I've been on Mac's some twenty years now. Purchased Mac's for my whole family one by one. But the recent 13" MacBook Pro upgrade was the last straw for me. Sold my MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone and went to a Surface Pro 4 and Lumia 950 XL. OS X is better, but only marginally better. Windows 10 simply offers way more choices and options at lower price points. And Apple has no presence in the ongoing VR revolution. All the exciting stuff is now on Windows and coming this September, I'll have the dream of running Photoshop on an iPad type tablet as Windows 10 moves to ARM. The switch was relatively painless and with the Surface Pro 4, I have a notebook and tablet combo I've waited on for years from Apple. I've upgraded one son to a wonderful Razer system and the second isn't far behind. I imagine we will be Apple free by the fall...
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Rant: 30-year Mac fanatic finally buys Windows
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Last time I played with Ubuntu, it populated my device searches with ads and results from the internet. Have they stopped doing that. It was irritating.
OTOH, I'm finding Raspbian, a Debian subset, a joy to use, especially with the recent PC and Mac port the Pixel GUI.
I've got Ubuntu on one of my machines here; I've been using it for several months straight now, and have not once had any ads. I downloaded and installed the distribution myself, directly from the Ubuntu site; dunno if that makes a difference or not.
Then again, I'm not an Ubuntu expert. This is the first time I've really used it with any regularity. (I normally use other distributions.)
It's the only OS I have installed on my laptop and no ads anymore.
It is true that there were some earlier, particularly from Amazon.
So build yourself a hackintosh. With the right machine/parts, it's a piece of cake.
Of course, Apple is working hard to reduce the selection of "right machine/parts". Good luck finding good drivers for the parts you really want to use...
Had you ever considered building a Mac clone?
There are a few websites out there devoted to hardware that works with the Mac OS.
You could have easily gotten yourself a Mac mini clone many times more powerful than what is available for less money than an Apple product and you would also have the comfort of remaining in the OS ecosystem.
A major reason I left Linux was because of the constant fiddling with both hardware and software when things would change in one or the other and the house of cards would fall down. I want a computer that does indeed "just work." A hackintosh sounds like a good idea, but reading between the lines I see headaches every time the OS gets upgraded, or perhaps even when an app or library gets modified, or when I want to upgrade the hardware. I have a computer because I use it to do things, not because I want to have a computer. I would buy a non-Apple computer with a licensed MacOS installed and supported by the vendor, but a hackintosh requires too much freekin' futzin'.
Been around here to remember when Steve Jobs had each Apple-screw tipped in blue powder so Apple could see if you had fiddled with their machines. I was literally scared to death to pop ram into my Titanium PB 400mhz, sweating, shaking like a leaf, so sure I was going to break something that I contacted Apple (it was the last day of my Applecare warranty) and the guy walked me through it... but I ended up breaking the ram holder off the logic board. Because I was on the phone with him, and because it was supposedly a customer serviceable upgrade, and because it was the last day of warranty, they sent me a new board and fixed some other things, too.
I tell that story to remind myself that customer serviceable computers were something Apple always wanted to avoid. Laminated Macs were always going to happen.
I tell that story to remind myself that customer serviceable computers were something Apple always wanted to avoid. Laminated Macs were always going to happen.
I've had no problems at all finding the right parts and drivers. You only need to follow a golden build from Tonymac and spend a lot of time reading and understand what you read.Of course, Apple is working hard to reduce the selection of "right machine/parts". Good luck finding good drivers for the parts you really want to use...
https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersguide/january/2017
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According to the hardware you buy it can be very simple. There is a certain amount of learning curve to hacking and if you want to just turn on and run macOS without the advantage of better hardware I would say stick with a Mac and stop complaining because Apple is not going to ever give you the choice for a higher powered computer.
I'm not directing this at @jpietrzak8 but at everyone reading this thread.
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You can always turn off online search results from settings > privacy.
There's no point building a hackintosh if you intend to use it for work. It's an interesting project from a personal point of view, but given Apples' stance on updates you are forced not to do updates until their is a 'fix' for the update. What happens if there is a bug with a particular piece of software, or you want a new feature from a new piece of software, but it will only run on the latest OS, or more likely what if a vulnerability has been found and you have to install an update? There's too many dependencies on Apple not shafting you that it can't be taken seriously for a production machine.
