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Argyle posted:For those who missed the 20% off Kindle promotion, you can get 20% (up to $200) off any computer if you buy with the Amazon Rewards Card (not the amazon store card) and use the promo code BTS20OFF at checkout. Plus, you get a $40 gift card upon approval, so you can get $240 off your computer total.
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Aug 18, 2011 02:04
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JP Money posted:No reason they can't put a battery in it and give it a dock / magsafe type cord. That's not a bad idea. SourKraut posted:Or pre-order/ultimately at some point purchase Logitech's recently-announced K750 for Mac, which is awesome (wireless, but with no need for batteries since it charges via natural or artificial light).
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Aug 18, 2011 02:18
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SourKraut posted:Or pre-order/ultimately at some point purchase Logitech's recently-announced K750 for Mac, which is awesome (wireless, but with no need for batteries since it charges via natural or artificial light).  Crush posted:That's not a bad idea.
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Aug 18, 2011 02:40
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Crush posted:That's not a bad idea. japtor posted:Nice, Mac layout even down to the number pad. drat their hate of Bluetooth though
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Aug 18, 2011 03:08
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I like bluetooth keyboards too, but I've never been able to get them to recognize startup option keypresses, so I have to go bust out the USB keyboard when I'm trying to change something around. I wish there were more keyboard options for Macs. I'm tempted to go mechanical with that Razer keyboard, but it looks So Dumb.
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Aug 18, 2011 03:19
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DEUCE SLUICE posted:I like bluetooth keyboards too, but I've never been able to get them to recognize startup option keypresses, so I have to go bust out the USB keyboard when I'm trying to change something around.
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Aug 18, 2011 03:26
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Did you buy the iMac with the wireless keyboard included? I think they pair those extra hard. Or something. I'm also using the slightly older three-battery keyboard, and was trying with a mid 09 MBP and a brand new Mini, both no go.
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Aug 18, 2011 03:31
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There haven't been macs shipping without bluetooth for many years. The only reason logitech is using a dongle (shame on them, really) is the bluetooth licensing fee.
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Aug 18, 2011 03:32
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I sort of miss the green battery indicator lights and "breathing" sleep light on the MBA. Every other portable mac has them, but I can see why it might not (size/battery constraints).
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Aug 18, 2011 04:08
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Electric Bugaloo posted:I sort of miss the green battery indicator lights and "breathing" sleep light on the MBA.
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Aug 18, 2011 04:09
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:Coming from a mid-2010 MBP, I miss them as well. But hey at least we got a back-lit keyboard this time! No breathing LED huh? Did not know that, no room for it or something?
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Aug 18, 2011 04:10
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movax posted:No breathing LED huh? Did not know that, no room for it or something? Wait now I'm curious. If there's no front LED, does that mean remotes don't work with the Air? I thought that's where they hid the receiver on the MBPs. Something to try when I get home, if I can find my remotes.
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Aug 18, 2011 04:14
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The black dash on the front of the MBPs is the IR receiver. The LED is actually hidden by the case, which has very tiny holes drilled into it to let light through. There used to be a page on Apple.com explaining it, maybe I'll try and dig it up. edit: Here it was, second paragraph on right. They don't mention it on the site today, though. In any case, thought it was kind of neat. carry on then fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Aug 18, 2011 |
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Aug 18, 2011 04:44
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fleshweasel posted:There haven't been macs shipping without bluetooth for many years. The only reason logitech is using a dongle (shame on them, really) is the bluetooth licensing fee. Which is strange for their newer devices, since they do have some Bluetooth mice and keyboards.
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Aug 18, 2011 04:48
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SourKraut posted:Which is strange for their newer devices, since they do have some Bluetooth mice and keyboards. Their Bluetooth ones never worked very well though, and their alternatives with the normal receiver have always been pretty reliable. Perhaps they just gave up?
