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[astronautcowboy]

Anyone use Photos to store all of their picture and video? I noticed something odd recently; even though I have it set to download the originals to my Mac, apparently it isn't keeping full versions of the videos on my hard drive. Was I seeing that correctly? And if so, doesn't that defeat the purpose of that option?

 

[jamesmccloud]

Anyone use Photos to store all of their picture and video? I noticed something odd recently; even though I have it set to download the originals to my Mac, apparently it isn't keeping full versions of the videos on my hard drive. Was I seeing that correctly? And if so, doesn't that defeat the purpose of that option?

I use it that way and it stores full masters locally (I have the library set on an external drive). Check inside the photos database and see what is stored in the Masters folder?

 

[Meh3D]

I mean if you're just gonna use it for fun videos you might as well just pick up DaVinci resolve lite. It's free and works well.

I downloaded resolve. I wasn't quite happy with it. I could see why a colorist uses it for color work. I can give it another shot. I also remember the application being very sluggish on my older Mac. (MacBook Pro 2011 13" i7 2.7 Ghz 16GB 512GBSSD)

EDIT: I feel like I need to dial an abuse hotline for what DaVinci Resolve does to my my MacBook Pro 13 (3.2 i7, 16GB, 512SSD)
EDIT2: Things were working, sluggish but not too bad. It was working. Then I hit the color option next to edit after finishing the cut in the timeline and it crashed and burned on an short 1 minute clip cut to 15 seconds shot on an iPhone in UHD. The project was set for 1080P 30FPS. Color wheel appeared, spinning rainbow ball spinning, and 28 minutes later I had to force quit.

Meanwhile, I just stopped using Sophos anti-virus as the new version collects data I don't agree with.
Anyone here recommend one for Mac?

 

[Grim Patron]

Honestly, I would wait. 15" with the touch bar is a gorgeous device.

It has been decided. 15" touch bar 1TB SSD, GPU 460 4GB.

 

[eyeball_kid]

Meanwhile, I just stopped using Sophos anti-virus as the new version collects data I don't agree with.
Anyone here recommend one for Mac?

I've never used an antivirus app with OS X. OS X itself has a background malware checker that's updated regularly. OS X's security makes it hard for a traditional virus to really gain hold. Most of what people are wary of is malware, which can mostly be avoided by not clicking on questionable email links and web sites.

I do recommend using Little Snitch, which is a software firewall residing at the kernel level which can catch network traffic from going out/in.

To your original question, I haven't used FCPX, but I use Logic Pro and it's a fantastic DAW, especially for the price. It's been free updates for a few years now.

 

[Zeyphersan]

Meanwhile, I just stopped using Sophos anti-virus as the new version collects data I don't agree with.
Anyone here recommend one for Mac?

Malwarebytes Antimalware is the only one I use

 

[The Real Abed]

Virus software on macOS is still pretty unnecessary. I've been a Mac user for 17 years and have visited many many sites, some that would normally kill a Windows PC with crippling spyware and have never had problems. The "worst" that's happened is a few DMG files have downloaded to my desktop and sat there. Since macOS won't just open these things and run their contents willy nilly, they just sit there. If you know you didn't ask for them, and use your brain, you know not to run their contents. It's not rocket science really. Plus that was years ago and it only happened like occasionally. That's like the "worst" they can get you. Basically in other words, for the most part, getting malware onto your macOS system requires manual labor and interaction from the end user.

And anything else requires you to manually enter your password. If you know what is asking for it, you know whether or not you should enter it.

 

[Ambitious]

Does anyone else have the issue of Tweetbot's syncing being unreliable as hell? My timeline is pretty much always out of sync. Same for the mute list. Double-tapping/clicking the timeline tab is supposed to sync the timeline position and scroll to the last unread tweet. However, most of the time it simply scrolls to the top of the list, so I have to manually find the last unread tweet again, which is a pain in the ass. So annoying.

 

[Camp1nCarl]

Hey everyone:

So I'm looking to upgrade from my 2011 HP laptop (2nd gen i7, radeon 6770m, 8GB ram, 1 TB) to a new Macbook. I bought a laptop capable of gaming but I actually didn't really bother gaming too much.

