Probably buying base MacBook Pro 14"

Mchart said:
https://www.rescuemyclassicmac.com/page/buyadisk.html
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Should have asked on here back in 2005 when I got it lol. I haven't really thought about that machine since. Though to be honest I was going through a lot of family stuff back then and just kind of parked the gift Fat Mac. I got it from my brother's father in law. My brother died in 2004. Ordered. We'll see if my ancient Mac can still read a disk. IDK what I'll do with it after booting it up, but the System 1.1 boot disk is supposed to include MacPaint so maybe I can make a better meme?
 
zandor said:
A few weeks ago work swapped it out for a 16" M2 Pro. I'm pretty disappointed with it. Old Intel Mac was 4.3lbs. New Apple Silicon Mac is 4.7lbs. Battery life on the new one is overkill and it weighs too much. It's supposed to be lighter goddammit! I've been meaning to get the original Fat Mac (1984 model) I have in a box in my basement out and make a meme about that. Hopefully it can still power up and make the sad face it makes when it doesn't have a boot disk. On that note, anyone know where to get a boot floppy for a 1984 Mac? Someone gave it to me back in 2005 or so but they didn't have a boot disk. Fortunately I don't need a boot disk to make the meme I have in mind. The default no boot disk sad face will do just fine.
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Like all things, buy the tool you want to use for the job you do.

There are lots of people that see a huge advantage to being able to use their computer all day for work without ever having to plug in. So while overkill for you, if your job entails going to job sites and never having access to power (say you're in an architectural firm) then the MBP gives an advantage no other system has. Also incidentally that fat battery also is benefited even more by the top end Max CPU/GPU configurations which take up more power to run; and still give reasonable all day battery life.

Need a lighter system? That's what the MBA is for. The MBA probably is the system for most people if they don't actually need professional level speed. I imagine if Apple every chooses to give an M* Pro option in the 15" MBA, they will cannibalize a huge amount of MBP sales.

It honestly might make a lot of sense for them to do. As there are other products like the Mac Mini and Mac Studio that have an overlap in processor options.
 
Quiz said:
Thinking of buying a base model MacBook Pro 14" with the M2 Pro, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB SSD. However, based on the MacRumors Buyer's Guide, the MacBook Pro 14" and 16" are currently categorized as "Caution - Approaching End of Cycle." My question is, are new 14" models due soon in January? I've heard rumors that they are likely to come out "early" 2024 which could mean not as early as January. I wouldn't really want to buy now if they are due as soon as January 2024.
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I don't know if the new one will come in January or not. However, if you need a new laptop asap, get the M2 pro, if not, just wait a few more months and see.
 
Let us know how that goes! Deciding between that and 15" MBA tomorrow as they are close enough in cost but obviously pro's and cons. Ill have 24 or 32GB of ram as my current '19 i9 MBP with 16GB is not cutting it for me.

Which honestly makes me think 16" is way to go but really dont want to spend the extra $1k for that machine if I can avoid it.
 
Just buy a 14” and use an external monitor. If you can’t use an external, because maybe you’re using it on the road then get the 16”. In a way, I think the 16” is a tad too small but that’s what five eye surgeries do to you…
 
ExplodingTaco said:
Let us know how that goes! Deciding between that and 15" MBA tomorrow as they are close enough in cost but obviously pro's and cons. Ill have 24 or 32GB of ram as my current '19 i9 MBP with 16GB is not cutting it for me.

Which honestly makes me think 16" is way to go but really dont want to spend the extra $1k for that machine if I can avoid it.
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Will let you guys know how it turns out.

By the way, what do you use your Mac for that you find 16 GB RAM to be not enough?
 
Received the laptop today. Been playing around with it for a couple hours. This is going to take some time to get used to. First time really getting deep into macOS.
 
Played around with it some more and getting the hang of it. Surprised to learn that Steam doesn't have a native Apple silicon version of the Steam app yet.
 
