Flip Flopping between macOS and Windows

[leemkule]

besides the screen on the M2, what other reliability issues have you had with macbooks? I consider apple hardware the most reliable.

So I had an:

14 inch M1 Pro - broken screen. To be entirely honest that laptop was treated quite harshly, so I'll take fault for that one.

Swapped to a 16 inch M2 Max MacBook Pro from the refurb store - within a year - logic board failure, battery failure, screen failure, all replaced under warranty. Within another years the screen failed again, apple blamed me and said there had been 'pressure on the screen' despite no damage. £850 for a new screen. Imo this laptop is just a lemon and I wouldn't buy from refurb store again because of it, or at least I'd hesitate. I take the blame for the 14 inch breaking but not this one, I was so careful with it and it never left the house.

Prodisplay XDR - bought used admittedly. Worked fine for a year then stopped working with my laptop, would just randomly disconnect, black screen, then eventually it would just never connect with a laptop, wasted so much time, effort, and money (bought a caldigit ts4 to try and help, didn't really work) to get this stupid monitor working. Eventually just sold it.

I got so fed up with how much money I had spent that I built a PC, but imo, for me at least the grass isn't always greener, you just swap one sort of bullsh*t for another. I didn't think I would miss all the ecosystem stuff but after 20 years of being mostly apple I am kind of well into the walled garden.

I think the lesson, which I should have learned a lot sooner, is that I shouldn't buy high end Mac products without AppleCare. I wish we had the AppleCare one thing in the UK but we don't, so you need AppleCare for all your products.

Kind of annoyed at myself tbh, I am nowhere near as bad as some with the flip flopping but it is a real time sink faffing around swapping systems. I'm just going to use my M2 Max MacBook Pro (screen is broken on the right hand side but still kind of usable) for now and probably swap to a M5 Max MacBook Pro and pay for AppleCare. Can offset the cost with the sale of the 5080 and the 5090 FE that I have (yes I'm an idiot that bought both).

 

[Steve Adams]

So I had an:

14 inch M1 Pro - broken screen. To be entirely honest that laptop was treated quite harshly, so I'll take fault for that one.

Swapped to a 16 inch M2 Max MacBook Pro from the refurb store - within a year - logic board failure, battery failure, screen failure, all replaced under warranty. Within another years the screen failed again, apple blamed me and said there had been 'pressure on the screen' despite no damage. £850 for a new screen. Imo this laptop is just a lemon and I wouldn't buy from refurb store again because of it, or at least I'd hesitate. I take the blame for the 14 inch breaking but not this one, I was so careful with it and it never left the house.

Prodisplay XDR - bought used admittedly. Worked fine for a year then stopped working with my laptop, would just randomly disconnect, black screen, then eventually it would just never connect with a laptop, wasted so much time, effort, and money (bought a caldigit ts4 to try and help, didn't really work) to get this stupid monitor working. Eventually just sold it.

I got so fed up with how much money I had spent that I built a PC, but imo, for me at least the grass isn't always greener, you just swap one sort of bullsh*t for another. I didn't think I would miss all the ecosystem stuff but after 20 years of being mostly apple I am kind of well into the walled garden.

I think the lesson, which I should have learned a lot sooner, is that I shouldn't buy high end Mac products without AppleCare. I wish we had the AppleCare one thing in the UK but we don't, so you need AppleCare for all your products.

Kind of annoyed at myself tbh, I am nowhere near as bad as some with the flip flopping but it is a real time sink faffing around swapping systems. I'm just going to use my M2 Max MacBook Pro (screen is broken on the right hand side but still kind of usable) for now and probably swap to a M5 Max MacBook Pro and pay for AppleCare. Can offset the cost with the sale of the 5080 and the 5090 FE that I have (yes I'm an idiot that bought both).

I am in the same boat, the grass is not always greener, but it's really yellow on this side of the fence because of lack of hardware at this time.

 

[pshufd]

besides the screen on the M2, what other reliability issues have you had with macbooks? I consider apple hardware the most reliable.

