|
Sonic Dude posted:Ars has a review I think. FWIW, the worst my 320GB WD Scorpio Black in my OptiBay does when it's being hit heavily (VM) is a very slight vibration of the chassis, and even then you really have to feel for it. Probably a side effect of there being no dampening whereas in the "real" drivebay, not only is there a nice rubber mount, but I've been told that Apple is ridiculously demanding when it comes to qualifying a mechanical drive for their systems when it comes to acoustic characteristics.
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 14:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 01:49 |
|
|
Modern 7200 RPMs use about as much power as a 5400 and the difference in temperature due to new build strategies and materials is pretty much insignificant. I even use a 7200 RPM Hitachi in a Firewire 800 enclosure and get much zippier cloning / copying speeds than the old lower capacity 5400 RPM drives. Yeah, yeah, ancedotal bleh blah bloo.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 15:18
|
|
|
I'm the proud owner of a new i7 Air, which is indeed some hotness. Haven't bought a new laptop in five years; do we still do that thing where the battery should be "initialized" or whatever, by charging it full before turning it on for the first time (and/or running it all the way down to power-off following that first charge)?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 16:01
|
|
|
mdemone posted:I'm the proud owner of a new i7 Air, which is indeed some hotness. Haven't bought a new laptop in five years; do we still do that thing where the battery should be "initialized" or whatever, by charging it full before turning it on for the first time (and/or running it all the way down to power-off following that first charge)? This kind of thing is pretty much unnecessary in modern batteries. Just use it like normal and it will be fine.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 16:36
|
|
|
Action Jackson! posted:This kind of thing is pretty much unnecessary in modern batteries. Just use it like normal and it will be fine. That's what I thought I'd heard about Li-ion batteries. But every now and then you'll hear the calibration argument even from the guys working at the Fruit Stand, so I never know who's right and who's an outdated jackass. Thanks for the confirmation.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 17:40
|
|
|
mdemone posted:That's what I thought I'd heard about Li-ion batteries. But every now and then you'll hear the calibration argument even from the guys working at the Fruit Stand, so I never know who's right and who's an outdated jackass. Thanks for the confirmation. I think we decided on using the laptop down to it's almost discharged once or twice a month to be sure.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 17:41
|
|
|
What are my CPU upgrade options on a Mac Pro 1.1? I've been told X5355 [quad core 2.66] and X5365 [quad 3.0ghz] are candidates. Anything else in the quad core range?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 18:08
|
|
|
Is there any reason not to buy an 13" Air from Amazon? they're $1225 for some reason now, and no sales tax so it ends up being like $150 less than the store. Just want to make sure I'm not missing something.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 18:14
|
|
|
Several BTO MBPs I had on order for work were cancelled, and BTOs are not available until Wednesday. MBP revs?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 18:17
|
|
|
NeuralSpark posted:Several BTO MBPs I had on order for work were cancelled, and BTOs are not available until Wednesday. MBP revs?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 18:22
|
|
|
evensevenone posted:Is there any reason not to buy an 13" Air from Amazon? they're $1225 for some reason now, and no sales tax so it ends up being like $150 less than the store. Just want to make sure I'm not missing something. Nope, Amazon's cool to buy from. They just won't have any BTO options, obviously. You can then pick up retail AppleCare and apply it to that MBA.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 21:24
|
|
|
evensevenone posted:Is there any reason not to buy an 13" Air from Amazon? they're $1225 for some reason now, and no sales tax so it ends up being like $150 less than the store. Just want to make sure I'm not missing something. Primary sources for Apple computers should always be:
edit: I just checked and the new Airs don't have refurbs yet. They should show up any day now. Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Oct 10, 2011 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 21:27
|
|
|
Probably a dumb question, but does Apple sell any open-box machines at the physical stores or do they all get sent back to Apple and sold at the refurb store online?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 22:15
|
|
|
Bob Morales posted:Probably a dumb question, but does Apple sell any open-box machines at the physical stores or do they all get sent back to Apple and sold at the refurb store online?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 22:20
|
|
|
Bob Morales posted:Probably a dumb question, but does Apple sell any open-box machines at the physical stores or do they all get sent back to Apple and sold at the refurb store online? The Apple Store nearest to me had monthly fire sales of open box items including Macs. It was usually on the last Friday of the month. This was like 4 years ago, it might have changed.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 22:27
|
|
|
