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Old 04-18-2018, 12:28 PM   #15
cyrano
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Belgium
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skijumptoes View Post
Depends how knowledgeable people are i think, i.e. most of us here could probably use a Mac and know if it's running ok or not, and also know when to give it a fresh install or keep with the OS upgrade method.
I don't think so. First off, OSX should work even for the uninitiated. And secondly, there's hardly any docs at all from Apple. We seem to have to work it all out ourselves, with the help of sources like MacAdmins.

Besides, my numbers come from fleets in the corporate/edu world. Most users aren't really knowledgeable when it comes to their computer.

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I used to have a set cycle of Clean Install/Upgrade/Clean Install/Upgrade for each major OSX revision, and going through Yosemite etc. was hell for me, particularly with work - it was causing me some serious problems. I hated yosemite and couldn't understand how anyone could say it was good.

So i literarily spent an entire weekend sorting out all my data files, splitting into different partitions etc. and bought a new SSD, put everything back 'including' yosemite, and it ran perfectly. Since then if i notice any kind of dip in performance or issues, i immediately get on it and sort them out.
I always do a clean install when doing a major upgrade. But that's my personal machine. It's old and it runs Mavericks. I skip a few versions these days. I held out on Snow for as long as I could. It wasn't until I needed an up-to-date browser that I upgraded to Mavericks. And I had to rip out some icloud parts to get everything to my liking.

I've got El Capital on a partition, but that doesn't play nice with my RME. Dropouts every 5 to 15 seconds. And as I've got no reason to upgrade yet, I haven't taken the time to debug it.

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And you know, what i've noticed more and more is that it's amazing, for example, how an out of date extension in safari, can affect your system. Or when you're debugging code and have installed additional extensions and/or drivers and they go out of date with an OS revision.
I've given up on Safari. I use Chrome and Vivaldi for daily work. Safari is kept clean. No extensions, no bookmarks even. It takes forever to load and it isn't as fast as the two others.

In fact, I've given up on most Apple applications. I gave up Logic when it was at 9.0 because of the time it took Apple to fix the many bugs. And I've given up on stuff like iMovie, because Apple killed it. Things like Pages, which I don't use much, are way too slow, compared with other, more slender software out there. The only Apple apps remaining, are iTunes and iPhoto.

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But the most critical aspect to reading problems online, i think, is that everyone are web enabled by default now, and as such with forums, twitter, Facebook etc. the issues are so much more immediate than what they were previously.

It's like if you check a Facebook timeline, it's also amazing how many people are suffering with depression too. I mean, that's massive! ..but are they? God knows! lol
As I said, I've other data sources when it comes to weighing problems. I do have a FB account these days, under a phony name, because I needed a dev code. But I hardly use it. I have NO FB friends, as everybody I know doesn't want FB. And I belong to two FB groups. One is for Ambisonics. Hardly any activity. The other one is about fungi and is very active.

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Since El Cap i've just been happy to upgrade and it's running well still, but as a windows convert many many years ago i think i'm just so much more into the apple mindset (i.e. hitting terminal like i would dos etc) and can deal with most issues without even referring to the internet - which seems to take longer now there's so much chuff to read through!
I"ve been a Mac user since 1986 or so. But I've managed hundreds of Win machines back in W2K era. Glad I don't have to do that today

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I've also experienced a load of Hackintosh users in the past couple of years asking for help, the minute you walk in and a black PC with neon lights hanging off it, and a 'MacOS' sticker on the front, my first reaction is 'ohhh'.

Also, there's many older Mac Pro (08/09) users who are using a firmware hack to keep their machines relevant, i still love mine - it's running High Sierra, as i wanted the latest Logic updates, and it's all good. However, i know there's many elements to be wary off!
The TonyMac scene has a lot of VERY knowledgeable people. And they are not fanbois. I also still support many Mac Pro users for photography and audio.

In fact, I've built a PPC machine recently, for an artist who was so fed up with some plugin that comes with a built-in shop today that he went back to OS9 to get rid of all the cloud stuff. And, lo and behold, that ancient stuff is faster too.

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Not sure what point i'm trying to make here, but i've been really hot and cold with Apple since Leopard. Currently though, it's earning me money and i'm really happy - my biggest concern is what my next hardware will be. I'm not fussed what OS i run, as long as it does the business, and i can throw any laptop in a bag and know it will respond when i'm sat infant with a roomful of people the other end!
My thoughts exactly. Don't want a TouchBar lappy. And I'd like FireWire, for the RME.

And, no, definitely NO USB-C. That's turning into the biggest money pit I've ever seen. AV Pro's with one of these new, light, slender MB Pro's also carry a big bag of USB-C adapters these days. Labelled with 'this one for video with a XYZ projector' and stuff like that. I've even seen one with a (paper) note book only to sort out problems with all the different hardware he encounters when doing shows in different venues.

What's definitely worrying me, is repairability. Apple obsoletes machines after 5 years, these days. That's simply not long enough to warrant the high price. HP's latest are beginning to look very interesting, with a 4 TB SSD, 32 GB ram and a 4 GHz processor, under 2.000$. That leaves budget for a new interface...

And since REAPER works with Debian/Wine, there's not much left keeping me on OSX.

Oh, yes, that's another BIG error Apple committed. Renaming OSX to MacOS. Even their own devs don't want to use it. It makes finding anything on the net a real pita. And in absence of docs from Apple, we need to search more and more.
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