The Mac Pro Lives • Hacker News Board

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#321

Post by driverdan » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 2:54 PM UTC

pier25 wrote: post #140

granda wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you recommend for someone that wants to build one?

I've been building hacks (as the community calls them) since 2010. If you get a golden build and get it working it's almost like a real mac. It's possible to get everything working 100% but it's time consuming and even in the best case scenario macOS updates will probably be a pain. Another aspect to consider is noise. If you come from the Mac world you are probably spoiled by low noise or silent computers. PCs are v…

Closed loop liquid cooling is silent and can be had for around $100.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#322

Post by tbrock » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 2:54 PM UTC

bathyspheric wrote: post #185

chefandy wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially since the whole virtual escape key thing– being a default layout vim user for 20+ years– I'd love to follow suit, but I need Adobe Creative Suite. The tools available on Linux aren't even ballpark. Getting OS X on a VM has always been fussy and frustrating, and if I wanted to work with Windows I'd just use a Windows laptop. On top of that, the apple magic trackpad is just great. Fussing with extracted boot…

My only vim customization is `:imap kj `. Takes 10s to write into a .vimrc on any new computer.

Just use ctrl-c, no configuration necessary

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#323

Post by cdbattags » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 2:55 PM UTC

Curious how many of y'all have seen Casey Neistat's workbench explainer vids and his comments about the Mac Pro...

In so many words he uses it as a data management interface for his many TBs of external hard drives and that's about it. This struck me pretty hard in framing my opinion of what the Mac Pro really is to those who have it.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#324

Post by antfarm » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 2:55 PM UTC

redm wrote: post #190

csomar wrote: post #178

Am I the only one that sees OS X as the biggest reason to switch to Mac? I mean Windows is good, but nowhere good as OS X. And please, don't tell me Ubuntu or other linux flavors. They look good (and are good if you are programming on them) but the UX is still lacking a lot. (Never mind the confusion of the different flavors, packaging systems, and configurations). Also god forbid you have a problem (especially a har…

I love Mac OS but it gets regular updates and which each update, it's more demanding. The hardware needs to keep up. Try running IOS 7 on a Gen 3 iPhone.

I am using a 2010 MacBook Pro 13" (2,4 GHz) as my everyday development machine with macOS Sierra and Xcode. I maxed out the RAM to 8 GB and replaced the HD with an SSD 3 years ago.

The screen keeps feeling smaller every year, but I can not complain about the performance of this nearly 7 year old computer.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#325

Post by SonicSoul » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 2:55 PM UTC

tinbad wrote: post #316

SonicSoul wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love OSX but never understood why people pay so much for those apple displays. we use them at work and they suuuuuck. super heavy, can't adjust height, can't put it in portrait mode which is .. I don't know useful 40% of the time, glares like a mofo, and cost 2x-3x similar quality displays from not Apple. Is the look of them that desirable? i finally switched for same reso Dell units on my desk and really happy abo…

They look good on the outside... and that's about it. Btw, Apple has discontinued them and hasn't announced any replacement yet.

oh yes this is another issue. if they break they can't be re-ordered so now IT is stocking them for replacements. add another X to the price per person :)

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#326

Post by bshimmin » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 2:55 PM UTC

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #237

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question: What room is there for improvement and innovation in displays for MacPro's target users, aside from price-reduction? I can see how photographers want faithful color reproduction with a wide gamut, good image consistency across the whole display, good resolution, and a decent size (maybe 32" tops?) But AFAIK, monitors with those qualities are already available. The only thing I can think of that woul…

I wish they'd revisit the first ever flat-screen iMac, the one that pivoted every which way and could easily be positioned at any height. I think now they've realised the design of the actual computer is pretty low down on pro-desktop purchasers' priorities, they'll go all-in on the display instead. Imagine the very best display Apple could make — maybe like the above with an almost bezel-free front, 5K, etc. — with…

I wish they'd revisit the first ever flat-screen iMac, the one that pivoted every which way and could easily be positioned at any height.

