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[oatmeal]

Not sure what to do...

I have a Mac Pro 1.1 (upgraded to 2x3.00GHZ Quad Cores, 16GB RAM, Radeon 5770) and it's great but I'd like to upgrade soon.

Part of me wants to buy the iMac 27" (3.4 i7, GTX 680M 2GB, 1TB Fusion), but for that same price (quite a bit less actually), I can build a pretty beefy Hackintosh.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!

 

[killertofu]

Other refers to anything that's not Audio, Video, Image and Applications. All documents and other files including anything not indexed by Spotlight.

Hmm, I almost have 200 GB of that...

 

[The Real Abed]

i'll take your advice and stop at $900. I really don't know how much I should be paying for each respective generation. I'll mostly be using it to do internet (my job's paperwork is all through the net), watching movies/videos, music, and a bit of video/photo editing. Will a macbook air suffice or should I spring for the macbook pro?

there's someone I know selling an early 2011 macbook pro, with about 150 bat cycles, great condition, upgraded to 8gb ram and 256SSD for $1k...should I stop looking and just buy that? lol

Right now it's only one generation behind. But by late Summer it'll be two.

 

[kennah]

Really I don't see any point in buying anything other than 2012s now. Anything earlier will just be left behind. Usb3 is pretty nice and the hd4000 graphics are decent too.

However. Haswell might be best of all with better battery life. Hard to say. Weird time to buy a mac right now.

 

[Tekniqs]

Don't really care for the retina displays. Any word on what the 2013 macbooks will be bringing to the table?
I'd love to have the latest and greatest but I can't see myself forking over $1500+ for a new laptop.

 

[davidnic]

Don't really care for the retina displays. Any word on what the 2013 macbooks will be bringing to the table?
I'd love to have the latest and greatest but I can't see myself forking over $1500+ for a new laptop.

I never thought fork more then $1000 for a laptop but I just did $1350.

 

[golem]

Not sure what to do...

I have a Mac Pro 1.1 (upgraded to 2x3.00GHZ Quad Cores, 16GB RAM, Radeon 5770) and it's great but I'd like to upgrade soon.

Part of me wants to buy the iMac 27" (3.4 i7, GTX 680M 2GB, 1TB Fusion), but for that same price (quite a bit less actually), I can build a pretty beefy Hackintosh.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!

I have a Mac Pro 3,1 and in kind of the same boat. Holding out to see what the new Mac Pros are like (if they ever arrive) or else probably going the Hackintosh route..

 

[Tekniqs]

last question lol

3 month old 2012 macbook pro 13" with 4gb and 500gb HD for $920?

 

[The Real Abed]

last question lol

3 month old 2012 macbook pro 13" with 4gb and 500gb HD for $920?

Compared to the 2011 Air...

Pro:
Optical drive (If you need it)
Faster processor than the 2011 models
Better integrated graphics too
4GB RAM can be upgraded to 8GB (I don't suppose it could go to 16GB?)

Con:
Lower resolution display
Heavier
Optical drive (If you don't need it)
HDD is slower than Flash (But you can replace it if you want, though a 500GB SSD would cost half as much as the computer)

 

[Tekniqs]

I can settle for a 256gb SSD...slickdeals has one every few days for roughly $150

 

[caramac]

Hmm, maybe my HDD should have melted by now.

 

[Blackhead]

Yeah pretty much followed a few builds. My budget was around 1400 and it ended up a little bit under $900! I already had a monitor, keyboard, etc.

i5 3570K - 189$
Samsung SSD 120GB - 78$
Crucial 16GB RAM - 79$
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H - $124
Fractal R4 Case - $87.19
Corsair 650 Watt Powersupply - $85
GTX 670 - $250


----
Do you guys know how I can find out what the "Other" space is on my Hard drive? I just deleted my bin so I know it's not that.

Whoa, what's the catch

i'll take your advice and stop at $900. I really don't know how much I should be paying for each respective generation. I'll mostly be using it to do internet (my job's paperwork is all through the net), watching movies/videos, music, and a bit of video/photo editing. Will a macbook air suffice or should I spring for the macbook pro?

there's someone I know selling an early 2011 macbook pro, with about 150 bat cycles, great condition, upgraded to 8gb ram and 256SSD for $1k...should I stop looking and just buy that? lol

A MBA would suffice (as would an iPad or even a cheap windows computer). The question is: will you be happy with the experience? Would you be happy waiting 30 seconds for a task on the MBA vs 3 seconds on the MB Pro?

