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Dr. Tim Whatley posted:How bad does it have to be for them to replace it? It said service battery. 2hrs on a full charge. It was like half of original max capacity.
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Oct 31, 2014 02:44
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PaganGoatPants posted:Apple just replaced my Air's battery. Should I calibrate it or whatever? Don't worry about it. Batteries haven't needed conditioning for several years now.
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Oct 31, 2014 03:00
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I should totally be ashamed of myself... While I love my 11" mba, I'm currently working on a career change, and it's just too small for my current needs (web design/dev), even as a secondary machine. I still love it for general web surfing and writing and would still recommend it, but it's just not the fit for me I'd originally seen it as. Plus 4 gb ram is way too little for me. I was thinking of just going up to the 13" mba, but I'm tempted again by the 13" rmbp, especially since it's cheaper than ever to get a 256/8gb machine. Portability and battery life still matter to me a ton since I'm taking classes, but either option is good enough for that. It might be better to see what comes out next year, but working on 11" until then is far from ideal. Everything I'm reading says both are nearly the same in performance, the only big differences are battery life and screen. They're near the same price as well for the same configurations. Only difference for me is that I'd still use the mba as a secondary machine, while I'd probably make the rmbp my primary machine and sell my old 2011 MBP. Is there something I'm missing that'll make this choice clearer, or am I just gonna have to agonize over this a little longer until I finally make up my mind?
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Oct 31, 2014 22:12
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The 13" rmbp is much better than the 13" mba. The weight difference is almost imperceptible and the rmbp actually has a smaller footprint so in your lap or on your desk it will feel more compact. The screen is just great. Accept no substitutes.
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Oct 31, 2014 22:50
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Three-Phase posted:RAM chat - I've got a Mac Mini Core i5 with 4GB RAM. I've done some photo editing and video editing on it. With the price of RAM these days I would say that 8GB should be the MINIMUM anyone would consider. That's obviously a wild generalization but I feel pretty safe standing behind my statement.
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Oct 31, 2014 23:05
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After feeling like the rMBP 15 was too big, and then going to the 13 only to immediately long for more power and bigger numbers, I grabbed a decked out late'13 rMBP 15 model and am extremely happy. Benchmarks put it almost just as powerful as the late '14 and saved a grippa cash. Regarding 13 Air or 13 rMBP, they felt exactly the same to me minus the retina screen, too weak.
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Oct 31, 2014 23:06
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yoyomama posted:.. or am I just gonna have to agonize over this a little longer until I finally make up my mind? Wellll, for starters.. just look at those two, TWO T-bolt ports. I already use one for an external monitor and one for a hella fast Thunderbolt backup. Great to be able to have that flexibility, or for even a 2nd monitor. The Intel Iris (actually the 5100) in the rMBP is clocked at a few more ticks faster than the 5000. It's not that much heavier than the Air and I feel like I've got a more solid laptop as well. If I had 12 hours to putz around, it wouldn't be with a laptop and I get 8-10 hours on a charge anyway. The 8/256 is a great sweet spot unless you have some pathological need to carry every drat movie, photo, and song you ever saw or heard with you at all times, or need to run VMware / Putzallels. There's also the possibility to eBay a Mac Pro SSD or something similar, hook it into your 13-inch rMBP and get ludicrous speed, 1000 MB / sec throughput, but that's waaaay out there.
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Oct 31, 2014 23:09
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I really wish there was a 13" rMBP that had one of the nVidia GPU's, because that would be the perfect laptop for me - small, light, can do things.
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Oct 31, 2014 23:12
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Martytoof posted:With the price of RAM these days I would say that 8GB should be the MINIMUM anyone would consider. That's obviously a wild generalization but I feel pretty safe standing behind my statement. This is completely correct. Basically the only reason these days to not consider maxing out on RAM immediately is if you have an old Mac Pro and don't want to buy 8 x 16 GB all at once. 
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Oct 31, 2014 23:20
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Martytoof posted:With the price of RAM these days I would say that 8GB should be the MINIMUM anyone would consider. That's obviously a wild generalization but I feel pretty safe standing behind my statement. I worked for a while at a gigantic fortune 500 company that produced ram. Ram prices have gone up over the years and people think it's gone down. They where producing ram for less than 1$ per gig.
