Ok, now who's switching, or not

[zync]

I've been on a Hack for 5 years now as my primary machine - never went nMP or iMac as the form factor/upgrade/expansion issues were not to my liking, and I wanted GPU upgrades from NVIDIA as I went along.

If you pick the correct MoBo / GPU (which is super easy now), literally every thing can work with no issues.

iMessage, Facetime, Continuity, Handoff...USB3..audio - All the stuff you hear about - Everything just works on my machine.

The main drawback? Major updates (not point releases) can possibly create issues, but haven't for me in the past. Usually just reinstalling an audio driver or the like.

The update stuff never bothers me anyhow, as I much prefer to be on a slower update cycle on my Mac (Hack). For instance, I'm still on ElCap and see no reason to even bother with Sierra for the foreseeable future.

Yeah, I have a feeling if I went through and freshly installed from Clover I would have even less issues (and I have relatively none, I usually do nothing for point updates and the only reason I had Sierra issues were due to going bleeding edge this time). My build is a golden build.

I only upgraded because I was getting tons of issues in After Effects under the last versions of El Cap and AE and they are better under Sierra so far.

I just saw that there's a PCIe adapter to use a real mac networking card so most of the other features work too. Maybe without hacking UUIDs? Just glanced over it, but that's awesome.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ini-cards-pcie-and-mini-pcie-adapters.147734/

 

[turbineseaplane]

Yeah, I have a feeling if I went through and freshly installed from Clover I would have even less issues (and I have relatively none, I usually do nothing for point updates and the only reason I had Sierra issues were due to going bleeding edge this time). My build is a golden build.

I only upgraded because I was getting tons of issues in After Effects under the last versions of El Cap and AE and they are better under Sierra so far.

I just saw that there's a PCIe adapter to use a real mac networking card so most of the other features work too. Maybe without hacking UUIDs? Just glanced over it, but that's awesome.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ini-cards-pcie-and-mini-pcie-adapters.147734/

Yeah, I use one of those PCIe wi/fi bluetooth cards - All works and is seen by Mac OS as native hardware. Totally worth it.

 

[zync]

Yeah, I use one of those PCIe wi/fi bluetooth cards - All works and is seen by Mac OS as native hardware. Totally worth it.

Right now my bluetooth is a tiny dongle on my keyboard that you can't even see that is 3 inches from my mouse, haha. And I haven't needed WiFi, but seeing as the hardware is genuine and a lot of the iCloud stuff looks at that...that setup is pretty sweet. I could drop my old MBP stuff out of Clover and get a more native experience with iMessage that would need even less tweaking. And I wouldn't have to worry that they're going to change something and lock me out. Yeah, I'll probably do that haha.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Right now my bluetooth is a tiny dongle on my keyboard that you can't even see that is 3 inches from my mouse, haha. And I haven't needed WiFi, but seeing as the hardware is genuine and a lot of the iCloud stuff looks at that...that setup is pretty sweet. I could drop my old MBP stuff out of Clover and get a more native experience with iMessage that would need even less tweaking. And I wouldn't have to worry that they're going to change something and lock me out. Yeah, I'll probably do that haha.

Continuity and Handoff support was the original reason many on Tonymac went w/ the PCIe card - Just made good sense to me to have the OS see things as natively as possible (as you actually are using a native piece of hardware in the PCIe adapter).

Good call to go that route at some point. No real downside other than $50 or so.

 

[dazzer21-2]

I'm looking for a previous gen model, now. It'll be powerful enough for what I need. Windows isn't an option. Mind not blown at all with the new one. Oh well...

 

[zync]

Continuity and Handoff support was the original reason many on Tonymac went w/ the PCIe card - Just made good sense to me to have the OS see things as natively as possible (as you actually are using a native piece of hardware in the PCIe adapter).

Good call to go that route at some point. No real downside other than $50 or so.

Indeed. About that time everyone was trying everything to get iMessage to work and I was joining the camp of using my other IDs to spoof. Nothing adverse happened, but it would be nice for this machine to have it's own. The closer I can get to an actual system (but faster haha) the better. Thanks, I will definitely get it when I have more time to mess with it.

 

[BeatCrazy]

I'm somewhat glad they didn't announce a new mini or Pro, because my wallet might have gotten tempted!

It just feels weird they can't even offer a CPU/GPU bump for either desktop. But I suppose they would have had to go "all in" and swap out the TB2 ports for TB3, which obviously would have used more Apple resources at a time when they're focusing on notebooks.

 

[zync]

I'm somewhat glad they didn't announce a new mini or Pro, because my wallet might have gotten tempted!

It just feels weird they can't even offer a CPU/GPU bump for either desktop. But I suppose they would have had to go "all in" and swap out the TB2 ports for TB3, which obviously would have used more Apple resources at a time when they're focusing on notebooks.

It is weird. I saw someone say that you'd think a company with $200B in the bank could afford R&D. And I'm kind of inclined to agree with that. I don't understand why it seems like they can only work on like two products at a time. They really should just have a consumer division and a pro division with oversight by Ive on both. And maybe hire someone else, so they could both focus on the details. Ive is not the only good industrial designer on the planet.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think the Mini is totally a dead man walking quite honestly.

The original mission of the Mini was to entice switchers from Windows in a way where they could just use their existing mouse/keyboard/monitor and get "into the Mac" for a low price.

That doesn't seem to be something they really care about anymore (to me anyhow)

 

[5590982]

I kinda switched already around a year ago; bought a top-spec iMac 5k as a holdover before what seemed like an inevitable big, impressive Mac Pro refresh. I was prepared to flip it the moment the workstation became available...

When it didn't come, I prepared myself for the inevitable parting of ways with some Bootcamp training.

