Seriously considering making the switch.


What Mac Should I buy...  

113 members have voted

  1. 1. What Mac Should I Buy?

    • MacBook Pro
      24
    • iMac 27"
      24
    • Build a Hackintosh
      47


Recommended Posts

Okay so I borrowed my friends brand new Mac Mini for a few weeks and I have been using it on and off along with my windows machine and I am seriously considering buying a Mac because I want something that can do light video editing (Making software guides etc) but using the Mac Mini it didn't have enough power and my Windows PC certainty does not either, it has a AMD Dual Core, 6GB DDR2 Ram and an 8600GT and it is really time for an upgrade X-x.

so I have a few questions and I do not know what model to pick..,

1) The MacBook Pro (Non Retina)

OK so my first choice is the MacBook Pro without the Retina display because of a few reasons.
  1. I can change the ram in the machine, in the Retina model it is all soldered in so it can't be changed.
  2. The DVD Drive,I can buy a bracket that will allow me to replace the DVD Drive with a Laptop HDD such as a 1TB Drive for storage and a 256GB SSD as the Boot drive.
  3. Their are a bunch of stands out there that will allow me to have it standing up and use it as a desktop machine which is what I want but it has the added advantage of being able to be used in bed or something which is something the other 2 in the list do not have...

2) The iMac 27" 2560x1440

The reason the iMac is on the list is because it has an Amazing screen and I have heard they make an amazing Workstation PC (Nothing like a Mac Pro but they are WAY to expensive for me) and I heard that they use Laptop CPUs and Laptop Ram and for a desktop I am a little concerned if that will make any noticeable difference, I know the MacBook pro does to but, well it's a laptop so yeah. Also I am a little concerned because I read that the new models you have to take the screen off to upgrade RAM and changed the HDD and that you can not add a Second HDD to the iMac and I really want at least a 256GB SSD OS Drive and a 1TB + Storage drive. So that is why I am a bit weary of picking this one.

3) Building a Hackintosh (Yeah I know ><)

OK so the reason that this on this list is because, with how easy it is to Install Mountain Lion (Buying it from Apple of course) on a Compatible PC you can have pretty much everything working and have it running just as good as a Legitimate Mac computer. But if I go down this route it can be a lot of hassle etc especially with updates and I like how Legit apple products feel construction wise (like the iPhone and Mac Mini) so I want that But the Hackintosh is way cheaper, I can add a bunch more storage to it etc so yeah.

So those are my 3 options for moving to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion which is something I am 100% set on but I would also like to know if anyone has any experience with their performance in Windows 8 as I will be running that in Boot Camp too and I only play like 2 games, World of Warcraft and Minecraft which are both OS X Compatible anyway so that is a non issue but I would like to know about their performance with those 2 games as well. And finally, Life span I don't want to have to get the newest Mac every time they are released id like to skip a generation without feeling like my system is going to die if I don't buy a new one so comments about their life span is also welcome.

I look forward to reading the responses about what Mac I should buy and what you guys think I should do because I am ready to make the switch to OS X from Windows : )

Thank you...

- Fractal

I'd probably say iMac but they are due for a refresh if I recall. I use a MBP for my music stuff since it's portable but all my video and photo editing is done on my 27" iMac. Both are i7's so speed-wise they are pretty similar.

I'd probably say iMac but they are due for a refresh if I recall. I use a MBP for my music stuff since it's portable but all my video and photo editing is done on my 27" iMac. Both are i7's so speed-wise they are pretty similar.

I know their due for a re-fresh so I didn't list things like CPU speed Etc so I can wait but still because of the iMac and the MacBook Pro have laptop components is the iMac really any faster than the MacBook Pro?

Light video editing? The Mini (assuming it's new) should have plenty of power for that.

Anyway, they're all basically the same in a different form factor. An SSD + at least 4GBs of RAM and you're good, just pick the processor you want. You can find Macbook Pros cheap(er) now that the Retina is out, but the resolution on the 13'' kind of sucks for full time use, so you're going to definitely want to be able to plug it in .

Light video editing? The Mini (assuming it's new) should have plenty of power for that.

Anyway, they're all basically the same in a different form factor. An SSD + at least 4GBs of RAM and you're good, just pick the processor you want. You can find Macbook Pros cheap(er) now that the Retina is out, but the resolution on the 13'' kind of sucks for full time use, so you're going to definitely want to be able to plug it in .

The Mini could do it but it was just not quick enough for me and I want to be able to play a couple of games on it, I tried WoW on the mini and with the HD4000 graphics it was icky at best for me.

If I drop to 4GB of ram that is less than in my windows PC I was hoping to buy myself a 16GB kit and use that so I have tons of head room.