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Oct 31, 2014 23:26
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ratbert90 posted:I worked for a while at a gigantic fortune 500 company that produced ram. I don't think it's changed at all when buying a Mac but 16GB and 8GB upgrade kits for laptops are almost double what they cost when I was buying them two years ago
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Oct 31, 2014 23:40
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Three-Phase posted:RAM chat - I've got a Mac Mini Core i5 with 4GB RAM. I've done some photo editing and video editing on it. I was accidentally running my Mac mini with 4 GB RAM for the last 6 months because I didn't seat one of the modules properly. Didn't really notice it.
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Nov 1, 2014 00:02
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ratbert90 posted:I worked for a while at a gigantic fortune 500 company that produced ram. Ok well that being the case I still think it's fair to say that upgrading a Mini to 8GB doesn't cost an arm and a leg and will pay off in spades when you're not swapping to your crappy 1970s spinning disk technology 
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Nov 1, 2014 01:04
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Thanks for the info and advice. @fleshweasel: I know, that screen is really reeeaaallly nice. It makes the mba not even seem worth it. But at the same time, I've seen so many other people say "either get the 13 mba or 15 rmbp, the 13 rmbp is just too much in the middle". I don't necessarily agree, but I am thinking maybe the 15" would be worth saving up for if I need something more powerful than what I have. @Dr. Tim Whatley: That's what I kinda worry about, that maybe I really need a 15 rmbp or an iMac. I would like something more powerful than my current air. I'm assuming the 13" Air would be more powerful than my current 11", but if not, then definitely either the 13 rmbp (if it's more powerful) or the 15". @Binary Badger: I see what you're saying. I have 128 GB in my 11" mba right now and I'm fine with that amount of space (for now). I rarely use TB for anything, but maybe that'll change later.
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Nov 1, 2014 01:38
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I have to assume the people saying that have not owned the 13" rmbp. It is a dream. It makes the 13" air feel bulky, believe it or not. That smaller footprint is a much bigger deal to me than the .5lb weight increase.
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Nov 1, 2014 01:45
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I can't fathom why anyone wouldn't go retina now (unless 11" is a necessity). I was just in the Apple Store to check out the retina iMac this evening and it was as awesome as expected. Then suddenly a bunch of zombies wandered in and treated us to a performance of Thriller.  The best part, however, was all the employees scurrying behind their bar and looking at each other like, "Is this happening? This seems to be happening. WTF."  Happy Halloween, Mac thread goons. Remember to buy retina Macs.
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Nov 1, 2014 07:40
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Binary Badger posted:The 8/256 is a great sweet spot unless you have some pathological need to carry every drat movie, photo, and song you ever saw or heard with you at all times, or need to run VMware / Putzallels. The 256gb SSD of my new rMBP might even be too big for me because I have like one game on there, and thanks to Apple's Music Match I don't even have any music on my hard drive anymore. I signed up for the service back on my old 11" Air, uploaded all of my music, and have been cloud streaming ever since. Loving it. Even more so on my iPad. Jack's Flow fucked around with this message at 11:51 on Nov 1, 2014 |
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Nov 1, 2014 11:46
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fleshweasel posted:I have to assume the people saying that have not owned the 13" rmbp. It is a dream. It makes the 13" air feel bulky, believe it or not. That smaller footprint is a much bigger deal to me than the .5lb weight increase. In my mind the 13" rMBP is the long-lost successor to the 12" aluminium PowerBook G4, better known as the best laptop in the history of mankind. I have a first-gen 15" rMBP at home, and a more recent 13" rMBP at work. The form factor of the 13" is so much more enjoyable to use. (And lmao at buying a non-retina screen in 2014 when one is available.) If weight is an issue, the 13" is IMHO on par with the Air for comfort in your bag. I dislike carrying the 15" around.
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Nov 1, 2014 12:18
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Thanks again all for the feedback. I'll probably end up going with the 13 rmbp, or just stick with my current setup. I'll do a little more research to make sure it's what I'll need career-wise; I doubt it can't handle me using PS, Illustrator, Axure, etc., and having an IPS screen would be great. A shame, since I love the form factor of the air, but those screens...
