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Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh

M

Mobius 1

Member
Got the Shakes said:
I just got a Synology 2 bay NAS (the DS213j), and I love it. There is an almost overwhelming amount of things you can do with it.
Click to expand...

Another vote for Synology's devices. I had a 110j and it made me very happy, so I upgraded to a 713+ after a couple of years. It's absolutely worth the money. The amount of things I can do with it is astounding:

Time Machine backups.
Personal cloud/FTP/VPN server
Media server, I can access all my media from anywhere – particularly great since I don't want to carry my iTunes library on my rMBP due to small SSD. I run Plex and stream video to every device in the house.
Torrent machine
Minecraft server
Web server where I run Apache/MySQL

And it goes on.
 
jts

jts

...hate me...
Norante said:
Another vote for Synology's devices. I had a 110j and it made me very happy, so I upgraded to a 713+ after a couple of years. It's absolutely worth the money. The amount of things I can do with it is astounding:

Time Machine backups.
Personal cloud/FTP/VPN server
Media server, I can access all my media from anywhere – particularly great since I don't want to carry my iTunes library on my rMBP due to small SSD. I run Plex and stream video to every device in the house.
Torrent machine
Minecraft server
Web server where I run Apache/MySQL

And it goes on.
Click to expand...
That sounds great but personally I'm a fan of the Mac mini for all that stuff and more as it also doubles as a computing/gaming/media device if needed. Any downside?
 
K

kidko

Member
jts said:
That sounds great but personally I'm a fan of the Mac mini for all that stuff and more as it also doubles as a computing/gaming/media device if needed. Any downside?
Click to expand...

not really the same thing as you're not doing RAID in a mac mini.. unless you're talking about the server model... does that have raid?
 
C

CrudeDiatribe

Member
kidko said:
not really the same thing as you're not doing RAID in a mac mini.. unless you're talking about the server model... does that have raid?
Click to expand...

It can easily have software RAID if put a pair of disks in it, or hardware RAID in a Thunderbolt enclosure. Doing this and you're soon up to many many many more shekels than the Synology boxes, though.

I'd just as likely to roll my own in used PC hardware running Ubuntu server as buy something. Depends on what my timeline/budget requirements were. Quite happy to have everything on my Mac Pro right now.
 
EviLore

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Thumbs up on my Haswell Air. Great performance all-around and battery life that feels like a smartphone: plug it in at the end of the day when you're back home unless you're doing heavy crunching. No need to keep the power brick in your bag (unless you have multi-stage air travel to do). That aspect alone presents considerable weight savings.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
jts said:
That sounds great but personally I'm a fan of the Mac mini for all that stuff and more as it also doubles as a computing/gaming/media device if needed. Any downside?
Click to expand...
I have a 2010 mini I use for this reason. It does my CCC backups, stores all my media, Hazel+DropBox-based Torrenting, I use it to watch videos and media when at my desk, it has AirFoil installed so I can use it for playing my music via AirPlay and it has my family Minecraft server.

I have streaming server apps installed so I can stream all this said media to my iPhone or iPad from anywhere in the world.

Edit: Hey, so if anyone is interested, NewEgg just launched a new website with daily deals. One of todays is a refurbished 17" MacBook Pro for $1,299. You know, if you're one of those people who still wants the no longer made 17".
http://www.neweggflash.com/Product/N82E16834100273
 
T

TUSR

Banned
EviLore said:
Thumbs up on my Haswell Air. Great performance all-around and battery life that feels like a smartphone: plug it in at the end of the day when you're back home unless you're doing heavy crunching. No need to keep the power brick in your bag (unless you have multi-stage air travel to do). That aspect alone presents considerable weight savings.
Click to expand...

Thats great, im probably going to pick up the Broadwell MBA when those hit in ~2 years or so. Normal use, how much battery life are you getting?
 
