u/CloudMountainJuror

I've been testing differences for my M5 Macbook Pro 14" between using normal battery mode and Low Power battery mode. Low Power mode absolutely helps extend the battery life way, way longer, which isn't a surprise. It is expected that in normal power mode, the battery will drain faster. However, though it does drain a bit faster, most of the time it's at a reasonable, expected, consistently predictable pace. I'd say about 10% drain per hour for normal browsing.

This consistency goes completely out the window, though, when you stream a video at full-screen at nearly full volume using the built-in speakers. In Low Power mode for a 25 minute YouTube video, the battery of course drains a little faster than usual, but still not that much - I'd say maybe 5-7% by the end of the video. In normal power mode though, for some bizarre reason, it guzzles so much more of the battery proportionately - more like 10-15% by the end of the video. Practically twice as much as in Low Power mode.

This doesn't make sense to me. The function of the computer on this basic task between both power modes should be the exact same. Even the refresh rate should be the same, since the 120hz wouldn't be kicking in for a normal video at only 30fps. I understand that in normal power mode the computer is doing a lot more background tasks, but it's doing those same background tasks under normal operation too, yet the battery drain doesn't increase as much as it does when streaming video. The speakers perform exactly the same in both power modes too. I don't see how doing this same task in normal power mode should suddenly increase the proportional battery loss versus Low Power mode from normally like 125-150% to 200%.

Any thoughts on how this could be happening?

Short version: it's safe, but good.

I'm in the minority camp who thinks Alter Bridge from The Last Hero through Pawns & Kings was making some of the best music of their career, and who was riveted by most of their songwriting choices in those albums, with the production quality and Stay being my only reservations. I love how adventurous they were being with their song structures and ate it up any time they did a non-conventional epic, while still preserving the core of who they were as a band. I think The Last Hero is possibly their best album from a non-production standpoint and I will die on that hill.

The self-titled album is...kind of a step backwards for me, in that regard. The song structures are much more ordinary and predictable for 90% of the album, and it was an adjustment listening to it for the first time - especially when I had seen glowing praise for it from this sub. But it makes more sense to me now that it may be hitting better for people who liked early AB best, when their creative choices were a bit simpler and more anthemic.

Having adjusted to it, I think it is a good album, but definitely their weakest for me since pre-Fortress. There's just not a ton that stands out about it (with some obvious exceptions I'll be getting to). That said, most of the songs have grown on me quite a bit, and I still enjoy listening to them. And I wish, I really wish, that more of them would be getting played live than they are. Even the ones I'm not as fond of.

Tracks I really like are Silent Divide, Rue the Day, Power Down, Tested and Able, Scales are Falling, Playing Aces, What are you Waiting For, and Slave to Master. The last four tracks I think are by far the absolute strongest section of the album, and remind me most of the cool stuff they were doing right before this. All fantastic, no notes, I would love if the entire album were as strong as those. Playing Aces is an infectious blast of energy, reminiscent of what I love about The Last Hero. WAYWF is a solid-ass song that also acts as great build-up for the closer. Scales are Falling and Slave to Master are easily the two best tracks on the album, with Slave to Master being the top. Instant classic, super well-written and performed, incredibly relistenable. It deserves to be a live staple in the future - I could easily see and heartily accept it being placed in Blackbird's slot, and this comes from someone who is very attached to Blackbird as a song.

The rest of the tracks are...fine. Sometimes I like them more than others, but they are where the album tends to show its safest and most unimpressive tendencies. What Lies Within is probably the best of them. Hang by a Thread is easily the weakest song on the album for me, it feels too reminiscent of past AB ballads without doing anything notable enough to stand on its own as well. I think there's a good song in there that just needed to be framed differently - as is, the opening few seconds are enough for me to mentally clock out, as it feels aggressively "AB wanted to write a soft song and this is the very first thing that came out"-coded. The ending of the song feels a little undercooked too.

Overall, I have still been revisiting this album quite a bit, and on my last listen-through I didn't even mind Hang by a Thread as much, so that's a good sign. But it's easily carried by it's last third, with Slave to Master and Scales are Falling doing the heavy-lifting of making it memorable. In a way, it makes sense why they'd label it their self-titled with the songwriting choices being largely safe and standard - establishing a new "baseline" for themselves as a band. The proghead in me just appreciates exploration more, and when Alter Bridge does it, they're some of the most exciting at it. I hope for their next album they feel creatively revved up, and ready to drop some less-safe material.

I've been looking for an answer to this question, and haven't been able to find a straightforward one. Example: I have a song recorded at 24-bit. My computer is playing it back at 32-bit float. Is this causing any resampling, or is it playing the audio data back accurately?

I have the sample rates set to match, so this question is entirely around bit depth, which my computer won't let me change.

People with problems often have more of a presence online than people who don't have them, so I'm flipping the question around, because I'm curious. If your screen doesn't have permanent marks from dust, the keyboard/trackpad, etc.: how long have you had your laptop? And how often do you clean it?

To start: I've had my Pro M5 base model for about 4 months and my screen has no permanent marks. I wipe the screen down every other day or so with a damp microfiber, and the keyboard a tiny bit less often. And I usually quickly brush any dust or debris off my keyboard and other surface area with my hand before closing the laptop. This routine seems to have been working so far.

EDIT: I also do not ever put mine in a backpack - I have a dedicated soft cover sleeve for it that I always put it in when traveling.

Happy to finally have this out! This was a huge labor of love. This song fit the goofiness and earnestness of this series perfectly to me and I absolutely needed to match them up as best I could.

I don't like Haken's new song Not-Visions, it sounds different from what they've done before. Where's the trademark silliness they always incorporate into their music that formed their sound they've had before this? Like on In Memoriam, Initiate, Host, Endless Knot, and Prosthetic.

They've lost their soul as a band, I'm so disappointed that they're selling out and that they're going to making music exactly like this five-track EP for the next 70 years. What is this poppy nonsense that I would still feel vaguely uncomfortable playing at a house party without context?

Every time they've permanently changed their sound after Visions I've been forced to mourn this band again and again. This isn't my favorite band anymore, I feel so deeply betrayed. In ten years' time I'm positive I'll have this exact same opinion and that I won't look back on my reaction here with any kind of embarrassment.

A prog band needs to play exactly what I want them to and stay in the box they established for themselves 10-15 years ago. Otherwise they are selling out and losing what made them special as creatives always willing to try something new.

Also, creative inspiration from massively popular bands who push your niche to a mass audience on a scale never seen before isn't possible, and sounding similar to them at all in any way can only be a sign of trying to make more money. Exploration and experimentation is to be judged immediately and harshly.

God, I love prog.

Am I crazy for getting a base model Macbook Air for $900 instead of an upgraded Macbook Neo for $700?

I own a base model Pro and wanted a second more portable Macbook, and spending only $200 extra for a comprehensively better and more enjoyable machine seemed like a great deal to me. The only thing is my Pro and Air may step on each other's toes a bit now, what with both having the base M5 chip, raising the question of if it's worth having the two different machines or not. But I don't know, does this seem like a reasonable decision? Or am I just being wasteful in my spending at this point? I have a two month return period for the Air so I have time to assess the decision.

The plan was originally to get the Neo, so that it would have a completely different use case than my Pro, but after trying the Neo out it just didn't compare to either the Air nor Pro in even basic use for me (it felt noticeably laggier).