Re: OWC Computers experience
I¡±ve purchased several refurbished computers from:
Groupon
I¡¯ve only wanted MacBooks from prior to the advent of the butterfly keyboard, and they have been a fantastic source.
Usually they have amazing sales on holidays. For instance, I got a refurbished MBP that showed up like-new for under $300, and I was giddy over how good a deal it was!
__________________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)
Essential But Hard To Find Macintosh Software and Advice
__________________________________________________
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Re: Anyone notice a recent change in cursor behavior?
FaceBook, Bluesky, Groups.io, Yahoo.com
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Re: OWC Computers experience
Jim:
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Thanks for the information. Their online reviews also seem to all be solid.
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John
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Re: OWC Computers experience
I bought a refurbished Mac Pro from OWC about five years ago. ?It came in well packaged. ?It was without scratches and performed as it should. ?
Cordially,?
Jim?
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Re: OWC Computers experience
Thanks for the recommendation. I've purchased batteries and other Apple parts in the past but not a refurbished computer. My 2014 MB Pro 2.8 GHz suddenly will not charge the battery or run when plugged in. I spent a long time on the phone with Apple Tech Support where we tried multiple chargers, reset the ports, etc all to no avail. Went to the Apple Store where they determined the port where power cord is inserted is bad and possibly the main board of the computer. I am sending it back to 1Macguy (where I originally purchased it) for an evaluation and to determine if it can be fixed. If it can't be fixed then I will be looking for a refurbished computer with about the same specs or better (MB Pro Retina 15" mid-2014, 2.8 GHz i7, 16 GB, 512 GB HD, intel Irispro 1536 MB). Until then I am limping along on my 2009 MB Pro 10.11.6 which struggles to meet the new demands of websites!
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I plan on staying with Intel chip computers and forgo moving up to the M1 through M4 units.
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Thankfully, I have a bootable external back up drive (Super Duper) that had just been backed up the day before the meltdown!
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Thanks again,
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John
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Re: OWC Computers experience
Not refurbished, but ?December 2023, I purchased a used in excellent condition, late 2012 Mac mini. It had an issue that started out intermittent, but was diagnosed as a bad RAM socket. I am surprised they mist that it would not recognize both sticks of RAM.
They exchanged it for another and I am happily writing this reply on it. It only had a limited 90-day warranty, and it was the easiest resolution I have had with OWC. Years ago, it was a fight for me, even though most people report good service, I was the exception.
Brent ?
On my late 2012 Mac mini running?10.15.7?
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Does anyone have any experiences with OWC refurbished computer sales? I have purchased batteries and memory sims but not a complete refurbished computer.
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Thanks
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John
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Re: OWC Computers experience
Not refurbished, no.
But I have been buying products from OWC for MANY years, and have never been unhappy with the products or their service.
After my house fire, I salvaged the external drive housing with its drives, but no longer had the key to unlock it. I wrote to them and they sent a pair of keys by return mail.
I¡¯m sure that if you had any problem with a refurb unit, they would respond promptly and satisfactorily.
jsm5320432 wrote: Does anyone have any experiences with OWC refurbished computer sales? I have purchased batteries and memory sims but not a complete refurbished computer.
jimdoc@...
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Does anyone have any experiences with OWC refurbished computer sales? I have purchased batteries and memory sims but not a complete refurbished computer.
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Thanks
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John
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Re: Anyone notice a recent change in cursor behavior?
Which sites?
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On May 21, 2025, at 8:08?PM, Budd Turner via groups.io <n7eoj@...> wrote:
Last weekend, I noticed clicking on a browser button, or URL, in two social media sites would cause the display to jump away, usually back a couple of frames requiring a second click. Sometimes it would repeat for a third time. I mentioned this anomaly and received supporting complaints from users in both sites.
Has anyone else noticed this irritating change?
M1 iMac,
Sequoia 15.5
Safari 18.5
I haven't tested against Brave, because I am still stumbling around, learning Brave.
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Bev in TX
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Anyone notice a recent change in cursor behavior?
