ShapeshiftingFish

I don't mean to generalize and it's probably a short lived glitch in the case of the card, but I tend to trust Apple's services less and less. iCloud is very messy for me with erratic syncing (drive, photos), needing several sign ins and outs on numerous devices; Music is crappy comparing with, say, Spotify, borderline offensive in recommendations and discovery; TV+ is mostly dull with original content seemingly committee based (more so than the competitors), like "let's be edgy, but at all cost inclusive and not offensive". The hardware is mostly still well behaved, so I'm still all in on that front, but I am actively eyeing the alternatives for the first time in several years, just to have a quick backup option. I now a have a second (Android) phone and am using duplicate services (contacts, calendar, notes, photos etc.). And for work, learning the alternative options that work on Windows (Premiere vs. Final Cut, Ableton vs. Logic). I love the idea of tight integration, Apple style, and until very recently I was exclusively Apple-everything. But lately I've been feeling uneasy with that approach. Always have a backup plan and a redundant second everything (romantic partners not strictly implied in that scheme).

I have a Sonnet 650 with a reputable RX580 inside, hooked to a maxed 2019 13” MacBook Pro. Before Catalina, everything worked perfectly, but after the upgrade (and I waited for a .3 release) it was a random mess — the computer wouldn’t boot if connected to the eGPU at startup, many programs wouldn’t see the eGPU unless started in clamshell mode and even after seeing it wouldn’t use it, there were freezes that would only occur with the eGPU... Only after the latest .4 update things seem to have gotten back to normal, so something like 6 months after the Catalina launch. Admittedly, most pros are not fast to upgrade the OS on a mission-critical machine, but I wanted the new functionality on a computer that’s mixed personal and work use and I figured something as basic and so well officially supported by Apple MUST work from the beginning. Wrong. So I will be forever paranoid with the current setup. I really like the combination of good portability on the road paired with great power at home, but I guess I will go for a fully integrated 16” at upgrade time. Unless Apple releases a 14” with discrete GPU.

I gave Apple Music a try three times and always ended up running back to Spotify. Apple Music recommendations and discovery tools are horrendous, serving me the exact opposite of what I like (borderline offensive, rap crap and such), whereas Spotify gets it so right, a good balance of expected and surprising. I have used both in parallel for a while, feeding Apple Music both my iTunes library and Spotify playlists for months in order for it to get my taste. No use, it kept being awful. I remember when the service just started, I took the complementary trial and it was quite good at suggestions, but I already had Spotify with a family plan so I didn’t feel like paying for both. Then I thought how a music service deeply integrated with my many Apple products would be nice and gave it a try, but alas, it doesn’t work. Btw., I just gave up on Apple TV+ as well, I found the original content so bland and sanitized, plus mostly boring. I think I’ll just stick with Apple hardware and pro software (Final Cut Pro, Logic) I use to create stuff, for consumption they fail to deliver.

neilm said:

Does Apple ever launch new products on a Friday?

But we’re living in a crazy, crazy world nowadays...

Well, that was quite a lifestyle-oriented design upgrade. Still good tech on the inside and sensitive on the outside. I would take shorter and thicker over longer and thinner any time in a pro drive, and most other portable devices. I mean, the later is just more bendy by pure logic. And slipping it into a pocket, you would definitely notice much more several extra millimeters of length over thickness. Plus, the same slippery, scratch prone finish. I wonder why they never made a rugged version, it’s the principal reason why I use SanDisk and LaCie over Samsung even though I’m mostly brand agnostic.