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So, what are you going to do now?
- Thread starter mw360
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I've found the 'performance advisor' mostly useless. I only use it to check fan speeds of the zillion fans in the computer. On the HP 820/840 forum there are people who post guides about what to optimize in the BIOS. It's mostly power management stuff. However, HP has lots of SAS and Boot ROM programs that launch and self test at start-up, which slows boot time. I turn them all off. It takes about 5 minutes to do and you never have to go in there again.
Dell Precision systems have a nice software and firmware upgrade utility that you can download that automatically installs updates for your computer. HP has no such thing. Note that driver updates come in automatically under Windows 10 now, similar to Mac OS X, so things are not like they used to be with the user hunting down drivers from the PC manufacturer's website. The only thing you will need to download is the BIOS update (if any) and the latest Intel Chipset drivers from HP.
I notice that you own both HP and Dell. After using both, do you have a preference?
Dell also has an optimizer which is supposed to automatically load a profile and make the changes when you open an app that has a profile. If you open 2 apps with profiles, I presume it only makes changes based on the first open app?
HP says that the Advisor avoids issues by telling you which video drivers are certified so you don't get conflicts. If you go on Adobe forums, one of the first things staff says is have you downloaded the latest drivers. So is that HP hype?
BIOS and Chipset updates would be on the model support page (which I imagine is true for both HP and Dell)?
Thanks for the answers. Going PC is a scary thing
Dell also has an optimizer which is supposed to automatically load a profile and make the changes when you open an app that has a profile. If you open 2 apps with profiles, I presume it only makes changes based on the first open app?
HP says that the Advisor avoids issues by telling you which video drivers are certified so you don't get conflicts. If you go on Adobe forums, one of the first things staff says is have you downloaded the latest drivers. So is that HP hype?
BIOS and Chipset updates would be on the model support page (which I imagine is true for both HP and Dell)?
Thanks for the answers. Going PC is a scary thing
Thanks to all who responded. Over 20% actively moving away from Mac I suppose is less dramatic than forum posts alone would have us believe, but less than 50% firmly in the Remain camp is a little surprising. (Why didn't I call this the OSXit Referendum? Damn.)
For what it's worth, we have our first PC, mainly for Oculus testing. It works, it's damn ugly, and Windows 10 makes my skin crawl. As does the relentless, almost paranoid obsession with performance which seems to come with owning a PC.
On the other hand it's quite a refreshing experience buying parts and building your own. It feels a little empowering, versus my recent Apple purchases. I'm sorry Apple, but buying from you now feels like being hit around the face with my own hand. 'Why you hitting yourself, consumer, stop it, why you hitting yourself?' I don't know how many more times I'm going to let them do that.
For what it's worth, we have our first PC, mainly for Oculus testing. It works, it's damn ugly, and Windows 10 makes my skin crawl. As does the relentless, almost paranoid obsession with performance which seems to come with owning a PC.
On the other hand it's quite a refreshing experience buying parts and building your own. It feels a little empowering, versus my recent Apple purchases. I'm sorry Apple, but buying from you now feels like being hit around the face with my own hand. 'Why you hitting yourself, consumer, stop it, why you hitting yourself?' I don't know how many more times I'm going to let them do that.
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Funny you say that... I just did the same thing... mostly because it turns out there are better units out there. My home is rather large, and the standard setup up two Airport Extremes (one upstairs and one down) just isn't working for me. Despite nearly complete coverage and "strong" signals... I was having issues connecting to certain things, and several AirPlay enabled speaker-units stopped working well entirely. I was actually ignorant and thought an Apple branded WiFi unit was required this whole time, in order for AirPlay to work. Once I was instructed otherwise... I jumped ship. Two Ubiquity units later... happy as a clam... and I actually have coverage in my backyard, which was non-existent before. I'd always thought about adding a third Apple unit to do that.
As for the software/hardware thing... if I begin to really leave Apple, it would start with getting a new PC. I don't have any major apps that I use on the MacOS that aren't also available for PC... and in fact my favorite audio software for the PC would be a nice pickup (Sony's Sound Forge). When I switched to a Mac in 2010, I lost that... they later came out with a Mac version that everyone in my audio circles tells me is total junk, so I never bought it for the Mac. I've limped along rather unhappily with Adobe Audition, since I already pay for the Adobe membership. I'd miss some MacOS features, but I wouldn't be missing any major software... so it's the easier start. And frankly the lack of a decent nMP replacement WHEN I actually need it would be what pushes me out. I'm happy with my iPhone and iPad for the most part, and would have to find some ways to makeup the compatibility gap between them and the PC... but I don't see any need to replace them anytime soon.
