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TL;DR: Author is returning because it’s expensive, had some bugs with the apps they were running and they didn’t get the performance they were expecting (unopti

TL;DR: Author is returning because it’s expensive, had some bugs with the apps they were running and they didn’t get the performance they were expecting (unoptimised apps seem to be the culprit). The bugs mentioned, sporadic crashes across a range of apps, seem odd. Maybe a faulty unit or a bad OS install? I’ve occasionally had Macs come “fresh out of the box” with buggy OS installs.

CharlesW 4y ago
I agree that there's something else happening related to the "ghost in the machine" stuff, and wish he would've pursued that further. I'm also not sure why he imagined that the Mac mini's integrated GPU and AI hardware were going to beat $1,200 of dedicated hardware and CUDA-optimized software.
TheRealPomax 4y ago
Calling these "some bugs" is quite the downplay. Any machine with the issues mentioned (whether it's a mac mini or a puget sound monster pc) is an immediate return. And if you drank the mac koolaid, that would also be the moment you sober up and go "hold up, I know I've used multiple generations of mac mini but can I actually get better performance by spending less?". As mentioned, unless you absolutely need OSX (which tends to not be true for the vast majority of users), the "why don't I just put a 4080 in a PC" route is a pretty reasonable path to go down once you realize that doing the work you need to do is more important than the machine you do it on.
m463 4y ago
I had a friend who worked for an airline many years ago (pre-9/11) and told me lots of stories. One thing he told me sticks in my mind though. The airline would periodically have problems - cancelled flights, bumped passengers, etc. He said this was disservice, and it was handled ok by most normal people. But one situation was different. He said that first class customers, who would routinely pay 10x the price for a ticket - they did not handle bad service well. Disservice a first-class customer and they would be MAD.

CharlesW 4y ago

I agree that there's something else happening related to the "ghost in the machine" stuff, and wish he would've pursued that further. I'm also not sure why he imagined that the Mac mini's integrated GPU and AI hardware were going to beat $1,200 of dedicated hardware and CUDA-optimized software.

TheRealPomax 4y ago

Calling these "some bugs" is quite the downplay. Any machine with the issues mentioned (whether it's a mac mini or a puget sound monster pc) is an immediate return. And if you drank the mac koolaid, that would also be the moment you sober up and go "hold up, I know I've used multiple generations of mac mini but can I actually get better performance by spending less?". As mentioned, unless you absolutely need OSX (which tends to not be true for the vast majority of users), the "why don't I just put a 4080 in a PC" route is a pretty reasonable path to go down once you realize that doing the work you need to do is more important than the machine you do it on.

m463 4y ago

I had a friend who worked for an airline many years ago (pre-9/11) and told me lots of stories. One thing he told me sticks in my mind though. The airline would periodically have problems - cancelled flights, bumped passengers, etc. He said this was disservice, and it was handled ok by most normal people. But one situation was different. He said that first class customers, who would routinely pay 10x the price for a ticket - they did not handle bad service well. Disservice a first-class customer and they would be MAD.