Mac Hardware - 5k Supremacy - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Mac Hardware - 5k Supremacy

«‹›31 »

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

mediaphage posted:

if it delivers enough power sure

And even weak ones will work to charge while it's sleeping.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2022 20:49

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 15, 2024 15:23

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

vote_no posted:

I've tried changing the antialiasing and font smoothing but it never looks good. It's super obnoxious because if I load up RDP into Windows on those monitors, the text is back to being perfect, and if I load up a Linux VM, same deal. It's just text Mac OS renders.

Is there anything I can do on the OS side? I found a suggestion to change AppleFontSmoothing, but that just makes it different -- not really better.

Different might be the best you can get, and might need to restart apps for changes to take effect if it's like before. Hell I thought they got rid of that setting, but basically there's always been a philosophical difference in their text antialiasing implementations. Windows (and I guess Linux here) use it more for sharpness, Apple goes more for render accuracy, which is basically going to be blurrier on non retina screens. Subpixel AA (which that setting controlled before) helps but I vaguely recall them talking about getting rid of it a while ago, for reasons I forget (may or may have not been "gently caress non retina displays!").

But besides that stuff, there could be a thing related to wrong color space which can make things look worse than they should but forget the details on that, I think it was specific to hooking up with HDMI though. Color calibration could affect things in that sense too, or various monitor settings at the monitor hardware level like if it has sharpness or overdrive functions or something that can affect quality.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2022 00:08

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Binary Badger posted:

In actual hardware rumors.. Luke Miani swears this monstrosity is what Apple will announce tomorrow:

The 'Mac Studio,' or as I like to call it the Cube Reborn.. supposedly will ship with either an M1 Pro or an unidentified chip even more powerful than the Max.. M2 Ultra maybe?

Dude's got a spotty track record to say the least:
https://appletrack.com/author/lukemiani/

I expect a box of some sort...just not that box. Wild card: mini trash can (aka mug)! :v:

But chip wise the 2xM1 Pro/Max is probably it. That and 4x have been rumored forever now by Gurman I think (aka one of the actual leakers with a decent track record). Wonder if it's some multi chip setup or monstrous multi die MCM interposer thing or what.

Mister Facetious posted:

That empty space is (was?) for user upgradable ssd storage. It holds one by default but has the space and mounts for two.

Was. The current (external) design was from the 2010 model, when optical drives were still a thing! You could get the optical and a 2.5" drive standard, or dual 2.5s for the "server" model. I think the older taller + smaller foot print one had a server variant too. With the 2018 one they revamped the guts to handle the thermals for 65W Intel CPUs, then I dunno, have no use for that with the M1.

So yeah the Mac mini is long overdue for a redesign...which has been rumored for a while, separate from whatever the hell this other machine is supposed to be.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2022 20:05

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

punk rebel ecks posted:

The Mac Studio seems like a reasonable deal. Judging by the backlash am I misreading the specs?

For what it is, it's about what I expected. But I also expected something a bit cheaper with a binned M1 Pro to begin with (like in the base 14" MBP), whether a lower end Mac Studio or higher end Mac mini (to replace the remaining Intel one).

So it costs more but the base spec is decent, so I'm just like :shrug:

here sitting on the fence about it...I'll probably get it refurb or from the edu store if possible.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2022 09:53

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

the talent deficit posted:

the a15 was such a marginal upgrade on the a14 that i think they are probably waiting to base the m2 on the a16 cores

The A-X chips tended to take longer or just skip generations, not surprising if they continued doing that.

Shaocaholica posted:

So where does Apple go now from M1U? Doesn't seem like you can inter connect any more M1M together.

