Mac testing site BareFeats founder Robert Arthur Morgan dies, aged 77

Posted:
in General Discussion edited April 2022
Longstanding Mac expert and self-professed "mad scientist" creator of the BareFeats website, Robert Arthur Morgan has died at home in Portland, Oregon.

Robert Arthur Morgan (source: BeatFeats)
Robert Arthur Morgan (source: BeatFeats)


Also calling himself Rob-ART, Morgan tested Mac hardware and wrote about his results on BareFeats from 1995 to early 2022. Everything he wrote on the site was based on direct test results conducted by him in his own specially-created test lab.

Morgan said on the site that he began the work because he "became frustrated with the performance bottlenecks of the Mac in the mid-nineties." He said that "Mac publications [of the time] tip-toed around the issues or made meaningless comparisons."

Consequently, he created his lab, tested Macs and peripherals, then posted detailed results. Unlike most reviewers, Morgan typically wrote little analysis, and instead relied almost exclusively on presenting results for readers to derive what they needed.

BareFeats test articles would contain graphs and results of every conceivable test. That degree of detail would then usually be followed by an extremely brief one- or two-sentence interpretation under the heading "What Did We Learn?"

The last hardware Morgan tested was the OWC Accelsior 8M2 PCIe NVME M.2 SSD solution in January 2022.

According to his obituary on the BareFeats site, his intention was always "unfailing fairness," and the goal was to "make Apple computers run faster and meet the designing needs of... users worldwide."

Robert Arthur Morgan was born in 1944, in Puunene, Maui, and died on March 12, 2022, in Portland, Oregon. He is survived by his wife, Betty Morgan, brother Harry Morgan, sister Clarissa Trammell, plus children and grandchildren.

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Eric_WVGGkillroy

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,251member
    Sad day. I watched his website practically from the start but haven’t talked to him about product speeds since I retired almost 10 years ago. Rob was the go to guy before benchmarking software came out. He gave real world tests on real equipment. 

    Condolences to his family. 
    marklarkkillroythttechconcmarc gmichelb76
  • Reply 2 of 10
    The barefeats website informed every Mac purchase I've made for the past twenty years.  I just noticed the announcement on the website yesterday about his passing.
    killroy
  • Reply 3 of 10
    killroykillroy Posts: 276member
    Oh no! RIP. :'(

  • Reply 4 of 10
    thttht Posts: 5,441member
    Condolences to his family and friends.

    I always visited Barefeats too. Just straight-up performance comparisons. It is great.
    killroytechconcmarc g
  • Reply 5 of 10
    techconctechconc Posts: 275member
    This is a sad day for the Mac community to be sure.  I've always enjoyed his website.  I recall many years ago reaching out to him about something and he was the type that was happy to provide a thoughtful reply.  He and his site will be missed. My condolences to his family and friends.
    killroymarc g
  • Reply 6 of 10
    Condolences to the family. 

    Fantastic site - full of great information, one I’ve used many many times for many many years 
    marc g
  • Reply 7 of 10
    marc gmarc g Posts: 65member
    I did Mac tech support full time from 1997-2005 and started visiting the site pretty regularly during those years and many times since. May his memory be a blessing. 
  • Reply 8 of 10
    Yeah, barefeats was my go-to site for a long time as well.

    Honestly, I never had a clue he was that old. He came across as maybe 10-20 years younger (not in an immature way, but just very current on technology.) This is most likely biased by my parents being around his age.

    Very sad news.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    Really sad news, condolences to the family. Great site, stacks of real-world info and always responded quickly to email.

    Farewell Rob.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    Just so very thankful for his testimony!!! I love that!!!! I used to read his BareFeats.com often and would refer some of my clients going back as far as the ole days...where I was a Retail Sales Manager for The Computer Stores NW. Guess I'm showing my young age of 53 now...man how time flies!!! :#  Also just read Rob's https://loveyourparentstodeath.com well worth the longer read!
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