I can’t believe this exists!
Free Shipping!
I’m sure you’re excited to get your iPhone back to new again. We’re excited to be able to offer free shipping on all orders that fall under the iDevice category. You can get the same great prices on repairs even if you’re not located close enough to stop in personally.
All you have to do is head over to the iDevice section and choose the mail in option from the correct item page.
If you have any trouble choosing the correct repair or questions about the process please dont hesitate to contact us.
All mail in repairs head to our Brooklyn shop at 171 5th Ave, Brooklyn NY 11217. You can call us there at 347-889-6809 and email at parkslope@drbrendan.com
Quick Upgrades for your Mac
Customers often ask me what they can do to upgrade their computer or make it run faster. These questions are often pretty straight forward. If the computer is relatively new they just need to do a few things.
Often times they can use more ram. You will really notice a difference if you use multiple applications at the same time or lots of tabs in your browser. Ram is one of the first places to start, its usually inexpensive and offers noticeable gains in performance.
A hard upgrade can improve speed when trying to access files or saving documents. Often times Apple supplies their lower level computers with slower hard drives with small cache size. All hard drives we install are 7200 rpm and with at least 16mb of cache. This alone can make your computer feel new again. Were big fans of seagate, they’re the only brand we use.
Upgrading to an SSD is a sure fire way to increase speed of your computer. Load speed of the OS will be drastically reduced as will the average speed of all functions. SSD drives cost more than traditional drives but the difference in speed is immediately noticeable. Because there are no moving parts they also tend to last longer.
Finally, after a few years of use the fan can get clogged with dust, especially if you live with cats or are a smoker. Even you hate animals and are disgusted by cigarettes theres a good chance your computer fan sucked up all the dust in the air and its now stuck to the fan. It doesn’t take much dust to reduce the efficiency of your fan. Worse yet is the thermal compound that is probably dried up and flaky instead of paste like and sticky.
An overhaul is the best preventative maintenance that can done for you computer. It’s like changing the oil in your car. We recommend an overhaul on computers starting at 1.5 years old and can extend the life of any computer.
Yes, we’re REALLY open.
It’s been a week since Park Slope officially opened its doors and we’ve been moving in warp speed ever since. We saw a great turn out at the Grand Opening party, which we hosted on Friday, the 16th.
The doors opened at 8pm and guests started pouring in right away. The gents from Black Sparrow Brewery brought several kegs of their craft beers and kicked the party off right. An hour into it, Frites ‘n’ Meats rolled in and handed out their famous burgers and fries, while DJ Ivan spun all night long. By the end of the night, everyone was taking McClure’s Pickle brine backs to ease the whiskey shots we were handing out.
Some favorite pics from the shindig below.
Everyone look out for the brews from Black Sparrow Brewery!
Thanks McClure’s Pickles and ONE Coconut Water. The pickle juice brine made for great shot backs towards the end of the night.
Burgers and fries from the Frites ‘n’ Meats truck.
The crew. And no, that’s not Cee-Lo.
Keep It Clean.
Taking apart devices and units can be dirty business. Crumbs, lint, dirt or all of the above always seem to find their way into every crevice. Often times, customers forget to keep their electronics clean, which is the easiest way to keep the unit functional.
Below are a few easy tips to help keep your computer clean and operating correctly.
Step One: Canned Air!
Buy some! This product is invaluable in the fight against computer grime. You can buy compressed air from any electronics or office supply store. Most, if not all, compressed air brands come with a straw attachment for the nozzle. This allows you to get a more focused blast. Use the compressed air to blow out any crumbs or debris that may have collected under the keyboard or inside of any nooks around your computer.
Step Two: Wipe it down!
There are countless electronic cleaning solutions out there on the market. I’ve found in my experience that all of them work equally as well. Apply the solution to a paper towel or rag, NEVER directly to your computer. If the cleaning solution drips or get inside of the computer/keyboard you can damage your equipment! Wipe with moderate pressure to remove any stuck on debris.
Step Three: Rubbing Alcohol!
If your computer is sufficiently clean then ignore this step, you’re done! However, if you have any kind of gunk that is still stuck to your computer it’s time to break out the rubbing alcohol. Apply a small amount to your paper towel/rag and rub moderately until the gunk is gone. Once your computer is clean, wipe it down with another pass of your electronic cleaning solution.