Also if I do go for the MacBook Pro I will be using it as a "desktop" so a monitor will be plugged into it.

The iMac does look good but I doubt I am going to be able to add 1SSD and a 1HDD to it myself and 16GB of RAM X_x.

The Mini could do it but it was just not quick enough for me and I want to be able to play a couple of games on it, I tried WoW on the mini and with the HD4000 graphics it was icky at best for me.

If I drop to 4GB of ram that is less than in my windows PC I was hoping to buy myself a 16GB kit and use that so I have tons of head room.

Also if I do go for the MacBook Pro I will be using it as a "desktop" so a monitor will be plugged into it.

The iMac does look good but I doubt I am going to be able to add 1SSD and a 1HDD to it myself and 16GB of RAM X_x.

If you didn't like the Mac Mini, you want an iMac then. The current laptop-based Macs only take up to 8GBs of RAM, and honestly that's all you need. You'd have to go up to a 15'' Macbook to get a decent video card.

And yeah, the 27'' iMac with an SSD + HD + 16 GBs of RAM + a decent GPU is going to cost you mint.

Did you try gaming in OSX, or Windows? The performance can be vastly different for most Mac games. A lot of things that are unplayable on my Macbook (320M) run fine at native resolution in Windows.

If you didn't like the Mac Mini, you want an iMac then. The current laptop-based Macs only take up to 8GBs of RAM, and honestly that's all you need. You'd have to go up to a 15'' Macbook to get a decent video card.

And yeah, the 27'' iMac with an SSD + HD + 16 GBs of RAM + a decent GPU is going to cost you mint.

Did you try gaming in OSX, or Windows? The performance can be vastly different for most Mac games. A lot of things that are unplayable on my Macbook (320M) run fine at native resolution in Windows.

I tried the Intel HD4000 on OS X because I don't own Boot Camp.

Also I plan on adding the RAM and SSD myself to either of them (also didn't know the MBP only supported 8gb) because I am not paying an extra ?480 for an SSD and and an extra ?240 to bump the RAM up to 16 GB I'd rather do it myself even if it does void the warranty.

I tried the Intel HD4000 on OS X because I don't own Boot Camp.

Also I plan on adding the RAM and SSD myself to either of them (also didn't know the MBP only supported 8gb) because I am not paying an extra ?480 for an SSD and and an extra ?240 to bump the RAM up to 16 GB I'd rather do it myself even if it does void the warranty.

Okay sorry for double posting but...

1) Didn't realize OS X Came with boot camp X_x.

2) I am pretty much set on the iMac but I have a few questions and I can't edit my post...

If I was to buy a new iMac can I add a second HDD to it myself?

and If I was to void the warranty doing this, would apple fix it if anything goes wrong (I know id most likely have to pay for them to fix it but oh well)

EDIT: 6 people want me to build a Hackintosh o.0 didn't think it would be that popular.

I know their due for a re-fresh so I didn't list things like CPU speed Etc so I can wait but still because of the iMac and the MacBook Pro have laptop components is the iMac really any faster than the MacBook Pro?

No, in fact even thought the specs are nearly the same, my MBP is a bit faster. I'd still lean towards the iMac for your uses because of the large screen. Just my personal preference,

No, in fact even thought the specs are nearly the same, my MBP is a bit faster. I'd still lean towards the iMac for your uses because of the large screen. Just my personal preference,

See that is what I don't get. If the iMac is meant to be a desktop computer (and they say it is) why in gods name is the MacBook pro faster. To be honest right now, all the iMac seems to be is a laptop on a stick : /.

Will Hakintosh run on your current "AMD Dual Core, 6GB DDR2 Ram and an 8600GT" system? Idk what you mean by "light video editing". Light video editing could be done on a computer 10 years ago and will probably work just fine on your current computer.

I'm such an Apple fanboy and hate to say this, but have you tried Sony Vegas at all on your current Windows machine? Its a pretty awesome video editing program. I'd say it is as good as iMovie.

Of course, better hardware will also yield a better experience. If you want to get good performance for cheaper than Apple hardware go with Hakintosh. You will have a few issues here-and-there and need to avoid updates until you do a little research to make sure that the updates won't break anything (if you research your hardware I don't think they will).

If you really want a Mac (it really sounds like that is what you want), then the question is do you need something portable? Having a portable has its advantages, and you can always add on a nice 27" thunderbolt display where you can attach all kinds of storage goodness.

If it were me, I'd probably want the Retina MacBook Pro and just get it with 8GB of ram, an SSD, and buy a nice external thunderbolt hard drive for mass storage and probably an external optical drive. I have a 2009 MacBook Pro and did what you were thinking: SSD as main drive, larger HDD where my optical drive use to be. Its OK. I have had issues with the HDD and it might be related to the adapter that came with the kit or it might just be that the HDD is going bad. Haven't really looked into it much yet.

