Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

My Next Mac Mini

rustyshelf.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

341–350 of 361 posts

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#341

Post by prirun »

wineisfine wrote: post #275
mattnewton wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't just update chips and throw it over the wall. It is, for better or for worse, always a large scale qa, supply chain and engineering effort.

Still, I don't have the impression this was happening under Jobs. He would still had 2 guys in there, updating the chip in the Mini right now. Total neglect of 60% of their products (Mac pro, Mac Mini), and ditching complete other productlines (Cinema displays, Routers) at the same time, is unprecedented... I really think Cook is messing it up. Especially not even having the option of a regular keyboard on a 15" MBP,…

I am still using a Macbook Pro laptop from 2010, running Snow Leopard, because it does what I need and I haven't felt the need to upgrade it, other than install an SSD. I like Apple's stuff, though I'd never buy another Mac Mini: they're too damn hard to upgrade (disk). It's like doing microsurgery, and I'm no surgeon.

Apple may be neglecting 60% of their products (not sure if that's accurate...), but if 60% of their products are generating 1% of their revenue, it seems like a good idea to neglect them.

I think Apple has gone way beyond the days where "power graphics/media users" are important or even relevant to them. Every kid I know has an iPhone, wants to upgrade their iPhone, or "drops" their iPhone on purpose every 2 years, crushing the screen, so they "have" to get a new one using Mommy & Daddy's phone upgrade. One $10K PowerMac == 20 $500 iPhones.

If it were your business, what would you focus on? Not saying I like it, because I still have a slide phone and don't give a shit about Apple's consumer products, and wish they still cared about a great developer machine. But I understand why they don't.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#342

Post by technofiend »

peatmoss wrote: post #81
daenney wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of it would depend on what your use case is. In this case the author needs an Elgato/Geniatech EyeTV stick and app for his purposes which isn't supported on Linux by the manufacturer. It might work, but it might also not be worth the hassle. However, if you want something that plays media but doesn't (necessarily) also have to be able to receive regular terrestrial signal it shouldn't matter much beyond user pr…

I bought one of those HDTV terrestrial sticks (RTL2832) for about $10. I use it for FM Radio, but I'd guess that would still work for TV on Linux? Think Penguin sells a stick that's a bit pricier, but also presumably very easy to use with Linux: https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/usb-tv-tuner-w-suppor... There's also the Linux TV site that discusses the software side of things: https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.…

it doesn't fit the original requirement as it is too large but when these discussions come up i feel obligated to mention silicon dust as well. http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/

they make outboard tv tuners that will either do over-the-air or digital cable and stream wired or wirelessly. one model even transcodes to h.264 and they publish plugins for kodi and plex along with working with a variety of commercial and open source apps. it was my preferring tuning device with both myth tv on linux and Microsoft media center until i ditched cable entirely.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#343

Post by WayneBro »

voltagex_ wrote: post #188
WayneBro wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I build iOS apps but I avoid giving Apple any money wherever I can. I buy all of my Apple hardware used from third parties. I don't buy any apps, music or books from Apple. I only use free apps. The only time Apple gets a cent from me is when I pay for my developer license.

At a guess, developing for their platform is the most valuable thing for Apple.

Certainly not. I build private/enterprise apps for Android and iOS using Ionic/Cordova. I don't use Apple's app store at all.

When I show my customers what a giant PITA it is to work with Apple and iOS, many of them start planning a switch to Android or Windows.

I've been single-handedly responsible for moving entire companies away from iOS in one way or another.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#344

Post by jsjohnst »

sly010 wrote: post #160
jsjohnst wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

I think the keyword is "when used with a supported display" here. I have yet to find a 4K display for my mac pro that actually works at 60hz.

Unless it's a typo in your reply and you meant MBP, Mac Pro isn't listed above. They explicitly call out machines that support USB-C, which the Mac Pro is not.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#345

Post by jsjohnst »

rz2k wrote: post #196
jsjohnst wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

I see that active adapters that support HDMI 2.0 are about $25 now. Apple's $50 multiport adapter is only HDMI 1.4b, I suppose because it only handles the built in USB-C alternate mode.