I never purchased a Mac before and I read through a good portion of this thread, however I'm still a little unsure of the newer MacBook Pros in regard to how liked they are at certain prices.

I'm mostly looking to do some light to mid-range work on it. Watching videos, maybe playing some casual/older games (older Sims, Fallout 1/2, etc.), maybe some light video/picture editing, as well as some coding/programming. Based on specs I'm a little confused as to what is the best value and will last me the longest.

2015 MacBook Pro (i5 2.7GHz, 8 GB Ram, 128GB Flash, Intel Iris 6100, all the ports) @ $970 including tax

2016 MacBook Pro (i5 2.0 GHz, 8 GB Ram, 256GB Flash, Intel Iris 540, 2 Thunderbolt 3) @ $1266 including tax

2016 MacBook Pro with Touchbar (i5 2.9 GHz, 8 GB Ram, Intel Iris 550, 4 Thunderbolt 3) @ $1521 including tax


I don't mind paying more for the latest and greatest, especially if that will help it to last longer. Not to mention ports/Magsafe/dongles don't particularly matter or bother me. However is the 2016 with Touchbar's performance worth over $500 more over last years model (don't particularly care for the Touchbar either)? Is the 2016 no Touchbar better than 2015's performance wise to justify the extra ~$250?

Right now I'm leaning with the no Touchbar model (bigger space, better GPU, but the processor isn't as good as 2015?) as a happy middle group, but honestly I have no idea. The are one day prices but I've been searching for a little while to upgrade. Thanks everyone (and I apologize for the wall of text)!

Edit: Or is it worth waiting for 2017s models (my old laptop still does work, it's just incredibly inconvenient to move around at 17in plus it's definitely feeling its age)?

 

[Zeyphersan]

Hey everyone:

So I'm looking to upgrade from my 2011 HP laptop (2nd gen i7, radeon 6770m, 8GB ram, 1 TB) to a new Macbook. I bought a laptop capable of gaming but I actually didn't really bother gaming too much.

I never purchased a Mac before and I read through a good portion of this thread, however I'm still a little unsure of the newer MacBook Pros in regard to how liked they are at certain prices.

I'm mostly looking to do some light to mid-range work on it. Watching videos, maybe playing some casual/older games (older Sims, Fallout 1/2, etc.), maybe some light video/picture editing, as well as some coding/programming. Based on specs I'm a little confused as to what is the best value and will last me the longest.

2015 MacBook Pro (i5 2.7GHz, 8 GB Ram, 128GB Flash, Intel Iris 6100, all the ports) @ $970 including tax

2016 MacBook Pro (i5 2.0 GHz, 8 GB Ram, 256GB Flash, Intel Iris 540, 2 Thunderbolt 3) @ $1266 including tax

2016 MacBook Pro with Touchbar (i5 2.9 GHz, 8 GB Ram, Intel Iris 550, 4 Thunderbolt 3) @ $1521 including tax


I don't mind paying more for the latest and greatest, especially if that will help it to last longer. Not to mention ports/Magsafe/dongles don't particularly matter or bother me. However is the 2016 with Touchbar's performance worth over $500 more over last years model (don't particularly care for the Touchbar either)? Is the 2016 no Touchbar better than 2015's performance wise to justify the extra ~$250?

Right now I'm leaning with the no Touchbar model (bigger space, better GPU, but the processor isn't as good as 2015?) as a happy middle group, but honestly I have no idea. The are one day prices but I've been searching for a little while to upgrade. Thanks everyone (and I apologize for the wall of text)!

Edit: Or is it worth waiting for 2017s models (my old laptop still does work, it's just incredibly inconvenient to move around at 17in plus it's definitely feeling its age)?

The non-TB 201) 13" MBP is actually more like a retina MacBook Air, given that it's using a traditionally-MBA processor. If you're looking for an actual pro stuff like you'd described, may not be the best option, so I would narrow it down to the 2015 or Touchbar 2016

After that, the flash storage on the inside can't be updated, so spend as much as you can on flash storage from the get-go as possible, as your only solution after the purchase is external hard drives

 

[Meh3D]

Hey everyone:

....
I'm mostly looking to do some light to mid-range work on it. Watching videos, maybe playing some casual/older games (older Sims, Fallout 1/2, etc.), maybe some light video/picture editing, as well as some coding/programming. Based on specs I'm a little confused as to what is the best value and will last me the longest.