The same rumor for that one going way back also mentioned a quad version, so that's the obvious route if that's somehow possible. But some Apple website wordage says the Ultra is the last member of the M1 family, so uh, either a different letter for a quad M1M or get ready for the M2 EXTREME.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2022 10:26

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

CitizenKain posted:

So this might be odd, but has anyone ever used something like an iMac as a semi-portable video conference setup? We have some larger hardware for bigger rooms (Room Kits), but occasionally I get asked to help setup a remote thing at a remote location.
I'd just use one of our work machines, but due to the batshit insanity of our environment, webcams on our machines don't work very well.
I figure something like this is small enough to toss in a pelican case, has a large enough screen for a few people around a table, the camera seems good, and it has good speakers. Any ideas?

There's at least one man that used an iMac as a semi-portable setup, albeit not for video conferencing: Panera Bread iMac Man.

Anyway I imagine the new one would be fine, with the caveat of being limited by the power cable, like if the closest outlet is too far from the ideal location in a room or something. Maybe also pack an extension cord for that case. Or fat rear end battery thing if fully portable is desired.

Main drawback I can think of is that the camera isn't wide angle (like on the iPads with "center stage"), which might be useful in your particular use case.

frogbs posted:

I've always thought Apple's displays were great, but someone in the SHSC Monitor thread the other day said they were "the worst" compared to others they've seen and now I don't know what to think!

Maybe they just want basic features like multiple inputs or accepting anything other than Thunderbolt input...I'd be very tempted if they could cause there's so few options above ~160 ppi (non retina iPhones and original iPad mini were 163 for reference, if anyone remembers those).

The nice thing about whatever "retina" displays (~220+ ppi) on a Mac is running the higher "more space" resolution and looking fine. Looking it up it's equivalent to 3200x1800 on the 5K iMacs...course that means it's rendering at 6400x3600 and downscaling to fit the screen but hey gotta use those GPUs for something.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2022 09:03

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

If you want perfect scaled 2x 1440p, then yeah 5K. On a 4K you can get the same 1440p space and better detail than just 1440p, but imperfect scaling. Technically it'll be rendering the same 5120x2880 then scaling down to fit the 4K panel. So you're missing pixels, but it's still resolving more detail than just scaling 1440p up to 4K.

It's just kind of a matter of whether you notice the imperfections. On Apple's displays at ~220+ PPI, I run at the higher resolution settings and don't notice. Most other displays out there like 4K 27" or that one "5K2K" ultrawide are about 160 PPI, which is like the pre retina iPhone and iPad mini if you ever had those. Low enough that you could maybe run tiny 1x (like the poster above) but still a good amount denser than a regular 1440p 27" (~110 PPI) so scaled resolutions may be viable.

xgalaxy posted:

Some people claim using fractional scaling causes the computer to run slower. I don't think thats true for anything released in the last couple of years though. Or at least, isn't noticeable.

I think it's just the matter of needing to render more than your panel's pixels (and then scaling down) but not sure how much of a hit that is these days. But like above, natively you'd just be rendering 4K, while scaled you're doing 5K. On a 5K panel, for the biggest scaled resolution it's something like 6400 pixels wide.

japtor fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Mar 17, 2022

# ¿ Mar 17, 2022 19:10

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Ultimate Mango posted:

The monitor rabbit hole is deep indeed. Rtings also likes the 32� 4K Gigabyte. Might be good for the studio. But it�s too tall for my secondary monitor spot. So maybe the magical dell ultrawide that is under 21� tall. The LGs with height adjustable stands seem to squeeze that low.

I�ve had iMacs for so long I had no idea what�s been happening in the world of monitors and now I need an advil and some scotch.

Basically no one went up to Apple levels of screen density for the desktop (~220 dpi), instead almost everything else seems to be capped at 4K screens around 160 ppi, but pushing stuff like refresh rate or HDR and such.

Many ultra wides are arguably kinda pointless these days cause they're usually just chopped down 4K or 1440p screens. Some of the exceptions are "5K2K" ones (...which is chopped down 5K) or the few remaining 3440x1440 ones which give some extra width vs the usual standard resolutions. There's also huge double wide ones, but resolution/density tends to be crappy. Like the Dell 49" one is 5120x1440, cause it's basically two 2560x1440 displays.

