I HATE APPLE

I’m sorry it sucks for you though!

Mark I think first port of call is to make a thumb drive of your current OS combo installer, boot from it and reinstall to underpin your foundations, so to speak. Then, if we can assume your Backblaze backup is full of worthless junk, ask them to zero it and start over, preferably while not using the computer otherwise. If you have agreed to that terrible option to offload local files from Desktop and Documents to iCloud, turn that off ASAP and retrieve them to your local machine. That file above is a Spotlight index so it seems your machine has a lot of files coming and going so the index is forever being updated. Just a guess.

extremely mid 2010s complaint here but goddamn the butterfly keyboard is a shitshow

Don’t back up files unless you know what they are for. It’s wasteful for one. Definitely don’t back up operating system files you don’t know the purpose of. They will clutter and/or fuck up your computer if you restore them anyway. Put your important files in one folder (“Documents” maybe) and exclude hidden and system files. Why complicate things down the road anyway if you have to restore?

I do that but the folder is called “Dropbox.”

MatthewK: thanks for that, this is now my first plan of attack. I'm in discussion with Backblaze about the whole thing also.

I'm well aware that dan selzer is likely correct and that trading up to a new computer is certainly one once-for-all way to solve these dumb issues i'm having (and probably needn't be having).

HOWEVER i am also very aware that i've had no new work during lockdown and watched the sector i generally get that work from collapsing (much of it unlikely to restart before next year at the earliest,m in who knows what shape or whether there' be sensible space for my skills). I'm also very aware i need to upgrade my ancient phone and that various other appliances round the house are failing. I dislike living in a world where we just accept planned obsolesence at the first glitch, trapped within the IP rentier grift, and i like the fact the ilx is a gathering of smart and knowledgeable minds who might have temporary workarounds? I want to know where my next paycheck is coming from before I decide where it's going. This involve taking gambles and internalising stress (as everyone reading of course knows). I am not NOT looking into trading up, it's just that i'm also looking into getting the last drop of juice out of what i'm currently working with.

In conclusion point me at adequately paid editing work ilx and i can stop distressing dan!

So my kids think that if I leave my account open on my (brand new 16", loaded-up) MBP that their accounts become laggier when they play Roblox. Anyone else notice this? Seems like it shouldn't be the case, right?

Shouldn’t be the case

No, I think that's right – accounts in the background don't have all their stuff suspended, some keeps running. You can see it in activity manager

Well then I HATE APPLE

Your real problem is that dread program roblox

I hate that infernal software with the fury of a thousand nine-year-olds having their progress halted by an inexplicable crash in an abysmally designed minigame

For. Real. I thought they were done with that crap but now one of my kids is playing some kind of Jo Jo’s adventure game. The other one wants to play Rainbow 6 Siege but he can play that toxic shit at his mom’s.

this is great https://tonsky.me/blog/syncthing/

is there a thread for the fact that everything about computers (not just apple) got really bad and complicated about ten years ago?

at some point someone decided that TLS and passwords was Not Good Enough and now everything is really stupid

more on topic: i think i mentioned i am now being forced to use a new 16" MBP by work. it is an awful object. also it doesn't fucking work. it has a reproducible kernel panic any time you have the temerity to use an external monitor.

staying on Mojave with my current MBP until I no longer get security updates

in terms of just being a physical object, I thought most people liked the new MBP though?

i think people like the fact that the keyboard doesn't break.

unusably large trackpad, touchbar, heavy, sharp corners, terrible keyboard ("does not break" is a low bar)...

it is a profoundly anti-humanist object!

the 2013 MBA is the best macbook design ever and it's been downhill from there.

ah. yeah that all tracks with current-day Apple :/

at some point someone decided that TLS and passwords was Not Good Enough and now everything is really stupid

i hate when i’m running with my new SE and the screen just turns on and controls become active and my finger accidentally hits back or forward or some shit. i’m not even pressing volume up/down (which ALSO shouldn’t activate the screen)

Might get the new iMac being announced on Monday? Been about 10 years since I last had a desktop

Tracer: have you been getting annoying battery drain with the SE, and it's always some app you used for 15sec nine hours ago which has been chuntering away in the background? Probably an iOS thing rather than a hardware-specific thing, mind. I've had it with Shazam (no, I did not long-press for AutoShazam), a bus times app, a SpeedTest and some other thing I can't remember. But I don't remember this being a thing before a month ago.

I haven’t noticed! I use very few apps these days though.

Maybe try turning off background app refresh for those apps. But I’m sure you’ve thought of that. And it doesn’t help for the next app which decides to start eating up juice.

Yeah, Background App Refresh is off for everything. Supposedly apps have a grace period of 10min or so after you switch away from them to finish doing whatever they're doing (with Refresh off), but this is a case of apps nibbling away at the power for many hours. I was told years ago that it's never really necessary on iOS to swipe up in the switcher to "kill" an app; while you may accumulate a couple of dozen in there, they're not doing anything, they're entirely suspended and not using system resources. Well, looks like I have to start actively killing them, like it's an Android in 2010.

