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Mixed Ecosystem Discussion

Now am I asking advice:

Given my rampant indecision and disappointment in Apple locking down iTunes and forcing services (Notes is now garbage if you do not use iCloud etc); Should I consider a Surface Pro 7 for writing (screenwriting, blogging, online classwork, and image work) and use the iPad for art/entertainment?

I’d love to simplify my set up.

All this back and forth about buying a new PC or Mac is just draining, so suggestions and opinions would be welcome.

Thanks 🙂
 
kazmac said:
Now am I asking advice:

Given my rampant indecision and disappointment in Apple locking down iTunes and forcing services (Notes is now garbage if you do not use iCloud etc); Should I consider a Surface Pro 7 for writing (screenwriting, blogging, online classwork, and image work) and use the iPad for art/entertainment?

I’d love to simplify my set up.

All this back and forth about buying a new PC or Mac is just draining, so suggestions and opinions would be welcome.

Thanks 🙂
Click to expand...

Why not use Windows virtually on Mac with Parallels, VMWare, or VirtualBox?
 
My computing/mobile ecosystem has been mixed for a while now. I've been a gamer since my college days, first on an off-the-shelf HP and then on two rigs I've built myself (built #2 in '09 and upgraded the internals in '16). College is where I got my first exposure to Apple too, thanks to the iPod.

I started off slow with Macs though, buying a 13" MBP (late 2009 I think?) and then a mid-2011 Mac Mini. Buying the mini is what turned my ecosystem into what it is, where I use my PC nearly exclusively for gaming and my Macs for general-purpose/everyday tasks.

Along the way, a 2nd Gen. Apple TV replaced a 1st Gen. WD TV for streaming/entertainment tasks and I also bought into the iPhone world when I ordered a 4S at launch.

Eventually though, a fast-developing interest in photography necessitated a desktop upgrade and so the Mini got replaced by a 27" Retina 5K iMac (late 2015).

Within the last 9 months however, several real life changes have drastically curtailed my photography work and with that expensive iMac now relegated to the same general-purpose, everyday computing that my Mac Mini so ably did (at a much, much cheaper price), the costs-benefits + Apple's recent QA/QC issues of the last few years have me planning to replace both that iMac and my 11" MBA with Windows machines when they die (have extensive experience with W10 at work have have found very few flaws with it)

Despite using both a 1st Gen iPad and 1st Gen iPad Air, the whole concept of replacing a laptop with a tablet never really took off for me, otherwise, I'd keep Apple around more.

My Mini is still in storage and when the time comes, will get brought out, updated and will see new life as a media server though (I'll eventually get around to replacing that Apple TV too, given that I've cut the cord a while ago)

As far as software goes, the only real cross-platform work I do is word processing. For that, I use Google Docs (when something needs to be published or otherwise needs more formatting done, I'll drop that into MS Word on the iMac - got the whole Office Suite courtesy of my O365 subscription through work)

My phone though has been and will continue to be Apple exclusively - the ease of use/convenience afforded by the 4S, 6 and now the XR I have can't really be beat IMO. About the only thing I'll miss when I eventually replace my Macs is the convenience afforded by iCloud Keychain - though that can be easily replaced by LastPass or another similar PW manager (syncing music, books and such can be taken care of w/my Mini - have used iCloud for backup purposes for a while now)
 
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TopherMan12 said:
Why not use Windows virtually on Mac with Parallels, VMWare, or VirtualBox?
Click to expand...
I've thought about it, but I'd rather try running Sierra in a VM instead of Windows. I am overthinking this and should probably just stay put, but there is no Apple computer that I want right now. If the Mini wasn't shot full of flaws, I'd jump.
 
