Apple's time machine poll.

[mrchow19910319]

If lets say I have a macbook pro that is connected to 2 external drive. 

Drive A is a 1TB HDD and it is for my own usage. (photos and videos etc)    

Drive B is a 2TB HDD Timemachine back up drive. 

 

Can the time machine back up my external drive A and my internal drive at the same time? 

 

Also I've heard some user on reddit said that apple's time machine does not work very well with NAS/time capsule? Is it true? 

People who use time machine, did you connect your mac to an external drive? Or using NAS/ time capsule to back up? 

How does it work out for you?

 

[79wjd]

In the Time Machine options you can add/remove directories, so I would assume you could add an external drive, although I've never tried. 

[mrchow19910319]

3 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

In the Time Machine options you can add/remove directories, so I would assume you could add an external drive, although I've never tried. 

I tagged you at another thread.... could you check it out? 

[DrMacintosh]

I used to use a 4th Gen Apple Time Capsule before its PSU died. 

 

My Linksys router has a USB port and I would like to hook up a drive enclosure to back my new MBP with TimeMachine but I really dont need to. I have never had a problem with my Macs. 

 

I don't see why a NAS drive dedicated to TimeMachine should give you any trouble. 

[mrchow19910319]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

 

Been using my laptop since 2013. Now the gpu is started to give me issue from time to time... So. Just in case it dies on me while im using it,  I connect it to a external hard drive that is set as a time machine. 

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, mrchow19910319 said:

Now the gpu is started to give me issue from time to time

Nvidia graphics chip by chance? Apparently they have a high failure rate after a few years. Either its from the chip or the logic board where the chip connects. 

 

tbh I think its why Apple moved towards AMD Graphics since they all appear to be fine in the GPU department. 

[mrchow19910319]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

logic board

I am using a 2012 non retina macbook pro. 

It is the igpu. I have seen multiple people who had the same/similar issue as me. 

Screen tearing from time to time, also random system freezes. 

All of us did the apple hardware test, I did it twice, once at home I did it myself, other time apple store did it for me. None issue found. 

Same thing for other redditors. 

I went to the apple store then in the end the staff just told me it could be the igpu is failing. 

I only had this kind of issue when disconnecting from external monitor. 

Also when playing videos on full screen (youtube, twitch.tv) , the video becomes pixelated too. And also this happened randomly, from time to time. 

 

 

 

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, mrchow19910319 said:

I am using a 2012 non retina macbook pro. 

It is the igpu. I have seen multiple people who had the same/similar issue as me. 

Screen tearing from time to time, also random system freezes. 

All of us did the apple hardware test, I did it twice, once at home I did it myself, other time apple store did it for me. None issue found. 

Same thing for other redditors. 

I went to the apple store then in the end the staff just told me it could be the igpu is failing. 

I only had this kind of issue when disconnecting from external monitor. 

Also when playing videos on full screen (youtube, twitch.tv) , the video becomes pixelated too. And also this happened randomly, from time to time. 

 

 

 

RIP

 

iGPU failure can only be fixed by swapping out the CPU but since the two are soldered I don't think its possible to repair. 5 years on an iGPU is pretty good but its really shitty that its dying......

[mrchow19910319]

4 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

 

Yup. The other day when I was in the apple store I was like: "okay... I know that there is something wrong with my machine, hardware or software wise. I just want to let you guys pinpoint the issue for me also because my laptop is already out of warranty. so, if this is a hardware issue for sure, I would have to buy a new one." Then the staff wiped my hard drive, did a clean install of the system and told me if those issues still occur, then you have a dying iGPU in your machine. And we do not encourage you to repair it cos we need to swap out your logic board and it is not worth the 500$ price tag. 

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, mrchow19910319 said:

500$ price tag.

And they are most likely correct. Replacing a 5 year old machines logic board isn't really worth it unless you cannot afford to spend any more than that. 

 

Might be time for an upgrade to a Retina. Possibly a 2015 model? 

[mrchow19910319]

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

 

Well. I had the funny feeling that I wish I can get more out of this current machine but then at the same time I really want to buy a new one. LOL .   just me being greedy I guess .

 

I am torn between the 2015 15 inch one and the 2016 13 inch non-touchbar one. 

 

The 2015 15 inch one comes with a 256GB of SSD, 16GB of ram, a quad core i7. 

2016 13 inch one comes with a 256GB of SSD, 8GB of ram (gonna upgrade to 16GB) a duo core i5. 