Spent quite a bit of time exploring macOS and I'm typing on it right now. I'm liking it. Seemed a bit "overwhelming" at first when I haven't really used macOS before. I could see this replacing my desktop PC since I don't really game much these days. The screen on this thing is so much better than the PG279Q that I use with my desktop PC.
 
So AlDente is not worth it for battery preservation when used on a desk plugged in most of the time? The people on the MacRumors forum really recommend it. Is macOS's built-in charge/battery optimization good enough?
 
Quiz said:
So AlDente is not worth it for battery preservation when used on a desk plugged in most of the time? The people on the MacRumors forum really recommend it. Is macOS's built-in charge/battery optimization good enough?
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Any third party software is completely useless at this point. The built in optimization is all you need. After about a week of tracking usage it will float the battery charge from 70%-80% to keep it at max health.
 
Quiz said:
So AlDente is not worth it for battery preservation when used on a desk plugged in most of the time? The people on the MacRumors forum really recommend it. Is macOS's built-in charge/battery optimization good enough?
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For my taste Apple's implementation goes to 100% and stays there much more often than I think would be appropriate. It is at 100% right now and I went out of the house with this laptop many days ago.
 
Is it true that I have to worry about the battery swelling up if I leave it on charge all the time? I've read some stuff regarding how laptop/MacBook batteries can swell up if you keep them on charge all the time. I'm assuming once the battery/charge optimization kicks in and the charge stays at 80%, then swelling cannot occur? Can damage occur during the 1-2 weeks it takes for battery optimization to kick in (where it would be sitting at 100%)?
 
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Quiz said:
Is it true or do I have to worry about the battery swelling up if I leave it on charge all the time? I've read some stuff regarding how laptop/MacBook batteries can swell up if you keep them on charge all the time. I'm assuming once the battery/charge optimization kicks in and the charge stays at 80%, then swelling cannot occur? Can damage occur during the 1-2 weeks it takes for battery optimization to kick in (where it would be sitting at 100%)?
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No. And even if you have that issue, Apple considers it a defect and will do an entire top case replacement on it. At least that was my experience anyway.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
No. And even if you have that issue, Apple considers it a defect and will do an entire top case replacement on it. At least that was my experience anyway.
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Thanks.

I also noticed that macOS is writing a lot to the SSD without me doing much of anything. I don't think I have Time Machine enabled or running. For example, on a fresh boot and leaving the laptop pretty much idle, in about 30 minutes the SSD has written around 3 GB of data. However, it has also read around 10 GB of data. What is causing this excessive SSD usage? There seem to quite a few reports of this online.
 
Quiz said:
Thanks.

I also noticed that macOS is writing a lot to the SSD without me doing much of anything. I don't think I have Time Machine enabled or running. For example, on a fresh boot and leaving the laptop pretty much idle, in about 30 minutes the SSD has written around 3 GB of data. However, it has also read around 10 GB of data. What is causing this excessive SSD usage? There seem to quite a few reports of this online.
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The new M series chips all cache “excessively”. Quotes because this is how they “cheat” and eek out every drop of performance and efficiency.
This is one of the reasons why people also bump up RAM, to cut down on the caching. And while I’m generally a fan of Apple, I’m not a fan generally with lowest configs being borderline usable. At 16GB you should be fine. I consider all the 8GB configs to be borderline unusable for all but the most trivial of tasks.

If you're not going to be using the machine for heavy workloads, eventually it will all even out and calm down. But any app approaching RAM limit; it will use the SSD to fake more memory.
Like the battery, there is some optimization going on. And on a new machine (or when you update the OS), it‘s fairly normal.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
The new M series chips all cache “excessively”. Quotes because this is how they “cheat” and eek out every drop of performance and efficiency.
This is one of the reasons why people also bump up RAM, to cut down on the caching. And while I’m generally a fan of Apple, I’m not a fan generally with lowest configs being borderline usable. At 16GB you should be fine. I consider all the 8GB configs to be borderline unusable for all but the most trivial of tasks.