But yeah whatever the hell you get, just remember that monitor arms are awesome.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2022 07:51

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Splinter posted:

My theory is the Studio Display and Mac Studio just exist so they can significantly undercut that combo with a new 27" 5k iMac and say "see you're going to buy a new display from us every time you need a new desktop and you're going to like it."

I assume they figured out that some people wanted a separate computer and display, and would gladly pay more for the combo. The 5K iMac has been too good a deal all these years.

(Also it�s something they can sell to the main chunk of Mac users that have a notebook)

# ¿ Mar 26, 2022 03:06

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

LODGE NORTH posted:

Have any accessory manufacturers announced any Mac Studio things? Like a USB-C hub that clips to the back somehow or something?

Well it's the same footprint as the Mac mini so there's kinda already stuff that can sit below or on top, like this one or these super elaborate ones.

Unless you meant something for the Studio Display, in which case I feel like there was a little "backpack" shelf thing announced by someone. Otherwise get the VESA mount and find some USB hub that fits in as a VESA mount bracket, or just repurpose the ones meant for mini PCs.

japtor fucked around with this message at 09:05 on Mar 26, 2022

# ¿ Mar 26, 2022 09:01

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Yeast posted:

Me too! My Mum is due a new computer and she loved her colourful phone- so I�m hoping she�ll like the new Air.

I�m super curious to see if the notch gets added to every notebook now

I could see the notch as being MBP only, particularly if the MBA is styled like the iMac as rumored w/white bezels.

Mr. Mercury posted:

You didn't miss anything unless your viewing distance is under 15 inches from cornea to screen

The 34" 5K2K is the same PPI as the 27" 4K displays, basically just a wider version of the same panel, it's not that dense. I think the only higher density desktop display outside of the Apple (and identical LG) ones these days is like the Dell 8K.

I did see some mentions of no name 5K displays, but they don't seem to exist anymore...what I did find was panels and control boards for DIYing 5K displays for about $500 on AliExpress. And of course someone on the MacRumors forums did it.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2022 06:46

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Yeast posted:

Did you get regular or the nano-coating?

I'm enjoying the standard, but the idea of returning one and getting one with it is tempting (to help replicate print/paper).

Related to matte vs glossy, this happened to come up for me the other day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mTV1TOblbA

The nano coating is supposed to be better than traditional matte finishes, but ultimately it's still the same principle of diffusing light and iirc from reviews still affects the image quality a bit.

Hasturtium posted:

Probably WWDC, in June.

I don't think they've done hardware at WWDC for a while? Feels more like a(nother) Mac Pro teaser time, particularly if it's still M1 based. I could see M2 MBAs later in the year...course one of the big rumor guys mentioned maybe being M1 still I think.

LODGE NORTH posted:

Yeah, no doubt, I just don�t see it as uncommon for people to have their gaming consoles paired with their Mac desktops going forward.

Yeah I'm one of those weirdos that wants more inputs for occasional games if not another computer. And stuff like PiP or split screen would be nice at that point too. The price doesn't help, but the only other options are cheaper (and inputs!) but poo poo build quality, or like...a bunch more for the Dell 8K. I'd even take smaller 4K (or 4.5K!) panels but those don't seem to exist anymore either.

Course I've been looking at some Dell 4Ks and just giving in at this point. Deciding between the S2721QC and U2723QE. Haven't checked out other brands much yet though.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2022 18:45

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Lady Radia posted:

in the meantime, has anyone got experience daisychaining thunderbolt 4 output to hdmi input? wanna see if I can't do some fancy science on another monitor I have

Like computer -> TB display -> HDMI display?