Who is the best person to contact when the Apple Store repeatedly fails to detect or repair a problem?Here's my friend's kid's problem posted:1: (Late June) Bought new 13" Macbook pro. LCD display was misaligned. Returned for replacement (10 days, because matte screen models are not kept in stock in-store). He has had this MacBook Pro for a bit over 3 and a half months, and it's been out for "repair" or replacement almost a third of that time. The other two thirds of the time it's been completely unreliable. For a good chunk of his summer CS program he had to borrow his roommate's computer, or risk losing data to a kernel panic. It's been one loving issue after another, and close to a dozen trips to the "Genius" bar and they're flat-out refusing to replace the drat thing, only to take it in for yet another week of "we probably won't find any issues even though they were manifest when you walked in" investigation. TL/DR: Apple has been dragging their feet for months, unable or unwilling to fix this MacBook Pro, and I want to know who/where the hell is best to escalate this to. Choadmaster fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Oct 10, 2011 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 22:28
|
|
|
Choadmaster posted:Who is the best person to contact when the Apple Store repeatedly fails to detect or repair a problem? Used to be Steve Jobs  . Has he been going to the same Apple store? Possibly take it to an Apple Authorized Rep? Also, try calling the support 800-APL-CARE (800-275-2273), explain to them the situation. They may escalate it as well.on the Steve Jobs thread, try emailing executives. Who knows, maybe someone will respond. Shadowhand00 fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Oct 10, 2011 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 22:33
|
|
|
Has he used it regularly with the non-SSD in there? If he gets all that crap with the OEM parts in there, I think he should continue to push the issue with them -- both on the phone and in the stores, escalating to supervisors/managers at the first go. That isn't like Apple to have so much resistance on something that has obviously been a problem.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 22:35
|
|
|
^^^ Edit: The entire past week he's been using it with the stock hard drive, and it's still loving up all over the place. I may just go into the store with him tomorrow and get into it with them (I suspect they're brushing him off because he's a teenager) but an email to the right place is sometimes more effective (and easier!).Shadowhand00 posted:Used to be Steve Jobs Like I said, the manager refused to do anything about it, other than take it in for repair yet again. Unless you mean call AppleCare and try to keep escalating the problem up the chain; that might be doable but sitting around on the phone for hours to get to the right person is a pain in the rear end. When I had an issue with my Dell monitor (multiple returns and the issue wasn't fixed), someone gave me an email to some customer care executive and one email to her explaining the situation got everything resolved almost instantly (hell, she even upgraded me to a better monitor). I've had a lot of lovely issues with Apple's support myself, lately. It took two tries to get that Mini repaired, at 8-9 days each, and like I said it came back to me in diagnostic mode (mine was also forced into 1280x768 resolution - nothing else was even available in the prefs!). I was able to fix these on my own by Googling the solution, but for Granny McGee it would have meant yet another trip to the store. Their phone system sucks balls, too - when you call the store, an automated system tells you to tell it what you need, but this "smart" system doesn't give you a menu or anything, so you have to guess what the hell you're supposed to say. I told it I was calling about a repair they were doing, and it connected me to the damned corporate AppleCare and not the people in the store; it took me four tries to find the magic combination of words that let me ring through to the store (at which point the guy told me "there are no repair techs here right now, can they call you back?" and they never did). ... End rant. Choadmaster fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Oct 10, 2011 |
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 22:43
|
|
|
Apple phone support is actually pretty good. Call them up, explain the situation you are in and tell them you will accept no less than a replacement at this point. Also, Tim Cook is actually answering emails, give him a shot. tcook@apple.com
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2011 23:53
|
|
|
Does he answer in the same way Jobs did? (one or two words)
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 00:12
|
|
|
DEUCE SLUICE posted:Would anyone be interested in a mechanical tenkeyless style keyboard with native Apple keys? Make it a bit less fugly , you know something that suits the macs highbrow curves , so to speak, and I'll buy one.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 00:36
|
|
|
There wasn't really anything in the first few posts that covered Mac parts. The power supply for my girlfriend's Macbook Pro 15" she bought May 2010 barely works. I saw in the first post that having the model number is very helpful, but unfortunately her battery is dead right now, and she will probably be ordering a new power supply before she turns the Macbook Pro on again. She's brought this into the Apple store before while it was under warranty and had it replaced once already. Poking around the Apple webstore, I found this for $80: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC556LL/B?fnode=MTY1NDEwMQ&mco=MTc0NzA0MjY $80 is a lot of money for a charger, the reviews are really poor, and it seems like we will continue to have problems with these chargers. I can't seem to find any lower priced off brand chargers on Amazon or Deal Extreme that match her laptop, and was wondering where else I can look?
