Wisetrips Travel Blog

To help me work from home more efficiently, I ordered  the   Dell  Pro P 34 USB-C Hub Conferencing Monitor from Insight . I connected it to my Apple MacBook Air 13' M3, and it's working well. I think the text is a bit fuzzier than Apple's 5K display, which has higher PPI. I really liked the built-in USB & Ethernet ports on the monitor, as they eliminate the need for a separate port extender on the MacBook Air (w…

With my 10-year-old Windows 10 Intel Core i7-4790K server nearing the end of its life, I decided to build a new Windows 11 Server for media storage and occasional gaming. I purchased the mid-tower Fractal Design Define R7 case to accommodate 4 hard drives. Most newer computer cases lack sufficient space for hard drives, and this one is among the few that accommodate six drives. It also has the newer USB-C ports on the …

Since Inna's old 2021 MacBook Pro 13' M1 8GB was becoming slow and unresponsive, we decided to upgrade to a newer 2025 MacBook Air 15" M4. After looking at various models, we settled on the MacBook Air 15" due to the larger screen size, lower price, and the absence of a fan (we dislike noisy fans). I decided to order it from Costco.com , since the price ($1349) was lower than at Apple.com or Amazon. In addition, …

To help practice guitar and piano, I purchased a new Apple iPad Pro 13"/M4 256GB model (on Black Friday sale at Costco for $1099 in Lihue, Kauai). Fortunately, Hawaii has a 4.5% sales tax, compared to 9% in California (so it's cheaper to purchase items in Hawaii). The larger screens make it easier to read notes and do my music lessons, and are better for viewing videos. The screen is much brighter/better than my previous M1 iPad…

Inna purchased the  2021 Apple iPad Pro 11  for my upcoming birthday with a 128GB SSD and M1 processor.  My current iPad Air 2 (from 2014) was getting a bit old, and I could use a newer iPad. To complement the iPad Pro, I also purchased the Logitech Folio Touch iPad Keyboard Case (with a built-in trackpad).   It took me some time to restore my iPad Air 2 backup onto the iPad Pro 11, re-authorize all…

Inna purchased the latest Apple  MacBook Air M1  with 512GB SSD in silver from  Costco.com  for my delayed New Year's present. It was on sale for $1099 ($100 off)  and was an excellent choice.  I asked her to delay the purchase as I hoped Apple would release their Apple 14" or 16" Macbook Pro with an M1X or M2 CPU, but the release of these next-generation laptops was getting delayed. When I first powered on…

For  the New Year, I purchased a new  Apple MacBook Pro 13' M1 512 GB SSD laptop  for Inna, as her 2013 MacBook Pro was starting to misbehave (rebooting  often). Initially, I was leaning toward the new MacBook Air 13' M1 , but the MacBook Pro M1 512 GB SSD/8 GB RAM was offered on sale at Costco.com, and the difference between the two was minimal. The MacBook Pro has the following advantages over the MacBook Air M1: Lo…

Since my current desktop tower is getting quite old, I decided to upgrade it soon to speed it up. The older parts in my current PC can be used to create a separate NAS server (to replace the old Synology DS1815+ ).   My current desktop/server tower has the following components: HP ZR30w 30" S-IPS LCD Monitor Fractal Design Define R5 Black Silent ATX Midtower Computer Case Fractal Design Silent Series R2 Blac…

With Inna returning to Software Quality Assurance, I purchased the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 at Costco for $799 (Black Friday unique). On powering on the laptop, I was impressed by how easy Microsoft made the whole experience. Voice-assisted Cortana led me through creating my accounts and applying all Windows 10 updates. It was ready for use after I installed my old copy of Microsoft Office 2010 and Chrome browsers. …

The first time I encountered a computer was the Space Invaders  arcade video game in Rome, Italy, in the winter of 1980 (during my temporary stay in Rome, on the way to the United States). A young Italian boy offered me a chance to play, and I was immediately hooked! I have never seen anything like it before. When I moved to the United States, the very first electronic game I recall was so…