None of my kids uses Mac anymore, all PC. They have iPhones though.
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Flip Flopping between macOS and Windows
- Thread starter LiE_
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I have a nephew who is a machinist, a CNC operator. I have asked him about Apple and CNC software. He told me that outside to the defense industry were high end Mac Pro's are sometimes used in 3D design simulations there just isn't any software at his level he could use. But CNC machines do not need much in computer power.
As I have pointed out I am in both worlds. I need a PC for my ham station. I wanted to do a little FT8 digital mode stuff and switched to the little PC. I didn't get there because of the keyboard and mouse. I would have had to move the Apple configured keyboard and mouse aside and move in the Keyboard, and mouse for the PC. I was thinking that instead of upgrading to a modern mini PC, that a MicroSoft Surface might be the way to go. The problem with the Lenovo is it does not have Bluetooth and the logitech wireless setup is good for one computer. Plus my Keychron keyboard is wired or bluetooth only.
I use iphone as my main phone as well. With phone link and one drive I see no reason for Mac anymore. I'm the ultimate flipper the past couple of months. But I need to keep my coin for other things right now.
Phone Link just takes notifications from Bluetooth. The messaging is very limited. Really only works in single chat. Group chats are broken up into whoever sends the message. It's still very handy and useful. If Apple supported RCS messaging there would be zero issues.
While I like the Apple ecosystem I am getting tired of the same old hardware. Wish Apple could make a nice folding phone like the Galaxy Fold or the new Pixel Fold. My work gave me a Surface Laptop Studio and that has been a real pleasure to use. Just wish Microsoft was a little more aggressive with updates and using the latest hardware.
I am also working in CNC and highly agree. I've been doing this for almost 20 years and not once has my work involved a Mac computer even though that's what I used at home for the majority of that time. I have never had to buy a new computer to support the CNC process, I'm still using computers that are 20-25 years old running Mach2 and Mach3.
One of them recently reached an uptime of 2 years, incredible for a computer that was already 20 years old. I've been waiting for the PSU to pop but it hasn't happened, these things run forever. Processor speeds as low as 500MHz for Mach2. Runs fine. Most of the problem is making sure there is nothing sapping your resources, if the computer is a fresh install of Windows set up with Mach you can run as low as 350MHz with some success.
Obviously more power is needed for the CAD/CAM side of things, but still little to no use for Macs in this regard. We do have an Intel Mac Pro involved in this job, but it is running Windows 10. I have no qualms with using Windows for these jobs though, the OS itself does not interfere with the task at hand and I do quite like Windows these days.
I keep it simple.. M1 Mac mini on the left, Windows on a home build to the right.
iPhone, iPad and Watch to keep me in the loop.
iPhone, iPad and Watch to keep me in the loop.
Oh, they can, it's pretty easy to do because of how Phone Link works (Not end to end encrypted). I suspect whether they will or not depends on how popular it gets. That being the more popular the less likely they will do it.
From what I am reading anything you send from IOS to Phone Link doesn't even happen device to device. Anything transmitted goes through MS Servers which in turn means they have access to everything. I don't like that to be honest. Others may be ok with it. Apple and their privacy have a pass right there to block it.
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Yes it is the classic G4 cube and it sits perfectly above the mini..
I turned My Nephew onto the really cheap refurbished PC's Amazon has. I have a Lenovo ThinkCentre M903P it has a 2 core i5 an internal 512 GB SSD, and I installed 16 gigs of RAM. It is currently selling refurbished with a full Amazon Warranty including Microsoft supplied Windows 10 Pro just checked and it is selling for $114 bucks. Purchased it 2 years ago and it has been running 24/7 for almost all of that time.
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I totally missed that. I was too concentrated on the gear. Like living in a grow room. Awesome.Nice setup, and love the Cube in the center. Dig the look of the foil, too.