Last weekend, I noticed clicking on a browser button, or URL, in two social media sites would cause the display to jump away, usually back a couple of frames requiring a second click. ?Sometimes it would repeat for a third time. ?I mentioned this anomaly and received supporting complaints from users in both sites.
Has anyone else noticed this irritating change?
M1 iMac,?
Sequoia 15.5
Safari 18.5
I haven't tested against Brave, because I am still stumbling around, learning Brave.
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Re: iPhone: Blocked Caller But I Still Get Voicemail
Budd, an "old voice mail device¡±? Most of us are older here, do you mean an answering machine?
Thanks, I needed some humor.
Brent??
On my late 2012 Mac mini running?10.15.7?
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On May 16, 2025, at 7:54 AM, Budd Turner via < n7eoj@...> wrote:
I avoid the additional $10/month voicemail charge from my provider, with an old voice mail device attached to my landline. ?I have it set to pick up after 2nd ring. ?This gives me time to see callerID and answer, if I choose. ?Most of sales calls hangup while the announcement plays. ?
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Re: iPhone: Blocked Caller But I Still Get Voicemail
I have a similar issue. I receive test messages from a group. Sometimes it is like a bad party line phone. I had to go into notifications and set _each_ member of the group to none for the chosen tone. It still vibrates, so I have a soft pad to use on hard surfaces.
I wish there was an option to mute and turn off vibration for individuals and groups
Brent??
On my late 2012 Mac mini running?10.15.7?
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On May 15, 2025, at 5:06 PM, Carol Botteron via < cjbotteron@...> wrote:
Thank you, Bev and JR.??I listen to the messages in case they are not from the blocked number.? I would not want to stop getting all voicemail.? I may check with my carrier, but apparently there is no good way to change the situation.
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Re: Monitoring Sleep in the Apple Ecosystem
On May 16, 2025, at 9:32?AM, jimrobertson via groups.io <jimrobertson@...> wrote:
The appropriate question, of course, is just what Apple DID use to infer sleep status from iPhone owners who don¡¯t want another computer sitting on their wrists.
(answering PART of my own questions, better late than never)
My curiosity whetted, I did do a simple web search and discovered that the sensors used on the phone include the microphone (listening to the user breathe), the accelerometer (recording changes in linear motion) and the gyroscope (recording rotational motion). Apparently having the iPhone on your mattress can allow it to make some inferences regarding motion while it listens to its owner¡¯s breathing, but it seems OBVIOUS to me that such inferences are FAR more likely to be accurate when recorded by a device (the watch) that¡¯s physically attached to the body. I¡¯ve not yet discovered how it ¡°knows¡± that my eyes are looking around in my sleep, however.
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Jim Robertson
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Monitoring Sleep in the Apple Ecosystem
There¡¯s a tempest in a teapot discussion ongoing in the Apple Support Community Forums about how the Apple iOS ¡°Health¡± app records and reports sleep data. The claim is that Apple devalued their phones by removing such reporting in an iOS release because now data acquired by an Apple Watch is required to make inferences about sleep ¡°stages,¡± whereas previously one didn¡¯t require a watch to get such reports.
My own inference from this discussion is that it¡¯s likely Apple ecosystem devices' ability to infer sleep stages improved considerably by using data from a device (the watch) physically connected to the body that can detect movement, O2 saturation (patent protection be damned), pulse rate, etc.
In fact, I haven¡¯t a CLUE how the iPhone, sitting on its charger, could make ANY inferences about sleep, which in clinical sleep medicine typically requires actual MEASUREMENTS of extra ocular muscle activity, EEG monitoring, and body movement. Indeed, one might suspect that if someone recently deceased but interred with his iPhone in a vest pocket might be recorded by the phone as ¡°sleeping,¡± at least until the battery in the phone discharged.
Does anyone here have information about what actually happened? The only information I can see the phone collecting would be motion, but that would mean the deceased person being transported back to his home town would be recorded as AWAKE because of phone GPS data recording.
The appropriate question, of course, is just what Apple DID use to infer sleep status from iPhone owners who don¡¯t want another computer sitting on their wrists.