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 01:55
|
|
|
It's not in the OP, but it really should be. It gets asked seemingly every few days. Bottom line: you're stuck paying Apple prices for official power adapters.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 02:05
|
|
|
Chainclaw posted:There wasn't really anything in the first few posts that covered Mac parts. The power supply for my girlfriend's Macbook Pro 15" she bought May 2010 barely works. I saw in the first post that having the model number is very helpful, but unfortunately her battery is dead right now, and she will probably be ordering a new power supply before she turns the Macbook Pro on again. She's brought this into the Apple store before while it was under warranty and had it replaced once already. You generally won't. That magsafe connector is patent-encumbered and so if you want one, you buy the Apple one. (Or pay much less for one from SAMart.) Edit: May 2010? Show up to the store and ask nicely if they'll replace it for you. Frayed cabling leading to the adapter not working will quite often result in the genius just replacing it as a courtesy, warranty or not.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 02:08
|
|
|
FCKGW posted:Apple phone support is actually pretty good. Call them up, explain the situation you are in and tell them you will accept no less than a replacement at this point. There might be another problem now; I just talked to him again and he told me that when they refused to replace it, he told them that California's Lemon Law (which covers any product sold with a warranty, not just vehicles) requires that they replace it at this point (near as I can tell, this is probably correct... if he were willing to sue them over it). Apparently as soon as he mentioned the law, the store manager told him they were unable to continue attempting to repair his computer, and that he needed to leave the store and contact their legal department. That would have been nice to know earlier. I don't know if this is now documented in their records for his case or not, but it might prove a stumbling block if we attempt to contact AppleCare by phone. I guess we'll take a shot at it anyway... And Tim Cook is worth a try, too. Edit: While posting this, my three-week-old MacBook Air started exhibiting this problem with my HP LP2475w monitor. Apple FTW... Choadmaster fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Oct 11, 2011 |
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 02:08
|
|
|
Star War Sex Parrot posted:It's not in the OP, but it really should be. It gets asked seemingly every few days. Any idea why? With how often the official adapters seem to fail, and the high price, there seems like a ton of room in there for a 3rd party to offer a higher quality $60 adapter. edit: While I was writing this, someone mentioned patents. I'm surprised no one has built an adapter that works around patents, even if it dropped the silly magnetic connection or something. Edit again: quote:Edit: May 2010? Show up to the store and ask nicely if they'll replace it for you. Frayed cabling leading to the adapter not working will quite often result in the genius just replacing it as a courtesy, warranty or not. Chainclaw fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Oct 11, 2011 |
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 02:10
|
|
|
Chainclaw posted:With how often the official adapters seem to fail
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 02:12
|
|
|
Star War Sex Parrot posted:An odd comment to make since I've had 6 Apple laptops since the Intel switch in 2006, and I've yet to have a power adapter fail. Regardless, if it's so recent just go to the Apple Store and they'll probably replace it for free. What his GF is doing, I almost guarantee you, is when she's winding the cable, she's pulling it tight and breaking the strands by yanking on it when she wraps it up, or she's not using the hooks, and wrapping it into a tight loop by hand.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 02:14
|
|
|
cstine posted:What his GF is doing, I almost guarantee you, is when she's winding the cable, she's pulling it tight and breaking the strands by yanking on it when she wraps it up, or she's not using the hooks, and wrapping it into a tight loop by hand.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 02:17
|
|
|
Choadmaster posted:There might be another problem now; I just talked to him again and he told me that when they refused to replace it, he told them that California's Lemon Law (which covers any product sold with a warranty, not just vehicles) requires that they replace it at this point (near as I can tell, this is probably correct... if he were willing to sue them over it). That's ... very odd. I used to work in a PC repair shop for an electronics retailer, and replaced computers under the 3-and-done California Lemon law every other week or so. Basically, you get 3 repairs for the same failure, and upon the fourth failure, if verified, the machine is considered a lemon and no further repairs should be attempted. It was either replaced or cashed out for equivalent value of a replacement at the store's desecration. It was not a "legal" matter, it was an issue of about 30 minutes of paperwork and a manager's signature. It's obviously not the same situation, but for them to refer you to legal over something that should be a pretty simple matter is disturbing. Legal would only be necessary if you are taking them to small claims for not honoring California's electronics replacement law. Don't be afraid to contact Apple, they should be willing to help you. And if the manager has admitted that it needs a replacement but brushed you off to corporate legal then you should have more evidence in your favor for replacement. Star War Sex Parrot posted:How to properly wrap the MagSafe adapter was one of the first things I showed my girlfriend when I gave her a MacBook Pro yesterday. It's amazing how many Apple customers I helped that had no idea that the adapter even had those hooks.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 02:21