In theory I feel like that should work, but I might just be thinking of how you can daisy chain displays through random TB peripherals. I don't know if TB displays would be different in that regard.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2022 01:30

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

LODGE NORTH posted:

In other 5K news, I just found out the Studio Display doesn't support multiple inputs and I legitimately just don't understand why Apple is doing these things.

Mr. Mercury posted:

Truth be told I'm a lot more hostile to this design because it makes a lot of user-hostile design choices, and even if you were so far into the Mac-o-sphere to really want this product: there's a good chance they fix some of these quirks on the next gen and make you feel like an idiot for being an early adopter for the first whack at the design. I mean, you would be, so

I don't remember if they've ever done multiple inputs on their displays, and I'm talking about going all the way back to the old CRTs. It's just never been a thing in Apple display land.

But one thing I've wondered about with this one, haven't looked too much into it but from some things I've read it sounds like it supports DisplayPort input, rather than just being purely Thunderbolt only like some previous TB displays have been. Kinda wonder if there's a USB 4 KVM or whatever that could work, it'd be like the old days before multiple inputs were the norm and you could get a hardware switch :v:

mediaphage posted:

a semi-related question; in the presentation they showed off using multiple displays - can you use the webcams and speakers from more than one display at a time

I imagine they'd show up as regular input devices (based on them supposedly working in Windows), in which case yeah that should be possible as long as you have the software for it, like OBS or whatever. Or just using different cameras for different apps simultaneously.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2022 07:43

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Hasturtium posted:

Good news: software's usually fixable. Bad news: if it's taken this long to acknowledge, that may not be trivial. Here's hoping...

For those of us who are unwilling or unable to pay for Apple's monitors, how well does a stock 4K monitor work? I have a BenQ 32" 4K60 that I believe would acquit itself well to a Studio once I calibrated the color appropriately. What do goons think?

Anywhere from good/fine to unacceptable. Just kinda depends on resolution you'll run and tolerance for whatever sizing or scaling if applicable, which will depend on your eyesight and how much you give a poo poo.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2022 01:07

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Fedule posted:

A new Airport Base Station will be the quickest purchase I have ever made from Apple. I'll do it even before I find out if they've found a way to gently caress it up.

$599 for a pair of units. Or a four pack for $999.

Course that pricing wouldn't even be that crazy these days, looks like there's already stuff in that range on the upper end.

# ¿ May 30, 2022 08:59

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

BobHoward posted:

The $120 option is the 0TB storage config with a free M.2 socket.

$120 is still a ridiculously low price for a TB dock with that many features from a tiny operation (no economies of scale). You can easily pay $120 just for a Thunderbolt M.2 enclosure.

There's a bunch of other red flags. A notable one: the campaign goal was only $6373???? If you believe the timeline they posted, they've got all the engineering done already and now need to invest in tooling, run some pilot production, and ramp to mass production. If you need money to start tooling and production, $6K is a drop in the bucket. Even the $72K they've gotten from the campaign isn't much. If it's a real project that's going to deliver product, it's mostly been funded outside of KS.

So... what's the KS campaign for? Hmmmmmmmmmmm

$120 is the early bird price with retail being $210, so not ridiculously far off of this mostly identical looking layout (minus the wireless charging):

https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Thunderbolt-2800Mbps-DisplayPort-Ethernet/dp/B09G145KBK/

Or this one for $165 (...off this site I've never heard of):

https://iswedes.com/product/jeyi-2-...-aluminum-body/

So I'd guess there's some existing reference design they're using. Decent chance it's probably already done. So yeah $6k to lure people in and whatever (if any) losses of early bird pricing is basically just advertising expenses.

Binary Badger posted:

Dunno what this guy's record is like, buuuuutttt...

https://twitter.com/LukeMiani/status/1532107675026194436

He's the guy that more or less nailed the Mac Studio design, albeit somewhat questionable what looking at his previous stuff. "Some hardware" is incredibly vague in comparison.

