MSI Crosshair A16 HX is on the way. It's here!

 My ASUS ZenBook Pro Creator's machine seems ready to eat itself.  Overheating, especially in 100 degrees F heat, is a problem.

 For the last three years, it's been used more for gaming than for creating.  I did some programming, edited some photos, and created documents, but most of that, I left to my Mac.

 I've played a lot of games.  I mentioned that I had damaged two or three mice and in the last year, I've been using a damaged WASD area (and the space bar) of the keyboard.  It wasn't meant for heavy gaming or aggressive players.  I checked with a reliable repair business and got a quick quote of US$150 for a replacement keyboard.  That's a lot but perhaps, someone else will want to buy such an otherwise good machine (aside from the heat during gaming) and I'll pay for the keyboard to be replaced.

 

The MSI Crosshair A16 HX has an AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX in contrast to my Ryzen 7 5800H.  The Nvidia RTX 5060 is only two generations newer than the RTX 3050 Ti, and at about the same level in the lineup.  IIRC, the 3050 Ti was a 3060 with 4 GB of GDRAM, instead of 8 GB.

MSI Crosshair A16 

I'll still only have a 1 TB drive, but it's PCIe gen4 instead of gen-3.  There is also another slot, which seems to be gen-5.  32 GB of RAM will be helpful, as Windows 11 Pro keeps taking as much as possible, and having Steam and another game launcher, plus a web browser and Malwarebytes, keeps RAM busy when running a game or creative software.

 The multi-zone keyboard is a SteelSeries designed product.  That gives me hope, since my current mouse is a SteelSeries Aerox 5, which has been amazingly reliable.

I found one warning in my research: Do not let the MSI helper software attempt to install BIOS updates.  Download them to a thumb drive and install it through the BIOS controls.  No one wants a computer-shaped brick.

I'd been looking at MSI for a while, but most of their laptop computers had VA panels.  I didn't think that those were still being used.  The last time I considered something other than IPS was in the 1990s.  Actually, I believe I bought my first LCD in 2000. Then again, my ASUS laptop has an OLED panel.  The documentation actually has "IPS-level panel", whatever that means.  I'm glad that the panel is level.  (Check your sarcasm detector for good batteries.)

The resolution on the Crosshair is 2560x1440, which is a bit more than the 1920x1080 that I have but those rich blacks and whites will be different somehow.  Supposedly, it has DCI-p3 100% compliance but I'm skeptical.  The RTX 5060 will be using a MUX  design, so graphics won't be routed through the integrated GPU on the AMD APU, more like what happens on a desktop machine in the old days.  That will improve data throughput and make it more efficient. 

The Ryzen 9 8940HX has 16 cores, twice as many as the Ryzen 7 5800H.  It might be slightly better.  Did your sarcasm detector alert you?  Even the internal GPU should be years ahead.  I remember trying to run Unreal Tournament 2004 through the AMD 5800H iGPU and it was not as fast as what I had in 2004.  I remember reading about the iGPU in the 8945HX and that was a 780M, I believe.  This one has a 610M, which may be good.

It all sounds good, right?  My one regret is that I had intended to buy a new M5 MacBook Air.  Tuesday can't come soon enough.  Should I have paid almost US$60 for Saturday delivery?

Update 2026.05.18: It's here!

UPS is not my favorite delivery company.  I had some equipment just not arrive and the store who sent it sent a second product for me.  UPS was caught selling merchandise because of a guitar with a serial number.  In this case, they did better and it arrived a day early.

Of course, updates took a while and not everything goes as planned.  There is a BIOS update and I'm trying to understand how to take care of it.  They showed something like 14 or 15 steps.

 

It works well.  It worked with my mouse from the beginning and gaming half-keyboard, as well.  Windows 11 had been making some sort of backup (to what extent, I don't know) and that sped things along somewhat.

Getting the Netmarble game launcher downloaded was the weirdest.   The company really needs to work on their user friendliness.  Steam, Mozilla, Google, and Malwarebytes wanted me to prove myself.  All of that is fine now.

At one point, while I was in a game, it powered off.  When I powered on again, it didn't explain why there was a problem, or even that there was a problem.  While I'm writing this, it just paused suddenly.  I'm a bit nervous.

The keyboard lighting is good, just like the images on their website.  The feel of the keyboard is excellent.  Steelseries did their part of the project.  I'm not sure why they had to stuff a numeric keypad into it, but the alpha keyboard isn't crowded.

Sound is excellent in contrast to my ASUS creator's machine that was weak.  That machine has speakers at the bottom.  It also has an OLED display, which I found amazing.  This IPS-level display is better.  The color settings may be set to be more vivid, but the blacks and the whites look great.

The stickers on the palm rest are big and don't provide any useful function, but I doubt that I can remove them.

Having more processing power shows up in games with much more detail.  Grass and rain are more impressive with the 5060 versus the 3050 Ti.  Older games seem okay and there is a glitch now and then, but I'm not sure whether it's Windows or the machine.  It could be the MUX design, bypassing the APU's iGPU.  One kind of glitch was that SteelSeries GG was recording clips automatically.  It took me a while to get things under control on the last two machines.  It might take a while this time.

SSD speed is fine, although I can't tell that it's faster than the PCIe 3rd gen in the previous machine.