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I had been a Mac user for a long time; started with an Apple II Plus (so that's how long I was being loyal) and through the 68k processor, the PowerPC and now Intel and ARM with my iPhone and iPad. Having said that, I have also been a Windows and lately a Linux user and I found Windows 10 a lot to like. I also find Linux Mint 19.2 a lot to like as well. So I had started divesting my system and separate them into 2. The Windows and Linux system do most of my online stuff like using Google Apps and Google Drive and I can access all my documents and share them using my iPhone via Google Drive, so I no longer am tied to Notes. I also use Evernote, but truly these days Google Drive and Apps are my thing. My Mini 2011 has now been relegated to being a media server to both my Mac Pro and Macbook Air and is now part of a system to create media (art, photography and home made travel movies) for which I felt naturally at home with the Mac. I personally don't see myself upgrading to a new Mac. If any of my macs die; I will just replace it with another used Mac. I am more focused now on using Linux because the OS is free and is a natural for cloud computing, so when I travel abroad and do my writing and my photography, I just sync them to Google Drive and in turn will be synced back to my home server and NAS automatically. So that's why I can afford to take just a small netbook as a web terminal.
 
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And no mixed ecosystem for me. Finally decided to stick with Apple despite the issues I had.

Thanks to everyone in this sub forum, you are so great.

I hope you find what tech you need.
 
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Given I'm a Google services user living in an Apple hardware ecosystem, would you say it's potentially worth at least giving the next Pixel a go?
 
BMox81 said:
Given I'm a Google services user living in an Apple hardware ecosystem, would you say it's potentially worth at least giving the next Pixel a go?
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If you lose the iPhone, you also lose the Watch. There is NOTHING in the Android world as good (trust me, I’ve tried them all) so bear this in mind if it’s important to you.

You’ll also lose cross-device app handoff with MacBook, iPad etc (and no calls on other devices).
 
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The_Interloper said:
If you lose the iPhone, you also lose the Watch. There is NOTHING in the Android world as good (trust me, I’ve tried them all) so bear this in mind if it’s important to you.

You’ll also lose cross-device app handoff with MacBook, iPad etc (and no calls on other devices).
Click to expand...

I totally get the watch thing-I love my S3, but I shouldn't be so dependent on a watch though should I?
 
With laptops/desktops, you can enjoy all the benefits of a mixed ecosystem with little to no problems IMO - when it comes to mobile though, things become more black and white and you lose a lot of that interoperability.
 
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BMox81 said:
I totally get the watch thing-I love my S3, but I shouldn't be so dependent on a watch though should I?
Click to expand...

You don't need to be, I mean I love the Apple Watch, as mentioned there is nothing better on the market in my view.

That is, I have never found another device that I actually want to wear all the time rather than just for exercise.

The reality is that a Fitbit versa or something similar can still do all you need and will work cross-platform.

Depends on your needs/preferences.
 
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It’s certainly a confusing time.
I just sold my three year old MBP.
it was replaced with a self build custom PC to get back into gaming.
it runs iTunes which is not used, iCloud for files which I’ve just migrated to OneDrive.
Pictures are download from iCloud but I don’t like the windows app.

mobile is iPhone a long with my main devise which is iPad Pro, I prefer the calendar app at it give you location and travel time etc.

The one area I really struggle with now is the odd time you want to sit with a laptop on your knee in front of the tv to maybe look at multiple websites or just use a real keyboard.

i just don’t know if the new Apple magic Keyboard is the way forward, although really expensive.

A MacBook Air, a cheap laptop, wait for the new surface devices, I just can’t make my mind up, so I’m waiting it out for a few months to think and see what’s been release.

Apple greed is driving me away at the moment plus it no longer just works, some of the time.
 
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maflynn said:
You mean a hackintosh, please peruse this thread: The Hackintosh Thread

btw, I had done it, but found it was more trouble then it was worth in the long run
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No, I don’t think I mean a Hackintosh.

I had always thought a hackintosh was a PC that is tricked to boot directly to OSX without an emulator. Is that not the case? My question above was regarding using an emulator program. Or, is that exactly what a hackintosh is?
 
Tozovac said:
Or, is that exactly what a hackintosh is?
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That still falls under the umbrella of hackintosh. I've run mac OSX on bare metal, and within a VM, both Virtualbox, and vmware. The virtualization route can be easier, but the performance is quite poor, much worse then running windows or Linux in a vm
 
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maflynn said:
That still falls under the umbrella of hackintosh. I've run mac OSX on bare metal, and within a VM, both Virtualbox, and vmware. The virtualization route can be easier, but the performance is quite poor, much worse then running windows or Linux in a vm
Click to expand...

