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brc64
Mar 21, 2008

I wear my sunglasses at night.

movax posted:

Get anything that is Core i5/i7, ideally something from 2011 so you pick up the benefits of the 2nd Generation Core ix architecture, also known as Sandy Bridge. Improved performance and improved power efficiency; to give you an idea the new 13" MBA with a 1.6GHz 2nd Gen. Core i7 beats my 15" 2010 MBP with a 2.66GHz 1st Gen. Core i7. Comparing apples to apples, the new 15" gets about two more hours of battery life than mine as well.

I think you either want the 13" MBA or the 15" MBP with the high-res upgrade. The 15" MBP is priced too high though IMO, and that high-res upgrade also sets you back an extra $100/$150, so if you're going that route, you'll have to look at refurbs.

This is the sort of feedback I was looking for, thanks.

I hadn't really considered the Air, because, well, I don't know. But it probably is an option worth pursuing. When looking at refurbs, I'll try to stick with the i5/i7 series. How important is it to max out RAM? Somebody mentioned earlier that 4GB should be considered a minimum for Lion. It looks like RAM is soldered into the Airs, so I wouldn't (easily?) be able to upgrade that at a later date vs a MBP.

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movax
Aug 30, 2008

brc64 posted:

This is the sort of feedback I was looking for, thanks.

I hadn't really considered the Air, because, well, I don't know. But it probably is an option worth pursuing. When looking at refurbs, I'll try to stick with the i5/i7 series. How important is it to max out RAM? Somebody mentioned earlier that 4GB should be considered a minimum for Lion. It looks like RAM is soldered into the Airs, so I wouldn't (easily?) be able to upgrade that at a later date vs a MBP.

Might have been me, I put that in every post I make about the Air. You should not pay Apple for RAM upgrades for the MBPs, you can just order RAM off newegg and do it yourself cheaper. You should pay Apple for the 4GB RAM option in machines like the Air where it isn't serviceable. Lucky for you, all but one (lowest end 11") ship with 4GB RAM already, and that's that (no 8GB option this year :qq:)

Do you have an Apple Store near you? Go try out the Air in person, you may be pleasantly surprised.

e: poo poo I kind of half answered your question. I think all the MBPs come stock with 4GB, you can upgrade that yourself to 8GB/16GB if you feel the need. It is important that you make sure your Air comes with 4GB of RAM. It's up to you to decide if you wan the i7 CPU upgrade in the Air, but that upgrade is only available in the 256GB configuration.

El Duke Silver
Aug 15, 2008

rarely goes out and should never be approached

brc64 posted:

This is the sort of feedback I was looking for, thanks.

I hadn't really considered the Air, because, well, I don't know. But it probably is an option worth pursuing. When looking at refurbs, I'll try to stick with the i5/i7 series. How important is it to max out RAM? Somebody mentioned earlier that 4GB should be considered a minimum for Lion. It looks like RAM is soldered into the Airs, so I wouldn't (easily?) be able to upgrade that at a later date vs a MBP.

Just FYI, you won't see refurb i5/i7 Airs in the store for a few months, if you were considering trying to snag one of those.

brc64
Mar 21, 2008

I wear my sunglasses at night.

El Duke posted:

Just FYI, you won't see refurb i5/i7 Airs in the store for a few months, if you were considering trying to snag one of those.

I start my new job on the 15th, and I don't really know what to expect from it in terms of company equipment. I can't see that they would have any reason to provide me with a company laptop, given what I'll be doing, but I'm planning on holding off any purchases AT LEAST until I find out that much. After that, if I am still in need, it's likely refurb shopping time, or comparing to current generation MBAs. Either way, ouch.

kingfet
Jan 30, 2010

Space Racist posted:

Has anyone tried Lion on a base 2010 11" MBA? I'm eyeing the refurbs pretty heavily for a portable secondary machine this fall, but I'm hesitant to drop $750 + tax on one if it's going to be a dog out of the gate.

I have and it was fine. I know some people say lion is a bit slower, but I saw no decrease from SL.

Granted that was just using iTunes and safari. Its my travel computer.

Binary Badger
Oct 11, 2005

Trolling Link for a decade


Star War Sex Parrot posted:

Has anyone picked up Apple's USB to Ethernet adapter with a 2011 Air? I'm seeing some reports of the adapter not working with Lion, and I'm wondering if I should pick it up.

