• Re: Things I Don't Need Today

    From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Tue Mar 5 15:37:08 2024
    On 3/5/2024 3:31 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    PC's broke. The big one. I was - fortunately - able to salvage the
    data (includingly, most importantly, my Usenet archive, but also less essential stuff like work-files and email ;-) but I'm back to the
    older PC for the nonce until I fix my main.

    Not sure what's going on with it, though. I rebooted and it got stuck
    on a blackscreen. All following reboots either hung, BSOD'd before it
    reached the desktop, or dumped me into the 'recovery environment'. My
    initial guess was bad RAM, but all the tests show no problem. I've
    yanked the HDD, peripherals, even the GPU*.. no change.

    I'd suspect the PSU, except the power rails all show stable. I'm not
    seeing abnormal temperatures on the CPU. The fans are all doing
    they're thing. The PC will run code - it actually boots Linux from a
    LiveCD with no problem - but any attempt to run Windows - whether from
    the HDD, from a USB stick, or a WinPE DVD - and it hangs. It doesn't
    like Windows 11**. It's a different BSOD everytime too (which sounds
    like a RAM issue, except the RAM passes all its tests).

    I'll try more diagnostics later but I'm running out of ideas. It has
    to be either the motherboard, CPU, RAM, or PSU, and unfortunately I
    don't have any replacements at hand to swap in for testing. I'm
    hesitant to buy a replacement until I have some idea what the problem
    is.


    Not really the way I wanted this day to go...







    * the motherboard has built-in onboard video
    ** I can relate ;-)

    Given what you describe sounds like the Win11 install possibly got
    corrupted. Have you tried re-formatting the HDD and reinstalling the OS?


    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ant@21:1/5 to Dimensional Traveler on Tue Mar 5 23:49:12 2024
    Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
    On 3/5/2024 3:31 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    PC's broke. The big one. I was - fortunately - able to salvage the
    data (includingly, most importantly, my Usenet archive, but also less essential stuff like work-files and email ;-) but I'm back to the
    older PC for the nonce until I fix my main.

    Not sure what's going on with it, though. I rebooted and it got stuck
    on a blackscreen. All following reboots either hung, BSOD'd before it reached the desktop, or dumped me into the 'recovery environment'. My initial guess was bad RAM, but all the tests show no problem. I've
    yanked the HDD, peripherals, even the GPU*.. no change.

    I'd suspect the PSU, except the power rails all show stable. I'm not
    seeing abnormal temperatures on the CPU. The fans are all doing
    they're thing. The PC will run code - it actually boots Linux from a
    LiveCD with no problem - but any attempt to run Windows - whether from
    the HDD, from a USB stick, or a WinPE DVD - and it hangs. It doesn't
    like Windows 11**. It's a different BSOD everytime too (which sounds
    like a RAM issue, except the RAM passes all its tests).

    I'll try more diagnostics later but I'm running out of ideas. It has
    to be either the motherboard, CPU, RAM, or PSU, and unfortunately I
    don't have any replacements at hand to swap in for testing. I'm
    hesitant to buy a replacement until I have some idea what the problem
    is.


    Not really the way I wanted this day to go...







    * the motherboard has built-in onboard video
    ** I can relate ;-)

    Given what you describe sounds like the Win11 install possibly got
    corrupted. Have you tried re-formatting the HDD and reinstalling the OS?

    Try it on another drive with a new OS (Windows, Linux, etc.). You can install or use a live bootable media.
    --
    "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." --Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust no one" except God!
    Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
    /\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
    / /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
    | |o o| |
    \ _ /
    ( )

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to spallshurgenson@gmail.com on Wed Mar 6 09:52:32 2024
    On Tue, 05 Mar 2024 18:31:28 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

    Not really the way I wanted this day to go...

    Yeah, I understand that. My computer not working is the equivalent of
    my car not starting in the morning. Ugh.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Wed Mar 6 11:06:10 2024
    On 3/6/2024 7:33 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Tue, 5 Mar 2024 15:37:08 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
    <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
    On 3/5/2024 3:31 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    PC's broke.

    Given what you describe sounds like the Win11 install possibly got
    corrupted. Have you tried re-formatting the HDD and reinstalling the OS?

    That was my first guess. Windows hosing itself isn't quite as common
    as it used to be, but it's still an overly complicated system
    (especially given its dependence on the registry).

    But given that I've pulled the HDDs and the problem still persists, I
    think I can rule that one out.

    I assume you tried pulling the memory out that you put in?

    --
    -Justisaur

    ø-ø
    (\_/)\
    `-'\ `--.___,
    ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
    \\
    ^'

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ant@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Wed Mar 6 20:03:03 2024
    Which memory tester did you use? memtest86? memtest86+? Heavy stress tests?


    Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
    PC's broke. The big one. I was - fortunately - able to salvage the
    data (includingly, most importantly, my Usenet archive, but also less essential stuff like work-files and email ;-) but I'm back to the
    older PC for the nonce until I fix my main.

    Not sure what's going on with it, though. I rebooted and it got stuck
    on a blackscreen. All following reboots either hung, BSOD'd before it
    reached the desktop, or dumped me into the 'recovery environment'. My
    initial guess was bad RAM, but all the tests show no problem. I've
    yanked the HDD, peripherals, even the GPU*.. no change.

    I'd suspect the PSU, except the power rails all show stable. I'm not
    seeing abnormal temperatures on the CPU. The fans are all doing
    they're thing. The PC will run code - it actually boots Linux from a
    LiveCD with no problem - but any attempt to run Windows - whether from
    the HDD, from a USB stick, or a WinPE DVD - and it hangs. It doesn't
    like Windows 11**. It's a different BSOD everytime too (which sounds
    like a RAM issue, except the RAM passes all its tests).

