So I ordered an Active Display Port to HDMI port adapter (CalDigit says it must be an Active adapter) and temporarily hooked up the machine to the Mini dock. Oh, and the mini dock worked because the Thunderbolt 3 cable was part of the dock itself. The only gotcha? It doesn't support HDMI, just DisplayPort.
When I replaced it with the TS3's provided cable, the TS3 Plus dock worked. It did not provide power, so my measly two Thunderbolt ports were used up between the power cable and the dock.īut why didn't the TS3 work? As it turns out, the Apple-provided Thunderbolt cable wasn't a Thunderbolt cable. That provided one USB 2.0 port, one USB 3.0 port, two HDMI ports, and an Ethernet port. But when I hooked up the CalDigit Mini Dock, everything worked perfectly. But we're here to help.Īfter the migration completed, I still found I couldn't get the CalDigit TS3 Plus to work other than to provide power to the Air.
I had to re-authenticate a few things, but that was about it.Īpple's Mac lineup can be confusing as the company transitions from Intel processors to its own Apple Silicon processors. But it completed after about 9 hours, and most of my settings moved over perfectly. Basically, the time-remaining estimates were completely inconsistent and useless. So instead of doing a migration using Ethernet, I was stuck with Wi-Fi.ĭuring the migration, the screen said how much time remained: 30 hours, 4 hours, 2 days, 21 hours, 3 minutes, 2 hours, etc. I reasoned that was because my TS3 was a few years old, but I just couldn't get it working. I connected the Air to Apple's recommended CalDigit TS3 Plus dock, and while power made it to the Air, nothing else worked. I wanted to move all my settings because it took me weeks to get my development system just right, and I didn't want to have to go through the setup and tuning process again. The first thing I did was set up Migration Assistant to move my applications, data, and settings from the old 2013 iMac to the MacBook Air. Note that the cable is NOT a Thunderbolt 3 cable. All you get is an Air, a power cable, and a USB C charger. Also, I wasn't entirely sure how the M1 would work for my projects because I'd been running Intel Macs for so very long. I've been putting off upgrading these machines because it's a hefty expense. I've learned my lesson with that the hard way. At that point, applications and even web services start to fail, and they often fail at unpredictable times. Certainly, I wouldn't say I like to fall two generations behind. I generally like to run my production Macs about half an OS generation behind, just because it usually takes half a year or so until the growing pains of the new release are overcome with bug fix updates. Both are able to run current software, so I'm sticking with them (although the laptop is going to my wife) for as long as they're supported. I also have a very powerful 2018 i7 Mac mini, which is my main desktop video editing machine and a 2015 i5 laptop. Some can run Catalina, one is stuck back at Mojave, but none can run either Big Sur or the upcoming Monterey. I have a 2013 iMac, three 2012 Mac minis, and a 2011 Mac mini. I have a bunch of very reliable, very functional, very old Macs. Migrating from Intel iMac to M1 MacBook Air: My five-day journeyĬan a man with an eight-year-old maxed-out iMac find happiness with a little M1 MacBook Air? If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. ZDNet's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers. Neither ZDNet nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. ZDNet’s recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping.
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