There are actually two models of Apple's USB to Ethernet adapter. One was packaged with MacBook Airs from the original to the 2009 models. The current one, which is based on the Pegasus AX88772 chip, has been shipping with the 2010 MBA's and later.

I'm betting those reports were in regards to the older adapter.

fart blood
Sep 13, 2008

by VideoGames
And now, an update about my iMac and the Apple Genius Bar:

SERIOUS posted:

3) Wait til tomorrow, call Customer Service again to get the Customer Relations person, and have them basically poke that particular Genius Bar with a stick until they finish my computer.

Well, I decided to go with Choice 3.

Yesterday (Monday) I called Apple and explained my situation. They put me through to Customer Relations, where I again explained my situation. They contacted the store I left my Mac at, and then the Apple Customer Relations person told me "I spoke with the store, and your computer is the first one they'll work on tomorrow, and it'll be ready for you tomorrow evening."

I said "Promise? If I go there, it'll be ready?"

He laughed and said "Yes sir, it'll be ready."

I said "Okay great, thank you sir." I was hoping it'd be ready that day, but whatever, what's one more day?

So now, today's the day. So I go to the Apple Store. They didn't call me, but I figured maybe they called my house, since no one was home. I go there and an employee greets me and I tell him I'm here to pick up my iMac, as it's supposed to be ready today. He says "Sure, let me get it."

He goes to the back, while I wait. He comes out ten minutes later, and says: "Okay, the hard drive has been replaced, but the glass has to be cleaned and it's very tedious, so the computer won't be ready til tomorrow."

I flip my poo poo.

I demand to see the manager, and after another ten mintes, the manager comes out. I tell him that I need my hard drive replaced for an issue that is ENTIRELY Apple's fault (and Seagate's really), I had to wait 5 days for the task to be completed, only for that 5 days to become 7 days, and then THAT to become ANOTHER seven days, only to complain to Apple HQ, and have Apple HQ tell them to fix my computer for TODAY, only to come in today and discover it's STILL NOT DONE. I told him this was unacceptable and the complete disregard for my time and patience is flat out insulting and arrogant.

He says "I understand your frustrations, you're getting mixed signals."

I retort: "No, I'm not getting mixed signals - I'm getting very clear signals, and YOU guys are basically flipping me the bird and dragging your feet. I'm tired of this."

The manager then explains that the iMac screen is cleaned with an anti-static brush, the process could take two hours, and that no one qualified is available to do it right now. He then says he could just put the glass back on the iMac, but it'd require my approval, and therefore if I approve such a thing, if anything happened to my display as a result of static electricity or whatever, Applecare would not cover it, as I authorized a "tainted" glass display cover.

Well gee, they've got me by the balls now, I guess.

Basically I scolded him some more, then stormed out. When I got home I called Apple and again left a complaint that this particular Apple store disregarded THEIR ORDERS that my computer be finished TODAY. (I'd have even stayed longer and called Apple on my phone right there in front of the manager, but my phone was dead and I had a family engagement to get to.) Seriously, this is complete bullshit. I've NEVER dealt with customer service this horrible.

I apologize to you all for this wall of text but I've gone from feeling annoyed to disrespected and furious.

fart blood fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Aug 3, 2011

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

SERIOUS posted:

Seriously, this is complete bullshit. I've NEVER dealt with customer service this horrible.

I apologize to you all for this wall of text but I've gone from feeling annoyed to disrespected and furious.
Well that sucks and you have a right to be pissed. If you want someone else to vent to you could try sjobs@apple.com (or whatever other aliases), for situations like yours you might get a reply from some higher up support person...and hopefully a lot more pressure on the store to not gently caress around.

To help the rest of us avoid this store like the plague, where is this one?

Legdiian
Jul 14, 2004

SERIOUS posted:

The manager then explains that the iMac screen is cleaned with an anti-static brush, the process could take two hours, and that no one qualified is available to do it right now. He then says he could just put the glass back on the iMac, but it'd require my approval, and therefore if I approve such a thing, if anything happened to my display as a result of static electricity or whatever, Applecare would not cover it, as I authorized a "tainted" glass display cover.

