21:53
◼
►
lightning plug are USB two and I think
00:21:55
◼
►
the USB a two lightning cables are also
00:21:57
◼
►
USB two cables
00:21:58
◼
►
whereas the USB C to lightning cable is
00:22:01
◼
►
USB 3 cable and the ten point five and
00:22:03
◼
►
twelve point I have USB C or have USB
00:22:05
◼
►
three as their interfaces okay so maybe
00:22:08
◼
►
it is just yes sir yeah I I was I will
00:22:11
◼
►
I was testing with an iPhone 10 so I
00:22:13
◼
►
didn't actually but I can certainly
00:22:14
◼
►
repeat the test with an iPad or iPad Pro
00:22:17
◼
►
and see if it works any better but not
00:22:19
◼
►
the 9.7 that's that still use me - it
00:22:21
◼
►
has to be a temper if I were to avoid 9
00:22:23
◼
►
anyway yeah that's and and I have I've
00:22:26
◼
►
found to like the wireless debugging I I
00:22:28
◼
►
like it but it's I don't know if it's
00:22:32
◼
►
like when I upgrade to a new beta or
00:22:33
◼
►
something but well it just stops working
00:22:35
◼
►
like I have to like plug in the phone to
00:22:37
◼
►
reconfigure it and so I just like it's
00:22:38
◼
►
kind of annoying yeah
00:22:40
◼
►
and that's not what you want like you
00:22:41
◼
►
don't want you don't want your debug
00:22:43
◼
►
cycle to be ever so ever save every so
00:22:45
◼
►
often just to stop working it's already
00:22:49
◼
►
the most inconvenient part of
00:22:50
◼
►
development is that sort of this the
00:22:52
◼
►
cycle where you're kind of you're making
00:22:54
◼
►
a change and then you're building into
00:22:55
◼
►
pulling it to your phone and then going
00:22:56
◼
►
back and forth so yeah I will continue
00:22:58
◼
►
to use a plug directly plugged in and
00:23:01
◼
►
now I'm using USB C to lightning just
00:23:03
◼
►
because now I can have you know I have
00:23:05
◼
►
an extra port that I can dedicate to
00:23:06
◼
►
that and it seems to work really well
00:23:09
◼
►
last thing I think it makes sense to
00:23:11
◼
►
probably close off talking about it I
00:23:13
◼
►
always find getting a new machine is
00:23:16
◼
►
kind of an interesting process just as
00:23:18
◼
►
it's an opportunity to see how portable
00:23:20
◼
►
your setup is and I think as a slightly
00:23:24
◼
►
more meta point like it's an important
00:23:25
◼
►
thing if you're self-employed to think
00:23:29
◼
►
about how portable your your setup is
00:23:31
◼
►
because you are going to be it's like
00:23:34
◼
►
you're responsible for being able to
00:23:35
◼
►
continue work progress irrespective of
00:23:38
◼
►
whatever is going on externally like if
00:23:41
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►
your computer if your computer has a
00:23:43
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horrible problem it has to go to the
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shop and for two weeks or whatever you
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have even if used you have to you know
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buy a new computer for some you know you
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spilled water on it and it breaks or you
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know falls off your desk or whatever
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like if something happens is you what
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you need to be able to continue to work
00:24:00
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and so it's an important thing I think
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to use getting a new computer as an
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opportunity to see how portable your set
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up is to see how quickly you can get to
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set up and going onto a new machine
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because you know it's you want to
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practice it when the stakes are low
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rather than having to practice when the
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stakes are high when suddenly like you
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know you're in a situation where you
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have a critical bug fix you need to do
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and then your computer dies for some
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and all of a sudden you you're in a
00:24:26
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really big problem even if you went to
00:24:28
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the Apple store bought our brand-new
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laptop brought it home if you don't have
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all the files you need if you don't have
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if you're not kind of if your setup
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isn't portable in that way if you're
00:24:36
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entirely reliant on the data on that
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drive like you're gonna be in big
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trouble so hey it's always a good thing
00:24:43
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to keep in mind that I trust and hope
00:24:45
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that you have a robust backup solution
00:24:47
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that allows you to make this process
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straightforward that like I said I have
00:24:51
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a daily clone of my main development
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machine that I just always running and
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it means that if ever my you know
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something were to happen I will at most
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lose a day's worth of work probably less
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than that because of you know sinking
00:25:04
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and check-ins and things but at worst it
00:25:07
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would be that and it's a bootable backup
00:25:08
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so if I worst came to worst I could just
00:25:10
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get any laptop any Mac laptop ever plug
00:25:13
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my you know plug my back up into that
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boot from that and at least even if it's
00:25:17
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not as optimized of a setup I could do
00:25:20
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it there but anyway it's just worth
00:25:23
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worth mentioning and when I was doing my
00:25:26
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my my-my-my Gration to this new computer
00:25:27
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I tried to kit in a keep track of the
00:25:29
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things that become part of that and it's
00:25:31
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like I need to move over all my code I
00:25:33
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need to move over all my assets graphic
00:25:36
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design assets like Photoshop files
00:25:38
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things like that migrate my SSH keys so
00:25:42
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I can connect all my machines all my
00:25:44
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signing keys which you can there's a in
00:25:47
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theory Xcode makes much easier now with
00:25:50
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all of its tools but I in practice I
00:25:53
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found it still was a bit cumbersome and
00:25:55
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problematic but oh yeah it this is the
00:25:57
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import and export developer profile
00:25:59
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settings and xcode's account pane
00:26:01
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yes I've had great luck with that it's
00:26:03
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always worked for me it's like I always
00:26:05
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find that it works maybe should because
00:26:07
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I have so many apps but like I find that
00:26:09
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it inevitably there's some little thing
00:26:11
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that catches me out and I have to do
00:26:14
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something at a slightly more manual
00:26:15
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process or export the keychain from my
