Ask HN: What do I do now that Apple Macs suck? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What do I do now that Apple Macs suck?

9 pointssghiassy8 comments

Hi,

First, let me say that I'm a lifelong Apple fanboi. I had an Apple II near my bunk bed growing up. I went through the Clone wars of the 90s and was always a loyal Mac User. I was using OS 9 when everyone else was on Windows XP.

I say with the deepest sadness that the current Mac lineup doesn't fit my needs anymore. I have 6 monitors and I'm unapologetic about it - yup I just like a lot of monitors - now let it go.

I can either buy a MacPro trash can that hasn't been upgraded in 3.5 years and that is a shining example of Apple embarrassment on my desk. Or I can buy some unnecessarily thin MacBook Pro that has nothing "pro" about it.

What do I do??

I'm not willing to give up on OSX yet. I use the CLI extensively but don't want Linux and Windows is incompatible to my software development workflow.

I've built my own Hackintoshes in the past but as my Mac is my source of income and salary - I couldn't put up with the downtime that came with OSX upgrades every month (which is necessary to keep up with what Xcode mandates)

Is there any off the shelf x86 laptop/desktop that just works with OSX?

Please help HN... you're my only hope

-- Typed with my thumbs on my phone. Please excuse any terrible grammar

Using one of the guides[1], I believe they have recommended parts lists, but you'll probably need a different audio card, or usb audio, if that isn't huge to you. Network support is another issue... only upgrade your OS and primary apps once a year, and plan ahead for it.

I'm probably just going to jump ship and go back to Windows or Linux for my next laptop... I'm running a 2014 rMBP for my laptop, I also have a windows desktop and a linux htpc. I find windows isn't so bad, when you install git for windows, you get most of the linux tools you're used to and even get a decent bash shell.

Don't bother with the linux subsystem for windows at this point, or the windows native docker... stick to the docker that uses linux containers if you're into that. I've also found that running a linux VM with samba shares and a couple ssh shells works nicely.. I can edit in windows, run in linux, and it just works.

If you're doing mac specific things that won't help, but the part guide should be an okay starting point... you won't get absolutely new hardware, but shouldn't be too horrible. As to the screens.. have you considered dual 4k displays?

[1] https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersguide/october/2016/

If you have to work with MacOS you have to stick with Apple hardware even if you think it sucks. Maybe you should slowly steer your business to a more vendor neutral workflow and finally jump ship when you are comfortable with it. For example you might start using tools that are available also on Linux and Windows. I switched from Windows to Linux 7 years ago when I was using only open source cross platform tools and I was developing for Linux servers anyway.

Microsoft seems to be doing an amazing job of being comtabile with Linux CLI lately, but it seems like they are still years away from parity.

I make iOS apps, so migrating away is gonna be hard

In that case the best you can do is keep a Mac for coding and building those iOS apps and buy another laptop for everything else you do, if you don't only do apps. Move everything off the Mac so that it won't be your primary platform or you'll still be locked into Apple.

Years ago I was about to have to do some iOS app for a customer and I was considering buying a Mac Mini especially for that project. But I would have kept everything else on my Ubuntu laptop from HP. The Mac would have been on only to code the apps. Then I found somebody else to do those apps for me and I saved a lot of money.

I feel the same way. I have been waiting out for Apple to wake from their slumber and release something professional. As much as I hate to accept this, Apple has given up on us. It is time to say our goodbyes and move on.

On a more positive note the new Microsoft Surface Book looks rather nice.

Build a hackintosh, should be able to find ideal parts on the internet quite easy there are tons of guides. I do suggest you to make the move to windows though, slowly if you can.

Thanks for the response. I ran a Hackintosh for 2 years. It was a pain. I ended up selling it off on EBay

How many screens can you connect using USB Type-C?

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