    I'll try more diagnostics later but I'm running out of ideas. It has
    to be either the motherboard, CPU, RAM, or PSU, and unfortunately I
    don't have any replacements at hand to swap in for testing. I'm
    hesitant to buy a replacement until I have some idea what the problem
    is.


    Not really the way I wanted this day to go...







    * the motherboard has built-in onboard video
    ** I can relate ;-)



    --
    "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." --Genesis 3:6. Bad Eve! Tues.
    got little a slammy thanks to iOS v17.4.
    Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
    /\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
    / /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
    | |o o| |
    \ _ /
    ( )

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Anssi Saari@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Thu Mar 7 12:15:55 2024
    Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

    I'll try more diagnostics later but I'm running out of ideas. It has
    to be either the motherboard, CPU, RAM, or PSU, and unfortunately I
    don't have any replacements at hand to swap in for testing. I'm
    hesitant to buy a replacement until I have some idea what the problem
    is.

    Isn't that the thing? Now that PCs are kinda mature, no one has spare
    parts for anything relevant. Last time I had a PC problem, a few years
    ago, my "spare parts" were in the form of classic PCI cards! I.e.,
    completely useless for a motherboard with only PCI Express slots. Had
    some old RAM sitting around too, probably DDR2, also useless for a DDR3 motherboard.

    Sorry, no hints as to what to do. Buying cheap used HW for replacements
    and/or testing isn't necessarily a good idea either. I tried to upgrade
    my old file server to Xeon from a low end Celeron but that Xeon was
    badd. Not so bad the system wouldn't boot but otherwise... At least I
    didn't lose any data.

    OTOH, my cheap ass Haswell refresh motherboard and CPU served me well
    for two or three years. And those were shipped without even an
    antistatic bag... Well, I've learned since then that those bags have a
    shortish shelf life so it's actually fairly unreasonable to ask a random
    seller to procure a fresh motherboard sized antistatic bag.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Anssi Saari on Thu Mar 7 12:34:47 2024
    On 07/03/2024 10:15, Anssi Saari wrote:
    Isn't that the thing? Now that PCs are kinda mature, no one has spare
    parts for anything relevant. Last time I had a PC problem, a few years
    ago, my "spare parts" were in the form of classic PCI cards! I.e.,
    completely useless for a motherboard with only PCI Express slots. Had
    some old RAM sitting around too, probably DDR2, also useless for a DDR3 motherboard.

    Welcome to the world of future proof which is anything but. When I do my
    big refreshes I just know that it will be MB + RAM + CPU. Also probably
    the GPU as that still tends to be that thing that drives when I do an
    upgrade. PSU, generally ok. Storage that should be ok, at least for the
    moment as I don't see SATA going away anytime soon.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to JAB on Thu Mar 7 09:41:57 2024
    On 3/7/2024 4:34 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 07/03/2024 10:15, Anssi Saari wrote:
    Isn't that the thing? Now that PCs are kinda mature, no one has spare
    parts for anything relevant. Last time I had a PC problem, a few years
    ago, my "spare parts" were in the form of classic PCI cards! I.e.,
    completely useless for a motherboard with only PCI Express slots. Had
    some old RAM sitting around too, probably DDR2, also useless for a DDR3
    motherboard.

    Welcome to the world of future proof which is anything but. When I do my
    big refreshes I just know that it will be MB + RAM + CPU. Also probably
    the GPU as that still tends to be that thing that drives when I do an upgrade. PSU, generally ok. Storage that should be ok, at least for the moment as I don't see SATA going away anytime soon.

    I think you mean planned obsolesce.

    Also NVMe replacing SATA especially on laptops.

    --
    -Justisaur

    ø-ø
    (\_/)\
    `-'\ `--.___,
    ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
    \\
    ^'

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Mike S on Thu Mar 7 21:00:10 2024
    Mike S <Mike_S@nowhere.com> wrote at 14:52 this Wednesday (GMT):
    On Tue, 05 Mar 2024 18:31:28 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
    <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

    Not really the way I wanted this day to go...

    Yeah, I understand that. My computer not working is the equivalent of
    my car not starting in the morning. Ugh.

    Yeah, it sucks.
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Justisaur on Fri Mar 8 09:15:41 2024
    On 07/03/2024 17:41, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/7/2024 4:34 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 07/03/2024 10:15, Anssi Saari wrote:
    Isn't that the thing? Now that PCs are kinda mature, no one has spare
    parts for anything relevant. Last time I had a PC problem, a few years
    ago, my "spare parts" were in the form of classic PCI cards! I.e.,
    completely useless for a motherboard with only PCI Express slots. Had
    some old RAM sitting around too, probably DDR2, also useless for a DDR3
    motherboard.

    Welcome to the world of future proof which is anything but. When I do
    my big refreshes I just know that it will be MB + RAM + CPU. Also
    probably the GPU as that still tends to be that thing that drives when
    I do an upgrade. PSU, generally ok. Storage that should be ok, at
    least for the moment as I don't see SATA going away anytime soon.

    I think you mean planned obsolesce.


    Not sure I agree on that as I can see why for components to advance it's problematic if they are 'hamstrung' by what specification they can use.
    To me planned obsolescent is more about building things that will fail
    coupled with when they make it hard to repair them. One that has annoyed
    me though is my better half's Kindle can basically only be used to
    connect to our own router as the underlying protocols have moved on and
    the Kindle hasn't.