Hmmm...I'm not sure my post was helpful at all. Anyway, good luck!

If you really want to do video editing, there are lots of amazing editors available for Windows like Premier pro, Edius, Sony Vegas pro, Powerdirector ( for basic editing ). I have hackintosh setup, i use FCP on my hackintosh machine ( because i work as a part time video editor and have to deal with FCP projects ), but i dont see much difference in FCP and other editors. So i recommend you to stay with windows if video editing is the reason behind switch. Plus your hardware is good for video editing, it can handle it without upgrade. :)

Or if you really want to use OSX, building hackintosh is best solution than. I have hackintosh setup from leopard days, and there are tons of guides, kexts, drivers etc available on tonymac forum for almost every piece of hardware.

  • Like 3

Why exactly do you need a Mac in the first place to do video editing?

Also, you can build an insane PC for the price of either of those Macs.

Why exactly do you need to tell everyone who want to have a mac otherwise?

Back on topic: The iMac is insanely great for media editing. That screen + industrial design is fantastic if your studio is opened for your clients.

If you didn't like the Mac Mini, you want an iMac then. The current laptop-based Macs only take up to 8GBs of RAM, and honestly that's all you need. You'd have to go up to a 15'' Macbook to get a decent video card.

I have the Retina Macbook Pro ... with 16gb Ram. I don't know where you get the information about the current Macbook Pro's only taking 8gb. My Macbook Pro retina has a blisteringly fast SSD, 16GB Ram etc. I do very high intensity audio and graphics work on it beautifully. On the retina screen and into my Thunderbolt display (27 inch) :)

Will Hakintosh run on your current "AMD Dual Core, 6GB DDR2 Ram and an 8600GT" system? Idk what you mean by "light video editing". Light video editing could be done on a computer 10 years ago and will probably work just fine on your current computer.

I'm such an Apple fanboy and hate to say this, but have you tried Sony Vegas at all on your current Windows machine? Its a pretty awesome video editing program. I'd say it is as good as iMovie.

Of course, better hardware will also yield a better experience. If you want to get good performance for cheaper than Apple hardware go with Hakintosh. You will have a few issues here-and-there and need to avoid updates until you do a little research to make sure that the updates won't break anything (if you research your hardware I don't think they will).

If you really want a Mac (it really sounds like that is what you want), then the question is do you need something portable? Having a portable has its advantages, and you can always add on a nice 27" thunderbolt display where you can attach all kinds of storage goodness.

If it were me, I'd probably want the Retina MacBook Pro and just get it with 8GB of ram, an SSD, and buy a nice external thunderbolt hard drive for mass storage and probably an external optical drive. I have a 2009 MacBook Pro and did what you were thinking: SSD as main drive, larger HDD where my optical drive use to be. Its OK. I have had issues with the HDD and it might be related to the adapter that came with the kit or it might just be that the HDD is going bad. Haven't really looked into it much yet.

Hmmm...I'm not sure my post was helpful at all. Anyway, good luck!

No it wont run on this system which is why I said build one...

and by light video editing I mean things like cutting together a lot of video etc with minimal effect adding or doing fancy stuff with it, i have tried video editing on this system but it took me 4 hours to render a 15 minute video at 720p with Sony Vegas and yeah it was slow as hell and I didn't like vegas.

My concern with a hackintosh is well, it's a hackintosh so **** will go wrong and as much as I enjoy tinkering around with stuff I don't wanna spend really hours fixing it after an update because something broke.

The reason I decided against the Retina is because, well... The amount apple charges for SSDs is damn unread. I could probably install it myself, voiding the warranty and pay to have them fix it and it will still be cheaper. Also the Retina display is a non factor because it will be permanently closed, in a stand hooked up to an external monitor if I do buy one.

If you really want to do video editing, there are lots of amazing editors available for Windows like Premier pro, Edius, Sony Vegas pro, Powerdirector ( for basic editing ). I have hackintosh setup, i use FCP on my hackintosh machine ( because i work as a part time video editor and have to deal with FCP projects ), but i dont see much difference in FCP and other editors. So i recommend you to stay with windows if video editing is the reason behind switch. Plus your hardware is good for video editing, it can handle it without upgrade. :)

My hardware isn't good for video editing. a Athlon x2 4000 dual core, 6gb of 800Mhz of DDR 2 ram, and I can't even render a video longer than an hour without it taking 12 so yeah. Also I tried Final cut pro on the Mac Mini when I had it, and I used Premier and Vegas on Windows and honestly, Final Cut Pro was better IMO.

