What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[technix]

So today I bought two more USB to barrel jack power cords, and a bunch of HCT214 current transformers. I am not sure what is the exact type I got as there are two variants though. How do I figure that out?

[technix]

My daily driver is a MacMini running Mojave.

Mac Mini was always a bit underwhelming to me somehow. The hardware is underperforming and it is not justifying the cost. Should there be an Intel NUC that uses socketed wireless module (so a genuine Apple wireless module can be used for proper Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, as well as allowing the use of Continuity and Handoff) that can make a better small form factor macOS machine with Hackintosh. Bonus point if it is the ones with AMD RX Vega graphics as Apple never had a Mac Mini that has a dedicated GPU but macOS does support those built-in chipsets.

[tooki]

My daily driver is a MacMini running Mojave.

Mac Mini was always a bit underwhelming to me somehow. The hardware is underperforming and it is not justifying the cost. Should there be an Intel NUC that uses socketed wireless module (so a genuine Apple wireless module can be used for proper Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, as well as allowing the use of Continuity and Handoff) that can make a better small form factor macOS machine with Hackintosh. Bonus point if it is the ones with AMD RX Vega graphics as Apple never had a Mac Mini that has a dedicated GPU but macOS does support those built-in chipsets.

The mini — other than that weird phase where Apple didn't update it for years — is certainly not "underperforming" for tasks that don't need the power of a dedicated GPU. Where'd you get that idea? You wouldn't use a mini as a high-end workstation, but for most things, they're just as capable as an iMac, or the MacBook Air, which is Apple's most popular model. And of course, with Thunderbolt, you can use an external GPU with it if you want.

My current desktop is a 2008 Mac Pro, which is clearly showing its age. With the new Mac Pro being a much higher end workstation than the 2008 model, there's no way I can justify getting a new Mac Pro, so I'll either end up with an iMac, or with a new Mac mini and some kind of NAS or external RAID enclosure for all the drives. (Internal drives are the thing I'll miss most. USB drives are never quite as reliable, e.g. when going to sleep.)

[djos]

The mini — other than that weird phase where Apple didn't update it for years — is certainly not "underperforming" for tasks that don't need the power of a dedicated GPU. Where'd you get that idea? You wouldn't use a mini as a high-end workstation, but for most things, they're just as capable as an iMac, or the MacBook Air, which is Apple's most popular model. And of course, with Thunderbolt, you can use an external GPU with it if you want.

My current desktop is a 2008 Mac Pro, which is clearly showing its age. With the new Mac Pro being a much higher end workstation than the 2008 model, there's no way I can justify getting a new Mac Pro, so I'll either end up with an iMac, or with a new Mac mini and some kind of NAS or external RAID enclosure for all the drives. (Internal drives are the thing I'll miss most. USB drives are never quite as reliable, e.g. when going to sleep.)

My Daily driver is a late 2012 i7 Mini and it's still serving me well - adding a 120GB Samsung 840 PRO SSD a few years back (in Fusion mode with the 1TB) made a massive difference to it and gave it a whole new lease on life. I'm seriously considering replacing the fusion drive with a 1TB 860 EVO to lengthen it's life even further.

[technix]

The mini — other than that weird phase where Apple didn't update it for years — is certainly not "underperforming" for tasks that don't need the power of a dedicated GPU. Where'd you get that idea? You wouldn't use a mini as a high-end workstation, but for most things, they're just as capable as an iMac, or the MacBook Air, which is Apple's most popular model. And of course, with Thunderbolt, you can use an external GPU with it if you want.

What I mean is it is underperforming for its price, and it is not user upgradeable. Previous Mac Mini's (and MacBook Pro for that matter) are at least partially user upgradeable even though it means voiding warranty, but recent models started soldering down components like storage and memory, forcing me to pay for the Apple tax on upgrade components. Also it makes recovery a nightmare.

That is why I brought up Intel NUC as a comparison. NUCs are user upgradeable.

My Daily driver is a late 2012 i7 Mini and it's still serving me well - adding a 120GB Samsung 840 PRO SSD a few years back (in Fusion mode with the 1TB) made a massive difference to it and gave it a whole new lease on life. I'm seriously considering replacing the fusion drive with a 1TB 860 EVO to lengthen it's life even further.

When I bought my 2011 MacBook Pro I bought it with maxed out CPU (it is the 13-inch model so integrated GPU only anyway) but base memory and storage, and three days after I bought the machine I upgraded its memory and storage. This upgrade surpassed the maximum offer from Apple and is cheaper. Also back then those MacBook Pro's can be upgraded without affecting warranty. As of now my main Apple computer is a 2012 MacBook Pro, with 16GB memory and 1TB Samsung 850 Evo SSD. My daily driver is a Hackintosh though, with base hardware about equivalent to the top-of-the-line 2014 iMac and a RX 580 graphics card (slightly better than the Radeon Pro 580 in base 2018 Mac Pro)

[Mr. Scram]

I love my data being soldered into the thing that occasionally breaks, especially considering we currently have excellent M.2 slots which are both compact and effectively providing a solution for the removal of your data from a system. 

[technix]

What I mean is it is underperforming for its price, and it is not user upgradeable. Previous Mac Mini's (and MacBook Pro for that matter) are at least partially user upgradeable even though it means voiding warranty, but recent models started soldering down components like storage and memory, forcing me to pay for the Apple tax on upgrade components.

I upgraded mine from 8GB to 32GB. It's certainly doable.
SSD is soldered down, though.

That soldered down SSD is a major gripe for me. If you went with the previous generation even the memory chips are soldered down.

