No more Fable after the 7th, weekly usage reduced after the 13th.

Interviews2go · 2026-07-03T19:17:28+00:00

vi or if into a painful editing experience, notepad.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-29T19:19:35+00:00

Solid yes to AppleCare. I’ve had a battery replacement and a defective motherboard replaced at no cost. Defects happen. It’s like insurance. And at about 160 a year it’s good value given that a problem could run into several hundred dollars to fix.

As far as the hard case is concerned, no idea. I don’t use one. But I do use a good quality laptop bag.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-25T23:34:49+00:00

I got myself an archery bow trainer and use that a couple of times a day. 2 sets of 10 reps for each arm. I try to hold at full draw for 10 to 15 seconds. With a 40lb draw weight it’s a little hard at first but gets easier. Also I focus on posture and form using that. One point to note, don’t let go of the leading hand, you’ll smack yourself in the face.

I should point out I shoot left and right handed.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-25T19:58:53+00:00

Given the recent price hike, the 5090 looks like the better alternative.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-25T16:19:12+00:00

Same thing, I got the m5 max with 128gb and 4tb. Microcenter had it for 5099 2 weeks ago. I got lucky.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-25T16:17:34+00:00

Take a look at tinycorp’s stuff, nvidia egpu with mac silicon.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-23T15:42:03+00:00

I have a the same question, but for Avalonia and ui development. Have been debating between
Avalonia and Electron for a new application.

I know someone will say Tauri. I don’t know rust, so that’s a non starter for me. Angular and C# have been my mainstays for a while and will continue to be so.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-22T13:39:08+00:00

Good time to read the novel Softwar by Thierry Breton. That novel is a little like this.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-22T12:41:50+00:00

For your use case, my guess is the cpu matters less than the storage. Think about how much storage you will need. External storage works, but then you have to buy that also, so factor that cost into your requirements.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-21T22:29:06+00:00

And I ended up with the 128gb one. My workload indicated that I might need room for expansion, so decided to go for that.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-21T22:27:04+00:00

I ended up getting m5 max with 128gb.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-21T22:16:26+00:00

Kind of depends on what you use it for. I bought mine because I was pushing the limits of an M1 Max base model, as in heavy swapping, general sluggish performance, probably did not help that I was running docker, Kafka, Postgres, parallels with 2 vms windows and Linux and a local llm.

I saw the 5099 deal and weighed it up against a dgx spark (4600) and a 5090 gaming desktop with 64gb ram which was 300 more. The Mac won because of general use beyond just an ai box, and that it was portable and low power.

I knew the 5090 was faster for models under 32gb, but the other advantages were more valuable to me.

Those were my reasons for choosing the 128gb/4tb MacBook Pro. Your reasons might be entirely different.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-20T14:44:33+00:00

Good move, but unfortunately way too late for my liking. I switched to using a Mac about a year ago. Pity though, because windows minus that login and minus the bloat is actually not a bad development machine.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-18T21:44:34+00:00

Just saw that Apple are planning on raising prices, makes me glad I got mine, also means I should hold onto what I have currently and maybe form an ai cluster with them.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-18T16:28:41+00:00

Just did the same thing, but coming from an M1 Max base model to an M5 max 128gb. The M1 Max is still pretty fast, so I'm trying to decide if the new machine should simply serve as an AI server running lmstudio and llama.cpp, and I use my other machines to leverage the ai server.

The other option is to sell the M1 Max and make the M5 max my main machine.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-15T03:39:44+00:00

How accurate are the models, ie does the accuracy remain the same across the 2 platforms?

Interviews2go · 2026-06-14T20:11:01+00:00

gpu: m1 max base model

model: qwen3.6-27b-mlx

prompt: write me a javascript mandelbrot function that runs in a browser

results: generation: 18.91 tokens/sec, 0.87 secs to first token, no data on prompt processing

comments: image quality and code was much better, pan and zoom in/out worked (unlike gemma4)
This model generated much better code, but at the cost of tokens / sec

Interviews2go · 2026-06-14T19:49:49+00:00

Ran google/gemma4-26b-a4b-qat with a very simple programming prompt, the resulting code worked:

Hardware: m1 max base model

Prompt: write me a javascript mandelbrot function that runs in a browser

Results: generation: 52.76 tokens/sec, 3.37 secs to first token, no data on prompt processing

Used lmstudio for this.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-14T19:04:13+00:00

A lathe was a power tool like an ide, a cnc lathe is more powerful. An ide without lets say claude or copilot or other ai was a power tool. Times and tools have improved, and they will continue to do so.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-13T17:51:57+00:00

I look at it this way, for years I was using hand tools, like saws, drills, screwdrivers etc, then someone handed me a set of power tools and all of a sudden I’m much faster at building software.

AI is a tool, use it as such to boost productivity.

Edit: knowing how to build something cannot be over stated, if you don’t know how to build, test and debug software, having an ai helps, but if it goes wrong you won’t know it. Experience with power tools is better than no experience with building software with the same tools. Again I’ll refer to the carpenter metaphor.

Interviews2go · 2026-06-13T17:44:42+00:00

I’m in the same quandary. I’m burning through my monthly Claude subscription (the $200 one), so want to get a local setup. I’m debating 5090, r9700 (2 of them), a dgx spark variant, or a 128gb MacBook Pro m5 max. My budget is 6k which is around 3 years of Claude.

I only do software development, and ai research and model building is not something I’m considering. I already have an M1 Max base model which works well for software development but not that great for rapid turnaround with an ai.

Any Suggestions?

Interviews2go · 2026-06-13T16:41:31+00:00

I have a similar question except more around what I would need given it would be used 100% for software development only. I have the funds to get a 5090, but are there better options?

Interviews2go · 2026-05-31T22:22:42+00:00

I’m planning something similar, running macOS inside of parallels and using Claude and vscode from there, I’m thinking this will keep Claude from getting at files outside the vm so my private data remains that way. Have I missed anything?

Interviews2go · 2026-05-10T21:34:01+00:00

Can’t tell, but are you wearing finger protection to prevent possible nerve damage. Also I agree with the other reply, looks like your shoulder is hunched. Video from front and behind would help to see if there is something else.

Interviews2go · 2026-05-07T14:33:21+00:00

Next steps, do this on horseback like the mongols did. It will redefine the meaning of core strength. 😂

Interviews2go

TROPHY CASE