Gadgets :: April 20, 2016
by Gregg Ellman
(@greggellman)
I knew about the Other World Computing used laptop program but never tried it until mine died on a recent road trip.
First off, I’m a Mac person and I’ve used OWC for many personal computer needs so I had full confidence in my quest . After my new/used laptop was complete they upped my belief in the company to the highest standards.
On the OWC website you have innumerable choices of used Apple computers and I knew I wanted a MacBook Air to reduce the weight.
Each choice has the internal specs including year made, processor, memory, storage and more. Also, the condition of each is listed along with photos of what a standard refurbished laptop looks like and the power supply.
If you need extra power supplies (I keep one at home and one in my travel laptop bag) they sell used ones at a very reasonable price.
Every used Mac is inspected and tested by OWC technicians. The OSX operating system is installed and ready to boot, and free shipping is offered within the contiguous 48 states.
Everything comes with a warranty along with a 14-day 100 percent money-back guarantee. This can be if the computer is not right for you or you just change your mind. Past the two weeks, you get a 90-day OWC fulfilled limited warranty
After I found the right model, I wanted to upgrade the hard drive and this is another area where OWC is second to none. They have upgrades available for just about every hard drive along with instruction videos showing you how to do it yourself and then how to set up the hard drive you pulled out to use as an external drive.
With the MacBook Air I was purchasing, OWC recently announced the availability of the Aura SSD upgrades for mid-2013 and later Macs, which included mine.
The whole Aura SSD installation took me exactly 6 minutes. This included removing 8 screws on the bottom plate, disconnecting the battery, removing a screw to release the SSD, putting the new one in and replacing the screws and attaching the battery.
Apple, like many other computer companies, use specialized screws and tools, which are included in the upgrade kit.
From there you have several choices on how to install your operating system on the new SSD, which I did from scratch to get a fresh copy of everything.
Since my new laptop has more storage space, I purchased a new OWC On-The-Go (Mac and PC compatible) portable hard drive to use as a Time Machine backup. They come in endless configurations of speeds, storage and connection.
The whole process is incredibly easy; it’s nice to purchase products from a tech company that really puts the customer first with great pricing, service and support.
Zagg has recently launched the mobile charging station, which isn’t just another portable USB charging battery pack.
The 5,000 mAh battery is advertised as One dock; twice the efficiency, which I totally agree with.
Along with a port for attaching a USB cable to charge smartphones, tablets, etc., it has a fold-up multi-position mounting system for charging an Apple Watch.
The top cover pulls over to expose a cable management system, which you can keep an Apple Watch charging cable (not included). You connect the USB end to the USB port and the magnetic charging end fits right into the charging mount, so the cable never has to be moved.
Both an Apple Watch and iPhone can charge simultaneously, even while the battery is being charged.
The USB ports inside the case indicates which port is for the watch and the other for Lightning connections. The cable management holds as many cords as you want and a small opening lets you expose the Lightning cable outside of the case.
A 6-inch microUSB cable for charging the battery and a 10-inch Lightning cable are included, with the charging station, which is about the size of my iPhone 6.
A power button, battery meter and microUSB charging port are on the end.
www.Zagg.com $79.99