2015 MacBook Pro (i5 2.7GHz, 8 GB Ram, 128GB Flash, Intel Iris 6100, all the ports) @ $970 including tax

This model will work with your needs. Nothing slow about the machine. The only concern is the SSD space. I would not bother with the touch bar models or the newest non-touch bar pro. If you can get a 2015 model with 256 or 512 GB you will be set.

For video's iMovie works great especially if you have an iPhone with 4K recording capability. (I prefer Premiere Pro though my personal projects are more involved.) Otherwise I can't think of anything the machine won't be good at. (Stay away from DaVinci Resolve. Regardless of model.)

 

[brianjones]

trying to decide between an iMac and a macbook pro

I'm looking at

(refurbished) 27" iMac 2015 5K Retina with 1 TB Fusion and 8 GB RAM - $1699

macbook pro 13 newest model (without touch) 256 GB flash storage 8GB RAM - $1249

I've never owned a laptop before and i also have an iPad.. i don't really see myself needing to take a laptop anywhere but you never know what the future holds..

anyone wanna help my pull a trigger and decide

 

[Zeyphersan]

trying to decide between an iMac and a macbook pro

I'm looking at

(refurbished) 27" iMac 2015 5K Retina with 1 TB Fusion and 8 GB RAM - $1699

macbook pro 13 newest model (without touch) 256 GB flash storage 8GB RAM - $1249

I've never owned a laptop before and i also have an iPad.. i don't really see myself needing to take a laptop anywhere but you never know what the future holds..

anyone wanna help my pull a trigger and decide

Personally, I generally stick with laptops for the portability, even around the house, and just grab a nice monitor to hook it up to when I need a "desktop"

 

[brianjones]

Personally, I generally stick with laptops for the portability, even around the house, and just grab a nice monitor to hook it up to when I need a "desktop"

good point.. and with the money i would save getting the macbook i could definitely get a monitor down the line though it wouldn't be as nice as 5K

the macbook is on sale only thru today at best buy

 

[The Real Abed]

I've been using Night Shift on Sierra for a few weeks now and I'm used to it. It's okay. Makes it easier on my eyes late at night. I just hate that since it's not global to the machine, if I log out and/or switch users, it turns off, then when I come back it logs in with it off and then after a few seconds slowly fades back on. It's a bit jarring. I'd rather it either be global, or skip the transition when logging back in.

As a workaround I just set both user accounts to have it on, but it still fades to off when on the login screen. However it does seem to fade back before actually finishing logging in.

Other than that it's okay I guess. When I do disable it when being used to it (Or if I'm using the machine for a while before it turns off at noon) it does feel strange having to adjust back to the normal colors because they feel so bright. Haha.

 

[Camp1nCarl]

The non-TB 201) 13" MBP is actually more like a retina MacBook Air, given that it's using a traditionally-MBA processor. If you're looking for an actual pro stuff like you'd described, may not be the best option, so I would narrow it down to the 2015 or Touchbar 2016

After that, the flash storage on the inside can't be updated, so spend as much as you can on flash storage from the get-go as possible, as your only solution after the purchase is external hard drives

This model will work with your needs. Nothing slow about the machine. The only concern is the SSD space. I would not bother with the touch bar models or the newest non-touch bar pro. If you can get a 2015 model with 256 or 512 GB you will be set.

For video's iMovie works great especially if you have an iPhone with 4K recording capability. (I prefer Premiere Pro though my personal projects are more involved.) Otherwise I can't think of anything the machine won't be good at. (Stay away from DaVinci Resolve. Regardless of model.)

Interesting, thanks for the replies!

Kind of surprising to hear the 2015 MBP getting recommended over the 2016 non-touchbar MBP. Especially because after further examination spec wise the 2016 is better all around, plus it includes a large SSD at the base than the 2015. $300 for double the SSD space and better specs seems like a better choice (plus form factor, although the ports is obviously a big con).

 

[Zeyphersan]

Interesting, thanks for the replies!