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Aug 18, 2011 05:07
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japtor posted:I doubt they'd want people to have to use a charging cable for a wireless keyboard, although personally I wouldn't mind a dual mode thing where it could work as a plain USB keyboard if plugged in cause pairing can be a bitch sometimes. And I'm not seeing anything about backlighting in the specs there either. Same. SourKraut posted:Yeah, white, non-backlit keys for the white/silver variant… 
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Aug 18, 2011 05:08
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japtor posted:Is it for USB in general or just HDs? For the latter there's boxes that turn drives into a NAS basically, although I don't know enough about them to suggest any in particular, and NTFS might be a problem for all I know. If they do work you'll pretty much connect to it in the Finder like any other networked drive. If you have a Windows machine lying around I guess that's another option, hook it up and start sharing the drive from it. It'd be mainly for hard drives and perhaps a printer if I ever buy one. I seemed to recall Apple having this themselves, but I can't find it; must be confusing it with Airport. quote:As for the iMac SSD option it depends whether you want to bother trying to hack it up yourself. I don't know how euro prices for SSDs are, but in the US it's around $400 for a 256GB, vs $600 for the option. So about a $200 premium for not having to gently caress around with it, and getting a fully supported configuration in case something blows up. I guess you could wait for Thunderbolt drives/enclosures but that'll carry it's own premium too. The best option is probably just holding out for a refurb one with SSD, fully supported and a nice discounted price. Let me rephrase: why do people pay a ton just to have a computer that boots up a little bit faster? Are SSD's really that revolutionary?
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Aug 18, 2011 08:35
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Jolan posted:Let me rephrase: why do people pay a ton just to have a computer that boots up a little bit faster? Are SSD's really that revolutionary? Yes. Have you used one? For everyday use I can't think of something I've been happier with computer-wise. Programs open super fast, no waiting around on copying things unless it's a fairly large file, etc. Combine that with a snappy processor and the benefits are even greater.
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Aug 18, 2011 08:43
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JP Money posted:Yes. Have you used one? For everyday use I can't think of something I've been happier with computer-wise. Programs open super fast, no waiting around on copying things unless it's a fairly large file, etc. Combine that with a snappy processor and the benefits are even greater. Most programs only have a few second start-up time anyway, and I can't remember the last time I had to wait for a file to copy; isn't that nigh-instantaneous anyways except if you're copying between volumes? (And then you'd only have the benefit of copying files faster if the other volume is also a flash drive). I'll probably jump on the bandwagon in a few years time, but for now the cost really seems to outweigh the benefits.
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Aug 18, 2011 09:26
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Jolan posted:It'd be mainly for hard drives and perhaps a printer if I ever buy one. I seemed to recall Apple having this themselves, but I can't find it; must be confusing it with Airport. quote:Let me rephrase: why do people pay a ton just to have a computer that boots up a little bit faster? Are SSD's really that revolutionary? This guy sums it up (albeit from a different user point of view): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7PJ1oeEyGg
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Aug 18, 2011 09:27
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Received my 13" i7 256GB MBA today, upgrading from the previous 13" C2D 2.13 256GB model. Differences so far:
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Aug 18, 2011 11:18
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My old laptop always ran with the fans on full speed, making lots of noise. I replaced it with a 2011 MBA and was kind of disappointed that I still heard fan noise. However as it turns out, the fans I´m hearing now is actually my bathroom fan, I just couldn´t hear it before because of the laptop. The MBA is completely silent for me, even while testing 1080p streaming. Loving it
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Aug 18, 2011 11:25
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Jolan posted:Most programs only have a few second start-up time anyway, and I can't remember the last time I had to wait for a file to copy; isn't that nigh-instantaneous anyways except if you're copying between volumes? (And then you'd only have the benefit of copying files faster if the other volume is also a flash drive). It makes everything way faster. Programs open up in 1/4 second instead of 6-7 seconds. If you're just web browsing and you just close the lid of your Mac instead of shutting it down, you won't notice a huge difference. But if you do anything intensive it will make a huge difference.
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Aug 18, 2011 13:33
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Jolan posted:Let me rephrase: why do people pay a ton just to have a computer that boots up a little bit faster? Are SSD's really that revolutionary? Echoing everyone else but to add that I'll never own another desktop/laptop with a normal hdd, barring future tech that rivals ssd performance. I'd go so far as to say that having an ssd installed can make using a system with 2 or 4gb of ram feel as fast as one using 8gb. If you can spare the cash, it's the best upgrade you can make to a modern computer.
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Aug 18, 2011 14:24
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pipebomb posted:If you can spare the cash, it's the best upgrade you can make to a modern computer.
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Aug 18, 2011 15:23
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Shmoogy posted:Agreed, it makes using a computer that is without an SSD downright unpleasant. Almost as bad as a malware infected computer, and I mean that with minimal hyperbole. It's not that bad. I have an i5 iMac (admittedly with 8GB) at work and it's not bad, it has the stock Apple HD. And at home all my computers (C2D and i5) have SSD's.
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Aug 18, 2011 15:28
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Bob Morales posted:It's not that bad. I have an i5 iMac (admittedly with 8GB) at work and it's not bad, it has the stock Apple HD. For reference, this is the old drive versus the new:  I didn't throw in an SSD since it would completely throw off the scale.