So that's where I'd start... if I really were to...
[doublepost=1466652450][/doublepost]I suppose I could add one more thing...
There is a chance that I'd buy a PC as a second computer, and KEEP the nMP, sort of splitting my tasks between them. I always sell the outgoing machine and use those funds to reimburse myself for a chunk of the new machine... but depending on what's happening, I could see myself maybe running two desktops as a bridge solution. Just depends on what specifically is giving me issues and why I'm being tempted to leave in the first place... but I suppose this could be a viable alternative to a total shift out. Hmm.
I have a highly reliable Seiko Kinetic watch which lasted for 9 years until it's first service for rust,
and lesson learned, I no longer have it on in the shower.
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The only Apple gear I have are the computers, I would not rely on Apple routers, tv, phones or iPads.
However, that said I have a large suburban section with wifi to the footpath and the garage out the back, so reliable AC wifi from an ASUS router serves all our devices well.
As an android programmer, Android Studio works best for programmers based on Mac, Ubuntu is suited to those who can read chicken entrails for information.
I will probably get some friends to port my future apps if they bring in enough revenue and can translate to iOS and mac.
Having been a Mac user since the late 1980s, I have seen many changes to the ecosystem over 27 years. I have progressed with Apple from a Classic SE through Performas, iMacs and finally a Mac Pro in 2008. I like OS X, I like the simplicity and ease with which I have managed my tech life, thanks to it. In the last 20 years, I have had to help many folk, who have struggled with their PCs far more than they should have had to; I have even converted some of them to Mac users as a result.
Since 2013 I have augmented my Mac Pro with Hackintoshes and I will continue to do so until a suitable replacement is manufactured by Apple. I don't need 5k screens but I do like high powered CPU and GFX as a combination, preferably with room for expansion or upgrade and not costing £3k either.
I may have to wait a long time for that model.
Since 2013 I have augmented my Mac Pro with Hackintoshes and I will continue to do so until a suitable replacement is manufactured by Apple. I don't need 5k screens but I do like high powered CPU and GFX as a combination, preferably with room for expansion or upgrade and not costing £3k either.
I may have to wait a long time for that model.
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Now that we have DDR4, TB3, the multi-format reversible USB-C port type and CPUs that support 32 or more PCIe3 lanes Apple has the opportunity to make a 2nd generation tube that OS X stalwarts can embrace. To accomplish that, they need to offer Pascal/Polaris/Vega dual GPUs with coherent fabric topology. The top spec graphics option needs to be workstation class. Yes, TB3/Sierra will support eGPUs in external chassis - but even 40gb/s will bottleneck some operations.
Availability of SkyLake CPUs appropriate for a 7,1 nnMP - as well as Alpine Ridge chipsets for TB3, USB3.1, DP 1.x might be an issue. Apple has leveraged suppliers before to get a jump on newer components, so perhaps it's feasible.
Yes, a well designed pro tower would have some serious advantages - but Apple seems committed to the new form factor, so let's hope they offer serious CPUs/GPUs in the 7,1 and be happy that ThunderBolt has progressed to the point that very few use cases will be throttled by I/O limits. Hopefully Magma, Sonnet and others are developing multi-slot expanders with multiple TB3 ports to exploit the potential bandwidth.
Availability of SkyLake CPUs appropriate for a 7,1 nnMP - as well as Alpine Ridge chipsets for TB3, USB3.1, DP 1.x might be an issue. Apple has leveraged suppliers before to get a jump on newer components, so perhaps it's feasible.
Yes, a well designed pro tower would have some serious advantages - but Apple seems committed to the new form factor, so let's hope they offer serious CPUs/GPUs in the 7,1 and be happy that ThunderBolt has progressed to the point that very few use cases will be throttled by I/O limits. Hopefully Magma, Sonnet and others are developing multi-slot expanders with multiple TB3 ports to exploit the potential bandwidth.
You seem to be jumping the gun a bit.
No Apple system has DDR4.
No Apple system has T-Bolt 3.
USB 3 - one micro-sized laptop with only one port.
The 2013 era CPUs in the MP6,1 have always supported 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes plus a number of PCIe 2.0 lanes.