    Not something I'd argue about though.

    I'd also say that with fast moving technologies I kinda accept that what
    I bought five years ago will be showing its age.

    Also NVMe replacing SATA especially on laptops.


    Is that really a problem though as SATA isn't going away anytime soon so
    it's difficult to see that NVMe becoming more and more common means that
    you can't for example upgrade your storage unless the NVMe is part of
    the MB - do they do that as it sounds exactly like the type of thing
    Apple would do.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to JAB on Fri Mar 8 07:27:45 2024
    On 3/8/2024 1:15 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 07/03/2024 17:41, Justisaur wrote:

    Is that really a problem though as SATA isn't going away anytime soon so
    it's difficult to see that NVMe becoming more and more common means that
    you can't for example upgrade your storage unless the NVMe is part of
    the MB - do they do  that as it sounds exactly like the type of thing
    Apple would do.

    Soddering the memory directly to the board isn't new, and I wouldn't put
    it past manufactuers for storage on a stick, like you mentioned apple's
    been doing that on iphones for some time.

    I've not seen it done laptops and NVMe yet, but multiple manufacturers over-tightens the screws so severely you basically can't remove it, as
    any attempt strips the screw, and requires so much force that you're
    bending the PCB visibly which really isn't good for the laptop. To get
    them out I've had to resort to using pliers on the screw head (I've
    tried all the other hacks like rubber bands, etc.) which crushes the
    screw. I've had trouble getting the right screws to put them back in
    with as well, all I can think is they used some non standard screw.

    HP is also supplying very off brand NVMe storage that is causing
    bluescreens, so we've been having to replace them.

    --
    -Justisaur

    ø-ø
    (\_/)\
    `-'\ `--.___,
    ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
    \\
    ^'

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Fri Mar 8 13:46:50 2024
    On 3/8/2024 8:20 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Thu, 07 Mar 2024 09:46:44 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Wed, 6 Mar 2024 11:06:10 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
    wrote:

    On 3/6/2024 7:33 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Tue, 5 Mar 2024 15:37:08 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
    <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
    On 3/5/2024 3:31 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

    PC's broke.


    So it looks like it /is/ an overclocking issue. Which is annoying
    because I don't overclock.

    My motherboard, on the other hand, DOES.

    I was aware, of course, that ASUS motherboards supported overclocking.
    I was also, in fact, aware that this option was enabled by default.
    However, I had - wisely, I thought - disabled this feature as soon as
    I got the PC. There's an option - almost the first option in the BIOS, actually - called "AI Overclock Tuner" that I made sure was disabled
    from the start.

    Unfortunately, this was not the only option restricting the BIOS from overclocking the CPU. There were a number of other options - labeled 'Multicore Enhancement' or 'CPU Optimizations' and similar - that
    would automatically ramp up CPU frequency past the specced frequency
    as CPU utilization rose. These were all enabled by default, and -
    lacking clear definitions on what they did in the manual - I left them
    alone. These settings often ramped the CPU up to 300MHz beyond the
    rated speed of the CPU. In the beginning, this didn't cause any issue
    but eventually this behavior started causing memory issues (first
    noticed as corrupt ZIP archives) and, finally, with the computer
    BSODing whenever Windows tried to boot.

    Figuring out which options it was safe to disable was a challenge;
    there is no clear documentation. But even with all the 'turbo mode'
    features disabled, I was still running into problems, because many of
    the default CPU settings were set scarily high.

    Example: The 13900K & 14900K processors are rated by Intel
    for a 'long duration power limit' (basically, 'normal mode
    power usage') of 125W. The BIOS default? 253W. The
    'short duration power limit' (where the CPU ramps up briefly
    for 'turbo mode', usually lasting only a few seconds) has
    a specified limit of 253W. The BIOS default?

    4096W.

    Jesus-fucking-Christ, ASUS!


    I had to manually set a large number of options to fit within Intel's recommended standards. Once I did that, my PC started to reliably boot
    again, to the point where I could start stress-testing the new
    settings to ensure stability.

    Normally, I don't have a problem with ASUS but now I see why other
    people here have issue with them.


    Obviously my CPU never actually had 4096W pumped into it (as evidenced
    by the fact that it's not a pile of ash). Not only can't my PSU
    provide that much juice, but I am sure that the voltage was probably throttled by hardware elsewhere on the board. The 4096W seems to me to
    just be the motherboard's equivalent of 'this option isn't being
    limited at all by the software'. It's still careless.

    (It does speak volumes on the reliability and overhead built into
    Intel's -K class processors that they survived this carelessness,
    though.It's why I overpay for the -K class processors in the first
    place, so that if something like this does happen, I'm provided some
    modicum of protection.)

    ASUS is completely to blame for this fiasco. Its 'enhancements' and 'optimizations' rode the CPU too heavily. It disguised the fact that
    it was overclocking the CPU under misleading BIOS setting names. Even
    when those features were disabled, its voltage settings were
    carelessly high. It lacked documentation explaining what those
    settings did.

    I might have come to a quicker solution to this problem had ASUS BIOS
    not been so misleading. Overclocking issues were one of the first
    things I considered, after all. But the obvious settings were disabled
    in the BIOS, so it /couldn't/ be an overclocking problem. Except, as
    it turns out, it was.

    My PC isn't fully functional yet, but at least now I'm on track to
    getting it back into working order again. The current plan is to find
    a stable CPU ratio (it looks like its rated 5500 will be sufficient;
    its only if it goes above that do problems start showing up), then
    stress test it for a while to ensure it can maintain stability at that
    speed. Only after that will I reinstall the other hardware, NVMes, and
    check the status of the OS. It'll probably take a week or so but in
    time, I will be back on my main PC again.

