Issues were addressed awhile ago. No more updates are planned to come out to address them as they are deemed fixed. I wouldn’t worry about it, build it and enjoy it
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Flip Flopping between macOS and Windows
- Thread starter LiE_
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Mixed messages being reported. Intel did claim issues are resolved but bios updates to address it are still being released. My ASUS ROG motherboard just released another update. With a new build and the latest Bios, my expectation is my CPU won't degrade like some did before the Bios and microcode updates. I read the warranty has been extended 2 years for a 5 year warranty. I'm not worrying too much, Thanks
Version 1801 13.54 MB 2024/12/06
"1.Enhanced system performance, stability and allowed the C1E power state to be disabled.
Updating this BIOS will simultaneously update the corresponding intel ME to version 16.1.32.2473. Please note after you update this BIOS, the ME version remains the updated one even if you roll back to an older BIOS later.
Before running the USB BIOS Flashback tool, please rename the BIOS file (A5469.CAP) using BIOSRenamer."
They're too big to fail. I'm pretty sure they're the only American company with a foundry in the USA.
If another company buys just the foundry, there go the warranties.
I own a laptop with a i7-13700HX for the record. 🤪
Kinda miss PC gaming, getting the itch.. I love my M3 Air for everything else, it's even turning into a desktop setup.
With the release of Path of Exile 2, I've been playing on PS5 and while it works well with controller, navigating menus could use a mouse. While I've sort of got my fill of it, I still feel like going back to PC gaming from the PS5, I like being able to easily play older titles, not paying for online and aiming with a mouse. But since getting the PS5 mid year, I haven't used it much outside Stellar Blade and PoE2.
Getting a PC again would mean getting rid of the Mac, as 2 computers would be redundant. I've made it a bit harder to leave by going deeper into the ecosystem.
With the release of Path of Exile 2, I've been playing on PS5 and while it works well with controller, navigating menus could use a mouse. While I've sort of got my fill of it, I still feel like going back to PC gaming from the PS5, I like being able to easily play older titles, not paying for online and aiming with a mouse. But since getting the PS5 mid year, I haven't used it much outside Stellar Blade and PoE2.
Getting a PC again would mean getting rid of the Mac, as 2 computers would be redundant. I've made it a bit harder to leave by going deeper into the ecosystem.
Steam Deck? You can easily dock it for keyboard/mouse play when you need to but won't feel like a full fat PC that makes the Mac redundant.
I do think they’re great, just not for me. I’m not that big on handheld gaming and docking it to a monitor wouldn’t give me the performance I would like.
Just flopped back to putting my Windows desktop back on my desk. The main reason was one of my Apple Silicon programs (beta) breaking, so I had to go back to my other program which runs horrible on AS but great on Windows x86. One other nice thing about the Windows desktop is that I can slap on a 4 TB NVMe without paying the Apple tax on storage. I could get a TB4 enclosure but the good ones run about $200 and I'll get better cooling inside my desktop anyways. The Windows desktop also has 128 GB of RAM so I can run a virtual machine while running my other stuff too. I could actually live with just my Windows desktop and iMac Pro but I have my NAS and all of my storage on my Mac Studio.
Yeah I agree with you about the Apple tax on storage (and RAM if you go beyond 16GB). I doubled the RAM and storage when I got my Acer Predator Helios Neo 16" to 32GB and 2TB. Even with having to buy both RAM sticks, it was still like $120.
So I am testing life with just windows to see if I can do it. If I can't, I will fork over the cash for an M4 Mini 16/512. But I am honestly hoping I can make it without Mac anymore. Just sick of paying these prices on RAM and storage--especially since everything is impossible to upgrade.
I'm in the Apple ecosystem so I need a Mac desktop and laptop but fortunately, Intel Macs are getting ridiculously cheap and they can be good enough. I could actually live with my iMac Pro and Windows desktop. I expect at least another four years of support on the iMac Pro and it can support five displays (I'd need three) on it. I have my home base stuff on the Studio though and the home NAS runs off of it.
The main problem with Windows for me is Independent Virtual Desktops but I can just run one monitor with Windows.