Don't really care for the retina displays. Any word on what the 2013 macbooks will be bringing to the table?
I'd love to have the latest and greatest but I can't see myself forking over $1500+ for a new laptop.

Rumor has it that 2013 will see the death of the regular notebooks leaving only the Airs and Retinas. Fingers crossed that also means another pricedrop for the retinas. What would I'd like to see is a BTO for 1,400-by-9,00 retina on the 13" and/or 1,680-by-1,050 retina on the 15". Would definitely pay for that.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

Shit shit shit. I have a black MacBook from late 2007 that is aging but still functional. I use it constantly for everything.

Last night, I spilled a little bit of soda on it. I know a little bit trickled down through the keys, but it didn't seem like much. Nor did it malfunction. But just to be safe, I immediately pulled the battery out and flipped it so that the keys were resting on a stack of paper towels and the monitor was hanging over the edge of the table.

This morning, I wiped everything down well, then plugged it in without attaching the battery. The pulsing sleep light came on, as did the led on the magsafe connector. I didn't try to power up yet. Then I put the battery back in. It still seemed to be in sleep mode (despite not yet powering up, and having sat without battery or AC all night). I then pressed the power button. The sleep light stopped, but it didn't power up, and I can't get it to. I tried holding the power in, ctrl+option+power, etc. I even pulled the battery/AC again. Nothing.

It may be fried due to the water damage, but my gut feels like it's stuck in a power cycle somehow or thinks the lid is closed maybe?

Any ideas? I actually need it tonight. If it IS dead, I may be purchasing a 13" MBP Retina before the day is out, but I don't really want to, I was kind of holding off for the next upgrade on them.

EDIT: Yep, it just needed to sit and think for a couple of hours, then it powered up! What a tank!

 

[J2d]

What's the best shutdown timer? I used to use I wanna sleep but it doesn't seem like it is supported on the new OS.

 

[Prodigal]

My dad's cat chewed through his MacBook Pro charging cable - the part that doesn't detatch. Is the best course of action just buying one of the expensive Apple ones from Best Buy or something? The cheaper Amazon ones don't seem to be getting good reviews, despite some of them actually being Apple products.

 

[kennah]

Your best bet is used on craigslist. They are usually around $40-50

 

[LyleLanley]

Just ordered a new Retina MacBook Pro 15" fully upgraded.

 

[Tekniqs]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271162993341?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

thinking about just buying this one outright...seems like a good deal. enlighten me please

 

[davidnic]

Got my Mac today ordered Sunday night received today.

 

[dmshaposv]

Not sure what to do...

I have a Mac Pro 1.1 (upgraded to 2x3.00GHZ Quad Cores, 16GB RAM, Radeon 5770) and it's great but I'd like to upgrade soon.

Part of me wants to buy the iMac 27" (3.4 i7, GTX 680M 2GB, 1TB Fusion), but for that same price (quite a bit less actually), I can build a pretty beefy Hackintosh.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!

Why hasnt apple put thunderbolt ports on their high-end, content creator market aimed, mac pros?

its fucking ridiculous. You have Thunderbolt ports on every apple device except big daddy.

Also, are External SSD USB 3/Thunderbolt drives afforadable enough? I know Lacie has a rugged USB3/Thunderbolt combo but with 256GB.

I need a minimum of 512GB. Is there an alternative?

 

[LCfiner]

Why hasnt apple put thunderbolt ports on their high-end, content creator market aimed, mac pros?

its fucking ridiculous. You have Thunderbolt ports on every apple device except big daddy.

Also, are External SSD USB 3/Thunderbolt drives afforadable enough? I know Lacie has a rugged USB3/Thunderbolt combo but with 256GB.

I need a minimum of 512GB. Is there an alternative?

I think because there's probably only two dudes working on the Mac Pro in the entire company. The Mac Pro is old as balls, sorely in need of a major update, and Apple cares very little about it.

