MacBook Pro vs Surface: Theotek Podcast 084

Last week Apple and Microsoft unveiled new computers. Apple showed off a newly designed MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID while Microsoft refreshed their Surface Book and introduced a professional creativity focused all-in-one system called the Surface Studio. It will run the new Windows Creative Edition coming out next year. We talk about the two companies and their vision for what customers want in hardware. Watch the podcast below or listen at the bottom of this page.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rflTLj4uqpw

Microsoft Surface Studio and Windows Creative Edition

We took the two announcements events in the order they came, starting with Microsoft's unveiling of Windows Creative Edition. Most of what they covered focused on creating content using Windows. They were enamored with 3D since Paint gets an update to include 3D. My colleague Travis Pope of GottaBeMobile tells you all about the new version.The SurfaceBook gets an update to the SurfaceBook 2 (starts at $2,399). It's a two-in-one mobile device that's mostly a laptop, but with a detachable screen. Microsoft first released it last year, but it was extremely buggy. They fixed the bugs and now they put in new processors and upped the video graphics chip for better overall performance and great battery life.The biggest news of their event centered around the new desktop all-in-one. It's called the Surface Studio (starts at $2,999) and comes with a huge 28-inch touchscreen that the user can adjust to use upright like a traditional desktop system or fold it down to work on it like a drafting table. Again, check out the GottaBeMobile post about it.

2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

The biggest controversy in our discussion centered around the gimmicky nature of the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. Apple unveiled this updated MacBook. I don't like that it comes with only USB-C ports. They're great ports and I love them, hoping that in a few years that's what everyone uses to sync and charge and connect peripherals, including the iPhone. However, we're not there yet and we need things like an HDMI port or SD card slots. The other guys disagreed with me because they're mostly Apple Fanboys (just kidding, sort of). Read more about it in my post for Notebooks.com.

Our Favorite Things

We ended with Our Favorite Things!My favorite thing was an adapter for the iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus that lets users both charge and listen to their phone at the same time. The ALIWELL Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter ($18) has a Lightning connector on one end and on the other there's a place to plug both a Lightning charging or syncing cable in and 3.5mm headphone jack. It also has volume keys and a button for answering the phone or play/pause.It's not perfect since it slows down fast charging adapters. I plugged my iPad charger that usually boosts the iPhone battery 10% in about 5 minutes. With this it takes longer.Rick picked a nice iPad Pro case that comes with a sturdy secure Apple Pencil holder. The Poetic QuarterBack Case for iPad Pro 12.9 with Apple Pencil Holder ($15) covers the back of the iPad and holds your Apple Pencil in place. He loves it and convinced me to get one too. I ordered the Green and Gold version so I can run around with Green Bay Packer colors on my iPad.It's compatible with the Apple Smart Keyboard Cover. It also includes all the other button and port cutouts or access.LaRosa ordered an Apple Watch 2 (starts at $369 for 38mm Series 2), so we'll hear more about that when he gets it.  

What Microsoft, Google and Apple Can Do for the Church: Theotek Podcast #042

With Microsoft, Google and Apple all releasing new hardware and software, we talked about what they can do to help the church.We've already discussed the Apple hardware and software announcements for this Fall. We chatted about Google's goodies too. Now it's Microsoft's turn. But more importantly for us, what can these three companies and their technology do to help the church do the Great Commission? This week's episode covered this question. Watch it here or listen below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-RQg4A-4aQThe new stuff from Microsoft includes a new Surface Pro 4 tablet with the Surface Pen and Surface Type Cover updated with better keyboard and trackpad. There's also the new Surface Book, a 2-in-1 notebook/tablet with high-end specs and a high-end price.At the end we each recommend our choice for the most interesting or exciting of the new Apple, Google and Microsoft devices.

Theotek Podcast #034: Windows 9, I Mean Windows 10

Windows 10 finally launched with a few upgrade hiccups, but it's mostly a nice update to the Windows operating system. We talk in this week's Theotek Podcast #034: Windows 9, I Mean Windows 10 about some of the things we really like and don't like about the Windows 10 operating system and the update.Windows 10 is easy to get. Just download the ISO or update media creation tool from Microsoft. The other option means waiting for Microsoft to offer it to you, if you reserved a copy using the little white Windows logo that pops up in the Windows 7 and Windows 8 system tray.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1liTZrVn34

Upgrading to Windows 10

The upgrade goes smoothly for most people, but as always, backup your important data. I recommend doing that and then restoring your computer to factory spec using the recovery tool in Windows 8 or using your computer manufacturer's recovery system if you're running Windows 7. This will help you get a better Windows 10 experience. After restoring to Windows 8 or Windows 7 factory spec, then update all the drivers using Windows Update. Finally, after all that, run the update you downloaded using the link above.OneDrive users will find a strange change from Windows 8. In Windows 8, OneDrive would put links to all of your files that aren't installed locally. In other words, when a user set up OneDrive in Windows 8, they didn't have to download all their files, but the folder looked like they did. Some of the files would only be placeholders so you knew what files your OneDrive stash contained online even if they didn't reside on the hard drive. Click on a placeholder and Microsoft would download the file and then open it.This placeholder method worked great on computers with limited storage. Users knew what they have online, but the file didn't eat up precious space on a low-end computer or tablet with only 16 or 32GB of local storage, like the HP Stream 13 I own. However, in Windows 10 doesn't work this way. They removed the placeholders in Windows 10 and only shows the files actually residing on the local hard drive. Some people prefer it this way but many of us like having the placeholders. Microsoft plans to restore the feature in an upcoming update.

Theotek Podcast

We record the Theotek Podcast every Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. using Google Hangouts. Follow me on Google hangouts to get notified when we go live. You can watch it after the fact on YouTube or via iTunes. Podcast app users can also listen by searching for Theotek in the app. Get all the links to the audio on Theotek.com.

Theotek Podcast #031: Heard It, Lived It, Reddit

This week on the Theotek Podcast we talked about the recent controversy over a Reddit person getting fire. What can we learn about how to talk about staff and volunteer conflict management from this story.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3qCYIV4ANMThis past week Microsoft also released a new version of Microsoft Office for Mac 2016. Rick and I shared a little about our first impressions of the app.You can listen below or watch it above. Check out our Podcast page for more info on where to listen or watch live.