Why exactly do you need a Mac in the first place to do video editing?

Also, you can build an insane PC for the price of either of those Macs.

Maybe he wants to use a Mac. The PC argument is invalid in every respect when someone has decided they want a Mac. It's not just about the s**t inside the box you know :)

My hardware isn't good for video editing. a Athlon x2 4000 dual core, 6gb of 800Mhz of DDR 2 ram, and I can't even render a video longer than an hour without it taking 12 so yeah. Also I tried Final cut pro on the Mac Mini when I had it, and I used Premier and Vegas on Windows and honestly, Final Cut Pro was better IMO.

Well of course it will take time to render. Rendering will be faster in new machines. Be it Mac or Windows based PC. About the FCP part, i disagree, I use premier pro + after effects for most of my work, and i see no difference. Both have Community support, wide variety of plugins and presets and templates. FCP was better in old time when there was no serious competitor. Now its different story. I have even seen studios who entirely work on "Edius".

Why exactly do you need a Mac in the first place to do video editing?

Also, you can build an insane PC for the price of either of those Macs.

Don't really want a PC anymore, I didn't come here to ask what was better or PC or a Mac I came here to help me make a Choice between what Mac Model to get.

Why exactly do you need to tell everyone who want to have a mac otherwise?

Back on topic: The iMac is insanely great for media editing. That screen + industrial design is fantastic if your studio is opened for your clients.

I do like the look of the screen, It's just I want a mass storage drive with the system that is internal so that is going to be a pain.

I have the Retina Macbook Pro ... with 16gb Ram. I don't know where you get the information about the current Macbook Pro's only taking 8gb. My Macbook Pro retina has a blisteringly fast SSD, 16GB Ram etc. I do very high intensity audio and graphics work on it beautifully. On the retina screen and into my Thunderbolt display (27 inch) :)

The screen on those is nice but the lack of being able to add my own RAM and SSD is annoying.

Maybe he wants to use a Mac. The PC argument is invalid in every respect when someone has decided they want a Mac. It's not just about the s**t inside the box you know :)

True Facts yo.

Well of course it will take time to render. Rendering will be faster in new machines. Be it Mac or Windows based PC. About the FCP part, i disagree, I use premier pro + after effects for most of my work, and i see no difference. Both have Community support, wide variety of plugins and presets and templates. FCP was better in old time when there was no serious competitor. Now its different story. I have even seen studios who entirely work on "Edius".

I dunno, I just liked Final Cut better. *Shrug.

I have the Retina Macbook Pro ... with 16gb Ram. I don't know where you get the information about the current Macbook Pro's only taking 8gb. My Macbook Pro retina has a blisteringly fast SSD, 16GB Ram etc. I do very high intensity audio and graphics work on it beautifully. On the retina screen and into my Thunderbolt display (27 inch) :)

Non-retina, on the tech page it says they can be configured up to 8. I assume the retina has a newer motherboard.

Also, based on what you've said, the 15'' Pro is probably the way to go. SSD swap is easy, getting a case to replace the optical drive for another hard drive is easy, GPU is decent compared to the 13'', especially if you don't mind running Boot Camp.

FWIW, I have a Macbook Pro, and I married into an iMac (which I'm using at the moment!). Coming from a BYO PC background, I think iMacs are insanely overpriced. But nice looking.

I dunno, I just liked Final Cut better. *Shrug.

Well if you have made your mind, and dont want to setup hackintosh, i suggest get an iMac, its beautiful plus pleasure to work with.

Well hmm... The last gen of MacBook Pro were easier to upgrade (I upgraded mine w/o any problems) but I think you will be limited to 8GB of ram.

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP619

The current gen iMacs will support 16GB of ram though. Sounds like that is what you want. I think that there are issues with replacing the SSD in an iMac where the fans go full blast because of a missing temperature sensor pin or something like that.

Non-retina, on the tech page it says they can be configured up to 8. I assume the retina has a newer motherboard.

Also, based on what you've said, the 15'' Pro is probably the way to go. SSD swap is easy, getting a case to replace the optical drive for another hard drive is easy, GPU is decent compared to the 13'', especially if you don't mind running Boot Camp.

FWIW, I have a Macbook Pro, and I married into an iMac (which I'm using at the moment!). Coming from a BYO PC background, I think iMacs are insanely overpriced. But nice looking.

Coming from a BYO PC background, I don't think Mac's are overpriced. I think they're perfectly priced.

A friend of mine has an old Austin Mini ... it has been modded to destroy a Ferrari off the line.

