I've got an M1 Macbook Pro. Gotta say it's 100% improved from the previous generation.
Before this I had a butterfly keyboard touchbar Mac. The first laptop I ever got that wasn't as good as the computer it replaced. I'd had an early Retina Macbook that was the bee's knees. I loved it. Sadly 5 years on the road murdered the logic board. 16GB RAM, 10 cores, so not so great for VM support but I've got a VM farm with 96 cores and 2TB of RAM for that... -Curt On Monday, September 18, 2023 at 05:09:14 PM EDT, Jim Cathey via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: The M1/M2 Apples look intriguing, but they really don't have enough memory for (some of) what I do. With 12 cores and 48GB of RAM in the MP I can simulate an entire Park at once, should I need to. I can probably run 6-10 simultaneous VMs, which is more than enough. Need even more VMs? Well, the MP can hold maybe 96GB of RAM if I need it to. I doubt I ever shall. Also, I need Intel Windows, because that's what the Park is using. You can't do this via VM cross-architecture, not at this time. And it's best if I'm running Intel Linux, since that is what the Park is using. I can (and do) upload binaries I've tested at home directly to the Park. So, Intel host hardware, no choice. For _personal_ use an M1/M2 Mac would be just dandy, but I've already got these MP, MBP and Mini Intel assets, and backups for same. No need to waste money, or have to carry more crap around. The next Mac I buy could well be M1/M2, but who knows when that might be? We have four 30" Cinema displays here: one for each resident, with one in reserve. They are very nice displays! Well worth preserving. Mine is hooked to a 4-port KVM, and four source computers. I have three OWC docks for my MBP, one in each of its stationary locations. Keyboards, displays, and mice also. On the road I make do with the bare laptop, but that's not very satisfactory, and drove the dock installations for the places I was most likely to go. I don't have a spare MBP, but am using a mini as a backup for it. It's fairly portable, to the dock-bearing locations (home, camper, cabin) anyway, and vastly cheaper than a laptop. So long as VMware (that runs on my MP) can run the latest Linux I have access to 'current' browsers, and needn't be driven off of this hardware. We're using 20.04 and 22.04 Ubuntu currently. Part of my job is being on call, which means I need to be fairly close in time to providing useful technical support. (Translation: newly-fixed software.) So, defense in depth is fully warranted. -- Jim > On Sep 18, 2023, at 1:14 PM, dan penoff.com via Mercedes > <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > Jim and others, > > I just recently migrated to a Mac Mini M2 as a replacement for my 2010 Mac > Pro “cheesegrater” with 128GB RAM, dual 3.5 GHz processors, multiple drives, > etc., etc. > > I was forced to move up to a platform that would support later versions of > web browsers so I could work from home. As Jim probably knows, there is an > “emulator” for lack of a better description, known as “OpenCore”, that would > allow me to run current Mac OS’ on my cheesegraters (I have a total of 4, but > only two were in service.) However, while these appear to work just fine, I > found there to be stability issues with some applications. Not good for a > work computer. > > Even with my M2 Mini I have an external spindle drive (6TB WD Gold enterprise > class) that my TimeMachine backups are stored on. It used to “live” in the > Mac Pro. The Mini has a 512 GB SSD which will die long before the spindle > drive will, I’m betting (and yes, I got AppleCare!) > > This is an aside for Jim and any other legacy Macs: > > I wanted to keep my 30” Cinema Displays, which are DVI+ interface. I found > some Thunderbolt to DVI+ adapters on Amazon for about $65/each, and they work > quite well. The only issue is that the Mini only has two USB C/Thunderbolt > ports. I bought an OWC external drive enclosure/hub that gives me additional > ports and a place for my 6TB TimeMachine spindle drive along with a 2TB SSD > for good measure. I use the SSD for storing pictures, music, and documents to > unload storage from the boot SSD on the Mini. These are also backed up to the > TimeMachine spindle drive. > > All in all, the transition was quite simple and has worked well. What’s even > better is that I can put the Mini and the external drive/hub in my backpack > and take them when I travel, making moving between locations a lot easier! _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
