2018 Mac Mini Review • Hacker News Board

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#631

Post by beat » Wed, Nov 07, 2018, 6:35 PM UTC

plussed_reader wrote: post #546

beat wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pro audio for recording has been shifting to USB over the past few years. They were heavily on Firewire or PCI card formats before, but USB has finally gotten fast enough to do the throughput, and of course it's much cheaper and more standard.

USB has had the throughput to handle multichannel audio for decades; USB still has issues regarding device priority when it comes to the nature of its interaction with the OS.

And thus throughput is not enough. In pro audio, we can't afford dropouts or lost data, even when the CPU is under heavy load.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#632

Post by dwaite » Wed, Nov 07, 2018, 6:54 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #274

drcongo wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who owns a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar will definitely be saying "yay it hasn't gotten worse!" about these.

I don't mind the touchbar. It has it's moments. I just wish they had included it in addition to the normal keyboard, rather than replacing the top row.

I think really the goal was replacing the top row in the first place - the function keys are generally useless except for ancient legacy compatibility, advanced user's macros, and media control.

But the sides of the function keys are the escape and power keys, so the row itself couldn't go away

I wish the Touch Bar was farther offset, 50-100% taller for a better display area, and that the escape and touch id/power buttons were distinct. I also wish there was a standard way for applications to advertise functions for it (I have some really useful tools that are third party, such as mic mute).

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#633

Post by dwaite » Wed, Nov 07, 2018, 6:57 PM UTC

wlesieutre wrote: post #294

robotresearcher wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They sell a version without a touchbar. https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro

A low end 2-port version, yes. They ignored those for the 2018 MBP refresh, probably because the new Macbook Air was coming. I'd bet on the full keyboard MBP getting discontinued now that it's out, or best case having the 2017 hang around while the touchbar models continue to see updates.

I doubt the "MacBook Escape" (13" non-touchbar) will be revved, because it will either be met by the air or an eventual revved MacBook focusing on ultraportable demographics.

The Escape has higher powered CPUs than the Air or MacBook, but I don't think anyone is buying from those three based on horsepower.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#634

Post by dwaite » Wed, Nov 07, 2018, 7:07 PM UTC

pkamb wrote: post #499

djsumdog wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also doesn't look like it has a DisplayPort. If I wanted to hook it into my KVM, I'd need a USB-C to display port dongle.

I'm really hoping there's a good/reliable solution for 30" Apple Cinema Display > Dual Link DVI > Mini Display Port > [INSERT PRODUCT HERE] > USB-C

From what I've heard, you'll want a USB-C to DisplayPort+USB-A adapter, and an Active DVI (with dual link) to DisplayPort adapter.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#635

Post by dwaite » Wed, Nov 07, 2018, 7:10 PM UTC

uxp100 wrote: post #391

ricardobeat wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since it’s USB, it has to be the DAC generating the hiss. No amount of electrical interference can do anything to the digital audio going Ofer USB.

But it sounds like its the same DAC, which was hiss free with optical. So it's not the DAC "generating" the hiss. Rather electrical "interference" making it over to the analog side from the digital side. So it's the DACs fault, but maybe it's fair to say that it's harder to make a good DAC when USB is how the data is being delivered. I'm sure a high end USB DAC doesn't have this issue, but I'm pretty impressed with m…

A higher quality USB DAC either has to do quite a bit of signal clean-up, and may use its own power supply rather than trying to clean up the USB power from the computer.

Optical has the benefit of always being electrically isolated.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#636

Post by Applejinx » Wed, Nov 07, 2018, 7:28 PM UTC

Roboprog wrote: post #576

Applejinx wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, quite a bit faster, in ways that are relevant to my interests. Stands to reason designing a thing like this together onto a bespoke board allows for some optimizations: it's hilarious that it's apparently faster than any other Mac anywhere ever, for single-core things that suit it. Including Mac Pros and iMac Pros… I just think that's amusing. I'm now wondering if VCV Rack is sufficiently multicore that it will…

And it still has real USB A ports so you don’t have to hop your audio interface through a C to A dongle thing. Though I don’t know if a C->A adapter is just rerouting wires, or has circuits with their own latency - either way, it’s a bit of mess you don’t need with one of these. (Assuming you use a typical USB A audio interface rather than something more exotic) FWIW, I also do electronic music, though just as a hobb…

Nah, my audio interface is more exotic. Thunderbolt MOTU 16 channel in and out, 192k/24. So I love that it has so many thunderbolt ports, because they're spoken for. I think you might well be able to run two MOTU 16As and have 32 in, 32 out. You'd start to have issues with drive space but the computer can probably handle it.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#637

Post by rusk » Wed, Nov 07, 2018, 7:32 PM UTC

dkonofalski wrote: post #630

rusk wrote: post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Scotsman would be to say “No true computer user ...” - this was a generalisation. An apt one IMHO

No it wasn't. Define "serious". What makes one computer user more "serious" than another. The point of the no true Scottsman is that the term is never defined by the statement and so it's completely subjective.

That’s not how it works.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#638

Post by dkonofalski » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 12:45 AM UTC

rusk wrote: post #637

dkonofalski wrote: post #630

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it wasn't. Define "serious". What makes one computer user more "serious" than another. The point of the no true Scottsman is that the term is never defined by the statement and so it's completely subjective.

That’s not how it works.

Actually it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

Refuting the initial generalization by saying that no "serious" computer users use their Touch Bar because their computers are closed is nearly a textbook example of the fallacy.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#639

Post by torgian » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 1:56 AM UTC

kylec wrote: post #296

torgian wrote: post #97

I’m pretty sure I would rather buy an iMac than a Mac mini. An iMac at least comes with a display, and the base 4K version is competitive in price and features as far as I can tell.

I bought an iMac last year and regretted it. The performance was fine, but I ended up disliking the fact that it was an all-in-one. The fact that you can get iMac performance without a display attached is a big feature of the new Mac mini for me.

Yeah. I guess if portability is a plus, that would be better than an iMac. I move once a year so that wouldn’t really be a problem for me, but if you need a Mac for portability, why not just get a MacBook?

I think the Mac mini is at an awkward price point. You need a monitor, keyboard and mouse which cost you extra. At that point you can get a base MacBook Pro.

I think it would only really make sense for businesses

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#640

Post by philwelch » Thu, Nov 08, 2018, 2:11 AM UTC

wild_preference wrote: post #426

copperx wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you remap CapsLock to Esc, what key do you use for Control for doing Control A, Control E, Control K, Control Y, Control N, and Control P in every application?

I tried to address this in my parentheses, but Karabiner specifically lets you bind CapsLock to both: Esc when tapped alone, and Ctrl when held down in combination with other keys. And your post also answers you sibling comment: Ctrl modifier is useful outside of just Emacs. Try it out. I believe the API changed in the macOS release before Mojave, so they relaunched Karabiner under the name Karabiner Elements. This o…

I already have a ctrl key, though. Whatever works for you, though--personally, I prefer not installing extra third-party systems-level software over making ctrl marginally more convenient to press.