Being that this laptop computer is 16 versus 15.6, it's difficult to notice the difference. The only difference I can notice is the smooth plastic, rather than the aluminum of the ASUS.

In any case, I'm happy. 

Update 2026.05.20: There is a little light bleed at the bottom of the LCD.  While playing Where Winds Meet, there was too much frame rate drop, something that never seemed to happen with the older machine.  Turned the graphics setting to Performance.  I guess pushing all those extra pixels made a difference, since the 5060 and the 3050 Ti are in the same category, just a difference of graphics RAM.

Maybe, Windows is taking advantage of the AI capabilities, even though they're supposedly disabled.  When has Microsoft ever been truthful or straightforward?

Other aspects of the machine are good.  The fans run a fair amount of time but they seem to be around 3600 rpm, not 6000 as the other machine was doing.

I should probably disconnect the power and run it on battery for web browsing and videos, just to drain the battery and see how it performs.  This APU has a 55 to 75 W TDP, which isn't horrible, but it won't last long on battery at 55 Watts. 

Update 2026.05.21: The frame rate drop in Where Winds Meet still happens occasionally.  There is an option to use DirectX 12.  I'm not sure whether it will become better or worse, but I should give it a try. 

 Update 2026.05.24: I tried some system updates through MSI Center and it sent me to Windows Update, which handled the drivers but not the BIOS update.

Got part way through the BIOS update but it couldn't show me where the update was and I didn't want to cause a problem, so I stopped.

Also, I tried the Where Winds Meet DirectX 12 option and it's very slow to start, plus it has occasional glitches.

It's strange that occasionally, this machine is not as fast as the older machine.

Update 2026.05.27: Got an idea to go back to 1987 ways and installed the BIOS/UEFI update.  I got an older USB type A thumb drive with only 8 GB of storage.  Formatted it and only added the firmware update.  I removed all other USB devices, and charged the battery to 99%.  It was complaining that 74% might not be enough.  It would have been interesting to do that with floppy disks.  I thought about it.  I also considered that we sometimes used a debugger to go into RAM to change certain sequences and then, commit the changes to disk or diskette back then.  Remembering my Atari ST around 1989, a BIOS-level update required a new set of (E)PROMs.  I had some Russian (in Queens borough, NYC) making a physical change to the motherboard to allow 18 pin DIP RAM instead of 16 pin, and he decided to make some money and duplicate my PROMs and gave me a set of EPROMs instead.  Everything worked fine but it was shady.

Then, I got a screen about Bitlocker.  I can't say that I ever enabled Bitlocker, but when I was allowed into the recovery information, the previous computer also had Bitlocker enabled.  Microsoft needs to stop making decisions for me.  They're like the ransom bandits.

 Thankfully, I was able to jump through all of the hoops and now, the machine seems much more stable. 

Oh, here's something fun.  I checked e-mail and found that Newegg reduced the computer price another US$110 since I bought it a little over a week ago.  Of course, they won't even think of splitting the difference to give you a partial credit past 7 days.

 Besides that, the promotional 007 First Light game e-mail did not have the correct information. 

Machine and games are running much better since the update. 

Update 2026.05.29: Where Winds Meet went through a large update and it's working okay, and certainly better than the game was before the BIOS/UEFI update.  I'm not really noticing too many problems overall.  There are some audio glitches, but I'm sure that's a Microsoft problem since the recent updates.  If Microsoft is trying to push everyone to Linux, they should just go out of business. 

Update 2026.06.07: I went to Newegg to add a review.  I noticed some reviews that didn't even seem valid.  I wonder sometimes if Chinese companies have their promoters add fake reviews the way they talk down other equipment in Asia on social media.

 Anyway, it's still working just fine. 

 Update 2026.06.14: The 007 First Light promotion finally worked.  Apparently, the Nvidia app now takes the code that didn't look like the one in the format they outlined. 

Update 2026.06.22: I used the MSI Center app today and there was a driver update for Windows for the motherboard.  I went ahead and allowed it to happen, even though those stories of bricked machines was in my mind.  Everything is fine. 

Windows 11 Pro to SteamOS on a laptop computer? CachyOS to the rescue?

 For just more than two years, I've been running Windows 11 Pro on an ASUS ZenBook Pro.  With each update, the performance becomes worse.  The newest releases are invasive in the name of AI.  I have little interest in AI.  I've generally been using that computer for photo processing, gaming, and watching videos.  I have an M1 MacBook Air that is more capable for processing photos and videos from previous years.

I'm considering switching the ZenBook Pro to SteamOS, as I've found SteamOS on the Steam Deck to be quite capable with a keyboard and mouse.  I'm a little concerned that the combination of AMD 5800H and RTX 3050Ti may not be the best platform.

This week, I was reading that the latest Linux kernel has updated Nvidia drivers included.  I should probably wait for that kernel to be included in SteamOS.  Maybe obviously, SteamOS might run fine on the AMD 5800H and its inbuilt GPU but that GPU is far out of date and even had trouble with Unreal Tournament 2004.  I've been running much more intense graphics than that.

CachyOS seems to be the best choice for a Linux distribution that supports gaming AND Nvidia cards, although a few others like Nobara and Manjaro were mentioned.  I might just risk it.  I still have my MacBook Air but my Windows machine seems less capable because of Windows.  It was also running very hot today, while active CPU use was under 10%.