If Apple were to support a 'reference hardware platform' with OS X then I'd be straight on that. It's not the hackintosh that's the issue, it's the lack of official support.
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Ubuntu did some deal with Amazon where the default search brought back results from Amazon. I get why they did it - the software is free and they have to get paid somehow (yes I know about the support from Canonical - but I guess they were looking at other revenue too). But users complained and while it was possible to disable the Amazon search, the integration has been reduced dramatically in subsequent releases and is now no longer on by default.
Well, but that's kinda the thing; if you get hardware that Apple supports natively, sure, you can build a hackintosh easily. If you don't, well, then things are harder.
For example, here's TonyMac's note on using NVidia graphics cards. (He doesn't even seem to cover ATI cards; perhaps they don't have any experimental OS X drivers available?)
I use my Hackintosh for work. There are exactly two problems with it:
1. Lack of native support for NVidia cards, so I have to wait up to two days (outrage!!11) until NVidia release new drivers after system update
2. If I put my computer to sleep, then wake, then repeat that for a few days (4-9 in general) it will eventually crash and reboot. This is the fault of Gigabyte's BIOS. Another Gigabyte motherboard user complained and they updated the BIOS. My motherboard is just too old for them to bother. So I just switch the computer off when I am done for the day.
It doesn't play well with Sierra. But Sierra doesn't play well with me either. I removed it from my rMBP and I have no desire to switch to it with my Big Hac. And if I did, it would be a question of, yes, spending a day or two fixing things. I had to do that when I started, replace the wifi/bluetooth module, find drivers, work with Clover Configurator, etc., but now other than the NVidia drivers everything is flawless, including iMessage and macOS updates from App Store. By the way, Sierra supports my NVidia card OOB, I checked.
I am patiently waiting to see the 2017 iMacs to replace the 2011 one we have, but if there is nothing exciting on offer, particularly if they don't do something reasonable with storage options and don't allow RAM updates, my husband is going to get a Hackintosh of his own. Which by the way proves that it would be possible for Apple to license macOS to external companies if they aren't going to be bothered to update their own computers. It's one of the two. Either produce hardware that people will want to buy, license "Built For macOS" for some hardware, or sell off the computer division. Hell, sell it to Samsung. What's the point of just letting the Mac platform die a slow and painful death? I fail to see how this is better financially for Apple than selling it off or splitting it into a daughter company. NVidia would be more than happy to provide drivers for every version of the OS if their customer base suddenly grew 20x bigger, so it's not like it's impossible to make a macSung or, dunno, dellBook Pro with components Apple does not *currently* support.
I typed this on my rMBP 2015, which I think is the best laptop ever made, as long as I don't put Sierra on it. The new keyboards immediately remove me from the market for new Apple portables. Software I use does not work with Linux. And after I spent two weeks trying to figure out why a customer's PC switches on every 24 hours with Windows 10 – apply fix, wait 24 hours, discover this fix didn't work, apply another fix, wait 24 hours... – I really, really don't want to switch to Windows.
Yes, there is a thread on the latest RX 4XX cards and they do work because I put one in mine but there is a blind boot issue that does not display the Apple boot bar.
Many of the older AMD cards are supported to.
At this point the Nvidia 9xx and later cards are supported by hack but not the case for the 10XX cards because Apple does not make any machines with the latest Nvidia GPUs in it.
I can tell you from experience that understanding how hacks work and the use of Clover configuration is the key to success and satisfaction. It took me about 3 months of playing around and reading to appreciate with confidence how simple it is to maintain the hack with a lot of smart people working in the background that will supply help and advise at any problem.
I could easily use mine for work with total confidence if I needed to.
The "blue powder" is not for tamper-detection. It's called threadlocker and the purpose is to keep screws from loosening themselves over time.
That's interesting news and -- makes sense -- thanks I didn't know that and could use some of it now on my MacBook Pros!
However, the latent fear involved at that time period of 2000-2007 as to opening up and actually working on your own Mac was palpable and was a regular topic of discussion on these boards at that time.
Welcome to the World of Loctite!
Handy stuff to have around.
Fingernail polish also works in many situations.