Mac Pro and/or MBA are the obvious candidates, particularly with the former specifically being teased at the end of the last event. Then there's the billion other non Mac/iOS accessory things.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2022 01:15

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Binary Badger posted:

Meanwhile on YouTube, the usual suspects are cranking their M2 Airs open with suction cups and guitar picks and filling their machines with thermal pads

The verdict is: yes, it helps somewhat; in some cases it lets the M2 Air actually beat out some benchmark scores from the fan-equipped 13-inch M2 MBP

1 and 1.5 mm thermal pads seem to be the right thickness

They're not really going to help with games that drive up GPU usage over sustained periods, but they will help peeps with some shorter length renders / plugins, like most image editing apps

Is it like the M1 MBA mod where it just transfers the excess heat directly to your crotch instead?

# ¿ Jul 19, 2022 02:48

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Criss-cross posted:

Comedy option: They move to a nano SD card slot.

Bring back mini SD.

SlowBloke posted:

In order to achieve high speeds, the most common trick is to use multiple storage chips in parallel, meaning it will use more room inside the card, making it a hellish prospect to design and manufacture for microSD. Same story for storage size, there is a point where the single chip modules don't exist so you need to use multiple IC and those will not fit easily. Those are solved problems on full size, since it has plenty of room inside.

There's also a matter of heat generation by all those chips within the small space.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2022 21:38

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

njsykora posted:

Has that improved in the past year? I tried doing some Blender stuff on my M1 Air when I first got it and it was sluggish as gently caress but Blender does tend to improve in big leaps with major version releases.

Probably has to do with this Apple/Blender announcement a little over a year ago.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2023 08:49

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Binary Badger posted:

Apple will just switch out the logic board for a new one. Yes, if your internal SSD chips fail in a way that doesn't allow reads, the whole machine is toast as everything is stored on it. You need to be able to boot to Recovery mode / Assistant to allow booting to external drives through the Startup Security Utility on current Macs.

How about for the Mac Studio? SSD isn't soldered there...seems to have whatever soft/firmware/security blocks, but presumably Apple can work around that stuff.

Granted I'm sure it'd still cost a bunch anyway :shrug:

# ¿ Jan 31, 2023 22:42

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Splinter posted:

Yeah most sales are on what stores stock rather than BTOs, so for the 16" that'd be one of the 3 configs you see on Apple's store page. So if you require > 32 GB of RAM or > 1TB internal SSD, you're out of luck. You could wait until something that meets your requirements gets put on the refurb store, but you could be waiting a while for that.

There's some online places that sell BTO iirc, Adorama and B&H come to mind, and they'll occasionally have modest discounts.

I'm guessing they might show up occasionally on the refurb site, which should be a way better deal if you can find what you want.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2023 03:04

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Shaocaholica posted:

Thanks.

Is there a breakdown of MBP M2 SSD performance per storage tier? Something about the M2 512G tier being slower than the M1 512G tier. For me I�m deffo getting 2T or higher.

Probably somewhere on Reddit or MacRumors forums, or the various YouTube videos that say "DON'T BUY UNTIL YOU WATCH THIS" and the ilk.

SourKraut posted:

You can charge refurb store items to the Apple Card. You can't do installments for them though.

There's the Apple Pay Later thing (not out yet?)...but from searching around looks like it's pretty short term anyway, 4 payments over 6 weeks.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2023 06:56

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Shaocaholica posted:

So this neural engine part of the SOC. What kind of practical workloads does it support? I think people are thinking it will make Macs do AI art faster but pretty sure that's not how AI art generation works is it? It's all behind the scenes housekeeping crypto work right? Not user workloads like image filters and such.

I think in theory if something uses CoreML, that'll distribute work to whatever is available, including the Neural Engine. I found some older write up (i.e. pre ARM Macs) saying it had whatever limitations, so stuff could just be running on GPU and/or CPU if the Neural Engine couldn't handle it. No clue how the newer chips compare.