|
|
|
Star War Sex Parrot posted:How to properly wrap the MagSafe adapter was one of the first things I showed my girlfriend when I gave her a MacBook Pro yesterday. For the record it is only the second most effective Apple power adapter cable management solution. I kinda miss my cord UFO sometimes. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 03:51
|
|
|
Choadmaster posted:Apparently as soon as he mentioned the law, the store manager told him they were unable to continue attempting to repair his computer, and that he needed to leave the store and contact their legal department.  "Call AppleCare, ask to speak with Customer Relations. Not tier 2, who they will try to pass you off to, but an actual CR rep. Say things like "I'm very concerned that the product has let me down" and other disappointed-yet-almost-complimentary things and ask for a replacement. They'll probably say "one more repair attempt" - don't push the law thing yet. Let them mail it in to Simpro or wherever, and call back using the same case number they give you if/when that doesn't fix it. Don't accept any appeasement (free iPod shuffle, 10% off coupon, etc.). If they're going "by the book" (though it's really just a vague guideline), they'll try to deny the replacement based on that if you don't explicitly say something like "Please do not send a free iPod, I would like a replacement computer." Business-critical, extended downtime, and disappointment - these terms are your best friends with CR. Edit: Also, find an AASP. It's clear that the local Apple Store sucks - and that happens sometimes due to lack of (budget for) training, lack of experience in the Genii, or short-staffing. Maybe they'll have some turnover and be awesome after this or next holiday season, so give them another shot then. But AASPs are making a significantly higher proportion of their revenue from repairs themselves, so they might be a better bet in the meantime. Sonic Dude fucked around with this message at 04:18 on Oct 11, 2011 |
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 04:14
|
|
|
Are we ever going to get to the point where there is no difference between PC and Mac video card firmware? Aren't most PCs now using EFI?
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 07:22
|
|
|
My lil macbooks back alive  The macbook I performed a delicate coffee based modification on , requiring I had to urgently buy a new macbook pro, I gave to my technician dad who has been whining about how garbage his old vista laptop was, and said "If you can fix it, its yours". Only 2 years old. So he brought a new topcase enclosure, pulled it apart himself (The old boy used to electrical engineer on Telstra satelites , so a puny laptop is no obstactle to him) installed it all , and apparently it works a charm. And the old boy loves it. He DID used to use mac os9 machines a decade ago (and loved them.), so the mac quirks all made sense once I enabled 2 button for him. But I think he got most excited the minute I showed him how to install an app "Just drag it into the app folder". Thats it. So yeah, now you have a new member of the cult in the old man. I've been advocating he get a mac since he started endlessly moaning about windows a decade ago, and now he's got one and loves it. I've got a spare lion license for it (Before I gave it to him I re-installed snow leopard to clear out all the cruft I had installed) so I'll do that for him as soon as possible. Happy ending ^__^ e: He'll have to buy a new power adaptor though. My darling kitten had surgically removed the rubber off the lead a while back, and whilst it still works fine, it looks a bit lame-o and probably a safety hazard (you can get a small shock off the metal insulation)
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 10:40
|
|
|
Choadmaster posted:Edit: While posting this, my three-week-old MacBook Air started exhibiting this problem with my HP LP2475w monitor. Apple FTW... Chainclaw posted:edit: While I was writing this, someone mentioned patents. I'm surprised no one has built an adapter that works around patents, even if it dropped the silly magnetic connection or something. Cmdr Will Riker posted:For the record it is only the second most effective Apple power adapter cable management solution. I kinda miss my cord UFO sometimes.  . Well not all of them, I only know that cause MY POWERBOOK's UFO brick serial number was out of the range.Shaocaholica posted:Are we ever going to get to the point where there is no difference between PC and Mac video card firmware? Aren't most PCs now using EFI?