If you're not going to be using the machine for heavy workloads, eventually it will all even out and calm down. But any app approaching RAM limit; it will use the SSD to fake more memory.
Like the battery, there is some optimization going on. And on a new machine (or when you update the OS), it‘s fairly normal.
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Ok, thanks.

I noticed that after the initial boot and the excessive reads/writes after the boot, it all calms down and stops increasing.
 
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When it comes to app notifications, does an app have to be open/running for macOS to show notifications? Or can notifications come through even when the app is closed (Command + Q type of closed).
 
Quiz said:
When it comes to app notifications, does an app have to be open/running for macOS to show notifications? Or can notifications come through even when the app is closed (Command + Q type of closed).
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App dependent. But the short answer is: yes.

Edit: in settings you can actually control how each app gives notifications very granularly. If it has notifications at all. You can also create states to ignore notifications to defer them for later, or set global notification settings. I‘m very appreciative for how much control there is there. Because a lot of apps spam, and I hate that behavior.
 
When it comes to uninstalling apps, I understood that you just drag the app from the Applications folder to the Trash. But then I read that some apps have their own uninstaller that you might actually have to download separately when you want to uninstall the app. How do I know if there is an uninstaller I need to use or I can just drag the app to the Trash? Also, what can I do about leftover files after the uninstall?

Edit: Also, any recommendations for a media player that can play pretty much anything (including Dolby Vision and HDR10 MKV files)?
 
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Quiz said:
Is it true that I have to worry about the battery swelling up if I leave it on charge all the time? I've read some stuff regarding how laptop/MacBook batteries can swell up if you keep them on charge all the time. I'm assuming once the battery/charge optimization kicks in and the charge stays at 80%, then swelling cannot occur? Can damage occur during the 1-2 weeks it takes for battery optimization to kick in (where it would be sitting at 100%)?
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You have to worry about swollen batteries regardless of whether you constantly charge or not.

But as said, Apple takes care of that.
 
Is an app like AppCleaner recommended for uninstalling apps and removing any leftover files? Or will macOS handle uninstalling apps just fine by itself? I never used such an app on Windows so I guess I won't need one on macOS?
 
Quiz said:
When it comes to uninstalling apps, I understood that you just drag the app from the Applications folder to the Trash.
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You "don't", but it also doesn't matter. Deleting things that way is fine.

One hint is that if there was no "installer" for the app (as in essentially you're dragging a file into the applications directory, either directly or through a compressed file that has you drag it via a shortcut), then it hasn't installed anything anywhere else. If it has an actual installer then it's placing things in more than one location.

Unlike Windows, there is no registry and generally there aren't files getting installed everywhere. The programs that do have an application process (a big obvious one is Adobe), are generally installing setting files. None of which will either slow down your machine or take up much space if you happen to leave them.

Quiz said:
But then I read that some apps have their own uninstaller that you might actually have to download separately when you want to uninstall the app. How do I know if there is an uninstaller I need to use or I can just drag the app to the Trash? Also, what can I do about leftover files after the uninstall?
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There are a couple places they generally install, and I don't know the file path off the top of my head, but it's generally the 'Application Support' folder. Some stuff installs parts into the documents folder. However, generally speaking I wouldn't worry about it either way.

Quiz said:
Is an app like AppCleaner recommended for uninstalling apps and removing any leftover files? Or will macOS handle uninstalling apps just fine by itself? I never used such an app on Windows so I guess I won't need one on macOS?
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I would not get an uninstaller to uninstall any of this stuff, unless it's first party. I would sooner look up (online) where everything installs to and remove it myself. Third party uninstallers of any type I would avoid.

Quiz said:
Edit: Also, any recommendations for a media player that can play pretty much anything (including Dolby Vision and HDR10 MKV files)?
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Quicktime supports Dolby Vision. Basically every Apple device supports it. HDR10, I'm uncertain on, but I'm pretty sure since it's an actual standard, that it's also supported. The issue there is whether the file format is one that Quicktime likes or not. It won't play a lot of compression formats/containers. It prefers everything to be a .mov or .mp4 file.

