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Number 1 South African Apple Mac RAM memory, Mac SSD Upgrade, Mac Upgrade in South Africa

Lightning struck my Mac

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10 Things you didn’t know about Apple

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Cool upcoming Apple Products

ZA Support is the number 1 2022 Apple support business as rated by the Apple community

As ZA Support turns 10 years old we have gained a significant amount of Apple knowledge which we want to share with our fans!

We are launching a whole new series of articles and updates which is exclusive to our community :) 

This month we will be focusing on the recent lightning strikes, how they have impacted our community including steps to troubleshoot if things do go wrong!

10 Facts you probably didn’t know about Apple (They are pretty awesome)

And a review of the latest Apple innovations which are set to be here or on the way

Lightning struck my Mac

What happens

SA has been experiencing severe weather with all the recent storms. So, they first question is how does lightning hit your Mac?

What tends to happen is that lightning will strike a particular part of a building. 

Generally it is the tallest part of the building with a pointy object on it (poles, antennas etc.)

If a building doesn’t have lightning protection built in, the discharge normally runs through all the metal parts of the structure including cables.

Items that get hit the hardest are networks, computers, plugs and appliances plugged into the main electrical circuit.

The sheer force of the lightning strike sends a high voltage current through the devices and causes them to short circuit in most cases. 

What lightning means for your Mac

  • Mac logic board damage (This is the brain of the Mac)
  • Hard drive and SSD failures (This is where data stored on the machine is corrupted or the Mac SSD or Mac storage drive is damaged)
  • Mac graphics cards are damaged (This is where the hardware controlling what happens on the screen breaks)
  • Suddenly Mac becomes very slow (Wheel of death)
  • Mac Applications start behaving erratically and close or don’t save workOne of the biggest problems we have found to be true, is that one may not even be aware that the Mac has been struck by lightning. And Mac’s that have lightning damage can begin to only show symptoms of damage weeks after they are hit.Experiencing any of these issues? Contact Us :)

I have a loading bar that stops

Mac lightning symptoms:

  • Mac won’t restart properly and loads halfway or 3/4 of the way then just stops
  • Mac restarts spontaneously
  • Mac sometimes loads normally then stops half or 3/4 of the way when reloading
  • Mac boots into a white screen and won’t go any further

Having this issue? Click Here

What to do when lightning strikes your Mac…

Its easy to say prevention is better than cure. But, for most of us lightning takes us by surprise.

If you’re like most Mac users, lightning can strike your Mac at the most unexpected times and cause chaos when trying to work, recover files or just access your machine.

Steps to try when lightning strikes your Mac:

1) Try a PRAM reset click here to find out how to

2) Try an SMC reset click here to find out how to

3) Try removing the battery if you can (do not try this if you have not done it before) click here to find out how to

4) Try fixing the permissions if you have access to the terminal window

5) For advanced users, try and log into the terminal of the machine and see if there are code corrections which can be made. 

If you have tried the steps, and still don’t come right give us a shout and we would love to assist :)

10 Things you didn’t know about Apple

1. Steve Jobs was 16 when he met Steve Wozniak aged 21.

2.  The 1976 version of the Apple logo featured Isaac Newton under an Apple tree.

3. The first mouse and trackpad were introduced by Apple.

4. Only 9 US states don’t have an Apple store.

5. The first Mac computer was sold at USD 666.66 

6.  With less than 50 original Apple computers in the world they cost USD 50,000

7. Apple started on April fool’s day

8. Apple has one of the smallest boards out of any Fortune 500 company with only 6 at the helm.

9. Al Gore once sat on Apple’s board.

10. When the 1st iPhone was released every employee received one.

Cool upcoming Apple Products

Apple TV & Streaming Service

For those of you who didn’t know, Apple have been creating their own media and TV content for some time. Some of you will remember a few video’s Apple have filmed with guys driving around interviewing high profile people. Those were Apple supported productions… 

This move will mark another game-changing move into the film industry. Apple have made almost everything a subscription as a service with Apple Music is a great example.

We hear that it may even be free… That would really disrupt the media industry if there’s free high quality Netflix like content…

Airpod 2’s

The cool looking wireless headphone’s which trendy business people and hipsters wear on Gautrains and subways are expected to come out with some enhanced features including: water resistance, biometric sensors to measure your heart rate and new colours.

Apple’s own Beats by Dre Headphones

This is an unexpected one. Apple own Beats by Dre which was acquired for 3 billion US a while back. 

They are definitely one of the most expensive headphones money can buy, and the Apple version will probably be the same or more.

Wireless charging is a feature expected to appear along with serious integration into Apple’s home offering and of course Siri.