Update 2026.02.06: CachyOS looks like it's going to be a bit of "fun" to install.  I wonder if I should install Ubuntu or another easy distribution and then, install CachyOS.  I'm not quite as agile lately, and I don't want to make a huge error.  I've waited this long.  I can take more time to plan.

Update 2026.05.15: Well, that ZenBook Pro seems about to eat itself, overheating and such.  I've beaten the keyboard and that needs to be replaced.  Perhaps, after it gets some time to recover, I can install CachyOS without having to worry about not having a games machine. 

Update 2026.05.29: It's been two weeks since I was worried about one computer, and it's been a bit over a week since I've had an MSI Crosshair A16 HX as a replacement.

 It's a 16 inch class machine versus 15.6 but I don't really notice a difference, except that the display seems taller.  It's not quite 4:3 but it's definitely not 16:9.

 In any case, I put the ZenBook Pro on a shelf and haven't got CachyOS ready for installation yet.  I'm wondering if I need to have the keyboard replaced before a change or not.  I'm also wondering about some sort of Windows lock that will make this more difficult than it should be. 

Gaming without a desktop or laptop computer?

 You've thought about it, haven't you?

Since the Steam Deck has taken hold, and the ASUS ROG Ally has arrived, mobile gaming computers are real and good.

I admit that back when Epyx Games designed their handheld gaming machine with color display, I was interested.  Atari bought it and put it out under their name.  When Nintendo brought out Virtual Boy, it piqued my interest.  However, bad, tiny displays weren't enough for me.

I looked at the Nintendo Switch several times.  The newer, OLED-equipped Switch really looks good, but it's not very powerful for 2023.  So many people bought them in 2020 and 2021 because they were stuck at home, the company did well.  For me, I want different games, and mostly, those games don't end up on Switch.

So, here I am with a Steam Deck and it's good.  I have over 182 games available in Steam, 62 are in the Great on Deck category, and I have 42 games installed.

Earlier, I was watching a YouTube video about installing a game launcher that could handle non-Steam-based games.  You have to exit Steam and go to the Linux/KDE desktop, use the virtual keyboard, and more.  Without a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, it sounds difficult.  It sounds like my 8-bit days before the GUI arrived. The good thing is that there is a GUI.  I'm not sure I want to bother with GOG Galaxy or the Epic Games Launcher on a Steam Deck in desktop mode, though.

Play Games or Mess with the computer?

This reminds me so much of my time at work getting Win98SE and WinNT to work.  Then, going home to my MacOS machines.  I really don't want to mess with the computer.  I bought Steam Deck to play games, not to become a Linux laptop replacement.

Windows Local or Windows Remote?

The good thing about Steam is that it allows you to Stream a game from another machine.  I can stream a game from Steam Deck, Mac, or Windows.  I can even play remotely on Android or iOS.

GeForce NOW will also allow you to run Windows games remotely on Android or iOS.  However, unless you're a premium subscriber, you may be waiting in the queue quite a while.  The Razer Kishi V2 works fairly well, but only supports/is supported by a handful of games I have.  It did not work with my OnePlus 8T and, while it works with my Google Pixel 6a, the Pixel 6a isn't as powerful as the 8T.  Gaming is not so happy, even for light, casual games.  Playing from a Mac is fine, but seems a waste.  I don't have a Kishi V2 for iPhone.

Valve has really worked hard to make Steam Deck a success and I'm pleasantly surprised how many games work well.  I'm not too quick to jump on the latest trends, but Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush from Tango Gameworks and Bethesda are pretty bug-free for new releases.

I'm not about to buy Hogwarts Legacy this year, partly, because it's massive, and partly, because it's expensive.  I would rather buy Baldur's Gate 3 sooner but it's going to be buggy and expensive, also.

Then again, if certain games arrived on Mac, I'd be spending to show my support for native Apple Silicon gaming development.  Some games work fine as Intel-based applications but more speed would make things go more smoothly.

It's interesting how many indie games are available for Mac and Windows at the same time while big studios can't seem to muster the courage.

Is playing handheld good enough?

I've played a number of games on Steam Deck, but some of my favorite pick-up-put-down kind of games, like Unreal Tournament 2004, don't work easily.  For the most part, you can play almost anything.  Games that require a keyboard and mouse will be difficult.  I currently have 44 games installed and they mostly work the way I'd expect but I removed one or two because they didn't work correctly.  Valve continues to make improvements in the Proton compatibility layer.

On iPhone and Android, I've been playing the Galaxy on Fire series for around 11 years, since the original Google Nexus 7 tablet with Nvidia Tegra processor and the second generation iPod touch.  Using gyros for the movement was surprisingly good, although it might have looked silly while playing in a waiting room.

Using a Steel Series Nimbus+ for the iPhone and a Razer Kishi V2 for a Google Pixel 6a makes certain games much easier to play.  It's a bit sad that Android controllers can't be more compatible with a wide variety of phones.  My OnePlus 8T just didn't work with the Razer Kishi V2 but the Pixel 6a isn't as powerful.  Now, Razer has a Kishi V2 Pro.

I still find myself at the computer, whether Windows or Mac, to play games that can't easily be played on Steam Deck, Android, or iOS.

