Re: Buy a non smart TV - if you can find one
Google TV OS -> basic TV option.
10 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Oct 2010
Remarkably, Google TV OS is the solution here.
During setup, you can select “basic TV” which turns all of so-called “smart” features off. It still asks to connect to a WiFi network, but you can skip that step as well, because no one needs “security updates” when it’s just in display monitor mode.
I thought this was too good to be true, but when my trusty 12+ year old Panasonic went pop (literally) over the weekend, I chose this option as all my content is managed by other devices over HDMI. Thankfully it does actually work.
My “spare” MBP that lives in the sitting room is a 2009 model, recently upgraded to Monterey using OpenCore Legacy Patcher.
I’m not sure I’d use it for music production but it’s fine for casual office use and gentle coding.
In my experience, VM "support" = recite a script and then tell you an engineer is coming to look at your modem sometime next Thursday. For every issue.
Part of the script is (or was, until I gave up calling them) "what Windows patches have you applied?" leading to great confusion when you respond "none, I'm a Mac / Linux user".
Luckily, in the last 10 years I've had little cause to call them. Just recently though ...
Free wifi has been available at Starbucks in the UK for years.
All you've ever needed to do is grab a Starbucks card, register it online and then use your Starbucks account to get free wifi. You only ever need to put money on the card once to register it and then you can buy your coffee with it as usual, leaving £0.00 on your card.