AbeTrve

not only that but at this smaller gpu sizes gcn's scaling problems go away, (more rops and tmus per Compute unit)(gcn is limited to 64 rops, and 4 pipelines right now)

If this is going to connect directly to the TV, then for 4k HDR you're better off using a native app for that specific media.
 
What's your budget, how much tinkering do you want to do, and are you comfortable with used equipment?
 
Turnkey ready to go, QNAP/Synology are hard to beat. After that a custom build with unRaid would be very easy.
For media playback and such, I'd suggest custom built. Lot more flexibility and power to do more with. Plus you can pick a custom case that looks "pretty" to fit in.

FYI... Plex is broken with HDR content... and you propperly have to transcode the 4K content.. even though your new TV may support all 4k and hdr types.. like the new OLED tv's from LG...
 
The issue is plex! - If so if you want to view 4K HEVC, HDR content... use DNLA to see media files... - And use it together with plex + your TV.. and don't have plex stream your content...
 
otherwise your plex will transcode the content.. and btw a 8core/16threads ryzen cpu is having 100% CPU load when transcoding 4k HEVC, since it transcodes it to x264.. and i even get stutter... due to this kind of transcoding is INSANELY taxing on the CPU..
 
However as i said.. if you enable DNLA inside plex and browse your media files from your TV with DNLA, you will play the files directly and won't have the transcoding and HDR will work!

I feel bad for you dude. 
 
Synology DS718+ ($399.99)
WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Disk Drive ($133.99)

You could always build your own NAS but I would recommend a Synology for their diskstation software. There are numerous videos and pages talking about both brands.
https://www.synology.com/en-us/support/nas_selector https://www.qnap.com/en/product_x_selector/ both have convenient selectors based on the usage you are going to use it for.

I run a Synology DS416 that ticks off every box you mention. The one thing I'm not 100% sure on is the 4k HDR content. I know for plex I have to encode my content (only 1080 stuff fwiw) in a format my Apple TV will play natively because the processor can't keep up with transcoding content during playback. If there's a similar method for 4k content then you'll probably be fine.
 
It's pretty small, very quiet, and packed with options. I'd definitely purchase it again if I had to do it all over. Maybe 4 bays is overkill, but sometimes I don't think about that.

Yep, although I feel that dark UIs actually look more sophisticated.
 
Which, IMO, better fits these new bezel-less designs.
 

It's a pretty easy fix, just release a base model with a few basic fans for ~$100. Maybe they will after they milk the $200 model dry or it fails to sell.

Wouldn't have enough updates to test

Aero, Flip 3D, translucent glass windows, fancier animations, etc... 
My iPhone and iPad didn't have that much performance hits with iOS 10.1 but it improved greatly with iOS 10.3 when Apple transitioned iPhones and iPads from HFS+ to APFS.

Just quoting both to kill two birds with one stone.
 
SO-DIMMs aren't any more expensive than DIMMs. Though high performance SO-DIMMS are practically non-existant. As of this post's timestamp, the fastest SO-DIMM I could find on PCPP is DDR4-2800. So going to SO-DIMM would limit the performance of your super awesome gaming board. However I have seen mini-ITX and smaller form factors using SO-DIMM if they're not meant for gaming. Like for POS or thin clients.
 
Now what I want to know is why nobody's attempted the DFI Lan Party layout anymore. If you don't know what that is:

 
From an ATX airflow stand point, this makes more sense.

The 7+ starts at $770 and with 32gb of storage. The 8 is more akin to the 7+ than the 7 and it is rumored to start with 128gb of storage. So, you're talking about around $1000 ($950 would be my guess) vs. $770 -- a $200~ difference, but also with significantly more storage --- the 128gb 7+ is $870 (so like a $100~ difference). 
 
Plenty of people are willing to pay.....what reason do they have to charge less? You can blame the consumer just as much if not more than Apple. 
That's another thing actually, iPhones hold their value pretty well. I paid $850 for my 64gb 6s+ in September 2015. In September 2016 I could have sold it on Ebay/Craigslist for about $700 (or to Verizon for $650 to put towards a 7+), and now in 2017 I would be able to sell it for around $500.

That explains why the Note 8 got a mass price increase as well. Probably to hide things that would be illegal in some countries.

iOS is derived from BSD (unix). If you want both 32 and 64 bit app support, you need a kernel that supports multi arch. For example, 64 bit Linux OSes do not natively support running 32 bit binaries. You have to manually enable multi arch support by adding additional packages, modifying kernel, adding dependencies, etc...
 
