4 ms·

Yeah, I am not a huge fan either. I would much prefer Linux or a very customized Windows. For instance, the inability to write to NTFS filesystems without addo

Yeah, I am not a huge fan either. I would much prefer Linux or a very customized Windows. For instance, the inability to write to NTFS filesystems without addons is annoying. But I believe that for most users, the default MacOS experience is now much better than what Windows is with default settings.

PaulHoule 7mo ago
On my Mac is is beachball… beachball… beachball… reboot… beachball… beachball… beachball.. you’d have thought somebody gets paid to make me watch the beachball for how much it happens. And this is a top of the line M4 mini with maxed out RAM and everything.
- dgxyz 7mo ago
  WTF are you doing with it? Mine doesn't do that (M4 Pro MBP / 24Gb)
  - PaulHoule 7mo ago
    Try to browse the web. Try to listen to music with Plexamp. Ordinary boring stuff but I think it is looking all over Slovakia for my AirPods or something so it can take them away from whatever machine I really want to use them on. The feeling is exactly like the way it was with Windows circa 2005 when you expected your machine to go bad like cheese in a few months.
    - dgxyz 7mo ago
      Are you sure yours isn't broken? My daughter has an M4 and she does hefty biochem stuff on it. No beachballing or anything. Same with my M4 Pro. Also airpods move instantly here. No issues.
    - K0balt 7mo ago
      Something is seriously wrong with your machine or one of the persistent apps you are running. Backup, reset to factory. Try using it, if it’s fixed, try restoring. If it’s not fixed it’s defective in some way. If it’s broken only after you restore, manually import your data and install apps one at a time making sure nothing breaks before installing the next.
- eknkc 7mo ago
  I had forgotten that mac has a beachball cursor. Something’s wrong on your macbook. (M4 max here)
  - PaulHoule 7mo ago
    What am I supposed to do, drive 300 miles to the nearest Genius Bar?
    - madeofpalk 7mo ago
      What would you do if your non-Apple computer was having performance issues?
      - PaulHoule 7mo ago
        I'd say this. I haven't had a Windows desktop computer with serious problems since 2007. I had a long string of Windows laptops that were basically OK from maybe 2013 to 2023 except for problems with USB that got progressively worse over time (for each machine.) I think some of them were were real hardware problems but I think also the USB 3 spec doesn't guarantee that you can plug in very many devices and have it work, it depends on the PCIe architecture inside the machine. That "ding" sound when a USB device disconnects from windows has traumatized me and I've turned it off anywhere where I can because it is like a gunshot to a Vietnam vet. I found very little literature about other Windows laptops users facing these problems but endless posts by AppleCare frequent fliers who seem to spend their lives at the Genius Bar and getting their old defective laptops replaced with new defective laptops, I think Windows users just expect it to be all screwed up. For a long time Windows has struggled with processes that suck down a lot of resources at boot time. At home it is things that do software updates and saturate my 2x20Mbps internet connection. At work it is the backup program that saturates my Ethernet.
        zdragnar 7mo ago
