friedmud

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friedmud
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  • Compared: iPhone XS Max video quality trounces iPhone X

    friedmudfriedmud
    Well done!

    I am pretty serious about my photography.  I use a Nikon DSLR normally - but have been using my iPhone more and more as the camera has improved (I currently have the X)/

    These improvements are pretty huge and are now making me want to upgrade.  I was on the fence about it before... but now I'll take the plunge!

    Thanks for the great video!
    bradchatelliermagman1979redgeminipawatto_cobra

  • Tested: Thermal conditions in the 2018 i9 MacBook Pro dramatically hampering performance

    friedmudfriedmud
    Ok - I posted a Gist over here with a definitive test that will show if the new laptops are throttling: https://gist.github.com/friedmud/2dd0e9b08cf766c16b7cd95fbc74ceeb

    You can't really get any more instruction intensive than that!  (ok, well - I didn't bother targeting AVX which could possibly activate more pathways through the processor that aren't being exercised there to get an even larger thermal boost - but I doubt it would do much.  Could try enabling some optimization to see what that would do - but it might also just optimize out the loops completely!).

    You can see the results on my 2017 MBP with i7-7920HQ in the comments at the bottom... now we just need to get someone with the new MBPs to run the code as well.  I highly suspect that you won't see any HUGE thermal throttling...
    Player2

  • Tested: Thermal conditions in the 2018 i9 MacBook Pro dramatically hampering performance

    friedmudfriedmud
    pascal007 said:
    If it was only the CPU taking a breather, as you say, the task would still be performed faster. Yet, as Lee showed, the task is performed faster (or as fast) using a i7 CPU compared to the i9, so there is a real performance problem when heat-stressed.

    If the program is not 100% instruction intensive then a faster processor won't help much.  The speedup will be somewhat limited by whatever is limiting the instruction intensity.  For instance, if there is thread-locking (thread-contention for a shared resource) going on then a bump in MHz will only make you get to the thread lock faster.  That will give you a small speedup - but you'll only get a percentage of the speedup you should because the processors are still waiting.

    Mike Wuerthele said:
    Regarding the I/O, the I/O is controlled by the T2, so there is zero overhead for the CPU. Couple that with the speed of the SSD, and there's still no time for the CPU to slow.

    No such thing as zero overhead for i/o.  If the program has to wait for the file to be completely written (flushed) at any point... then the processor will stall.  The T2 and SSD will help minimize things... but processors work on microseconds.  Even just the very slightest stall in the instruction pipeline will bring down the frequency.  Try out that second program I just posted above and play with the parameters to see the impact of even a tiny stall.
    dewme

  • Everything new in Apple's 2018 MacBook Pro

    friedmudfriedmud
    entropys said:
    iqatedo said:
    ...
    Would have loved Face ID but I can live. 
    I wonder whether the lack of Face ID is a problem of supply or a technical one. I trust that at some point, it will be able to recognise any number of users with separate accounts. I wonder too how many users maintain multiple accounts on their MacBooks. I have a couple on each of mine.
    Even if there was only one user account, the problem with Face ID on a laptop would be that a lot of the time when the machine is docked the lid is closed.

    So?  That didn't stop them from putting TouchID on the laptop that can't be reached when it's docked either...

    FaceID would still be incredibly useful _most_ of the time for most users.
    cgWerks

  • Hands on: Netgear Cable Orbi modem & mesh Wi-Fi router

    friedmudfriedmud
    I love my (original) Orbi system - and I have a whole house full of Homekit stuff and haven't had any problems.

    In my old house, I stopped using the satellite because it's only 1500 sq ft and the base station alone covered everything well enough.  I bought the system to be future proof though because I was looking at buying a house.

    I just closed on a house and it's 3500 sq ft spread across 2 floors and a finished basement.  This last week I got cable internet hooked up at the new place and spent an hour with the install guy going over options for where to put the Orbi base and satellite.  Ended up with the base in the middle of the top floor... and the satellite in the middle of the basement.  Everything is working perfectly and there is plenty of wifi signal everywhere (in fact - I actually lowered the transmit power of the Orbi system because there was more than enough signal).

    Also: I bought the Netgear DOCSIS 3.1 modem to go with the Orbi.  My local cable company can't use it yet... but as long as I was buying a cable modem I don't see why you wouldn't get DOCSIS 3.1 gear.  I do think it's odd that Netgear went with 3.0 for this...


    mike1watto_cobra