That's this one, for anyone wondering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac_G4

Apparently they had quite considerable problems with the arm becoming a bit loose!

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#327

Post by ynniv » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 2:55 PM UTC

simonbarker87 wrote: post #79

ynniv wrote: post #65

a pro machine that demanded placement on your desk, not under your desk ... and that's how Apple lost the professionals. The desk is a clean space for a huge monitor / keyboard / mouse, and MY work. It's good to make a workstation that looks nice, but it's ten times as good to make one that's flexible and powerful. The only people who want that workstation on the desktop are the designers at Apple, and stroking your…

I wouldn't take that too literally, firstly those are Gruber's words and secondly, there isn't anything stopping you putting the Mac Pro on the floor so long as the cables reach.

It's not important where I can put it - the act of designing something that should be placed on a desk prevents them from designing what I want. A Ferrari is a desirable sports car and a terrible cargo van.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#328

Post by macintux » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 2:56 PM UTC

issa wrote: post #318

Eun wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Window management in OSX is horrible. Finder is even more horrible. It reminds me of the Windows 95 Explorer. A network drive hangs? Good luck with Finder..., the whole system halts.

My number one complaint about OSX is also window management. I've never found anything comparable to the way Windows 7 let you use the left/right arrows to line up windows on half the screen. That is the only thing I miss about Windows, but it's a pretty big one. Also, when dis/connecting monitors on OSX, windows often get lost. ps- if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

I use Divvy and am pretty happy with it. Lets me configure different zones and assign keyboard shortcuts to put windows in those zones.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#329

Post by ZFH » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 2:57 PM UTC

JoelTheSuperior wrote: post #236

ZFH wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been running hackintoshes since 2007 or so. Mostly smooth sailing. Off the top of my head: - It's all about making it easy for yourself. In short, motherboard and GPU choice change the experience from 'almost effortless' to 'never gonna work'. Get a $20 USB external soundcard to get rid of any audio configuration quagmires. Get the most compatible, widely used motherboard and Nvidia GPU, so you can get support on Ton…

In fairness I've been running Sierra just fine on my Hackintosh, though I did wait until 10.12.1. If I recall correctly the first version had issues with the Nvidia Web Drivers (some strange bugs) but they've long since been resolved. I would agree with the overall sentiment though and add that even on a legitimate Mac it's usually a good idea to hold back a bit on updating. I work with audio a lot and it's common fo…

Audio user here too. I just updated to 10.12.4 yesterday on a test install and it went without a hitch, but only because I checked Tonymac and updated Clover beforehand, which I wouldn't have done otherwise. And I'm on a old GTX 650 Ti that doesn't need the Web Drivers. Meanwhile my main 10.9.5 work install keeps gloriously chugging along.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#330

Post by slantyyz » Tue, Apr 04, 2017, 2:57 PM UTC

brandur wrote: post #161

guinness74 wrote: post #30

If Apple seems intent on making things right with its high-end desktop consumers, I wonder what that means for those of us pining for the return of the esc key on the MacBook Pro.

Fans of the Mac Pro have been waiting four years for this announcement, and are likely to be waiting another one or two for any real movement on the problem. The Touch Bar seems like a pretty apparent failure in that even most of the "until death" apologists can't or won't defend it, but Apple's not going to give up this quickly. I think you'll get your wish, but not soon.

>> Fans of the Mac Pro have been waiting four years for this announcement, and are likely to be waiting another one or two for any real movement on the problem.

The troublesome thing with this article is that even if Apple put out a Mac Pro with the latest and greatest guts in the old cheese grater chassis today, pros would be extremely happy. FWIW, I still think the cheese grater chassis is a great design.

Sure, design matters, but the livelihood of pros depends on their ability to get sh!t done. Just giving them access to "less pretty" hardware that does what they need today is better than making them wait another year or so.

Of all the Macs, the Mac Pro is probably the easiest to design. What people basically need are modular-PCs that can run OSX on the latest hardware and gives the user choice with respect to GPU manufacturer. There's less of a need to make it the smallest possible computer, because smaller makes it harder to do upgrades.