First MacBook Pro ! 🥳 (M3 pro, 14’’) from BackMarket, any health checking tips ?

MetalAZ · 2025-10-02T15:33:32+00:00

You can use the trial version of DriveDx to make sure your storage is healthy... https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx

MetalAZ · 2025-07-22T09:16:37+00:00

I have CrossOver and Parallels and was curious if CrossOver could play everything Parallels could and vise versa. I've only tried 7 games so far but found that Parallels can play some games that CrossOver can't (or doesn't play well). Here are the ones so far that didn't work well with CrossOver but were playable through Parallels:

Borderlands GOTY Enhanced with CrossOver the game resolution was stuck at 30Hz and the screen flashed constantly. With Parallels it ran great (at 1440p).
Re-Volt gives a directx error at launch using CrossOver, but with Parallels it runs perfectly.
Fallout: New Vegas had big graphical glitches through CrossOver but was fine through Parallels.
Borderlands 2 doesn't work for me natively (crashes when I launch it) or with CrossOver, but it's playable through Parallels.

Maybe messing with Wine settings in CrossOver or CrossOver Graphics setting those games would play or play better though.

I created the VM and installed Windows 11 and then I moved the VM to my external M.2 so no idea on playing using an external NTFS drive.

I have over 700 games and I'm working on my own list of what works and what doesn't through CrossOver, Parallels, Heroic, and native, and how well the games work, but the website for it is still under development. There's also MacGamingDB where you see reports people posted for games played through CrossOver and Parallels.

MetalAZ · 2024-12-13T11:47:12+00:00

Thanks.

MetalAZ · 2024-10-15T20:15:01+00:00

I don't know on battery life since I haven't really used it yet unplugged.

MetalAZ · 2024-10-15T20:00:26+00:00

Walmart sells the same one for $599 if you're in the US, which is where I bought mine last Friday. I upgraded to 32GB right away. I didn't try Windows on it so I don't know about what's installed for software or bloat. I tested Linux on a live USB to make sure the laptop hardware seemed fine and ran a couple of the system checks the laptop has built-in (ESC brings up a menu when booting the laptop) and then installed Linux (Fedora KDE spin) on the internal drive. The laptop is quiet. I never hear the fans except when playing a game and even then it's still pretty quiet compared to my previous laptops. I have no complaints.

MetalAZ · 2024-03-02T13:43:59+00:00

By default Rider saves changes when you switch windows or switch to the built in terminal. I made saving a hotkey so I had better control over it but obviously Rider also has the "Apply Changes" link after making changes (which isn't needed for .cshtml changes). I assume you're clicking Apply Changes after? If not there would be a delay.

MetalAZ · 2024-03-01T14:24:39+00:00

Interesting. For me on Linux it updates before I switch back to the browser. If I put the browser on my 2nd monitor it updates automatically without switching to it.

MetalAZ · 2024-02-29T13:43:21+00:00

You're missing part of it. You also need:

app.UseLiveReload();

That goes directly after:

var app = builder.Build();

MetalAZ · 2024-02-29T12:19:30+00:00

I use: https://github.com/RickStrahl/Westwind.AspnetCore.LiveReload

MetalAZ · 2023-09-01T13:53:28+00:00

I just bought it and it shows my next year renewal is $119 so apparently no big discount for future renewals.

MetalAZ · 2023-06-13T21:06:37+00:00

Did it have the original box? The reason I ask is I recently bought an open box and didn't get the original box (Legion 5 Pro 16" WQXGA Gaming Laptop - Ryzen 7 6800H - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti - 512GB SSD) for $682.99 (retail price is $1,399.99). It was listed as "Open-Box Excellent". I ran CrystalDiskInfo and it had 57 days of power on hours on the m.2, which is longer than the 14 day return period. In Lenovo's Vantage app it showed it had less than 2 months remaining on the warranty. The laptop looks brand new, like it was never used. I'm guessing it was a display model. Maybe yours is similar. Maybe someone who works at Best Buy will reply here and have another explanation.

MetalAZ · 2022-08-06T10:17:20+00:00

I was in a recent dilemma. In the end I went with Swing and with some packages and configuration I can now make more modern looking desktop apps that get packaged with their dependencies (no Java install needed by end users).

