Id only add that every company can be have horrible business practices. Even ones who use Linux. So really there’s no where to turn, unless you just want to be a leach and use Linux without paying anyone. But even then, now your just supporting the horrible business practices of hardware manufacturers. At that point, are you going to start looking for the most ethical ones as well?
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This is very, very true.
On a personal level and with Apple specifically, you are locking yourself into a five star luxury prison and you will pay an arm and a leg for the privilege. The problem isn’t that it’s a five star luxury accomodation, it’s the fact that you’re not free to leave, bring certain things with you or walk outside the walls, and this you are happily paying for.
Other than that I have no real gripe with Apple stuff - just doesn’t fit my vision of how things ought to work, if you know what I mean… And while I know most companies do not share that vision, Apple is pretty much the opposite direction of what I want from a PC. But that is just me and my personal opinions on the matter.
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Just because some companies have horrible business practices doesn’t mean everyone has. By continuing to buy from them you are still supporting such business practices, and claiming other companies might do the same doesn’t change this fact.
If you can’t avoid buying products from a company which have business practices you don’t agree with, consider supporting organizations which fight against those.
I don’t think Apple is really that evil. Well, some of their practices with making active measures to limit the hardware ecosystem does seem to me that they are trying to maintain a local monopoly on that marked (especially since they are overpricing it as well) and should be on the edge with antitrust… And what they are doing currently to fight against the right to repair is definitely horrible as well.
Err, I don’t know actually. I’m not going to buy from them anyway.
If I get aware that some hardware manufacture is using child labor or similar bad things, I would definitely buy from another manufacturer even if I have to pay extra. I’m not actively checking out each company in depth to make sure they don’t do evil, but I hope people such as Level1 news help inform me of such.
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Let me just fix that for you. Mac OS X is great. The hardware Mac’s use most of the time is pretty fucking garbage.
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Just so happens I have an HD7950 that my Plex server won’t be utilizing. As I use software transcoding.
I keep looking at Apples prices and they kinda scare me a bit. The iMac with the config I was looking at was going to be about $2K and it only had an i3, I was leaning toward the iMac for one reason… dGPU. The cheaper Mac mini doesn’t offer one. While I don’t do much PC gaming now days, I still have a massive steam library I don’t want to just throw away.
I looked at external GPU enclosures but the cheapest from Razer is like $299. And what I have is an old ass GPU which isn’t worth much. Sure it plays the games i like at 1080p fine, but I don’t think it’s worth $299 for the privilege to use it. Plus I don’t even know if it would work under Mac OS. I know they support AMD cards, but I don’t think they support stuff that old.
Don’t get me wrong. This is a big decision for me. I’m trying to weigh out all the options. I’ve also been told that Apple should be announcing new hardware. So I’m kinda in a holding pattern as of right now.
I thought with thunderbolt 3 we were finally going to start seeing external GPUs that “just work”? Guess not yet (also waiting for GPUs with up-gradable parts, RAM at least). Since I thought thunderbolt was originally an Apple spec, I would think they would sort of have a vested interest in making that happen, but I don’t know.
Also, I agree 110% with wertigon’s post that macs are great but there are essentially 3 caveats. #2 being the one I have the most problem with personally. You really are putting the future of your computing in the hands of Apple more so (I feel personally) than you did with Microsoft. I’ve known several engineers over the years who are/were stuck running slow and buggy windows VMs on their macs for professional engineering software because the switching cost from the mac ecosystem would have been too high for them. That, combined with my feeling that if you’re paying a price premium, you really shouldn’t have to deal with those recent hardware QC issues, otherwise what are you paying for? The rights to their apple garden I guess but you already paid a cost for that–they get to keep you as a customer (most likely) much longer because of the artificially high switching cost they have worked so hard to keep high over the years. That’s a big -no thank- you for me, I’ll go with Ubuntu…even though my patience for tinkering is also running short; similar to yours lol. Ubuntu 16 and 18 LTS (with maybe monthly use of a windows 7 virtual box for odd stuff) have worked fine for me as a daily driver (with a few minor issues) BUT I mostly only web browse, program and watch movies (and no games). Two bonuses are that it has been nice to learn more *nix stuff (even if it was initially a pain in the butt) and Ubuntu comes with a lot of small tools I would have to install when using windows (SMART checking, hash verification, watch, grep, ect). There really needs to be a 4th option without Apple’s drawbacks. If I were you, I’d start a company like that and then buy their computers =p
It’s an Intel Spec. Though I think AMD might be getting it as well.
The only issue with Ubuntu is its loosing steam support I heard. If I build a machine it’s going to have gaming ability.
Oh, my mistake. I could have sworn apple was at least part of the thunderbolt 2 spec at least…
Yeah, I’m of no use when it comes to gaming, unfortunately. Good luck! My friend did successfully build a neat Linux desktop with GPU pass-through to a windows VM using the help of the L1 discord but you said you were done with windows.
As I stated. Windows is NOT an option. Microsoft has failed me for the last time. 3 machines in 1 week taken out by Microsoft. Too much.
Not very likely even if Valve stops packaging for Ubuntu someone else will do it just like all the other distros.
I am going to be very real here. The solution to your NAS problem was pretty easy to fix: you mount an NFS share on the PLEX machine.
The Mac Mini and a game console is probably the easiest and least stressful solution for you.
Once you leave the world of web browsing and a few proprietary software suites computers become harder regardless of OS.
I am not sure what windows did but would guess it could be fixed. Drivers aren’t always perfect on Windows and they can’t seem to figure out Control Panel vs Settings. DLLs and registries suck to fix. But you got software and hardware support for days.
