Mac Hardware - 5k Supremacy - The Something Awful Forums

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

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Pr0kjayhawk posted:

I�m surprised there isn�t a middle ground with eGPUs. When the new Mac mini came out I was looking for a smaller eGPU enclosure that could take a laptop card, similar to what the iMac uses. It�s just odd that your choice with a Mac mini is integrated graphics or fuckoff huge enclosure.

There�s a few smaller/short card enclosures at least but nothing super great last I checked. Smaller than that I think there�s two integrated GPU ones, kinda curious if anyone has torn them down now. Probably just soldered on but could be a chance there�s an MXM card.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2019 07:33

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 23:53

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Electric Bugaloo posted:

the right year of mac mini to buy, apparently...

I�m curious how much it cost.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2019 02:36

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

kefkafloyd posted:

I also wish I kept mine, but between the hinges breaking, the paint flaking, the chassis bending, and all the other things, they weren't exactly the peak of reliability.

They sure did look sweet though.

Was it someone here that frankensteined theirs with big rear end wooden hinges?

I couldn't find any pictures but got me to remember the P-p-p-powerbook at least.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2019 08:03

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

eames posted:

Screentime and Siri Shortcuts are reportedly also being ported over, as well as a new System Preference Layout with Family sharing support. I wonder what their long game is with regards to the two platforms

https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/19/siri-shortcuts-screen-time-mac/

Let people use whatever device/OS they want and make it easy for devs to develop for the different form factors.

And iOS with mouse/keyboard input for the new iBook*. And Apple TV: gently caress TVs, it�s now an iOS desktop!

*The current iBooks will be rebranded to Apple Books, with an all you can read (or Oprah curated) book service, Apple Books+

Mu Zeta posted:

5 years from now everyone in this thread will be using a Mac Pro or an iPad as their work machine.

I�ll be using a Mac mini and an iPad Pro (...if they make a small one, otherwise still an iPad mini).

Speaking of which, here�s a related rumor (a few days old but not sure if posted):
Apple planning Luna Display-like desktop extension feature for macOS 10.15

Linguica posted:

Does anyone know any resources for how to use Automator effectively? I want to make a right click menu item for a filetype to run a bash script with the file, but also ask me for text input before running, and I can't figure out how to have both those things passed to the bash script.

Haven�t messed with Automator is forever, but I�d guess something with variables (...which I never figured out or needed) and perhaps AppleScript to get around any Automator limitations you might run into.

(I�d mess around with it myself right now but I�m typing this on an iPad :v:

)

# ¿ Apr 20, 2019 20:15

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Tayter Swift posted:

I had the thing on its side with the bottom facing the router the last few days, made no difference.

The odd thing is, I don't think it was a problem with the signal strength. I let WiFi Explorer run for a few days and the SNR stayed at a constant 38-40dB or so. Its main problem was that the WiFi speed would go down from 900Mbps to 6 or 13 when waking up from sleep. Tuned off PowerNap, no luck.

Wonder if it's a random Mojave bug or something. I have a 2012 that connects but just won�t grab an IP anymore, everything else in the room connects (including an older mini) but that one.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2019 19:35

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

eames posted:

100�C CPU temperature is technically not optimal but (sadly) most macs are designed that way. Apple optimizes devices for typical workloads and the people who render videos for hours are a tiny fraction compared to those who just browse Safari and Mail.app and want a thin and quiet computer.
There's not much you can do about it. It won't be damaged, Intel specced their CPUs to work at 100�C for prolonged periods of time.

Anecdotally most of the Macbooks I used with high load over years eventually died and required a logic board replacement but that was probably just bad luck.

Anecdotally my Mac minis have been fine...I think I�ve had seven off the top of my head, but yeah they run warm. Well one died a little while ago, my semi frankensteined 2006 one, but that might�ve been the PSU brick for all I know (too old to be worth troubleshooting).

Better anecdotal evidence would be something like Mac mini colo that has thousands in their data centers, or the various companies that also have big rear end arrays as testing machines. Course they have dedicated cooling and whatnot for their server rooms.

Mu Zeta posted:

It's funny how the Intel NUC 8 runs to about 55 C temperature while it's a fraction of the size of the Mac Mini.

Outside of the [angry logo] Canyon ones they�re much cooler CPUs than the new mini's.