EviLore

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
TUSR said:
Thats great, im probably going to pick up the Broadwell MBA when those hit in ~2 years or so. Normal use, how much battery life are you getting?
Click to expand...

5 on heavy crunching, 7-8 on full brightness multitasking productivity, 10-11 with light web on chrome.
 
A

Autumn Wind

Member
TUSR said:
Thats great, I'm probably going to pick up the Broadwell MBA when those hit in ~2 years or so. Normal use, how much battery life are you getting?
Click to expand...

If Apple continues the current path they are on, the Broadwell MBA should be out probably next fall (would be the summer if Intel didn't have the slight delay though you don't want launch problems as with Sandy Bridge) because the update is including the U, Y, and H processor lines.

Y - Extreme low-power (right now in Haswell that is one i3 and one i5)
U - Low power (includes HD 4400, HD 5000, and HD 5100)
H - BGA1364 packaging (right now known as the processors for Iris Pro)

Good to know that you like your Haswell MBA EviLore as I keep reading about problems has had with them.
 
G

Giggzy

Member
The Real Abed said:
Maxing out the RAM and putting in an SSD literally makes it feel like a new machine. My 2010 Pro had this done and it works amazingly even now a few months after its AppleCare expired. Get the best SSD you can afford and would be comfortable with. (A 512GB SSD will be expensive if you want to match your 500GB HDD so go with 256GB if you need to.)

RAM will help immensely too. But with an SSD, paging out won't be a big slowdown anymore, but still having more RAM will help keep down the wear on the SSD.

Also make sure you have AppleCare so if anything does happen during those 3 years you'll be safe.
Click to expand...

An update on the trade: The guy also has a mid 2011 13inch Macbook air with i7 cpu, 256gb ssd, and 4gb of ram. Also in flawless condition. Here's the kicker between the two, the air has apple care until 2015, the pro does not have it at all. As far as I know, apple care can't be added past a year of purchase so I'm out of luck there. Which one is the better deal?

I'm leaning towards the air because of apple care, but the soldered 4gb of ram leaves me a little wary about the future of its speed. I don't do any video or photo editing though.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Giggzy said:
An update on the trade: The guy also has a mid 2011 13inch Macbook air with i7 cpu, 256gb ssd, and 4gb of ram. Also in flawless condition. Here's the kicker between the two, the air has apple care until 2015, the pro does not have it at all. As far as I know, apple care can't be added past a year of purchase so I'm out of luck there. Which one is the better deal?

I'm leaning towards the air because of apple care, but the soldered 4gb of ram leaves me a little wary about the future of its speed. I don't do any video or photo editing though.
Click to expand...
4 should be fine if you're not going to be running so many huge apps at once. I'd definitely go with the Air just for the AC unless you really need that extra RAM. I had a 2011 Air with 4GB and it works fine for my brother now.
 
M

muddream

Banned
Giggzy said:
An update on the trade: The guy also has a mid 2011 13inch Macbook air with i7 cpu, 256gb ssd, and 4gb of ram. Also in flawless condition. Here's the kicker between the two, the air has apple care until 2015, the pro does not have it at all. As far as I know, apple care can't be added past a year of purchase so I'm out of luck there. Which one is the better deal?

I'm leaning towards the air because of apple care, but the soldered 4gb of ram leaves me a little wary about the future of its speed. I don't do any video or photo editing though.
Click to expand...

Air, even the current high-end model is sold with 4 gigs. It's a significantly better deal, even without the AC.
 
S

Sourcerer

Member
A quick question if anyone would be so kind. I just bought a 13" MacBook Air (Very excited, arrives on Wednesday). Does anyone know of a reliable place online in the UK to buy AppleCare for it?

I avoided getting it directly from Apple because I can probably get it cheaper elsewhere, but I'm not really convinced buy these dodgy looking eBay and Amazon seller listing. If direct from Apple is the best choice though I'll just bite the bullet.
 