    Eventually I'll have to decide if I want to replace the motherboard
    and CPU. But if I can get it stable, it may be a while before that
    happens, even if I'm forced to underclock it a bit. CPU/motherboards
    are expensive!

    But if I do replace, my next motherboard definitely won't be an ASUS.

    Congratulations on the impressive detective work.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Justisaur on Fri Mar 8 13:48:03 2024
    On 3/8/2024 7:27 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/8/2024 1:15 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 07/03/2024 17:41, Justisaur wrote:

    Is that really a problem though as SATA isn't going away anytime soon
    so it's difficult to see that NVMe becoming more and more common means
    that you can't for example upgrade your storage unless the NVMe is
    part of the MB - do they do  that as it sounds exactly like the type
    of thing Apple would do.

    Soddering the memory directly to the board isn't new, and I wouldn't put
    it past manufactuers for storage on a stick, like you mentioned apple's
    been doing that on iphones for some time.

    I've not seen it done laptops and NVMe yet, but multiple manufacturers over-tightens the screws so severely you basically can't remove it, as
    any attempt strips the screw, and requires so much force that you're
    bending the PCB visibly which really isn't good for the laptop.  To get
    them out I've had to resort to using pliers on the screw head (I've
    tried all the other hacks like rubber bands, etc.) which crushes the
    screw.  I've had trouble getting the right screws to put them back in
    with as well, all I can think is they used some non standard screw.

    Non-standard is the new standard, didn't you know? :P

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 8 17:50:15 2024
    On 3/8/2024 5:31 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:
    Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 21:48 this Friday (GMT):
    On 3/8/2024 7:27 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/8/2024 1:15 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 07/03/2024 17:41, Justisaur wrote:

    Is that really a problem though as SATA isn't going away anytime soon
    so it's difficult to see that NVMe becoming more and more common means >>>> that you can't for example upgrade your storage unless the NVMe is
    part of the MB - do they do  that as it sounds exactly like the type
    of thing Apple would do.

    Soddering the memory directly to the board isn't new, and I wouldn't put >>> it past manufactuers for storage on a stick, like you mentioned apple's
    been doing that on iphones for some time.

    I've not seen it done laptops and NVMe yet, but multiple manufacturers
    over-tightens the screws so severely you basically can't remove it, as
    any attempt strips the screw, and requires so much force that you're
    bending the PCB visibly which really isn't good for the laptop.  To get >>> them out I've had to resort to using pliers on the screw head (I've
    tried all the other hacks like rubber bands, etc.) which crushes the
    screw.  I've had trouble getting the right screws to put them back in
    with as well, all I can think is they used some non standard screw.

    Non-standard is the new standard, didn't you know? :P

    Sadly, probably more common than you'd think.

    As someone who used to work with 911 call centers, no, not really.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Dimensional Traveler on Sat Mar 9 01:31:26 2024
    Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 21:48 this Friday (GMT):
    On 3/8/2024 7:27 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/8/2024 1:15 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 07/03/2024 17:41, Justisaur wrote:

    Is that really a problem though as SATA isn't going away anytime soon
    so it's difficult to see that NVMe becoming more and more common means
    that you can't for example upgrade your storage unless the NVMe is
    part of the MB - do they do  that as it sounds exactly like the type
    of thing Apple would do.

    Soddering the memory directly to the board isn't new, and I wouldn't put
    it past manufactuers for storage on a stick, like you mentioned apple's
    been doing that on iphones for some time.

    I've not seen it done laptops and NVMe yet, but multiple manufacturers
    over-tightens the screws so severely you basically can't remove it, as
    any attempt strips the screw, and requires so much force that you're
    bending the PCB visibly which really isn't good for the laptop.  To get
    them out I've had to resort to using pliers on the screw head (I've
    tried all the other hacks like rubber bands, etc.) which crushes the
    screw.  I've had trouble getting the right screws to put them back in
    with as well, all I can think is they used some non standard screw.

    Non-standard is the new standard, didn't you know? :P

    Sadly, probably more common than you'd think.
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Dimensional Traveler on Sat Mar 9 04:40:02 2024
    Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 01:50 this Saturday (GMT):
    On 3/8/2024 5:31 PM, candycanearter07 wrote:
    Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 21:48 this Friday (GMT): >>> On 3/8/2024 7:27 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/8/2024 1:15 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 07/03/2024 17:41, Justisaur wrote:

    Is that really a problem though as SATA isn't going away anytime soon >>>>> so it's difficult to see that NVMe becoming more and more common means >>>>> that you can't for example upgrade your storage unless the NVMe is
    part of the MB - do they do  that as it sounds exactly like the type >>>>> of thing Apple would do.

    Soddering the memory directly to the board isn't new, and I wouldn't put >>>> it past manufactuers for storage on a stick, like you mentioned apple's >>>> been doing that on iphones for some time.

    I've not seen it done laptops and NVMe yet, but multiple manufacturers >>>> over-tightens the screws so severely you basically can't remove it, as >>>> any attempt strips the screw, and requires so much force that you're
    bending the PCB visibly which really isn't good for the laptop.  To get >>>> them out I've had to resort to using pliers on the screw head (I've
    tried all the other hacks like rubber bands, etc.) which crushes the
    screw.  I've had trouble getting the right screws to put them back in >>>> with as well, all I can think is they used some non standard screw.

    Non-standard is the new standard, didn't you know? :P

    Sadly, probably more common than you'd think.

    As someone who used to work with 911 call centers, no, not really.

