u/HotSalamander2852

Hi everyone,

I recently picked up a 2019 MacBook Pro (Intel) and, well… it's living up to the Intel reputation—slow and toasty. Looking to upgrade, but I noticed the newer M-series MacBook Pros dropped the Touch Bar.

I know it's polarizing, but I genuinely love the Touch Bar and would prefer to keep it. What's the newest/best M-chip MacBook Pro that still has it? Or am I stuck choosing between the Touch Bar and Apple Silicon?

Any advice appreciated!

Hello,

I recently got my hands on an HP Z440 workstation, but it didn’t come with the original case.

Every time I restart the PC, I get a POST error saying the front USB panel is not connected. I’ve already tried shorting the pins and even connecting a different case’s front panel, but no luck.

From what I’ve read, it seems like the Z440 case might have some kind of microcontroller that identifies it to the system, so a standard front panel doesn’t work.

I’ve looked online and I can find Z440 systems for sale, but they’re always complete PCs — I don’t want to buy an entire workstation just to get the case/front panel.

Is there any workaround to bypass this POST error without the original case? Maybe an adapter or mod?

I did find some individual parts like the front I/O assembly, for example:

HP Z440 Front I/O panel assembly (cannot paste link, found one on ebay)

So now I’m wondering:

• Is the front I/O module alone enough to bypass the POST error?
• Or is there actually some case/chassis detection that requires the full original case?
• Has anyone successfully bypassed this (BIOS mod, resistor trick, adapter, etc.)?

Any help or experience would be really appreciated — trying to avoid buying a whole second Z440 just for parts.