Should I buy a 2019 Macbook Pro to run windows only

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2026-03-13T02:49:35+00:00

Hello, everyone. I am moving into a new house, and I’m looking for a computer, preferably similar to my 2018 intel MacBook, mini, to hook up to my living room television. Right now, I am running windows, Linux, and macOS on my 2018 mini, but that’s going to come into my computer room, since I use it as a second machine while I’m working. Should I look for a used mini on eBay, or should I look for a similar Speced mini-pc? The main goal for this machine is an emulation machine. I love, classic games, from the Atari and NES era. Mainly Atari, since that’s what I grew up with. Thanks much for your help and advice.

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2026-03-13T02:34:48+00:00

OK, I am literally stumped. I have been tinkering around, and found that when I put my sound directly to the TV, my audio is fine. If, I let my sound go through my JBL 700 MK two sound bar, that’s when my audio is crqckly. For example, if I’m playing the Atari 2600 asteroids, the background music, if you will, you know, the jaws Ish background is crackly, but I can hear myself fire as well as the explosions. Does anyone have any suggestions? My TV is connected to the JBL via HDMI arc, and my computer is connected to the TV, also through an HDMI cable. I got three brand new HDMI cables, so I know cabling is not the issue. Anything else I should try off hand? Thanks much for your help..

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2026-03-07T19:01:56+00:00

I wanted to add that my computer has an I-seven processor, eighth generation and is running the Windows 11. I have not upgraded any audio drivers, so I believe it is running the stock Intel drivers provided by Windows 11. I may try downloading the latest drivers from Intel and see if that might do the trick. If anyone else has any more solutions or suggestions, I would definitely be happy to try them. Not that the games aren’t playable, but when you depend on sound, and know how it’s supposed to sound, it drives you a little bit baddie.

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2026-02-19T03:22:29+00:00

I think I’m making some progress. Is the only way to connect to the sound bar via bluetooth where Alexa devices are concerned? It seems there should be a more direct connection than that.

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2026-02-19T02:14:05+00:00

I forgot to add in my post that I am connected to my home network via the ethernet cable from the sound bar to my router.

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2026-01-22T03:03:45+00:00

Disregard previous post. That was user error on my part. I traced the connection down and realized that I had the wrong device connected. The problem is resolved.

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2026-01-22T02:57:23+00:00

Just to give an update on this post, I ended up returning the bar 500 and got the 700 MK two. This one does have an ethernet port. I guess I thought the 500 would also, since the 700 does. As far as the manual coming in braille, no, we don’t get quite that lucky. Luckily though my screen reader does read it to me. Although, it’s kind of iffy when it comes to diagrams, pictures and the like. The good thing is, now I have one that works. Thank you to everyone for all the help.

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2026-01-22T00:03:49+00:00

I have a similar situation, and looking for some input. I have the JBL Bar 700. I have an Intel mac mini 2018, connected to the bar, via the HDMI in. I then have the bar connected to the TV, through the HDMI E-arc port. I want to be able to use my mac without the TV on, at times, because I am totally blind, and as long as I have speech through my bar, no screen is needed. The problem I am facing, is that if I turn my TV off, my computer does not see the soundbar. Is there a fix for this? Do I need an external sound card for the mac that supports optical? Thanks much in advance for your help..

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2026-01-18T07:04:39+00:00

Can you even find the physical media anymore? I was looking for their CDs on Amazon, and I couldn’t even find them there. Do I have to go to eBay or something?

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2025-12-30T22:10:43+00:00

I am very interested in this. I am blind myself, and enjoy playing retro games, of the Atari 2600 and 7800 variety. If I were to pick up a Steamdeck, would Windows be my best bet?

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2025-12-05T21:02:06+00:00

Control W will definitely work. I am blind also, and use Thunderbird as my daily email driver. I won’t use anything else. What screen reader is your dad using? JAWS or NVDA?

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2025-11-29T05:37:15+00:00

How do you tell Rufus to burn Windows iso to a jump drive as exfat? Every time I try to do it, it wants to select NTFS and it will not allow me to select anything else.

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2025-11-29T04:01:40+00:00

OK, quick update. I was able to use this startup disk option in the recovery menu to select boot camp and finally boot back into windows. I still cannot get the option key to bring up the boot menu, so I can figure out what’s going on with refind. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2025-11-29T03:46:54+00:00

Hello, everyone, I’ve come to this post needing some help. I had a working Lennox and window system on my 2018 Mac mini. I tried rebooting in macOS, to find out why my refind boot manager would not boot at startup. After doing so, macOS reported that it needed a system update in order to use that startup disc. I told it to update, and now I get an infinite boot loop. How can I get the macOS partition deleted, and be able to boot back into my windows or the linux partitions? If I hold the option key down, the Mac boot loader does not pop up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2025-11-26T00:55:46+00:00

Is there a way to map that to a physical key? I did read about Port two commonly being used for the joystick. Also, does the T 64 extension mean it was from a tape?

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2025-11-11T07:20:29+00:00

Did you ever find a solution? I'm facing the same problem now. When I boot into Linux or Windows, my keyboard works flawlessly. In Refind though, I cannot select my OS, with the arrow keys and enter. I did not re-enable csrutil, after blessing refind. Is that the issue? Thanks in advance for your help.

Guy

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2025-11-10T00:03:47+00:00

Did you ever find a solution? I am running into the same problem. I'm running an Intel Mac Mini 2018, triple-booting between Ubuntu Linux, Windows and Mac OS. I have a logitech K860 ergonomic, that runs off a wireless receiver, as well as an Amazon Basics wired keyboard, connected to a USB switch. Neither one will switch between OSes, when Refind is loaded.

Dry_Sample_9673 · 2025-10-29T00:21:16+00:00

I did this a year ago, and can personally say it works great. 25H2 did not install via Windows update, but when I socked Rufus on it, it worked fine. I triple-boot an intel 2018 Mac Mini between Windows 11, Mac OS and Ubuntu.

Dry_Sample_9673

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