But anyway one example of user workloads, Pixelmator's Super Resolution upscale thing uses CoreML and apparently runs really fast on the ARM Macs:
https://www.pixelmator.com/blog/2019/12/17/all-about-the-new-ml-super-resolution-feature-in-pixelmator-pro/
https://twitter.com/pixelmator/status/1329396180917362688

# ¿ Feb 2, 2023 00:34

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Warbird posted:

Any suggestions of what to do with this now defunct 2013 MBP? I could toss linux on it, but that would be a novelty at best. It doesn�t have enough memory onboard to warrant converting to a server so I�m not sure what to do with it.

ChromeOS Flex?

If your MBP is a 11,2 model it's "Certified" list, even if it's one of the others maybe worth a shot if you're just going to dump it otherwise.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2023 09:43

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

badjohny posted:

Doesn't macOS have its own virtualization framework? It would be great to have win11 arm run without the need for parallels. Maybe a option in macOS 14?

Framework, yes, but that's all it is, you still need some app/front end to set up and run things. There's a few like UTM and others I forget the name of if you don't want Parallels.

Anyway it sounds like VMware shouldn't be too far behind with more Windows Arm support (and iirc they have a free version these days if you just want something cheap/free):

https://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2023/02/microsoft-now-officially-supports-windows-on-mac-computers-with-apple-silicon.html

Kibner posted:

Yeah, if you are actually doing full-time work on the computer, you are going to be tied to a desk, anyway, and want the full setup of ergonomic desk, chair, keyboard, mouse, and monitor mount.

If you use a laptop for all that, you will also need to get a docking station to hook it up to your setup. Depending on the kind of work you do, it may actually be cheaper and more effective to get a desktop for the actual work and a separate, much cheaper laptop to do less-intensive things.

This is kinda the logic for my setup, Mac mini + iPad and MBA. Desktop is when I want to sit down and work work on stuff, and often times just leave stuff open on there. For simpler stuff or just loving around I can use the iPad or MBA, and worst case remote into the Mac mini if necessary.

Plus I can stagger purchases and spread out the costs. Mac Studio is probably next when that gets updated, while the MBA still feels ok for what I use it for, other than battery life feeling short at times.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2023 20:45

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

teraflame posted:

Is there any practical downside to getting the older model of LG 5k? I can buy for $400 locally

I saw a post elsewhere recently about them, depends which older one I guess? 2016 vs 2019:

"For what it's worth, I've heard far, far, far fewer complaints of misbehavior from the 2019 revision of the UF5K (27MD5KL) than the original 2016 version (27MD5KA). Anything in the channel at this point should be the L version. Tiny sample size, but neither of mine has ever misbehaved, and both have quite good panel quality (though the 2021-build one is noticeably better than the 2019-buiild one)."

zachol posted:

Seems like it would be useful to have something like a dedicated button off to the side that you could comfortably click and hold to drag things, instead of a single surface.

oh wait

I feel like rarely use the thumb to click/drag at this point but it still works fine on the Magic Trackpads :shrug:

Zenostein posted:

Drag lock is the best, except it has made me unable to select text in windows with a trackpad.

Who wants to hold down a button while they trudge through folders to move a file.

I forget, is that done with tap tap-drag? If so the main issue I've always had is that it adds a delay on regular tap clicks, or something like that that throws me off (since I only tap to click).

(...or it's an independent option that works with the superior three finger drag and I just completely forgot)

# ¿ Feb 21, 2023 21:55

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Zenostein posted:

Is that what causes that absurd delay? I assumed that was just osx being stupid about tap clicks. But yeah, it's double-click, drag, click. Much better if you run out of space on the trackpad, or need to scroll a window to find the right folder to drop/spring, rather than hoping you don't hit the timeout and drop whatever you were dropping somewhere.

