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My Next Mac Mini

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331–340 of 361 posts

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And lack of H.264 encoding in Firefox / YouTube means no smooth HD YouTube playback

Decoding? Firefox supports h.264, and YouTube is mostly VP8/9, which Many Lake has accelerated decode for.

> which Many Lake has accelerated decode for

Only Kaby Lake has VP8/9 hardware acceleration. Skylake doesn't.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Phones are just phones these days. I disagree with this. Most Android phones have a bad track record of getting OS updates (which may not be extremely important with Play Services not being part of the OS) and security updates. Depending on what one buys, it may be a phone with an outdated OS and no security updates or something that gets by for two to three years (on average). Apple provides updates for four years…

Non-tech-savvy users still have to disable the option to disable third-party APK's in order to be at risk in that area.

If they aren't tech savvy, they're dependent on tech savvy people to show them this option and educate them. Even then, they may ignore it. I've seen many people using Android where they just get APK files from somewhere and pass it on tho "friends" (in quotes because this is indeed a large circle of acquaintances and several degrees of separation). It's probably luck that more Android users aren't being hit with malware around the world.

The digital divide between those who can afford an iPhone and those who cannot is glaring on the security front. One of the ways this could get better is for Apple to introduce truly low priced phones (no, the iPhone SE is still quite expensive in developing countries). That's probably as much a pipe dream as getting Android manufacturers to care for their customers.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#333

Can someone here explain why Apple seems to be the only company that builds small stuff with an integrated power supply? What's the point in making something small, when you need a huge power brick to power it? It's a shame that Apple's stuff is outdated, but it's just so much nicer when you look at the details.

By having an external power brick, you keep a ton of heat out of the device. That means a smaller device and less cooling needed.

That's obvious, but if that was such a major obstacle, how does Apple manage to do it? The Mac Mini, the Apple TV, all the Airport routers -- they all have a built in power supply and use a standard figure-eight power cable.

This is not rocket science. Why does no other company manage to do that?

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#334

Someone here needs to explain it to me because I just don't understand. We have the largest computer company in the world, a shit load of people work there, supposedly smart people. Yet they can't put together a refresh of many of their desktop machines. Why the fuck not? What do all those people getting paid all that money do all day? I can only imagine the conversations, "it takes years it has to be super innovativ…

As an apple alumnus, I believe it has to do with a culture of "laser focus" There is an internal course called "what makes apple apple" that you can take, but it's not necessary to pick up one of the key pieces of culture: the importance of saying No to most things. Apple has built their reputation on high quality. To continue to deliver takes immense effort, even for incremental programs, and often almost if the tal…

You're saying that Apple is focused on providing the best quality possible.

How is a 3-year-old PC good quality?

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#335

Nowadays, I kind of enjoy seeing posts about people abandoning Apple ecosystem. Although it's painful, I myself have been yet another avid fan of pretty much Apple offered, it feels like this is not going to last forever. When they do the math, iPhone might seem the most lucrative (they seem not to care about anything else) but since they are killing the ecosystem with no Mac Pro, no Mac Mini and with so called pro M…

I'm still disappointed by no Cinema Display and Apple leaving the display business. I'm baffled by this. Touchbar is innovative to some degree, but I usually connect my Macbook Pro to a bigger display and close it—making touchbar useless. So disappointed by Apple lately...

It's useless even with the display open.

I bet most people don't ever use it after the first week.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had whatever the latest iPhone was for the past 8 years. But at some point I realized a whole Huawei/HTC/LG/whatever Android phone could be purchased for the price of an iPhone screen repair and it's pretty much adequate for what I want to do. So now I'm using a Nexus 5X. It's okayish, but costs 1/3 the price of the iPhone 7 that would also be relatively ok. Phones are just phones these days. The awkward part is th…

Funny. I recently got a new position and I couldn't find the terminal on the company mac - and a fellow came by and said "you obviously aren't an Apple person". I didn't tell him that I was a Mach kernel engineer at NeXT and that I'd worked on code that is probably still in the OS - or that I've been in way too many meetings with Steve Jobs. Instead, I just quietly nodded and agreed with him.

That's awesome lol. Gives a cookie

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting to me how few people consider this an option. I got a 6i5 and other than wifi, macOS runs great on it.

Not having a wifi is, I assume, kind of a deal breaker for most of the people.

You simply buy a generic Broadcom BCM94360CD for $25 and you are set; works on macOS, Linux, W7, W10.

The only missing thing in NUC is a more powerful graphics card for machine learning/games but that will come with 7nm process as well I am sure.

Similar size to Mac Mini is Zotac NEN, including quadcore i5 and NVidia 970M, which might be an interesting NUC alternative (though considerably pricier). I run SteamOS on 4k TV with it.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an apple alumnus, I believe it has to do with a culture of "laser focus" There is an internal course called "what makes apple apple" that you can take, but it's not necessary to pick up one of the key pieces of culture: the importance of saying No to most things. Apple has built their reputation on high quality. To continue to deliver takes immense effort, even for incremental programs, and often almost if the tal…

You're saying that Apple is focused on providing the best quality possible. How is a 3-year-old PC good quality?

It was when they cared. The point is that they are utterly blind to anything beyond the release of the next big thing.

It's like they are chasing exploding fountains of gold, with tunnel vision and no rear view mirrors.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the 5X gets security updates until September 2018. Meanwhile, my Moto X Style, which was top of the line not too long ago, got the September 2016 rollup... in January 2017. Nougat was rumoured but I'm not betting on it. I haven't installed Cyanowhatever it is now - mainly because the IR sensors and gestures are really handy.

> Cyanowhatever Sadly it's too late for Cyanogenmod. http://lifehacker.com/cyanogenmod-is-dead-and-its-successor-...

It's now continued as LineageOS with the same core developers. http://lineageos.org/ and the builds are at https://download.lineageos.org/bullhead

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#340
post #202
post #94

Just bought a NUC with an added 32GB of RAM as a dev machine. It's been great so far.

Which model is that? I've considering a dedicated windows dev machine, ogling the Surface Book but can't find anywhere that sells the 16/512 model in Czech Republic. I hadn't considered an NUC, I just presumed they'd be low on RAM and non-upgradeable

Got the Skull Canyon one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01DJ9XS52/ref=ox_sc_act_imag...
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