Tag: MacBook Air

MBA taken apart

Replacing the Battery in a MacBook Air

Brad Moon11

I recently wrote a year end post about products that had disappointed me in 2014, and one of the featured culprits was a 2008 vintage MacBook Air whose battery had swollen to the point it was distorting the aluminum case. Since Apple no longer sells components for this notebook — even though the battery is a consumable (thus the reason for my griping) — I was offered the choice of using the MBA only while plugged in, finding a third party battery or buying a new laptop. I bought a replacement battery from Other World Computing (OWC) and installed it, proving that the non user-replaceable battery in these things is indeed easily user replaceable. And so far, so good on the battery from OWC.

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MBA swelling battery

Festivus of Gadgets (Products That Disappointed Me in 2014)

Brad Moon

As part of GeekDad and in other roles, I have the opportunity to test a lot of gear. Some are loaner units provided by the manufacturer, some I end up buying and writing about. Review periods typically last days to weeks and while I can learn a great deal about a product during that time, sometimes even the best turns out to be less than satisfactory in the long term. I thought I’d do something different this year and close out 2014 with a few examples of products that found a way to disappoint me — giving some consumer electronics the Festivus treatment, if you will. No aluminum pole, but I do have an aluminum notebook on my list of grievances.

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ZAGG's new armored iPad Air keyboard case

ZAGG Rugged Book for iPad Air

Brad Moon6

I’ve grown rather fond of ZAGG’s keyboard cases for the iPad in recent months. It wasn’t until I reviewed the ZAGG Folio Keyboard case for the iPad Mini earlier this year that I finally reached the state where I felt productive writing on an iPad. Since then, the combo has largely replaced the 11-inch MacBook Air that I used to lug around for mobile work. ZAGG recently sent me a new model to try out with a MacBook Air and this one offers all the benefits of the Folio Keyboard case, plus impressive armor. The Rugged Book transforms an iPad into a hardened notebook while offering flexibility in configuration options.

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Macworld - first and last

Thank You, Macworld.

James Floyd Kelly3

True story — in 1984 my dad made what I believe to be one of the most important purchases in my 14-year-old life. He bought our family one of the very first Macintosh computers. Correction — while my younger brother and sister used it, I am under no illusions that this purchase was primarily for my dad and myself. I can’t remember my mom ever using it, and years later I would realize what a sacrifice my parents made to purchase that quite expensive computer (for the time) and give their oldest son access to what was most likely the hottest growing sector at the time.

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Review: ZAGG Folio Keyboard Case for iPad Mini

Brad Moon1

I’ve gone on record multiple times about how I feel about using the iPad for productivity. I’m a big iPad fan and the tablets I usually use day to day are Apple products, but the lack of mouse support drives me crazy. I’ve always quickly given up on any experiments with using a Bluetooth keyboard and an iPad in place of my laptop, much as I like the idea of my iPad becoming an ultra-compact travel productivity companion. ZAGG sent me a Folio keyboard case for my iPad Mini with Retina Display, so I thought I’d give the experiment one more shot. I ended up really liking this device. With the right apps, it could actually stand in for my MacBook Air, at least for short bursts of work. In fact, I wrote this post on the ZAGG.

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