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Category Archives: How To

Installing an eGPU to your MacBook Pro 16 Inch or Thunderbolt 3 MacBook Pro / Air Windows Bootcamp

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This video is how to get your Macbook Pro or any Mac with a Thunderbolt 3 setup with an eGPU. It’s really easy if you use an NVIDIA based card for Windows Bootcamp. It’s more tricky if you are using an AMD based card – link how to do that here: https://egpu.io/boot-camp-egpu-setup-guide/

I just finished a video on the 16-inch MacBook Pro’s gaming performance not too long ago and I included some benchmarks that showed significant improvement with an eGPU. Link to that video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPlM_tARsLI


Cable Management 101 – For your desktop workspace or entertainment system

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There was a post on reddit where a user /u/VergingRivals posted a thread needing help on getting the this monstrosity (posted above) on how to get his desktop cables in order. I was in a similar situation not too long ago, albeit not as bad as this but it did take some time to get everything organized. Both my desktop and especially the TV for my game consoles were a freaking fire hazard so I wrote up a response on how he should get started in cleaning up his setup. Below is my response to his dilemma.

I had a very similar situation to yours… well not as bad. As some other people mentioned, unplug everything. To take it a step further, unplug everything, clear off all your desk. Pair the cables that go with each device.

Decide which devices you use in a regular basis and which ones you hardly or never use. Place the devices you do use back in your desk first, do not add the cables yet until you have all the devices you need. I discovered like 3 things I don’t use anymore… like a WiiU I had on my desk, a usb hub, extra game pad, and an egpu that i barely use since i switched to a PC for gaming instead of using my Mac.

Now, one by one, connect the cables to each device, without plugging them in the outlet / surge protector.

Once you do that, have all the power cords routed in the same direction towards the power outlet. If the are too long, fold them to shorten the length and zip tie.

You can use zip ties or to make things easier, pick up one or a few of these https://amzn.to/2xs47Ms and it will help hide the surge protectors and lengthy cables. Just remember that when you shorten or fold the cables you do it towards the plug so you can place it in these cable management boxes.

I’ve never done this before doing it myself a few weeks ago but these steps is what made the most sense to me and I had some trial and error along the way. Hope that helps!

And here’s a look at my setup!

By the way, before anyone freaks out, those “black bars” are built in SPEAKERS on my display, not a resolution issue!

Pick up the Cable Management Box here: https://amzn.to/2xs47Ms


 

Hackintosh – Installing MacOS Mojave on MSI GS65 Stealth – Who needs a MacBook Anymore?

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So after installing a 1TB SSD on to the GS65, I wanted to see what more I can accomplish with this thing. I woke up this morning and wanted to challenge myself by attempting to install Mac OS onto this gaming laptop. I know there are Hackintosh guides on that and it has been done on other laptops and the process looks like a pain in the ass. Then I thought about doing a virtual machine, which although gets a huge degradation in performance, it basically will run within Windows much like how Parallels runs in Mac. My VM of choice was VMWare because it was free.

The process was actually pretty easy, however the challenge was getting FaceTime and iMessage to work because I believe it needs a valid Mac serial number in order for it to work on a Mac computer. It CAN be done but it does involve some gray area things that you have to do but it does work.

I used this guide to install using VMWARE: https://techsviewer.com/install-macos-mojave-vmware-windows/

And this guide to get iMessage and iCloud working: https://github.com/toshmatik/VMWare-iMessage/blob/master/instructions.md

Now that I finally have iMessage on my PC… who needs a Mac anymore?

 


MSI GS65 Stealth 9SE Hard Drive Upgrade Teardown Install

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I’ve been wanting to add some additional storage since I picked up my MSI GS65 9SE 2019 model since it came with only 512GB storage space. Sure it may seem like a lot now but this is a gaming laptop games take a lot of space and that will fill up pretty quickly. Fortunately, the MSI GS65 Stealth is up upgradable and you can put 2 M.2 SSD SSD drives into the laptop.

Unfortunately MSI doesn’t make the task as easy as most laptops out there to upgrade the hard drive and install RAM since the motherboard for some reason is flipped over and to get access to those upgrades, you need to physically remove the motherboard from the chassis. Sure it sounds pretty scary and it even looks scary doing but it’s not as tough as it seems. I did it in an hour by following a Youtube video which I will link below paid close attention to what I was doing. You have to be patient with yourself in this project but in the same time be confident and not too nervous. I was able to complete the task in about 30 minutes. Seriously, it wasn’t all to bad. I say the most difficult part through the whole thing was just stop myself from over thinking the whole process and just doing it. Once you pop open the cover at the bottom, just watch along carefully and gently remove the ribbon cables, screws, and some tape. Believe me, it will all start to make sense when you start.