And that’s it. Enjoy your newly cleaned computer!
-Brendan
The Prince of Color
Chris Benz, fashion’s self proclaimed Prince of Color, dropped by the East Village shop this weekend for a quick iPhone color conversion and transformed his iPhone into something out of his latest collection.
For all of you fashion peeps that want to channel Chris’ iPhone look, stop by and ask for the Benz!
You’re Invited!
Special thanks to Black Sparrow Brewery, O.N.E. Coconut Water, Frites n Meats, McClure’s Pickles and DJ Ivan.
On Eternal Life for Your Devices
When our beloved devices depart from the living, the cause of which is as likely to be an acute injury as it is a lifetime of silent abuse. Many of us may go our entire lives oblivious to the stress we may cause our devices. Awareness of the following preventative measures will not only delay the inevitable, but it will also greatly enhance your experience together as man and device:
- Staying in this weekend to catch all the football games? A desk is best, but a book is better than a blanket or bed.Using your MacBook while its resting on a soft surface can cause extreme heat to build up underneath. Placing it on a hard surface allows the heat to dissipate properly.
- On the move a lot? Don’t just close your laptop and throw it in your bag. Instead take an extra moment, and make sure your Mac is fully asleep or powered down before you throw it in your bag. That will add a year to the lifespan of your unit.
- Listening to tunes in the bathroom while showering? Not the greatest idea. High humidity causes condensation buildup in electronic devices. Temperatures above 98 degrees can really stress out the cooling system. Couple the two together and your device will be dead sooner than later.
- Know-it-all? Try downloading the iStat Pro app, a dashboard widget that functions like the dashboard on your car, displaying your computer’s vital stats such as temperature, fan speed and much more:http://islayer.com/apps/istatpro/
Guilty of the above? Bring it to Dr Brendan for an overhaul. Changing the thermal paste is like changing the oil on your car - over time it becomes hard, like plastic, and can no longer cool stuff down like it used to.
We’ll disassemble and test every component, make the inside squeaky clean, change the thermal paste, and reassemble and tighten every screw like it’s brand spanking new.
Until next time!
- Brendan
Can’t stop, won’t stop…
There’s never a dull moment here at Dr Brendan and while it seems like Irene 2.0 this week, it couldn’t stop the the whirlwind we called the last few days. Let’s recap…
Labor Day BBQ, check. Straight into Tuesday’s shoot with CNN with the lovely Poppy Harlow. We then put up the awning to our new addition—Another Wireless Shop by Dr Brendan. And now getting ready for the Park Slope Grand Opening next week. We’re busy, but all good things ahead!
Our Express Service shirts also came in this week, woohoo! Brian, our oh-so-savvy tech guru, wore it during his on-camera debut for CNN. Thanks for the photo Brian, you make a great model.
Back That Thang Up…your Mac, that is!
One of the biggest issues that I’ve encountered as a technician is when someone walks in with a failed hard drive.
Your hard drive is the most important part of your computer. It holds all of your purchased music, software, the pictures of your family, and everything else important to you. The most important thing you can do for your computer, and for yourself, is to back your computer up so that when your computer fails you don’t lose any of your important information. Today’s blog entry will show you just how to do that.
First Step: Buy an External Hard Drive!
External hard drives come in many shapes and sizes.
The hard drive you back your computer up to needs to be big enough to hold all of your information. You can check the size of your internal hard drive by right clicking on “Macintosh HD” on your desktop, then selecting “Get Info.”
As you can see here, the capacity of my drive is 500 Gigs and I only have 50 Gigs left. You need to buy a drive at least as big as your internal hard drive, so I would need a drive 500 Gigs or bigger.
Second Step: Back That Thang Up
Once your new external hard drive is unpacked and plugged in you’re ready to back up your computer. Click on the apple menu in the upper left hand corner and select “System Preferences.” Once inside, select “Time Machine,” then “Select Disk.”
You window may look similar to mine except “Macintosh HD2” might say “Western Digital,” or “Lacie,” or the name of whatever company you bought your drive from. Click on this drive and select “Use for Backup.”
Congratulations, you’re done! As long as your external hard drive is plugged into your computer it will continue to back up every hour on the hour to your external hard drive. If anything ever goes wrong on your internal drive you will be able to save your information from the external.
