hi! my 2011 macbook pro’s dedicated gpu has finally died and although I did restore basic functionality with this neat software patch it’s really struggling to do anything with live video (waaaves, resolume, syphon, da vinci, etc.). i think it’s time to get another machine, maybe a used 2015 macbook pro or maybe even building a windows machine. what are you using these days?
i just refurbed a 2012 macbook, use it mostly for development, captures, and website biz. pretty happy with it! its by no means a gamer unit or anything but works quite well so far. newer macbooks have a lot less ports and upgradability tho as lots of shit gets soldered in which is lame
1 Like
yeah I was gifted a 2014 macbook by my former boss that I am happy with
except its battery is dying…
so I can’t really even use it to reliably stream for an hour plugged in…
I’v been considering replacing the battery (doesn’t seems like too bad of a procedure)
we have an imac at the house but really don’t do a lot of work on it as it is real old
I may have to see if I can get the BMD stuff working on it then I could stream as much as I want
@wednesdayayay i swapped the battery in my 2014 macbook with a replacement from ifixit about 3 years ago. was really easy and has been working great up to today.
1 Like
oh thank you! The procedure didn’t seem too bad but it will be the first non memory/HD related thing I’ve done with a laptop so I was a little bit unsure of jumping in.
I had to sell my thunderbolt intensity shuttle because our macbook has this thunderbolt issue too
I’ve got the usb 3 shuttle at home to get it up on running on the home iMac so I won’t have battery issues for the next stream if I can’t replace the battery before then
1 Like
oh yeah this 2008 doesn’t have USB3 gotta see if there is a workaround for that
I’ve been using a Dell XPS 15 since early 2017. I maxed out on the graphics card but stayed away from the 4K touch screen (drains battery quicker). I use Linux and Dell’s laptops usually have good Linux support.
I’ve just replaced the battery on this one so it’s good for maybe another two years and after that might go for the 17 inch model. Price is ££££ though…
1 Like
A couple boxes:
2012 MacPro tower for capture/image processing/editing.
i7 PC with a midrange GPU for live capture and projection mapping
I have a DIY (old) AMD 8-core with fast nvidia graphics card for programming, capturing and editing (and gaming)
and a old Macbook Pro 2005 for MaxMSP Jitter stuff.
Both are falling apart, so I might buy a new PC soon.
I have to replace the keyboard of the Mac, as a few keys don’t work 
1 Like
I have a PC desktop that I built about 6 years ago.
One major advantage is the PCI slots. I have a Blackmagic Intensity installed and it works great for capturing and it is much cheaper than the BM Shuttle.
2 Likes
that is a good tip!
I was wondering how to do capturing on an newer PC. my current capture device (Canopus ADVC-100 which I got for free from a friend) uses firewire.
but that Blackmagic Intensity looks promising! Did you get the analog breakout cable included in the sale?
1 Like
got a replacement battery in for the macbook and got it swapped out
I have a feeling my next stream may be longer haha
2 Likes
Some variety of mid 2010s Del Optiplex I got for free with a capture card in it as a dedicated streaming box, a couple of Raspberry Pi 3b+es for the software side of what I’m doing. I like software for preparing material and editing/mixing/mastering, but for actually working on stuff I try to get as far from software as I can, even if it’s just having every piece of software running on it’s own little dedicated box so it feels less like a general purpose computer.
For capture, it’s a bit on the expensive side for a consumer grade device but I’ve had really good luck with the Startech HDCap variants (I’ve used the previous generation PCIe card and the current USB3 external model and they’re both about the same). Before that I was using an older Aja card (Kona LHe) that was really nice for its day but cheap when I got it used since it doesn’t do HD, and the Startech actually gives me much better color.
EDIT: pexhdcap60l