Here’s what I Used

 

 


 

Successfully Installed Samsung 950 Pro M.2 on Razer Blade Stealth

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I am happy to report that I have successfully replaced the stock 256GB PM951 drive with the 512GB Samsung 950 PRO using the steps below taken from the Notebook Review forums here:http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr…-review-swapping-instructions-cloning.771316/

Before you start, just remember that opening the bottom panel to access the hard drive may VOID YOUR WARRANTY so please do this at your own risk. You are going to need a Torx 5 screwdriver and the set I used can be purchased here from Amazon: http://amzn.to/1SYcbZO

The Samsung 950 PRO can be purchased here: http://amzn.to/1SYcjIU

How I cloned to these drives:

  1. Use Macrium to create WinPE bootable recovery USB key flash drive.
  2. Use Macrium to create a FULL PARTITION BACKUP of your Blade’s original drive onto anexternal USB drive that can hold it.
  3. Put the new empty drive in the blade, as above.
  4. Boot the Macrium WinPE USB key: (hold F12 on boot when prompted to choose boot drive)
  5. Select “Restore”, Choose the backup file on the USB drive from step 2.
  6. Choose the empty drive you installed in the Razer as the destination.
  7. Restore away, will take some time depending on the speed of your USB drive.
  8. Power down, disconnect all the USB stuff and try to boot.
  9. If it works, YAY, if it doesn’t.. I had to do this other stuff as well…
  10. Reconnect your Macrium USB recovery KEY, boot from that again, this time without the old drive connected over USB
  11. Attempt to fix the Windows boot problems again (same menu option). This time, it should actually work with all green checks.
  12. Try to boot again, should work this time.
  13. Thanks @mario64, they had to use AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition 5.6 to extend the new partition to the full free space of the drive.

Things to note:

  • Macium reflex makes backup and restore incredibly easy. It will back up all the partitions, INCLUDING a PERFECT copy of the Recovery partition on the stock drive
  • When booting into the Macrium WinPE USB drive, the mouse for some reason doesn’t work. You will need to do everything on the touch screen. Don’t worry! It is touch friendly!!!
  • After successfully restoring, you will notice that your new drive will have only 256GB instead of 512GB… Don’t worry! Follow Step 13 above to fix that! Just Merge the partitions using the Partition Assistant Software!
  • New drive is screaming fast!

Top 3 Reasons to Jailbreak Besides Pirating

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Now that the untethered jailbreak for iOs 5.1.1 is available for your iPhone 4S and iPad 2012, you are now able to add limitless new features and apps on your device which Apple hasn’t approved to make it to the AppStore. For those of you who don’t know what jailbreaking your iPhone means, it’s basically a hack that allows you to install apps that aren’t authorized by Apple and Cydia is sort of like the AppStore for those apps. Cydia is not a place to download pirated apps as the ignorant may think. In fact, there are some apps on Cydia that aren’t free! You can Google how to pirate apps elsewhere. Today, I’m going to show you the best 3 Jailbreak apps that give you a reason to jailbreak! Continue reading→

How a Humidifier Changed My Life!

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I moved from Guam to California in 1998 and to this day, still haven’t gotten used to the dry air especially at night when I sleep. I’ve have pretty bad allergies and the dryness of the air makes it very difficult to sleep several nights which makes me wake up feeling tired. Now that it’s winter, this is when things get really bad. Allergies act up and skin gets really dry especially with the heater being on to stay warm.

I finally got around to getting a humidifier and chose something small to start out with and boy what a huge difference it made! I slept for 9 hours straight without needing to wake up with a clogged nose and my skin isn’t as dry when I’m at home! I bought the Holmes Ultrasonic Teapot Humidifier for $29.99 and it’s perfect for nightstands in the bedroom or in a small office. I’m thinking of getting one more for my home office (so I don’t have to switch back and forth with the bedroom), and one for my office at work. I may even invest in a much larger humidifier for the living room. Highly recommended! Totally improved my life!

How to transport takeout ramen or soup without spilling a drop

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For those that haven’t figured it out yet, I’m Asian and ramen is a comfort food that I just can’t live without. I live about 8 miles away from a decent noodle house that isn’t ridiculously over priced, or a place that doesn’t serve low quality instant ramen that I can buy for 10 cents a pack. I usually like to go to the highly asian populated communities (Alhambra, San Gabriel, etc where I live in the LA Metro Area). The challenge is transporting the take out ramen from there to Pasadena when I’m driving myself without spilling a drop or getting my crotch burned so I had to use my noodle (pun intended) to find a way!

Continue reading→