        I had a run of I think 4 laptops that I never paid for. I bought a spendy windows surfacebook back in the day, and opted for the extended warranty. The screen went out about a week before the warranty expired, they couldn't replace the screen, and so refunded me the entire purchase price, plus the cost of the warranty... which then went to the next laptop. That cycle repeated itself either two or three more times, up to today, and my current laptop is I think going to be the one that finally last long enough that I'll have to actually pay for my next upgrade.
- storus 7mo ago
  My 128GB RAM M3 Max had logic board replaced 3x and I am still getting beachball alongside screen falling apart in blocks... There is something wrong with their firmware, especially when you are switching between multiple users often.
  - PaulHoule 7mo ago
    I think user switching is part of the problem in my case.
    - jjtheblunt 7mo ago
      one other thing to check is if you installed any kernel extensions...inside Apple engineering, folks with kernel extensions could get bizarre errors since the quality of them could screw up stability with all sorts of symptoms. kextstat | grep -v com.apple would show anything _maybe_ troublesome, but not guaranteed related.
      - storus 7mo ago
        In my case no kernel extensions. Every few days the computer freezes with a beachball and/or screen starts falling apart in large blocks randomly shuffling around the screen and I need to power it off. The first logicboard also added a bunch of pink noise in a few clusters all over the screen. Whenever I got close to freeze my power charging beeps were getting more and more frequent up to around 1 beep per 3 seconds with USB charger in (the beep when you insert power adapter into USB port).
        jjtheblunt 7mo ago
        definitely unusual, sounds like hardware issue (as someone else mentioned)
- timothyduong 7mo ago
  Base m4 Mac mini. Only beach balling is when I saturate 16GB with compiles and builds. That thing of yours is a lemon.
  - bobbane 7mo ago
    Lemons do happen with Apple Silicon. I had a Mac Studio that would kernel panic on a semi-weekly basis. Apple Care put me through the reinstall OS / remove all external devices tap-dance for weeks, insisting that hardware was the last thing to suspect - before Apple Silicon, kernel panics were almost always hardware, particularly RAM. Ultimately I bought another Studio and swapped it in - kernel panics went away. With that evidence, Apple acknowledged the problem and exchanged my Studio for another one from the factory. I returned the swap unit within the 30 day window, so it didn't cost me anything but annoyance.
    - darkwater 7mo ago
      Needing to shell out... what? 2000 bucks to prove Apple Support they were wrong seems a very, very bad sign for that Support. Even if you got them back.
- HoldOnAMinute 7mo ago
  How many Electron apps are you running?
- beacon294 7mo ago
  My problem was simply chrome so I switched to brave.
- busyant 7mo ago
  I've had 2 macs over the past ~10 years. * My MacMini was constantly beachballing and, unfortunately, it took me a long time to realize that there was a problem with the device. * I now have a 2023 MBP that screams like a "Formula Un" racing car. I suspect you have a faulty device. edit: Just saw that you live far away from an Apple store. I imagine you could mail it in for some type of service, but obviously, that's not optimal if you have no immediate replacement.
- alemanek 7mo ago
  I use an M4 air with maxed out RAM for software development and it has no issues. I think you might have a bad one. See if support will do anything for you this is not normal.

