My comparison of M2 or M1 MacBook Air or expensive M1 pro

As I have detailed in my other articles published in "G R Team Sites", I have been using MAC operating system as my primary device for past few years and felt comfortable in using the MacBook. Being in Apple ecosystem for past few years, I have no intention of exiting the ecosystem and have plans to continue for few more years. However, recently my 2012 MacBook Pro had started to give few issues and I am planning to upgrade to the latest version of MacBook’s available. But, with the recent launch of M1 pro, the oscillation of selecting preferred MacBook's have grown higher and following are my observation on each version of MacBook

• M1 Pro launched in 2021: M1 Pro was recently launched, and the processing speeds were exceeding the expectations based on technology experts. However, with new mini-LED screen, M1 processors & notch, the laptop would be future proof for next few years and the pricing was off my budget. 

• M1 MacBook Pro 2020: MacBook Pro with M1 processor have set new benchmarks with its processing power and the pricing seems to a little way over my budget. However, with specifications seems to be on par with MacBook air and with speculations of touch bar being removed in upcoming versions, opting for the current version seems unpractical. 

• M1 MacBook Air 2020: This laptop seemed like perfect match for my requirements and was well within my budget. However, with imminent launch of M2 processor and expectations on new benchmarks, investing on older version makes little sense. 

Will reveal further about my decision on MacBook in my upcoming articles.

Disappointing iPad 9th Generation with lukewarm design and processor

After much fanfare and leaks from different tech experts, Apple has finally launched iPad 9th generation and I was completely disappointed with the version launched. I have few pointers about the recently launched iPad version and wanted to detail them in this article. Here is the list

• Boring design with no major updates: iPad 9th generation was released with same old design as 7th & 8th generation iPads with no better display or USB type C support and even did not include support for Pencil 2nd version, while the iPad mini got both design revamp and support for iPad pencil. 
• Lukewarm processor: Apple has inducted A13 bionic processor into 9th generation iPad and the processor was couple of years old with nominal results when compared to recently launched processors. The processor will anyways have power to handle all day-to-day tasks and will be disappointing for people, who were looking for high processors from this affordable iPad for their work. 
• Lack of differentiating feature: Other than affordability, the newest iPad 9the generation process does not include any new innovative feature or enhancements for existing users to move from their old iPads to the latest iPads.

Hope, apple does a revamp of iPad's 10th generation like it did for iPad mini or else, the users will stick to their existing old iPads longer than needed, while enjoying all new iPadOS features in their existing devices. For more such articles, please feel free to check out the articles published in "G R Team Sites"

My view on transfer from Google Photos to OneDrive

It has been few weeks since I switched to OneDrive as my preferring online cloud platform and to back up my mobile photos & videos. Post migration to OneDrive, I had hiccup of extracting my old photos from RAR file exported from Google Photos to OneDrive. However, in this article, I wanted to detail the comparison between Google Photos and OneDrive, focusing only about photos and its features

Google Photos: 

• Memories: For each day, the app shows different memories happened over years.
• Uniqueness: At times, even shares some collage photos with similar photos taken earlier
• Effects: At times, the Google adds cinematic effects or 3D effects to photos

Additionally, Google shares animation effects for group of similar photos or for videos

OneDrive:

• Memories: Shares only the images/photos taken during same timeline
• Uniqueness: Saves Photos & videos with source format. Example:Stores live photos as it is
• Video files are saved in source quality and no compression of file is name
• Effects: No effects are applied, the file is saved and stored as it is.

For below comparison, taken photo of credit cards and uploaded both files into Google Photos and OneDrive

Google Photos - Photo Search functionalities

• Search Term: card(s)Shows up results of only photos with single card
• Does not show up photos holding multiple cards

Improvements needed

• Need to allow users to enable option for saving photos or videos in source format
• Photo search to be improved a little bit compared to OneDrive

OneDrive - Photo Search functionalities

• Shows up results of photos of all photos having single card or multiple cards.
• Shows up results on filename having card as well

Improvements needed

• Need memories function to be improved, so more such photos are shown up
• Photo Effects option to be enabled
• While searching, there should have been choice to filter out filetypes like PDF or JPEG files only

For more comparison like above or if you are looking to read more such articles, please feel free to check out the G R Team Sites.

Modes available to get Treadmill for Home

As I stated in my earlier article that I was planning to treadmill for my physical fitness and to keep healthy regime, the main concern for me now is to figure out shopping mode. With recent lockdown restrictions and COVID scare, the decision to buy treadmill was dragged even more. However, I will continue to detail the pros and cons of the physical shopping mode. 