VLC is available on macOS, but for some insane reason it does not support any color space aware functionality, which Apple does natively (color space awareness is baked into the OS and is available as a dev tool when building apps on macOS, this is in contrast to Windows which still doesn't have a color manged display pipe). It will however play basically any file as I'm sure you're aware as a Windows user. I haven't looked into any other options past that point in 15 years on macOS. I'm uncertain if there are any "VLC like" options that do/play everything and are color space aware. I'm guessing no.
 
Now I am curious. If an application installs a file outside its own directory in /Applications/, let's say a startup file for launchd, how are you supposed to uninstall that.

Obviously a stale launchd file won't do anything if it tries to invoke a binary in a no-longer-existing directory, but surely you don't want stale startup files around.
 
uOpt said:
Now I am curious. If an application installs a file outside its own directory in /Applications/, let's say a startup file for launchd, how are you supposed to uninstall that.

Obviously a stale launchd file won't do anything if it tries to invoke a binary in a no-longer-existing directory, but surely you don't want stale startup files around.
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https://launchd.info/
 
uOpt said:
Well, I know how *I* can get rid of launchd entries. I am wondering how a regular user is supposed to keep a clean system. Obviously just nuking the folder inside /Applications/ doesn't do it in all cases.
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An ordinary user that doesn't want to spend the time to remove the files could simply remove the startup routines using settings. Heck, most startup agents/daemons I turn off anyway.

Here is Apple's official page for this: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202235
 
Is "Erase All Content and Settings" on macOS Sonoma the same as doing a clean install or format? Is it the equivalent of wiping the drive and reinstalling Windows from a USB like you would on a PC?
 
Quiz said:
Is "Erase All Content and Settings" on macOS Sonoma the same as doing a clean install or format? Is it the equivalent of wiping the drive and reinstalling Windows from a USB like you would on a PC?
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I would say no. The equivalent of doing a format is booting into disc utility, formatting the drive, and then reinstalling the OS. Which I still do probably every 2-3 years or so.

Never used the erase all settings thing on anything other than a mobile device. Theoretically it should give you a fresh install. In practice I am uncertain.
 
I also need to get Microsoft Office. I like the one-time cost of Office 2021 but is Microsoft 365 worth the yearly subscription? I just need Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Also, do both versions natively support Apple silicon?

Edit: I also read that Office for macOS is inferior to that of Windows. As in it is missing features and functions. Is this true? I remember the reverse being true about a decade or two ago.
 
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Quiz said:
I also need to get Microsoft Office. I like the one-time cost of Office 2021 but is Microsoft 365 worth the yearly subscription? I just need Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Also, do both versions natively support Apple silicon?

Edit: I also read that Office for Mac is inferior to that of Windows. As in it is missing features and functions. Is this true?
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I haven't used Office in about 4 years. As I don't really write in traditional documents for anything. I'm getting into data analytics and Excel is one of the "core" programs, but Google Sheets is a direct competitor. For the very few documents I write, I just use Pages.
If you want free then both Google and Apple's applications cover all the basic Office tasks.

Quick searching (which honestly you could've just done this yourself) shows that Office 2021 "exists" and supports macOS, though it doesn't directly say as such on the landing page for it.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/mic...onal-2021/CFQ7TTC0HHJ9?activetab=pivot:faqtab
Home edition for $150 here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mic...crosoft-365-products?&activetab=tab:primaryr1
compatibility doc:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mic...nd-office-resources?rtc=2#areaheading-uid32c4


Not sure if you're an MLID fan, but this seems to also suggest you could probably just buy an Office key from somewhere else for Office 2021 home and then download the Mac Suite wherever and use said key. I bring up MLID because he advertises a discount key website.
 
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Is what this user said about the Magic Mouse and MX Master 3/3S polling rate true?