Yep! That's exactly why. USB-C alternate mode only supports DisplayPort 1.3 and HDMI 1.4b. You'll need an active adapter like you mentioned. Not surprisingly, Apple doesn't sell them, that would be to useful.

For future readers, here's one as an example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FIVSC6Y/

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#346

Post by hollerith »

prirun wrote: post #341
wineisfine wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still, I don't have the impression this was happening under Jobs. He would still had 2 guys in there, updating the chip in the Mini right now. Total neglect of 60% of their products (Mac pro, Mac Mini), and ditching complete other productlines (Cinema displays, Routers) at the same time, is unprecedented... I really think Cook is messing it up. Especially not even having the option of a regular keyboard on a 15" MBP,…

I am still using a Macbook Pro laptop from 2010, running Snow Leopard, because it does what I need and I haven't felt the need to upgrade it, other than install an SSD. I like Apple's stuff, though I'd never buy another Mac Mini: they're too damn hard to upgrade (disk). It's like doing microsurgery, and I'm no surgeon. Apple may be neglecting 60% of their products (not sure if that's accurate...), but if 60% of their…

>I'd never buy another Mac Mini: they're too damn hard to upgrade (disk). It's like doing microsurgery, and I'm no surgeon.

I had no problem replacing the hard drive in my 2011 Mac mini, and it was only the second time I'd ever worked with laptop-type components. And the first time I gave up shortly after opening up the case (of a machine that had been given to me in non-working condition).

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#347

Post by cuspycode »

zuzun wrote: post #104
caleblloyd wrote: post #5

The NUC has full Linux support out of the box. You can configure them with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB-512GB SSD for $400-$500, especially if you go for the old model (Gen 6 Skylake instead of Gen 7 Kaby Lake, not much has changed)

I bought a Skylake NUC and I will buy more NUCs in the future but using them with Linux isn't all rosy: - Getting the NUC to wake up after sleep is a hit or miss. Sometimes I can still SSH into it, but I never manage to get the display back on. - One in every 200 boots the fan just doesn't start. Since the fan isn't very loud, some people might not notice this, which might or might not be a problem. - One in every 10…

I have a NUC6i5SYK (Skylake) running Ubuntu 16.04 server, and I too had some serious problems initially. Installing to the SSD worked without issues, but then I got machine check panics during most boots. After a lot of troubleshooting I was finally able to make the system stable by adding these parameters to the kernel command line:

  intel_idle.max_cstate=1 i915.enable_rc6=0
After that it has been running without a glitch. I hope it will be as stable as the Mac Mini it replaced. That too had some initial problems however: the first one I bought in 2008 was DOA. Apple replaced it, and the replacement lasted four months before a thunderstorm zapped it. My insurance company replaced that one, and that Mac Mini then ran like a clockwork 24/7 for eight years.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#348

Post by yuhong »

charrondev wrote: post #320
mstolpm wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At any given time, some (heavy) users were critical about new Apple products and Apple decisions, lamenting that they forget about their most valuable and vocal fans. Apple killed the floppy drive, multiple connectors, "great" products (clickwheel iPod, anyone), resetted software products (FCP, Pages), killed services and so on. Heck, they even killed the Apple ][. And some users cried foul on each of these decisions…

In my mind it is not even so much that I need 32gb now, but as apps get more bloated it may be useful in the future, and seeing how the RAM is pretty much impossible to upgrade it seems very short sited to not have any more RAM than I've had for the past 5 years.

I doubt that this is happening at the same pace as say last decade though.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#349

Post by ndesaulniers »

bartvk wrote: post #331
ndesaulniers wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

autocorrect, meant Kaby Lake

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#350

Post by xorcist »

nottorp wrote: post #17

Speaking of NUCs, are there any that are (a) quiet at load (b) have the PSU integrated in the case? Those are about the only redeeming qualities of a Mac Mini right now, and it pisses me off to no end that no one bothers with (b) on the Wintel side. Edit: please don't explain to me how a power brick that's sometimes as large as the NUC doesn't bother you, it does bother me.

There are great fanless systems. I use a HD-Plex case with a real i7 CPU (although a few generations old by now) as a workstation. It's dead silent and with an internal PSU. It's been very reliable so far.
Post reply on HN