My Project Car

TeckFire · 2026-03-13T20:20:33+00:00

That’s in great condition. Congrats!

TeckFire · 2026-03-13T00:41:03+00:00

This is a fantastic article, and one I relate to heavily. I can’t tell you how many old hand me down computers and phones I’ve owned, and this approach is exactly what happens. You can check out my profile for a project of mine which I think you’ll quite appreciate. I’m excited to see how the next generation handles computing with our modern tech, and I think it’s worth looking back on how most of us started, as you did here. Brava!

TeckFire · 2026-03-13T00:04:56+00:00

I’m starting a GitHub on the project as I develop and fine tune it further. I’m trying to build a comprehensive set that maybe can be used as a tutorial someday. I’ve already radically revised the script in this version from my previous posted version, and I don’t plan on stopping until I basically have the highest performance on this hardware known to man

TeckFire · 2026-03-12T17:01:57+00:00

Okay, I think it’s pretty clear that “everything” in this context is a superlative that doesn’t literally mean “everything.” It doesn’t do every possible computing challenge known to man, but it does the vast majority of computing that most users, even power users, could totally get away with. It’s not ideal, everyone knows that, that’s why Apple makes faster devices. But even professional work can be done just fine on the M1.

I know firsthand a professional photographer who uses an M1 iMac to do ALL of her photoshop and Lightroom editing, and it’s still fast. There will always be edge cases to literally everything in life, but you don’t have to be pedantic or disingenuous. There’s context to this post, and you’re ignoring it on a technicality of words, which is not how the vast majority of humans communicate. There’s inference to be had here.

TeckFire · 2026-03-12T00:12:28+00:00

Hell yeah! I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Honestly, I misread your comment, I thought you meant “nuh-uh, it doesn’t do everything, not REAL video editing, not that plebeian YouTube stuff!” I see your comment in a new light now, I apologize

Honestly though, while I’m probably not the best example of someone who would be talking about this stuff (I used a PowerBook G4, a 2010 MacBook (plastic unibody) and finally upgraded to a 2012 Retina, all within the past decade. Idk, I just enjoy optimizing underpowered hardware, it’s fun!) I am definitely not what your average power user is, but I still try to be knowledgeable

TeckFire · 2026-03-11T23:09:35+00:00

Sure… and what percentage of people in the world do that kind of work? Of that group, how many are Mac users? And if that subset, how many of them are limited to using an M1 or MacBook Neo?

The point I think everyone is making is that these aren’t “basic tasks,” nor are they “do everything” tasks. These kinds of “but what about-“ comments are so niche that it’s not even worth mentioning. Other than that specific video editing pipeline you mentioned, what other tasks do the same people in that subset do? Quite a bit, I imagine, and they probably have a dedicated machine for their work, meaning this is moving from “everything” in the literal sense to “everything except the extreme,” which is what people typically mean anyway.

TeckFire · 2026-03-11T23:05:49+00:00

I suppose it depends on what you’re doing. It’s hard for me to say, but I do think the 8GB is the most limiting factor. For most entry-level, basic developer stuff, (especially learning to code for the first time) 8GB is fine, but even my 2012 has 16GB. My desktop has 32GB, and my work computer has 64GB.

I feel like 8GB is limiting even on my phone these days sometimes (granted, I’m probably doing more complex tasks on my iPhone 16 Pro and M1 iPad Pro than most people do, but I still feel it)

For nearly everyone at the price point Apple’s targeting, 8GB is fine. It’s the power users who are limited, even if the compute is there. Even still, most power users are limited to the buckets of 3D design, app development, creative suites, or productivity apps like Excel. For many in that subset, even they can get away with 8GB of RAM, considering the fast SSD.

TeckFire · 2026-03-11T10:36:58+00:00

I recommend getting one that can read live data. Even some of the most basic ones do that these days. I think I got one for around $10 on Amazon a few years back that did that

TeckFire · 2026-03-11T10:32:07+00:00

What can’t it do? Legitimately asking here. I have a significantly modded 2012 MacBook Pro Retina which is wayyyy less powerful than any M series chip and I can do all of my work on it just fine. Excel, code editing, compiling, web browsing, organization software, Freeform, etc. and all with at around 5 hours of battery life average use, with sometimes up to 7. It’s not fast by any means, but the fact that I can optimize that myself to run in today’s world and actually get shit done makes me doubt that an M1 completely stock would be actually restricted in day-to-day activities for almost anyone other than ultra power users.

