Ye Macce Threade

[Knuckledragger]

My 2015 MBP is continuing to have two major issues: (1) it can't keep the battery charged when using taxing applications (like Traktor) and (B) kernel_task consumes 500-2000+ % CPU when I do something silly like run Flash.  k_t doesn't cut it the fuck out even when I exit Chrome.  I did some googling and apparently it's an issue related to the failure of thermal sensors.  I've just gotten off the phone with AppleCare and I've got an appointment at the nearest Apple Store (still an hour away) on Monday.

This most likely means there will be no Test Tone next week, but I can't say for sure.

[ironbut]

Does it seem like problems with NI products or is it whenever you have an external controller connected when you have the battery problems?

What Os are you running and did your problems seem to start after upgrading the Os?

Have you tried resetting the SMC/PRAM/NVRAM ? 

Are you using a host or running these apps in standalone?

Tried uninstalling (completely) and reinstalling the problem apps? If these problems are in fact with NI apps, you should check Native Instruments website for instructions on uninstalling.

Reinstall the Os.

Do a clean install of your system.

Oops, should have said, back up before you start to dig in (I always load any current projects on a separate drive so I can get those up and running quickly).

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by ironbut

[Knuckledragger]

I did reset the PRAM and the SMC.  Traktor is the main culprit, but it's hardly the only one.  I sometimes play an idle/incremental game called Crusaders of the Lost Idols.  It's a 2D game, but it's fantastically unoptimized.  It will happily chew up 100-200% CPU.  When I run it on the Macintop, the machine will fail to keep its battery charged as well.  

I have not done a clean OS install.  That's the one thing I've thought of but have not tried.  Reinstalling MacOS is comparatively trivial vs Windows (kill me now) but it would still leave me with sufficient down time that I'm not doing before my radio show.  I might try it this weekend, but seeing as I'm headed to the Apple Store anyway, I just as likely might not.

...and yes, I back up the everything.

[ironbut]

Hopefully the Apple guys will be able to get to the root of the problem and get you up and running properly.

I've had Komplete Ultimate since 9(?) and I've had plenty of issues with their software (but I love their software). 

I've been lucky since I've been able to solve most issues by uninstalling/installing. Their apps have bits in lots of locations which is the reason for their problems IMHO.

Not saying that it's likely the problem but it's always a possible.

Good luck.

[Knuckledragger]

Got the machine back yesterday.  It took nearly 13 hours to restore my data from the Time Machine backup.  I'm slowly getting apps up and running.  Oddly, Traktor didn't want to re-registers.  Less fortunately, Nord VPN doesn't work at ALL now.  The client flat out refuses to log in.  I'm going to investigate that further tonight.

Weirdly, I spent longer in the Apple Store picking up my laptop than I spent dropping it off.  I did have some time to peruse the peripherals they sold.  The thing that impressed me most was this thing:

CalDigit TS2 Plus.  It's over $300 on AMZN, but only $250 in the Apple Store.  It powers the laptop and provides a really thorough hub, via one connector.  I don't even have a USBC equipped machine, and I kind of want one.  

[ironbut]

Did they turn on File Vault by any chance?

[ironbut]

Thanks for the heads up on the TS2 Plus Apple pricing!

With my AES discount, it comes down to $225 us.

When I first read your post, I didn't think I was going to need a thunderbolt 3 device but unfortunately, the monitor that I use with my 2012 cheesegrater took a turn for the worse. 

That and the release of the new mac pro  (conceding that it is way more machine than I need)  I put in an order for a i9 iMac 5k, a 4 bay ssd enclosure and 64G of ram from OWC (I was hoping to wait till spring or black friday but oh well).

Since I'm going to be using all ssd's in my rig, the last HD (contains my home folder) is going to be replaced by a Crucial mx500 drive. It's only $239 for 2T!

It wasn't that long ago that I paid twice that for the 2 Samsung 850 2T drives I use for samples. 

M.2 won't be too far behind since the price on those is dropping pretty fast so I'm going cheap for now.

I can't see needing much more speed past sata lll but I wouldn't refuse it.

[Knuckledragger]

 

[Knuckledragger]

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Want.