But I'd much rather have the Ferrari ;) Sometimes, the speed at which something runs isn't the only factor. A cheap PC instead of a Mac is the equivalent of buying a Vauxhall Corsa instead of a BMW M3. I'd rather work in comfort, on the best screens, the best trackpads, the best keyboards, the best build quality etc, and still smokin' fast.

But to each their own.

Non-retina, on the tech page it says they can be configured up to 8. I assume the retina has a newer motherboard.

Also, based on what you've said, the 15'' Pro is probably the way to go. SSD swap is easy, getting a case to replace the optical drive for another hard drive is easy, GPU is decent compared to the 13'', especially if you don't mind running Boot Camp.

FWIW, I have a Macbook Pro, and I married into an iMac (which I'm using at the moment!). Coming from a BYO PC background, I think iMacs are insanely overpriced. But nice looking.

I just read online that the new Ivy Bridge MacBook Pro non retina can take 16GB of RAM and now I am confused because I'm hearing that it can only take 8 or it can take 16 ><.

Well hmm... The last gen of MacBook Pro were easier to upgrade (I upgraded mine w/o any problems) but I think you will be limited to 8GB of ram.

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP619

The current gen iMacs will support 16GB of ram though. Sounds like that is what you want. I think that there are issues with replacing the SSD in an iMac where the fans go full blast because of a missing temperature sensor pin or something like that.