For hackintoshes, definitely follow one of the golden builds religiously, every part the same, every step the same. Look for a golden build that looks the easiest. If you've ever installed an OS of any type before, this is longer, but not bad. For fewer steps, get a nvidia 740 card. HDMI audio, wifi/bt cards, and sleep are the biggest problem areas, so just do what everyone else is already successful with
In addition, for fewer issues, always work with the previous version of macos, never the latest. Upgrade to the last upgrade for that release, but leave it at that version for good. El Cap is solid right now, but if you really feel that you need Sierra, then be prepared to spend time fiddling
In addition, for fewer issues, always work with the previous version of macos, never the latest. Upgrade to the last upgrade for that release, but leave it at that version for good. El Cap is solid right now, but if you really feel that you need Sierra, then be prepared to spend time fiddling
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I looked pretty hard at the Hackintosh option, actually. Best of both worlds, in theory -- hardware at prices that aren't vastly inflated and with everything welded down, and Mac OS (and hence my investment in OS software). But it seems like it would turn every OS upgrade into an adventure.
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Looked hard at it, actually. That may be a hobby project for this year.
Hahaha, I didn't say that. Just pointing out that people who are so terrified of Hackintoshes probably never tried to use/build oneRight. Because no Apple computer ever behaved poorly
What was my worst Apple hardware experience... probably the 2008 iMac that accumulated dust inside the screen. Other than that the only problems I had with an actual Apple computer was when I updated to El Cap on .0 release and to Sierra on .1, mistakes I shall not repeat again. I'd probably be all over the place had I bought the 2015 rMB with battery that drops to 85% max charge three months after purchase, but my rMBP is currently comfortably sitting at 102% max charge seven months after I bought it. Also my DVD drive broke with a disc inside in my... uh was it Macbook? White plastic machine, many years ago. But there might exist a possibility I shouldn't have placed it on top of working microwave.
One single time I had a Windows-like problem was when my wifi just wouldn't connect. Period. Just wouldn't. No amount of reboots, restarting modem, SMC/PRAM resets etc. helped. I finally read a very odd piece of advice – disconnect your router for half an hour. I did. Problem was solved. I wasn't impressed, but it worked. That's once in the last 11 years since I switched exclusively to OS X – since I am on El Cap, I technically still use OS X, not macOS.
Since I am reminiscing, and to bring this slightly closer to actual topic, the best version of Windows I ever used was Windows 2000. It Just Worked. The worst was ME. After this got installed on my work computer I ended up begging the IT department to remove it because I couldn't go an hour without a crash or spontaneous reboot. When I look at the double control panel in Win10 I can't resist the thought this shouldn't have been released quite yet. A bit like rMBP 2016 or Apple Music, come to think of it.
Mostly tl;dr
Enjoy your Windows machine.
I just bought a new MBP base model (non-touch bar). It's a fabulous machine. I couldn't be happier. I was waiting for a new, refreshed iMac which obviously didn't come in 2016. I was stilling planning on getting one but now I have no need because the MBP is awesome. The USB-C ports aren't an issue for me. If I'm mobile, I have no need and when I am home a simple $25 Dodocool (adds 4 USB ports) works great.
So Apple doesn't make an upgradable device anymore. It doesn't mean that they don't care about computers anymore. It just means that they have a different business model. Most people who love their Macs don't care about upgrading because the devices Apple produces are just fine. Your situation and your needs are your situation. They don't apply to most folks. So you went with what was important to you. That makes total sense. You evaluated those needs vs macOS and made your decision.
The upgradability ship sailed a long time ago with Macs.
With the penalties suffered by Tim Cook for not meeting sales goals you can bet your bottom dollar that the most profitable products will be the first to get any sort of update.
That would be iPhones first and other mobile products millennials find attractive. MacBooks will be Apples most important Mac with any desktops trending to the bottom of the list.
Apple doesn't participate in gaming computers and that is what is driving desktop and in a way more mobile laptop Windows sales.
Since the MacBook Pro can handle video editing and App development the Mini and Mac Pro will probably cease to be updated IMO.
That would be iPhones first and other mobile products millennials find attractive. MacBooks will be Apples most important Mac with any desktops trending to the bottom of the list.
Apple doesn't participate in gaming computers and that is what is driving desktop and in a way more mobile laptop Windows sales.
Since the MacBook Pro can handle video editing and App development the Mini and Mac Pro will probably cease to be updated IMO.