Windows x86 virtual machines just work better for me on x86 hardware. I've tried all kinds of VM software and Windows 11 ARM just doesn't run as well for what I do. I used to run macOS virtual machines on this system too but keeping it running was too much work.
So my potential future might be to move everything from the Studio to the iMac Pro, sell the Studio, and then just see how things go from there.
Speaking of "upgrades without the Apple tax", I had re-built my Windows tower almost two years ago and replaced everything internally except for the GPU (Radeon RX570) and one large SSD (WD 4TB SATA SSD for storage) that I kept from the previous build. Was able to upgrade from my six-year-old build to a Ryzen 5900x with 64GB RAM and 10.75TB total SSD storage for under $2k CAD. Only thing that was lacking on that machine was the GPU (not a big gamer, so didn't bother to upgrade right away).
And now today is Christmas and my lovely wife surprised me with this wonderful piece of adult nerd Lego:
BTW: The tower I'm using is the same 2009 Coolermaster HAF 932 from two builds ago. Say what you will about the space-saving design of the small compact Mac desktops - nothing saves desk space more than putting your computer on the floor and having all your necessary parts actually inside it. Unless a future motherboard design finally orphans it, I am never getting rid of this thing.
And now today is Christmas and my lovely wife surprised me with this wonderful piece of adult nerd Lego:
BTW: The tower I'm using is the same 2009 Coolermaster HAF 932 from two builds ago. Say what you will about the space-saving design of the small compact Mac desktops - nothing saves desk space more than putting your computer on the floor and having all your necessary parts actually inside it. Unless a future motherboard design finally orphans it, I am never getting rid of this thing.
Out of curiosity, what doesn't work quite right for you with Windows' virtual desktops? I'm not sure what you mean by "Independent Virtual Desktops" here.
I use them quite often and while I do find a few things about them annoying (for example, trying to open an Excel sheet in a clean desktop when Excel is already open on a different one), it works pretty well overall.
The problem is with multi-monitor setups. Windows treats all the monitors as a virtual desktop. When you change to another virtual desktop, all of the monitors change.
On macOS, you can can get it to work the same way as Windows or you can select independent virtual desktops. So you might have Slack running on monitor 1 while you have your work on monitor 2 but you can switch monitor 2 to a second, third or fourth virtual desktop while Slack remains on the first monitor.
It makes quite a difference in work environments when you have one monitor for your work focus and a second monitor for reference materials with virtual desktops for different kinds of reference materials. macOS has had this for at least 15 years. Microsoft promised it for Windows 10, then promised it for Windows 11 and has not delivered yet.
Ahh, I see what you mean.
What you can do to achieve something very similar (at least with regard to your Slack window) and which almost does the same thing is that you can specify a window (or alternatively, all windows for an app) that you want to show on all desktops. I also have a three-monitor setup and use one monitor for the set of applications I always want to see, no matter which virtual desktop I'm on (in my case: Teams, Outlook, Spotify, and a few others that are specific to my work). To do this, you can go into the "Virtual Desktop Switch" mode (Win-Tab) and right-click a window and select the appropriate option.
Note, if you select the "Show windows from this app on all desktops" option, that will stay marked during future Windows sessions until you unmark it again. With that selected, you can also still select individual windows to only show on a specific desktop (handy for something like Outlook where I might want the main app open on all desktops, but an e-mail related to a task that is on one specific desktop can be kept just with that desktop).
I tried this workaround back in 2020. I built a system and I wanted independent virtual desktops for the flexibility it provides as Microsoft had promised it. I tried it out and went right back to macOS. Fortunately Apple launched Apple Silicon around that time. The workaround shouldn't be necessary and it doesn't work for my setup for trading. At any rate, Microsoft was supposed to have this around 2017-2018 and have not delivered to date. I could not find any third-party programs that could handle this so I was forced back to macOS.
I love that case. I used it for my last two builds but the most recent was 8 years ago. I planned on reusing a HAF X for my current build but wanted support for higher speed front panel connections. Since I liked the Cooler Master HAF series so much I bought a HAF 700 EVO I found at a discount. Still outrageous but I wanted something I was familiar with that had lots of space.