I mentioned UT2004 earlier and it's one that I pick up for 15 minutes and then, put away.  I play Toxikk that way as well.  I haven't spent much time on Honkai: Star Rail or Genshin Impact on my phone.  They're too much for my Google Pixel 6a, but run fine on my 2022 iPhone SE.  The display dimensions aren't very good on the iPhone SE, as it doesn't really have a widescreen display.  It does have a powerful processor, though.  Genshin Impact demands a lot of my Windows 11-based machine.  Those fans run quite a bit while playing, even for a few minutes.  Teyvat is shown in great detail.

Which handheld will succeed to break the need for a laptop computer?

I'm looking forward to seeing Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Legion Go take hold and change the face of gaming.  It's time.

Update 2023.12.14: Attached a keyboard and mouse to my Steam Deck and played Toxikk and Unreal Tournament 2004 as if I had a laptop computer.  It was a good experience, even though I need to adjust to the keyboard.  UT2004 actually ran better on Steam Deck than it ran on my Ryzen 7 5800H through the AMD application launcher using AMD graphics.  That experience on the 5800H was surprising, considering that my experience in 2004 was better on a Mac clone with an ATI card that was probably priced around US$200 in 2004. ATI's XClaim VR was the card from 2004.  The Steam Deck was awesome.

Cheap keyboard/mouse combo from Temu wasn't bad.  Longevity?  Who knows?

 Update 2023.12.26: I have Hogwarts Legacy on Steam Deck.  Performance is good so far.  I need to acclimate myself to the controls or I won't go far. 

Update 2024.01.13: Ayaneo has just announced a Steam Deck-like device using a SteamOS-like operating system, Ayaneo Next Lite.  It's starting just a bit cheaper than Steam Deck, but who knows whether they'll continue to support the operating system or not.  The company has so many devices that it may just be throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.

Update 2024.03.08: Ayaneo Next Lite will be shipped with Windows 11, for some reason.  Orange Pi Neo has been announced with Manjaro Linux Gaming Edition.  Supposedly, it will be less expensive than Steam Deck, even with Hall Effect triggers and a higher resolution display.

I've been acclimating myself to SteamOS desktop and updates through Discover.  Trying to work a machine without a good desktop interface is difficult, but this one is good.  When I was experimenting with Ubuntu back around 2005, there was a lot to dislike.  GNOME desktop wasn't good and Ubuntu's Unity was different, not better.  People raved about KDE but it wasn't that far along, either.

In any case, it's good to have a handheld device that can replace a desktop computer in a pinch.

Update 2024.03.19: Windows 11 Update KB5035853 has caused problems on Ally and others like it that use an AMD APU.  Too many times Microsoft isn't paying attention, but with millions of configurations, how can they test enough of them?

Update 2024.05.27: Things are better and there are more alternatives yet.  ASUS has an Ally X with some redesigns to fix and make things better.  We'll see if it corrects ruining the SD Card by overheating it.  It's still fairly expensive and Armoury Crate isn't much of a game launcher.

The newer Steam Deck OLED is a better performer and the display dazzles all but the most frugal.  There are over 15,000 games Verified or Playable now.

I've been playing a few games from Netmarble, some for Android, some for Windows.  I haven't got to the point where I want to try games outside of Steam on the Steam Deck.  I downloaded two launchers for the desktop, but haven't done much to try them.

Update 2024.09.09: I noticed this week in a couple of articles that AMD is close to a new generation of APUs for handheld devices.  There was a mention of Escher, which was in the same category as Van Gogh, the APU in the Steam Deck.  There was also a mention of Z2 and Z2 Extreme, the processors in the ASUS Ally and Legion Go. Supposedly, the Z2/Z2 Extreme will arrive first quarter of 2025 but the replacement for the Van Gogh may take longer.  It would be interesting to see how Valve handles a replacement for the current APU, not only in software, but in game verification.  Obviously, it has to be fully compatible, but will it support more to deal with technical difficulties we've seen on Steam Deck?

Update 2024.10.24: SteamOS has been updated to version 3.6.

I know that Legion Go and ROG Ally X are making improvements in handheld devices.  I don't see myself switching at this point.  I have a Windows 11 Pro machine and it seems as though the performance has become worse with every update.  Anything extra that they can eek out of Steam Deck would be appreciated.

Update 2024.12.28: At CES, there should be an announcement between Valve and Lenovo that the Legion Go will come in a SteamOS version.  Valve has been busy working on SteamOS to add drivers and such to make their distribution of Linux work for any handheld that works like the Steam Deck.

Steam Deck itself has been available in Australia for a bit, but it still has a long way to go.  The operating system is working well and many games run without major problems.  The minor problems often offset the problems that Windows has.

Update 2025.01.24: It has been a couple of days since I got a notice from Nintendo that the Switch 2 was being announced.  They didn't really go into enough detail about what it is.  I will guess that it isn't powerful enough because they always go less powerful than they should.  The extra port and the controller-as-a-mouse functionality is interesting.  However, after the number of portable gaming systems in the last few years, will it be enough?  Will the Switch 2 have enough power to play games without a Nintendo character, i.e. AAA games?