• Physical shopping: Getting treadmill in physical store have been the most widespread practice and most practical options for shoppers who were looking to buy treadmills. Let me get into pros and cons of this choice: 
• Advantages: 
• Explore treadmill in physical mode 
• Validate the running surface to suit your walking and running condition 
• Check out features directly and learn about the product. 
• Service and product faulty conditions will be addressed faster and swiftly 
• Spare parts would be readily available 
• Disadvantages: 
• Price is higher than online shopping sites 
• If the product stock is not available, it would take longer than expected to deliver the product. 
• With COVID scare, it is uncertain when the shops will open and transportation options available due to restrictions 
• Most of the advanced treadmills are quoted with exorbitant prices. 

To know more about the pros and cons of online shopping mode available for treadmill, please feel free to checkout the articles published in G R Team Sites.

Kids mental health is spoiled due to mobile devices

In the earlier post, I was detailing about the disadvantages of giving kids individual mobile phones and how unwanted and unrated advertisements are distracting kids' mental health. In continuation to that post, I wanted to highlight couple of more disadvantages of giving individual mobile phones to kids due to COVID situation. 

• YouTube videos: During online classes, most students refer learning the terms through YouTube videos, however this reference to YouTube videos make students to browse through unwanted videos and changes their thinking ability through YouTube’s suggested videos algorithms. Those unwanted videos make kids to think unwanted topics and forces them to think in diverse ways. So, it is mandatory for parents to check if their kids are watching only restricted videos and their mind is not distracted with unwanted videos. 
• Chat apps: During they COVID times, it has become mandatory to install chat apps for getting updates about their classes and get their class notes online. However, these online chat apps have also enabled them to share files easily and to chat or video call with friends instantly. These features may work against kids if chat apps are used in diverse ways and make kids to chat with friends for a long time, making them to get addicted to their phones. 

With above listed disadvantages, giving mobile phones to kids will harm them more, if not monitored properly and being used for unwanted things. For more such posts, please feel free to check out the posts published in G R Team Sites. 

Why should I get new M1 Macbook Air 2020

For a long time, I was looking to get new MacBook as replacement for my older MacBook Pro due to its slowness and lack of updates or no option to get newer version of operating system. I wanted to get newer M1 MacBook Air for the following reasons.

• Superior performance: The M1 version was already breaking all benchmark results and the performance far better than earlier versions. 
• Future-proof for next 5 years: Since newer version of M1 MacBook was launched only at 2020, the next few iterations of software will support the laptop and all the new features will support the laptop at least for 5 years. 
• Reliability: The reviewers were praising Apple for delivering on what it had promised, and I am sure the reliability of M1 MacBook Air will exceed the reliability expectation levels. 
• Battery: The last and most impacted feature of the new M1 MacBook Air is the superior and consistent battery performance. If Apple has committed some hours on battery performance, then I am sure it will exceed the expectations with the normal usage. 

To know more about such posts, please feel free to check out the blog posts listed in G R Team Sites.

Feeling bad for trusting Google Photos

Eventually Google had announced that storage for photos will be counted against the defined limit and users need to pay if their photos exceed the limit. So, I had started to look out for alternative online storage choice available for storing photos and most important criteria I have set while choosing online storage option was the affordability. Google photos cloud storage pricing was little bit higher than the competitors like Microsoft’s OneDrive and moving out from Google photos was added pain in the ass. Even though, Google has enabled seamless moving to other competitor online cloud storage option easier, the ease of backup and familiarity in using Google photos for such long-time was a major hurdle while looking out. In addition, trusting Google photos unlimited storage option for lifetime, I have installed Google photos app in all my relatives and family members' phone. It did not stop there, I have convinced them to upload all their old mobile photo into Google photos and ensured they follow this practice, even if they switch their mobile phones every year. Now, if I am moving out of Google photos, then I need to lookout for option that offers family sharing and larger storage space at an affordable pricing. Checkout my decision on online cloud storage for photos backup in blog posts published in “G R Team sites” 

Necessity was lost in getting new mobile phones

In recent times, mobile phones have become one of the most important gadgets and can be found with almost every citizen in this world. The basic functionality of the mobile phone is to connect people wherever they are and to ease communication between people. Let us get to the point, most mobile phones launched recently have focused primarily on cameras and processor. However, earlier the iterations in camera were noticeable and the upgrade made sense. Recently, the cameras upgrade made by companies were very minimal and the changes were hard to detect. The prices of the mobile phones have also gone up drastically and the value of mobile phone upgrade makes very little sense. People were forced to select mobile phones based on the compulsion to show off their status and financial ability to get upgraded mobile phones. With the COVID pandemic hitting everyone hard, the time has come to compare the basic functionalities of mobile phone and the cost associated with it. For more information and insights on specific topics, please feel free to check out the posts from "G R Team Sites"