Migrating from Windows laptop to Mac Mini

ewal

One issue resolved today - found the Valhalla SuperMassive reverb plugin - I can use this as a more than adequate replacement for the Ambience plugin I used to use.

thomasw88

how you finding it now?  Quite tempted to get a mac mini or an oldish macbook pro but haven't done the leap yet.

any issues with the 8gb memory? I know Apple say its fine etc but it does seem awfy low for  2024..

ewal

@thomasw88 I'm finding it good, although too early to comment on performance as migrating across has taken longer than expected - I decided to tidy up my Reaper projects etc.

The biggest issue has been the number of old plugins I used that were only available as .dll's or when I found a .vst, I couldn't get it to work in the latest Reaper version running on MacOS. Sure I'll be able to find replacement plugins over time.

The other thing is screen set-up - I was used to using a 24" monitor with my laptop screen available for secondary purposes. Can't decide whether to stick with my 24" monitor or upgrade to something bigger and higher resolution (at more cost).

spark240

Are you on M1 base model ?

ewal

The M2 base model.

prowla

I find Macs really frustrating to work with; they make a big play of usability and so-on, but Cmd-Ctrl-Shift-4 (or whatever it is) followed by Spacebar is not an intuitive way of grabbing a screendump of a window!

Their perennial insistence on having one less mouse button than the norm is also dumb (I use a Microsoft mouse which has the middle button).

Littlejonny

prowla said:

I find Macs really frustrating to work with; they make a big play of usability and so-on, but Cmd-Ctrl-Shift-4 (or whatever it is) followed by Spacebar is not an intuitive way of grabbing a screendump of a window!

Their perennial insistence on having one less mouse button than the norm is also dumb (I use a Microsoft mouse which has the middle button).

I believe if you’re used to Microsoft OS, Max OS is always going to feel wrong and vice versa. 

Littlejonny

Sorry to hijack this thread (maybe I should start a new one) but perhaps I could get some advice…

Im struggling with my 2012 MacBook Pro 15inch…it needs a new battery, which is ok, but the more frustrating issue is that I’ve hacked it to run the latest OS (don’t ask me how…I just followed instructions on YouTube and touched wood) and since I’ve done that, the OS is lovely and smooth but the Wi-Fi has all but disappeared. I get a tiny signal and have to resort to Ethernet. I’ve looked it up and it seems apple may have abandoned Wi-Fi support for pre silicon macs. 

I thought maybe I could get a wifi dongle - but nobody makes one compatible with the Catalina (as any computer compatible with Catalina would have decent wifi card).

So I’m considering a new one. It looks like the 15inch MacBook Air M2 model is not mega bucks at educational pricing (£1299). Which would could do on monthly payments (we have zero savings) but maybe I should just downgrade and keep the old millennium falcon going for now.

the one thing that I probably wouldn’t do is buy a second hand Intel Mac, because it won’t be long before Apple will drop support for Intel machines I reckon. 

Littlejonny

Disappointing because what I really want is more guitar gear. Computers don’t excite me at all!

marxski

Littlejonny said:

Sorry to hijack this thread (maybe I should start a new one) but perhaps I could get some advice…

Im struggling with my 2012 MacBook Pro 15inch…it needs a new battery, which is ok, but the more frustrating issue is that I’ve hacked it to run the latest OS (don’t ask me how…I just followed instructions on YouTube and touched wood) and since I’ve done that, the OS is lovely and smooth but the Wi-Fi has all but disappeared. I get a tiny signal and have to resort to Ethernet. I’ve looked it up and it seems apple may have abandoned Wi-Fi support for pre silicon macs. 

I thought maybe I could get a wifi dongle - but nobody makes one compatible with the Catalina (as any computer compatible with Catalina would have decent wifi card).

So I’m considering a new one. It looks like the 15inch MacBook Air M2 model is not mega bucks at educational pricing (£1299). Which would could do on monthly payments (we have zero savings) but maybe I should just downgrade and keep the old millennium falcon going for now.

the one thing that I probably wouldn’t do is buy a second hand Intel Mac, because it won’t be long before Apple will drop support for Intel machines I reckon. 

Surprised that those cheap USB WiFi dongles don’t support Catalina.

if you are running Logic on an older machine word on the street is to stop at Mojave (think logic 10.5.1 is the highest you can go). This is because performance and stability is better. I did this on my late 2012 i7 Quad Mac Mini and it runs great.