Great, thank you, exactly what I wanted to verify. I was rather surprised about that article about logic, questioning how well the performance would be for a program like that running in virtualization even with a powerful pc.
 
Tozovac said:
questioning how well the performance would be for a program like that running in virtualization
Click to expand...
Things could have changed, but the last time I tried (last year), I found macOS to be quite laggy, nevermind any sort of pro apps.
 
- iPhone
- Surface Pro
- Microsoft services/apps (onedrive, onenote, office, edge)
- Line/whatsapp/telegram/skype/Messenger (In this order of preference. Basically I use anything EXCEPT iMessage/Facetime).
- Spotify


I am very satisfied with this setup.
Only things I miss are browser tabs syncing for edge (should come eventually) and direct wifi sharing between devices (Microsoft has "Nearby Sharing", Apple has "Airdrop". Of course they don't work with each other. And then they talk about wireless futures and removing ports...)
 
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Can’t stay with Apple if their tech keeps failing months in, so I am circling a Windows laptop and a Wacom tablet set up again. A gaming or creative machine.

W10 for work will be best. Need and want beefier internals for Affinity, video conversion, Corel Painter and ArtRage. Comfy keyboard and display.

Know I have to generally ignore Windows settings and that a wired mouse is probably the best bet. 😉 I also know not to expect much from Windows ink, so ignoring pen tech.

Circling: HP Ryzen Omen 15.6, yep, HP Spectre 15.6 😛, SB3 13” or possibly a Razer (Keyboard comfort and mostly OLED choices are iffy). Sadly, Acer Conceptd and Asus ProArt have not received good reviews. Bummed the Conceptd 7 Ezel hasn’t arrived yet (that hinge display would be great for work too).

Would appreciate any and all suggestions.

Think I hit my Apple core.
 
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kazmac said:
Can’t stay with Apple if their tech keeps failing months in, so I am circling a Windows laptop and a Wacom tablet set up again. A gaming or creative machine.

W10 for work will be best. Need and want beefier internals for Affinity, video conversion, Corel Painter and ArtRage. Comfy keyboard and display.

Know I have to generally ignore Windows settings and that a wired mouse is probably the best bet. 😉 I also know not to expect much from Windows ink, so ignoring pen tech.

Circling: HP Ryzen Omen 15.6, yep, HP Spectre 15.6 😛, SB3 Q3” or possibly a Razer (Keyboard comfort and mostly OLED choices are iffy). Sadly, Acer Conceptd and Asus ProArt have not received good reviews. Bummed the Conceptd 7 Ezel hasn’t arrived yet (that hinge display would be great for work too).

Would appreciate any and all suggestions.

Think I hit my Apple core.
Click to expand...

I tried both the 13” and 15” HP Spectres. They’re really nice machines, but if you use them on your lap, I found them both to get extremely warm. Honestly more of an issue with the 13” for me given the portability angle. But the 15.6“ was a really nice machine otherwise.
 
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mwptrsn said:
I tried both the 13” and 15” HP Spectres. They’re really nice machines, but if you use them on your lap, I found them both to get extremely warm. Honestly more of an issue with the 13” for me given the portability angle. But the 15.6“ was a really nice machine otherwise.
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Thanks for that info. The Spectre graphics are a bit light for me, but I always liked their keyboards and displays. What did you wind up going with?


I found Asus’ extended warranties on their site, but nothing I am interested in just yet.
 
kazmac said:
Thanks for that info. The Spectre graphics are a bit light for me, but I always liked their keyboards and displays. What did you wind up going with?


I found Asus’ extended warranties on their site, but nothing I am interested in just yet.
Click to expand...

I’m still in the process of trying out laptops.

Agree about the keyboard and displays - the OLED, especially, is absolutely incredible. And the keyboard is great to type on. I would really like the 13” Spectre with a 16:10 display. It’s a bit claustrophobic.

Currently using the 13” Blade Stealth with the 1650Ti. It’s a nice machine and I don’t think it heats up as much as the 13” Spectre did for me. Same issue with the aspect ratio though.
 
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