#84

I don’t think your fans are going to be going crazy all the time on a desktop unless you play the most demanding games.

Of recent, this would be Control and Flight Simulator 2020, for example.

Pumps yes it depends on design, but unless you plan to build a pc yourself, a good vendor will have likely selected an arrangement that works well with their chassis and is noticeably quieter than the air-cooled option. You can also pre-research modifications, some are easy, but I doubt you’d have to go there.

Hollow Knight I think is pretty emblematic of 2D games that are popular right now. Most are not too demanding. I’d say Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a good balance, needs an SSD and a reasonable graphics card, but most any as long as you have a recent discrete one.

If you don’t plan on running games that are too demanding, then you have way more options, obviously.

The recommended specs for resolume are much higher than the minimum specs, likewise for DaVinci Resolve. So you might be able to figure out how complex your projects will be on average and what you really need.

#85

It really depends. Some newer models do have easy modes switching and do not even look like gaming laptops.

I bought a laptop recently for work (had to do remote work away from home on short notice and I do games development) and the model I got is designed by Intel, weighs less than 2kg, has an RTX2070, looks nice and clean and has a dedicated button to switch between 3 performance modes, the lowest of which is definitely not for gaming but is quiet and good enough for basic stuff.

If you use a laptop PC for audio, be sure to check that there are no DPC latency issues though (the one I got had some, apparently fixed with the latest BIOS, which I need to test).

Anyway, saying “gaming laptops” is like saying “poly synths”, there are lots of differences between individuals models.

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#86

The new 16” MBP with the 5600m is insane. If I was shopping for a laptop now I would buy it.

Granted, after paining for ages on whether to get a new Touchbar style model I pulled the trigger back in 2017. Performance-wise, it’s brilliant. And here we are in 2020 and it hasn’t skipped a beat.

I remember being blown away at the time that certain projects I was working on graphically required iMac level graphics, now the MBP can handle it. The 5600m takes that to the next level - if u like to game, install Bootcamp and you will have no problems with any modern title. My 2017 struggles a touch on certain settings, so I envy that new card.

I’ve thought about getting a Windows machine as a gaming laptop first and foremost, because you can certainly get the performance needed for much lower cost. And then seeing how music or art projects work out from there.

But as some earlier comments above illustrate, Apples stuff is out in front so far when it comes to reliability in lifespan. I think that speaks volumes to the price - so many in this thread saying “my Mac just died after 10 years” - what an achievement. Most PC laptops will last you 5 years tops before becoming unuseable.

I have a MacBook Air also, since 2012. It still flies, but is looking a little long in the tooth. 8 years in. That’s serious value for money in my book. I’ll keep the current MBP till it’s dead. And the thing with Macs is resale value is higher as a result.

But I agree on the eye watering prices - last time I put down some cash and paid off the rest with Apples financing options. I’d never done that before, but it made sense this time, and had it paid off in a couple years.

Still, dongle life sucks. I wish the MBP’s had 6 ports.

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#87

Glad your 2017 MBP is holding up! As a counter, my 2018 MBP is the worst laptop I’ve ever owned and is finally giving me the motivation to switch to Linux. I ranted about it here: Which MacBook should I buy?

A counter to my counter: my 2015 MBP is still going strong and is a great computer.

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#88

Damn. That sucks. I haven’t experienced any keyboard issues but I guess I’ve been careful not to get any dirt in it. The new keyboard is a nice return to the old form. Hope my unit holds out a bit longer! Id have to question if I bought Apple again if it didn’t.

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#89

Is this the one that Eulektronics and other OEM computer companies make? It ticks all the boxes, except maybe the screen and the keyboard

#90

It looks great, I can’t lie, but yikes is it expensive. The upgrade price (in Canadian $) for the 5600m and an extra 16gb ram is itself $1100 :exploding_head:

And to counter the argument that windows computers don’t last as long, we have a whole army of old thinkbooks and a few Dell machines at ye’ol-day-job that are going harder than the 8yo macbook air I had to retire a few years ago.

Of course once you cram the highest top of the line specs into a thin chassis, maybe that changes.