One of the downsides to reliability of Apple's MacBooks is weight. I do wish that they could do the reliability and shave off 30% of the weight.

 

[pshufd]

I just ran into a problem with media stuff on Windows. Fortunately, it works fine on macOS. So I'll just do that operation on macOS.

Or look for another solution.

 

[pshufd]

M4 Max with 64 GB of RAM. Unobtanium.

 

[leemkule]

M4 Max with 64 GB of RAM. Unobtanium.

View attachment 2635887

Weird, here in the UK we can get that exact laptop in a couple of weeks.

The trade off? That spec in the UK would cost £4,599/ $6,143 for the 16 inch or £4,299/$5741 for the 14 inch. Can get them both, but we are getting utterly shafted on price.

 

[leemkule]

I am in the same boat, the grass is not always greener, but it's really yellow on this side of the fence because of lack of hardware at this time.

Yeah I agree the grass is always greener, but for me apart from when I was like 15-22 years old (I'm 40 now) I just don't use a desktop.

I've tried a desktop PC twice in the past decade and I just sell them because they don't suit me, I don't like to always sit at a desk. For a while there I was looking at PC laptops but they're terrible at the moment, so incredibly expensive and worse than OSX.

I just have to eat humble pie and accept that whilst I don't personally find MacBooks all that reliable, it was ultimately my fault for not getting AppleCare on such an expensive device.

 

[pshufd]

Weird, here in the UK we can get that exact laptop in a couple of weeks.

The trade off? That spec in the UK would cost £4,599/ $6,143 for the 16 inch or £4,299/$5741 for the 14 inch. Can get them both, but we are getting utterly shafted on price.

That was a Max Studio.

 

[Steve Adams]

Yeah I agree the grass is always greener, but for me apart from when I was like 15-22 years old (I'm 40 now) I just don't use a desktop.

I've tried a desktop PC twice in the past decade and I just sell them because they don't suit me, I don't like to always sit at a desk. For a while there I was looking at PC laptops but they're terrible at the moment, so incredibly expensive and worse than OSX.

I just have to eat humble pie and accept that whilst I don't personally find MacBooks all that reliable, it was ultimately my fault for not getting AppleCare on such an expensive device.

I love my desktop system. I set for hours in my comfortable chair, two monitors in front of me and it's fast, and efficient. Plus it's great to have a more powerful system at my desk when I am working. If I go to MacBook pro for my laptop I am going to get a studio for my desktop.

If the price of the lower end P14 proart is not completely outrageous, I will get one of those and keep my current desktop. It all depends on the price of the new ProArt.

 

[leemkule]

I love my desktop system. I set for hours in my comfortable chair, two monitors in front of me and it's fast, and efficient. Plus it's great to have a more powerful system at my desk when I am working. If I go to MacBook pro for my laptop I am going to get a studio for my desktop.

If the price of the lower end P14 proart is not completely outrageous, I will get one of those and keep my current desktop. It all depends on the price of the new ProArt.

Yeah that’s a good setup.

One thing I can’t stand about of hardware, specifically laptops, is that they do a press release talking about it, all the YouTubers have videos about it and you still can’t buy it 6 months later, I know there’s reason for it but I prefer being able to buy something just as it’s launched like Apple do.

I have had a dual Mac setup before - iMac and laptop and I just found file management to be annoying but equally a docked MacBook Pro is annoying in other ways. Everything is a trade off I guess.

 

[leemkule]

That was a Max Studio.

Oops, yeah that’s not available here either.

Maybe m5 version announced tonight? Doubt it but you never know..

 

[Steve Adams]

Yeah that’s a good setup.

One thing I can’t stand about of hardware, specifically laptops, is that they do a press release talking about it, all the YouTubers have videos about it and you still can’t buy it 6 months later, I know there’s reason for it but I prefer being able to buy something just as it’s launched like Apple do.

I have had a dual Mac setup before - iMac and laptop and I just found file management to be annoying but equally a docked MacBook Pro is annoying in other ways. Everything is a trade off I guess.