American McGay posted:

OBS is broken on macOS and ridiculously CPU intensive. Idk what the fan system is like in the Mini or if there are any 3rd party controllers for it but you could try that, although I'd imagine if you were at 90 they'd already be at max.

Fan controller stuff works on the new one, at least the one that�s a part of iStat Menus.

# ¿ Apr 23, 2019 18:19

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

eames posted:

Lower end or baseline CPUs also tend to run much cooler than the top-end CTO ones. IIRC my 2018 i5 Mac mini runs around 70 Celsius with handbrake once the fans have ramped up.

Yeah I remember from early reviews that the i7 ran hotter than the i5.

iSimian posted:

Thanks for all the inputs, that was great! I will hook the Mac up again with the NDI and try some more. It's and i7 with 6 cores, so I have trouble seeing how running an OBS stream should be too much hard work.
Very nice to know it has features to guard itself, and if the worst comes to show I got that sweet five year warranty.

I also wonder a bit wether enabling Hardware encoding on my GPU will help the CPU on the streaming Mac, or if that maybe doesn't matter much when running everything through the network?

Five year warranty? AppleCare plus credit card extended coverage or something?

Otherwise about the settings, who knows. Ultimately if it�s just horribly optimized as mentioned I�m not sure what would really help. Some magic set of random settings could be the trick. Or something to manually throttle the CPU or disable hyperthreading if that�s possible.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2019 20:18

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

mfny posted:

Not sure if this is a software or hardware "thing"

Audio out from my Mac Mini via a Behringer UMC202HD is super bass heavy regardless of what I do ? don't know how I did not notice this before now but whatever ..

Even with something like Boom 3d installed and the EQ preset set to Treble booster its still too much ?

No such issues with the Behringer on the PC ..

This has pretty huge effects for me as my main thing on the Mac is music production.. is the audio out known to be Bass heavy on Macs even with a USB interface used or what ?

EDIT:

I think the issue is with the Behringer not the internal audio, that sounds fine...

EDIT 2:

Nope, its on internal audio to ..

Is to much bass a know thing with Mac's or am I going insane ?

Not happening on mine so I�d assume software. Have you tried without Boom 3D? Or any other audio things like that.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2019 19:08

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Electric Bugaloo posted:

we�re juuust at the 6 month mark on the new Mini, so soon we�ll be closer to the next release than the last one.

Outside of 2009-2012 the Mac mini updates have been more in the 2 year range, or 4 for the last one. I could see them waiting on it a while again, whether for 10th+ gen Intel chips, or ARM if/when they go that route.

Anyway if your current machine still works fine I�d just wait and see.

# ¿ May 11, 2019 01:01

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

enojy posted:

I'm ever-so-slightly expecting a "HomePod mini" that doubles as a cheaper, less impressive speaker, and a mesh router solution. Combining a Bluetooth speaker with a wifi extender sounds like a lovely idea, though. Don't they operate around the same band spectrum?

Not a problem cause HomePods don�t even have Bluetooth audio :v:

I�m wondering if/when they�ll come out with a new Beats Pill to essentially be a portable HomePod (built in Siri, streaming, etc).

# ¿ Jun 2, 2019 07:07

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Pivo posted:

The original cheesegrater had a mid-range model that sold for $2499, per Wikipedia. In 2006 dollars, that's ~3100 today. So the new Mac Pro starts at twice that. I wonder if the $6k base model price is missing the point of an upgradeable computer a bit.

The Mac mini is their non outrageously expensive �upgradeable� machine now. Still expensive for what you get, and while not ideal, external stuff works reasonably well enough nowadays.

I�m kinda surprised no one�s made a wacky elaborate expansion chassis for it with a PCIe slot or two and some storage bays and more I/O, but perhaps the $5000 price gap to the entry level Mac Pro is the motivation they need. Or just a regular TB3 box with more stuff, the Mac mini is small enough to just plop on top really. I think there�s a few eGPUs that are multi function already.

BonoMan posted:

Well the frustrating point to me is that you aren't even starting with something that's overkill. It's weak. Those are really weak specs for $6k. Instead you are essentially paying for potentiality. It's dumb. You're overpaying for the idea that you can someday overpay some more.

Yeah that�s the biggest issue I see...as someone that isn�t buying one. But like, they could stand to match the iMac Pro entry spec GPU and SSD (Vega and 1TB) for that price.