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 12:13
|
|
|
Shaocaholica posted:Are we ever going to get to the point where there is no difference between PC and Mac video card firmware? Aren't most PCs now using EFI? Kinda. A lot of unlashed PC GPUs already work in OS X, you just don't get a boot (EFI) menu. So the cards themselves don't have "proper" EFI support I guess.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 13:51
|
|
|
I have a Late 2007 Macbook Pro (pre unibody) that I would like to get some additional life out of. This is not my primary machine but it can do as a laptop if necessary. I've been spoilt by my 2011 iMac with SSD and wish to add one to this machine. It's already had its logicboard replaced due to the nVidia issue so I am pretty confident I am not going to run into that issue any time soon. I've already upgraded it to 4GB of RAM some time ago, and got an Apple reseller to install a 320GB HD to replace the stock drive. I've got the following questions: 1. My understanding is that these machines are SATA1 and therefore buying the newest and greatest SSD would be somewhat of a waste. Can anyone recommend a good SSD to match with this guy? 2. It also seems to get quite noisy when it is under load but I'm not sure that this is an issue as I always remember it being this way. Is there anything I should check while I have it open around the cooling? When it is not under load it is reasonably quiet, with 2000 ish RPM on the fans. 3. These machines don't have any specific issues around installing an Optibay right? My Superdrive is hosed as it is so I might as well replace it with platter based storage to match with the SSD. 4. Is it even worth doing these upgrades to this machine given it's age? Appreicate any help you guys can provide. Thanks.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 14:21
|
|
|
Life after installing a 128GB Crucial M4 in the optical bay of my 2009 27" iMac has been an absolute dream, with one exception: I can't update the drive's firmware. Specifically, I can't boot from Crucial's provided .ISO firmware image (a VMware boot makes it appear to be a linux loader that boots a DOS floppy). I've tried via burned USB stick and burned ISO in an external USB/FW DVD drive. The disc/drive shows up as "Windows" as it should when holding alt at boot, but then does the "Not allowed / ??? / Where is an OS?" icon alternation. Occasionally when booting from that disc/image, it just starts up my Bootcamp partition. Last resorts (haven't tried): a) put the Superdrive back in and put the SSD in place of the main HDD temporarily, try to flash from there, or b) take my SSD over to a willing friend's place who has a beige box PC that I can drop it into and boot from their optical drive. Any tips from anyone who has successfully flashed theirs after install would be appreciated. I'm just trying to avoid opening up the iMac any more. Those cables are FRA-GEE-LAY.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 14:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 01:49 |
|
|
MyLightyear posted:1. My understanding is that these machines are SATA1 and therefore buying the newest and greatest SSD would be somewhat of a waste. Can anyone recommend a good SSD to match with this guy? You'll be limited to 150MB/s, but an SSD will still be a big help. You can always put the drive in your next computer so don't shy away from buying a newer drive. I'd get an Intel or Samsung drive. MyLightyear posted:2. It also seems to get quite noisy when it is under load but I'm not sure that this is an issue as I always remember it being this way. Is there anything I should check while I have it open around the cooling? When it is not under load it is reasonably quiet, with 2000 ish RPM on the fans. Clean all the dust out of it and remove the factory thermal paste, and add (a smaller amount) of new stuff. Should be a big help, there are guides on the web. MyLightyear posted:4. Is it even worth doing these upgrades to this machine given it's age? If you're just adding an SSD and optibay, you'll probably be under $200. If the machine is in good shape and you don't have any other issues with it, that's certainly cheaper than a used unibody (which you'd still want to add an SSD to, I'm sure.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2011 14:36
|
|