Kind of surprising to hear the 2015 MBP getting recommended over the 2016 non-touchbar MBP. Especially because after further examination spec wise the 2016 is better all around, plus it includes a large SSD at the base than the 2015. $300 for double the SSD space and better specs seems like a better choice (plus form factor, although the ports is obviously a big con).

I think the non-TB is a fantastic machine, just know that it does not have the same class of processor that the 2015 Pro has, even with the same gigahertz is not as powerful

 

[Camp1nCarl]

I think the non-TB is a fantastic machine, just know that it does not have the same class of processor that the 2015 Pro has, even with the same gigahertz is not as powerful

Really?

The 2016 non-TB MBP's i5 6360u seems to have better benchmarks than the 2015 MBP's i5 5257u benchmarks. Or is that somewhat of a deceptive gauge of performance (because I read that the 2016's CPU is ultra low voltage more in line with lower end notebooks, but performance tests like Geekbench had it outperforming the 2015's CPU so I'm a little confused lol)?

 

[Fuchsdh]

Really?

The 2016 non-TB MBP's i5 6360u seems to have better benchmarks than the 2015 MBP's i5 5257u benchmarks. Or is that somewhat of a deceptive gauge of performance (because I read that the 2016's CPU is ultra low voltage more in line with lower end notebooks, but performance tests like Geekbench had it outperforming the 2015's CPU so I'm a little confused lol)?

Measuring raw performance these days is a bit difficult now. Depending on your use cases, the non-TB MBP might be substantially faster than the old MBP. Where that comparison starts to falter is the fact that the new MBP uses a lower voltage chip, which means it has a lower performance ceiling for certain processor-intensive tasks.

Basically, ultrabook processors are about getting stuff done quickly to avoid throttling; their turbo speeds are usually comparable or higher than the max clocks of the big quad-core i7s you get in the high-end MBPs. But those ones will likely be able to churn out big renders and the like much better.

 

[Camp1nCarl]

Measuring raw performance these days is a bit difficult now. Depending on your use cases, the non-TB MBP might be substantially faster than the old MBP. Where that comparison starts to falter is the fact that the new MBP uses a lower voltage chip, which means it has a lower performance ceiling for certain processor-intensive tasks.

Basically, ultrabook processors are about getting stuff done quickly to avoid throttling; their turbo speeds are usually comparable or higher than the max clocks of the big quad-core i7s you get in the high-end MBPs. But those ones will likely be able to churn out big renders and the like much better.

Ah, that makes a bit more sense regarding the benchmarks then. I don't particularly stay up to date on CPU/GPU performance unless I'm actively looking for something. Thanks for the replies everyone!

I think I'll hold off and wait and see what this Fall brings (or until my older laptop starts to give), as I don't have an incredibly pressing need to upgrade immediately.

 

[Ambitious]

I Wish Apple Loved Books

The State of iBooks in Early 2017

I mean, it was obvious to me ages ago that iBooks has been Apple'd. It's bug-ridden, unreliable, unmaintained and rotting. It will never, ever receive a major update again. Par for the course!

 

[SourBear]

Meh. I don't care about iBooks when I have eInk kindles to read on. Amazon can have all my books money.

 

[Fuchsdh]

iBooks works for what I use it for (buying books off iTunes, adding PDFs I need offline.) I guess the whole "cut out bookstore and textbook publisher stuff" has stalled.

 

[Deku Tree]

I just use GoodReader. Paid $5 for it many years ago. Works better than iBooks ever did for me.

Granted I don't buy eBooks at all.

 

[badcrumble]

I Wish Apple Loved Books

The State of iBooks in Early 2017

I mean, it was obvious to me ages ago that iBooks has been Apple'd. It's bug-ridden, unreliable, unmaintained and rotting. It will never, ever receive a major update again. Par for the course!

It's pretty obvious that iBooks and Newsstand were both Scott Forstall passion projects, IMO, and that's a big part of why they're dead.

