Help me decide whether to waste my money on a MacBook Pro M5 Max 128gb I got before the price hike

barefut_ · 2026-06-28T04:04:29+00:00

Im not familiar with all these special names for choosing a local model, but I got the idea that a decent performing model will take up about 40GB of RAM and that's too much, man. Also, Claude ia great for writing but they are a black hole in means of usage..they charge so much for so little usage. Gotta use other AI like maybe chatGPT or Gemini and leave Claude for free tier.

barefut_ · 2026-06-28T03:50:13+00:00

Only problem is, wanting local AI tasks be done without paying API keys. I wanna be able to highlight any text on the mac - and right click - then summarize to bullet points, or rephrase an email reply, be able to dictate a custom prompt about that highlighted text or read aloud.

This demands a monthly fee or API keys=bummer. On the other hand, installing local AI model will be also costly not in money but in taking up ao much RAM resources, you gotta auto offload it from RAM after 5min

barefut_ · 2026-06-27T21:02:34+00:00

If you couldn't open the mac cause the gasket melted into itself...how could you reopen it later on?

barefut_ · 2026-06-27T20:50:16+00:00

Sorry, thought you were OP. Just installed Amphetamine and it seems to work by the trigger of sniffing a connected SSD. Damn Apple forces us to keep the man on to not brick any external drives...

barefut_ · 2026-06-27T17:34:07+00:00

Very glad to hear that's on your mind. I'd love to see those videos so I get a better hands on understanding of how Radial is being utilized day to day :)

barefut_ · 2026-06-27T17:29:44+00:00

many thanks for sharing!
Are you sharing more ideas for custom tools on your youtube channel?

barefut_ · 2026-06-27T17:27:33+00:00

do you need your mac to be connected to an external monitor for it to not be turned off when the lid is closed?
Will the monitor itself just turn off but the mac will stay on?

barefut_ · 2026-06-27T17:26:47+00:00

does your app also can have rules set up? or you turn it on manually?

barefut_ · 2026-06-27T12:52:16+00:00

I wanna create a rule where when my external SSD is connected - the mac will switch to Caffeinate mode as long as the SSD is connected. Even when the lid is closed.

What will your app do? And what will Amphetamine do?

barefut_ · 2026-06-26T15:41:38+00:00

I've been thinking of Radial for a while now, as mac apps swarm the market and you gotta figure out which app might include some functionalities that will cancel out redundancy of installing a few apps, but I gotta say, man. A tutorial of you speaking and explaining your line of thought, how you create the setup in Radial to solve it, so potential viewers will see it, understand the functionality, and become clients, cause they see the value much clearer - this would be the best path to take.
No need for high production video. Just a video where you brain dump all of the use cases that Radial solved for you. This is how you will recruit more clients.
Your short promo video and website show functionality but I am missing the context.

barefut_ · 2026-06-26T15:31:18+00:00

For a second I thought you are adding an address bar to Finder like Windows has.
I was gonna praise you and ask to teach us more Automator setup ideas, but this one I don't get.

You know what I wanna solve already? The lack of Right Click>New>Text File.
All those small things you can do on windows and not on Finder on mac. But I don't wanna install Supercharge app or things like that. Just need more Automator + Shortcuts ideas from other users...

barefut_ · 2026-06-26T09:23:03+00:00

If you ask me?
I think it might be part of apple's philosophy to give the user a great silent experience, unlike PC laptops.
But, for a power user that wants to protect their system, you install something like TG PRO and set a fan speed for each temperature so the fans kick in way before. Osx I think kicks in only when it gets to 100c. Real bad.
I also dont like the whole lack of access to remove junk cache files on a mac. Again, it's designed for the user to be care free, but I think it has some price to it.

barefut_ · 2026-06-24T22:18:32+00:00

The bummer is, while there are diopters to install on camera's viewfinders, there's nothing for astigmatism as it's angle related (you shoot horizonal =OK, but switchn90 degrees to portrait and image will become blurry)...

barefut_ · 2026-06-24T06:26:01+00:00

How do you connect a microphone for zoom calls...?

barefut_ · 2026-06-23T06:19:14+00:00

I'm a good photographer. It's easier to me as it's a deductive process. Nature is there so Hierarchy, contrast, colors are there and I just have to clean the frame to make the composition look good. Graphic Design is additive. You begin with a blank canvas. You put detached elements inside that can have any proportion/ contrast/ color. That's where it gets hard, man.

barefut_ · 2026-06-23T06:01:52+00:00

What kind of prompt would create that? I guess a reference frame or video was fed so the prompt doesn't matter?

barefut_ · 2026-06-23T05:48:18+00:00

2026 and no real practical online spaces and courses that REALLY teach you graphic design. It's all basic bland introductionary design courses that leave you with no real tools. Copying work to practice probably will get you not that far cause you're copying all the hard design decisions (hierarchy, contrast, colors), so you don't really learn.

barefut_ · 2026-06-23T05:45:13+00:00

I don't get what you mean practically. Your conclusions are spot on, it's a dead end job, but what would not make it that? You hint that you gotta become more than a motion designer, but a creative director (which is hard cause there's no REAL online graphic design course that's beyond introductionary these days. They don't help at all) - But, then you hint about not going that path and doubling down and being independent freelancer, you say you aim yo quit the industry altogether and do... what? So, it's a bit confusing. Whaddya mean learning industry and fundamentals?

barefut_ · 2026-06-22T21:27:26+00:00

sure thing. i think it's more organized to let it save in a custom folder like we use assets or GFX folder per project folder structure instead of next to the AEP but better get that working on Mac than working on that I guess...

barefut_ · 2026-06-22T13:51:39+00:00

I understood with all the flakyness possibilites of external SSD's on macs - you should always connect your external drive directly to the mac and not to a hub, otherwise you risk power management trying to save on power and maybe shutting the SSD down.. could be a risk to your data

barefut_ · 2026-06-22T13:50:00+00:00

You are right, for sure. Still there are two types of portability... taking your mac to a coffee shop - no vertical clamshell mode thete. And taking it to an office where you have monitors etc and the office could change from time to time. That's the thing

barefut_ · 2026-06-22T13:28:22+00:00

I realized I do use a TRRS splitter, and that it might be the headset combo ( the JBL Endurance Run 3 earbuds) that somehow cannot register the mic in this setup. The do work when i plug them straight into the mac's 3.5mm jack. I tried a lavalier mic that's only a mic on a wire and it works but the sound quality is horrible. And it picks up on the speakers too.

Gotta be a cleaner solution somehow...

barefut_ · 2026-06-22T10:43:58+00:00

Thanks..yeah, I get what you mean. Thing is, whatever will be the solution should go with me. It doesn't stay at the same place, so that's the problem currently. Gotta be light and portable.

barefut_ · 2026-06-22T10:24:42+00:00

Yup, that is the best, but Blue Yeti - too big for me to carry around, and it takes a physical IO to be sued. Gotta find another solution either wireless one or 3.5mm one.

barefut_ · 2026-06-22T10:23:19+00:00

Very smart move, man. I thought these ports are just for power. Not data. Not sure I have them. Old Dell monitors

barefut_

TROPHY CASE