New iPhone, iPad, Mac, etc? Cables and Related
Lighting cables
Have a new iPhone or iPad? You’ll get one Lightning cable with it, perhaps too short aor too long for what you’d like, and likely to fail over time (my kids are really good at killing Lightning cables!)
I like to keep extra Lightning cable on hand. For example, I cannot afford to have one fail while traveling, plus I like to keep one plugged in on my desk and in my photography van. And then the kids want one when they break 'em.
The Apple Lightning cables have performed poorly for me—every one of them has failed.
The most durable Lightning cables that I’ve found are the NewerTech ones, and they come in a variety of colors and lengths. They can fail also (with abuse), but they have performed well for me. Other brands I cannot attest to.
Jörg B writes from the Netherlands:
I can confirm based on my experience; Before had a lot of incompatible (after a short while) and no longer working cables from different brands (cheap prices). But then I bought several (expensive) NewerTech cables; no issue anymore! Also very happy with the Anidees 6-port USB charger! (got rid of the very dangerous El-cheapo chargers)
MPG: there is a lot of skanky stuff out there. If things are working badly, cables are always a good place to look.
Ports and charging
Too attach devices to your Mac, here are some handy devices.
Storage
One internal drive and no backups—yikes! Too many people forget that two backups are a bare minimum.