Random thoughts.... [Tech Edition]

So, anyone ready for "One more thing"?

 
I have the Ryobi one (it looks like they've replaced it now with a newer version). I'd say it's actually decent. The low pressure inflator does work great for air mattresses; it moves more air than one of those lead-acid battery Coleman inflators. The tire inflator isn't the fastest in the world but it's far from the slowest. It gets the job done. If I'm topping off car tires with a few lbs of pressure I can do it faster with that than it takes to turn on my big compressor, get the hose uncoiled, etc. I wouldn't use it to air up the Jeep after airing down for off road runs, but it isn't meant for that.
True, it doesn't have a 12V adapter, but it doesn't seem to drain the battery overly quickly, and that's with a dinky 1.5 mAh battery.
I was specifically looking at the old one because they turned the battery 90 degrees in the new one and it would be difficult to fit a Makita battery with an adapter. I have a big twin cylinder compressor for the Land Rover tyres so wouldn't expect big things from it, it's so I can top up the tyres in the Tesla without running a cable inside every time and so I can top off the summer tyres in the garage.

From their run time it looks like it uses an average of 3.3A @ 18V, so if I used a buck converter from 12V it would be more like 6A. It would probably be fine as the Tesla can supply 10A on the 12V socket but I'm not convinced I want that plugged into my car as it will no doubt spike. I definitely don't want to carry around a battery with me all of the time, it would no doubt be flat when I want it or I would take it out to charge and forget it.

Part of me says just get the DeWalt as it does everything I want, is well built and I know it's safe to plug into the car. Some things are worth paying extra for. Battery adapters from Makita to DeWalt are cheap and easy to find. Part of me wants to be cheap and get the dumb Ryobi inflators with analogue gauge, it's not accurate but I can put a T-piece on the valve and use my accurate gauge. This is dumb enough for me to wire in a pressure switch, clamp the trigger and use it to constantly top off my pressure oil fill tank too.

We sell an off-brand inflator at my job. The feature it has over my Makita is that you don’t have to hold the trigger. We found out the side effect of this when we left it alone to air up the forklift and came back to a tire that was flatter than when we started. Once it shuts off, air starts leaking back out through the pump.

Obviously this can be fixed by fitting a one-way valve at the factory, but there’s no guarantee you got the seal around the schrader valve 100% tight anyway.

This is interesting, I didn't see anyone testing that. I'll admit I'm torn when it comes to the type of valve fitting used. For convenience I prefer the push-on-and-lock type fitting but the screw on ones definitely seal better.

So, anyone ready for "One more thing"?

I'm intrigued, I suspect Mac news.
 
The ARM-based Mac/-book announcements are going to be interesting, although I don't have any immediate interest in that device class.

I'm hoping for at least a minor refresh on the 16" MBP, that'd make it a strong candidate for my next work laptop due in December/January. Reasonably certain that will stay on x86/64 though... if not, that'll probably be the end of that idea, since there's no way all the necessary work software will be ARM-compatible by the end of the year.

EDIT I am disappoint. M1 sounds neat, but as expected not in "my" device class. Briefly considered the 13" MBP w/ M1 as an option, but then the summary graphic showed "Up to 16GB RAM" in the corner, so that's right out - my next machine is having 64GB and nothing less, because starting up all work project components in Docker already doesn't fit in the 32GB my current Dell has. MBP 16 wasn't mentioned and appears untouched spec-wise... meh.
 
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So, I'm very excited about the M1 chip, that looks amazing, but I am a little disappointed that they didn't replace the 13" MacBook Air with a resurrected 12" MacBook, which was already fanless and actually had a meaningfully smaller footprint than the 13" MacBook Pro, justifying it's "Air" name.
 
About what I expected. My 2018 MBP13 is over there in a corner, crying ?
 
Okay, I missed the keynote livestream as I had a class during that time, so just after the class (which coincides with the end of the keynote) I joined Luke Miani's livestream on YouTube, and opened Apple's website and GSMArena to get the basic info on what's new. As of writing this, I'm also watching the recorded keynote.

As I expected, apart from Apple silicon, there's not much new. A few things surprised me, though: namely the refreshed, cheaper Mac Mini and the fact that the 4-port 13" MacBook Pro remained unchanged, as well as USB4 support on M1-powered devices. I did expect the 16" MacBook Pro to get a spec bump to 10th-gen Intel silicon, but that might come in the following weeks. It wouldn't make much sense in this Apple silicon-centred event anyway.

I was kinda hoping that the prices for the laptops would be dropped as well, perhaps not as dramatically (-$200) as everyone expected, but by -$100 for both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro respectively, or at least for the latter only. I'm not surprised by the fact prices remained the same, but since the Mac Mini got a drop by $100, it's not like MBA and MBP couldn't get the same treatment.

In the end, I predict that most day-to-day user-experince improvements will be seen in battery life, which is still very significant. The performance will probably be better, but not as much as (some) people had hoped for. But I'm holding my final judgements until I see some YouTube comparisons.
 
The Air is fanless, that's something.