Related side note with the Mac mini and MP low entry spec, I think you might be able to get reasonably close with a $2000-2500 Mac mini setup :v:

Bob Morales posted:

Wheels are $499

I can�t tell if you�re joking or not and that�s glorious :allears:

# ¿ Jun 4, 2019 02:42

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

an actual dog posted:

you will probably be able to get third party casters for your mac pro lol

I hope they�re standard caster wheel mounts so I can stick $500 Apple wheels on everything.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2019 02:50

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

AlternateAccount posted:

Doesn't one of the more recent minis have room to shove two drives in there and two sata ports? I could swear the one I was fiddling with the drive in the other day had that.

If 2012 is recent, yes.These days USB and TB3 are faster though.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2019 10:19

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Lazyhound posted:

asinine product idea: a kit to mount a Mac mini logic board in an ATX case, with a TB3�>PCIe breakout board.

Why do that when you can just stick the Mac mini in an eGPU :v:

https://egpu.io/external-gpu-desktop-mac-mini-r9-fury-x/

Gyshall posted:

Just started a new job and I'm using a MacBook pro 2017 model.

Any recommendations on how I can reduce the amount of dongles? I need two monitors (HDMI or displayport) and Ethernet.

Bonus points if it's portable as I'll be traveling often.

CalDigit has portable dual HDMI or DP ones w/ethernet...but no power:

http://shop.caldigit.com/us/Docking%20Stations/Thunderbolt%20Station%203?product_id=163
http://shop.caldigit.com/us/Docking%20Stations/Thunderbolt%20Station%203?product_id=164

There�s USB-C ones that do dual display too but I don�t think Apple supports them (specifically DP multi stream transport) for whatever reason still. There�s various TB3 docks and I�m sure a few do dual display, albeit might be like 1 HDMI, 1 DP or USB-C/TB passthrough for video, but I think the more elaborate ones might require a power brick, so not as portable use friendly I imagine.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2019 08:54

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Electric Bugaloo posted:

It�s so crazy, like we�ve been on dual core/quad core since 2006. And all of a sudden we�re at quad core 13� pros and 6- and then 8(!)- core 15� models and iMacs. I think if it weren�t for all of the bad blood regarding the keyboard and thermals the 2018 and especially 2019 models would feel like real quantum leaps.

There are models like the 2011 Air and 2013 rMBP that everybody cites as their favorites because the chipsets inside really let the hardware shine for the first time. Whereas the 2010 Air and first gen rMBP suffered slightly for pioneering cutting edge tech and design with somewhat under-equipped silicon, both revisions saw major performance gains that made the Air�s new form factor or the rMBP�s Retina display the new standard. And it�s a shame that these new MBP�s won�t get nearly the same love because their design still has too many caveats.

If they finally got their keyboard poo poo together this last gen seems pretty nice. Unless you want USB-A, HDMI, SD, or whatever ports built in.

Krispy Wafer posted:

I saw something that warned hyperthreading might have to be nerfed or ditched altogether because of these Intel CPU exploits. Which means we really need those extra cores.

I think there�s hardware mitigations in the upcoming stuff...which I�m sure someone will exploit somehow in a crazy way eventually, but hey things should be good on that front for the Mac Pro and whatnot going forward.

Not that it matters if AMD ends up kicking their rear end anyway. How long until the Jim Keller led Intel chips come out :ohdear:

# ¿ Jun 11, 2019 19:03

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Bob Morales posted:

Apple went all-in on ThunderBolt 3 and I don't think AMD supports that yet do they??

Besides the above, do the TB3 PCIe add in cards need Intel?

Otherwise in the future there should be more implementations cause TB3 is part of USB 4...although I think optional. And knowing USB, god knows what the hell the actual name for the different variants will be.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2019 02:35

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Tayter Swift posted:

There wasn't any tape or anything I had to break when installing the RAM in my Mini. I used the iFixit toolkit and it wasn't too bad, but be reeeeeeeal careful with the fan connector as folks have broken it.

Yeah there�s a few connectors here and there to worry about. Off the top of my head there�s the antenna one(s?) to pop off, then fan, and fat rear end PSU one, maybe some other tiny one in there? I saw some YouTuber (SnazzyLabs I think) break off one of the tiny capacitors on the board.

...but yeah if you�re careful it�s fine.

wooger posted:

Unless you have a very odd workflow you won�t even be able to tell the difference between any Apple SSD and any random PC SSD from the last 5 years.

It�s like the difference between a top-end Tesla and the worst Tesla they ever made - still dangerously fast to actually use full acceleration, and you�ll never feel the benefit.