Waiting for Valve to do something about Steam Deck feels like being in the waiting room of a doctor who has bad news for you.  They might have cleaned up SteamOS 3.6 enough to calm down the problems.  They're not big enough to have a huge distribution network, so things are moving slowly.  By the time they have it under control, they'll probably announce Steam Deck 2.

I've been considering moving to SteamOS for my Windows 11 Pro laptop computer.  It takes so long just to get it to the login page, even though it's using an M.2 SSD.  The 24H2 update gave me hope and then, it's no better.

Update 2025.02.26: Valve's Steam Deck is three years old.  My Steam Deck is about two years old.  The device still doesn't have a major distribution network but sells well.  The company is working on a Steam console and apparently, another VR headset.  Is SteamOS enough to upset Windows?  The company is still working on a one-size-fits-all version of SteamOS to be installed almost anywhere.

I watched someone install a version of Red Hat's Fedora offshoot called Nobara.  There seems to be an Nvidia version that I could use, as well as a SteamOS version.  It started up like it was still 2004, but eventually booted into a SteamOS-looking interface, similar to when I use my Steam Deck with keyboard and mouse.

Update 2025.04.06: Guess what isn't going to arrive in the USA?  The Nintendo Switch 2 is being delayed, due to the tariffs from the White House. 

Update 2025.11.15: Valve announced Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and a second generation Steam Controller just recently.

 I've got the original Steam Controller (somewhere) and it's both really good and really bad, at the same time.  Hopefully, the new one will be amazing since they've learnt a lot from the Steam Deck usage.

Steam Machine is just a Linux-based box computer for Steam-based games.  Anything that runs on Steam Deck will run on Steam Machine, but FASTER.  Will it be as good as current Playstation or Xbox models?  It may not matter.

 Steam Frame is another matter.  The Valve Index was expensive and then, Apple made it look inexpensive.  I suspect that it only sold a few hundred times.  I would like a VR headset, especially one that has the processing inside it as Apple has done.  If they have the energy for it as they've had for Steam Deck, they might do well.  Samsung just introduced another entry into the market.

 Valve could really use a Steam Deck with much more processing power.  The AMD Escher variant was designed to replace the Van Gogh variant and they should be planning to use it. 

Update 2025.12.23: The LCD version of the Steam Deck is finished.  When supplies run out, they won't be sold any longer, except for refurbished models, I'd expect.

I wish that this meant that a follow-on product was in the works, but they seem to be allowing anyone and everyone to load SteamOS. 

Update 2026.02.25: The Steam Deck is four years old today.

 I waited a while to buy mine.  They had so many shortages and couldn't deliver for the longest time, so I waited.  Now, with AI servers needing RAM and storage, things are slowing to a standstill.

I saw the other day that AMD is not providing firmware updates for the Z1 or Z1 Extreme APUs and Lenovo made a similar announcement.  SteamOS seems a better bet but can they cover all AMD APUs? 

ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 OLED is here!

Imagine that a Ryzen 7-based 5800H laptop computer with OLED display is available.  Add 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, plus touch screen capabilities in just over 4 pounds for US$999.  I ordered one, an ASUS ZenBook Pro  UM535.  I've always felt that ASUS' laptop computers were an alternative to Apple, but it took me three recent tries to arrive at this one.

It isn't a gaming machine.  It is officially a creator's machine.  It only has a resolution of 1920x1080, but that's fine, considering the games that I will play, and the photos and video that I will edit.

What's wrong with the MacBook Air M1?  Nothing is really wrong with it, but I'm missing some games that I played daily on the Windows machine.  Sadly, a number of those games aren't playable on the Steam Deck, as well.

So, first impressions are:

Great display

Poor WiFi

Decent keyboard and trackpad

For US$1399.99. I would feel that the display was too much of the cost.  At the price I paid, it's a good machine.  It hasn't been 24 hours and I've had multiple instances of difficulty connecting to the router downstairs, even though my other devices aren't having a problem. I'm wondering if this is a Windows 11 thing, along with Intel's crappy compatibility in the WiFi department.

I haven't really pushed the machine, but Unreal Tournament 2004 and Asphalt 9 were smooth.  That should be the case with this hardware.

Bitlocker was enabled, even though I don't have the key.  I disabled it.  Besides, the SSD already has some encryption.

It also came with Alexa enabled.  I removed that and McAfee anti-virus.  Getting rid of the stickers could be more interesting.

Initially updating software is always a pain and of course, the WiFi connection didn't work during the updates, so I used my iPhone as a hotspot with T-Mobile 5G service to complete the updates.

It's been a year since I had a Windows machine and that 7th generation quad core i7 Omen by HP wasn't much faster than the 3rd generation i7 MacBook Pro.  This feels so much faster.  I want to say that it's smoother but Windows 11 feels broken so far.  None of the game launchers seem happy.

I connected my Corsair mouse and there was no mention of new hardware and it seems to be working without incident.  I had so much trouble with the iCue software, I'm not sure that I want to load it onto Windows 11.

Update 2022.12.10: Was searching for new Intel WiFi and Bluetooth drivers and the machine restarted.  It mentioned something about fTPM being corrupt, having a new CPU, and tried to use Windows Hello to check my face to log into the machine.  I freaked out a bit.  I couldn't access the internet and needed Microsoft Authenticator to authorize the login.  I couldn't use Microsoft Authenticator for some reason and it took me some time to find solutions.  It's all working again.

