Mac Hardware - 5k Supremacy - The Something Awful Forums

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pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

I just sold off a ton of my older Macs to get a lineup refresh. Got the new Mini, an 11" Air and ordered the vaporous new Display. But I have a couple of questions for you Geniuses (tm).

* When I eventually get the monitor, is there a way to use it with both computers that you can think of, short of plug/unplug or RDP? I don't see a KVM solution anywhere for MiniDisplay port and it seems unlikely it would support Thunderbolt anyway.

* Is there a recommendation for either:
-- a nearly weightless skin/cover for the Air
-- a non-Colorware company to paint/protect it?

* Is the OWC upgrade the only chip based ssd upgrade available?

That all said, I have an extra 512gb Apple ssd kit I need to unload still if anyone is interested.
:-)

pipebomb fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Aug 14, 2011

# ¿ Aug 14, 2011 18:03

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 17:14

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Star War Sex Parrot posted:

It has native TRIM support, right?

Indeedy. It's this one: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC731ZM/A?n=internal&fnode=MTY1NDA0Nw&mco=MTg2OTUzNTc&s=priceHL

It comes with an adapter for a Mac Pro bay, but fits right into a Macbook as it's a normal 2.5" drive. Frickin fast.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2011 18:56

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

If anyone is looking for a no-tax alternative to Amazon, mac connection has the 11" in stock - or they did a few days ago when I bought mine.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2011 04:05

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Wheee. My OWC 360g ssd shipped. Any 64gb Air users want to upgrade to 128g cheap?
:-)

# ¿ Aug 17, 2011 03:45

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Crackpipe posted:

13" MBAs seem to be sold out everywhere that isn't the Apple Store (except Mac Mall which charges sales tax in my state). Any word on when they'll be back in stock?

Amazon has some in stock now - or at least they did an hour or so ago.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2011 01:18

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Binary Badger posted:

How cheap.. I don't have 64 GB but I know someone who does..

Bob Morales posted:

How cheap?

How about $200, or $150 with a 64gb tradein (in case mine ever goes tits up)?

# ¿ Aug 18, 2011 01:40

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

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.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2011 14:24

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Maybe I'm retarded and reading this all wrong, or maybe xBench is broken or maybe something just sucks, but do these stats look screwy to anyone else (dropbox link - image too big)?

From left to right:
* MBA 11" - 4gb ram, 128gb stock ssd. Only thing running was iStat menus, on ac adapter.
* MBA 11" - 4gb ram, 360gb OWC ssd. Clean user - nothing running, on ac adapter.
* MBA 11" - 4gb ram, 360gb OWC ssd. Only thing running was iStat menus, on ac adapter.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/360764/xbench_stats.png

# ¿ Aug 19, 2011 16:25

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Binary Badger posted:

I've said this before and I'll say this again: no one should still be using Xbench, it hasn't been updated in five years, the developers used to have a forum that they slammed shut when people bitched about how they refused to document their methodologies or even provide source. And its OpenGL benchmarks have been debated as wildly inaccurate.

Instead, try Geekbench (it's cross-platform as well) which is a lot better and even more Mac-specific as it handles Rosetta and is available for 64 bit. For hard drive stuff I always use AJA System Test (free) or DiskTester (payware $40, but it's worth it for the ability to 'recondition' SSDs.)

Doing it now sir.
[e]
So here's my Geekbench(32bit): http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/view/466989

I'm wanting to test the new ssd, so I'll try the other ones also.

pipebomb fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Aug 19, 2011

# ¿ Aug 19, 2011 16:45

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

On another note: does anyone have one of the 8gb Apple flash drives they shipped with older Airs? Want to sell it?
And another another note: I have a 512gb Apple SSD for sale ($1200 obo) as well as the 128gb from my new Air (Toshiba) - BO.

I'm about to post a massive Apple accessory thread in samart. Will update when it's up. I*gotta* clean my office up...it looks like a stock room.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2011 18:23

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Buy my wasteful extra poo poo? http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3432221

# ¿ Aug 20, 2011 01:42

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Bob Morales posted:

ndrake bought the 128GB Air SSD I take it?

Oh, not yet, no. Want 2nd dibs at $160 shipped?

# ¿ Aug 20, 2011 02:35

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

KingEup posted:

I'm going to have to get rid of my old Logitech solar keyboards and get these new made for mac ones:

Ya - preordered one last night. Very slick and I already use a mini-usb Logitech kb. Not a fan of BT.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2011 02:58

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

NerdsMcGee posted:

I guess I need to re-think my position on having my iTunes Library on my at all times then. I mainly wanted it because of visiting friends and (heaven forbid) something dumb happened with my iPhone, I wouldn't be 3 hours away with no GPS / Music on the way home.

I bought a used 160gb iPod and keep it in my bag...just for giggles and paranoid moments.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2011 16:35

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Just spent an hour hooking the drive from my new Mini up to various external devices (I replaced it) only to find it not working. Thought all my external connections were hosed or usb was. Turned out the black plastic coating on the back had slipped onto the gold connector. Goddamn.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2011 03:52

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

FFS. I can't catch a break lately. Everything new is loving with me.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ¿ Aug 22, 2011 06:52

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

chimz posted:

How did you get Lion onto on that disk? You need the recovery partition that Lion puts down when it's being installed, because the login screen program is stored on the recovery partition.

Do a 'diskutil list' from Terminal and show us what it says.

I made a disk image of my other drive and restored it to this one.