Not to derail, but I had my iMac's optical drive replaced under Apple care and I noticed that if I have an all white image on the screen there are areas of it that look dirty. Is it possible they didn't do the super special cleaning process? If I bring it back to Apple are they going to hold it hostage for a week cleaning it or will they tell me tough luck? Sorry for the derail, I noticed the problem months ago but your post made me think of it.

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

When I brought in my iMac last year it took the guy 15 minutes to clean the screen.

Star War Sex Parrot
Oct 2, 2003

Mu Zeta posted:

When I brought in my iMac last year it took the guy 15 minutes to clean the screen.
When I swapped the drive in my 27" iMac it took me 15 seconds to clean the screen.

CaptainCaveman
Apr 16, 2005

Always searching for North.

Star War Sex Parrot posted:

When I swapped the drive in my 27" iMac it took me 15 seconds to clean the screen.

Clearly you did it wrong, then. You're probably going to get a nasty call from Steve now.

fart blood
Sep 13, 2008

by VideoGames

Mu Zeta posted:

When I brought in my iMac last year it took the guy 15 minutes to clean the screen.

So not only are they dragging their feet, they're lying to me. Gee, that's just swell.

japtor posted:

To help the rest of us avoid this store like the plague, where is this one?

Roosevelt Field Mall, Long Island New York. (I'm in Queens, and there's no Apple Store in Queens that I know of, and I really diidn't feel like dragging an iMac on the subway to Manhattan.)

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

Star War Sex Parrot posted:

When I swapped the drive in my 27" iMac it took me 15 seconds to clean the screen.

The guy also installed a new optical drive :colbert:

And why do optical drives break so much goddamn they suck poo poo. Just ship desktops with the external drive from now on, Apple.

gregday
May 23, 2003

Mu Zeta posted:

The guy also installed a new optical drive :colbert:

And why do optical drives break so much goddamn they suck poo poo. Just ship desktops with the external drive from now on, Apple.

They're working on that.

brap
Aug 23, 2004

Grimey Drawer
I think they're more prone to break when using the thinnest possible designs.

The Illusive Man
Mar 27, 2008

~savior of yoomanity~

SERIOUS posted:

:words:

I'm guessing you've figured this out by now, but you should really just call ahead next time. Never take the 'promise' of some dude in a call center as a guarantee that anything will in fact have occurred in a completely separate retail location.

e: if anything I'd guess that 'THEIR ORDERS' was just him sending an email to this retail location.

The Illusive Man fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Aug 3, 2011

x-virge
May 25, 2003

Binary Badger posted:

There are actually two models of Apple's USB to Ethernet adapter. One was packaged with MacBook Airs from the original to the 2009 models. The current one, which is based on the Pegasus AX88772 chip, has been shipping with the 2010 MBA's and later.

I'm betting those reports were in regards to the older adapter.

For what it's worth, I have an original generation USB Ethernet adapter. I just tested it with a 2011 13" i7 Air and it seems to work OK. Not sure what the reported problems were, though.

Binary Badger
Oct 11, 2005

Trolling Link for a decade


Hey, different levels of service at different stores.

My friend took her iMac to the Fruit Stand at the Palisades Mall with a bad power supply, they met her at the Cheesecake Factory entrance and helped carry the machine up to the store. About 90 minutes later she got it back with a nice clean screen too. YMMV..

Corb3t
Jun 7, 2003

Mu Zeta posted:

The guy also installed a new optical drive :colbert:

And why do optical drives break so much goddamn they suck poo poo. Just ship desktops with the external drive from now on, Apple.

Does anyone know if the external optical drives are prone to failure as much as the internal drives?

I can't even think of the last time I've needed an optical drive but it would be convenient to have one for the rare occasion.

flyboi
Oct 13, 2005

agg stop posting
College Slice
We don't even have an apple store within 3 hours of where I live, only certified technicians. When I first got the MBP I was worried about installing my own SSD voiding the warranty so I called them to ask the price of having them install an Apple SSD and the guy told me that all macbook SSDs were soldered into the motherboard and you would have to have ordered it with SSD. Even Macbook Pros.


So hey, you could be worse off. I gotta take my poo poo to these retards if it ever breaks and I'm sure they'll give me poo poo for having my own SSD too.