So if I do add an SSD to the iMac the fans will be going full whack X_x. Those fans are small so they wont be quiet either X-x.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Well I really think the repasting helped if your higher clocks have returned, maybe the next thing to look at is if there is a problem with your case airflow? I guess this because your 3080 has returned to optimal state, but is still staying too warm, which might suggest it was thermal throttling before you repasted, of which the only logical conclusion could be outside factors.
    • Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, Flip 8, Z Fold Wide: Everything you need to know by Hamid Ganji Galaxy Z Fold 7 - Image via Samsung The next generation of Samsung foldables is set to be unveiled next month at the second Unpacked event of the year. Samsung’s 2026 foldables are not expected to offer significant upgrades over their predecessors, with the Korean firm instead focusing on design refinements and conventional upgrades such as faster processors and better cameras. However, Samsung is reportedly planning to unveil an all-new passport-style foldable this year to rival Apple’s first foldable iPhone, which is expected to debut this September. Here’s a roundup of everything we know about Samsung’s upcoming foldable devices ahead of their official debut. When can we expect Samsung’s new foldables? The Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 series were unveiled in July, and Samsung is expected to maintain this timeframe in 2026. Based on previous reports from Korean sources, Samsung will hold its Unpacked event on July 22 in London, UK, to pull back the curtain on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series. The devices are also expected to hit the shelves a few weeks after launch. However, Samsung has yet to announce an official date. A new naming scheme? One of the most interesting changes we might see this year is a new naming scheme for Samsung’s latest foldables. SamMobile reported that since Samsung is expected to unveil three foldables this year, it has adopted a new naming strategy to simplify product identification for customers. Accordingly, the standard Galaxy Z Fold 8 will reportedly be called the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and will serve as the direct successor to last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 7. The “Ultra” suffix suggests the phone could feature higher-end specifications, such as additional rear camera modules. Samsung’s new passport-style foldable is expected to carry the Galaxy Z Fold 8 name without any suffix. This model is reportedly equipped with two rear cameras. No major changes are expected for the Flip model. Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 anticipated specs Rumors over the past few months suggest Samsung is preparing several upgrades for its upcoming foldables, although the devices may continue to rely on larger batteries and faster charging speeds rather than dramatic design changes. The primary focus this year is expected to be the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and its wide-screen design. Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra official CAD renders - Image via AndroidHeadlines Here are the anticipated specifications for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra based on previous leaks: 6.5-inch outer display and 8-inch inner display, 120Hz refresh rate, and 2,600 nits peak brightness Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, paired with 12GB or 16GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage 4.1mm thickness when unfolded and a weight of 210g 200MP main camera, 50MP ultrawide camera, 10MP or 12MP telephoto camera, 10MP cover camera, and 10MP selfie camera 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging Android 17 and One UI 9 As for the Galaxy Z Flip 8, the device is not expected to be a major departure from its predecessor, although it could become slightly slimmer. Expected specifications include: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 or Exynos 2600 processor 12GB of RAM with 256GB and 512GB storage options 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X inner dispaly and 4.1-inch Super AMOLED outer dispaly 50MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide camera, and 10MP selfie camera 4,300mAh battery with 25W wired charging Android 17 and One UI 9 Samsung’s foldables are also expected to launch with Gemini Intelligence, Google’s AI suite for automating tasks in Android ecosystem. Moreover, given current memory and component costs, some Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 variants could see a price hike. Galaxy Z Fold 8 adopts a wide-screen design The centerpiece of the upcoming Unpacked event could be the Galaxy Z Fold 8, previously rumored as the Galaxy Z Fold Wide. This model adopts a passport-style form factor and is expected to compete directly with Apple’s iPhone Fold. Galaxy Z Fold 8 official CAD renders - Image via AndroidHeadlines Here’s what to expect: 7.6-inch primary OLED display and 5.4-inch cover display, 120Hz refresh rate, 2,600 nits peak brightness, and 4:3 aspect ratio Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, 12GB or 16GB of RAM, and 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB storage options 4,800mAh battery with 45W wired charging 50MP main camera, 50MP ultrawide camera, and 10MP selfie camera Android 17 and One UI 9 The three new foldable phones are unlikely to be the only devices unveiled at Samsung’s Unpacked event. The company is also expected to introduce the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 and the Galaxy Watch 9 series.
    • Thanks
    • 7 Days: Killing uBlock Origin bypasses, Euro Office faces fire, and will AI replace you? by Aditya Tiwari 7 Days is a weekly roundup of picks of what's been happening in the world of technology - written with a dash of humor, a hint of exasperation, and an endless supply of (black) coffee. This week's highlights include WWDC 2026 announcements, updates on child safety, and Meta's use of data from outside businesses to optimize your feed. Let's get started. You can check out the recent issues of the 7 Days weekly roundup. Killing uBlock Origin bypasses The hottest news of the week was about Google Chrome effectively ending most uBlock Origin workarounds (a free, open-source ad blocker extension) by permanently dropping MV2 extensions and their bypasses. Chrome is transitioning towards newer MV3 extensions. A recent discussion thread highlighted how the latest and upcoming versions of the most popular browser are expected to be its final releases with support for MV2 extensions. Genuinely European? Euro-Office faces fire The recently launched cloud-based office suite, Euro-Office, is facing criticism at home. The LibreOffice developer wrote an open letter criticizing Euro-Office for its marketing claim that it's the "first open-source office suite developed in Europe," since the honor has belonged to OpenOffice since 2001. The Document Foundation has called out Euro-Office, arguing that it can't consider "itself genuinely European" as long as it keeps pushing Microsoft defaults on users, adding that "it has to speak ODF as its mother tongue." Will AI replace you? Image: Tara Winstead via Pexels Microsoft's AI boss, Mustafa