 

[Zeyphersan]

I don't think iBooks are BAD per se. I just picked up all the Game of Thrones Enhanced Editions and the really enjoy what those things can do, it's definitely more than what a Kindle book can do because of format/no need to target eInk screens. But there's just not enough stuff really doing that to pull ahead so I still find myself buying most book from Amazon and just using the Kindle app

 

[The Real Abed]

I can't find a single iOS app that will recognize my .epub files. Not even the Kindle app. Only iBooks on macOS will recognize them but I don't want to read my books on my laptop.

And I don't want to risk $5 to try out something that may not work.

 

[Hatty]

Does Calibre work with whatever device you want to read books on?

 

[anonymous_abc]

Does Calibre work with whatever device you want to read books on?

yes, it is pretty device agnostic.

 

[Beth Cyra]

Hello everyone.

Not sure if this is the right place to ask so please forgive me if not.

I am starting a Computer Science degree track and I have little use with iOS (only phone and ipad) and as such I was thinking it would be woefully foolish of me to go down this track with out getting into Mac and how they are becoming more and more standard in places.

As such I was thinking of getting a 2015 Rose Gold MacBook as it seems like it would be a great starting point and save me a few hundred over the MacBook Pro 2016 model.

Would this be wise or, should I actually not bother and go Windows?

 

[SourBear]

With a computer science degree I would personally go the Pro route. However, a regular Macbook will be more than sufficient for probably all of your coursework. As far as Windows or not.. you can always install Windows on a Mac computer. You can't really do the reverse without a lot of hassle and usually things don't work out.

 

[Beth Cyra]

With a computer science degree I would personally go the Pro route. However, a regular Macbook will be more than sufficient for probably all of your coursework.

I had considered that but given I'm just really starting the program by the time I finished in 2 to 3 years I figure I will need to upgrade even if I went the pro route.

 

[Hatty]

From experience the retina MacBook resale value isn't as strong as the Pro. Something to keep in mind of you plan to sell in three years

 

[Beth Cyra]

From experience the retina MacBook resale value isn't as strong as the Pro. Something to keep in mind of you plan to sell in three years

Great point.

Thanks for the opinion y'all.

I think I'll go with a MacBook Pro. Probably won't trick it out all the way but at least get an upgraded drive.

Is it smarter to upgrade the CPU or Ram on the Pro? I would naturally lean towards the ram but any opinions would be appreciated.

 

[CrudeDiatribe]

MacBook is perfectly fine for computer science— you're just writing. Get a big display for your room that works with whatever you get. Maximize the RAM on whatever you get. Get more storage than you think you need.

Source: am professional programmer, use old Macs.

Make sure you like typing on the MacBook before you get one. Keyboard can be polarizing. MacBook Pro is less so.

As you get into developing big projects in compiled languages, then indeed, compilation will go faster on a faster Mac. But the interesting work can all be done on a slower one. Many years ago my CS dept gave upper year students exclusive access to beefy (for 2002) Linux workstations; worth seeing if this is true.

 

[Hatty]

Great point.

Thanks for the opinion y'all.

I think I'll go with a MacBook Pro. Probably won't trick it out all the way but at least get an upgraded drive.

Is it smarter to upgrade the CPU or Ram on the Pro? I would naturally lean towards the ram but any opinions would be appreciated.

Always get as much RAM as you can afford

 

[Beth Cyra]

Always get as much RAM as you can afford

I did.

I went forward with a Pro 2016 minus touch bar and upgraded to the 16 gigs of ram. For the start of the major I think it should suffice for the first year, or at least I hope so lol.

 

[Water]

I did.

I went forward with a Pro 2016 minus touch bar and upgraded to the 16 gigs of ram. For the start of the major I think it should suffice for the first year, or at least I hope so lol.

I went through a CS program, did a good amount of teaching including running my own game programming course with Unity, and a 13" Macbook Air with a bottom of the line Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM, 250GB SSD was enough for everything. If I didn't have some personal photos / video on the machine, 128GB SSD would have been enough.

Just one exception where the Air didn't cut it - graphics programming, which I also taught. But for that every Mac is terrible because Apple doesn't care about GPU drivers and features, their OpenGL is something like 6 years behind, and they don't care to offer fast GPU hardware either so dualbooting doesn't help.

Also, in general I would not buy a Mac with the idea of dualbooting into Windows. I tried it for a while, wasn't useful. Battery life, trackpad usability, etc. sucked compared to a real Windows laptop.