Yoshifan823
Feb 19, 2007

by FactsAreUseless
I've always had to rely on visiting Apple Stores on vacation, because I live a good hour and a half away from the nearest one (which I've never been in, oddly enough). I've had laptop batteries replaced in Orlando and New York, an iPod replaced in Chicago, and most recently, a new laptop in San Diego. All of these places had some really great customer service. The guy replacing my battery in New York did it for free, saving me a good $150, and the guy in San Diego said he would have replaced the laptop that I spilled Diet Pepsi all over if it had been under warranty still, despite the water damage (it was past the two years of Applecare I got for it when I bought it).

~Coxy
Dec 9, 2003

R.I.P. Inter-OS Sass - b.2000AD d.2003AD

Corbet posted:

Does anyone know if the external optical drives are prone to failure as much as the internal drives?

I can't even think of the last time I've needed an optical drive but it would be convenient to have one for the rare occasion.

I think the Apple external DVD burner is the exact same mechanism as inside the laptops, so one assumes it would have a similar failure rate. Perhaps slightly less due to not being carried around and powered on/off as much.

I would really recommend a full-size external instead.

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

I read third-party drives have some incompatibility with things like iDVD or DVD Player

Canned Sunshine
Nov 20, 2005

CAUTION: POST QUALITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION



Binary Badger posted:

Hey, different levels of service at different stores.

My friend took her iMac to the Fruit Stand at the Palisades Mall with a bad power supply, they met her at the Cheesecake Factory entrance and helped carry the machine up to the store. About 90 minutes later she got it back with a nice clean screen too. YMMV..

Is your friend cute? That could have something to do with it too...

Though I've always had good experiences at the Chandler and Phoenix Biltmore stores here. Never been to the Scottsdale location, but guessing there's a huge cloud of *smug* present (since it's Scottsdale).

NOTinuyasha
Oct 17, 2006

 
The Great Twist

SERIOUS posted:

Roosevelt Field Mall, Long Island New York. (I'm in Queens, and there's no Apple Store in Queens that I know of, and I really diidn't feel like dragging an iMac on the subway to Manhattan.)

The mall stores are always terrible, I need to take mine in for a defective hinge and I _need_ my laptop for work, otherwise I'm stuck with an old PowerBook. I have a choice between Roosevelt Field and Walt Whitman, I guess I'll try my luck at the Whitman store.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005

Mu Zeta posted:

And why do optical drives break so much goddamn they suck poo poo. Just ship desktops with the external drive from now on, Apple.
Does it count if they don't ship the external at all? One down, two to go!

Yoshifan823 posted:

I've always had to rely on visiting Apple Stores on vacation, because I live a good hour and a half away from the nearest one (which I've never been in, oddly enough). I've had laptop batteries replaced in Orlando and New York, an iPod replaced in Chicago, and most recently, a new laptop in San Diego. All of these places had some really great customer service. The guy replacing my battery in New York did it for free, saving me a good $150, and the guy in San Diego said he would have replaced the laptop that I spilled Diet Pepsi all over if it had been under warranty still, despite the water damage (it was past the two years of Applecare I got for it when I bought it).
The last part reminds me of this thing I saw recently, particularly:

quote:

Portable computers can still be sent out for flat rate mail-in repair. The cost of a flat rate repair outside of the standard warranty it almost equal to the cost of AppleCare. If you own a portable computer that is outside of its original one year warranty you only need to have it repaired once before the cost of AppleCare pays for itself.

Desktop Macs are never eligible for flat rate repairs. Each part must be purchased individually, and the cost of a single Xeon Mac Pro processor or 27 inch iMac display is several times the cost of AppleCare.

Mu Zeta posted:

I read third-party drives have some incompatibility with things like iDVD or DVD Player
No clue about iDVD, but I'm playing a DVD in mine (a desktop USB BD-RW) right now to test out that claim. Either in System Profiler or Disk Utility it says something like "burn support: no", while the other app says yes, so I don't know what it's limited at, if anything. Not sure I've tried a Finder burn, but I've burned CDs and DVDs in Disk Utility, some other random app, and booted off of it.

Well I just remembered one thing while ejecting the disc, the eject key doesn't work. No clue if it's cause I have two drives (internal + external) or just something with the drive itself. Ejecting from the Finder works, and apparently the menu extra which I just used for the first time right now.

japtor fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Aug 3, 2011

KidDynamite
Feb 11, 2005

Just wondering will this ram work in a 2011 13" mbp?