 

[HiWire]

I was listening to music from my 2011 MacBook (from my Alessandro MS-1 out of the headphone jack – RIP mini Toslink) – I turned the volume up one click (to 4 out of 16) on a short pop music track and it nearly fried my ears (ow ow ow). Don't underestimate the volume level coming out of modern pop music – going to give my ears a headphone break until tomorrow. ?

I think I'll turn the iTunes volume down to 1/2 to reduce loudness with headphones from now on. There are some huge jumps between volume levels on the Grados. I was lulled into complacency after I listened to Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations (Zenph).

Edited June 26, 2019 by HiWire

[TMoney]

A friend sent me this video this morning:

What a blast from the past. I wish Jony well in his future endeavors. 

More fun old videos here: https://www.fastcompany.com/90370763/this-1999-apple-video-shows-jony-ive-in-the-process-of-becoming-jony-ive

[Grahame]

Maybe Things weren't all sweetness and light with Sir Ive

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/07/01/jony-ive-dispirited-before-leaving-apple/

(re: comments. Creatives vs bean-counters tension, I'm Shocked, Shocked!)

Maybe Apple should get round to updating the website ...

https://www.apple.com/leadership/jonathan-ive/

EDIT: also https://daringfireball.net/2019/06/jony_ive_leaves_apple

 

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by Grahame

[ironbut]

Got my new i9 iMac installed, up and running.

8 core i9 processor with Radian Pro Vega 48, 512 ssd, 64 G ram (2 sticks so I can go up to 128 if I go crazy).

My external drives are in a Blackmagic Multidock 2 (thunderbolt 2).

A Caldigit TS2 for an extra Ethernet connection for my Metric Halo interface plus some of my numerous USB thingys.

The clean install went pretty smoothly and I've got it down to just a few days of hell.

So far the Logic Pro X benchmarks I've run show that it'll run twice as many virtual instrument tracks (122 vs 58) compared to my old girl (2012 Mac Pro 6 core).

Running nice and cool (I only heard the fan once during some installs and it was barely audible).

I absolutely love the 5k 27 inch but I've been using a dying 24 inch, old Asus ProArt for freakin ever!

 

 

 

[Knuckledragger]

Me 10 years ago: "The thing I miss most from Windows is Foobar2000.  I wish there was a decent equivalent."

Me right now [after using FB2K for the few days my Macintop was in the shop): "I still miss foobar, I wonder what's the best equivalent these days"

Foobar devs: I gotchu fam.

In the parlance of our times, oh snizzle.  Testing it out now.

 

[Torpedo]

I tried it long ago. A far cry from the F2K in Windows [emoji17]

[Dusty Chalk]

7 hours ago, Torpedo said:

I tried it long ago. A far cry from the F2K in Windows

Yeah, this.  But still FLAC on Mac, so it’s my solution of choice.

[n_maher]

Considering that I'm likely to replace my aging, 4GB RAM Air next year this article was of particular interest to me.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-will-ditch-macbook-butterfly-keyboard/

[Knuckledragger]

I'm afraid Torpedo is mostly right.  FB2K/Mac plays back FLACs and has ReplayGain (two features I require), but it lacks any support for last.fm or libre.fm.  I wish the latter was slightly less FLOSSy after nearly a decade.  >.<

[Dusty Chalk]

2 hours ago, n_maher said:

Considering that I'm likely to replace my aging, 4GB RAM Air next year this article was of particular interest to me.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-will-ditch-macbook-butterfly-keyboard/

Interesting.  My sister is so happy with her 2014 Air, she hardly uses her MacBook (non-Air, non-Pro).  I was so impressed with it the one time she let me use it, I was tempted to get one, myself, but I’m pretty hard on keyboards...perhaps I shouldn’t?

[n_maher]

14 hours ago, Dusty Chalk said:

Interesting.  My sister is so happy with her 2014 Air, she hardly uses her MacBook (non-Air, non-Pro).  I was so impressed with it the one time she let me use it, I was tempted to get one, myself, but I’m pretty hard on keyboards...perhaps I shouldn’t?