I agree. I hate that as well.

 

[pshufd]

Oops, yeah that’s not available here either.

Maybe m5 version announced tonight? Doubt it but you never know..

They could announce it but anyone can look at RAM and SSD prices. Apple makes more margin on their MacBooks than just a box with parts in it. If they announce it, it probably won't come out until fall at the earliest anyways.

The bigger issue is that Mac Studios are great to buy as AI systems and a lot of people, and, probably companies, and to use them for that reason. I wouldn't mind trying it out myself but I think that the cost of entry is 512 GB of RAM which you can't get right now.

 

[Steve Adams]

Well, I think I am going to fully return to the "ecosystem". I cannot find anything on the windows side of things that is the value the macbook is. If I am doing that, I might as well go full back in. I am on my iPad now and it's really good as always. I am close to installing 27 beta on it, but last time I did that I had issues.

See how it goes.

 

[leemkule]

Well, I think I am going to fully return to the "ecosystem". I cannot find anything on the windows side of things that is the value the macbook is. If I am doing that, I might as well go full back in. I am on my iPad now and it's really good as always. I am close to installing 27 beta on it, but last time I did that I had issues.

See how it goes.

Me too. A few months of trying other things, built a PC, bought and returned an S26 ultra (really good phone just my life is too entrenched in iCloud to bother switching) and I'm going back.

I've listed my 5080 on ebay, just getting up the energy to list my 5090 because that requires dismantling my PC.

I'm trying to limp my broken iPhone 13 Pro Max (there's a theme here) until the iPhone 18 release in September or whatever it is, I could really use the upgrade now but I hate buying an iPhone in the second half of the year when they come out like clockwork. Would like to try out iOS 26 but just keeping iOS 18 until I get a new phone because I don't want it to somehow brick it.

 

[pshufd]

Well, I think I am going to fully return to the "ecosystem". I cannot find anything on the windows side of things that is the value the macbook is. If I am doing that, I might as well go full back in. I am on my iPad now and it's really good as always. I am close to installing 27 beta on it, but last time I did that I had issues.

See how it goes.

I'm still on the fence but am Apple on the desktop and Windows on the laptop outside the house. There's a new AI program that I'd like to run but it requires at least an M3 Studio or a Windows PC with at least an RTX 3060.

I'd love to that an M5 Studio but I think that I'm going to be disappointed with any announcements today as I won't be able to get one until fall at the earliest.

Rosetta 2 support ends with macOS 27 - that is it won't be in macOS 28. That means support through macOS 27 until fall 2028 and the operating system is usable until 2029 (some applications I use only support the current and prior versions of macOS). There will be security updates to macOS 27 for two to three years so I could run it a bit longer and then run a virtual machine on Sequoia for one program.

I have to say that Windows is a lot easier, though, if your software won't support Apple Silicon. After using an all-Mac desktop, I will have to say that I like not having to switch back on shortcuts.

On the positive side, a few of the decent Microcenter bundles have come back in stock.

I just had a look at GPUs and 4070s are expensive!

 

[diamond.g]

Me too. A few months of trying other things, built a PC, bought and returned an S26 ultra (really good phone just my life is too entrenched in iCloud to bother switching) and I'm going back.

I've listed my 5080 on ebay, just getting up the energy to list my 5090 because that requires dismantling my PC.

I'm trying to limp my broken iPhone 13 Pro Max (there's a theme here) until the iPhone 18 release in September or whatever it is, I could really use the upgrade now but I hate buying an iPhone in the second half of the year when they come out like clockwork. Would like to try out iOS 26 but just keeping iOS 18 until I get a new phone because I don't want it to somehow brick it.

Is the 5090 a FE model?

 

[pshufd]

I was looking at my hardware fleet to run an open source AI program and the Lenovo Yoga is actually usable as the AI hardware is supportive. It wouldn't be great but it is the first time I've run into a project that might actually use the AI hardware. The GTX 1660 Ti would also be useful for this project. The M1 Max Studio probably wouldn't be. It recommends at least an M3 Max Studio.