This is the ram from the deal Bob Morales posted last week. Either way I'm purchasing new ram today just need to know which to get.

Bob Morales
Aug 18, 2006


Just wear the fucking mask, Bob

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

KidDynamite posted:

Just wondering will this ram work in a 2011 13" mbp?


This is the ram from the deal Bob Morales posted last week. Either way I'm purchasing new ram today just need to know which to get.

Mine was just delivered so I will let you know if it works tonight, I plan on installing it in the same machine.

KidDynamite
Feb 11, 2005

Bob Morales posted:

Mine was just delivered so I will let you know if it works tonight, I plan on installing it in the same machine.

True the only difference is the one on sale today is PC3 10600 and the one you have is PC3 10666. I don't know if that matters.

fart blood
Sep 13, 2008

by VideoGames

NOTinuyasha posted:

The mall stores are always terrible, I need to take mine in for a defective hinge and I _need_ my laptop for work, otherwise I'm stuck with an old PowerBook. I have a choice between Roosevelt Field and Walt Whitman, I guess I'll try my luck at the Whitman store.

There's an Apple Store on Northern Boulevard in Manhasset - it's a bit out of the way for you, but try that. I didn't even know it was there but now that I do, I'll definitely try that one instead of that horrible Roosevelt Field one.

MrEnigma
Aug 30, 2004

Moo!
The G. Skill 2x4gb Laptop DDR3 1333 ram is available again.
$39.99 + 4gb flash drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231342

Auriak
Aug 6, 2007

My backpack's got jets!

MrEnigma posted:

The G. Skill 2x4gb Laptop DDR3 1333 ram is available again.
$39.99 + 4gb flash drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231342

Thanks! I missed it by just a few minutes last time. Just placed my order but I didn't see anything about a flash drive.

KidDynamite
Feb 11, 2005

KidDynamite posted:

True the only difference is the one on sale today is PC3 10600 and the one you have is PC3 10666. I don't know if that matters.

It's actually not the same ram. So does anyone know if that matters?

Canned Sunshine
Nov 20, 2005

CAUTION: POST QUALITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION



Auriak posted:

Thanks! I missed it by just a few minutes last time. Just placed my order but I didn't see anything about a flash drive.

Did you see it listed on the page prior to purchase (and then not see it in the cart/on the checkout page?).

If so, apparently some people who had seen the flash drive listed as being included, but then not included in the cart, have been able to contact Newegg's Live Chat and get $5 refunded back from the purchase price.

I saw the flash drive listed, but it wasn't in my cart, so right now I'm in queue for live chat waiting for a CSR. If i end up being able to get a credit back I'll let you know.


KidDynamite posted:

It's actually not the same ram. So does anyone know if that matters?

That 10666 DDR3 would almost certainly be down-clocked in to 10600 anyway, so either set of RAM should work fine.

Bob Morales
Aug 18, 2006


Just wear the fucking mask, Bob

I don't care how many people I probably infected with COVID-19 while refusing to wear a mask, my comfort is far more important than the health and safety of everyone around me!

KidDynamite posted:

It's actually not the same ram. So does anyone know if that matters?
Same poo poo, just different number.

Canned Sunshine
Nov 20, 2005

CAUTION: POST QUALITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION



SourKraut posted:

I saw the flash drive listed, but it wasn't in my cart, so right now I'm in queue for live chat waiting for a CSR. If i end up being able to get a credit back I'll let you know.

And... no such luck in getting the order discounted slightly or the flash drive sent in the future. :(

KidDynamite
Feb 11, 2005

Boo about the flash drives for you guys. I ordered this morning anyways figured I could always return it if it didn't work.

Doc Faustus
Sep 6, 2005

Philippe is such an angry eater
So, on the Apple site, the Hi-Res screen is described as "useful when you’re working with HD content in pro applications, like Final Cut Studio". I don't intend to do any of those things. Is the upgrade still worth it for general usage/occasional movie playback, or will most people be perfectly happy with the standard screen?

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Cozmosis
Feb 16, 2003

2006... YEAR OF THE BURNITZ, BITCHES
Just a question before I order - is there any reason a new 13" MBA wouldn't be able to stream from my Slingbox in 1080i to my TV without stuttering? Over a thunderbolt/Mini-DP to HDMI converter. That's really the only remotely strenuous task I'd set out for it.

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