I haven't tried the option in years but yeah iirc it's drag lock that causes it. I think it's basically waiting for the second tap or not to determine whether you're doing a click or drag.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2023 06:53

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Dejan Bimble posted:

I really want to use my a1048 (just a slightly newer mac pro type) keyboard with my new mba, and I'm ashamed to admit this but I can't figure out which adapter to buy offhand. I think I'm going from usb A to thunderbolt 3? but when I search for adapters I get a real mishmash of results. Is a cheap monoprice one fine or do I go fancier?

USB-C is what you're looking for. And for a keyboard, yeah pretty much whatever USB-A to C adapter should work.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2023 07:27

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

SourKraut posted:

Jony Ive would have never allowed the HDMI port or MagSafe to return, you heathen

Supposedly they were still working together up until some time last year:

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2022/07/12/nyt-jony-ive-apple

I guess the ethos for Pro Macs has basically vacillated between going all or nothing when it comes to legacy stuff vs wacky new ideas. Perhaps the M3 Macs will be more courageous than ever.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2023 21:04

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Traveling with a Mac mini is weird...but I've done it before way back. Basically have a desk setup at home and at work, and just unplug and plug stuff in. Kinda like docking a laptop but more inconvenient cause you gotta shut it down before unplugging.

well why not posted:

I wish the mac mini had a usbc/magsafe power cable. It's the one cable that is most likely to drape from the desk down. It'd also mean that you could travel with the mini a bit more easily, using whatever type-c cable was around, instead of the current double barrel.

Somebody needs to convince timbo that he can save shipping costs or kill a production line to make this happen.

MagSafe is fine for something with an internal battery. The Mac mini does not have a battery. Unless you're also asking for a battery the vast majority of users will never use and just be another failure point.

Moving power to USB-C would also mean moving to an external power brick. Which was kind of annoying for the older Minis way back for travel use, albeit those were proprietary ones. There's some possible advantages like moving the PSU out of the case for more space for whatever or easy replacement if it dies. But at best it feels like a push cause the current standard plug is such a common standard itself and having the PSU internal is convenient in its own right.

SourKraut posted:

And T-shaped connectors are more resilient to the strain also than the L-shaped connectors were for the actual MagSafe. I think they went to the L-shape because of its cleaner/low-profile look, but it was definitely a detriment.

Kinda wonder, were the L shaped ones any worse for the "safe" part of MagSafe? Never had one but I could imagine if they were pulled certain directions it might yank the laptop a bit before detaching.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2023 18:35

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

track day bro! posted:

At work we have a now unused Mac Pro 8,1 with 32gb, ram 8 core cpu and the mid range D500 gpu. Was the video editor's machine but they got a much newer MBP and they no longer have a desk anyway. Just wondering if I should bother taking it for myself.

I think people have gotten interested in the trash cans recently cause used prices have dropped below whatever impulse buy price (under $300?). I guess they're at the point of cheap and still useful enough for some stuff, like just having a pretty Mac around for random legacy x86 Mac or Windows uses. Or just for collecting cause they look neat.

(Going by the GPU I'm guessing you mean Mac Pro 6,1 cause 8,1 doesn't appear to exist)

# ¿ Apr 4, 2023 09:05

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

RoboBoogie posted:

one of my RAVPower PD (20,000 mAh 60 W) power bank died, RavPower support tried to get me to go to Amazon to get it warrantied but then said oh then your warranty is expired buy another one when Amazon told me that they dont service warranties.

Before i buy another one, i wanted to see if anyone here have any recommendations on a PD 60W power bank that they love.

Weren't they one of the ones kicked off Amazon a while ago when they cracked down on review scams? Like those free gift for positive review things. Fake edit: Yes

Otherwise I guess whatever Anker 65W one, there's a few options. This one looks like their newest generation one (no clue what the differences are :shrug:

), they have a higher power 87W one too.

I've had good luck with my Baseus battery, so based off that maybe this one if you'd rather have a big flatter slab form factor instead.

quote:

Also does anyone use a 3rd party apple watch charger with a longer cable?