I've tried the MX Master 3 and 3S via bluetooth and their respective receivers and I chose the Magic Mouse. I'll explain further on and a lot of my choice has to do with a 120hz screen.

The MX Master 3S has the best hardware and I love the silent clicks, but that's really where it all end. On Bluetooth you will only get 90hz polling rate or so, which just feels choppy for me on a 120hz screen. On the Logi Bolt receiver, it is supposed to run at 125hz polling rate, but is somehow feeling very choppy, might even be worse than Bluetooth, yet a polling rate test website does report 125hz. Weird, but I guess it's a Logitech software issue or simply bad design.

The MX Master 3 performs the same, maybe a bit worse via Bluetooth. However, using the unifying receiver, it tracks very smoothly on my 120hz screen. However, whatever the receiver placement, it just doesn't want to be stable. The connection itself seems stable, but somehow I get all kinds of micro stutters, jitters and other weirdness, which might be down to software or device firmware.

Magic Mouse, on the other hand, has the most accurate and stable tracking for me. It runs at 90hz polling rate generally, but engages 125hz polling rate when clicked, thus resulting in very smooth window dragging on my 120hz screen. All the scrolling is also a lot smoother as it is native in macOS and the experience generally more pleasing. Lastly, I don't have to deal with all kinds of invasive and poorly made Logitech software.

I chose the Magic Mouse for these reasons, but yours may vary :) On a side note, I did try to see how these mice perform at 60hz and I have to say that I cannot stand the 3S even at 60hz, it's just choppy. Meanwhile, the old MX Master 3 with a unifying receiver feels fine at 60hz and you can't really notice all the issues, which are very visible at 120hz.

Ergonomics wise, I seem to like the low, flat profile of the Magic Mouse a bit more, since the MX Master 3 feels a bit too tall and bulky. I might be used to all the fast FPS gaming mice from all my gaming years :)
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https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookair...se_or_logitech_mx_master_3s_better/?rdt=46108
 
Short answer: no.

If you want to game, then you could buy a 1000Hz polling rate mouse from Logitech instead. In practice, I’m still using a Master 2S, and including on my iPad Pro 120Hz display using Bluetooth, it has been more than adequate for what I want or need. I wouldn’t mind the 3s upgrade. It just isn’t a priority.

I’ve even gamed on it, including for CP2077, Tomb Raider, and both DX games. All of which arguably “need” gaming mice.

I would absolutely never choose to use a Magic Mouse. They are uncomfortable, charge wrong, and don’t have enough buttons. They do have good integrations, are easily portable, have multi-touch, with good battery life though in fairness to them as a device. But those first 3 negate the final 4 for my uses cases.

Like all things, ymmv. I've never generally seen any Mac user complain about an office mouse that wanted an office mouse.
 
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Spotlight (macOS's indexing service) will keep running until it indexes everything. It's where a lot of SSD usage happens.
 
On my desktop PC (which I will be probably selling), I have a Sound Blaster AE-9 connected to JBL LSR305 monitors and a JBL LSR310S subwoofer. What do I need to do to connect the JBLs to the MacBook? Will I need to get a USB DAC or can the headphone out on the MacBook work just as well? If both options can work, I'm sure the USB DAC option will sound better?
 
Quiz said:
On my desktop PC (which I will be probably selling), I have a Sound Blaster AE-9 connected to JBL LSR305 monitors and a JBL LSR310S subwoofer. What do I need to do to connect the JBLs to the MacBook? Will I need to get a USB DAC or can the headphone out on the MacBook work just as well? If both options can work, I'm sure the USB DAC option will sound better?
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I wouldn't bet on a noticeably better sound, especially in an untreated room. Apple's headphone amps are often quite good.
 
uOpt said:
I wouldn't bet on a noticeably better sound, especially in an untreated room. Apple's headphone amps are often quite good.
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The speakers are powered so it would be the MacBook's DAC vs. USB DAC. But I've read on other forums that the headphone out of the MacBook Pro is actually really good.
 
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