Unless something radically changes in how Apple does things, I don't foresee buying any more Macs for myself.

 

[LProtag]

The anti-glare screen is starting to rub off on my 2012 Macbook Pro, and I noticed there's a few super small cracks. It's right in the middle of my screen, which is annoying.

Apparently I missed the year where they were fixing this for free even if you were out of warranty, according to a bunch of sites. Does anyone know what it would run me to fix it? Even just getting the anti-glare replaced would be fine, but I imagine it'd have to be a new screen regardless. I almost feel like buying a new one, but I don't have the 2,400 to shell out for the cheapest 15-inch...

This kinda sucks.

 

[killertofu]

Realistically, what are the chances of the next MBP to have RAM capable of like...32 GB?

 

[brianjones]

can you upgrade the ram on 2015 MacBook Pro ?

just bought one refurbished with 8 gigs but I don't do anything intensive

sounds like not oh well.. I've been using an iMac with 4 gigs for the past decade so I think I'll be ok

 

[Zeyphersan]

Realistically, what are the chances of the next MBP to have RAM capable of like...32 GB?

There were rumors of that. I think the compromise is that they couldn't be LPDRR4 however, so they'd be sucking up a lot more juice since it would be desktop ram

 

[LaneDS]

Bought a Macbook Pro last month after having never owned a Mac. So far, pretty cool, but still learning the ins and outs. Just caved and bought the multi AV adapter and was wondering if charging both the Mac and something else via USB through it (like an iPhone) diminishes the charging times of either.

I've also got a PC solution with two monitors and a mouse and keyboard, and wanted to see if folks have a good recommended solution for using those devices with the Mac (it's the 13 inch model). Guessing a dock plus a KVM switch but the last time I used one of those was forever ago, and have no idea what's worth it these days.

 

[CrudeDiatribe]

The anti-glare screen is starting to rub off on my 2012 Macbook Pro, and I noticed there's a few super small cracks. It's right in the middle of my screen, which is annoying.

Apparently I missed the year where they were fixing this for free even if you were out of warranty, according to a bunch of sites.

Your lucky day.

 

[LProtag]

Your lucky day.

Thanks!

 

[GodParticle]

Can someone help me figure out what I'm supposed to do about upgrading this macbook to Sierra? I have an older 2011(?) macbook where the HD died, so I installed a new one and wanted to update to the newest OS. Problem is, it says I need higher than OS X(I have 10.6.8 from the install disk), but the app store no longer has anything other than the latest sierra. So what do I do?

NM, I may have figured out a way to get a later version of el capitan from my app store "purchase" history. Gonna give it a shot

 

[RoKKeR]

How in the blue hell do I get rid of this "Your disk is almost full" notification??? I know my disk is almost full! Every time I hit "close" it reappears five seconds later and I can't seem to shake it.

 

[Fuchsdh]

How in the blue hell do I get rid of this "Your disk is almost full" notification??? I know my disk is almost full! Every time I hit "close" it reappears five seconds later and I can't seem to shake it.

Clear some space? The system starts acting really screwy if you run out of space so it's something you really should address.

 

[The Real Abed]

Yeah, I would recommend freeing up some space instead of trying to disable a very important dialog. Have you ever used a computer with literally zero free space? No, because you can't. You can't use it at all. RAM is finite, so operating systems use disk space to manage extra memory. If there's no extra space for memory, the OS struggles to move things around and becomes completely unusable.

Free up some space! You should always keep at least 10% free. (Or like 20-50GB I guess depending on your disk size.) Delete some files. Move them elsewhere. Use iCloud Drive's space saving feature. (I don't trust this option though. DropBox has this feature too. I'd much rather keep everything local personally.) Delete caches. (Though only a temporary solution. They'll be back. But at least you could do it first then use the extra time to think about organization.) Delete apps you don't use anymore. Large video files you don't need. Do you have an external drive? Drag some stuff onto it if only temporarily while you restructure.

 

[Remembrance]

I'm perpetually at the "startup drive almost full" stage, no matter how much I delete. 5GB, 10GB, 20GB freed - it doesn't matter, Mac OS finds a way to fill up that space without me knowing it before a week has passed.