Suleyman, said in an interview earlier this year that AI would replace office workers within 12 to 18 months. Joining the ranks of top executives who have softened their stance on AI replacing humans, Suleyman recently walked back his earlier remarks and now says that AI will automate tasks, not replace entire white-collar jobs. He defended his earlier comments by arguing that they referred only to individual actions people perform at their desks. Louis Rossmann wants to sue Samsung Image: Louis Rossmann Tech repair entrepreneur and right-to-repair activist Louis Rossmann contacted Samsung support over a failed 4TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD. After back-and-forth communication, Samsung offered a $330 refund instead of a replacement, but Rossmann found that the SSD was readily available for new buyers at a higher price. He has issued a formal 60-day notice and intends to file a suit in Texas small claims court, as Samsung's actions reflect a failure to honor its warranty obligations. Samsung reached out to Neowin to clarify its updated stance that customers in such situations will receive a refund equal to the product's current market price. Child safety or mass surveillance? Image: Jonathan Borba via Pexels Signal accused the UK government of using child safety and device-level explicit content ban as a cover for mass surveillance. Calling the plan "dystopian," Signal warned that it violates everyone's fundamental right to privacy. The messaging platform believes that the government should keep children "safe" and "protected," but it should do so through social services and education. Fears of social media regulation Image via DepositPhotos.com More governments across the globe are tightening their grip on social media and bringing stricter regulations in the name of child safety. Bluesky COO, Rose Wang, warned that social media regulations could destroy competition from small startups and that heavy regulatory compliance costs favor deep-pocketed tech giants while locking out new entrants. Our Features Image: Pexels Our coffee-powered team publishes a platter of editorials, opinion posts, and guides. Here's what they got for the week: UK **** blockers are a looming privacy disaster, we must be able to see the source code This week in software news Image: Proton Catch up on some of the latest software news updates that arrived throughout the week: Dark clouds over PC makers: Building on our report from last month, Dell officially acknowledged that its own remediation software was causing BSOD issues and unexpected system restarts. HP is also facing equally frustrating issues involving recent Windows Secure Boot updates on Windows 11. Controversial icon: Spotify finally removed the disco ball icon from its app and replaced it with the familiar flat green logo after weeks of mixed reactions online. While some people don't like the new design, the retro, three-dimensional look has generated a following of its own. Even other brands are coming up with their versions of the disco logo. NVIDIA fixes stuff: A new hotfix driver 610.52 fixes various issues related to monitors and displays, noting that G-SYNC-related frame pacing troubles should now be resolved on Ada Lovelace GPUs. The feedback thread also points out that the hotfix patches a BSOD issue. FIFA World Cup tracker: Opera is redesigning its Android browser with a built-in football tracker for the upcoming World Cup in the US. The new homepage is now "more immersive" with easier access to common browser features. Command line for Proton: The Swiss technology company has launched a command line version of the Proton Drive, which you can use to manage your encrypted files directly from a terminal across all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. This week in hardware news Image: Thermaltake Catch up on some of the latest software news updates that arrived throughout the week: Intel and AMD PCs in one case: Thermaltake's CAPO X dual-system chassis brings you the best of both worlds by supporting two microATX (mATX) motherboards and up to two 360 mm AIO liquid coolers. If you want ideas, maybe you can use one as your main PC and another as an AI agent. Google Tensor production: While TSMC will remain the lead producer, the search giant is reportedly in talks with Samsung to hand over part of the production of its next-generation Tensor AI chips. The upcoming TPUs are reportedly codenamed “Icefish” and will be produced using Samsung's 2-nanometer process technology. Lethal fake phone chargers: UK-based consumer rights organization Which? has warned that "potentially lethal knock-off chargers" are still being sold on online marketplaces, including Amazon and eBay, despite the dangers of such chargers having been exposed. This week in Google News Image: Google Catch up on some of the latest Google news updates that arrived throughout the week: Sliding into DMs: You might remember that YouTube had a direct messaging feature back in the day. It's now rolling out a revamped direct messaging inbox that lets you share Shorts, videos, and live streams and have conversations about them. New in NotebookLM: The AI-powered note-taking app got some new agentic capabilities and more advanced reasoning, thanks to support for Gemini 3.5 and Antigravity. NotebookLM can now generate outputs in more formats, making it easier to start new projects with less information. This week in Apple News Image: Apple Catch up on some of the latest Apple news updates that arrived throughout the week: WWDC 2026: This week was all about Apple's annual developer conference, where the iPhone-maker finally unveiled an upgraded Siri AI and a platter of new Apple Intelligence features. Siri AI now has a cross-platform app, which is supported on select models of iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro. What's different about WWDC: I wrote a detailed feature this week discussing how Apple changed the WWDC keynote this year, blurring the lines between its operating systems. Apple didn't have dedicated segments for its operating systems this year and didn't even publish the official press releases. Liquid Glass slider (finally): It's that time of the year when Apple previews fresh updates for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, and other platforms. A new transparency slider for Liquid Glass is coming to iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 Golden Gate. Is your device supported?: If you're wondering whether your Apple device supports the new developer beta builds, you can check the respective compatibility lists for iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and watchOS 27. Siri AI not coming to Europe: Yes, that's true due to complications related to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). While Apple penned a blog post to tell its side of the story, a European Commission spokesperson told Neowin that the DMA does not prohibit Apple from launching its services in the EU; the company is simply required to comply with the law. New child safety features: Apple announced a trove of new safety features for kids, including a simpler setup experience for parents, Ask to Browse, Time Allowances, and a redesigned Screen Time UI. Parents can now visit a new website to find answers to common questions around child safety features. More cloud power: Apple's Private