You are paying 3x-5x the cost for a reputable NVMe drive (internal) in any other part of the market if you upgrade at all from the base storage.

The thunderbolt caddy adds to the cost, but not by that much.

Even so, internal storage is nicer and less hassle and I�d prefer it if it means you�ll never need to use an external.

Yeah keep the uses in mind, if you�ll actually get a noticeable difference between a few gigs a second...and less gigs a second with the internal options, and what either is worth over other forms of storage.

I went relatively ghetto cheap for value with my Mac mini setup, 256GB (stock config) internal along with a 2TB SATA SSD in a 10Gbps USB-C enclosure for home and everything else (and a few other TBs in leftover SATA SSDs or platters, I forget at this point, it�s all in two dual enclosures). Could�ve gone NVMe (whether 10G USB-C or TB is fast) but figured SATA SSDs are ok enough for non system stuff and the space was more valuable to me.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2019 19:22

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

So uh, have you actually said what your use case will be, just general use and games or do you have particular high performance needs?

For the iMac if you�re trying to keep it under $3k I�d consider the i5 and Vega vs i9 and 580. Will you need or significantly take advantage of the extra cores/threads? An eGPU can work on there but besides the normal eGPU hit, afaik it�ll lose some more by having to pump the output back to the internal display.

For the Mac mini route, it can work...but value wise an eGPU will eat a bunch of money that could just go into a better/faster PC build. Having a separate machine is a nice convenience since dual booting can get old (but that can depends on how you use your machines).

Comedy option: Mac mini with some other tiny PC, and hot swap an eGPU between them :v:

# ¿ Jun 21, 2019 00:56

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Smilin Joe Fission posted:

I'm thinking this will be my main general use PC for web browsing, accessing work stuff over a VDI, video editing, a bit of coding, and gaming to the degree that I can get away with it on this hardware. I'm thinking I'll use Boot Camp and dual boot with Windows 10 for gaming, and possibly I'll do my VDI stuff via Windows 10 as from what I've heard it's more reliable for connecting to our particular Citrix server setup. I'm not very serious yet about Final Cut Pro, Logic, etc and am still learning the ropes, but one of the main reasons I'd like to get this system is to take advantage of the $200 Pro Apps Education bundle. I do expect that a good amount of my usage of this machine will be within one of these apps.

I'm trying to decide between 2 versus 3 displays (meaning in addition to the built in 5K 27" display I'll get either one or two monitors, sizes and type TBD). I normally use two 24" displays for PC usage, and have wanted to step up to 3. Any thoughts on whether it makes sense? This would mainly be for the sake of having more windows and tabs open at once, and perhaps having one or more screens connected to my work-based VDI, while the other would be my own desktop perhaps.

Anyone want to advise me on RAM? Trying to decide whether to get a 2x16 upgrade kit versus 2x32. Either way I'll leave the 8 GB populating the other two slots, so I'll have a total of either 40 GB or 72 GB. Based on 3 monitors, with multiple windows and tabs open, often using these Pro apps, am I going to be hurting performance with only 40 GB, or will it not make a difference either way and 72 would just be a waste?

Is VDI remote desktop type stuff, all the compute resources on the remote machine(s)? If it works better in Windows you could potentially just run that stuff in a virtual machine rather than needing to dual boot when you need to use that. Sounds like games and potentially whatever pro apps will be the main things then?

32GB is probably fine...if you�re not sure about it in the first place you probably don�t need more than that to begin with.

For multi monitor, go for it if you want, if you have the budget and desk space. Can�t comment much on pushing all those pixels, but for regular desktop stuff I�m guessing it should be fine (assuming the machine supports whatever number of display/resolution/refresh setups).

The Milkman posted:

I lost my airpods case today, picked up the new Wireless Charging one from the store. Came with an empty battery. Then it wouldn't charge on my Anker pad. I thought it was broken until I noticed it would charge if I held it slightly above the pad. So I've got the warranty pamphlet recycled as padding. Anybody else had trouble with these? In any case I'm even less surprised AirPower failed.

Looking at reviews that doesn�t seem that uncommon.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2019 01:41

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Smilin Joe Fission posted:

Yep. On the client side I'm running the Citrix Receiver app which is essentially just a souped up terminal program for accessing a bunch of different remote servers and resources. Thanks for the tip about running a virtual machine to run Citrix Receiver in Windows 10 rather than dual booting. Would that be something like VMWare or Parallels? I'm very new to VM's, but have always wanted to start learning about and using them, so this might be the perfect time.