00:26:17
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old computer and move it into my new
00:26:18
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computer and kind of merge them together
00:26:20
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things like that but overall it's
00:26:22
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certainly gotten a lot better and that
00:26:24
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the automatic code signing stuff helps a
00:26:26
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lot with this too that at least once you
00:26:28
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have the base signing Keys transferred
00:26:30
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over then it can take care of a lot of
00:26:33
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if you're missing other profiles or
00:26:35
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things that can take care of that a lot
00:26:38
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one thing that I do I have run into
00:26:39
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recently that I was kind of a funny
00:26:41
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thing is I forgot that I run a local
00:26:43
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development database like I have a
00:26:46
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Postgres database that's just running on
00:26:48
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my main computer oh sure and which you
00:26:50
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know it's like but it's I in my for some
00:26:52
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reason I got so used to the fact that
00:26:53
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all my databases are remote and hosted
00:26:55
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on servers that I've got totally
00:26:58
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forgotten that when I you know when I
00:27:00
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kicked up a development environment in
00:27:02
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this I can't connect to database it's
00:27:04
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like what do you mean you can't connect
00:27:04
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to the database and it's like oh right
00:27:06
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that's because the database is on the
00:27:07
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computer that's sitting on the floor
00:27:09
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next to me and so I can remember to go
00:27:10
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and get the actual like the data from
00:27:12
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the database and move it over into the
00:27:14
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into the new the new computer even
00:27:17
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though I had setup Postgres on it as
00:27:18
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part of my process one thing I like to
00:27:21
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do for this is keep certain files and
00:27:24
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scripts for doing new computer setup in
00:27:26
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Dropbox I have a whole whole Dropbox
00:27:29
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folder for basically like setting up a
00:27:30
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new computer and it concludes a couple
00:27:32
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of shell scripts for doing things like
00:27:34
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configuring homebrew and and installing
00:27:37
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the home the homebrew apps that I use
00:27:39
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you know on my Mac you know so that I
00:27:41
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can run that whenever there's no upgrade
00:27:42
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or whenever there's you know a new
00:27:44
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machine or clean install and and just
00:27:46
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like a like you know checklists I always
00:27:48
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look at KC's checklist and move into a
00:27:50
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computer that here on his blog willing
00:27:52
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to because it's great it could lose a
00:27:54
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lot of stuff that I might sometimes
00:27:56
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forget like you know D authorizing and
00:27:58
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reauthorizing certain applications and
00:28:00
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iTunes and things like that
00:28:02
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well yeah it's it's it's something that
00:28:05
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it's really nice to like write down
00:28:06
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keeping a list and keep that list
00:28:09
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somewhere that that you will find it and
00:28:10
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that's obvious like Dropbox and
00:28:12
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everybody that there will be steps to
00:28:13
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the migration process that you want to
00:28:16
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remember or that neo you need to
00:28:18
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remember that you will very likely
00:28:20
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forget if it's not in a list like you
00:28:22
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could in theory use like migration
00:28:24
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assistant or like make your make a clone
00:28:27
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and deploy that clone on to your
00:28:28
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computer but I really think the process
00:28:30
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of going through that checklist and
00:28:31
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going through and rebuilding is so
00:28:34
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useful and because it only happens every
00:28:36
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couple of years it's something that's
00:28:38
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worthwhile doing and I will say always
00:28:40
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keep a snapshot clone of your old
00:28:43
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machine and keep that drive like forever
00:28:47
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and I have found I've started he said
00:28:48
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habit I got into well
00:28:50
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I keep the last snapshot of every
00:28:52
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development machine I've ever had and
00:28:53
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even if I end up discipline you know
00:28:55
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getting rid of that computer I sell it
00:28:57
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or I give it to a friend or a family or
00:28:58
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whatever like whoever ends up happening
00:28:59
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I have a snapshot of that machine and
00:29:01
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the number of times that has proved
00:29:04
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invaluable for going back and finding
00:29:05
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some file but I thought I'd checked in
00:29:07
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but I hadn't and it's you know it's it's
00:29:10
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come back time and time again to save me
00:29:11
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so I highly recommend just take you know
00:29:13
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take a snapshot put it on a hard drive
00:29:14
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label what it is put it on a shelf you
00:29:17
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never know when you're gonna that can
00:29:18
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come into handy in the future so always
00:29:20
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yeah recommended practice it's a good
00:29:22
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tip all right thanks listening everybody
00:29:24
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and we'll talk to you next week bye