/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *360.1 GB disk0
1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 359.7 GB disk0s2

# ¿ Aug 22, 2011 14:39

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

SnatchRabbit posted:

Edit: crap, she says it's leaking. Anything special I should do to the battery when I bring it to the store tonight.

Have her take it in, crying and saying you will beat her.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2011 16:12

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Anyone else having a serious jones waiting for the damned TB Display to come out already? I preordered weeks ago and sold my 30" already. I need screen size damnit.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2011 23:28

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

I'm a retard. I bid on, forgot and won another SSD on the ebay. Now I have two 128gb SSDs for the Air. If anyone wants one, $150 shipped.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2011 15:35

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Hanks Lust Cafe posted:

I'd like to add that I am now unable to turn on my computer.

Whether this is the fault of an uncooperative power button or a hosed up computer is unclear to me. Either way...loving hell.

I took a system in recently that was OOW, and was told they have a flat $310 repair option - fixes anything broken. Not sure what it's worth to you but that's maybe something to think about.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2011 15:00

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Anyone gotten shipping notification of their TB Display yet? I pre-ordered through Amazon, so probably another week, but I've seen elsewhere they are staring to ship from Apple.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2011 13:40

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Selling a 512gb Apple SSD kit (Mac or Macbook Pro) in SAMart. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3435945

Please buy it.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2011 02:46

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

512gb Apple SSD for Mac/Book Pro - $950 shipped.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3435945

# ¿ Sep 14, 2011 04:39

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

BrokenDynasty posted:

If you provide the link to a $300 Mac laptop at Best Buy you've got a deal. You might be thinking I'd be willing to give a friend a laptop that isn't a Mac, but I like my friends too much to do that.

You are a good friend.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2011 05:16

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

mediaphage posted:

I'm not getting upset at all, just pointing out the ridiculousness of the pricing. That is a really abnormal price that not even Amazon matches (Newegg does now, though) - just a few weeks ago I certainly couldn't get that storage for that price. It's just weird considering how much their internal drives cost. I honestly do not understand why they're so cheap. Amazon hast a list price of $190, while Newegg has a list price of $170; I wonder if they updated the Elements line then are just selling off some of the stock at lower prices - but maybe not, Hitachi matches that price, but the other storage people don't seem to. It's honestly just weird. W/e, clearly I got this one wrong, I guess, but I still don't understand it.

I don't have any of these drives, but is it possible they are using 2 x 1.5t drives in there?

# ¿ Sep 21, 2011 14:50

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Just got my Logitech K750 unpacked and installed. All I have to say is: who wants to buy a gently used Dinova Edge, cheap?
:-)

# ¿ Sep 21, 2011 22:44

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Not at all. It's got good heft, stays in place and the keys feel great. It does gather a bit of lint though and the solar panels are a tiny bit distracting when light from the monitor or something hits them.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2011 01:56

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

My TBD finally shipped - so excited!

# ¿ Sep 29, 2011 23:28

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Posting from my Thunderbolt Display. It's gorgeous and smells like Gods vagina. It is an absolutely gorgeous machine...I only wish it had a superdrive in the side.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2011 03:56

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

I hope no one frowns upon this, but I wanted to share a secret with you. If you want a Logitech 750 (Mac, solar), go to their site and create a 'cexchange' account, as if you were trading in something. They'll send you a 20% off coupon code just for signing up. I just got a second 750 for a mere $47.99 shipped.

Just a heads up.

# ¿ Oct 12, 2011 21:50

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Anyone with a t'bolt display notice that the left bottom corner gets very warm?

# ¿ Nov 25, 2011 02:19

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

My ssd is still for sale, and I've cut my asking price to be on par with non-Apple products (800) - helluva loss for me, but I have no use for it currently.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2011 17:33

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Guys, Im going to sell my new Air (1.6,4gb,360gb) and get a MB Pro (new job uses software that's just too much for my little Air) - which model has the capability to do 16gb?

(Air posted: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3453303 )

VV Muchos gracias VV

pipebomb fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Dec 6, 2011

# ¿ Dec 6, 2011 02:02

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Sorry I don't know how to investigate this, but - does anyone know if the chipset Apple gets from Intel for the Air is likely to support 8gb or more of RAM in its next iteration, like some of the Samsungs do? Memory is really the only (minor) complaint I have with mine.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2012 02:04

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Good points I suppose. I wonder what Samsung is doing to add 8...probably a little fatter machine.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2012 14:25

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Have you guys seen any Mini 2011 kits for a 2nd hard drive cheaper than this OWC set? http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2/

# ¿ May 2, 2012 02:32

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

FlashBangBob posted:

The cable itself I havent found cheaper than $30. That can be found at http://www.impactcomputers.com/076-1391.html. That one is $23 + $8 shipped.

The only things you truly need are the T6, T8, hex drivers and the cable itself. The screw and garments are only if you want to actual mount it to the bay that's included, and I just used two pieces of double sided tape. With both hard drives in there, they basically lock each other in the case pretty snug, and if your mini isn't going anywhere, you're not going to have to worry about serious mounting.

Cool, thanks much.

# ¿ May 2, 2012 13:06

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

My car broke down, so I am having an emergency Mac sale here. Air, Tbolt display, iPad, more poo poo. He;lp if you can.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2012 14:22

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 17:14

pipebomb: May 12, 2001; Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains?
It must be so boring.

Are you guys aware of any adapter that would let me plug the SSD from a 2011 Air into my 2011 Mini sata slot? Even better, one that would work in the 2nd (uncabled) position...

# ¿ Sep 28, 2012 16:16

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