Update 2022.12.14: The machine is still working but the WiFi is still erratic.  For a company that sells routers and extenders, I'd think they'd be better.  I ran Windows 11 diagnostics and I've had some marginal improvement.  A new driver and diagnostics have helped but it just isn't all that reliable.  I'm wondering if Windows 11 has something to do with the problem.  I've seen a few comments about it being beta test quality.  It's just odd that the ZenBook Pro is the only device out of four that is having WiFi issues on the same household connection.

Games run well, whether they use the inbuilt Radeon technology or the mobile RTX 3050 Ti.

I did some research and the Ryzen 7 5800H and the Apple Silicon M1 don't seem that far apart in performance but the MacBook Air seems much faster in launching applications and switching web sites in a browser window.

 Update 2023.01.04: I got an e-mail from ASUS thanking me for taking the effort to write a review but that it did not follow their guidelines and was rejected.  I guess you can't tell people that the WiFi isn't working well and that it was the only one of four devices not staying connected.  Oops. 

Update 2023.01.21: Saw a report about Intel's WiFi hardware dropping connections in other machines.  It didn/t mention the Intel hardware I have but I wouldn't be surprised if all of their technology is just a bit sloppy.

I've moved to another room and my computer desk is pretty much right above the router, so I'm getting a better signal.

Windows update 22H2 was ready today and I confirmed that I wanted it installed.  Things don't seem different so far.  Hopefully, the bug fixes will make things better.  Windows 11 seems buggy.

Update 2023.06.04: I haven't seen a firmware update for a while and only occasional Windows updates, although a substantial feature update is due.

Machine is working well.  Fans kick in frequently while I'm playing Honkai: Star Rail and other recent games.  Graphics are good and OLED is sharp.  Keyboard is...meh.

Update 2024.09.09: Microsoft keeps pushing AI-related updates and each one seems to degrade performance of games and other high usage applications.  The machine itself is doing a great job.  The keyboard is still annoying.  They should have ditched the numeric keypad in order to have a better keyboard.

Update 2025.06.11: 2.5 years on the same Windows machine is amazing.  The other day, it didn't seem to be responding.  It's happened a few times but the power button didn't seem to work, either.  I didn't want to open it, but it makes me wonder if the heat is getting to it.  It's a Creator's machine, not a gaming machine.  (Trying telling me that processing video doesn't take a lot of power.) I have the fans set to start early, to avoid a meltdown.  The laptop cooler is working but may not be enough.

Windows updates are still a pain, but this last one may have made it less worse.

I looked at the ASUS ROG Zephryus G14 with an RTX 4060 and AMD 8945HS as a replacement.  It's a bit smaller, a bit more powerful, and it's made for gaming, so that the airflow should be improved, plus the AMD processor should be more efficient. 

Update 2026.05.24: Got a replacement about 1 week ago, an MSI Crosshair 16 HX with AMD Ryzen 9 8940 HX and Nvidia RTX 5060.  That's a step up, although not a big one.  The ZenBook Pro was starting to overheat a bit since I've been playing Where Winds Meet.  It doesn't help that Windows 11 performance has been going downhill with all the AI bits they're using whether you approve or not.

Since the Ryzen 9 8940 HX is three generations newer and has twice the number of cores, it should do much better and for the most part, it does.  The RTX 5060 is at the same position in the RTX lineup, but with 8 GB of GDRAM instead of 4 GB.

I'm not getting the best out of it yet\, and there is a BIOS update that may fix that, but the update procedure is a pain.

I updated the ZenBook without a problem.  I've updated many a machine without a problem.  MSI wanted me to jump through hoops.

In any case, the ASUS machine may have a second life as a Linux machine running CachyOS. 

WWDC Monday: turning 2012 obsolete

We all know it's coming as soon as we buy something: it's turning obsolete as soon as it has been released.

A car depreciates the moment you sign the paperwork and drive off the lot.  An electronic gadget starts toward obsolescence the moment it arrives in the real world and can be bought.  Even humans and other living things start to decay after they're born--we live to die.

So, it's no mystery that once new laptop computers are revealed by Apple at WWDC on Monday, mine will be the previous generation.  Oh, no!

As I had said when Apple released the first MacBook Air, the company would develop all of their laptop computers in a similar form for the long term.  They've accomplished some of that but they're still holding on to an earlier type.  I suspect it won't be until 2014 when they cut all ties to past laptop computer designs that are still current at this moment.

More than that, they desperately need to replace the Mac Pro--the tower-encased work horse created for the most professional pursuits of creativity.  Will they still have Xeon processors?  These processors have kept the price abnormally high, but have kept the performance equally high.  Will they be replaced with simpler, 8 core i7 processors?

I believe they must.  Apple have been working toward more reasonable pricing lately.  No, they aren't going into budget-class territory.  There is no reason to fight for the bottom end.  However, they can bring more power at a lower price.

Intel boasts the Haswell series of Core i processors as being less needy for power.  Certainly, whole systems seem too needy, especially when it comes to graphics hardware.  We've gone from 300 watt power supplies to much more than 650 watt requirements for many middle class graphics cards fit to a system.  As the CPU becomes less thirsty, will the GPU just soak up the rest?