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Nov 1, 2014 13:09
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I guess the only reason not to go Retina is if you are price conscious but still want a Mac.
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Nov 1, 2014 16:03
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I got a 128GB rMBP and it was a little cramped for space--until I moved TF2 and some other Steam games onto my Time Machine backup drive. Loading times weren't great though, I'm probably upgrade it to a USB 3.0 drive (I'm not sure the cost of a Thunderbolt drive is worth the additional speed). I'm also trying to figure out if moving my photos to an different external drive (and then backing THAT up routinely) is worth the hassle of, well, backing up that drive. Can Time Machine handle that? Will it get all pissy if I list an external drive as something to back up but then only have it plugged in while doing a backup maybe like twice a month?
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Nov 1, 2014 16:30
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lelandjs posted:I got a 128GB rMBP and it was a little cramped for space--until I moved TF2 and some other Steam games onto my Time Machine backup drive. Loading times weren't great though, I'm probably upgrade it to a USB 3.0 drive (I'm not sure the cost of a Thunderbolt drive is worth the additional speed). I'm also trying to figure out if moving my photos to an different external drive (and then backing THAT up routinely) is worth the hassle of, well, backing up that drive. Can Time Machine handle that? Will it get all pissy if I list an external drive as something to back up but then only have it plugged in while doing a backup maybe like twice a month? Just make sure the external drive is HFS+ and removed from the exclusions list in the Time Machine prefs and it will happily back it up. I use a 1TB partition on my external for time machine (Time Machine alternates between that and my Time Capsule APExtreme for backups. I then back all partitions on my external to my NAS RAID using SuperDuper periodically.
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Nov 1, 2014 18:48
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lelandjs posted:I got a 128GB rMBP and it was a little cramped for space--until I moved TF2 and some other Steam games onto my Time Machine backup drive. Loading times weren't great though, I'm probably upgrade it to a USB 3.0 drive (I'm not sure the cost of a Thunderbolt drive is worth the additional speed). FYI it's not worth it because there won't be any additional speed. Both USB3 and Thunderbolt are much faster than a single HDD, so the HDD is the limiting factor rather than the interface. If you wanted to do an external SSD or a large RAID, it would be a different story.
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Nov 1, 2014 21:42
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So it's finally time to upgrade my wife's computer, and we will be switching her from Windows to Mac (everything else we do seems to be Apple now a days). She can get a school discount a dim looking at doing a refurb Mac Pro 13" with retina, 128 or 256 (I have a Time Capsule for storage), 8GB RAM and Apple Care. I won't need the i7. Can someone clarify which year is Haswell vs non Haswell? She is not a power user, but the screen would be nice and I would just want the best battery life it can get. Also: my Mac Air never leaves my house so I would only get Apple care for that. She does take her computer to work, so I would entertain something to cover it for damage and lost/stolen if it isn't unreasonable. Usually the plans are, but if anyone knows of any decent options let me know. Duckman2008 fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Nov 1, 2014 |
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Nov 1, 2014 22:04
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Duckman2008 posted:So it's finally time to upgrade my wife's computer, and we will be switching her from Windows to Mac (everything else we do seems to be Apple now a days). She can get a school discount a dim looking at doing a refurb Mac Pro 13" with retina, 128 or 256 (I have a Time Capsule for storage), 8GB RAM and Apple Care. I won't need the i7. Late 2013 models to the present.
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Nov 1, 2014 22:06
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2012 and early 2013 are Ivy Bridge (HD4000 graphics) while the late 2013 and 2014 models are Haswell
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Nov 1, 2014 22:08
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Bob Morales posted:2012 and early 2013 are Ivy Bridge (HD4000 graphics) while the late 2013 and 2014 models are Haswell Cool. What's the difference between Oct 13 and July 14 models?
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Nov 1, 2014 22:09
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Duckman2008 posted:Cool. What's the difference between Oct 13 and July 14 models? Practically nothing. Go with a refurb 2013 if it'll save you some more money. If I were you, I'd make sure to get one with 8gb of RAM and a 256gb SSD even if your wife isn't a "power user." More RAM will help future-proof the machine in the long run and you'd be surprised at how easily even the most casual of users can fill 128gb.