Mine is a 2015 and I'm very happy with it.  I do feel like it struggles a bit due to lack of RAM sometimes, but it's mostly the onboard storage limitations (128GB) that have started to creep in more often.  But I also think the issues with the current keyboards are probably overblown. I've got two coworkers who just bought different versions of the butterfly keyboard (12" Macbook, 2018 Air) so it'll be interesting to see if either has issues.  

[strid3r]

Disclaimer: I'm in IT and my workplace is nearly all Apple/Macs. The butterfly keyboards are a bit love/hate and definitely not as robust as the pre-Touchbar keyboards. Issues/considerations for the Touchbar machines include:

• failure of individual keys due to dust/dirt getting underneath. In my experience, it's fixable 90-95% of the time with canned air, the other times, you have to send it in. Also, when Apple has official documentation on it, you know it's an issue.
• the early butterfly keyboards are almost as loud as some of the click-y mechanical keyboards. Some people don't mind, but I've had users tell me they get looks in cafes and coffee shops.
• include dongle and adapters in your budget, because all the ports are USB-C.
• more fragile design: the space tolerances in the Touchbar machines are smaller and thus more prone to fatal/major damage if dropped or struck. We've had a handful of users get cracked screens from being jostled around in their backpacks, so this might be an important consideration if you are rough with your machine or need something more rugged.

I'll be pretty happy to see them ditch the butterfly design myself. I also wouldn't mind if they made the chassis a little larger to allow for better cooling and general overall ruggedness instead of chasing the smaller-every-revision goal.

Edited July 5, 2019 by strid3r

[Knuckledragger]

Oof.  Had a death in the family today.  My 2011 MacBook Pro went kaput last night (right in the middle of me watching an episode of Magnum PI.  The 2011's video card failed a good many years ago (that series has notoriously bad graphics boards that all fail) and I got it repaired under AppleCare.  The machine is now obviously no longer covered by AppleCare.  Sometime in 2016 the keyboard failed on it, and I took that opportunity to buy a 2015 new old stock Macintop.  Since then, the 2011 has been my "TV station," serving as a video and streaming media playback device.  

There is no good time to be in the market for a new Mac, but after some thought I think I'm going to shop for a 2014 Mini.  It's got decent specs (depending on the specific model) and (much more importantly) it has REAL PORTS.  HMDI, USB, optical out (? not sure if the 1/8" audio has optical as well) etc.  There are a lot of places to buy used/refurb'd Minis.  OWC sells ones they refurbish at what I perceive to be considerable markup.  There's also Amazon's marketplace and eBay.  I don't need a screaming fast one nor do I need a massive amount of storage (all my video files are on a network drive.)  What I suspect I'll want is as much RAM as possible.  MacOS is never not hungry for memory.  There are some 2014s that have as little as 4GB memory.  Ew.

Any HCers have suggestions about what I should look for/avoid?  I know the Mini is mighty popular around here, for good reason.  It makes a great "home theater PC."

[Pars]

Mini's are fairly easy to put drives and memory in, so don't pay a premium for any of that shit. IFixIt has a decent dual drive kit for the mini (to put an SSD and the internal HD in it), or just get an SSD for it. I have the stock 1TB HDD and a 500G Samsung Evo 850 SSD in my 2011 i7 Mini. Initially I had problems with the order I had put the drives in (HDD rattling or something, senior moment... can't remember exactly what the problem was) and had to rip it apart to swap them which ended the problem. On the 2011, 16GB is the max ram, and is what I have in mine. Very easy to change out ram in these.

[HiWire]

If you have the budget, I'd look at a refurb 2018 Mac Mini. The RAM is user-upgradeable and you can even hook up an eGPU. The 2014 was handy for a while, but the 2018 is more future-proof (in terms of macOS compatibility cutoffs) with a lot more CPU power, a little more GPU, and the refurbs aren't much more expensive than the 2014, depending on your config.

The 2014 Mini should have optical audio out of its headphone jack, unlike the new one.

Minis make great always-on boxes, whether you're using them for TV or more general server duties. I can't say the same for iMacs or MacBooks – they aren't designed to be left on all the time.

Edited July 29, 2019 by HiWire