I love my data being soldered into the thing that occasionally breaks, especially considering we currently have excellent M.2 slots which are both compact and effectively providing a solution for the removal of your data from a system. 

Apple is not a fan of standard interfaces really... However there are adapters that allows insallation of standard M.2 drives in certain Mac models, include some older Mac Mini's that does not have soldered down storage.

[technix]

That soldered down SSD is a major gripe for me. If you went with the previous generation even the memory chips are soldered down.

Depending on how much are you willing to pay, there are Thunderbolt 3 to M2 adapters that can give you ~22Gbps of BW for $160, still way cheaper than Apple tax on higher capacity upgrades.

Then I would buy a used unit with both memory and storage not soldered down, then install maxed out memory, that Apple proprietary to NVMe adapter and a standard NVMe drive in it. This is even cheaper although I miss out the warranty. Or Hackintosh on a NUC which is really about the same.

[technix]

You do realize the 2018 MacMini actually has a full desktop 65W CPU? With a bit of modification (liquid metal TIM, RAM upgrade), you get a stupidly fast tiny computer that leaves all NUCs far behind.

The storage upgrades are stupid expensive though. I have 1.3TB of data on my current Hackintosh, and that means I am pegged at the 2TB option and no upgrade path.

Also, Apple certainly knows who is using genuine hardware and who is not. If Apple desires so, they can roll out an OS update that nukes all Hackintosh computers in no time.

They have no incentive to do that though, as they know what kind of people are using Hackintoshes - the last crowd of people they want to alienate are the power users.

AFAIK that list on Apple website about Metal-compatible graphics cards for 2009/2010 Mac Pro and eGPU comes from Hackintosh community's reports. So keeping Hackintosh community alive means Apple have a crowd of volunteer product testers, mostly power users or better, providing them free R&D.

[rdl]

The Mac mini is the only Apple product I was ever tempted to own. I'm still looking for an ebay deal on an older one.

[tooki]

Apple’s SSD pricing is high, but people often forget that it’s insanely fast SSD storage. Granted, even SATA SSD speed is more than adequate for many tasks, but the latest Macs with large T2-based SSDs have storage bandwidth approaching the RAM bandwidth of my 2008 Mac Pro!! (The 2018 mini has 3.4GB/sec SSD bandwidth, versus the 7.5GB/sec best-case scenario for RAM on the 2008 Pro.)

[daqq]

...these followed me home?

[lordvader88]

super glue for copper-clad boards. I will love soldering on to copper clad, another reason to love EE

[Mr.B]

I could not resist...

[mikerj]

super glue for copper-clad boards. I will love soldering on to copper clad, another reason to love EE

Are you now a professional troll or do you genuinely like the smell of burnt cyanoacrylate?

Overheating cyanoacrylate can generate hydrogen cyanide, perhaps this explains the posters recent topics.

[GlennSprigg]

I bought a packet of batteries, but the label on the back said...
"Batteries not included!"...  so I had to buy them again.

[tautech]

Some odds and sods of SMA fittings from Aliexpress.
Adaptor/joiner set and a few lots of termination styles for projects and VNA work. 2 bolt flange females yet to arrive. 
Terminations shared 50/50 with hendorog.
500mm RG400 cable.

[sab]

Those look nice. Do you have a reliable supplier?

Sanjay

[tautech]

Those look nice. Do you have a reliable supplier?

Sanjay

I got 3 items from the same guy and they were ~20 days to NZ
Adapter set
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32915423924.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.3da24c4dPoCwxS
4 lots of 10 SMA PCB SMD edge mount
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32912568609.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.3da24c4dPoCwxS
RG400
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32854810729.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.3da24c4dPoCwxS

50 lot of 4 bolt flange mount (fastest to arrive ~14 days)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33019328733.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.3da24c4dPoCwxS

2 bolt flange mount (still coming  ) 10 lots of 5
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33040109461.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.3da24c4dPoCwxS

[bitseeker]

$11 for 18 adapters?

I look forward to hearing how well they fit and hold up. Some years ago, I had bought some BNC tee adapters (I don't recall from where) and the male locking part (what do you call that, the collar?) easily popped off. 

[tautech]

$11 for 18 adapters?

I look forward to hearing how well they fit and hold up. Some years ago, I had bought some BNC tee adapters (I don't recall from where) and the male locking part (what do you call that, the collar?) easily popped off. 

Yeah well I couldn't resist them at that price. 
I figured going by the store name they'd be worth a try: ALLiSHOP RF coaxial connector Store
Even if they don't last they'll save my bacon a few times I'm sure......the # of times I've been caught without the right adaptor. 

[bitseeker]

Yeah, I know what you mean. You can never have too many adapters. If they fit well and don't fall apart, I'll get some too.

[Nominal Animal]

I've got at least two packages sitting in my local "post" office (just a small kiosk) according to tracking, but got no notification for three days... It's the motion sensor and 2.4" IPS display module I've been waiting for too.  These aren't the first registered eBay package they've "lost", either.  Dammit, now I have to go there and raise some noise, probably do some paperwork too, and I hate that.

Edited a few hours later:  Apparently, looking like an angry potato with a voice to match helps.  It did take a good fifteen minutes, but they discovered they had "accidentally misplaced the packages to the wrong shelf" (believe if you will), and now I have my packages.  I ought to be but am , because I really REALLY hate thieves and exploiters.

[beanflying]

Bench Reno time. 6mm Cork Floor tiles and adhesive after a little surface prep and no more lost bits in the gaps between the boards 

[tautech]

A new:



With lots of extras.