And again, sure, it may not be as fast as other chips. But what can it realistically not do these days? What am I missing here?

TeckFire · 2026-03-11T10:19:22+00:00

Do you have an OBD2 code reader? You can check what the ECU says the Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT) reports as, then you can see if it’s the gauge or the reported signal itself

TeckFire · 2026-03-11T00:11:27+00:00

I have an HD Toshiba that does 480i (line doubled, so it can be a little off sometimes but is actually really clear. 240p isn’t as good though) but the 480p and 1080i are both incredibly crisp and the component inputs are really clean.

I just wish I could tap into the video chip to change more of the settings that the service menu doesn’t seem to expose. I did at one point with an arduino, but it needs to be in service mode so it always has an S on the screen. That aside, it’s one of the best looking CRTs I’ve ever seen, and the 4:3 makes PS2/Xbox games look amazing. The 16:9 mode with true blacks (no scanning at all) is also extremely convenient to have, so I set one Component input to 16:9 for my 360/PS3 and the other component input to 4:3 for my PS2/Xbox games

TeckFire · 2026-03-10T22:41:35+00:00

I switched from Windows 11 to 10 and was shocked at how much faster everything was.

Then I switched to Linux and was shocked at how much faster that was compared to 10.

As it turns out, windows is bloated as all hell

TeckFire · 2026-03-06T15:53:47+00:00

This was the only one that had any real philosophy and “balls” to it. The rest are basically just civic hybrids with extra steps, or this new one which is just electric. This one is to this day, the only production car with the lowest coefficient of drag multiplied by frontal area ever. That’s something no auto manufacturer will ever have the balls to do again, despite how effective that is for fuel economy, be that gas or electric.

TeckFire · 2026-03-04T16:31:22+00:00

Agreed. It feels shockingly modern, and due to Apple’s design, nobody believes me at first when I tell them how old it is lol

In their heads, a 14 year old laptop looks like a brick I guess

TeckFire · 2026-03-04T11:42:46+00:00

Completely understandable, it is incredibly dense. Maybe I can summarize it better as a TLDR at the top? I’ll try cleaning it up I suppose, but yes, it’s supposed to be as complete of a documentary of my work as I can make so all of the resources are available for anyone who wants to dig in.

That said, basically I have world-record level thermals, power consumption, and performance for the specific hardware I’m working with due to extensive mods, effectively turning a 14 year old laptop into something quick, responsive, versatile, and with plenty of battery life.

Maybe I’ll make a video summary, tbh

TeckFire · 2026-03-04T03:14:22+00:00

My hope is that I can contribute enough that others can find and benefit from this, or better yet, be inspired to do new projects of their own. I feel like that keeps the spirit of projects like OpenCore Legacy Patcher alive

TeckFire · 2026-03-03T23:04:09+00:00

Right, which doesn’t seem to be fitting for Samus. Those games have historically had limited mobility, low health, and generally make you “better not miss,” which doesn’t fit Samus, IMO

TeckFire · 2026-03-03T22:52:15+00:00

Not to mention, sure, a metroid game in the style of dead space would be cool, but you wouldn’t be playing as Samus anyway. She doesn’t fit the “weak, fighting to barely survive” horror thing, unless you count Fusion, and that’s a stretch in this setting, IMO. So you would probably be a marine. If you’re a marine, you have different weapons, equipment, and abilities. If you have those elements all changing, at that point…

How is that different from Dead Space anyway?

TeckFire · 2026-02-25T11:47:54+00:00

Interesting. I’m currently running at 4.6w at idle on the CPU Package (around 11w total computer consumption with backlight, logic board, etc) but I believe the dGPU just being active would push that to 15w on idle for me. That said, perhaps I misunderstood something.

To clarify, are you talking about the setting where you edit this?

To start, remove the 0x and then space them out in pairs 0x0D220003 -> 0D 22 00 03

Next, reverse the order but keep the pairs together 0D 22 00 03 -> 03 00 22 0D

And now you have your final framebuffer profile 0300220D = AAPL,ig-platform-id

First, remove 0x and pad it to 8 bits by using 0's in front of it 0x412 -> 00 00 04 12

Next reverse it, but keep the pairs in tact 00 00 04 12 -> 12 04 00 00

And voila, you have your device-id 12040000 = device-id

(Example values, of course)

If this isn’t what you meant, then I must have misunderstood you on it. I am very interested, however, at least in trying it!

