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Get an Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3). Preferably a Pro or better for the multiple display support. Minimum 512GB ssd and probably 24GB of ram. More ram is better, but I think 24 would do you well unless you are running vm’s or analyzing very large datasets.
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Nov 11, 2023 16:47
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well why not posted:steve-o showed up to a mac store with wozniak and they used woz’s apple employee number (1) to get steve-o a computer Did anybody tell Steve-O that you can't play Diablo on a Mac? Whoopi Goldberg was furious that you can't play Diablo 4 on Mac because she had played 2 and 3 on Macs. poo poo, didn't Diablo 1 come out on Mac also? I sure played Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and WC2 on Macs, and WC3 launched on Macs day 1.
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Nov 11, 2023 16:56
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Perestroika posted:This may be a somewhat silly question, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious. I'm starting a new job as a software developer next year, and the question of hardware came up. So far I only ever worked on Linux (and rarely Windows), but the new boss suggested I may wanna look into getting a Mac because the rest of the company uses them as well. MacOS is also UNIX-based. The terminal will feel mostly familiar with some small differences like your home folder being in a slightly different place relative to root and a couple tools like sed have different flags or flag behavior that are easily StackOverflow-able. Macs are popular with devs because it’s close to a Linux environment but with incredible hardware and apps that are pleasant to use, albeit closed-source and paid (I have also daily-driven Linux, not making GBS threads on the open source ecosystem and understand some people’s commitment to it, but I love me some Airmail and Fantastical and I ended up coming back to Mac for productivity’s sake). But as the person above said, yes, grab anything at least that is M1/2/3. Nothing Intel based, they’re just completely outdated now performance wise.
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Nov 11, 2023 17:03
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Perestroika posted:This may be a somewhat silly question, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious. I'm starting a new job as a software developer next year, and the question of hardware came up. So far I only ever worked on Linux (and rarely Windows), but the new boss suggested I may wanna look into getting a Mac because the rest of the company uses them as well. First of all, congrats on the new job! I’m not a dev but I tinker with enough source code to have a little background and am friends with a number of programmers. - 32GB RAM should be plenty; if you get an Air, max it out with 24GB RAM and follow whatever guidelines for storage IT suggests, or is willing to pay for. More than a terabyte is probably overkill unless your repos are huge and can’t be hosted on an external drive for some reason. - MacPorts or Homebrew are by far and away the easiest way to install dependencies for development. They’re effectively third party package management, and can do a lot more than just replace the creaky GPL2-licensed CLI bits macOS comes with. - Take a little time to get used to some of macOS’s conventions and filesystem layout versus your preferred Linux distributions. It could save you a few head scratchers later. - Barring RAM concerns any Apple Silicon Mac on the market should cheerfully grind through Python and JS work. Take a look at a few options and have fun. Hasturtium fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Nov 11, 2023 |
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Nov 11, 2023 17:11
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Twerk from Home posted:Did anybody tell Steve-O that you can't play Diablo on a Mac? Whoopi Goldberg was furious that you can't play Diablo 4 on Mac because she had played 2 and 3 on Macs. Yeah, but honestly some part of me feels that we will see D4 on macOS someday, especially if it ends up showing up on the Nintendo Switch 2, if only because MS probably wants games on as many non-Sony systems as possible.
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Nov 11, 2023 17:58
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That's reassuring to hear, thanks for the responses and suggestions! Time to see just how fancy these things are for myself. 
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Nov 11, 2023 18:02
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Canned Sunshine posted:Yeah, but honestly some part of me feels that we will see D4 on macOS someday, especially if it ends up showing up on the Nintendo Switch 2, if only because MS probably wants games on as many non-Sony systems as possible. Blizzard is owned by Microsoft now.
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Nov 11, 2023 18:04
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FlapYoJacks posted:Blizzard is owned by Microsoft now. I know, which is why I hope we’ll see some Blizzard games make their way back to macOS. Even if it’s not a huge money maker, it’s in their interest from a regulatory perspective to see some of the games on other systems/etc for awhile, and I think one of the stipulations of either the EU or UK approval (or both?) was that if someone comes and asks for a game to be ported to the system, MS has to accommodate it.
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Nov 11, 2023 18:31
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Saw the Blackbook Pro at my local Costco today. It does look really nice in person; I'll probably have self restraint and wait to upgrade my M1 Max until the M4s debut, but it is a nice step up from the Space Black before it.
