Three Windows Machines

[Ringel05]

Are going bye, bye. Not the current gamer though. Might just set it up as a private Steam "server" and I can play my games on my Linux machine.
The three I'm getting rid of are my previous Windows gamer, an old Dell 17" laptop and my 13" Lenovo Yoga 2 none of which qualify for Windows 11. The replacements are a M2 15" MacBook Air (not so cheap) and a renewed 2018 i7 Mac Mini which I have upgraded to Sonoma (cheap). Definitely a learning curve with the Macs........ Some Windows and Linux items/capabillities I miss but much better than both the others in some ways. I expected that as each has its weaknesses and strengths. Most of the "Apple" extras I'm buying are either renewed or non Apple accessories at a fraction of the cost.
I also picked up a renewed (older) iPad for a couple of hundred bucks a while to use as my kitchen "recipe book". Tried a Fire tablet but it wouldn't do what I wanted it to, Alexa couldn't find the websites and recipes I was already using. Siri has no problem with that.........

I also upgraded my ancient modem/router combo with a separate modem and router and added a HP laser printer (renewed of course.......). Installing a nice 5' long shelf that is above my computer desk for all the peripherals to go . It will be nice to get it organized after all these years.

 

[Muhammed]

Are going bye, bye. Not the current gamer though. Might just set it up as a private Steam "server" and I can play my games on my Linux machine.
The three I'm getting rid of are my previous Windows gamer, an old Dell 17" laptop and my 13" Lenovo Yoga 2 none of which qualify for Windows 11. The replacements are a M2 15" MacBook Air (not so cheap) and a renewed 2018 i7 Mac Mini which I have upgraded to Sonoma (cheap). Definitely a learning curve with the Macs........ Some Windows and Linux items/capabillities I miss but much better than both the others in some ways. I expected that as each has its weaknesses and strengths. Most of the "Apple" extras I'm buying are either renewed or non Apple accessories at a fraction of the cost.
I also picked up a renewed (older) iPad for a couple of hundred bucks a while to use as my kitchen "recipe book". Tried a Fire tablet but it wouldn't do what I wanted it to, Alexa couldn't find the websites and recipes I was already using. Siri has no problem with that.........

I also upgraded my ancient modem/router combo with a separate modem and router and added a HP laser printer (renewed of course.......). Installing a nice 5' long shelf that is above my computer desk for all the peripherals to go . It will be nice to get it organized after all these years.

Keep us updated regarding the Apple stuff.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Been using Macs in the design departments for over 20 years.
They went from niche products for nerds and designers in the 90s to what everyone wants instead of a PC that can afford them.
They are simply better. Most of that is due to the superior way they handle memory allocation, and unlike Microsoft - the Apple OS is still an OS (Operating System) - it is just a background platform for your apps to run on. It almost completely stays out of your way.
The caveat of Apple OS, is periodical application crashing with no explanation. As well as parts of an application becoming non responsive. You can be humming along and suddenly only half the things you click on respond. And you have to force quit the application and restart the app.
You can run the most updated Apple OS on a 10 year old machine. And it will work fine.
Dream on trying to do that with a PC.

 

[Ringel05]

Been using Macs in the design departments for over 20 years.
They went from niche products for nerds and designers in the 90s to what everyone wants instead of a PC that can afford them.
They are simply better. Most of that is due to the superior way they handle memory allocation, and unlike Microsoft - the Apple OS is still an OS (Operating System) - it is just a background platform for your apps to run on. It almost completely stays out of your way.
The caveat of Apple OS, is periodical application crashing with no explanation. As well as parts of an application becoming non responsive. You can be humming along and suddenly only half the things you click on respond. And you have to force quit the application and restart the app.
You can run the most updated Apple OS on a 10 year old machine. And it will work fine.
Dream on trying to do that with a PC.

I've already had my Mac Mini crash on me twice. But that was with VLC and not one of the native apps. Needless to say VLC is gone.

 

[Ringel05]

The biggest learning curve of me is Apple's tab management and window buttons (close, minimize, maximize. I still occasionally click on the close button......... But I am getting better.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

The first thing I do when we got a new mac, is toss the horrible keyboard they give you and replace it with a normal keyboard.
Mac's wireless mouse is very good now. And holds a charge for weeks... but it doesn't do a very good job of warning you the battery is getting low. By the time it tells you the battery is low - you got maybe 5 minutes before it dies.
But it's very responsive and intuitive to your touch. It can do really-really intricate/slow mouse moves like no other mouse. Very useful for something like Photoshop.
Anyway - enjoy. And you will likely follow the mantra "once you go Mac, you don't go back"

 

[Ringel05]

When I say "cheap" and "not so cheap" both the iPad and the Mac Mini set me back $250 each. The MacBook Air I bought new but it only cost me $1100, not bad for a brand new MacBook Air. Of course I didn't know at the time that I could upgrade a cheap 2014 MacBook to Sonoma. Unfortunately the return date for the new MacBook expired yesterday.