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Aug 18, 2011 15:32
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:The front edge is probably too thin for it, and trying to put it anywhere else was probably a headache. We just tried it and the Apple Remote does not work with the new MBA's. 
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Aug 18, 2011 15:44
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Don't worry about features being removed, they'll add that back in the next revision. 
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Aug 18, 2011 15:48
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eames posted:[*]The A,S,D,E and R keys have a certain feeling of stickiness to them that shouldn’t be there and makes me miss these letters while typing. Not sure where this is from since the device is brand new. Pound on those keys a bit if you can...if still unhappy, take back to Apple Store. Possible just some stiff springs, but I'm sure they'd be happy to replace that for you. You bought a premium laptop, take advantage of the support!
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Aug 18, 2011 15:49
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:It also depends on the stock drive. My iMac had a Seagate that was absolutely atrocious. Just swapping to a WD enterprise 7200RPM made life much more bearable. Boot time is still much slower than my SSDs, but day to day use performance isn't all that different. Plus I have tons of room for my games, Aperture library, iTunes library, Boot Camp'd Windows 7, etc. To be honest my system got painful to use if I got near the 4GB barrier. A SSD would have helped that a lot. If I crossed it I literally had to reboot because it was so slow. Right now I'm sitting at a hair over 6000MB used (I upgraded with the 4GB from my MBP) FWIW my drive is a Seagate ST3500418AS, 7200RPM, 500GB I basically have a bunch of web browsers open, a couple editors, console sessions, and the killer is a Windows VM and a Linux VM (virtual box). If I close those I don't have a problem staying under 4GB. The other thing I have running is a rails development environment so there's sqlite and a webserver going.
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Aug 18, 2011 16:01
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My iMac came with a 1TB WD Black but it was still too slow for me... I have also been on the SSD bandwagon for 2 years now though so I could be spoiled.
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Aug 18, 2011 16:22
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mayodreams posted:We just tried it and the Apple Remote does not work with the new MBA's. Seeing as Front Row was nixed with Lion, is this really surprising to anyone? They haven't shipped computers with remotes for a while either, it doesn't make sense to keep a receiver for a (for all intents and purposes) defunct feature.
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Aug 18, 2011 16:51
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Man, I'm this close to getting a MBA. But occasionally I switch over to wanting an iPad, and with the spare money I could get a small netbook if I needed it. Goddamnit.
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Aug 18, 2011 18:24
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Pantsmaster Bill posted:Man, I'm this close to getting a MBA. But occasionally I switch over to wanting an iPad, and with the spare money I could get a small netbook if I needed it. Goddamnit. Cheap netbooks are pretty useless, IMO.
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Aug 18, 2011 18:30
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Argyle posted:For those who missed the 20% off Kindle promotion, you can get 20% (up to $200) off any computer if you buy with the Amazon Rewards Card (not the amazon store card) and use the promo code BTS20OFF at checkout. Plus, you get a $40 gift card upon approval, so you can get $240 off your computer total. Terms and conditions say this is for computers up to $1000, does this mean MBAs won't qualify? I'm looking at this one: http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MacBook-MC969LL-11-6-Inch-VERSION/dp/B005CWIRPG/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1313691535&sr=1-4
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Aug 18, 2011 19:21
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Autism Monday posted:Terms and conditions say this is for computers up to $1000, does this mean MBAs won't qualify? Hmm... didn't read the fine print. Not sure if that means you can't use it on purchases over $1000, or if the promotional limit is $1000 (i.e., maximum $200 discount). USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
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Aug 18, 2011 20:04
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Well, maximum discount's already stated to be $200 I think... just wondering whether anything over $1K will go through. Who do you think I could contact to verify? They don't list a phone number. Terms also mention discount only being valid for computers sold on amazon.com/augustoffer which doesn't lead to the new MBAs, just the old ones.
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Aug 18, 2011 21:13
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Pantsmaster Bill posted:Man, I'm this close to getting a MBA. But occasionally I switch over to wanting an iPad, and with the spare money I could get a small netbook if I needed it. Goddamnit. I'm perfectly happy having a Mini and an iPad. My laptop lived docked to my screen almost all the time before I got it, and after I got my iPad it didn't leave once.
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Aug 18, 2011 22:17
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DEUCE SLUICE posted:I'm perfectly happy having a Mini and an iPad. My laptop lived docked to my screen almost all the time before I got it, and after I got my iPad it didn't leave once. Alternatively, I am fine with an MBA + external screen and iPad. I travel a lot more than I used to so having the ability to take my main computer everywhere is nice. The new MBAs are pretty powerful too.
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Aug 18, 2011 22:24
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