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Nov 11, 2023 22:34
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People are playing Diablo 4 right now on Macs perfectly well using the game porting toolkit, at least until blizzard decides it’s a ToS violation. Not that you need Diablo 4 in a world where BG3 exists.
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Nov 12, 2023 00:06
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The Lord Bude posted:Not that you need Diablo 4 in a world where BG3 exists. Two entirely different appetites.
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Nov 12, 2023 01:48
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AlternateAccount posted:Two entirely different appetites. Yeah, one is good the other is Diablo 4.
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Nov 12, 2023 01:50
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Crossover works incredibly well too
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Nov 12, 2023 01:52
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Small White Dragon posted:Probably should've bought more RAM I was told that 16 GB would be plenty for most applications 😐 TBF the M2 Air can handle nearly everything I throw at it and it’s become my favorite computer. I love how lightweight and slim it is and how I can throw it in a tote or a backpack and not have to worry about the weight. It would definitely be a trade off.
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Nov 12, 2023 03:50
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I'm a depraved individual that went with 8GB (Macbook Air M2), but I also pretty much only use Safari exclusively, and Logic Pro. I've had zero issues. For everything else I would rather use my desktop PC.
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Nov 12, 2023 04:16
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Selling a computer that costs over $1000 with 8GB of RAM should be illegal
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Nov 12, 2023 04:18
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BUUNNI posted:I was told that 16 GB would be plenty for most applications 😐 VMs and processing large data sets aren't "most applications." You would honestly want more than even 32GB for all that.
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Nov 12, 2023 04:50
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MarcusSA posted:Crossover works incredibly well too What games have you tried with Crossover? I've been thinking of getting it since I've read good things about 23.5, but haven't yet.
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Nov 12, 2023 06:19
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hatty posted:Selling a computer that costs over $1000 with 8GB of RAM should be illegal  You get twice as much RAM and disk on a $140 computer as a $1,100 MacBook Air.
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Nov 12, 2023 07:04
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Wow that’s crazy.
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Nov 12, 2023 07:20
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Good thing they also offer 16gb and 512gb options.
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Nov 12, 2023 07:29
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BUUNNI posted:I was told that 16 GB would be plenty for most applications 😐 In general, this is probably true, but once you start throwing VMs into the mix, all bets are off.
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Nov 12, 2023 10:26
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I said come in! posted:I'm a depraved individual that went with 8GB (Macbook Air M2), but I also pretty much only use Safari exclusively, and Logic Pro. I've had zero issues. For everything else I would rather use my desktop PC. Same, people underestimate how unnoticeable ssd swap is on this thing, I think you only need 16 gb if you really know you need it, these things just don’t use RAM in the same way as other computers. If your use case is ‘typing things into office programmes or browsing the web or watching stuff’ it’s great.
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Nov 12, 2023 17:52
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https://twitter.com/macrumors/status/1722974271876816905?s=46&t=36rNzOEGx40Ej2XR8t_CPwquote:Perhaps unsurprisingly, Yuryev saw significant performance improvements across the board using the 16GB machine under both middling and heavier workloads. The 8GB model took several minutes longer to complete photo-merging jobs in Photoshop as well as media exports in Final Cut and Adobe Lightroom Classic.
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Nov 12, 2023 17:59
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Eve online runs and looks fantastic on my 16 M1 Pro.
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Nov 12, 2023 18:01
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I hemmed and hawed all weekend and finally hit the button on the 14" M3 BlackBook Pro with M3 Pro, 18GB RAM, and 1TB storage. Picking it up from Best Buy any minute now. It will be replacing a Thinkpad X13 that is collecting dust because the battery life - even with a modern Ryzen processor - is abhorrent, not to even mention the screen lottery you tend to play on ThinkPads. At least it should be easy to flip... anyone in the market for a Gen 2 X13 with a 2 year remaining depot warranty and an upgraded 2TB NVMe? 