The point is, it's not native like everyone thinks, not even on Windows, look up WOW64. Its Windows 32 on Windows 64. It's the only way to run 32bit apps on 64 bit versions of Windows, via a separate subsystem/library.
 
All of this adds overhead, complexity, and uses up both storage and ram for no reason. Apps can be coded to the native architecture, and be drastically improved in terms of performance and memory usage. There's nothing wrong with leaning down a OS, especially a mobile OS. It's called optimization and makes this simpler for both Apple and devs.

Just another way Apple can force obsolescence onto hardware that otherwise is perfectly fine.

Its a little different on ARM architecture than x86. The reason we think of desktop/laptop CPUs from Intel and AMD as being 'backwards' compatible is because x86_64 is a instruction set extension. On ARM, not so much, AArch64 is actually not an extension of AArch32. So really, this is already happening, and has been happening. Don't blame Apple.
 
32 bit OSes on AArch64 depends on the CPU, backwards compatibility at the hardware level isn't a requirement, but merely an available option via a hypervisor, and that up to the CPU manufacturer to implement. 64 Bit OSes can still execute 32 bit binaries as long as the kernel supports it.

A bit blown out of proportion, don'y you think?
https://opensource.apple.com
^^Plenty of open source in OSx and iOS. Not saying its all open source, but then again, why should it? Windows isn't, some *nix distros aren't either. 
 
Many of the things you list have tangible reasons for why they happened.
 
Lightning was due to a deficit of reliable reversible connectors in the USB standard (until recently with USB Type C). As for the 30 pin connector, it carried video out, line level audio out, firewire and usb. It was more of a dock connector for third party peripherals. Was it necessary, maybe not. But there's an actual technical reason why they implemented it. Other devices had proprietary dock connectors too (at the time), and no one complained about those, eg: Dell/IBM laptop docking stations, I still have one lying around.
 
As for thunderbolt? Really, it was co-developed with Intel, hardly an Apple proprietary design. Apple just had first dibs at exclusivity when thunderbolt 1 launched. And look at Thunderbolt now, a good chunk of high end laptops have it available, its available on OEM systems, and enthusiast motherboards. Thunderbolt is also a registered trademark of Intel, not Apple. 
 
H.264: Apple didn't push that on consumers, the film and broadcast industry did. It was a joint effort between ITU-T and MPEG and ISO. 
 
ALAC: Open source and royalty free
AAC: Not Apple, thank MPEG, its used in radio broadcasts, to TV audio encoding. 
HEVC: Thank JCT-VC and MPEG
 
HEIF: Actually, this is really interesting. JPEG is past its prime, and again, this isn't a Apple proprietary solution,its actualy MPEG, the standard was finalized in 2015. Apple, is just one of the first to implement the new format. Adopting new, more efficient standards isn't a bad thing.
 
I wont get into the hardware side of Apple's SSDs, I don't have the knowledge to comment on that in particular.
 
TL;DR: Over half the list you posted is BS, a little research will go a long way. Not saying apple doesn't use proprietary tech, but rather, that most of the tech is industry standard and not limited to Apple products.

Despite this being 155W TDP, I think it will be actually easier to cool due to the huge surface area and all the heat spread across 4 dies.

Good riddance. These are FRAND yet Qualcomm abuses their position and I have no remorse of them getting ganged up on. 
 
If nothing else, screwing with OEMs in forcing the use of CDMA modems. CDMA is dying, let it die. Qualcomm isn't even spearheading 5G, a lot of that actually comes from Samsung and Intel and the immense work they've put in on that front; Qualcomm is getting pissy that in a few years time they wont really be needed for much 

They are probably trying to open to the (largest) market share that is using mice with this design. Be it Razer, Zowie, Logitech, they all have designs like this, and are arguably the most used mice. It's a good place to start at. 

That's not really the intended use of the card though.

no not optional, just 2fa or only pin. bio metrics are not a good security practice unless they are combined with a pass code of some sorts. with contactless you can just lower the amount so it still requires pin which is great, no physical wear and tear on my card and im still a lot quicker.

Cool idea but i can't see any reason to use this over NFC/tap. If you're worried about the nfc skimmers just get a wallet/purse that protects against that. I have a nice one from Danier.
 
As for chip, I'm sorry that muricans/old people are too slow to learn how to put the chip side in and enter a 4-digit pin but it's straight up faster than swipe+ signature if you do it like a normal person. The signature is also not a security feature and is actually just "security theatre", the PIN is an actual security feature.

pretty shocking news
 
well unity is going the way of windows 8 metro interface... PC users have spoken they do not want a mobile-esque touch first interface while using a mouse and keyboard.
 
meanwhile I am using fedora 25 with gnome and it's awesome.

Why the hell not?