VMware

quote:

This, and in addition I'll probably do a lot of movie watching and other media consumption on that nice big 5K display. I'm telling myself this machine will finally be the kick start I need to get more serious about development and coding as well. I do a ton of web browsing, YouTube watching, and all manner of other stuff I could also do on a lesser machine. However, for the way I expect to use this machine, the math is all coming together in terms of it meeting my needs... unless there's some better option I'm missing.

Yeah should be fine for most everything...with gaming being the big question mark. As I said before worst case you do a dedicated gaming PC build, and since it looks like you�re probably going multi monitor you can just hook it up to the other display(s) with various ways to deal with keyboard/mouse switching.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2019 08:54

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Smilin Joe Fission posted:

However, for the way I expect to use this machine, the math is all coming together in terms of it meeting my needs... unless there's some better option I'm missing.

Quoting you again cause there�s another gaming option I forgot about :

Electric Bugaloo posted:

game streaming

Out of context here, but this reminded me that Steam Link is also a thing. So if you go the PC game box build route you could still play on the fancy iMac screen that way and not have to deal with switching input devices and what not between the two machines.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2019 19:30

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Luceo posted:

I do some light gaming in MacOS for Civ, KSP, WoW, etc and have a Win7 partition for Skyrim.

I find the instant response of "just build a gaming PC" to people asking about gaming on their Macs to be odd. There's a difference in what people mean by gaming, and my Mac has suited me fine for the games I play. Anything more demanding goes to my PS4, which is way less hassle than a gaming PC.

Well I said it cause the guy that was asking was wanting like "at least 1070" performance or something, it was a suggestion specific to that guy.

Personally I just have a Switch :v:

. I have a usable but incomplete PC build waiting for a GPU, but for the price of a GPU I�d rather just get a PS4.

While we're on the topic, anyone bother with trying to game in VMs or Wine/Crossover lately?

# ¿ Jun 27, 2019 21:45

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

kefkafloyd posted:

Most likely he wants to design other things than computers and phones.

I'd suspect it's this, which he kinda has been doing but as charity projects occasionally. Or Apple store/HQ architecture and interior design. Now he can do whatever stuff regularly if he wants. Or still work with Apple apparently.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2019 23:32

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Mu Zeta posted:

Yeah I think the press release a face saving measure and a lie. By 2020 the mac freaks like us will probably forget about the arrangement and we'll never hear about it again.

Have you ever heard of any company or person consulting for Apple to help design products?

Yes:

Electric Bugaloo posted:

Hartmut Esslinger/Frogdesign

you�re an idiot

And for an even more direct example, Ive first started working with Apple when he was with Tangerine.

I was wondering if Marc Newson (another initial outsider) was still there, but it sounds like he's joining Ive too...not sure if he's leaving Apple cause it sounds like he was kind of a freelance hire to begin with. He was working on the Watch before he was actually hired and was still free to do stuff on his own while employed too.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2019 06:50

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

EL BROMANCE posted:

Setup: 2012 Mac Mini with 3x Western Digital external drives hooked up directly via USB 3 using the cables they came with.

Issue I'm getting is the transfer between two of those external drives really isn't all that fast at times, and downright slow at others. I set up a 100gb transfer and it looked like it would take about an hour or so, and I tend to see speeds around 30MB/sec between them, which already isn't particularly fast... now I'm about 3/4 the way through it's slowed to an absolute crawl, literally a MB or 2. Then after about 5-10 minutes it goes back up to the 'full' speed. Drives are all < 2 years old, what should I be looking at? One of the drives is the default download one, and I see speeds of 100MB/sec coming down the pipe to it, it only seems to be an issue when involving 2 of them.

I've got Activity Monitor open and the system isn't really doing anything else either across network or drives.

Look at the USB ports in System Information (formerly System Profiler). I bet the drives might be sharing a bus, which might explain the 30MB/s part at least. Not sure about the super slow parts though. Tried copying through other methods yet? (That�s assuming you�re just using the Finder here)

Koramei posted:

Thanks for the responses about USB hubs from before, guys.

