Software compatibility on the Mac is fine, unless you mean emulating Windows for gaming like the Steam Deck does so well. In that case, I’ve gotten Fallout 4 to work with Whisky, but that’s not a huge accomplishment. I have an M2 Pro Mac mini from 2023 and Fallout 4 came out in 2015. It’s not a great platform for gaming in any case. I play Blue Prince on it and that looks good. Stray, too. Those are newer games, but not particularly demanding. They look okay, but the framerate isn’t good. Xbox (Series X) is a better platform for both.
I’m not discounting or disregarding the Deck, I just haven’t got one so I cannot say what it can or can’t do. I’ve only heard good things about it. I have a friend who may be trying to unload one, I just can’t spare the cash right now and I’m not that interested in owning one. And I think he does have the most expensive version. And I think he’s upgraded the SSD in it. So sure, it would be a good deal and he’d make a good deal for a friend, I just don’t really have the room for it. Still, it is tempting.
Tbf, I haven’t touched a Mac in ages (and never personally owned one in my life), because the combination of the “luxury™” device tax and Apple’s vindictive anti-repair stance (and their walled garden on principle but that’s not relevant here) basically put them on my “never buy and never recommend” list. I have heard of good work being put on a compatibility layer similar to Wine on their front, but I’d imagine specialist software that depends on GPU acceleration (in my case, CAD software) would struggle to run in that scenario on Apple Silicon.
(Plus, a used thinkpad is cheap as cheap can be and again, an entry-level, fully repairable and upgradeable deck will run you around $300 with much better game performance for it’s portable weight class)
Tbf, I haven’t touched a Mac in ages (and never personally owned one in my life), because the combination of the “luxury™” device tax and Apple’s vindictive anti-repair stance (and their walled garden on principle but that’s not relevant here) basically put them on my “never buy and never recommend” list.
All good points. So here’s what ya do - slide on over to your favorite used gear hub and pick up a 10 year old 8GB model for like $50 or $100. These things sold for thousands back in the day but now they’re just beautiful old advanced-for-the-time hardware (that often run linux super easy if you get bored).
A little research will keep you to the ones that can be upgraded easily.
Grok all the rounded edges and backlit island glass-touchpad beautifulness. Wonder at how they got a good sound from tiny speakers in 1847 or whatever. Enjoy kicking around the candy colored icons and see how the configurations are just two clicks to wherever you want to be. It’s like a vacation from scrolling through a textfile. Or, get jiggy with the BSD and go nuts. Get a free apple ID and smile guiltily when all your other cheap rescues line up behind it and interact seamlessly.
Just don’t use your real name, keep behind your favorite recipe of networking, etc., obvs. And you might decide it’s a good thing.
To be clear, Apple’s compatibility layer is mostly inaccessible to the user. Even with the latest macOS, so you should have GPTK (Game Porting Tool Kit), you can’t just run a Windows game. You have to do some work… or use something like Whisky. And the guy who made Whisky stopped working on it so people could pay subscription fees to CrossOver (which is not a bad product; in fact, it funnels money into WINE which helps everyone). So in theory with CrossOver your CAD software may work… or may not… but it sounds like it wouldn’t be worth it for you to try.
But wait — just out of curiosity, how upgradeable is a ThinkPad? Typically the motherboard limits what you can do (e.g. if it’s an AMD system, an AM4 means you can use most of the newest stuff, but there’s some stuff locked behind AM5 you won’t be able to touch, but it’s the same on the Intel side as well). So, just curious how far you can actually take a $300 used ThinkPad. I used to build, so it’s just that, a curiosity.
The Steam Deck is the most upgradeable, you can do all sorts of crazy stuff (I probably phrased that poorly in the prior comment), but the used thinkpad’s milage probably varies based on which model you buy. Standard stuff like RAM, storage, and so on are easily upgraded though (unlike Apple who SOLDERS THEM IN for some “fuck you” reason).
Software compatibility on the Mac is fine, unless you mean emulating Windows for gaming like the Steam Deck does so well. In that case, I’ve gotten Fallout 4 to work with Whisky, but that’s not a huge accomplishment. I have an M2 Pro Mac mini from 2023 and Fallout 4 came out in 2015. It’s not a great platform for gaming in any case. I play Blue Prince on it and that looks good. Stray, too. Those are newer games, but not particularly demanding. They look okay, but the framerate isn’t good. Xbox (Series X) is a better platform for both.
I’m not discounting or disregarding the Deck, I just haven’t got one so I cannot say what it can or can’t do. I’ve only heard good things about it. I have a friend who may be trying to unload one, I just can’t spare the cash right now and I’m not that interested in owning one. And I think he does have the most expensive version. And I think he’s upgraded the SSD in it. So sure, it would be a good deal and he’d make a good deal for a friend, I just don’t really have the room for it. Still, it is tempting.
Steam Deck (or any Linux device) does not emulate Windows for games. A translation layer is much different.
Tbf, I haven’t touched a Mac in ages (and never personally owned one in my life), because the combination of the “luxury™” device tax and Apple’s vindictive anti-repair stance (and their walled garden on principle but that’s not relevant here) basically put them on my “never buy and never recommend” list. I have heard of good work being put on a compatibility layer similar to Wine on their front, but I’d imagine specialist software that depends on GPU acceleration (in my case, CAD software) would struggle to run in that scenario on Apple Silicon.
(Plus, a used thinkpad is cheap as cheap can be and again, an entry-level, fully repairable and upgradeable deck will run you around $300 with much better game performance for it’s portable weight class)
All good points. So here’s what ya do - slide on over to your favorite used gear hub and pick up a 10 year old 8GB model for like $50 or $100. These things sold for thousands back in the day but now they’re just beautiful old advanced-for-the-time hardware (that often run linux super easy if you get bored).
A little research will keep you to the ones that can be upgraded easily.
Grok all the rounded edges and backlit island glass-touchpad beautifulness. Wonder at how they got a good sound from tiny speakers in 1847 or whatever. Enjoy kicking around the candy colored icons and see how the configurations are just two clicks to wherever you want to be. It’s like a vacation from scrolling through a textfile. Or, get jiggy with the BSD and go nuts. Get a free apple ID and smile guiltily when all your other cheap rescues line up behind it and interact seamlessly.
Just don’t use your real name, keep behind your favorite recipe of networking, etc., obvs. And you might decide it’s a good thing.
All fair.
To be clear, Apple’s compatibility layer is mostly inaccessible to the user. Even with the latest macOS, so you should have GPTK (Game Porting Tool Kit), you can’t just run a Windows game. You have to do some work… or use something like Whisky. And the guy who made Whisky stopped working on it so people could pay subscription fees to CrossOver (which is not a bad product; in fact, it funnels money into WINE which helps everyone). So in theory with CrossOver your CAD software may work… or may not… but it sounds like it wouldn’t be worth it for you to try.
But wait — just out of curiosity, how upgradeable is a ThinkPad? Typically the motherboard limits what you can do (e.g. if it’s an AMD system, an AM4 means you can use most of the newest stuff, but there’s some stuff locked behind AM5 you won’t be able to touch, but it’s the same on the Intel side as well). So, just curious how far you can actually take a $300 used ThinkPad. I used to build, so it’s just that, a curiosity.
The Steam Deck is the most upgradeable, you can do all sorts of crazy stuff (I probably phrased that poorly in the prior comment), but the used thinkpad’s milage probably varies based on which model you buy. Standard stuff like RAM, storage, and so on are easily upgraded though (unlike Apple who SOLDERS THEM IN for some “fuck you” reason).