    Fair enough, it does feel like there are more IOT things with a
    propriatary ecosystem tho.
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Sat Mar 9 09:41:06 2024
    On 08/03/2024 17:15, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    I'm not opposed to M.2 NVMe mounts. M.2 is, after all, faster since it directly accesses PCIE (even if most drives can't match the interface
    speed yet). It's smaller form-factor has advantages too. You can also
    more easily apply cooling directly to the M.2 sticks.


    I did see some tests done comparing SDD vs NVMe and their conclusion the
    paper advantage doesn't lead to any practical advantage.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Justisaur on Sat Mar 9 09:37:17 2024
    On 08/03/2024 15:27, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/8/2024 1:15 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 07/03/2024 17:41, Justisaur wrote:

    Is that really a problem though as SATA isn't going away anytime soon
    so it's difficult to see that NVMe becoming more and more common means
    that you can't for example upgrade your storage unless the NVMe is
    part of the MB - do they do  that as it sounds exactly like the type
    of thing Apple would do.

    Soddering the memory directly to the board isn't new, and I wouldn't put
    it past manufactuers for storage on a stick, like you mentioned apple's
    been doing that on iphones for some time.


    I only realised hat Apple did that a few years ago when it sounded like
    my sister-in-law's Mac Book was becoming RAM bound. No problems thought
    I just get some more memory open up the slot, put it in and job done. It
    was only when I looked into it I found that nah, nah, it's part of the
    MB so that's it. I did out of curiosity check the difference in prices
    when you purchase a new one and boy are they taking the pee.

    Another thing they now do is code different components so even if you
    replace one like for like you still have to pay money to Apple to get
    things recoded or you have reduced functionality.

    I did have some hopes that when the EU looked into this* they would be
    tougher on what they were allowed to do, unfortunately not.

    *Now I'm from the UK but one of the lies told during Brexit was that we wouldn't be 'shackled' by EU Laws, pointing out this isn't what would
    happen in reality was labelled part of project fear.

    I've not seen it done laptops and NVMe yet, but multiple manufacturers over-tightens the screws so severely you basically can't remove it, as
    any attempt strips the screw, and requires so much force that you're
    bending the PCB visibly which really isn't good for the laptop.  To get
    them out I've had to resort to using pliers on the screw head (I've
    tried all the other hacks like rubber bands, etc.) which crushes the
    screw.  I've had trouble getting the right screws to put them back in
    with as well, all I can think is they used some non standard screw.

    HP is also supplying very off brand NVMe storage that is causing
    bluescreens, so we've been having to replace them.


    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Sat Mar 9 19:02:24 2024
    On 3/9/2024 10:29 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Fri, 8 Mar 2024 13:46:50 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
    <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

    On 3/8/2024 8:20 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    PC's broke.

    Congratulations on the impressive detective work.

    Thanks... although I'm not sure it's deserved, given how long it took
    me to figure it all out. ;-)

    The primary PC is (mostly) back together now; all that's left is to
    fasten the chassis covers and plug in the external peripherals. I'm benchmarking and stress-testing it as I type this. It looks like my
    computer is now 5-10% slower than it should compared to synthetic
    benchmarks for its processor due to the underclocking. I may be able
    to up the clock a bit, but at the moment I'm hesitant to experiment.
    The difference reall isn't at all noticable anyway, except in
    benchmarks. I doubt I'd notice it at all in games, especially as most
    games are limited by their GPUs far more than their CPUs.


    I probably could have solved this problem faster, except

    a) since I had a functional backup PC, there was no essential need
    for a fast solve,

    b) I only had a limited amount of time every day to play
    with the computers (made even shorter by how little
    light gets into the study during winter months). At
    most, I fiddled with the busted PC an hour a day tops,
    and a lot of that time was spent just rebooting (usually
    from a slow external CD-ROM drive),

    and

    c) the whole incident just annoyed me so much that I didn't
    want to bother with it. Especially after I figured out
    the it was the default settings of the motherboard that
    had triggered the whole thing.


    I have to (grudgingly) give kudos to Microsoft's operating system.
    Despite the many, many, MANY BSODs and hard shutdowns the OS suffered
    through - most of them at boot-up - when I finally did solve the
    issue and reinstalled the HDD, Windows ran as if nothing had gone
    awry. This despite the fact that - attempting to troubleshoot the
    problem - I had instructed Windows to reset (and later do a clean
    reinstall) in hopes that would solve the problem. But since the
    hardware kept crashed the OS, it never got very far in that process.
    Still, I fully expected I'd have to reinstall the OS. But nope,
    Windows came through it all very cleanly.


    So, current plan is more stress-testing, then finally button it all
    up, copy all the files I worked on using the backup PC to the hopefully-repaired primary, stress test some more and then finally
    decide it's 'safe' to use it as my primary again. After which I can
    hopefully put this whole nonsense episode behind me.

    Hey, I used to do tech support for the dispatch systems used in 911
    centers. (And this wasn't script-monkey tech support, if it was a code
    problem I was expected to correct the code and distribute the fix so it
    could be applied as part of the next regular update.) Sometimes that
    kind of slow repetitive grind is how you get it done.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Dimensional Traveler on Sun Mar 10 09:48:37 2024
    On 10/03/2024 03:02, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    So, current plan is more stress-testing, then finally button it all
    up, copy all the files I worked on using the backup PC to the
    hopefully-repaired primary, stress test some more and then finally
    decide it's 'safe' to use it as my primary again. After which I can
    hopefully put this whole nonsense episode behind me.