I'm gonna be carrying an iPad Pro and 15" Macbook Pro together on the subway (basically daily); anyone in a similar situation have a bag they'd recommend? Also thoughts on messenger bags vs backpacks? I'm kind of hesitant to leave thousands of dollars of computer stuff out of sight on my back every day, but is that a needless worry? I'm new to having a subway commute so if any of you have experience with carrying your stuff like that I'd be really interested to hear about it (I'll be in New York). Wearing a backpack will definitely be easier on my shoulder.

If you�re really paranoid about theft off your back, there�s theft deterrent designs nowadays where the zippers are hidden against your back.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2019 15:57

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

EL BROMANCE posted:

USB 3.0 Bus
|- easystore 25b
|- easystore 25b
|- easystore 25b

Then under this is a powered USB 3 hub I have with nothing much hanging off it - my UPS for communication, a mouse/flashdrives etc sometimes but not right now.

(sorry working remotely so easier to type out!)

Is there anything I need to check in the breakdown? I can transfer between the other drives quickly, but my current source -> destination drives are just constantly on the slow side. It's not the end of the world, I'm just transferring a ton of crap in chunks at the moment and in a week or two it won't be something I need to do regularly, more curiosity. Yeah I was considering trying to do a folder or two with Carbon Copy Cloner and seeing if thats the same, as I am just using Finder right now).

Well they�d be quicker on separate buses at least. I don�t know the mysteries of USB as to whether your other stuff might be messing with it too, but at minimum you�re handicapping drive to drive transfers by being on the same port. The lower speed stuff like the UPS could be jacking something up and causing the super low transfer speeds, but I thought USB was over that kinda thing. Hub itself could be responsible for some funkiness, who knows!

Could try (if possible) something like connecting the 3 drives to the computer, then whatever other stuff to the hub on the last USB port. I have no clue how the buses are allocated to the ports and the internet isn�t being helpful it seems, so look in system profiler and reload after plugging stuff in, ideally you could get the drives on separate buses, but there might only be like 2 buses available there for all I know.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2019 08:18

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

My friend could draw really well with them, they could work well as a tiny fingertip grip mouse...as long as you didn't lose the orientation end up jacking up your tracking.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2019 22:51

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Just cause it might matter, what charger are you using?

# ¿ Jul 24, 2019 22:38

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

jackpot posted:

Next question, because apparently I'm just having all sorts of issues lately: what's the trick to using a bluetooth mouse and keyboard with two computers?

For work I've got a mbp, and at home I plug it into a monitor and use a bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse. It's always worked great. But then a few weeks ago for personal stuff I got a Mac Mini, and it's a real hassle getting it to work. It never wants to find the bt keyboard (Logitech k780) or mouse - a lot of the time I have to wake up my mbp and turn off bluetooth completely before the mini can find anything. And vice versa - once something connects to the mini it's hard (as long as they're near each other) getting the mbp connected back to them. Is this just a thing bluetooth hates to do? Is bluetooth...monogamous?

So uh, I�m guessing you don�t know this going by your post, but your keyboard supports multiple pairings at least. See those 3 white keys on the upper left? Those are for 3 different devices! I forget exactly how it works, but I think you just hold down one of the buttons to enter pairing mode for that key, or just tap it to connect to that device once set up.

Mouse wise, it�s probably not too hard to set it to pairing mode every time, but might be tricky or at least annoying to connect on the Mac mini...cause you don�t have a mouse built in to go to the Bluetooth menu and hit connect.

MarcusSA posted:

Since this is the Apple thread....

That�s what the w1 chip does. Incredibly handy to switch between every Apple device including my Apple TV. It completely solves the problem.

If only they�d use for their drat computer input peripherals :argh:

Data Graham posted:

Yeah well, my AirPods make me do the �Bluetooth -> Disable� / �Bluetooth -> Connect� dance to use it with two laptops.

Are they both Macs? Cause the whole multi device connection magic they do is only with Apple hardware, software dependent too but I forget what OS version is needed.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2019 17:38

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Zenostein posted:

CTRL-F8 (and fn if you need it to bypass media keys or whatever) will get you to the menubar items. Might need to press ctrl-f1/turn on the shortcuts in system preferences > keyboard > shortcuts > keyboard

Incidentally, F2 is the menubar itself, F3 is dock

It�s nice that you can more or less navigate OS X by keyboard, but you can tell it took apple ages to allow it by the rather awkward keyboard shortcuts.

Yeah I know it�s possible, but hell if I can ever remember how off the bat. Wonder if you could just script something to connect to the mouse or something else you could just call up with Spotlight.