T

TUSR

Banned
Sourcerer said:
A quick question if anyone would be so kind. I just bought a 13" MacBook Air (Very excited, arrives on Wednesday). Does anyone know of a reliable place online in the UK to buy AppleCare for it?

I avoided getting it directly from Apple because I can probably get it cheaper elsewhere, but I'm not really convinced buy these dodgy looking eBay and Amazon seller listing. If direct from Apple is the best choice though I'll just bite the bullet.
Click to expand...
Student discount Apple
 
C

caramac

Member
Got the Shakes said:
I just got a Synology 2 bay NAS (the DS213j), and I love it. There is an almost overwhelming amount of things you can do with it.
Click to expand...

I'm seriously thinking of going for one of these, do you happen to know if the drives have to be identical?

I would buy a new 2TB drive to go with it but I also have a 200gb drive doing nothing which I might also like to use.
 
G

Got the Shakes

Member
CaramaC said:
I'm seriously thinking of going for one of these, do you happen to know if the drives have to be identical?

I would buy a new 2TB drive to go with it but I also have a 200gb drive doing nothing which I might also like to use.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure that you can use 2 different drives and be fine. In fact, right now I only have 1 3TB drive in mine since I waiting to spend the money on a 2nd one, and it works perfectly fine.
 
C

caramac

Member
Got the Shakes said:
Pretty sure that you can use 2 different drives and be fine. In fact, right now I only have 1 3TB drive in mine since I waiting to spend the money on a 2nd one, and it works perfectly fine.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I hope this is the case.

I know 200GB isn't a lot these days but I could find a use for it.
 
C

caramac

Member
G

Got the Shakes

Member
CaramaC said:
Yeah thanks for that, its a Seagate drive I have but its not on that list being a few years old now.
No big thing if its not compatible, I still plan on buying the 2 bay enclosure for a second drive in the future.
Click to expand...

No problem. I've only had mine for a few weeks, so I don't have any experience with trying a drive that isn't on the compatible list. I can tell you that I love it so far, and think it's well worth the money.
 
T

TUSR

Banned
Bob Mansfield has been confirmed to be working on just silicon now with his reduced role. Which further supports Apple moving away from Intel chips rumor.
 
P

polyh3dron

Banned
TUSR said:
Bob Mansfield has been confirmed to be working on just silicon now with his reduced role. Which further supports Apple moving away from Intel chips rumor.
Click to expand...
I really hope this doesn't happen. Right now my rMBP doubles as basically a Steambox when I'm at home and runs Windows games quite well. I'd hate to not be able to do that with future MBPs with the rumors of abandoning discrete GPUs and this.
 
N

numble

Member
TUSR said:
Bob Mansfield has been confirmed to be working on just silicon now with his reduced role. Which further supports Apple moving away from Intel chips rumor.
Click to expand...
All their recent hires and purchases have been in biometric sensors and super low energy semiconductors. I think he's hunkering down on the wrist device.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
numble said:
All their recent hires and purchases have been in biometric sensors and super low energy semiconductors. I think he's hunkering down on the wrist device.
Click to expand...

I just don't see the point of one. I don't have a watch except for formal occasions, and if I want to do something with my phone I pull out my phone. There doesn't seem to be a problem anyone is solving with a smart watch.
 
W

WonkyPanda

Member
If you guys had to choose 2 of 3 for the new 13" air

256ssd, 8gb ram, 1.7 i7.


I have a dedicated desktop at home and the air will be my travel buddy, essentially.
 
F

Flek

Banned
WonkyPanda said:
If you guys had to choose 2 of 3 for the new 13" air

256ssd, 8gb ram, 1.7 i7.


I have a dedicated desktop at home and the air will be my travel buddy, essentially.
Click to expand...

2 of 3 ?

easy the ssd and the ram. No need for an i7 when this is your 2 computer.
 
