Fixed Computer Problem

Well, I HOPE I have solved my computer problems (both Mac and Windows actually).

1.  I brought the Mac Mini that won't start to a local computer store today.  They are really a Windows shop, but they will do simple repairs on Macs.  After a half hour, they determined that the CURRENT Mac Mini was not repairable by them.  Some of the spilled wine got inside and shorted out some circuits.  Too complicated and time-consuming to clean and no guarantee that would solve the problem...  They did say they could pop the drive out and migrate it to an external storage device if I provided the device.

And they didn't even charge me for the diagnosis work!

They also advised me not to bother shipping it to an Apple repair store; saying that Apple doesn't actually repair hardware anymore, they just migrate the drive to a new unit and charge you for it.

The OLD Mac Mini I'm limping along with right now is making fan noises (which assures that it will fail soon).  And it is SLOW (well it IS a 2010 model).

So I went to Amazon and looked at new ones.  They are all designed for Cloud use, meaning they have less storage on the hard drives.  I'm not ready for the Cloud yet.  So I did a google search for Mac Minis  and found there were more powerful standard Mac Minis.  One site lead me back to Amazon, where they also offer 3rd party "diagnosed, cleaned, renewed" Mac Minis guaranteed by them, 90 day warranty and 3 year repair guarantees (for under $60).

I ordered and renewed Mac Mini with a faster Intell chip, 1 TB storage, and 2x the Ram of my current one.  That should last a while, and it will arrive in 3 days.  Plus I get 5% back using my Amazon Cedit Card!

AND, I got no flak this time requesting to return the underpowered128 GB Mac Mini I bought last month.  They even sent me a free shipping label.

So I am returning a useless new 128 GB Mac Mini at $720 for a fully renewed faster 1 TB one at $560 that will probably serve me well for many years.  I will migrate the OLD Mac Mini I'm using right now to the new one.  And I will have the local computer place copy my drive on CURRENT one that wont start to a 512 GB external drive I saw at Walmart for $50.

That way, I will have all my OLD files saved onto the new one and can pick and choose which newer files to save to it from the CURRENT one.  That's not as complicated as it seems.  I migrated the backup of the CURRENT Mac Mini to the OLD one (which is sort of why it works at all).

So, cheers and drinks all around!