    Hey, I used to do tech support for the dispatch systems used in 911 centers.  (And this wasn't script-monkey tech support, if it was a code problem I was expected to correct the code and distribute the fix so it
    could be applied as part of the next regular update.)  Sometimes that
    kind of slow repetitive grind is how you get it done.


    Something I learned pretty early in my career was that you get two types
    of bugs, those that you almost know where the problem is straight away
    and those that require a more methodical approach.

    The ones I really hated where when they turned out to be a problem with
    the hardware.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Mon Mar 11 09:45:23 2024
    On 09/03/2024 15:38, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    Fortunately, Apple isn't totally committed to the ideal, although they
    do tend to swing back and forth over the years. I'd be more forgiving
    of the attitude if Apple didn't charge a premium for their products. I
    can accept extremely limited and locked down hardware if it's sold at
    a cut-rate price, but Apple's prices suggest you're getting a more
    capable machine than others, and too often their 'our way or the
    highway' attitude is in opposition to that.

    I tend to agree and the other thing I don't like about them is it feels
    like the attitude is as you're prepared to pay a premium price for the
    base product then you won't mind doing the same for increasing the
    specs. I did quickly check on some of the option prices and to say they
    are taking the pee is an understatement. To go from 512GB/8GB to
    1TB/16GB is a whopping £400. That's not to even mention that for the
    base price it seems rater underpowered to start with.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Justisaur on Mon Mar 11 08:02:02 2024
    On 3/11/2024 7:22 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/11/2024 2:45 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 09/03/2024 15:38, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    Fortunately, Apple isn't totally committed to the ideal, although they
    do tend to swing back and forth over the years. I'd be more forgiving
    of the attitude if Apple didn't charge a premium for their products. I
    can accept extremely limited and locked down hardware if it's sold at
    a cut-rate price, but Apple's prices suggest you're getting a more
    capable machine than others, and too often their 'our way or the
    highway' attitude is in opposition to that.

    I tend to agree and the other thing I don't like about them is it
    feels like the attitude is as you're prepared to pay a premium price
    for the base product then you won't mind doing the same for increasing
    the specs. I did quickly check on some of the option prices and to say
    they are taking the pee is an understatement. To go from 512GB/8GB to
    1TB/16GB is a whopping £400. That's not to even mention that for the
    base price it seems rater underpowered to start with.

    Price has never been a selling point with Apple products.

    Actually it is a selling point as an excuse for the user to claim
    superiority over the lesser masses.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to JAB on Mon Mar 11 07:22:20 2024
    On 3/11/2024 2:45 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 09/03/2024 15:38, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    Fortunately, Apple isn't totally committed to the ideal, although they
    do tend to swing back and forth over the years. I'd be more forgiving
    of the attitude if Apple didn't charge a premium for their products. I
    can accept extremely limited and locked down hardware if it's sold at
    a cut-rate price, but Apple's prices suggest you're getting a more
    capable machine than others, and too often their 'our way or the
    highway' attitude is in opposition to that.

    I tend to agree and the other thing I don't like about them is it feels
    like the attitude is as you're prepared to pay a premium price for the
    base product then you won't mind doing the same for increasing the
    specs. I did quickly check on some of the option prices and to say they
    are taking the pee is an understatement. To go from 512GB/8GB to
    1TB/16GB is a whopping £400. That's not to even mention that for the
    base price it seems rater underpowered to start with.

    Price has never been a selling point with Apple products.

    --
    -Justisaur

    ø-ø
    (\_/)\
    `-'\ `--.___,
    ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
    \\
    ^'

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to JAB on Mon Mar 11 17:40:02 2024
    JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote at 09:48 this Sunday (GMT):
    On 10/03/2024 03:02, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    So, current plan is more stress-testing, then finally button it all
    up, copy all the files I worked on using the backup PC to the
    hopefully-repaired primary, stress test some more and then finally
    decide it's 'safe' to use it as my primary again. After which I can
    hopefully put this whole nonsense episode behind me.

    Hey, I used to do tech support for the dispatch systems used in 911
    centers.  (And this wasn't script-monkey tech support, if it was a code
    problem I was expected to correct the code and distribute the fix so it
    could be applied as part of the next regular update.)  Sometimes that
    kind of slow repetitive grind is how you get it done.


    Something I learned pretty early in my career was that you get two types
    of bugs, those that you almost know where the problem is straight away
    and those that require a more methodical approach.

    That's about my experience too.

    The ones I really hated where when they turned out to be a problem with
    the hardware.

    Never really worked with hw but I'd imagine that would be really
    annoying.
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Dimensional Traveler on Mon Mar 11 17:40:02 2024
    Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote at 15:02 this Monday (GMT):
    On 3/11/2024 7:22 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/11/2024 2:45 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 09/03/2024 15:38, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    Fortunately, Apple isn't totally committed to the ideal, although they >>>> do tend to swing back and forth over the years. I'd be more forgiving
    of the attitude if Apple didn't charge a premium for their products. I >>>> can accept extremely limited and locked down hardware if it's sold at
    a cut-rate price, but Apple's prices suggest you're getting a more
    capable machine than others, and too often their 'our way or the
    highway' attitude is in opposition to that.

    I tend to agree and the other thing I don't like about them is it
    feels like the attitude is as you're prepared to pay a premium price
    for the base product then you won't mind doing the same for increasing
    the specs. I did quickly check on some of the option prices and to say
    they are taking the pee is an understatement. To go from 512GB/8GB to
    1TB/16GB is a whopping £400. That's not to even mention that for the
    base price it seems rater underpowered to start with.

    Price has never been a selling point with Apple products.

