I’ve found x265 is pretty universally supported in 2025. I’ve switched all of my downloads for Plex over to 265 and none of my users have reported issues. My users are not particularly tech savvy and have a ton of diversity in their devices from cheap ass smart TVs, to consoles, to various mobile devices and computers.

I think it’s fairly safe to start getting everything in 265 and the space savings is significant. Very easy to get 4K HDR rips that look great for only 5-7 GB. HD rips can easily be 1-2 GB.

Include VLC if you need a player, but again I’ve found nearly everything plays 265 these days. It’s not nearly the compatibility issue it was years ago.

MP4 container, 265 video (w/ HDR10 layer if appropriate), Dolby digital audio (w/ Atmos track if appropriate) is what I usually look for these days for a balance of compatibility and quality.

Good points. Mac mini is pretty cheap though, cheaper than most consoles.

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How is this a nightmare vision? Proprietary bullshit, which is what consoles are, is what Apple does better than the others. M series chips seem ideal in terms of hardware, and a consolized Mac mini would be pretty dope.

Yes, carcinogenic. Not “just as” carcinogenic.

I am a biochemist. These are not big words to me. I actually read the findings section, not only the abstract.

“Just as carcinogenic” is not demonstrated by that study.

Lithium and lead are drastically different elements.

I mean if you hit a deer with your car, why let all that venison go?

Same as it ever was.

Ever wonder how many wars got started because of an embarrassed little man of a tyrant? Unfortunately we’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes, I suppose we’re only human. All this fancy high tech bullshit changed everything but also didn’t change a thing.

No new wars!

Yeah, I did. Did ya consider there’s more than just Apple who are collecting this data?

PS: each company has a different suffix, so you’re going to need to add a few more suffixes for them to even consider voluntarily not collecting that data.

As if hiding your SSID does anything beyond making you stick out as having something to hide, or that wardrivers would respect the suffix to your SSID

Yeah, that could very well be a PC. You could take the guts out, put it in a generic box, attach a monitor and peripherals, and have a Linux PC that drastically outperforms PCs of a couple decades ago, with similar functionality. Those were PCs then, why would the definition change?

Regarding the exploit definition, yeah, that’s the good one IMO. The other one is more akin to “life hacks” or “food hacks” and I think it’s silly. Using a butter knife as a screwdriver isn’t a “tool hack.” Putting Doom on a toothbrush isn’t hacking, provided no exploits were necessary. Putting Linux on a MacBook isn’t hacking just because it lacks documentation and the Asahi devs have to figure some things out before it works.

I would be curious to hear your definition of hacking, though. To me it seems if you’re calling Linux on Mac hacking, then there’s a million other things that are hacking and the word loses its meaning.

If Apple locks the bootloader then I’ll completely agree with you. And while I do agree it appears they’re heading in that direction and it sucks, a MacBook is far more “computer” than a console, even if poorly documented and thus difficult to develop for.

That’s not hacking, that’s development. They’re not bypassing locked bootloaders. If Apple pushes for making it impossible to run another operating system that’s another downgrade for sure, but you can still run whatever code you want on them, ergo, it’s a computer. It’s got a terminal, you can write and run your own code, you can download unsigned binaries, you can delete stuff and break the OS, that’s a computer.

Try running anything on an Xbox Series S/X or PS5. Locked bootloader means you’re fucked from the start, and getting past that is hacking.

You don’t make me mad by being wrong. You don’t have to “hack the OS” to dual boot a MacBook.

I’m not really following your response. Steam Machine’s feature set doesn’t make the Xbox Series X/S or PlayStation 5 into computers. Yes, they’re x86, but they’re so proprietary and locked down they’re not computers in the colloquial sense.

If the Steam Machine can dual boot Linux, which I bet it can, that’s much more a general purpose computer than either of those consoles.

You can still dual boot operating systems. The fact Asahi isn’t complete yet doesn’t matter. If ARM Windows was worth a damn you could dual boot that too.

They’re computers.

Wrong. MacBooks can dual boot Linux (windows too on the Intel MacBooks), and you can download code from wherever and run it. There’s a terminal you can run commands in. If you want, you can completely fuck it up. macOS is worlds apart from iOS, and MacBooks are more a proper computer than probably even the Steam machine we’re discussing here.

No, it isn’t, in practice. Xbox and PS5 have more in common with my iPhone than my desktop PC or NAS when it comes to being able to do what I want with it.

It will be interesting to see how proprietary the Steam machine is. That’s how I’d end up classifying it as console or miniPC.

What do you think the Xbox and Playstations are?

Consoles.

What is it that xbox and playstation customers are looking for that this small computer isn’t?

I have a hard time even figuring out what you’re trying to ask here.