T

tsumineko

Member
WonkyPanda said:
If you guys had to choose 2 of 3 for the new 13" air

256ssd, 8gb ram, 1.7 i7.


I have a dedicated desktop at home and the air will be my travel buddy, essentially.
Click to expand...

Ram + i7. Both will increase the speed (thus the lifespan) of the laptop, increasing the HDD space will not.

Plus if you need more storage space you can always use a USB drive or SD card, the other two are not upgradable later on.
 
W

WonkyPanda

Member
tsumineko said:
By how much?
Click to expand...

Anandtech had a good writeup on that Article

The gap between the i5 and i7 grows to its largest point in our heaviest workload, which makes sense. Here there's around an 18% reduction, or almost a full hour of battery life (52 minutes). If you ran both processors at full tilt nonstop (think looped Cinebench until both batteries die) you'd probably see an even larger gap. In this case I think the differences here are pretty reasonable expectations for most target usage models of the MacBook Air.
Click to expand...
 
M

muddream

Banned
Intel's in the strongest position out of all the chipmakers (has it's own foundries, which happen to be the best, best engineers, market cap, brand recognition, etc.). We're already getting tablet-like battery life on the MBAs and that's only going to improve with Broadwell and so on. Even if you could build some weird 32 core ARM chip at a slightly lower price, it's just not worth starting a new desktop ecosystem from scratch.

ARM Macs are about as likely as x86 iPhones, it's a particularly stupid clickbait applerumor.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
muddream said:
Intel's in the strongest position out of all the chipmakers (has it's own foundries, which happen to be the best, best engineers, market cap, brand recognition, etc.). We're already getting tablet-like battery life on the MBAs and that's only going to improve with Broadwell and so on. Even if you could build some weird 32 core ARM chip at a slightly lower price, it's just not worth starting a new desktop ecosystem from scratch.

ARM Macs are about as likely as x86 iPhones, it's a particularly stupid clickbait applerumor.
Click to expand...
Yeah. We're not in a PPC position here. Motorola failed to deliver the power Apple promised for years. Intel just keeps getting better and better. Switching would be really stupid. Especially for people who like to install Windows. Apple's in the best position they could be in. The cons outweigh any pros. It's in Apple's best interest to remain Intel.
 
B

Blackhead

Redarse
EviLore said:
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/17/4436332/macbook-air-review-13-inch-2013
13 hours and 29 minutes. That’s all you really need to know — that’s how long the new MacBook Air running Safari lasted running The Verge Battery Test, which cycles through a series of websites and images at 65 percent brightness.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

EviLore said:
5 on heavy crunching, 7-8 on full brightness multitasking productivity, 10-11 with light web on chrome.
Click to expand...

Huh huge difference between battery life on Chrome and Safari. I wonder what browser The Verge uses for their reviews of Windows devices? I'd prefer Firefox to be the cross-platform test as that's still my main browser...
CrudeDiatribe said:
It can easily have software RAID if put a pair of disks in it, or hardware RAID in a Thunderbolt enclosure. Doing this and you're soon up to many many many more shekels than the Synology boxes, though.

I'd just as likely to roll my own in used PC hardware running Ubuntu server as buy something. Depends on what my timeline/budget requirements were. Quite happy to have everything on my Mac Pro right now.
Click to expand...

I have a Synology NAS but would much rather have use it solely as a backup unit and have a Mac Pro set up as a Fusion Drive via expandable internal storage. I'm so disappointed that Apple dropped the ball with the new Mac Pros.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Greyface said:
Huh huge difference between battery life on Chrome and Safari. I wonder what browser The Verge uses for their reviews of Windows devices? I'd prefer Firefox to be the cross-platform test as that's still my main browser...


I have a Synology NAS but would much rather have use it solely as a backup unit and have a Mac Pro set up as a Fusion Drive via expandable internal storage. I'm so disappointed that Apple dropped the ball with the new Mac Pros.
Click to expand...

Dropped the ball in what way?
 
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