    Actually it is a selling point as an excuse for the user to claim
    superiority over the lesser masses.

    Brand recognition lets them do that, probably..
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to Dimensional Traveler on Mon Mar 11 11:02:47 2024
    On 3/11/2024 8:02 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    On 3/11/2024 7:22 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/11/2024 2:45 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 09/03/2024 15:38, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    Fortunately, Apple isn't totally committed to the ideal, although they >>>> do tend to swing back and forth over the years. I'd be more forgiving
    of the attitude if Apple didn't charge a premium for their products. I >>>> can accept extremely limited and locked down hardware if it's sold at
    a cut-rate price, but Apple's prices suggest you're getting a more
    capable machine than others, and too often their 'our way or the
    highway' attitude is in opposition to that.

    I tend to agree and the other thing I don't like about them is it
    feels like the attitude is as you're prepared to pay a premium price
    for the base product then you won't mind doing the same for
    increasing the specs. I did quickly check on some of the option
    prices and to say they are taking the pee is an understatement. To go
    from 512GB/8GB to 1TB/16GB is a whopping £400. That's not to even
    mention that for the base price it seems rater underpowered to start
    with.

    Price has never been a selling point with Apple products. >>
    Actually it is a selling point as an excuse for the user to claim
    superiority over the lesser masses.

    I should've said "low price." or "price/performance"

    It's the whole wine thing. It's good because it costs more.

    --
    -Justisaur

    ø-ø
    (\_/)\
    `-'\ `--.___,
    ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
    \\
    ^'

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Mon Mar 11 15:33:20 2024
    On 3/11/2024 3:25 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Mon, 11 Mar 2024 11:02:47 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
    wrote:

    On 3/11/2024 8:02 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    On 3/11/2024 7:22 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/11/2024 2:45 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 09/03/2024 15:38, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    Fortunately, Apple isn't totally committed to the ideal, although they >>>>>> do tend to swing back and forth over the years. I'd be more forgiving >>>>>> of the attitude if Apple didn't charge a premium for their products. I >>>>>> can accept extremely limited and locked down hardware if it's sold at >>>>>> a cut-rate price, but Apple's prices suggest you're getting a more >>>>>> capable machine than others, and too often their 'our way or the
    highway' attitude is in opposition to that.

    I tend to agree and the other thing I don't like about them is it
    feels like the attitude is as you're prepared to pay a premium price >>>>> for the base product then you won't mind doing the same for
    increasing the specs. I did quickly check on some of the option
    prices and to say they are taking the pee is an understatement. To go >>>>> from 512GB/8GB to 1TB/16GB is a whopping £400. That's not to even
    mention that for the base price it seems rater underpowered to start >>>>> with.

    Price has never been a selling point with Apple products. >>
    Actually it is a selling point as an excuse for the user to claim
    superiority over the lesser masses.

    I should've said "low price." or "price/performance"

    It's the whole wine thing. It's good because it costs more.

    Although it would equally be wrong to dismiss Apple's engineering
    chops. They /do/ make some good hardware (even if sometimes I disagree
    with the philosophies behind the design). It's not as if you're paying
    Apple prices and getting Compaq results. You can be fairly sure that,
    by buying Apple, you're getting good components put together
    competently.

    But still, it's not worth the premium they charge... especially if you compare price-to-performance.

    But Apple gets away with it because they are a luxury brand. They're
    like Rolex; nobody is really expecting a Rolex to somehow tell time
    better so much more accurately than a $20 Casio. You're paying for the
    style and cachet of the device. Likewise, Apple. Their computers are
    fine; reliable, generally performative and (usually) with solid design philosophy behind them. But it's not really like there's anything an
    Apple computer/phone/etc can do that a less expensive brand couldn't.


    Tell that to the people who make music and computer art.

    --
    -Justisaur

    ø-ø
    (\_/)\
    `-'\ `--.___,
    ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
    \\
    ^'

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Justisaur on Tue Mar 12 01:01:59 2024
    Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote at 22:33 this Monday (GMT):
    On 3/11/2024 3:25 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Mon, 11 Mar 2024 11:02:47 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
    wrote:

    On 3/11/2024 8:02 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    On 3/11/2024 7:22 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/11/2024 2:45 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 09/03/2024 15:38, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    Fortunately, Apple isn't totally committed to the ideal, although they >>>>>>> do tend to swing back and forth over the years. I'd be more forgiving >>>>>>> of the attitude if Apple didn't charge a premium for their products. I >>>>>>> can accept extremely limited and locked down hardware if it's sold at >>>>>>> a cut-rate price, but Apple's prices suggest you're getting a more >>>>>>> capable machine than others, and too often their 'our way or the >>>>>>> highway' attitude is in opposition to that.

    I tend to agree and the other thing I don't like about them is it
    feels like the attitude is as you're prepared to pay a premium price >>>>>> for the base product then you won't mind doing the same for
    increasing the specs. I did quickly check on some of the option
    prices and to say they are taking the pee is an understatement. To go >>>>>> from 512GB/8GB to 1TB/16GB is a whopping £400. That's not to even >>>>>> mention that for the base price it seems rater underpowered to start >>>>>> with.

    Price has never been a selling point with Apple products. >>
    Actually it is a selling point as an excuse for the user to claim
    superiority over the lesser masses.

    I should've said "low price." or "price/performance"

    It's the whole wine thing. It's good because it costs more.

    Although it would equally be wrong to dismiss Apple's engineering
    chops. They /do/ make some good hardware (even if sometimes I disagree
    with the philosophies behind the design). It's not as if you're paying
    Apple prices and getting Compaq results. You can be fairly sure that,
    by buying Apple, you're getting good components put together
    competently.

