Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

I have yet to get a scratch on a watch - straight to devastation seems to be my forte. I have been unlucky with dropping it both times as it landed face down the first time and on a corner yesterday. If it had landed on the strap I don’t think there would have been any damage. I wear the watches every day and play squash and footie with them on (covered by my patented sweat band protector) with no issues. The first drop was when I was doing hot yoga and you can’t wear an Apple Watch doing it due to the temp and humidity. The watch fell out of a locker. Yesterday was just my own cack handedness and the watch dropped about 18 inches onto the floor from a slatted bench - it fell through the slats.
These are expensive lessons to learn.

I just updated my OS on the mac and iPad so now have universal control, I hate to use the word game changer but it’s pretty good stuff. I know I could toggle the mouse and keyboard to jump from mac to iPad but to just have them flow when you run the mouse off the screen and onto the iPad is very nice.

No scroll wheel on the mouse through universal control so scrolling through long threads is an issue.

Update, its not just the mouse and keyboard from the mac controlling the ipad, i can use the ipad magic keyboard and trackpad to control the mac.

The Spigen g shock style case is quite bulky but the clear one is not that thick. I don't find it an issue wearing either if it seems like it would save accidental damage but each to their own.

In terms of durability, I have the stainless version which I think has a crystal screen. The 7 is supposed to be a harder crystal. I think the Alu versions below 7 have a different screen but I might be wrong.

I'm looking forward to this when I get the Mac Studio.

Did a bit of research. The stainless and titanium have harder crystal. The aluminium series 7 and series 3 have the same glass.
Pondering my options - and I am not keen forking out a load of money - short arms, deep pockets 😁

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I had one of the first ones for a long time. When it came to deciding on the 6 series I couldn't turn down the stainless model after trying it.

I'm not sorry about that choice but it's still an ugly watch.

I know you have other choices. Maybe I should use the speedy as a daily!

Are there any serious reviews of the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra yet, with proper benchmarks and real world testing?

Only found gushing advertorials and a few forum posts by amateurs with piecemeal and poorly run tests so far. Even the Ars Technica review is dogshit.

Hoping for the Anandtech deep dive, but they’ve lost two of their best writers recently which doesn’t bode well...

Not sure there are many out there yet. If I'd ordered one it would have been arriving in May. No fixed date for delivery of a basic one yet but it should be first 2 weeks of April.

My problem with the Apple watch is ending up wearing it 24/7 and no other watch gets worn.

Actually, me too - excepting in the current circumstances! Part of the screen has stopped working which is annoying.

There are thousands that have already been delivered to punters and loads of professional reviewers have had their hands on them for a while now... It's just that all the reviews so far are shit, with no actual substance or anything approaching decent benchmarking, and most end-user experiences on forums don't exactly follow rigorous methods.

Same here, until I turned off the stand and exercise notifications and basically ignored the exercise rings. Once I broke the streak, I wear it more when I need rather than constantly, and it's much better.

I had been through that cycle with the original one and used it quite a bit over the years. That was the main reason I let myself get another one. Recently I was toying with the idea of a Garmin for the extra stats and feedback but I prefer not to be chasing all that performance stuff if possible.

missus has got a new work macbook air with usb-c ports, she needs to plug an older mini displayport apple monitor in to use as her second screen, plus ethernet, and some older usb dongles for upright mouse and numberpad.
Found this Satechi one as it's got a built in mini displayport
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07B7YTRF7/ref=emc_b_5_t?th=1

but the reviews aren't favourable, work is going to play for it (I presume) so wondering if they would spring for a caldigit usb c pro dock (though I can't seem to find any in stock), we'd have to use a displayport 1.2 to female mini displayport, but that's not a major issue.
https://www.caldigit.com/usb-c-pro-dock/

thoughts?
any other alternatives that get good reviews/ratings?

Would love some input on this as well. My googling ends up in buy-cheap-buy-twice so I'm thinking caldigit ts3/4 but £300+ for a f-n hub?!

missus has told me work aren't paying for it, and she's not keen on spending approx £100 on one hub to rule them all, she was looking at cheaper £40 options. I've rolled my eyes and walked away from the situation until cheaper versions break and we're back in this situation again.

For what it's worth, if the amazon reviews hadn't been so bad for the satechi I probably would have pointed her to it. I still may when/if the options she buys break.

I've rolled my eyes and walked away from the situation until cheaper versions break and we're back in this situation again.

This is what I do, but with myself.

If you're going cheap I'd probably go with Anker.

This went better than expected

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That's brave.

We've been using similar satechi USB C hubs at work for a couple of years now. No real issues to report. I also have one at home that gets moved around machines and unplugged constantly with no issues. Although I only use the HDMI, not display port.

Compared to getting him to put his trousers on….

Not sure if it's going everything your partner needs, but I used the Vava '9-in-1' port with my MBP, no problems. When I left my previous job and handed back the MPB + prot, I bought a desktop iMac, and bought the same model port, and it's been fine for running another monitor, usb, camera memory cards, ethernet etc.

...actually, the only issue I've had is where I used a thunderbolt cable to plug a monitor directly into the iMac. Screen would blink out and go through weird colour cycles. Swapped to an HDMI cable through the Vava port and it's had no problems.