#91

Part of the reason I keep sticking with MacBook Pros is that my time is very important to me, and all my experience with Windows 10 is a time suck. Still requires to much configuration, maintenance, updating, fighting with drivers… I’m frustrated just thinking about it. I only boot up my Win10 desktop when I absolutely need to do something GPU intensive.

I’ll also echo the longevity. My MacBooks last almost twice as long as anything else I’ve owned both in terms of physical durability and usefulness.

And one more thought — software dev, even things like Supercollider, are far more awkward in Win10 IME. MacOS still has the best mix of *nix and commercial support.

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#92

Yes, but they will all be super loud under load. Even a single fan version RTX is loud as fuck in an tower when ramping up.

#93

I dunno, I think the mac update default notifications are more annoying. The average user is always clicking them away. And those updates still need to be installed if you want your mac to be secure.

Otherwise I agree with you. The most annoying thing in Windows is that it will restart your computer by default in some situations to install updates. I haven’t noticed that recently so maybe they changed the behavior.

That said, automatic driver installs are much better in Windows 10 than ever before.

Even Ubuntu though will sometimes screw up a virtual machine with automatic updates.

@mattleaf

In absolute terms, 5600m is a pretty weak card for a 4k machine. Yet Apple is always looking for efficient power and low heat, so that’s about as good as one can expect from them. Certainly good enough if you don’t plan to do lots of color grading and game in 4k.

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#94

At least those are only from applications I use, my default Win10 install included ads and promos for other MS products!

Step #1 on any new computer, regardless of OS, is turn off all notifications :slight_smile:

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#95

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#96

Yes, default versions of win10 are infested with annoying bloatware. No such issues with LTSC.

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#97

Absolutely. It’s just the nicest thing laptop Mac owners have had access to this far.

@analogue01 - yes true. Probably comes down a lot to how you look after it also. My anecdotal evidence is probably drawn from PC friends as I’ve watched them wrestle with and then retire said machines around that point.

I also agree with the above PC issues around maintenance. I’ve found if I use a PC for a fairly limited explicit purpose, I can keep the OS fairly lean, to the point performing a reinstall is basically a non-issue.

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#98

+1 to the thinkpad x1 carbon. the battery, screen, and ssd are all user replaceable and linux works perfect on it. i use a mac book for work, but if i had to refresh ever i would probably stick with a linux machine.

i really do love OS X, but i can’t reconcile the fact that it’s basically a closed system compared to other alternatives.

#99

I have to also say, fit and finish aside, there’s been elements to Apple’s sort of comings and going’s as far as sort of business relationships are going at present/lately, that sort of irk me. I know Apple has this high moral stance it likes to project, and a garage ethic that sort of often underpins the image of the company, but truth is Apple is very different these days. I’m not swayed away from them in any serious way, but their approach lately to the way they host people on their platform has been kind’ve gross, it’s something I’m keeping an eye on and definitely if they keep being so aggressive could definitely push me away from Apple if the features and services I want no longer appear on the platform.

#100

When it comes to longevity, having Apple vs PC discussion seems to be least helpful.

There are plenty of problems in PC world, I’m using post-IBM Lenovo and the build quality is just not there anymore. Yeah, there are plenty of old IBM thinkpads still kicking but you can not go to a shop and buy that quality. The same goes for Apple. Yes, old Apple laptops can last 10 years but there are cases in court about the post 2015 machines because many of these wont last even two years (we have a dedicated thread about Apple issues). Even if you are able to run 10 y old macbook, you are locked out from updating your OS and are unable to use the apps requiring the new OS. Also, very few laptops are used for long period of time in their original configuration and with the new Apple laptops the upgrades (not even bigger ssd) are not possible anymore.

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#101

I recently got one of these :https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B084N16115/ref=dp_prsubs_2 , pretty good so far running Touchdesigner , Max 8 and Ableton 10 , I can also play Death Stranding .

There’s also this version for special agents :https://rog.asus.com/microsite/ROG-ZEPHYRUS-G14-ACRNM/

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#102

Have you used this for any music stuff, by any chance?

EDIT: Sorry, just read your post properly. How does it run for music stuff - I’m thinking of replacing my aging i5 with something similar.

#103

Only recording hardware synths into Ableton via Focusrite soundcard and ORCA sequencing OP-Z , I’ll try softsynths soon.