 

[Ringel05]

The first thing I do when we got a new mac, is toss the horrible keyboard they give you and replace it with a normal keyboard.
Mac's wireless mouse is very good now. And holds a charge for weeks... but it doesn't do a very good job of warning you the battery is getting low. By the time it tells you the battery is low - you got maybe 5 minutes before it dies.
But it's very responsive and intuitive to your touch. It can do really-really intricate/slow mouse moves like no other mouse. Very useful for something like Photoshop.
Anyway - enjoy. And you will likely follow the mantra "once you go Mac, you don't go back"

I bought an off brand Apple mouse and crappy keyboard (which I like) but doesn't have the fingerprint scanner. As thin as the mouse is I was afraid I wouldn't like it especially after using vertical meeses for years. It's very comfortable and at least for now doesn't appear to strain my wrist, only time will tell. The only Apple branded accessory I purchased is a set of iPods, renewed of course.......

 

[Ringel05]

For those who are unfamiliar with what a Mac Mini looks like. That is a 27" monitor to provide some scale. The little black box next to it is a portable CD/DVD player and of course one of my favorite coffee mugs.

 

[Ringel05]

Finally got my shelf mostly set up, may make some changes later on. Already made a couple of minor changes after I took this picture.
Now I have more horizontal space to clutter up........

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Awesome!

 

[Ringel05]

Still a work in progress. The right side monitor and keyboard are being shared between my Linux Ubuntu machine and my Windows gamer. The reason I'm no longer using Mint is it wasn't playing well with Bluetooth, Ubuntu doesn't have that problem.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Minion is definitely a nice touch.

 

[Ringel05]

I ran into problems running YouTube on Safari, YT want's me to disable my adblocker. Unfortunately I would have to completely disable the adblocker for all websites so I switched over to Firefox & Brave browsers. Narry a single hiccup running YT videos and even though I have Firefox set on "strict" so far all the websites I go to haven't broken.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I ran into problems running YouTube on Safari, YT want's me to disable my adblocker. Unfortunately I would have to completely disable the adblocker for all websites so I switched over to Firefox & Brave browsers. Narry a single hiccup running YT videos and even though I have Firefox set on "strict" so far all the websites I go to haven't broken.

I use NoScript for that purpose. For many sites it also blocks the sites attempt to check if you have an adblocker. Some sites, like Fortune, are truly absurd. Looking now... yeah... they have 42 ads and scripts trying to run when you go to their site. 42!! If I enable strict no script I can read any story I want.

 

[SootedUpCyndi]

Still a work in progress. The right side monitor and keyboard are being shared between my Linux Ubuntu machine and my Windows gamer. The reason I'm no longer using Mint is it wasn't playing well with Bluetooth, Ubuntu doesn't have that problem.

View attachment 866854

I have 3 windows computers... Dells!
I call them - my sick babies?
I cart them around from room to room- and burp them. They never work right. I don't remember windows 7 doing this. snicker.

 

[Natural Citizen]

But that was with VLC and not one of the native apps. Needless to say VLC is gone.

VLC is such a bloated pos. I remember having it years ago. Took me a long time to remove all of its traces from the registry after I ''uninstalled'' it.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

VLC is such a bloated pos. I remember having it years ago. Took me a long time to remove all of its traces from the registry after I ''uninstalled'' it.

It was pretty good 10 years ago or so on the Linux side.
Also Plex, which was also originally Linux, was pretty solid then.

 

[Bleipriester]

I got a 10 years old notebook for 130 € from a second hand shop. It is a lightweight 15,6 inch one. It is almost like new, there was just a little bit of dust in it but the fans were clean. The arrow up key is missing and the former owner´s replacement didn´t work. I removed it and now it works, just need the key. There are no damages or scratches anywhere, the battery is fine and like new. There is a 1 TB HDD, I made two partitions, one for Windows, one as storage. The i5 4200U and the Nvidia 750M allow for some old games like Dirt Rally from 2015 or Project Cars. There are 8GB system and 4GB graphics memory. However, the system gets very hot during gaming, both the CPU and the GPU go over 200 degrees but they both support such temperatures. I installed Windows 8.1 and I don´t give a damn for updates, ok.

 

[Bleipriester]