    But still, it's not worth the premium they charge... especially if you
    compare price-to-performance.

    But Apple gets away with it because they are a luxury brand. They're
    like Rolex; nobody is really expecting a Rolex to somehow tell time
    better so much more accurately than a $20 Casio. You're paying for the
    style and cachet of the device. Likewise, Apple. Their computers are
    fine; reliable, generally performative and (usually) with solid design
    philosophy behind them. But it's not really like there's anything an
    Apple computer/phone/etc can do that a less expensive brand couldn't.


    Tell that to the people who make music and computer art.

    I make computer art (linux) and my brother makes music (windows).
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to All on Tue Mar 12 09:45:43 2024
    On 11/03/2024 17:40, candycanearter07 wrote:
    Something I learned pretty early in my career was that you get two types
    of bugs, those that you almost know where the problem is straight away
    and those that require a more methodical approach.

    That's about my experience too.

    The ones I really hated where when they turned out to be a problem with
    the hardware.

    Never really worked with hw but I'd imagine that would be really
    annoying.

    Most of the time it's fine, well with old style PCB where you could
    actually do things like probe chips, but I did have an interesting one
    where the RTC just wasn't counting. So I looked at the code to make sure
    it was initialised correctly and all seemed fine. So next up look at the hardware signals to see if anything didn't seem right. So out with
    oscilloscope and circuit diagram and that's when I got confused. Probing
    the chip meant that it then started working. That's when you go and get
    one of the hardware guys to help you out. Turns out it was just that the oscillator circuit wasn't quite right and probing it, kicked it into life.

    I also had one where going into transmit caused the transceiver to
    reboot itself. That turned out to be a naff power cable where the RF was interfering with it.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Tue Mar 12 14:28:36 2024
    On 3/12/2024 11:25 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Mon, 11 Mar 2024 15:33:20 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
    wrote:

    On 3/11/2024 3:25 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Mon, 11 Mar 2024 11:02:47 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
    wrote:

    On 3/11/2024 8:02 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    On 3/11/2024 7:22 AM, Justisaur wrote:
    On 3/11/2024 2:45 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 09/03/2024 15:38, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    Fortunately, Apple isn't totally committed to the ideal, although they >>>>>>>> do tend to swing back and forth over the years. I'd be more forgiving >>>>>>>> of the attitude if Apple didn't charge a premium for their products. I >>>>>>>> can accept extremely limited and locked down hardware if it's sold at >>>>>>>> a cut-rate price, but Apple's prices suggest you're getting a more >>>>>>>> capable machine than others, and too often their 'our way or the >>>>>>>> highway' attitude is in opposition to that.

    I tend to agree and the other thing I don't like about them is it >>>>>>> feels like the attitude is as you're prepared to pay a premium price >>>>>>> for the base product then you won't mind doing the same for
    increasing the specs. I did quickly check on some of the option
    prices and to say they are taking the pee is an understatement. To go >>>>>>> from 512GB/8GB to 1TB/16GB is a whopping £400. That's not to even >>>>>>> mention that for the base price it seems rater underpowered to start >>>>>>> with.

    Price has never been a selling point with Apple products. >>
    Actually it is a selling point as an excuse for the user to claim
    superiority over the lesser masses.

    I should've said "low price." or "price/performance"

    It's the whole wine thing. It's good because it costs more.

    Although it would equally be wrong to dismiss Apple's engineering
    chops. They /do/ make some good hardware (even if sometimes I disagree
    with the philosophies behind the design). It's not as if you're paying
    Apple prices and getting Compaq results. You can be fairly sure that,
    by buying Apple, you're getting good components put together
    competently.

    But still, it's not worth the premium they charge... especially if you
    compare price-to-performance.

    But Apple gets away with it because they are a luxury brand. They're
    like Rolex; nobody is really expecting a Rolex to somehow tell time
    better so much more accurately than a $20 Casio. You're paying for the
    style and cachet of the device. Likewise, Apple. Their computers are
    fine; reliable, generally performative and (usually) with solid design
    philosophy behind them. But it's not really like there's anything an
    Apple computer/phone/etc can do that a less expensive brand couldn't.


    Tell that to the people who make music and computer art.

    Back-in-the-day, Macintoshes had a definite advantage in those fields.
    The Macintosh, with its well-designed GUI and WYSIWYG interface was
    perfect for desktop publishing, and apps like Photoshop and
    Illustrator followed. Similarly, Macs were superior in low-latency
    sound (thanks in part to SCSI drives being more common on that
    platform), which gave it advantage over PCs in sound production
    (although: Amiga ;-). Although stuff like ProTools was available on PC
    too, musicians gravitated toward Macs.

    But there's little real reason to pick Mac over PC anymore. In fact,
    until two or three years ago, most Macs /were/ PCs, and shared all the technical advantages (and disadvantages) of the platform.

    Macs are still often picked as the 'go-to' machines for DTP and music,
    but that is more out of inertia than any real benefit to using the
    platform. Mostly, it boils down to, "I've been using Macs for twenty
    years and I don't want to switch".
    I asked someone I know who used to do TV/Movie special effects about
    which platform was better, PC or Apple. He's retired so not up on what
    the current state of the art is but his explanation of what he worked
    with was that Mac's were better early on but not because of the
    hardware. They were better for FX/CGI work because the better programs
    for that work were Mac only. That was becoming less and less an issue
    over time before he retired.

    Essentially it wasn't the hardware that mattered, it was the software.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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