On Linux drivers are a mixed bag. Printers are easier with CUPs and AMD GPU drivers are baked in (barring you have the right kernel). But a lot (and I mean a lot) of software don’t have native Linux versions. So you are going to have to use Wine to “emulate” Windows software. That can be hit or miss.
Apple has issues with upgradability and self repair. You also have to live with EOL issues with hardware support, so be prepared to upgrade at least every 5 years. Gaming is the worst here. You get what you get hardware wise. And I believe Linux has a larger library than Mac on Steam now. Its command line is horribly out of date and needs homebrew to make it worthwhile.vBut OSX is easy to admin and it plays very well with in ecosystem devices. Plus there is some nice OSX only software.
The coice is yours.
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What windows 10 did was never work properly. On my gaming rig i always had bugs and driver issues. Since upgrading to 1903, by upgrading I mean a full clean install. It was out right broken. Network drivers would die if I put the computer to sleep. No the power saving shit was not turned on. That was the first thing I checked. Intel no longer supports the nic and MSI has very out of date drivers. The default Windows drivers didn’t work. Then to top thing off on my moms computer Windows did an update and fucked the graphics driver. Neither the monitor or TV could get a signal. The TV said the signal was not supported. Luckily I was able to get it to boot to safe mode and determine it was a driver issue. Then I just did a reset of Windows. The fact is this computer was less than a year old.
Then there is the fact Microsoft decides when my PC should restart for updates. How about NO. I’ll decide when I want it to restart. Like it decided to restart while my Plex server was recording a show.
Ok not sure how much of that is the GPU OEM vs Microsoft and I could possibly be a bad HDMI or a DRM issue. The NIC issue sucks.
Going forward media center PCs are really not that good anymore. Something like a Roku, Apple TV, Android TV as you front end for Plex and any other streaming.
Im thinking the Linux route is the way to go. Reading an article at Mac Rumor suggests Apple may start using its CPU’s in its Computers starting next year. If it was anyone else Id probably say bullshit on this rumor, but Apple has done this before and they have a cult following.
Now I gotta figure out a setup. I want to do something kinda nice. Maybe some lighting.
Amen.
Bought an Nvidia Shield 3 years back ( i think). Best. Investment. Ever! I fiddled with HTPC’s since that was a word and Windows XP Media Center Edition was a thing. I never could get the HTPC 100% right.
The Shield has been awesome and after 3 years it’s been the first Android TV to Recieve the Android 9 Update. I’m really impressed by the Nvidia support. Can’t recommend it enough.
In terms of Windows: I haven’t had Problems in a long time. My wife has some here and there, but she just never updates here box. Some day it’ll then force reboot and shit hits the fan. I keep mine updated at least monthly and haven’t had problems. Yes, you should disable windows update installing drivers (GUI Option). Other than that…
In terms of Apple Hardware, if you’re willing to pay for it, a slightly used MB Pro from 2014 should serve well. I wouldn’t touch anything newer as the hardware is spotty at best and apples customer service in most cases is not getting better either.
Linux is a GREAT option. Seriously. I recommend you start with Pop_OS and go from there. 90% of stuff will work with little hassle.
Gaming can be anywhere between heaven and hell. Look at the games you need beforehand. Anything Blizzard, Epic or such is often a Bad time. Anything from Steam will either work natively or can be made to work with more or less workarounds.
Plan for some learning curve. It’s free, so it certainly doesn’t hurt to give it a try.
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CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($132.79 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard ($127.91 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 580 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card ($198.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV SHIFT Mini ITX Tower Case ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS SGX 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply ($140.75 @ Amazon)
Monitor: LG 25UM58-P 25.0" 2560x1080 60 Hz Monitor ($167.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1067.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-13 20:49 EDT-0400
System might be unbalanced. But I like that case better than the one above. The reason I choose a 6 core CPU was because I think i might run a VM or two for the purpose of learning the CLI without screwing my install. Plus I can maybe play around with a few distros. Not sure about the GPU. The most demanding game I have is Cities Skylines recommends a HD 6850. Out of the games I own I guess about 52 can run on Linux. Holy shit, who knew. I only need about a handful. Most of them are games like Stardew valley or Starbound. They dont take much.
Im thinking I will just go with the SSD for now and If I need to add storage I will. But the fact is I have a NAS, I figure I can just mount a drive from the NAS with things like Music and such. What do you all think? Also is POP OS worth a try? By the way, if you make changes, the items need to be on Amazon, A) I have prime, B) Big ass Amazon warehouse in my city, so Im helping keep them employed.
Looks pretty solid.
The Fractal Design Node 202 might be worth to take a look at for a smaller but still upgradable case. Also, Node 304 and perhaps Louqe Ghost or the Dan case, was it SFX-4? If you can consider stretching budget slightly for a great small build.
Other components look decent, perhaps go with a 3600 or 4600 upgrade and a 5700XT in a year or so.
You might want to get extra SSDs for VMs but not necessary at the moment.
Pop!_OS is a decent choice for working more or less out of the box.
I wanted a case with a window, that’s why I chose the case listed.
Like being able to see my hard work. LOL. Thats why I wanted something with a Window. In the 6 years I had my last gaming rig, I only upgraded the RAM. So I dont really expect to do much. The case I chose has like 1 3.5" drive bay, so I have expandability if I need it. Keep in mind I have a 4 bay NAS as well. As for the VM’s, they are for learning. I wont be installing tones of software or anything, It so I can learn some of the more advanced things with Linux, without destroying my Host OS.
You need an external power brick but otherwise…
Scratch that was thinking of a different case. This one includes a 600W PSU!
$199 is a little steep for a case. If it was like $125 or lower I’d consider it.
That is what I thought at first, too. Then I realized it does include a 600W psu, and that means $140+$110 vs $199 is cheaper overall.