Unfortunately there was a manufacturers defect and I couldn't install the power supply. A beast of a case and not easy to pack up for an RMA exchange. I'm still waiting for the replacement and the build I planned to have finished over the holidays is on hold until I get the new case.
This is my build from 8 years ago.
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I flipped to Windows half a year ago and did not flop back to macOS again.
I am finally free from Apple's prison of planned obsolescence, incompatibilities, infantilizing users and sales forcing their cloud services.
I still appreciate the good screens of Apple's old Intel-hardware.
I am finally free from Apple's prison of planned obsolescence, incompatibilities, infantilizing users and sales forcing their cloud services.
I still appreciate the good screens of Apple's old Intel-hardware.
Just sold my gaming PC and collect a base M4 mini later today. £499 with edu discount.
Ultimately I was inspired to get back into gaming by the release of Space Marine 2 and playing with friends. It was a good move, enjoyed it a lot and the social aspect of coop play. However, now we’ve moved on from that game I’m back to my default position. I don’t enjoy games solo and I can’t always play with friends or even like the games they decide to play. I’m not like my friends in that I don’t like playing games a lot or by myself.
2025 is the year I want to be more disconnected as well.
Ultimately I was inspired to get back into gaming by the release of Space Marine 2 and playing with friends. It was a good move, enjoyed it a lot and the social aspect of coop play. However, now we’ve moved on from that game I’m back to my default position. I don’t enjoy games solo and I can’t always play with friends or even like the games they decide to play. I’m not like my friends in that I don’t like playing games a lot or by myself.
2025 is the year I want to be more disconnected as well.
My family and friends received my reformatted Gaming PCs for Christmas after my M4 Pro Mini arrived.
There are three additional friend-cooperative games that come to mind immediately in which you may be interested. They all have Mac clients and run very well on the Mini.
World of Warcraft - Blizzard's famous MMORPG (free to try / subscription eventually needed)
(worldofwarcraft.com)
EVE Online - A more complex, but great spaceship game (with PvE and PvP) (Free to Play - subscribe for full features)
(eveonline.com)
City of Heroes - This superhero / supervillain MMORPG classic was discontinued by NCSoft years ago ... but has been permitted to be reborn by fans. Totally free. Totally fun!
(forums.homecomingservers.com)
I am sure there are others. If you like the hack and slash melee games, WOW and CoH are worth looking into. CoH if you're on a budget.
Congratulations on your new Mini and have fun!
My new PC build is coming along. A lot has changed since my last one 8 years ago. The new HAF model has way more bling than I needed or expected. I thought the HAF X was flashy. I hope to install Windows 11 Pro today, install the rest of my drives, tidy up the cables and start transferring programs and files. I'll keep the same dual monitors with an NEC MultiSync PA272W with 99.3% coverage of AdobeRGB color space for photo editing and I'll continue to share a Dell 6K U3224kB Monitor with my MacBook Pro M2 Max.
I was able to install Windows 11 Pro, though the front panel power button doesn't work. I had to use the buttons on the motherboard. Hopefully I can get some technical support Monday. I do not want to uninstall everything and exchange the case for a front panel motherboard connector that may not be wired correctly. I confirmed it is not the motherboard. Shorting the motherboard header pins starts the computer up. It may be a simple case front cable fix. If I can't resolve it I will ask Cooler Master to send me a new front cable kit.
Yesterday, I installed Windows 11 on my Missus PC.
She will not be happy with the start menu and such. Only a matter of time, before I get the, "Can you help me change this, to how it was before...?" call 🤣
She will not be happy with the start menu and such. Only a matter of time, before I get the, "Can you help me change this, to how it was before...?" call 🤣
It's pretty easy to retrofit a Mac-like dock to Windows:
5 Apps to Add Mac Like Dock in Windows PC – WebNots
Learn how to add Mac like Dock in Windows desktop and laptops to replace taskbar and use Dock with app shortcuts and additional settings.
www.webnots.com