skins for Windows 10

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Discussion

Buffalo

Original Poster:

5,435 posts

253 months

Wednesday 17th April 2019
quotequote all
I have to move away from Macs because they can't pull their finger out and provide a MacBook Pro with proper grunt. While I think Win10 is actually ok.... I'm not thrilled about the idea.

Does anyone have any experience using skins reliably? I had a mooch around and found one that looks like Mac, which might be ok. But actually the one that most interests me is the Ades theme. Perhaps because it appeals without trying to be something it's not.

I want a bit of adjustability in appearance and layout but not at the expense of security, etc.

AJB88

12,263 posts

170 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
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If it was hardware grunt your after and your aren't tied to a particular OS platform or tied to particular software, why don't you run a live version of Ubuntu or Linux Mint and see how you get on with that?

BenjiS

3,706 posts

90 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
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What on earth are you doing that a 2.9GHz 6-core Intel Core i9 with 32GB ram, one of the fastest SSDs around, and a Radeon Pro Vega 20, isn't 'enough grunt'?

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
quotequote all
BenjiS said:
What on earth are you doing that a 2.9GHz 6-core Intel Core i9 with 32GB ram, one of the fastest SSDs around, and a Radeon Pro Vega 20, isn't 'enough grunt'?
That is a lot of grunt, granted, but, £4004.00 lol. And that's with the 1Tb SSD, 15"

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
quotequote all
Buffalo said:
I have to move away from Macs because they can't pull their finger out and provide a MacBook Pro with proper grunt. While I think Win10 is actually ok.... I'm not thrilled about the idea.

Does anyone have any experience using skins reliably? I had a mooch around and found one that looks like Mac, which might be ok. But actually the one that most interests me is the Ades theme. Perhaps because it appeals without trying to be something it's not.

I want a bit of adjustability in appearance and layout but not at the expense of security, etc.
Once you open the app you are interested in using, the fact you are on windows is mostly irrelivent, apart form being offered file paths rather than home folders, or whatever Apple uses these days. I'd avoid "skinning" Windows. The more you move away from standard, the more confusing any support will be that you might be googling in future.

BenjiS

3,706 posts

90 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
quotequote all
RogerDodger said:
BenjiS said:
What on earth are you doing that a 2.9GHz 6-core Intel Core i9 with 32GB ram, one of the fastest SSDs around, and a Radeon Pro Vega 20, isn't 'enough grunt'?
That is a lot of grunt, granted, but, £4004.00 lol. And that's with the 1Tb SSD, 15"
Well, there’s a difference between moving away from a platform because it doesn’t provide what you need, and moving away because you can’t afford it :-)

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
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I use the Stardock Object dock ( Link) that gives the desktop an Apple look and use Wallpaper Engine ( link) for animated backgrounds.

The_Jackal

4,854 posts

196 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
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Why are you concerned with childish skins when you are that good that the laptop is not powerful enough to keep up with you?
A skin is just going to take precious computing power away from you. I cant believe you are one of these superficial people that like to be seen to be using something that looks like a Mac because they are trendy?

budgie smuggler

5,359 posts

158 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
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BenjiS said:
What on earth are you doing that a 2.9GHz 6-core Intel Core i9 with 32GB ram, one of the fastest SSDs around, and a Radeon Pro Vega 20, isn't 'enough grunt'?
Have they got those working now then? Last I read they were actually slower than the i7 when under load (because of thermal and/or power throttling).

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
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budgie smuggler said:
Have they got those working now then? Last I read they were actually slower than the i7 when under load (because of thermal and/or power throttling).
Undervolt them and you can get the performance without the thermal throttling (Intel XTU is your friend)

budgie smuggler

5,359 posts

158 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
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Jinx said:
Undervolt them and you can get the performance without the thermal throttling (Intel XTU is your friend)
On MacOS?

Jinx

11,345 posts

259 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
quotequote all
budgie smuggler said:
On MacOS?
(boot camp) smile

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
quotequote all
Jinx said:
budgie smuggler said:
On MacOS?
(boot camp) smile
Spend a fortune on a Mac and turn it into a Windows PC :-)

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
quotequote all
BenjiS said:
RogerDodger said:
BenjiS said:
What on earth are you doing that a 2.9GHz 6-core Intel Core i9 with 32GB ram, one of the fastest SSDs around, and a Radeon Pro Vega 20, isn't 'enough grunt'?
That is a lot of grunt, granted, but, £4004.00 lol. And that's with the 1Tb SSD, 15"
Well, there’s a difference between moving away from a platform because it doesn’t provide what you need, and moving away because you can’t afford it :-)
True, true. But my eyes are still watering at the price. :-p

Buffalo

Original Poster:

5,435 posts

253 months

Thursday 18th April 2019
quotequote all
I've been using Macs since before they were trendy, and I just prefer using them to PCs. It's been great with VMWare fusion and bootcamp as I've always been able to get around using my preferred system and still mix it with custom build PCs when necessary. But it's become harder to do so in the past two years and the latest iteration of Mac's are just too fixed. I need more than 32Gb RAM, more than one ssd and a Xeon would be good (although an i9 isn't bad).

I don't see a difference (in theory) between using a custom launcher/icon pack on an android phone that offers a slightly different functionality, and using a skin. Provided that it is secure and well programmed. And that was why I was asking, to find out if any such thing existed, because I don't have experience on them.

tangerine_sedge

4,699 posts

217 months

Friday 19th April 2019
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Buffalo said:
I don't see a difference (in theory) between using a custom launcher/icon pack on an android phone that offers a slightly different functionality, and using a skin. Provided that it is secure and well programmed. And that was why I was asking, to find out if any such thing existed, because I don't have experience on them.
Skinning windows 10, is a little like rolling a turd in glitter...

AJB88

12,263 posts

170 months

Friday 19th April 2019
quotequote all
Buffalo said:
I've been using Macs since before they were trendy, and I just prefer using them to PCs. It's been great with VMWare fusion and bootcamp as I've always been able to get around using my preferred system and still mix it with custom build PCs when necessary. But it's become harder to do so in the past two years and the latest iteration of Mac's are just too fixed. I need more than 32Gb RAM, more than one ssd and a Xeon would be good (although an i9 isn't bad).

I don't see a difference (in theory) between using a custom launcher/icon pack on an android phone that offers a slightly different functionality, and using a skin. Provided that it is secure and well programmed. And that was why I was asking, to find out if any such thing existed, because I don't have experience on them.
Difference is the Android launchers are usually well written and supported, the Windows ones aren't so are often poor.

h0b0

7,557 posts

195 months

Friday 19th April 2019
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Apparently, it is possible to run MacOS on a PC.

Linus Tech Tips video

devnull

3,745 posts

156 months

Saturday 20th April 2019
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h0b0 said:
Apparently, it is possible to run MacOS on a PC.

Linus Tech Tips video
It is, and whilst the process has gotten immeasurably easier since the x86 port of MacOS came about over 10 years ago now, it is still a massive ballache unless you have hardware that closely resembles an actual mac. A fun project, but not something i'd entrust to day to day work. Plus all the legal issues aside from that (but it's not like Tim Cook is going to descend upon your home and throw you in jail...)