 

[Blackhead]

Why hasnt apple put thunderbolt ports on their high-end, content creator market aimed, mac pros?

its fucking ridiculous. You have Thunderbolt ports on every apple device except big daddy.

Also, are External SSD USB 3/Thunderbolt drives afforadable enough? I know Lacie has a rugged USB3/Thunderbolt combo but with 256GB.

I need a minimum of 512GB. Is there an alternative?

There is a Promise Pegasus 512GB portable drive for $900. Aside from that there are other desktop drives from the usual manufacturers.

 

[dmshaposv]

There is a Promise Pegasus 512GB portable drive for $900. Aside from that there are other desktop drives from the usual manufacturers.

Ridiculous price! and it doesnt even have USB 3.0 port (which 90% windows PCs have!)

Looks like I'll have to wait one more year before 512 GB SSD USB 3/Thunderbolt from Lacie or some other company comes out at a price point of around (or less) than $400.

Its better to upgrade internal SSD than to jump on this overpriced external SSD shit.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

I think because there's probably only two dudes working on the Mac Pro in the entire company. The Mac Pro is old as balls, sorely in need of a major update, and Apple cares very little about it.

You cannot even buy mac pros in the EU anymore.

 

[Blackhead]

Ridiculous price! and it doesnt even have USB 3.0 port (which 90% windows PCs have!)

Looks like I'll have to wait one more year before 512 GB SSD USB 3/Thunderbolt from Lacie or some other company comes out at a price point of around (or less) than $400.

Its better to upgrade internal SSD than to jump on this overpriced external SSD shit.

Whoa I doubt you'll see it at that pricepoint in a year.

If you don't need the design of Lacie or Elegato though you can mashup a portable thunderbolt storage right now for around $450:
Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter — $99
Seagate GoFlex USB 3.0 adapter — $50
2.5" 500GB SSD ~ $350

 

[LCfiner]

You cannot even buy mac pros in the EU anymore.

yup. I remember reading about that. Something about updated standards for components? Can't remember if it was ROHS related or not. Apple's response was basically to just wait for the new model that will fix the issue.

sort of gives a clue to the size of the Mac Pro market that Apple can just stop selling it in a pretty big market for several months and not really care.

 

[Deku Tree]

yup. I remember reading about that. Something about updated standards for components? Can't remember if it was ROHS related or not. Apple's response was basically to just wait for the new model that will fix the issue.

sort of gives a clue to the size of the Mac Pro market that Apple can just stop selling it in a pretty big market for several months and not really care.

Yes they are a big for profit company. They must have done the following calculation.

How much would it cost us to change the Mac Pro to conform to EU standards?
How much money will we make in the period between the EU standard change,
and before we update the Mac Pro line?
Do we care about that much money?

Seems like Apple did not care, or the expected amount was negative in the first place.

 

[dmshaposv]

Whoa I doubt you'll see it at that pricepoint in a year.

If you don't need the design of Lacie or Elegato though you can mashup a portable thunderbolt storage right now for around $450:
Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter — $99
Seagate GoFlex USB 3.0 adapter — $50
2.5" 500GB SSD ~ $350

Would this combo work:

Samsung 840 500GB SSD for $279

Seagate GoFlex thunderbolt adapter for $99

Thats a 500GB SSD drive for $380 (just need the cable then).

 

[killertofu]

How much does a fresh install of Mountain Lion usually take?

I have a 120GB SSD in my Hackintosh. I've only downloaded the CS6 suite, Chrome and Left4Dead and I'm showing up with about 30 GB left on my drive.

 

[Deku Tree]

How much does a fresh install of Mountain Lion usually take?

I have a 120GB SSD in my Hackintosh. I've only downloaded the CS6 suite, Chrome and Left4Dead and I'm showing up with about 30 GB left on my drive.

Well the installer fits on an 8GB USB key.

 

[killertofu]

Well the installer fits on an 8GB USB key.

Yeah, it just seems off... I don't know what's taking up the "Other"

 

[Deku Tree]

Yeah, it just seems off... I don't know what's taking up the "Other"

Try downloading and running Grand Perspective

http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net

It gives you a look at how your HDD is using its space. It is quite good.

When I did this I discovered that because I have 16GB ram then my rMBP SSD reserves 16GB of space to save the latest ram state in case of a unexpected shutdown, so that I wont lose my stuff.