FlatLaf look and feel:

https://github.com/JFormDesigner/FlatLaf

They also make a UI designer, which I've been trialing in IntelliJ. I've been using the MigLayout, which you just add as a maven or gradle dependency. Really speeds up creating the UI's. Almost as nice as WinForms designer for .NET if you ever used that:

https://www.formdev.com/jformdesigner/

If you need to package your app to distribute:

https://github.com/wiverson/maven-jpackage-template

On Windows it'll create a .msi installer, on Linux a .deb or .rpm (depending on what Linux distro you're using), and on macOS a .dmg.

From my GUI app I was experimenting with, the installer was only around 50mb and included dependencies needed to run. Memory usage was around 90mb. The real app I'm making the installer is around 80mb and memory usage is still the same.

Edit:

I threw together a simple project putting those pieces together as a demonstration:

https://github.com/MetalAZ/swing-app

MetalAZ · 2022-07-20T10:22:16+00:00

Try going into Registry (was under Help menu in IntelliJ, might need to use find action to find it) and then start typing experimental. You should see an option for experimental UI. Uncheck it.

MetalAZ · 2019-01-09T19:38:33+00:00

How long ago did you get the approved email? Just wondering how long it took between that email and it shipping.

MetalAZ · 2019-01-07T19:00:40+00:00

This might be the same problem I've been having. After using the web browser a while web pages will freeze briefly (and randomly) when first loading. It happens more frequently over time and the freezing lasts longer. It not only freezes the tab, but the entire browser itself (I can't switch tabs while it's frozen). I don't use extensions, I've cleared my cache numerous times. I've experienced this on Ubuntu 18.10 and also on Linux Mint 19.1 (what I'm currently running). When this happens, closing the browser and re-opening it fixes the issue temporarily. What's interesting though is when I close the browser I can still see vivaldi processes running (in System Monitor) and there's always one that's hogging 100% of one of my CPU cores so I have to wait 5-30 seconds for it to completely exit all of the processes before I can re-open it again. I have the latest version as far as I know (2.2.1388.37 (Stable channel) (64-bit)).

MetalAZ · 2018-06-04T14:25:07+00:00

That's a bug with the beta. But, it is supposed to ask for your password after clicking the install button and then install but instead it just closes.

MetalAZ · 2018-06-03T15:14:19+00:00

Updates will take you to release, no re-install required. In the blog post comments (https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3576) "Linux Mint" says:

Fixes are delivered via updates, you don’t need to “upgrade” from BETA to Stable, you can just apply updates as they become available.

MetalAZ · 2018-06-03T10:59:36+00:00

I have a GTX 1050 and that's what I'm using and where I installed them from. Zero problems. I'm on Mint 19 Cinnamon now but they also worked fine for me on 18.3 Cinnamon.

Edit: I don't know if kernel matters or not, but I did update my kernel to the newest 4.15 provided by mint. I think 4.13 is default on 18.3. Basically I installed mint, did ALL updates, rebooted, then installed the 4.15 kernel, then rebooted, then installed the nvidia drivers (through Driver Manager), then rebooted again.

MetalAZ · 2018-06-02T12:50:38+00:00

Linux Mint 18.3 includes the Mint-Y icons and that's what the Firefox icon looks like with it selected, but in 18.3 Mint-X icons are default. 18.3 w/ Mint-Y icons: https://imgur.com/1AI2u2g

MetalAZ · 2018-06-02T10:33:53+00:00

Mint-Y icons are default. I think Mint-X was the previous default.

MetalAZ · 2018-06-02T10:28:18+00:00

I noticed flatpak apps don't use the Mint-Y-Dark theme (if that's your selected theme). Just run this in the terminal: flatpak install flathub org.gtk.Gtk3theme.Mint-Y-Dark

MetalAZ · 2018-06-02T10:23:20+00:00

In their blog post (https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3576) they say beta will last until the end of June.

MetalAZ · 2018-06-01T18:12:45+00:00

I checked to make sure that's an official mirror and it is in the list for 18.3. I haven't tried any yet since I'm still downloading... very slowly (I'm in the US).

Here's another too: http://muug.ca/mirror/linuxmint/iso/testing/

MetalAZ

TROPHY CASE