The price diff between these 2 models are almost neglectable. 

Me personally more lean on the 2015 15inch one. Cos I get a quad core i7 and a 15 inch screen. Gonna be perfect for my daily usage as well as some simple programming. 

[DrMacintosh]

7 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

2016 13 inch non-touchbar one

This is what I have right now!

 

I can tell you this, I love this machine! For your use case, daily tasks and simple programing, the Dual Core i5 will be perfect. The CPU on this thing sounds weak but from what I can tell, its surprisingly powerful. 

 

The 2016 13" has the benefit of being thinner, nicer keyboard Imo, better speakers, bright display, and a better trackpad and it has a faster SSD.

 

The 2015 one has the benefit of being more powerful with a quad core, ports that don't require adaptors, and a bigger screen. But its also going to be heavier and clunky compared to the 13" 2016. 

[DrMacintosh]

14 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

Well. I had the funny feeling that I wish I can get more out of this current machine but then at the same time I really want to buy a new one. LOL .   just me being greedy I guess .

 

I am torn between the 2015 15 inch one and the 2016 13 inch non-touchbar one. 

 

The 2015 15 inch one comes with a 256GB of SSD, 16GB of ram, a quad core i7. 

2016 13 inch one comes with a 256GB of SSD, 8GB of ram (gonna upgrade to 16GB) a duo core i5. 

The price diff between these 2 models are almost neglectable. 

Me personally more lean on the 2015 15inch one. Cos I get a quad core i7 and a 15 inch screen. Gonna be perfect for my daily usage as well as some simple programming. 

Also one more thing......I can't speak for the DAC and AMP in the 2015 MBP...........but my god with the 2016 one if you have some audiophile grade headphones........your ears are going to melt ???

[mrchow19910319]

@DrMacintosh  oh.. since you are using 2016 13 inch one. I really wanna ask this: 

 

My macbook pro goes really warm and loud when connecting to external display. If I don't watch video stream on it, it is fine, the machine is basically silent. 

However if I watch 1080 p videos on external display,(full screen) the fans are gonna kick up (as high as 6500 rpm according to istatus menus), the whole machine is gonna be a lot warmer. (cpu core as high as 90 degree) 

Here is a screenshot of the temperature I am having now. (no videos playing, just browsing the forum).  

 

I figured there are a few reasons that the fans are kicking up and the machine is getting warmer than usual: 

1. Video streaming is using a lot of cpu power to decode. (or something like that, I am not a pro when it comes to this. but I do know that twitch.tv uses a lot of cpu power if you watch stream at source quality )
2. my iGPU is honestly too weak. HD4000 to power up a 1440p external display. And that display is playing a 1080p video full screen.
3. Google chrome uses more system resources than safari especially when watching videos on it. 

So the reason I consider the quad core machine are these:

1. So watching video on an external monitor will be easier and therefore does not kick up the fans to 6000 rpm.
2. If I want to do some serious programming, running vms and such , a quad core might help ?

 

Does your machine get warm when watching stream on an external display? Mine is fine doing all these kind of tasks alone, but when it connects to a 1440p monitor, it starts to struggles a bit. 

Edited May 13, 2017 by mrchow19910319
a word

[79wjd]

5 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Nvidia graphics chip by chance? Apparently they have a high failure rate after a few years. Either its from the chip or the logic board where the chip connects. 

 

tbh I think its why Apple moved towards AMD Graphics since they all appear to be fine in the GPU department. 

It's the other way around. Historically there have been tons of problems with AMD gpus in Macs. The 2011 AMD GPUs apparently fail a lot while the 2012 with Nvidia GPUs and the same board/cooling don't. The Mac Pro's Fire Pros also apparently fail a lot. Although I take both with a grain of because both facts I've acquired from Louis Rossman, who has a lot of experience fixing macs, but he also sees the crap of the crap (and he also overlooks a lot of obvious facts sometimes).

 

4 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Also one more thing......I can't speak for the DAC and AMP in the 2015 MBP...........but my god with the 2016 one if you have some audiophile grade headphones........your ears are going to melt ???

I have the late 2013 15" (so basically the 2015 15"), and the onboard DAC easily runs my DT990s. 

 

@mrchow19910319 if I stop being lazy I could test my 2013 15" connected to my 4k tv. Also, I would get the 15", 13" is small and a quad core will always be better than a dual core and iirc the iGPU ends up being fairly similar (Iris Pro 5200 vs. Iris 540).