For example, I used The Guardian app around 7:15pm this evening. It has been active in the background, draining battery, ever since. (9-10pm: The Guardian (1hr background) - 44% of battery usage; 10-11pm: The Guardian (1hr background) - 37% of battery usage, etc).

lol or android now

Might get the new iMac being announced on Monday? Been about 10 years since I last had a desktop

― calstars, Saturday, 20 June 2020 7:14 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think if I were in the market for a computer today I’d buy an iMac for home maybe with an iPad for out and about. Most of the time my MacBookpro just sits in its stand on my desk.

I'm on a 2014 MBP and use it for everything. The only thing I really use my phone for is tethering. I've never really gelled with smart phones, though this is in part due to the fact that something usually goes wrong (went missing in airport x ray machine, blew up when plugged into socket, refused to turn on one day, slipped into drain)

i found an old 4S the other day, plugged it in, it works great. it’s not compatible with zing but maybe that’s a feature.

The 4S was (is) great. Tiny and heavy. A little tank.

The last Steve Jobs phone I think.

i still use my 4s and yes it's great (but increasingly incompatible with apps i'd like to use) (not zing ffs)

Had a 4S 2013-15, sat in a drawer for 18 months and then became elder daughter’s first phone in summer before secondary school. She smashed the screen inside a week.

Also have a 2014 MBP. 850+ recharge cycles now so battery getting pretty tired (“service battery” messages come and go). Has a tendency to shut down from anything below 50% when tasked with something hard. Never a problem with it otherwise. I did take a look at a tutorial on battery replacement. It’s the “make your own butter” of tech fixes. You just wouldn’t.

^ same boat, also w/ a ‘14 mbp. Hard to service the battery when I have to use it for work.

I'll be in a position to get a new macbook this fall. this thread gives me pause? my current machine is a 2014 15" mbp that works great; I use it to drive a big 4k monitor in clamshell mode, but (used to?) use its portability also. my life will (maybe?) be considerably more portable in the fall, so I still want a laptop. was thinking of going with the 13" mbp rather than the air, is that a mistake? won't buy until september in any case.

i’m in the minority that has a touchbar macbook and i love it. it’s 13”, maybe those were built better? anyway a version with a better keyboard sounds great (not that i’ve had an problem with mine)

ok good to hear. looking at the 13" for the sake of portability, it seems it'll drive external monitors as well as the larger model. can't just get away with a tablet.

I'll be in a position to get a new macbook this fall. this thread gives me pause? my current machine is a 2014 15" mbp that works great; I use it to drive a big 4k monitor in clamshell mode, but (used to?) use its portability also. my life will (maybe?) be considerably more portable in the fall, so I still want a laptop. was thinking of going with the 13" mbp rather than the air, is that a mistake? won't buy until september in any case.

i'm currently using a 2012 MBP that had its entire HD replaced in early 2017 under AppleCare warranty, and it is really starting to drag...thinking about getting a new computer, and have been using Apple products for personal computing for so long that going back to a PC sounds difficult...but what's a guy to do? should i get an MBA? wait until the fall when the bugs with the new MBPs are figured out?

I would not make any decisions until the WWDC next week. There’s an expectation they will announce the timeline for a switch from intel to arm processors. If it’s going to take 6 months then wait. If it’s going to take 3 years maybe just go ahead.

ok caek that would be a big problem! the 13" mbp is just a bit more expensive than the air but has somewhat better specs (and someone else is paying for it). but the air is lighter and will fit even easier in my current awesome backpack.

xp re. kernel panics, not re. arm processors, but yeah, I could afford to wait a bit if that timeline emerges.

If I needed a new machine today I would get a maxed out MacBook Air, no question

Or a pc laptop tbqh

Maybe just one of these https://www.pine64.org/pinebook-pro/

I love my MBP16 for the most part, but I never use it with the lid closed. Seems like a waste of a screen!

yeah I might go for a pinebook if someone else weren't gonna buy me a new box. it's easily sufficient for my needs (though I love the look & feel of mac os still).

it is a waste of a screen but my 4k monitor is super gorgeous and I'd like to get another for the new office I'll have in another town this fall, in addition to my home office. then I can just bring the laptop back & forth without having to bother with syncing.

Definitely getting a pinebook once the manufacturing stuff is figured out (which might be a while with covid) https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/06/pinebook-pro-review-a-200-foss-to-the-hilt-magnesium-chassis-laptop/?amp=1

I spend most of my days switching between a MacBook Air and a cheap HP Elitebook and I would not, repeat not, go for a pc laptop at this point. They're better than they used to be but still only OK, while the MBA is great.

The MacBook Pro my employer gave me stays in its pouch under the desk, because it is a simultaneously over- and under- engineered brick.

I have a 13" touchbar MBP. it's a piece of shit and I hate it