When the various Macs were using G4 processors, they needed very little energy to survive, in contrast to the Pentium 4.  Even the PowerPC G5 wasn't incredibly ravenous.  It would be good to see a laptop computer that supposedly can last 7 hours on battery last more than 12.

I was reading something about nVidia's 600 series GPUs being re-badged with higher numbers for 2013.  Whatever Apple decides to use, I'm sure they'll be somewhat more powerful, but careful to conserve battery life.  The 650M graphics hardware in my machine can drain the battery so much faster than the Intel HD 4000 hardware, but then, there is so much difference in performance.  The HD 4000 uses less juice, but is it nearly as efficient?  I'd think it isn't.  Intel bought a third rate graphics hardware company to "help" the industry and they haven't really made a lot of progress with it.  It's still quite laughable.  How AMD/ATI and nVidia continue to dominate without tripping over the patents of each other is amazing.

So, when Monday afternoon (GMT-4) arrives at 13:00, will I cringe that my computer has suddenly shifted into the past?  No, it's quite powerful and will be after any announcement.  It's all perspective, of course.  If you live for tomorrow, you'll miss today.

I've seen the details now and I suspect that my MacBook Pro is safe--there was no replacement today.  The MacBook Air people should be feeling the strain, as those machines were given the newest Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Haswell processors.  The battery life on the bigger machine has improved to a rated 12 hours.  It's not as good as I would have expected but it's very good.  Once the new (Mac) OS X arrives in autumn, that should help also.

 Speaking of which, OS X Mavericks is the first Apple operating system to make me smile for a while.  They've actually been working on the functionality, instead of spending most of their time on eye candy.

Virtual Memory has long been a problem for Mac OS X.  Considering that Mac OS X has had its roots in the Mach (micro-)kernel project and BSD UNIX, it's a wonder that Virtual Memory would have ever been a problem.  The various BSD-based operating systems (OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD) have been really stable.

Apple, in their infinite wisdom, thought that they could fix the world with an enhancement and it's been hell ever since.  I used to be a PowerMac user with the fastest (Ultra) SCSI hard drives and the virtual memory swapping was always at the wrong time.  I suppose for most people using a web browser and e-mail client, it wasn't a problem.  However, I've been at the edge of free memory far too often--even on my newest machine with 16 GB of RAM.

I'm hoping that this new Memory Compression technique will put things right.  It says a lot about processor power when they can do such a thing.  Back when the Motorola 68000 series processors were new, virtual memory was something only big business machines would do.  Motorola came out with an add-on that allowed virtual memory, but when you consider how slow all of the components were, it was much better to limit memory space to available RAM--16 MB or 4 GB.  Of course, the 16 MB limit of the 68000 was rarely used.  It was more likely restricted to 4 MB by an artificial limit.

Replacing the networking hardware was an expected change, as they were a bit behind the times already.  It's not that everyone has been running to stores to find 802.11ac (Gigabit WiFi) equipment, but the major vendors already have it out there.

In any case, Apple are finally pushing toward the future again, having put it on pause earlier.

Update 2013.07.21: Apple are in the middle of a Back-to-School clearance, so there is no new iPhone, iPod touch, Mac Book Pro, etc. until supplies are exhausted.  I suppose it's good for all involved but once a year changes aren't really enough to keep up with other companies.  I thought that Apple were trying to be more flexible.  Hopefully, they'll also have enough displays for a high density iPad mini, but I wouldn't bet on anything, given all the delays.

A new computer

Okay, so it's kewl to hate Apple.  I'm not an Apple fanatic anyway.  The fanatics drive me crazy.  I like the company's products, but don't own a huge number of them.

I've had Apple computers since 1993 when my IBM L40SX' mouse port died and they'd have to replace the motherboard to fix the problem.  The company gave me almost $1000 for a two year old computer that originally cost me $1500, and sent me on my way.

I took a friend and went to the local OfficeMax.  They had an Apple Performa 426 (LC/Performa 425 with a 250 MB hard drive).  Yes, Performa was the budget line and for around $1500, you got a keyboard without the keypad, a mouse, and a 14 inch 640x480 monitor.  It was a good deal, especially when the Quadra version of the same machine was more expensive (having the 68040 with inbuilt math coprocessor, instead lf the 68LC040) but lacked the keyboard and monitor.  I'm thinking that the keyboard and mouse were included in the LC425 version.

19 years ago, the company was okay, but their operating system was craptacular in fundamental ways, i.e., it needed to be scrapped.  Today, they have a good operating system that has some weird issues and they're trying to make it more mobile--like handheld devices mobile.  Is something with a 15.4 inch display a mobile device, really?

At this moment, I'm transferring my data from a backup of my current mid-2009 white MacBook to a mid-2012 aluminium MacBook Pro.  I'm thinking that I should have bought a USB 3.0 drive instead of saving a bit of money on the clearance item, as USB 2.0 isn't so fast.  The previous time I did a migration, it was over a Gigabit Ethernet connection from my late 2004 PowerBook G4 to the white MacBook.  I regretted not having a machine with discrete graphics but the nVidia 9400M graphics hardware was fast and with almost 5 years of technology between the two machines, the games I had ran very well on the MacBook.