 

[mrchow19910319]

54 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

 

thanks for the suggestion! 

aside from the occasional graphical glitch, my macbook can still hang on for a while, hopefully until the next gen come out.

and by that time I think apple might lower the price of macbook pros a little bit. 

We'll see then 

[79wjd]

Just now, mrchow19910319 said:

thanks for the suggestion! 

aside from the occasional graphical glitch, my macbook can still hang on for a while, hopefully until the next gen come out.

and by that time I think apple might lower the price of macbook pros a little bit. 

We'll see then 

I'm hoping they do, I'm also hoping they bring back an Iris Pro only 15" Pro. I'm not in the market for a new Mac and at this rate I don't expect to be for at least another three years (or more), but I don't want a dGPU. 

[mrchow19910319]

2 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

I'm hoping they do, I'm also hoping they bring back an Iris Pro only 15" Pro. I'm not in the market for a new Mac and at this rate I don't expect to be for at least another three years (or more), but I don't want a dGPU. 

a dGPU in a macbook pro is that bad?? care to explain? 

[79wjd]

Just now, mrchow19910319 said:

a dGPU in a macbook pro is that bad?? care to explain? 

Extra battery drain, extra point of failure, extra gpu switching problems, extra heat, extra cost. 

 

I don't do anything graphically intensive, so Iris is more than enough for me, so I'd rather not have all the negatives. 

[mrchow19910319]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

 

I see

[DrMacintosh]

3 hours ago, djdwosk97 said:

The 2011 AMD GPUs apparently fail a lot while the 2012 with Nvidia GPUs and the same board/cooling don't.

huh, my old 2011 iMac still runs like new (I should put an SSD in it for my Dad) with the Radeon HD 6520 

[DrMacintosh]

2 hours ago, mrchow19910319 said:

next gen come out

the fastest any new MacBooks will come out is October and they will just be spec bumps. 

[79wjd]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

the fastest any new MacBooks will come out is October and they will just be spec bumps. 

Yeah, like I said, Rossman has said a lot of factually incorrect things. His whole basis is that he doesn't see as many Nvidia GPUs failing even though they both use the same board and then blames it on AMD making shitty GPUs because the TDP of the AMD gpu is actually lower (even though lower tdp doesn't necessarily mean lower power draw and/or lower heat output -- especially when comparing different vendors). 

 

Other moronic things he's said that I can think of off the top of my head: 

• bitching about how with apple you need to step up to the 15" to get a quad core and then literally in the next sentence saying how great the XPS line is 
• complaining about how a 2016 rMBP isn't any faster in a CPU task than a 2015 XPS 15 -- both running Skylake and then blaming Apple 
• bitching about how Ryzen hasn't improved anything -- because they only offer an octacore in 2017 for $500 while Intel offered the 5820k three years ago for $350 -- so for 40% more money you get 30% more performance. Completely overlooking the fact that there is also the 1700, completely overlooking the fact that the 5960x was $1000, completely overlooking the fact that a 5820k is $400. 

 

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

the fastest any new MacBooks will come out is October and they will just be spec bumps. 

We'll also hopefully see price drops. The touchbar macs are first gen products and historically, Apple first gen products have always had a premium. 

[mrchow19910319]

7 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

the fastest any new MacBooks will come out is October and they will just be spec bumps. 

I've heard people said there is a pattern here: 

 

1. 1st gen:  most expensive one, a little bit more buggy, completely new design. 
2. 2nd gen: price drop a little bit, eliminate most of the bugs, machines become more stable.
3. 3rd gen: new feature starts coming in. 
4. 4th gen: minor improvement. 

Look at the last cycle: 2012 retina one came out, 2013 price drop , 2014 force touch pad added,  2015 nothing new, 2016 new design came out. 

[79wjd]

7 minutes ago, mrchow19910319 said:

I've heard people said there is a pattern here: 

 

1. 1st gen:  most expensive one, a little bit more buggy, completely new design. 
2. 2nd gen: price drop a little bit, eliminate most of the bugs, machines become more stable.
3. 3rd gen: new feature starts coming in. 
4. 4th gen: minor improvement. 

Look at the last cycle: 2012 retina one came out, 2013 price drop , 2014 force touch pad added,  2015 nothing new, 2016 new design came out. 

2014: 

• Faster SSD 
• Higher base clock cpu (2.2ghz)
• Higher base RAM (16gb)
• force touch trackpad

2015: 

• Faster SSD
• R9 300m series 
• Fans don't spin on startup
• 5% larger battery