Monthly Archives : April 2015

Time is one of the hardest things to put a price tag on especially for the information age worker.

Here is the dilemma; the better I am at reaching a satisfying solution the less I will get paid, whether this is because I am smarter, more efficient or simply have more experience. And vice versa, when I am less knowledgeable and take longer to solve the issue, I get paid more!.

Does this sound logical? or even fair?

Is the price for my services based on the time spent on the job or time spent acquiring experience and knowledge to do the job well?

It is common amongst Technicians/Consultants billing for their time, to feel guilty if they take longer time to solve the problem (they feel they should be better than that), and end up giving away time for free!

In reality, there is no measure or reference to how long solving a problem should take, every problem is different, however there are smarter and more efficient Techs/Consultants with more experience who take less time to reach the solution.

Here is the simple answer; just bill for the project and the more efficient you are the higher the profit margin.

This will work for projects with very clear deliverables, for less clear ones the Techs/Consultants would have to take their chances and estimate how long it would take. The more experienced they are the more accurate the estimation is..

The funny thing about this method is even when the Tech/Consultant spends more time than estimated (which is always the case), he or she would be happy to give some time away for the sake of a satisfied client.

Project based billing is my preferred method, I believe it is the fairest to the clients, let’s put it this way; if I can’t estimate how long it will take me to get the job done who can? The client? How would it be fair to tell the client “I’ll come and work on this problem and you need to have an open budget for my services”?

However, not everything is a project with deliverables, there are cases where there is a problem that needs to be solved regardless of the budget (within reason of course), that’s why I feel that we need to know when to bill for time and take no responsibility for any delays and when to own the project and fulfill the job at any cost.

With time the reputation of the Tech/Consultant will proceed him and clients will trust his estimates and his billings.

The more RAM you have the faster and better your computing will be. If your system is low on RAM it will experience slowdowns at practically every turn from launching programs to loading documents. The best way to speed up an old Mac, dramatically, is to replace its old hard drive with a new solid state drive; but just upgrading your RAM is a much more sane solution, being the most cost effective.

RAM (Random Access Memory) refers to a small replaceable circuit board that contains memory chips designed to give a computer a high-speed temporary work area, which is where data apps are temporarily stored while being used. Having more RAM will help your computer to run larger apps, and more apps at the same time, to reduce and even eliminate the need to continuously load data from the hard drive.

The first thing you should do is to determine if your system’s RAM is able to be upgraded (give us a call if you don’t know how to check). If the RAM is soldered to the motherboard, in the case of Retina MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, the RAM cannot be upgraded; but, if you’re running MacBooks, Mac Pros, or iMacs, (even on Mac minis, but challenging) then start by checking the memory pressure graph in Mavericks, which should tell you if you are running low on usable RAM. If the green wedge on the chart is always below 25 percent then upgrading the RAM is a MUST.

4GB is a general minimum for RAM, but if the system can handle the extra then install at least 8GB, or 16GB is even preferred. 4GB Macs are fairly limited with running multiple apps at once and 16GB Macs aren’t much of an improvement over 8GB or 12GB Macs, except if the system is running professional-quality (usually video editing) apps. If your Mac can run Yosemite, then its RAM could probably be upgraded to at least 8GB. As well, if you use an iMac heavily for professional, time-sensitive projects like creating videos, music, or creating complex documents, then consider increasing the capacity of your system to 16GB of RAM or more.

Remember that your Mac can contain the same components as a PC, so be sure to consult with us to make sure that the RAM matches your system’s specifications. But whatever you do, don’t cut any corners on the RAM that is installed in your system. Just because PC owners have become tolerant of imperfect RAM, which can cause system crashes, app crashes, and failures to boot, doesn’t mean that Mac users need follow suit. It’s very difficult to trace the source of these types of problems and cheap RAM is a far more common failure point for Macs than most people even realize.

Searching RAM upgrades on your own can be tricky, since you really need to be tech-savvy in order to wade through the part numbers, and relying upon online help or video help guides to get you through the process can be a daunting endeavor and time consuming, as well. Some third party company’s parts have been known to work well in the short term, but failing a year down the line.

Ultimately, you may consult with us here at Alary Technologies, a professional & apple authorized service provider that knows the way around the Mac world. It is well worth it and for the long haul we will provide a real person to talk to directly.