This new machine has current graphics hardware: nVidia 650M with 1 GB of GDDR5 RAM.  That's fairly extreme for a notebook computer.  These days, desktop graphics hardware requires significant power, so it's nice to see that they can give good abilities to a mobile computer that doesn't require a long extension cord to do anything.  For daily uses, it's got the Intel HD 4000 graphics chipset, which is, ummm, less underwhelming than the HD 3000 chipset.  That's as generous as I can be.  I expect that Fishlabs' Galaxy on Fire 2 HD will run fine at 1440x900, rather than the 1024x600 window it uses on the MacBook.  However, I suspect UT2004 won't run at all, due to deprecated (retired) software in Lion/Mountain Lion.

Yesterday, I took the old PowerBook to have the backlight repaired.  The machine is a pleasant design and doesn't give any feeling of being cheap but it's not a unibody design.  Neither is the MacBook I have a unibody design, though it doesn't feel expensive or cheap.  Certainly, remembering the late iBook family sitting in a store with half its keys missing is enough to make you think that any of the MacBook family are not cheap.  However, this certain MacBook Pro is the aluminium slab unibody machine, and it felt very impressive pulling it out of the box.  It should be interesting to compare the two side-by-side.  Notably though, the 1440x900 vs 1280x854 display resolution and graphics hardware are the biggest details.  Considering that the 1280x854 15.2 inch widescreen display arrived in 2001 when most of the world offered a 1024x768 4:3 display is still amazing.  Of course, you pay extra for the better, higher resolution display and back then, Apple didn't have the sales numbers to push down the cost of the display with economies of scale.

I'm interested in how I'll function with Lion or Mountain Lion.  I didn't get far enough to find out which it has, but the entry on the Apple store said that it qualified for the up-to-date program.  I'm all for massive security improvements, as Apple has lagged the industry, even when the security improvements were free and available to them.  I can't understand the need to suck people into their world without protecting them.

The operating system(s) is much different than Snow Leopard from what I've seen.  A lot of it seems to be superficial eye candy, which doesn't do a thing for me, if the system is still broken when you use it.  e.g., I have a problem when I'm not a System Administrator in Snow Leopard.  I'll go from my default of the Applications folder to one of my photo folders, the Utilities folder, or some such.  The Back button should be enabled and light up with a visual cue to let you know that you can click it to return to the previous folder.  Nine of ten times, it does not, and clicking the button does zero.  I'm sure it's someone else's fault because Apple never makes mistakes.  Did your sarcasm detector just jump to 100 %?

I have about 2 hours, 21 minutes at latest count until the Migration Assistant finishes.  The good thing is that this machine is not tied down since it's all being pulled from the Time Machine backup.  It's odd watching the latest thermometer/progress bar work.  It has sharp edges--no rounded rectangle there, but it still has the fluid effects and the ever-present blue.

Hopefully, it will handle my Phase One Capture One 7 Pro software well.  If not, after the 16 GB RAM switch, it'll be even better.  I'm being hampered by only 6 GB of RAM, and the system is often at a crawl.  Isn't that crazy that so much RAM isn't enough?  I'll find out in a couple of hours.  Hopefully, it'll be a wonderful experience.  I mean, it's Apple, yes?  Nothing could ever be wrong.  Yes, yes, there goes your sarcasm detector again.

It took about 3 hours for the Migration Assistant to finish.  That's not terrible, but it missed a few settings or, I guess, they didn't apply correctly for Mac OS X 10.8.  Just after that, I went to the shop where they're going to repair my PowerBook and used their internet connection to download 1.32 GB of updates to the operating system and other Apple-related software.  When it wanted to restart, I clicked Restart (as opposed to Not Now) but it didn't seem to work.  It was only much later, when I went back to the merged Software Update/Mac App Store that it updated correctly.  It's confusing.  As of midnight, the machine seems to be working reasonably well.  I can't keep a Finder window but other things seem to be working, including my Capture One 7 Pro.  That's a good thing.

Continuing, all of my updates have been processed, and I replaced the 8 GB of RAM with 16 GB.  The combined Mac App Store/Software Update found a tiny update for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.  It's been out a couple of weeks, so I'm surprised that it wasn't found already.

Of course, the 16 GB of RAM makes the re-launch of almost any application instantaneous.   However, Capture One 7 Pro still lags when loading more than 1200 photos (and their associated change information) in one folder.  The 5400 rpm drive has a lot to do with that, but of course, 1200+ photos are quite a lot.  I started out with over 2100.  The drive really does feel abnormally slow when I've been using a 7200 rpm drive for about 1 year but limited there to 6 GB of RAM. 

In the standard user account where I have my photography, it mostly remembers my Finder window.  In my administrator account, it almost never does.  Of course, this is 10.8.2 and I'm not comfortable until any release gets to 10.x.4.  Apple just don't figure out things correctly until around that time.  I'm concerned about sync-ing my iPhone with iTunes 11.  I can appreciate the enhanced user experience, but iTunes is generally flaky until the second patch, but they've been stopping at the first and releasing something new after that.  I don't want the data on my phone scrambled.

I'm not saying that anything is unusable.  It's just not as good as it should be, and things are moved around, probably for the sake of moving things, like with Software Update.  Be sure to click on "more" at the end of the description, so you can see the whole list of updates and choose which you would like.