191–200 of 361 posts
The next Mac Mini should be the exact size of an Apple TV but in aluminum case, with the most RAM it can get and the fastest processor in the world. We pay for quality and we expect Apple to deliver. That NUC is ugly as fuck.
Honest question : any good reasons to go with Windows rather than Linux?
Windows is less maintenance (ie: just works)
I don't understand, since Apple has so much money, why they don't put some of it into the Mac line. It seems short-sighted.
I think the limiting factor is not money, but mental bandwidth. Even if they could just go out and buy a whole extra product team that's up to their standards, they would still need constant attention from the leadership to be successful.
The reason they're struggling is probably because they have lots of people working on other things than their current products, like the car.
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I have one that I was using as a great home theater of to stream Netflix and other online services. I wish they would support it more because it was far more versital than the roku I use now and much simpler to use than a Linux or windows equivalent.
Android net/media boxes are becoming very popular, to the point you can grab them off of Amazon for very cheap. I haven't jumped into that ecosystem yet so I'm not sure how great they are or what the best ones are. I've been thinking of buying a few of them to replace the Rokus around my house.
I have the Xiaomi MiBox 3 and it's a pain to put other apps on it. Anything that isn't explicitly Android TV compatible won't be installable from the Play Store, and even if you sideload it, it doesn't show up in the menu. Amusingly, this is the most useful that "OK Google" has ever been (Xiaomi's remote+voice control is excellent)
I will say it's worth reading up and buying based on chipset+firmware. You probably want Android 5+, something that runs Kodi well, Ethernet and HEVC decoding. I'd recommend the Mibox but Google and Xiaomi have really made a mess of it.
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Differences in hardware matter in subtle ways too with new versions of MacOS. For example, AirDrop or Handoff work seamlessly on the latest hardware, but frustratingly work one day then not the next at random on older hardware. The difference is Bluetooth versions 2.0 compared to 4 or 4.2, but one wouldn't likely even realize what version of Bluetooth a computer has. The NUC he describes sounds perfect for what he wa…
> Furthermore I don't think there is any Mac that has HDMI 2.0 ... MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016) and late-2016 MacBook Pro models support 60Hz refresh rates over HDMI when used with a supported HDMI 2.0 display, an HDMI Premium Certified cable, and a supported USB-C to HDMI 2.0 adapter. Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206587
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I think what you're missing is that Apple pursues high-margin endeavors, and competing with a $300 NUC isn't going to be a high-margin business. Some easy money for Apple would be to sell OS licenses for Intel NUCs.
Apple could sell a $300 NUC for $600 and people would still buy it. The issue is that Apple doesn't sell anything decent in this form factor that runs macOS.
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There is one factor that heavily affects performance that you haven't addressed though: Software demands on hardware increase over time. MacOS today is more demanding than the MacOS of six years ago. Even if the hardware is in perfect condition, you can't run all six-year-old software, so it's going to be slower.
> There is one factor that heavily affects performance that you haven't addressed though: Software demands on hardware increase over time. I've covered that in: "all other things being equal".
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…