​Tech Tip Mac M1 chip, and Memory, and Storage.

Last week I was writing about computers I liked and I mentioned the Mac Mini M1. I found a Linus review today that was really interesting, about that very computer. If you like Macs, or are thinking about a new Mac, or are considering switching from a PC or expanding that world, the M1 may be just the ticket. A link for the review is HERE.

 
PC Memory
 
Memory on a PC is the work space. Storage, or the hard drive, is exactly that, storage. They are really completely different (sort of), and you generally don’t interchange the terms, as they are two very different things. A great way to speed up a slow computer is to add memory. That will only get you so far, but in terms of price/performance, it’s the easiest and cheapest place to start if your computer will take more memory.
 
A video about memory is HERE.
It’s by Linus again, a guy I do like, and appreciate his humor. It is usually pretty easy to upgrade memory, but there are some things to be careful about, like if you can upgrade, how many slots do you have to put memory in, and if you can add to, or have to replace the existing memory. Of course, you have to buy the right memory for your computer, and that’s not always obvious.
 
Storage
 
The “hard drive” isn’t always a hard drive. I always refer to it as such, but it may be an SSD in the shape of a hard drive and interchangeable, or, it may be one of several kinds of storage cards that fits into its own slot. Sometimes they are quite small and look like some of the other components on the motherboard. I recently worked on a laptop and it had an empty slot for a hard drive. I kept looking and finally found a small one inch square “chip” that was the storage, or “hard drive”. I was quite impressed. At any rate, if your computer is still using an older mechanical hard drive, consider buying an SSD drive and cloning your old drive onto it. It’s relatively painless and it really makes a noticeable difference in responsiveness. A 500Gb drive costs about $60 these days.