Please find an off-topic place to tell us how you like the 2023 MacBook Pro. I have a mid-range 2021 model - 14 inch - that I like a lot. And I think @Torq still has a near top of the line 16 inch 2021 MacBook Pro also. I think I might be in the market for a replacement at the next big speed bump, as I run Parallels and Windows 11 for ARM on it much of the time for work. It’s more than tolerable, but I don’t know if I have VPN lag or CPU slowing it down.
2 Likes
Every time my kids get me raging mad (usually cuz they’re fighting or being ungrateful little s-hts), I spend money on audio instead of putting it in their college fund.
Jokes aside, I see sick people who get told their very limited life expectancy, every damn day. And one of my colleagues, 10 years younger than I, just got diagnosed with cancer. It’s gonna be my turn at some point, and I don’t want to wait until then (or when my hearing gets too old) to enjoy this great hobby.
#YOLO
6 Likes
I don’t want to know what I’ve spent. It helps more with the coping that way 
10 Likes
Totally agree, life is short, enjoy your hobbies. Music enjoyment is much better than buying a bunch of rolex,s to impress your friends.
3 Likes
I tried that approach, unfortunately my wife keeps reminding me!
2 Likes
Been in this hobby for nearly 50 years. Most hifi purchases have been on used gear.
Factoring in for inflation I’ve owned over $100,000 all in. Most expensive systems were 2 channel. These days, I have almost all used gear and a very small fraction of the $100k figure.
Have I enjoyed the hobby all these years? You betcha! 
6 Likes
Smart man, i have purchased several headphones, slightly used and saved alot of money. I prefer to buy new for big ticket items such as home dac/amp.
2 Likes
I tend to configure my laptops with the highest spec available. I do still have one of the three I purchased (I buy them in threes). I’ve since picked up three of the current version, again maxed out.
1 Like
Over the past 5 years, I’ve spent roughly $12K. $1-2K of it was to get to this point, with the remaining spent on equipment I use regularly.
This is far less than I spent on camera equipment in the same period of time (my primary vice), and the amount of money spent on items I no longer have is a far greater percentage.
4 Likes
I’m curious why buy in threes?
1 Like
…because it’s the Magic Number
4 Likes
Two for active use (sometimes I will take two with me when I travel, sometimes I just need more portable power … since at home I work 95% of the time on desktop setups), and one as an instantly-available backup.
Since I’m buying maxed-out BTO units, which often have a multi-week lead time (especially closer to launch), there’s no option to just go grab a stock unit from the Apple Store if something fails.
Though, to be fair, I’ve only had one MacBook Pro experience a hardware issue since I bought my first one back in 2008.
2 Likes
OK I have to ask (getting way off topic here…) what is your solution for managing consistent access to personal data? Do you use a mix of public + private cloud? Backups? Since you seem to favor a robust approach I’m curious what you’ve found works best for your needs.
1 Like
My other hobbies get more $$$ too. If I really want it I look at long-term residual value rather than purchase cost. If it’s going to depreciate to $0 I try to resist, but if it’ll hold its own and can be resold when my mood changes…I don’t care much.
3 Likes
Backups are a multi-tiered setup with local, offsite (offline), and cloud backup systems. Everything is encrypted at the source, and the cloud systems do not have the encryption keys.
Individual machines run Time Machine to a local NAS for convenience. The Time Machine backups are encrypted. The NAS volumes are encrypted. And the physical drives also have their own encryption.
They also run BackBlaze, with a long, high-entropy, private encryption key.
The NAS units get backed up to rotating drive sets for offline backup (kept at two different, offsite, locations). This is handled by a commercial service. They ALSO get backed up the cloud, across multiple isolated regions.
For keeping working files/data current, accessible and synced across various machines, it depends on what the data is. Code goes via GitHub. Non-sensitive documents via iCloud (and OneDrive for one specific set of data). More sensitive stuff handled by ChronoSync, with data-specific jobs, via AWS. Anything even vaguely sensitive is encrypted before it ever leaves the source.
And of course, all of the machines are running both hardware drive encryption (which you can’t generally turn off these days), as well as OS-level volume encryption (e.g. FileVault) and in extreme cases, individual file-level encryption on top of that.
2 Likes
So, Ian, what do you do these days that requires such robust backup and security? You still working, retired or semi retired and keeping up previous levels of caution out of habit or because it’s already set up?
1 Like
Still retired … (with no particular desire to change that) …
So it’s personal projects, mostly.
Though I’m sure that, for the most part, my idea of what constitutes a “personal project” is a bit different than most*.
Of course, occasionally, I do “quick” projects for the hell of it … such as the Headphone Tools thing, or other little apps/tools. I’m doing a coffee-centric one at the moment (something I do intend to put on the App Store) … that sort of thing keeps me sane in airport lounges and on long flights.
The serious security is mostly for financial and IP related matters (for said projects).
The backup stuff I implemented incrementally (mostly in response to having a massive music library) and doesn’t require much attention. As long as nothing fails (which is usually just a minor config change), it’s just a case of paying the bill and then adding drivers/expanding the storage pools periodically.
*The last one spanned several years, and I invested several million dollars into in terms of R&D, equipment, compute time and legal/patent fees - and when finished I sold the IP outright.
6 Likes
Total around $650.
stopped using 1/2 of it.
4 Likes
Why? I love hifi music. I probably spend too much, but its like any hobby. You get more enjoyment with good audio gear.
Cool, Everyone needs projects or hobbies to be happy! I retired as well. I Do not miss the corporate world at all. Spend my time volunteering as a park patrol person for Jeffco Open space. When not doing volunteering, i do my artwork, and audio,scuba hobbies.