Broadwell-EP is the only current candidate for the MP6,1.
More likely that Magma, Sonnet and the others are working on PCIe 4.0 chassis options.
Irrational exuberance coupled with the fact that Windows systems are shipping with most of the pieces?
My personal bet is that the MP6,1 will be the EOL for the Mac Pro. No more.
Or maybe an MP6,2 - same exact hardware in a rose gold case.
Yeah. I guess that's how we ended where we are.
Maybe there will be one more model just basing off the rumor.
If it's just an MP6,1 with a Broadwell-EP processor and a lackluster Polaris GPU renamed as a "FirePro JumpedTheShark" that's virtually the same as EOL - except that Apple will milk the cow for another couple of years.
Phil's signature line will be rewritten as "can't get off my ass to innovate".
Mavericks and Yosemite are longer available on the App Store and El Capitan (the last in the OSX series) is due to be superseded with the first Mac os 11 series, Sierra this month. If you think your present or next device may have trouble upgrading to Sierra then you should seriously consider downloading the El Capitan installer now even if you don't use it immediately because it will most certainly disappear from the App Store shortly after the release of Sierra.
That is a trait of Apple that I found cute when I was a fanboy, but is very annoying as a professional. In the kind of work I do we have to plan things out waaaay in advance. Since Apple likes to play the secrecy game it makes it very difficult to pitch Apple products to a VP of engineering.
"HP has the Z8million coming out in Sept of 2017, I called our contact for HP and they emailed us some info. Apple might have a new Mac Pro out by late 2017, I read something on a forum somewhere that a guy named Ming Kuo...".
I really do not like working on Windows or Windows servers. But Apple has been gradually rolling up it's pro presence since it killed off Xraid and Xserve.
The late 2013/early 2014 Mac Pro, of which I am an owner, is not the barn burner it was advertised as.
The 5k iMac is not a pro solution either. Are there better, faster NEWER iterations around the corner?
Not even god knows.
My devotion to simplicity and ease the Mac platform has just been refreshed by my recent experience attempting to change permissions on an External USB HD formatted for windows in order to Write to it on a Mac. In the end after sorting through the options of half a dozen preference windows on the PC we opted for the much simpler (although time consuming) option of moving all existing files back to the PC, erasing and reformatting on the Mac for FAT 32 and putting them back. Now it works on both mac an PC and setting "Ignore Ownership" was just a matter of one tick box.
Thank you for the OS update. Fortunately, I have Lion to Mavericks stored for later use. I also have Yosemite, but comments on this site indicate that I would be better off ignoring it, and El Capitan and Sierra don't interest me at all.
For me, I don't really have a whole lot of choice. My profession is iOS app development and my favorite type of personal projects are Mac apps, both of which require a Mac. I'd love so much to have a true macOS workstation to do these with, but I simply can't justify paying what Apple charges for the current Mac Pro and the prices of used Mac Pros (even the old aluminum ones) are just plain nuts considering one can build themselves a much more powerful machine with less cash.
This leaves me considering a hackintosh build. I don't mind putting in the extra effort to maintain it – the gained freedom and flexibility is worth it. The only thing that worries me is the graphics situation; it looks as if Apple may not support Polaris cards at all and it's entirely unclear if Nvidia has plans to release Sierra drivers for the 1070/1080. It would suck for an otherwise top of the line tower lagging behind a generation or two in the graphics department.
It's enough to make me reconsider sticking with Apple platform development, at least for my personal time. It's not a thought I relish, though. I have very little interest in developing desktop apps for Windows and while Linux is very developer friendly, the selection of applications available for it are just flat out worse than that of OS X.
This leaves me considering a hackintosh build. I don't mind putting in the extra effort to maintain it – the gained freedom and flexibility is worth it. The only thing that worries me is the graphics situation; it looks as if Apple may not support Polaris cards at all and it's entirely unclear if Nvidia has plans to release Sierra drivers for the 1070/1080. It would suck for an otherwise top of the line tower lagging behind a generation or two in the graphics department.
It's enough to make me reconsider sticking with Apple platform development, at least for my personal time. It's not a thought I relish, though. I have very little interest in developing desktop apps for Windows and while Linux is very developer friendly, the selection of applications available for it are just flat out worse than that of OS X.
What we know from leaked Sierra .kext information is that Polaris is supported in the new models.
If you are an Apple developer paying for the developer access, then you could check for yourself.