A year later, and I've not been in my Mac partition for god knows how long. Windows 10 really isn't as horrifying a proposition as you might fear. It's running at full resolution now and frankly I'm loving having access to a world of obscure, niche software that is normally out of the reach of the Apple purist. In fact, some of the tools I have available to me now are kinda making me kick myself for not switching sooner.

And on a final note... I can't pretend that stuff like being able to play the new DOOM on max settings isn't a bunch of fun....

 

[BeatCrazy]

It is weird. I saw someone say that you'd think a company with $200B in the bank could afford R&D. And I'm kind of inclined to agree with that. I don't understand why it seems like they can only work on like two products at a time. They really should just have a consumer division and a pro division with oversight by Ive on both. And maybe hire someone else, so they could both focus on the details. Ive is not the only good industrial designer on the planet.

It's not about the R&D money, more like lack of skilled engineers. Sure, Apple gets the best, but there are only so many to go around. When Apple tries to stretch itself, it really shows.

 

[LorenK]

Apple doesn't do shows for processor upgrades, so it is not unreasonable to continue to hope that Apple will do processor and GPU upgrades for its desktops for Christmas. I have a 2008 Mac Pro and while it runs fine, software is starting to get glitchy, and I may have to move certain functions onto my MacMini, which will be a pain.

DO YOU HEAR ME APPLE? I DON"T WANT AN ALL-IN-ONE SOLUTION, I DON'T WANT A LAPTOP, I WANT A DESKTOP THAT HAS POWER, WITH UP-TO-DATE PROCESSORS AND GPU, AND IS FLEXIBLE. Thank you.

 

[AdamSeen]

I got a mini ITX 1080 GTX build a while back and have been getting used to windows for gaming for a while. I feel apple can't deliver to the pro market and there's too much sacrifice in terms of lack of updates and cost to being on their eco-system.

I'm looking at sound proofing my existing build, as it's a bit too noisy for a home office environment, if I can get the sound levels to where I want them (probably have to replace the founders edition 1080 GPU with a quieter one) then I'm going to see if I can handle windows. If it goes well, I'm back on the PC.

 

[5590982]

...I'm going to see if I can handle windows. If it goes well, I'm back on the PC.

Windows10 is decent. It's not Mac OS, let's be clear, but it's not the overwhelmingly confusing, illogical, ugly nightmare that a lot of potential switchers are afraid of.
When I switched I spent a good while languishing at 7 before making the move to 10, and I hated it.
10 is way, way more in line with what you're coming to from recent releases of Mac OS.

Again, it's nowhere near as good as MacOS - but the more Apple Expats start using and making demands of Windows, it might get there... one day.

 

[NostromoUK]

I'm veering towards a Hackintosh..

Can someone cleverer than me tell me how a GTX980 6GB GPU compares to the Dual AMD FirePro D300s or D500s on the trashcan?

 

[ITguy2016]

I am not in the market as of today, so I will be giving the answer when the right time will come, because I will value what is on the market.

If I was on the market right now, I would probably consider the switch, there's nothing that makes me want the new MBP (at that price), and Windows 10 realli did some good steps in the right direction.

It wouldn't be an easy decision, but I would definetly consider the transition.

Hopefully your workflow is such that making a quick switch is possible. If not I'd recommend at least thinking over what it would take to make a switch in order to avoid delays should you have / decide to do so.

 

[5590982]

For some reason this is the image that immediately comes to mind when I try to picture new members of the Hackintosh community...

 

[antonis]

It is weird. I saw someone say that you'd think a company with $200B in the bank could afford R&D. And I'm kind of inclined to agree with that. I don't understand why it seems like they can only work on like two products at a time. They really should just have a consumer division and a pro division with oversight by Ive on both. And maybe hire someone else, so they could both focus on the details. Ive is not the only good industrial designer on the planet.

Absolutely true. They should have created consumer and pro divisions long ago, when things started to get mixed dangerously. Also, imho, Ive should only have responsibility for the former.

 

[Thunderbird]

No idea what this 'November event' rumor is about. And waiting until 'January 1'? Why? Apple has never released anything (at least any desktops) in December. If you're going to wait, then wait until March/April for the next most likely event cycle.

I've got a 2009 iMac that's on it's last legs, and a similar aged 2.4 GHz PC. I have straddled macOS and Windows OS for several years. But I'm in the market for a workstation now, so I could go either Hackintosh or build my own Windows PC.

I am definitely leaning towards just building a new Windows PC workstation. Waiting for Apple has become incredibly tiresome.

 

[pat500000]

No idea what this 'November event' rumor is about. And waiting until 'January 1'? Why? Apple has never released anything (at least any desktops) in December. If you're going to wait, then wait until March/April for the next most likely event cycle.

I've got a 2009 iMac that's on it's last legs, and a similar aged 2.4 GHz PC. I have straddled macOS and Windows OS for several years. But I'm in the market for a workstation now, so I could go either Hackintosh or build my own Windows PC.

I am definitely leaning towards just building a new Windows PC workstation. Waiting for Apple has become incredibly tiresome.

According to ming, Ipad pro is suppose to come out in spring.

 

[JimGoshorn]

Maybe it's time to just ask the Magic 8 Ball...

 

[mrxak]

May I ask, because I really don't know, if you have reliable software alternatives available for Linux?

Is there anything like Photoshop, Lightroom, InDesign, Illustrator, MSOffice having similar capabilities?

Photoshop, pretty much, just quite not as good. Lightroom, not sure yet but it's on my list to look into. InDesign, Illustrator, don't know/don't really need those. MSOffice, absolutely.

I'm still taking a look at software myself, for what I need, and I plan to dual-boot into Windows for gaming, but if necessary I can use some software in that too.