PaulHoule 7mo ago

On my Mac is is beachball… beachball… beachball… reboot… beachball… beachball… beachball.. you’d have thought somebody gets paid to make me watch the beachball for how much it happens. And this is a top of the line M4 mini with maxed out RAM and everything.

dgxyz 7mo ago
WTF are you doing with it? Mine doesn't do that (M4 Pro MBP / 24Gb)
- PaulHoule 7mo ago
  Try to browse the web. Try to listen to music with Plexamp. Ordinary boring stuff but I think it is looking all over Slovakia for my AirPods or something so it can take them away from whatever machine I really want to use them on. The feeling is exactly like the way it was with Windows circa 2005 when you expected your machine to go bad like cheese in a few months.
  - dgxyz 7mo ago
    Are you sure yours isn't broken? My daughter has an M4 and she does hefty biochem stuff on it. No beachballing or anything. Same with my M4 Pro. Also airpods move instantly here. No issues.
  - K0balt 7mo ago
    Something is seriously wrong with your machine or one of the persistent apps you are running. Backup, reset to factory. Try using it, if it’s fixed, try restoring. If it’s not fixed it’s defective in some way. If it’s broken only after you restore, manually import your data and install apps one at a time making sure nothing breaks before installing the next.
eknkc 7mo ago
I had forgotten that mac has a beachball cursor. Something’s wrong on your macbook. (M4 max here)
- PaulHoule 7mo ago
  What am I supposed to do, drive 300 miles to the nearest Genius Bar?
  - madeofpalk 7mo ago
    What would you do if your non-Apple computer was having performance issues?
    - PaulHoule 7mo ago
      I'd say this. I haven't had a Windows desktop computer with serious problems since 2007. I had a long string of Windows laptops that were basically OK from maybe 2013 to 2023 except for problems with USB that got progressively worse over time (for each machine.) I think some of them were were real hardware problems but I think also the USB 3 spec doesn't guarantee that you can plug in very many devices and have it work, it depends on the PCIe architecture inside the machine. That "ding" sound when a USB device disconnects from windows has traumatized me and I've turned it off anywhere where I can because it is like a gunshot to a Vietnam vet. I found very little literature about other Windows laptops users facing these problems but endless posts by AppleCare frequent fliers who seem to spend their lives at the Genius Bar and getting their old defective laptops replaced with new defective laptops, I think Windows users just expect it to be all screwed up. For a long time Windows has struggled with processes that suck down a lot of resources at boot time. At home it is things that do software updates and saturate my 2x20Mbps internet connection. At work it is the backup program that saturates my Ethernet.
      - zdragnar 7mo ago
        I had a run of I think 4 laptops that I never paid for. I bought a spendy windows surfacebook back in the day, and opted for the extended warranty. The screen went out about a week before the warranty expired, they couldn't replace the screen, and so refunded me the entire purchase price, plus the cost of the warranty... which then went to the next laptop. That cycle repeated itself either two or three more times, up to today, and my current laptop is I think going to be the one that finally last long enough that I'll have to actually pay for my next upgrade.
storus 7mo ago
My 128GB RAM M3 Max had logic board replaced 3x and I am still getting beachball alongside screen falling apart in blocks... There is something wrong with their firmware, especially when you are switching between multiple users often.
- PaulHoule 7mo ago
  I think user switching is part of the problem in my case.
  - jjtheblunt 7mo ago
    one other thing to check is if you installed any kernel extensions...inside Apple engineering, folks with kernel extensions could get bizarre errors since the quality of them could screw up stability with all sorts of symptoms. kextstat | grep -v com.apple would show anything _maybe_ troublesome, but not guaranteed related.
    - storus 7mo ago
      In my case no kernel extensions. Every few days the computer freezes with a beachball and/or screen starts falling apart in large blocks randomly shuffling around the screen and I need to power it off. The first logicboard also added a bunch of pink noise in a few clusters all over the screen. Whenever I got close to freeze my power charging beeps were getting more and more frequent up to around 1 beep per 3 seconds with USB charger in (the beep when you insert power adapter into USB port).
      - jjtheblunt 7mo ago
        definitely unusual, sounds like hardware issue (as someone else mentioned)
timothyduong 7mo ago
Base m4 Mac mini. Only beach balling is when I saturate 16GB with compiles and builds. That thing of yours is a lemon.
- bobbane 7mo ago
  Lemons do happen with Apple Silicon. I had a Mac Studio that would kernel panic on a semi-weekly basis. Apple Care put me through the reinstall OS / remove all external devices tap-dance for weeks, insisting that hardware was the last thing to suspect - before Apple Silicon, kernel panics were almost always hardware, particularly RAM. Ultimately I bought another Studio and swapped it in - kernel panics went away. With that evidence, Apple acknowledged the problem and exchanged my Studio for another one from the factory. I returned the swap unit within the 30 day window, so it didn't cost me anything but annoyance.
  - darkwater 7mo ago
    Needing to shell out... what? 2000 bucks to prove Apple Support they were wrong seems a very, very bad sign for that Support. Even if you got them back.
HoldOnAMinute 7mo ago
How many Electron apps are you running?
beacon294 7mo ago
My problem was simply chrome so I switched to brave.
busyant 7mo ago
I've had 2 macs over the past ~10 years. * My MacMini was constantly beachballing and, unfortunately, it took me a long time to realize that there was a problem with the device. * I now have a 2023 MBP that screams like a "Formula Un" racing car. I suspect you have a faulty device. edit: Just saw that you live far away from an Apple store. I imagine you could mail it in for some type of service, but obviously, that's not optimal if you have no immediate replacement.
alemanek 7mo ago
I use an M4 air with maxed out RAM for software development and it has no issues. I think you might have a bad one. See if support will do anything for you this is not normal.