Alternative joke answer, learn to love the trackpad life, just stick with the built in one on the MBP and get a Magic Trackpad for the desktop.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2019 09:30

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Wouldn�t the USB switch just work with an A to C dongle?

# ¿ Aug 7, 2019 02:20

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Roadie posted:

I want a USB-C Alt Mode port, specifically, which they don't have.

The second TB3 port (on that and others) should provide that afaik.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2019 18:36

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Roadie posted:

I already have a separate Thunderbolt 3 device, and since the designers of these specs are assholes who never bothered to allow for a Thunderbolt 3 hub, the only way for me to route everything through the minimum number of cables is to find a hub that ALSO has a USB-C Alt Mode port.

Technically I think the spec allows whatever topology, but it�s like FireWire where no one has actually put that into practice. In any case to clarify your port usage, it sounds like you want one TB3 port for the computer, one for a TB3 device, and USB-C port w/DP for a display? For that specifically in a dock, yeah you�re probably boned. If your TB3 device has a daisy chain TB3 port you can use that for the display, or use something like a USB-C to DP cable for the display and use the DP port on the dock.

(Apologies if I�m completely misinterpreting your posts and way off the mark here)

# ¿ Aug 11, 2019 04:26

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

FCKGW posted:

At that point make the eGPU the enclosure that you slot the Mac Mini into

Like so: https://egpu.io/external-gpu-desktop-mac-mini-r9-fury-x/

# ¿ Aug 17, 2019 07:52

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

ArcticZombie posted:

I recently replaced the battery on my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014) following the iFixit guide (with a battery from iFixit), recalibrated the battery, and reset the SMC. Seems to have been a success, the "Service battery" warning has gone and the capacity of the new battery is 6306/6330 mAH. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, I lose significant charge when the laptop is closed and sleeping. Last night I closed it at 21:25 with 100% battery, opened it at 8:55 this morning and I'm at 72%. How can I fix this?

I'm running Mojave 10.14.6, my power settings are:

EDIT: Not a solution exactly, but setting the standbydelay[high/low] to 60 to force it into hibernation sooner has meant that now, at the cost of taking slightly longer to wakeup, my battery drains nothing overnight.

Do you have stuff plugged into it while it�s sleeping? Ever use (or manually edit) something to mess with sleep settings or prevent sleep before?

# ¿ Sep 2, 2019 23:52

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Generic Monk posted:

yeh tbf i haven�t seen usb soundcards work. but usb-c headphones work i think, which is the same basic idea?

USB audio was one of the few things supported and that�s gone waaay back. Main reason I could see it not working is if it directs audio over HDMI when that�s in use. I don�t know if the audio selector works for multiple hardware outputs.

(...anyway this was about the iPad so whoever asked should ask here instead)

# ¿ Sep 20, 2019 23:55

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Electric Bugaloo posted:

Mac Cube. Polycarbonate MacBook palmrests. TitaniumBook. Leaky PowerMac. These things have been going on since 1997 and people are acting like Trashcan Pro and butterfly keyboard are unprecedented.

The Cube had upgradable storage, RAM, GPU, and CPU, for under $2k. People would love it right now! :v:

# ¿ Sep 24, 2019 19:10

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Bob Morales posted:

That makes sense - Thunderbolt doesn't carry power, right?

At least not USB levels of power.

I think it can but hell if I know how much cause there�s only been so much portable TB 1/2 stuff to begin with.

I�ve had that adapter on my older 2011 Mac mini for a while now. Before with a self powered desktop drive, and currently with a bus powered USB-SATA SSD enclosure.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2019 09:07

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

There's TB1/2 docks with various ports if you want to dock it...although you'd still need a separate power brick and cable if you want to power the MBA while using it docked.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2019 22:29

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 23:53

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

Proteus Jones posted:

Yeah, the reason is mechanical reliability.

I prefer the feel of the newer keyboard. The lower travel and �clickiness� of the keys make my fingers fly on the keyboard. It�s so much better than the mushy chicklets of the previous pre-2016 rMBPs.

I haven�t had a notebook in years so haven�t gotten used to the new keyboard...but everything you said is pretty much how I felt about Apple's laptop keyboards vs whatever desktop keyboards (even nice mechanical ones). I loved when Apple finally came out with the aluminum keyboards way back. And Magic Trackpad for that matter.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2019 02:35

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