I can get this processing as a service on the web but it would be fun to be able to run it locally.

 

[leemkule]

Is the 5090 a FE model?

Yeah, I got it in January which I think was the most recent drop

 

[pshufd]

Bundles are coming back into stock at Microcenter. But they raised prices on some of them. Memorial Day seems to be the kickoff point where people went crazy buying them. The price wasn't any different on Memorial Day but people apparently decided to pull the trigger all at once.

 

[Steve Adams]

As I have mentioned many times, I have pc schizophrenia. i am going to keep my old dell alive as long as possible. It's more cost efficent and I just love my system. I have been watching and reading and it really does compete closely with the M1 macbook pro (non pro/max versions). I am happy with that level of performance. I have the new bottom case coming for it and I am waiting for a motherboard to get back in stock semi locally for it.

I have no compaints when it's running. It is really good. I am typing on it now and I just feel at home on it.

 

[pshufd]

As I have mentioned many times, I have pc schizophrenia. i am going to keep my old dell alive as long as possible. It's more cost efficent and I just love my system. I have been watching and reading and it really does compete closely with the M1 macbook pro (non pro/max versions). I am happy with that level of performance. I have the new bottom case coming for it and I am waiting for a motherboard to get back in stock semi locally for it.

I have no compaints when it's running. It is really good. I am typing on it now and I just feel at home on it.

You're in the right place on this thread.

 

[Steve Adams]

You're in the right place on this thread.

Don't I know it. Thankfully, I am not buying stuff and selling it again. I am better off just keeping what I have running at this point. I am off work due to stress and mental health issues right now. So wasting money is not in my deck of cards right now. Thankfully I am not a flip flopper when it comes to the mobile side of things. I will always be running android. I do like the new Onn Tablets that Walmart just released. Cheap, capable and decent quality. What the world needs now, cheaper, good quality electronics.

Not everyone needs a 3000 dollar galaxy or iPad tablet. these work great and are at most 150 bucks.

 

[leemkule]

Don't I know it. Thankfully, I am not buying stuff and selling it again. I am better off just keeping what I have running at this point. I am off work due to stress and mental health issues right now. So wasting money is not in my deck of cards right now. Thankfully I am not a flip flopper when it comes to the mobile side of things. I will always be running android. I do like the new Onn Tablets that Walmart just released. Cheap, capable and decent quality. What the world needs now, cheaper, good quality electronics.

Not everyone needs a 3000 dollar galaxy or iPad tablet. these work great and are at most 150 bucks.

tbh I think all the flip-floppers are nuts. Me included. For me its a really bad, convincing form of procrastination, feels like working towards a good setup is work, but no matter how much I optimise the setup the work still doesn't do itself...

Problem with flip flopping is that it's time consuming. I spent like a month researching my PC build, putting it together etc, now I have to sell the parts and try and not get scammed.

 

[Steve Adams]

tbh I think all the flip-floppers are nuts. Me included. For me its a really bad, convincing form of procrastination, feels like working towards a good setup is work, but no matter how much I optimise the setup the work still doesn't do itself...

Problem with flip flopping is that it's time consuming. I spent like a month researching my PC build, putting it together etc, now I have to sell the parts and try and not get scammed.

Totally get it. Goes back to what we were talking about before with the grass being greener. As it stands right now. This system works for my workload. Yes, I have to wait a few extra mins for a video export compared to a laptop with a dedicated video card or M3 or m4 system, but I am ok with that. I can rip 4k video edits without issue on my desktop where most work will be done. I will probably do 2 or 3 videos a month on my laptop compared to 10 to 15 on my workstation.

I would rather get new larger monitors, peripherals and audio/video components than get a new pc/mac at this point. My laptop will only slow me down 4-6 min for a 30 min 1080 rip compared to a new system. Not worth worrying about. Give me new keyboard, mouse, speakers and monitors to give me a fresh desk setup.