Hey Richard,

   Yeah, I should have been a bit more specific regarding the networking. You see, I have a room in my basement that I've set up for recording, and that's where the desktop is going to be. I use the laptop when I'm upstairs to get on the internet. I still want to transfer files from the desktop to the laptop though, so the machines need to connect seamlessly. This way, I don't need to be in my basement when I get online to post finished recordings.

Hey Dante, the newer thinner laptops can be a bit harder to get at the RAM as obviously the space inside is at a premium.  When I read that about the MSI I was buying, which is as thin as a Macbook Pro, you have to dismantle it a bit to get at the RAM, so not as straight forward as it was/is with thicker older units.  Hence I decided stuff that and just bought it loaded up.  I went new and high end, the last laptop I have I bought over 15 years ago and I wanted to future proof myself a bit.  Also the MSI is a gaming/creative model, and gaming machines are always really high spec.  These are the people (gamers) who have liquid cooling systems for the CPU (like a car radiator).

@Harley, when you said networking, I miss understood you I think.  To me that means running on a corporate network etc. which Macs are not particularly easy to incorporate.  But if you just mean connecting to your wireless router/modem thingy and accessing the internet, I don't think of that as networking, although I spose strictly it is in a way.  The monitor limitation came up when I was buying the Satechi dock.  At that time Macs only supported 2 external monitors.  When I looked the other day I noticed the M3 Max has addressed that and it can now support 4 (in that model) as does Win11.  Of course you also need a decent graphics card.  But I'm good with 2 which gives me 3 screens which I find handy for recording, well mostly mixing as the FX and bus windows etc. can be on other screens.  While buying refurbished Macs may be cost effective now, I wouldn't (given what you want and are doing).  Mac OSs get deprecated faster that Windows.  There's lots of people who can't apply security patches (and Dante, they come thick and fast these days, I see them every other day in my job) to their Apple things.  Not that this doesn't also happen in Windows, it's just Window is supported much longer due partly to it's huge footprint in enterprise organisations.

Anyway Harley, I just decided to bight the bullet, spend the money and upgrade everything, coz, like you, I was over it and just wanted everything to work.  And I'm glad I did, now I'm good for another 10 years (I hope LoL).

I'm keeping an eye on this thread since I ordered the parts to repair one of mine.

Dante,

    I'll look for refurbished Macs and see what's out here. The place I went to was the Apple Store, so I think all they had was new machines. I'll look around though.

   Thanks for the tip, I didn't even think of that until you mentioned it.

Richard,

   I'll keep that in mind, but I will still go with a desktop even if I have a laptop. I don't like to use the desktop for networking, which is why I choose to use a laptop for that.
   I intended to get a hub for the laptop anyway since the USB connections are limited on those.

   As far as external monitors, these two I have now can work with HDMI, and they are connected with adapters.

Yes and No

Yes, it is the one I got from you. No, I didn't check the bias current, nor do I know how to (yet)

Is this the unit I shipped you?

Also did you check the bias current when you replaced those mosfet's?

Laptop RAM memory is not that hard to upgrade, I've done that to all my laptops. I guess it's quite a challenge on some older iMacs, but that's another topic....I don't use the display on my laptop at all, just the bigass TV. 

The TV was handy when my eyes were bad, now that they're fixed, it's way better.  I have tons of real estate

Yes, the current Mac Magic Mouse is sleek on top and has all the clicks and a (hidden) scroll wheel....HOWEVER, the charging cable port is on the BOTTOM of the mouse. You cannot use the mouse when charging.  That is a design flaw

As for advice on buying a Mac, I've always gotten refurbished machines that were 2 or 3 years old. Half the price, still reliable as hell and usually come with Apple care (from a reputable dealer). Sure, they may use a chip that's been improved, but I don't need the latest greatest CPU...

Hey greenmeanie, so the factory presets are stored on the EPROM and you can load them into user memory (onboard RAM chip maintained by the battery, i.e. battery goes flat, RAM dies user presets are lost).  There are 39 presets with the v1.41 EPROM (you see EPROM version when you turn it on).  If you do a load presets, it loads the 39 into the first 39 user presets IIRC and leaves the rest alone.  The 3rd from last button "compare" selects between preset and user.  If you select preset you are accessing the presets stored on the EPROM.  You can edit these but you have to save the result to a user patch.  So they are always available regardless of what you do in the user banks.  This is described pretty well in the manual.  The presets were never documented so I went through them all and documented them, took some time, I made a table in word and my daughter typed them in as I went through them.  I've posted these before but I've attached them for you.  The word doc is in patch order, the .pdf is sorted in voice order and colour coded to group each voice.

There is no reset jumper, when the battery dies (and they do eventually) you have to solder in a new one (3v lithium) or solder in a vertical battery holder with a CR2032 3v lithium button battery).  You can measure the battery with a multimeter, IIRC when it drops below 2.7v (ish) it will stop working and all in RAM will be lost.  So either save your programs (that you care about) to PC or better, write them down.

Hey Harley, if you go for a high end Macbook Pro it should do everything you want and work fine as a "DAW" and also for video.  You shouldn't need a new desk top as the latest Laptops are as good and often better.  And if you need a couple of extra monitors, as Dante says you can use the HDMI out to connect one.  I suggested the hub/dock thing as it gives you lots of additional connections to plug in a mouse, keyboard, monitors etc. (network port as well if you need it, which the Macbook Pro don't have, they use wireless).  I'm really happy with my hi end MSI laptop, I usually run it with the dock and additional monitors but can take it with me and use it stand alone.  Big upside with the Mac laptops is much better battery life between charges.  That's the one down side of my MSI, it's good for 3 to 4 hours only.  The M3 Max I suggested is 22hours, impressive.

Edit: Had a look at a friends Macbook Pro tonight, great news, the mouse has left and right click and scrolls in the middle, even better, it has no cable to connect to the Laptop, you just have to charge it up from time to time.  Even better apart from being really sleek, the top is continuous, no cracks for dust to get.  Very elegant design. I don't know how easy it is to add RAM to a Macbook, some laptops are easy and some are a pain.  Mine (MSI) allegedly is a pain so I ordered it all loaded up with 64GB so I didn't have to think about it later.