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Nov 1, 2014 22:14
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The October 13 model is a better value. You seem to be talking about MacBook Pro. Mac Pro is something else.
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Nov 1, 2014 22:15
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Sorry, yeah MacBook Pro is what I meant.Electric Bugaloo posted:Practically nothing. Go with a refurb 2013 if it'll save you some more money. Def agree with this. 8GB of RAM I would think is a must. The storage I was 50/50 on, but eh it's a one time expense and this should last her 5 years.
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Nov 1, 2014 22:19
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I did way too much research and oct'13 is definitely the way to go if you care at all about money.
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Nov 1, 2014 22:21
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Thanks guys. One last question: anyone know what they usually do price wise for macs on Black Friday or cyber Monday? I don't mind waiting until then to order if it would save a few $$.
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Nov 1, 2014 22:26
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Duckman2008 posted:Thanks guys. One last question: anyone know what they usually do price wise for macs on Black Friday or cyber Monday? I don't mind waiting until then to order if it would save a few $$. This is what they did last year: MacBook Air: from $999 with $150 gift card MacBook Pro with Retina display: from $1299 with $150 gift card MacBook Pro: from $1199 with $150 gift card iMac: from $1299 with $150 gift card Now, Best Buy, Micro Center, B&H, etc might do something separate but who knows. Best Buy open boxes can give you a good deal as well.
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Nov 1, 2014 23:22
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If you want the rMBP, the refurbished Late 2013 is $1159 for 256/8 GB, which is a really good price. I'm not sure if that would beat Black Friday prices, but it's worth considering I think. That said, I finally caved and ordered this myself, I have to admit I'm excited!
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Nov 2, 2014 01:21
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I have a 2007 macbook pro and the battery is dead - charge is stuck at 0% and it says to service battery. I still use the macbook but I don't ever plan to use it in a way that would actually require a battery. Should I replace the battery with a third party battery (don't want to spend $130 for a battery) or I can just leave it on AC or what? I know it will run slower, but would a $20 battery be worth it? Can a bad battery damage it?
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Nov 2, 2014 05:23
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I think it was this thread that someone asked about Bootcamping on an external drive? Well, after I tried installing a few Steam games that were "Mac compatible" only to have them give me black screens, I decided to look into that. Using a Dreamspark-provided Windows Server 2012 .iso, my newly purchased USB 3.0 drive, and these instructions I got a perfect Windows install on an external drive (the Server 2012->more or less Windows 8.1 conversion instructions from here helped with that). Works like a charm, I would never guess that it was running off of an external. It's actually faster and snappier than my previous very-similarly-specced Windows 8 laptop, which is a little strange but I'm okay with it, obviously.
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Nov 2, 2014 08:29
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clockworkjoe posted:I have a 2007 macbook pro and the battery is dead - charge is stuck at 0% and it says to service battery. I still use the macbook but I don't ever plan to use it in a way that would actually require a battery. Should I replace the battery with a third party battery (don't want to spend $130 for a battery) or I can just leave it on AC or what? I know it will run slower, but would a $20 battery be worth it? Can a bad battery damage it? We ran our OG MBP for years with a dead battery, you just obviously have to leave it plugged in. Eventually ordered a replacement from OWC though.
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Nov 2, 2014 15:00
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Running just from external power without a functioning battery clocks down the CPU so you're taking a performance hit when you use the computer that way. This may or may not matter to you, depending on the use case.
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Nov 2, 2014 16:09
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Electric Bugaloo posted:Running just from external power without a functioning battery clocks down the CPU so you're taking a performance hit when you use the computer that way. Why on earth would it do that? 
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Nov 2, 2014 18:56
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Three-Phase posted:Why on earth would it do that? 'Cause the power-draw of the laptop when everything's maxed is slightly higher than the rated power output of the AC adaptor. This issue comes up every so often when someone notices his/her battery discharges slowly when running a brutal application for a long time while plugged in to the wall.
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Nov 2, 2014 19:36
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