Sometimes I wish OS X gave you an option to shut that off..

 

[The Real Abed]

Sometimes I wish OS X gave you an option to shut that off..

We've been discussing this very thing in the OS X thread... or the ML thread... I don't remember. Anyway, my experience is that it no longer works. I can't disable it anymore for the life of me. But other people seem to still have no problem.

Try following the instructions on this page and see if it works for you on Mountain Lion:
http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_remove_diskhogging_sleepimage_file_your_mac

>> While Googling for that link I found this link that explains other people having the same problem in ML and tells how to bypass it by creating a fake sleepimage dummy that can't be written to. I am tempted to try it but afraid it might break something, but hell, I have two backups so why not?
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4492672?start=0&tstart=0

 

[killertofu]

Try downloading and running Grand Perspective

http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net

It gives you a look at how your HDD is using its space. It is quite good.

When I did this I discovered that because I have 16GB ram then my rMBP SSD reserves 16GB of space to save the latest ram state in case of a unexpected shutdown, so that I wont lose my stuff.

Sometimes I wish OS X gave you an option to shut that off..

That looks the same as Disk Utility X

There's like 30 GB of CS6 'documents'

 

[The Real Abed]

That looks the same as Disk Utility X

There's like 30 GB of CS6 'documents'

I bet they're help documents. When I installed PhotoShop CS3 I had to do some cleaning. I was able to cut my PhotoShop installation more than in half by deleting helper apps I will never use and the Help documents themselves and using Monolingual to remove both its PPC binary portion and its language files.

I prefer GrandPerspective as it looks nicer and less clunky, but both apps should let you right click and "show in Finder" to figure out what these files are.

 

[Deku Tree]

We've been discussing this very thing in the OS X thread... or the ML thread... I don't remember. Anyway, my experience is that it no longer works. I can't disable it anymore for the life of me. But other people seem to still have no problem.

Try following the instructions on this page and see if it works for you on Mountain Lion:
http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_remove_diskhogging_sleepimage_file_your_mac

>> While Googling for that link I found this link that explains other people having the same problem in ML and tells how to bypass it by creating a fake sleepimage dummy that can't be written to. I am tempted to try it but afraid it might break something, but hell, I have two backups so why not?
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4492672?start=0&tstart=0

Thank you, TRA.

If I get close to running out of space I will try some of that stuff, or I will hope that by then there is an easier solution. As of now I am doing OK with an external USB 3.0 drive, and dumping most of my less used-stuff onto that.

I think about it like a homebrew fusion drive that is entirely manually operated. Although once I set it up, it takes no additional effort on my part.

 

[buhdeh]

Man I absolutely cannot get used to using a mouse on Mac. The acceleration feels horrible to me. Think I'm going to have to get a magic trackpad.

 

[Deku Tree]

Man I absolutely cannot get used to using a mouse on Mac. The acceleration feels horrible to me. Think I'm going to have to get a magic trackpad.

Do it. The Magic Trackpad is great. I don't think I would ever want to use a mouse again.

 

[Mr.Pig]

Mouse acceleration on mac is horrible. But I finally found a solution:
http://smoothmouse.com/

 

[Lord Error]

Mouse acceleration on mac is horrible. But I finally found a solution:
http://smoothmouse.com/

Thank bejeesus that thing is finally made. There used to be some mouse acceleration fixing utilities on Mac but they all kind of sucked and none of them works anymore on ML, as they removed the ability to even tweaked this on the OS level. It's terrible learning how Apple has been progressively nerfing mouse acceleration parameters in every newer release of OSX.

Do it. The Magic Trackpad is great. I don't think I would ever want to use a mouse again.

Trackpad is great for daily use but not really when you work on Photoshop or want to play some games.

 

[The Real Abed]

Trackpad is great for daily use but not really when you work on Photoshop or want to play some games.

Incorrect. I can't play a first person game with a mouse. I can't stand it. But I'm a super wizard on the Magic Trackpad.

A goddamn wizard! All I need is my Magic Trackpad and the arrow keys and stand back! Because here I come!

 

[Lord Error]

smoothmouse is not quite as good as I was hoping, but still much better than nothing. Mouse pointer seems kind of jumpy when using it with magic mouse.