For laptop it has to be that way(think of it like a tv) but for for desktop yes I agree there is something to be said about the ability to troubleshoot yourself. I've been extremely lucky and never had an Apple desktop/laptop go bad on me in about 15 years of using them. With that said I haven't bought any Apple computer in almost 10 years now as I switched to Windows mostly in the past few years. Still have a couple old Macs.
I am in the cycle for a new system now and the Mac Studio announcement peaked my interest as I really like the small form factor with power but I am starting to doubt it makes sense to go back to MacOS as the software availability isn't there and may need to rely on ARM Windows in a VM which isn't ideal as it's not the technically the same as running native Windows. I've been using my 5k iMac now trying to see if I want to make the jump but I must admit I can't stand MacOS's file management even after years of using it. I'm gonna need a third party app like Forklift for Finder and to this day I hate the Dock and there isn't a MacOS alternative to Windows taskbar that is reliable and isn't third party where support can vanish(that I know of). I know everyone will say "Instead of trying to make macOS more like Windows, use macOS as it was intended and designed" but Task Bar is perfect for me.
I disagree. Several laptops have proven that you can do thin while having a replaceable SSD at least. Apple's own MacBook Air up until 2018, for instance. The Surface Pro from Microsoft also has a replaceable SSD.
Thinnest I have personally seen with upgradable RAM is probably the ThinkBook T450S, which is a bit chunky. I'm sure there are better examples out there (although personally that laptop was, aside from the slow chipset, my ideal laptop).
The air has never had removable and replaceable SSD. The pro has. I consider my inspiron thin and light and I can replace the battery, ram, SSD, repaste my cooling system with thermal paste when needed, and replace any part of my system if it breaks. It's fast, reliable and I only paid 949.00 cdn for the base system.
I bought it with 12 gb of ram and a 512gb ssd. It now has 2tb of ssd, 64gb of ram, running Noctua NT-H2 thermal paste (dropped temps ALOT), and I upgraded to the larger multicell battery. Bonus, it has a thunderbolt port, 2 USB-A, a full size SD card reader, HDMI and a headphone jack.
It's also touchscreen that includes pen support for graphics creation and note taking. It's a do everything system that I create on. It's not the best for gaming but that's not what I bought it for.
There are alot of true thin and light systems.
Yes it has (although its harder to replace than other laptops).
Check OWC and you will see they have options for their own product or used up to 2018.
Within the last couple months I swapped my 2013 11.6” MBA from its original 128Gb to a OEM 250Gb SSD as well…
I just mean you can't have anywhere near the same fixability parity as a PC desktop. There has to be a trade off. Yes obviously different models may allow something to be change if you are willing to go in there but my point is if you have a PC desktop you can do it all yourself without a lot of skill. Being able to possible swap out an SSD isn't the same as having confidence that you can fix anything. Also someone who drop 2 grand on a laptop under warranty may not want to screw around trying to fix it especially under warranty for many valid reasons.
This also ties in with say even a Mac Desktop. Spend a few thousand on an Apple Studio and something goes wrong are you playing around with it under warranty? Even out of warranty still far more difficult and less options. But that is the tradeoff. Want small size with incredible efficiency you are playing with Apple's SOC territory now. At the end of the day computers have been trending towards towards this.
It has, but then depends on how you define 'user upgradeable'. I define it as opening a dedicated cover and replacing a component, replacing the cover and doing it in a couple of minutes. Replacing the hard drive on an old MBA wasn't too bad, the Ram, nah. Any model still required the case to be opened and for me, that is not what I would call user upgradeable on a laptop.
Wasn't the drives on the air always soldered to the board? If so, that's NOT user replaceable. That's technician replaceable. Two totally different things.
…no, just the RAM. Drives were user replaceable…
Ahhh. I have to investigate now, my son has a 2016 mba that's only 128gb.
Just went and looked at youtube. It's just an NVME style ssd with adapter. Cool. Upgrade incoming.
I decided against using SSD’s w/ adapters and just found an OEM Apple “take out” SSD…wasn’t worth it to me for the chipset to worry too much about having a faster SSD in the 2013 11” MBA but needed/wanted the 250Gb of internal space