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Nov 12, 2023 19:57
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MarcusSA posted:Eve online runs and looks fantastic on my 16 M1 Pro.  When has EVE ever run fine on anything
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Nov 12, 2023 20:38
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American McGay posted:https://twitter.com/macrumors/status/1722974271876816905?s=46&t=36rNzOEGx40Ej2XR8t_CPw Yes but these are heavy single workloads that saturate 8GB, not a dozen less intensive tasks that aren’t even really all running constantly and can be swapped out fairly painlessly. (Get the 16GB)
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Nov 12, 2023 20:40
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AlternateAccount posted:Yes but these are heavy single workloads that saturate 8GB, not a dozen less intensive tasks that aren’t even really all running constantly and can be swapped out fairly painlessly. M3 should have been the inflection point when Apple pushed a minimum of 12GB out to all of its machines. 8GB wasn’t even a lot of RAM in 2012.
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Nov 12, 2023 20:43
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how is apple going to survive if they cant charge $250 for an additional 8GB of ram
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Nov 12, 2023 20:44
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Hasturtium posted:M3 should have been the inflection point when Apple pushed a minimum of 12GB out to all of its machines. 8GB wasn’t even a lot of RAM in 2012. I watched a techtuber mention that rumor too (based on reports the m3 would support 24gb ram), and uhh, lol.
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Nov 12, 2023 21:08
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Macichne Leainig posted:I hemmed and hawed all weekend and finally hit the button on the 14" M3 BlackBook Pro with M3 Pro, 18GB RAM, and 1TB storage. Picking it up from Best Buy any minute now. It will be replacing a Thinkpad X13 that is collecting dust because the battery life - even with a modern Ryzen processor - is abhorrent, not to even mention the screen lottery you tend to play on ThinkPads. Congrats! I've been looking at my space gray 14" MBP M1 Max since seeing the Blackbook Pro yesterday, and gently caress, do I want that new color... So I'm very jealous.
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Nov 12, 2023 21:20
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Also, is bandwidth consistent between all models of M3 Macs? I’m getting a tingling on the back of my neck remembering the base model 2019 Pro, and how the base 32GB RAM only used four channels out of its available six.
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Nov 12, 2023 21:23
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If I’m replacing my 2018 Mini, does it make sense to go with a base model studio rather than the Mini with the M2Pro as upgrading it to 32gb of ram makes it cost exactly the same as the studio. Or whenever they make the studio with the M3 chips or we
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Nov 12, 2023 21:56
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track day bro! posted:If I’m replacing my 2018 Mini, does it make sense to go with a base model studio rather than the Mini with the M2Pro as upgrading it to 32gb of ram makes it cost exactly the same as the studio. I’m hovering between options myself. Most of my post history in this thread in 2022 was basically obsessing over a base model Studio I still haven’t picked up, but I’m about to talk myself into it for the express purpose of having a long-lasting Mac desktop that’ll make short work of transcoding my entire Blu-ray and DVD collection. It depends on your use case - just nudging the M2 Pro mini to 32GB won’t make it the same price as a Studio, but tacking on a CPU upgrade as well would nearly close the gap.
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Nov 12, 2023 22:04
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Hasturtium posted:Also, is bandwidth consistent between all models of M3 Macs? I’m getting a tingling on the back of my neck remembering the base model 2019 Pro, and how the base 32GB RAM only used four channels out of its available six. No, it's not consistent between all models of M3, and it's even worse this time around, since they're doing segmentation even within models, so M3 is 100 GB/s bandwidth, while M3 Pro takes that up to 150 GB/s; M3 Max then has either 300 GB/s or 400 GBs, depending on if you go with the 14-core CPU or 16-core CPU. This is compared to M1 and M2's, where it was 100 GB/s for the base, 200 GB/s for the Pros, and 400 GB/s for the Max's. It'll be interesting to see if Apple even bothers with the 14-core M3 Max option when doubling up for the M3 Ultra, or if it just baselines at the 16-core option and the full bandwidth. My guess is that they will do a 28c CPU/60c GPU M3 Ultra @ 600 GB/s, and then the 32c CPU/80c GPU M3 Ultra @ 800 GB/s. Either way, it's annoying as hell. track day bro! posted:If I’m replacing my 2018 Mini, does it make sense to go with a base model studio rather than the Mini with the M2Pro as upgrading it to 32gb of ram makes it cost exactly the same as the studio. I would expect the base Studio to be equal to the intro M3 Max on the MBP, so probably 14-core CPU, 30-core GPU, 32 GB RAM, but probably now a 1TB SSD. They might bump the price though a bit unfortunately, but we'll see... They could also surprise though at WWDC 2024, and maybe add in another tier of M3 Max, but that's just 100% non-justified speculation on my part. Edit: Hasturtium posted:I’m hovering between options myself. Most of my post history in this thread in 2022 was basically obsessing over a base model Studio I still haven’t picked up, but I’m about to talk myself into it for the express purpose of having a long-lasting Mac desktop that’ll make short work of transcoding my entire Blu-ray and DVD collection. It depends on your use case - just nudging the M2 Pro mini to 32GB won’t make it the same price as a Studio, but tacking on a CPU upgrade as well would nearly close the gap. Not sure if you have a Costco near you, and it's probably gone, but they were cleaning out base M1 Max Studios for $999.97 recently, and for that price, it's an absolute steal.