I fully expected them to upgrade the less powerful machines first. Not because the more powerful chips might not be ready yet, but because it takes time for the Adobe and likes of them to get their pro apps done. And all the plugins for said pro apps. And the plugins for the plugins for the plugins.
 
The RAM "situation" is concerning. only up to 16GB, supposedly non-upgradeable or expandable, and it's a $200 upgrade from 8gb? Do I understand that right?
 
Yup. The RAM is pretty much a part of the SoC now, so I'd guess it's impossible to upgrade it, unless you pay $200 to Apple. Whether the 16GB limitation is arbitrary or some sort of a limitation of the system is anyone's guess, though.
 
I bet this is their way of getting around the right to repair laws. Can‘t replace separate hardware if it’s all one piece. *taps forehead*
 
Apple laptops have had integrated RAM (and storage) for years, so this is not really news. You need to buy the correct spec from the get-go.
 
I have seen some benchmarks done with the (fan less) M1-equipped MacBook Air where it's GPU delivers a slightly higher score than the 8-core i9 16" MacBook Pro. It out scores every single current Mac in single core and beats every single current MacBook in multi core, while getting within spitting distance of the base Mac Pro.

If that benchmark is even remotely indicative of what these Apple Silicon Macs will be capable of then this transition really is the giant leap for the Macs that it has been hyped to be. A further deep dive into the M1 can be found here.
 
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It's also interesting that the Pro and Air uses the exact same CPU. I guess the Air, being fanless, will throttle down where the Pro doesn't have to.

My main computer nowadays is a 2018 MBP13 that spends 99% of its time driving an external monitor. That Mac Mini is relevant to my interests.
 
As I expected. The modern-day "Adobe for hobbyists" is already fully prepared for Apple Silicon. Adobe themselves are (hopefully) busy figuring out their legacy code.

(Screenshot from the Mac App Store updates tab)

Skärmavbild 2020-11-14 kl. 13.03.44.png
 
I wasn't aware of Affinity, just looked it up and it's Serif! What a throwback. My first computer came with Serif DrawPlus and PagePlus on it, along with Lotus Smartsuite. Damn.

If they also had a video editor I'd consider switching, the £50 a month Adobe subscription hurts as a hobbyist. If I didn't use Illustrator or Premiere Pro I'd go for the photography subscription at a much more reasonable cost.
 
I wasn't aware of Affinity, just looked it up and it's Serif! What a throwback. My first computer came with Serif DrawPlus and PagePlus on it, along with Lotus Smartsuite. Damn.

If they also had a video editor I'd consider switching, the £50 a month Adobe subscription hurts as a hobbyist. If I didn't use Illustrator or Premiere Pro I'd go for the photography subscription at a much more reasonable cost.

I've never heard of Serif and thought it was a new company. :)

The only downside I've noticed it that it doesn't (or at least didn't) support embedded fonts when importing other people's PDF material into your work, something I do a lot with Affinity Publisher. I've worked around that by converting the PDF files into high-res PNG first but it feels like a stupid solution for a problem that shouldn't exist.

I can't complain though, the entire suite cost me a couple months' worth of Adobe CC.
 
Part of me says just get the DeWalt as it does everything I want, is well built and I know it's safe to plug into the car. Some things are worth paying extra for. Battery adapters from Makita to DeWalt are cheap and easy to find. Part of me wants to be cheap and get the dumb Ryobi inflators with analogue gauge, it's not accurate but I can put a T-piece on the valve and use my accurate gauge. This is dumb enough for me to wire in a pressure switch, clamp the trigger and use it to constantly top off my pressure oil fill tank too.

Was talking to a locksmith fitting a new lock, he was using a DeWalt Drill, but the power switch was a worn out from constant use, which he planned to get fixed at a service centre. His back was a Ryobi which he highly recommended.

I have a couple of Ryobi tools. On one I had a slight problem, when pushing battery into handle on a Reciprocating Saw, one of the battery connections bent and had to bend it back so battery go in. Not sure how it happened.

Worth pointing out Ryobi have newer High Capacity(or Energy) which are about 20% more powerful.
 
While the discussion is somewhat on a topic of power tools, I'll jump right in.

It seems my decade old cheap electric screwdriver is finally dying. It was an off-brand 6V tiny thing, and I'm completely blown away by how long it held together and how much stuff it helped me build over the years, but it's lost a lot of torque and isn't holding charge for more than a few minutes of work anymore, and the battery is non-removable, so basically dead.

Now I'm thinking, this might be a good point to start a proper 18V power tool set going. Currently looking at Ryobi with a "drill/screwdriver + 2x 2Ah batteries + fast charger" starter set (R18DD3-220TA17) at 126€ regular price. There are also a couple other 18V tools Ryobi makes that I'd look into for expanding the set - hand vacuum and hot glue gun being the ones I'd want first.

Makita was recommended as an alternative on Telegram, and they do have similar stuff. But it seems more expensive, at least in regular pricing. I'll probably be waiting for Black Friday/CyberMonday/whatever the sales are called that come before the holiday season, there's no rush.

Any recommendations, experiences and general comments much welcome :)
 
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