I HATE APPLE

It'll be good when the whole keyboard is a screen w haptic feedback imo

http://docs.bettertouchtool.net/docs/touch_bar.html

BetterTouchTool now supports the touchbar. I haven't used it for that, but it is an essential utility for the touchpad.

I like physical keys

what the https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/01/apple-lg-5k-display-issues/

why did they stop making their own displays?

they've stopped making anything that isn't relate dto the iphone

I know there's a separate thread for this, but while I've been (unusually) patient with iTunes all this time, it's been giving me grief lately. Anyone have a preferred and reliable alternative? This would be for a crazy big music library, please keep in mind.

what are your needs? For playing stuff at home, there's the nerdiest possible option

I have been poking around with some alternatives

all I've learned so far is that plex is acting weird about streaming flac files inside my house

Needs would be fairly simple -- it's mostly mp3s, some AAC/WAV/AIFF -- and just needs to play on my computer setup.

the nerdiest possible option

https://cdn.volumio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/pi-2-design-503hta-i2s-dac-hybrid-tube-amp-for-the-raspberry-pi-VOLUMIO.jpg

Swinsian

Hmm, that looks like just what I would need.

there's a way to set it up so that it watches your itunes folder, so anything added to itunes is added to swinsian. You can't sync the playlists though, which is a bummer. One day I'll replace iTunes with it completely.

Hey, their website screenshots show Go-Betweens, Orange Juice, Beefheart etc.

touch id kind of blows

it doesn't really work for me much anymore

now that you have to push home to unlock rather than swipe makes it an even bigger pain in the ass

really? might be worth blanking out your fingerprint in the list and adding it in again

only times I've had problems were right after getting out of the shower and trying to unlock, or the time I somehow added the same finger in the settings twice -- it would take forever or get confused

touch id is one of the only fancy apple doo-dads that has always worked perfectly for me. I hated the new "push home to unlock" behavior too, but luckily you can change it back to the old way: http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/09/30/ios-10-tips-revert-touch-id-from-press-home-to-wake-back-to-rest-to-wake

Absolutely hated my phone until I found that article. Push home to unlock is some bullshit.

Thanks so much for that link, Dan.

i replaced the battery in my MBA with an anker replacement. it was easy! i hope this machine never breaks. it's the best model they've ever made.

ha i didn't know that was possible dan xp

So my Macbook is slowing like crazy... it beachballs every time I try to load a new webpage these days. Anything I can do about that, or is that just the cycle of life? It's about 6-7 years old.

Swap out the HDD for an SSD. That made my MacBook feel like 10x faster.

i wanna get airpods. sold out till april. :(

last night I took my parents Macbook Pros, a 2010 and a 2011 13" model, both with 4 gigs of ram, and swapped their drives with SSDs and upgraded them to 16 gigs ram each. They seem happier already.

Interestingly certain models from back then that apple claim can only upgrade to 8 gigs do support 16 gigs. Info on the OWC page.

I'm not a computer guy... what's an HDD/SSD? How much does an SSD cost?

And damn that jump in ram does sound nice. How much is that upgrade? I do feel wasteful getting rid of a perfectly functional computer just because it's slow

if it's unusable, it might be worth taking to the apple store for repair. for a flat rate of around $200 or something (give or take, i can't remember) they will fix or replace anything that's broken. last fall i brought my 2012 macbook pro, which was painfully slow until finally it wouldn't turn on, and they essentially replaced all the major parts and it was akin to getting a new computer.

it's a good idea to back it up if you haven't already obv

HDD=Hard Disc Drive
SSD=Solid State Drive. SSDs are flash-based, so they have way lower latency than HDDs. Things like booting, opening files, changing apps (when virtual memory is being used) become much much faster with an SSD. All Macs are SSD-based now (I think?).

Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-75E500B/AM) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OBRE5UE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_K-0QybXRAMGS4

Cool thanks!

So the other takeaway here, too, is that any new Macbook I get now would also be much faster than one from 6-7 years ago, too, right? (It's kind hard as a non-gearhead who doesn't know how to read the numbers. Like, I know more ram is faster in general, obviously, but I don't have a frame of reference for how specific numbers of ram correlates to speed)

Any new macbook will be much faster.

yes 6-7 years is quite long, even the lowest end machine now will be faster than the highest end machine from then unless some serious weird shit happened

i've had this macbook pro since 2012 and i can't wait until i'm forced to get a new one. on one hand it's great that the products last so long (and it works pretty much as well as it did the day i got it) otoh the new products are so shiny + new...

I know I'm like a broken record but...2008 8-core mac pro, 2 SSDs, 3 HDD, 10 gigs ram, USB 3 card, WIFI card and it still runs...pretty damn good. But it doesn't support Sierra and is definitely a bit creaky at times, though still working better than middle of the road newer machines. I DESPERATELY want to buy a new mac but there is NOTHING worth buying! Get with the program apple please.

Mine is a mid-2012 MacBook Pro (last of the non-retinas), and with the SSD it runs plenty fast. I use Lightroom, Pixelmator, Ableton Live, without running into noticeable slowdown. Pre-SSD it was pretty unbearable.

Is it wise to pay about $800 for a refusbished MacBook Air 13" i5 Quad Core, 4GB ram, 120 SSD from mid-2013? It's main purpose will be for writing, and some browsing and e-mail on the side, nothing fancy. Will it last three or four years with Sierra on it without having to update in order for it to still work?

no matter what you're doing I think 8 gigs of ram should be the minimum now.

quite tempted to upgrade my 2011 mini but i still haven't swapped in an SSD.. i should do that, right? there's no USB 3 on this thing but there is thunderbolt.

and i'd be upgrading a model that was last updated in.... 2014 :/

sorry upgrading TO a model..

not worth upgraded the mini right now. Many people still prefer the 2012 mini to the new one. It has more cores and more easily upgradable. I don't think getting any new mac right now is a good idea. They need to update the mini and Pro or have some other option within the next few months or at least announce as such or I'm jumping ship.

Dan, you're probably right. Not a very big jump in price either to ones with 8gb, so that's what it will be. Thanks!

i'm on an imac from 2012 that's...fine, but i think i'll be upgrading soonish. is linux still not worth it, or what

I live in Adobe products (and some music software) that requires OSX or Windows, so if I jump it will be to a windows machine. I really don't want to though.

for that macbook air I'd try to go for a bigger hard-drive as well.

Thanks, but I don't think I'll need it. It will be a secondary machine, really mostly for writing and occasionally looking something up. Other macbook w/ heavier specs still the 'main' one.