I’ve been using my MacBook Pro exclusively for about three months now, carrying it back and forth to work, using it at home, writing, building 3D models, texturing, doing art, music, and video — and other than a few issues with OSX trying too hard to help it’s been great!
I’m still not a fan of “do everything” operating systems… An OS exists to run user software on user hardware, that’s it. Everything else tends to be sub-par bloat.
But OSX is still better than Windows in that regard — and has less creepy user spying too.
I have “upgraded” the laptop slightly. First was an external thunderbolt-3 PCIe enclosure for my old 1.2TB Intel 750 SSD, which is now used for “Time Machine” backups. Then I picked up a CalDigit TS3 Thunderbolt-3 dock which connects the PCIe enclosure and all of my peripherals to the laptop when I’m at home. I was also using the CalDigit to run my 34″ ultrawide monitor.
I had been holding off on the eGPU upgrade until Apple finished the AMD NAVI drivers, which they did last week with 10.15.1 — so there is now a Powercolor “Game Center” eGPU box housing an AMD 5700XT on my desk as well. And now the ultrawide monitor is plugged into the eGPU.
While Thunderbolt-3 is limited to basically PCIe x4, the 5700XT is still several times the performance of the Vega 20 GPU in the laptop — which makes SecondLife a bit easier to work with. 🙂
The latest acquisition is a Wacom Cintiq Pro 13″ which replaced my decade-old Intuos4.
I’d originally decided to just replace the Intuos4 with a new one (the old one has gotten a bit shaky on the right side of the active area…), but Wacom’s prices are kind of crazy and they still want $500 for the Intuos… The Cintiq was basically the same size, has a built-in screen, and was only $200 more — and I’ve always wanted to try drawing directly on what I’m working on digitally… So here we are.
I’m still getting used to the ‘directly on the screen’ thing, but so far so good. I’ve been right hand on the mouse/digitizer/pen and eyes on the monitor since the late 80’s, so there’s a bit of re-learning to do. But I’m still adaptable. 🙂