Incorrect. I can't play a first person game with a mouse. I can't stand it. But I'm a super wizard on the Magic Trackpad.

A goddamn wizard! All I need is my Magic Trackpad and the arrow keys and stand back! Because here I come!

You're one of those people who can 1CC Metal Slug with virtual trackpad on iphone, aren't you? I'm getting better with trackpad in photoshop but it's still a chore compared to a mouse (on a PC, of course, because mouse acceleration on OSX is total junk)

 

[The Real Abed]

You're one of those people who can 1CC Metal Slug with virtual trackpad on iphone, aren't you? I'm getting better with trackpad in photoshop but it's still a chore compared to a mouse (on a PC, of course, because mouse acceleration on OSX is total junk)

No. I can't stand touchscreen controls. I keep buying games I can't play very well because they're designed for directional arrow or joystick movement.

Just give me a clicky trackpad and directional arrows on my keyboard (I will hunt you down and slap the shit out of you if you dare make me use WSAD without customizable controls.) and I can play all day.

Well, back to Minecraft.

 

[buhdeh]

Yeah... just picked up the trackpad after work. It's not bad. Seems like it'd be impossible to use without tap to click though. Takes so much effort near the top lol.

For some reason, it seems difficult to trigger four finger swipe if I put it closer to my Mac... must be some sort of interference.

Tried the Apple keyboard too - seemed okay. Love my mechanical keyboard too much though, even if it is wired.

 

[killertofu]

Okay I have a 16GB thing called
private/vr/vm/sleep image

anyone know what that is?``

edit: nvm i can google. This drive is really showing its space restrictions... I need to buy a bigger drive

 

[The Real Abed]

Yeah... just picked up the trackpad after work. It's not bad. Seems like it'd be impossible to use without tap to click though. Takes so much effort near the top lol.

For some reason, it seems difficult to trigger four finger swipe if I put it closer to my Mac... must be some sort of interference.

Tried the Apple keyboard too - seemed okay. Love my mechanical keyboard too much though, even if it is wired.

Who clicks at the top? I never click above the Mason-Dixon line. That is to say halfway point. I can't use tap to click. Too many false positives for me and there's a delay before it executes. (I did have it on for a while on my last machine when the trackpad was exhibiting a weird hard to click trackpad. Was so glad when that went away. Made playing Minecraft impossible because of the delay.)

Your interference problem seems weird. Is it only that one gesture? Does three finger work if you switch it to that? What about normal swiping and stuff.

I can't use mechanical keyboards anymore. I need chicklet keys to be able to do any work at all. I also can't use button keyboards on phones either. Those tiny buttons take too much force to press when I can type so much faster with a touch screen keyboard. (I had a phone with a button keyboard before I got one with touch keys. So tiny. So hard to press without slipping onto another key.)

 

[muddream]

Thank bejeesus that thing is finally made. There used to be some mouse acceleration fixing utilities on Mac but they all kind of sucked and none of them works anymore on ML, as they removed the ability to even tweaked this on the OS level. It's terrible learning how Apple has been progressively nerfing mouse acceleration parameters in every newer release of OSX.

USB Overdrive works in ML, I have zero mouse acceleration.

 

[oatmeal]

Why hasnt apple put thunderbolt ports on their high-end, content creator market aimed, mac pros?

its fucking ridiculous. You have Thunderbolt ports on every apple device except big daddy.

Also, are External SSD USB 3/Thunderbolt drives afforadable enough? I know Lacie has a rugged USB3/Thunderbolt combo but with 256GB.

I need a minimum of 512GB. Is there an alternative?

I think right now they're waiting on Intel to release the next batch of Xeon chips, which were just delayed.

 

[Mr.Pig]

smoothmouse is not quite as good as I was hoping, but still much better than nothing. Mouse pointer seems kind of jumpy when using it with magic mouse.

Getting mouse acceleration exactly like it is in Windows, is difficult. Some people have claimed that Microsoft Mice with their own drivers do it, though. I just needed Smoothmouse to kill all acceleration for my Logitech G400, and in that scenario, it worked.

 

[Mr.Pig]

USB Overdrive works in ML, I have zero mouse acceleration.

I never managed to kill all acceleration with usb overdrive for my razer mouse, so it might depend on what mouse you have.