I've been using this one for a few years as my travel (and occasional downstairs charger) with a USB-C cable.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2023 01:54

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

mediaphage posted:

Reminded me of this, from waaay back (2017) at this point:
https://daringfireball.net/2017/04/the_mac_pro_lives

Particularly: "Overall, the split between notebooks and desktops in Mac sales is roughly 80/20." And that was pre ARM switch by a few years (in the butterfly era even), so the notebooks have gotten massively better since then. I'd be surprised if the ratio is anywhere near a 76/24 split these days.

Since then desktop wise the Mac mini feels like it's gotten the most consistent attention starting with the major 2018 update out of nowhere. For the iMac, the iMac Pro came and went (granted it always seemed like a temporary Mac Pro stand in), and they consolidated the two sizes down to one, which still hasn't been updated to M2 (almost expect it to skip to M3 at this point). Mac Pro got that big update and big price bump, then nothing again until the update (and another big price bump) just now. Meanwhile the Mac Studio took over the old higher end Mac price/performance bracket that's been vacated for years.

jawbroken posted:

it has to be something even stupider like respondents confusing MacBook Pro and Mac Pro, because it's clearly insanely wrong. would explain why desktop vs laptop share seems high also

...yeah that would actually explain everything weird about that.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2023 19:12

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Paul MaudDib posted:

it slays me that in literally like 4 months M3 MBPs will be out,

That seems extremely optimistic, unless that's a typo and you meant 14 months.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2023 03:32

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

The Grumbles posted:

Ok, I'm drifting towards picking up an M2 13' Macbook Air with my edu discount (which I only have due to work and so won't have forever!). Although a comment in this thread about M3 MBA's had me spooked. If they've just released the 15 inch MBA, its unlikely an updated one is round the corner? I know you're generally supposed to buy what you need when you need it - but there's been such a stink raised about the RAM/storage configs, I'm wondering whether it's likely they'll revise the base model for any future Air now we're out of the chip shortage.

Wild guess is that they'll update the 13 and 15 together sometime early-mid next year but yeah who knows. On the plus side, since the 13 has been out a while there might be some sales better than your edu discount. Or is your work paying for it too?

quote:

Also, the midnight 13' is the nicest looking laptop Apple have ever put out since the original white MacBook. There's a huge amount of grousing on reddit, Tech youtuber reviews about it being a fingerprint magment. But like my ipad, which is the grey model, gets instantly fingerprinty too, which you notice the first time, but then as you use it more the smudges kind of disappear into the device (same with my dark green iphone). Are people just being huge internet babies on that one?

I got one, kinda forced timing purchase, but it's good. I'm sure mine is fingerprint city but I don't notice at this point, it's fine. I have noticed before but basically I have to consciously be thinking about it.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2023 16:05

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

I think there's something like 2400 mini LED backlights (for however million pixels*), so yeah I guess for large enough pure black parts of the screen they'll just be off. I have no clue how much difference it makes though. And it's not like the only other usage would be full blast white. So real world would be a...gray area.

*per pixel is an OLED thing, and micro LED but that's still pretty rare.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2023 20:14

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 15, 2024 15:23

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Paul MaudDib posted:

MBA 15" isn't going to be refreshed with M3 this year, right? They won't do 2 releases for a single product in 1 year, I'd assume.

They used to back when they refreshed the Macs regularly, but those were usually (if not always?) early + late year releases like ~6+ months apart. The soonest they'd follow a mid year release (like the 15" MBA) would be the next year early window.

The Lord Bude posted:

When did the M2 13� air come out though? It would be peculiar if they didn�t get updates at the same time moving forward; so I�d be counting my 18 months from when it came out

About a year ago. So early/spring '24 would be the likeliest window for new MBAs, assuming no delays with the M3.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2023 06:15

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Mac Hardware - 5k Supremacy

«‹›31 »