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Jim Robertson
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Re: iPhone: Blocked Caller But I Still Get Voicemail
I avoid the additional $10/month voicemail charge from my provider, with an old voice mail device attached to my landline. ?I have it set to pick up after 2nd ring. ?This gives me time to see callerID and answer, if I choose. ?Most of sales calls hangup while the announcement plays. ?
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iPhone: Blocked Caller But I Still Get Voicemail
Thank you, Bev and JR.??I listen to the messages in case they are not from the blocked number.? I would not want to stop getting all voicemail.? I may check with my carrier, but apparently there is no good way to change the situation.
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Extended keyboard surprise (cross post)
From another group was question & discussion for how to type the checkmark.
I didn't remember how to get a checkmark, so I went to my Keyboard Viewer. ?
Odd. ?Although it shows as an A+ (Apple's Extended or 101 keyboard) on the menu bar, it briefly changes to the "US" ?(84 key) keyboard, when I click on it.
I have always had an Apple Extended keyboard or 101 (A+), since Apple offered them as an option, at extra cost.
Unsure when it changed, but even though the System shows there is an A+ connected, the only keyboard display is the US keyboard.
Disconnect/reconnect finds and reconnects the A+, but still only shows the US keyboard in the viewer.
Another change in recent upgrade/updates? ?
I guess I should test EVERY MacOS feature and function after every update¡once I find where they got moved and/or renamed
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iPhone: Blocked Caller But I Still Get Voicemail
Carol said:
I blocked a number that calls me almost every day.? Now when they call, my phone does not ring, but I still get their voicemail (announced by a chime).? I would prefer not to get their voicemail.
I had the same issue...
I contacted my Phone service provider - in my case Bell Canada - and had them take that option off my phone plan.
In addition to not blocking unwanted numbers I don't get ANY voicemail from anyone...
You CANNOT selectively block some numbers and not others... it's all or none...
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Re: iPhone: Blocked Caller But I Still Get Voicemail
I don't block numbers, so I can't say whether any of the following is true. ?But I've read a number of articles and this is what I've garnered from them...
Yes, a blocked number can leave a voicemail, but you shouldn't receive a notification that it occurred. ?Also, your iPhone should place blocked voicemail in a separate section:
How to Check Voicemails from Blocked Numbers on an iPhone
So, if you are still receiving notifications when a blocked number leaves a voicemail, here are some suggestions that I've seen in several articles and discussions: * Make sure that you are on the latest iOS version that your iPhone supports. * Reboot the iPhone. * Unblock the number, reboot the iPhone, and the block the number again. * Sometimes similar phone numbers may be hard to distinguish, so double check that the number leaving the voicemail is the number that's been blocked. * Spammers can spoof a Caller ID, so the actual number that called may not match the Caller ID that you blocked. ?Apple has an article with suggestions on how to handle this. Detect and block spam phone calls
To my mind, there are pros and cons to Apple's suggestion to silencing unknown numbers. ?For example, doctor offices often have multiple numbers or can have referrals call you. ?Or sometimes service or support might be provided from different numbers or even multiple centers that might exist in several countries. ?It might be very inconvenient to have such unknown numbers silenced, as I discovered one day. ?YMMV.
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On May 13, 2025, at 7:26?PM, Carol Botteron via groups.io <cjbotteron@...> wrote:
I blocked a number that calls me almost every day.? Now when they call, my phone does not ring, but I still get their voicemail (announced by a chime).? I would prefer not to get their voicemail.
According to several online discussions, there is no way to block the voicemail.? Asking here in case one of you bright people has found a way.? adTHANKSvance!
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Bev in TX
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iPhone: Blocked Caller But I Still Get Voicemail
I tried sending this to the iPhone group but it appears to have stopped working.? iPhone 8 Plus, iOS 16.7.11. I blocked a number that calls me almost every day.? Now when they call, my phone does not ring, but I still get their voicemail (announced by a chime).? I would prefer not to get their voicemail.
According to several online discussions, there is no way to block the voicemail.? Asking here in case one of you bright people has found a way.? adTHANKSvance!
Carol B.
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jsm5320432
Brent
Jim Saklad
JR