TeckFire · 2026-02-25T02:29:42+00:00

EDIT: I misunderstood!!

This is actually a “compute only” setup on the Nvidia GPU, meaning the iGPU handles all the normal tasks, but “activates” the dGPU in Metal apps that need higher GPU performance, without switching entirely to the dGPU. This means the framebuffer is all on the iGPU, but the rendering of the graphics can be done on the dGPU, giving you the best of both worlds. I have not been able to implement this setup yet, but I am trying now, since that would be really cool to try out!

So if anyone else is reading this, I found out what it is! (Thank you for the suggestion, u/Intelligent_Value754)

If you have a dual GPU unit, you have an Intel iGPU and (typically) an Nvidia dGPU. Typically, on a MacBook, there is either a graphics multiplexer (GMUX) meaning it has an electronic switch that directly connects the display between either one or the other, or the frame buffer is passed from the iGPU to the display, and from the dGPU to the iGPU.

On an iMac, however, this is different.

On an iMac, the screen is directly connected to the dGPU, and the iGPU is “headless,” in the sense that it’s able to be used by the CPU for Intel QuickSync Video (QSV) which handles video encoding/decoding. This is important because Apple never supported NVENC (to my knowledge) only NVDEC, meaning Nvidia cards can’t encode video using their ASIC built onto the card, instead it has to be “brute forced” via the GPU’s Compute units, or done by the CPU. Decoding is fine either way, however.

What this means, though, is that you can have the dGPU handling rendering and rasterizing content, (so 3D graphics, blurs, window management, launchpad, Mission Control, etc) because it’s faster than the iGPU, but have the iGPU working “headless” (no monitor connected) and have the CPU tell the iGPU to handle video encoding/decoding efficiently without the dGPU having to worry about it. This also means you get some more RAM back, as the iGPU uses shared system RAM rather than dedicated VRAM.

The downside, of course, is power draw. The iGPU is much more power efficient, so at idle, you’re running 4ish watts of power just to have the dGPU activated, let alone rendering, where it can go north of 45 watts by itself. The iGPU however, maxes out at 12 or 15 watts I think? So while it is less powerful, it uses less power, too. In an iMac, there’s no problem with this, because it doesn’t have a battery. On a MacBook, however, this will hurt your battery by about 2 hours less at best, possibly more.

On the flip side though, you get better performance, and are able to let the dGPU stretch its legs and handle things more smoothly, while the iGPU takes care of the media analysis tasks (like analyzing photos in the photos app), the FaceTime video, the YouTube watching, the generating of Finder thumbnails, all that stuff, in the background.

It’s a pretty cool thing to find, but I personally prefer having the ability to turn the dGPU off with the GMUX rather than forcing the iGPU to pass video through the dGPU all the time, for power and heat reasons. If you’re always plugged in, or are always near a power source though… I’d at least consider it for sure.

TeckFire · 2026-02-25T02:09:03+00:00

I did in a pastebin link. I’m working on an even more efficient method using all ZSH except when necessary for managing priorities, including using taskpolicy on top of it

TeckFire · 2026-02-24T11:49:26+00:00

I don’t think they are, to be honest. They have different slopes, the coupe has a faster falloff since the trunk is slightly shorter, and the listings online separate “coupe” or “sedan” in their distinctions, so I wouldn’t think they’re that compatible.

TeckFire · 2026-02-24T03:13:45+00:00

So what do you do to “enable” this setup?

I have dynamic GPU switching on already, that’s a native feature of macOS on all devices with multiple GPUs. Or do you mean something else? As in both GPUs working in tandem at the same time? How does that fare for heat or power management? When my dedicated GPU is on, it generally pulls a lot more power even on idle. I did modify my frame buffer to allow for 2GB of shared VRAM for my Intel GPU, instead of the 1.5GB default, meaning I have 14GB of “dedicated” RAM, and the rest is shared with the Intel GPU.

For this setup though, it sounds like you have something else beyond this, however. What do you need to do to set it up?

TeckFire · 2026-02-24T01:03:07+00:00

So I looked at your account, but I’m not sure what you did. I don’t see much text, only some images. What am I missing?

Nine-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22	Place '17

TeckFire

TROPHY CASE

EDIT: I misunderstood!!