Cloud Compute cloud infrastructure will now run beyond its own data centers for the first time. It's working with Google and NVIDIA to run new Apple Intelligence workloads on Google Cloud systems powered by NVIDIA GPUs. This week in Meta news Catch up on the latest Meta news updates that arrived throughout the week: Data from outside: Meta is rolling out a new update globally to personalize your AI responses and primary feeds using data from outside businesses. It already targets ads based on shopping activity, but the latest development enables it to personalize other "parts of your experience." There is a toggle in the Settings to disable activity from other businesses; however, it won't prevent companies from sending your data to Meta. Level playing field: The European Commission has ordered the social media giant to restore access to WhatsApp for third-party AI chatbots, including ChatGPT and Copilot. Meta previously blocked rival AI chatbots from operating on WhatsApp, prompting the Commission to launch an antitrust investigation. Spying on users: On the flip side, WhatsApp accused the Israeli cyber-intelligence firm, NSO Group, of deploying a fresh wave of targeted "spear phishing" attacks against its users, which were thwarted by WhatsApp's security teams. Reorder profile grid: Adding some customization for the profile grid feature, Instagram now lets you rearrange posts in your profile without deleting and reuploading content. Go to your profile and long-press any thumbnail to find the "Reorder grid" option. This week in AI news Catch up on the latest artificial intelligence news updates that arrived throughout the week: Claude RAM hogger: Windows users are getting infuriated by Claude Desktop's hidden 1.8GB Hyper-V VM bug, which spins up if you use Claude Cowork or agent mode even once. It shows a Vmmem process in Task Manager, indicating 0% CPU usage but 1.8GB of RAM usage. Claude Fable 5: The new state-of-the-art AI model from Anthropic beats OpenAI's ChatGPT-5.5 in multiple AI benchmarks. Claude Fable 5 sits above the Opus models and outperforms most other generally available models across knowledge work, vision, scientific research, and more. However, the model was abruptly suspended after receiving an export control directive from the US government. Stack Overflow for AI agents: The popular Q&A platform has launched Stack Overflow for Agents in beta, which AI agents can use to share, find, and reuse coding knowledge. It explained that AI agents operate in isolation, creating an Ephemeral Intelligence Gap, and valuable tokens are wasted on something another agent has already solved. Upgrading Codex: OpenAI is buying a company called Ona, which makes secure cloud execution and orchestration technology for developers. The ChatGPT-maker aims to make Codex agents run for days without being tied to a local machine or an active session. It also announced a new developer mode in Chrome. This week in open-source news Catch up on some of the latest open-source and Linux updates that arrived throughout the week: Linux 7.1 rc7: Linux Torvalds dropped an optimized rc7 with crucial fixes for AMD and laptop hardware. He said that a stable version of Linux 7.1 could arrive next week, adding that the latest RC is not small, but smaller than recent releases. Alpine Linux 3.24: The latest Alpine Linux release added support for COSMIC Desktop, Linux 6.18, IPv6 installer support, automatic serial console configuration for headless setups, and major package updates and removals. This week in Microsoft News Microsoft had to shut down more than 70 GitHub repos after they were compromised by malware, Teams is getting a controversial tracking feature that users may hate, and the company explained why the new update makes PowerToys faster. You can check out Taras's freshly baked Microsoft Weekly roundup to catch up on all the interesting stories this week. This week in gaming The latest issue of Pulasthi's Weekend PC Game Deals curates several exciting games on sale this week. On the Epic Games Store, the new titles on display for grabs include Warhammer 40K Speed Freeks and The Ouroboros King. NVIDIA GeForce NOW's summer sale lowered the prices of both the Performance and Ultimate membership options for a limited time period. Meanwhile, the Xbox Free Play Days brought Undead Labs' post-apocalyptic title State of Decay 2, as well as two Team17-published titles. That said, here are some more stories from the gaming world: Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen expansion to bring snowy region, new updates also coming Playground drops 30 minutes of Fable gameplay, shows off life sim and morality system Playground Games confirms Forza Horizon 6 save wipe bug Doom: The Dark Ages Revelations expansion gives the Slayer a brutal Chain Spear State of Decay 3 is out in 2027, reveals Plague Nests with new co-op gameplay trailer From the review corner This week, Taras got his hands on the DuRoBo Krono portable e-ink reader, which comes with a $279 price tag. It's a smartphone-sized device with a rotating dial, sitting somewhere between premium and cheap in terms of build quality. Speaking of the pros, the physical controls are cool, the smart dial is useful, the battery life is good, and Android 15 has no-nonsense software. On the flip side, the device lacks software customization, the built-in AI needs improvement, the smart dial is a bit wobbly, and there is no ambient light sensor. EA Sports UFC 6 EA Sports UFC 6 does a better job at onboarding new players than most fighting games, according to Pulasthi's detailed review. The game comes with rewarding combat systems, top-notch animation, impressive impact physics, and visible damage on fighters. However, the menus lag a lot, grappling isn't very fun, and the flow state feels a little misplaced. More price drops! We got you covered with some hot tech deals all week. For some reason, if you missed out on a great discount, here is a summary of some recent deals that are still alive: GIGABYTE Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC ICE 16G - $649.99 (13% off) 1TB Samsung T7 Portable SSD - $189.98 (31% off) AirPods Pro 3 - $179 ($50 off) Edifier R1280Ts Powered Bookshelf Speakers - $129.99 (24% off) To view all of our recent deals, click here. So, these were some of the biggest tech news and other updates from this week. There will be more issues of our 7 Days series in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned. You can also support Neowin by registering for a free member account or subscribing to extra member benefits, along with an ad-free tier option. Have a great weekend!
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      rolfus earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Leroy Jethro Gibbs earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Conversation Starter
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • One Month Later
      AndreaB earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      agatameier earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      505
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      197
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      141
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      89
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      80
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!