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Nov 12, 2023 22:16
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Canned Sunshine posted:No, it's not consistent between all models of M3, and it's even worse this time around, since they're doing segmentation even within models, so M3 is 100 GB/s bandwidth, while M3 Pro takes that up to 150 GB/s; M3 Max then has either 300 GB/s or 400 GBs, depending on if you go with the 14-core CPU or 16-core CPU. That's all helpful info. I kept one beady eye on my local Costcos for a while, but I think that ship has sailed. Micro Center's offering its Mac desktops with a 10% discount, so I will likely bite the bullet and dole out $1800 for a base Studio before long... It's so much more than I need at the moment that it makes it easier to rationalize.
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Nov 12, 2023 23:04
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Hasturtium posted:That's all helpful info. I kept one beady eye on my local Costcos for a while, but I think that ship has sailed. Micro Center's offering its Mac desktops with a 10% discount, so I will likely bite the bullet and dole out $1800 for a base Studio before long... It's so much more than I need at the moment that it makes it easier to rationalize. Yeah, if you don't particularly care about the feature improvements coming in the M3 Max's, such as AV1 decode and hardware mesh shader/ray tracing, then I don't think you'd go wrong with the base M2 Max that has the 12 core CPU and 30 core GPU. One thing to note about the base M2 Max Studio though: Apple did their historical bullshit shenanigans when it came to the SSD; the base Studio has 512 GB, but it has less bandwidth than the 1TB and up; the 512GB is around 3,000 MB/s I believe, while the 1TB and up are 6,000-7,000 MB/s. If your workflow is sensitive to SSD speed, it might be worth considering going up to 1TB. What's particularly annoying in this instance, is that they didn't reduce the speed of the 512GB SSD in the M1 Max base Studio; I'm sure there's a reason the M2 Max saw it, but whether it was due to supply constraints, penny pinching, or whatever, I don't know. Since you mentioned that you had kept an eye on Costco, just an FYI: Costco starts their "Mac Sales" event tomorrow, November 13th, and they've already advertised that it's going to include the Studios they sell (https://www.costco.com/CatalogSearc...x7BndmjxpJko%3D). So right now, the base M2 Max Studio is $1950, but I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down to $1,750 or $1,800 tomorrow when the sale starts. You mentioned Microcenter had a 10% deal too, so pretty comparable. I'm not sure what Microcenter's return policy is like, but Costco will let you return the Studio up to 90 days after purchase, so if you decided after a month or two that it didn't meet your workflow, or you saw a better deal, you could always return it.
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Nov 13, 2023 00:01
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post Costco deals when they happen
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Nov 13, 2023 00:07
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Canned Sunshine posted:No, it's not consistent between all models of M3, and it's even worse this time around, since they're doing segmentation even within models, so M3 is 100 GB/s bandwidth, while M3 Pro takes that up to 150 GB/s; M3 Max then has either 300 GB/s or 400 GBs, depending on if you go with the 14-core CPU or 16-core CPU. Most of the RAM bandwidth is there to feed the GPU. For example the M3 Max options are 14c CPU + 30c GPU or 16c CPU + 40c GPU. 300 GB/s to feed a 30c GPU is the same bandwidth per GPU core as 400 GB/s for a 40c GPU. Basically they seem to be sizing memory bus width to more closely match the demands of each SoC variant this time around instead of just letting lower models have a lot of excess bandwidth. Saves Apple money while hopefully not costing you much (if any) performance.
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Nov 13, 2023 01:12
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