peteykirch
Member
Obviously not looking at enough places, just Amazon and BestBuy because I have cards with them and figured to take advantage of the free financing.
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Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh
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Obviously not looking at enough places, just Amazon and BestBuy because I have cards with them and figured to take advantage of the free financing.
Apple.com has financing options too.
CrudeDiatribe
Member
Unless some sort of professional work with it will pay for its use, don't finance.
There's my unsolicited financial advice.
There's my unsolicited financial advice.
I'm drunk.
Debt is still a bad idea.
Vinterbird
Member
So I'm looking at the new Airs and they sure are nice. But the Air is on a inevitable road towards getting Retina screens, probably next year, so I'm debating waiting a year and see what the world of Mac has for me then.
But for current Retina owners, what's it like? Has it been a big noticeable leap like it was with the iPad 3, or is the app ecosystem supporting it well and all that?
But for current Retina owners, what's it like? Has it been a big noticeable leap like it was with the iPad 3, or is the app ecosystem supporting it well and all that?
Got the Shakes
Member
I love my 15" retina Pro. The screen is beautiful and I really like the power of it. I haven't experienced any of the screen burn in issues that others have (I have AppleCare though so I'm covered for another 2 years). I can't think of any apps that I personally use that aren't retina ready, but I'm sure there are some out there. I have zero regrets about buying the launch model at all, but I know there are people out there who which they would have waited for the 1 revision that should be coming this fall.
Agreed. Even when I plunk down the inevitable $10k to buy my Pro and associated pieces, I'm doing it cash.
On the other hand, I realized the other day as my girlfriend was shopping for cars that if you've got good credit, you get an amazing deal. 0% means you're actually making money off a five year loan due to inflation.
Depends how fast the asset depriciates, also if it is a business asset if you can write* it off. 0% finance is a trick to get you to purchase a new car instead of a much cheaper used one. 0% financing might be fine for a computer, but again, if you can't afford the whole purchase, you can't really afford the item to begin with (i.e. never finance a depreciating asset).
Edit: of you have the cash on hand for the entire purchase and use credit soley to get points or cash back, and you never pay interest or a fee on the purchase that's fine
peteykirch
Member
That was my plan.
I'm torn apart atm. I was either gonna get a 13 retina if I can find one cheap, or wait for the next generation, but I can get a fully loaded 15 retina (2.7ghz, 16gb ram, 768gb ssd) for only $1800 taxes included.
I feel like that its a deal that I can't pass up, but if the new ones come out soon and are much better, I'd be pretty mad.
I feel like that its a deal that I can't pass up, but if the new ones come out soon and are much better, I'd be pretty mad.
Got the Shakes
Member
Considering that the 15" retina you listed there is a $3200 machine before taxes at the Apple Store, if you bought it because it's such a good deal and new retinas came out later in the year that were enough of an upgrade that you thought you wanted one, I'd have to imagine you could sell the $1800 retina for a profit to fund a revised retina.
Welp, I had a moment of reflection this morning, and decided that I can't wait for the new Mac Pros. I ordered a used 3,1 upgraded with a Radeon 5770 and 6GB of RAM for $1000; I'll probably invest in getting it to 12GB or so. My 2008 4,1 MBP simply isn't cutting it for After Effects, and considering how radical the new Mac Pro design is I figure I'm better off waiting for a Rev. B--prices (may) come down, but more importantly any issues with the design should be sorted and I imagine accessories manufacturers will have gotten behind it. This machine should be a welcome boost from what I've been working off of for the next two years, and my RAID, FW800 drives and displays won't require any changeup.
robertsan21
Member
Hi guys, Question about Windows OS on a Macbook air with no CD drive.
I need Windows on my Mac as I have some programs that I have to run that only work in Windows.
Going into http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/buy?ocid=GA8_O_WOL_DIS_ShopHP_FPP_Light I can choose to buy the windows 8 UPGRADE or get the UPGRADE on DVD....
My new macbook air does not have any previous Windows installed, so will this UPGRADE still work for my macbook air?
I need Windows on my Mac as I have some programs that I have to run that only work in Windows.
Going into http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/buy?ocid=GA8_O_WOL_DIS_ShopHP_FPP_Light I can choose to buy the windows 8 UPGRADE or get the UPGRADE on DVD....
My new macbook air does not have any previous Windows installed, so will this UPGRADE still work for my macbook air?
Cosmic Dreams
Member
Mac GAF, my macbook's battery is now permanently dead (only works with the charger plugged in) after 3 years of continued use.
With that in mind, I have 2 options:
- Spend $200 on a replacement at my local genius bar
or
- Spend under $100 buying the battery and replacing it myself
(Keep in mind i'm no longer under warranty so i'll have to figure this out myself)
I looked up tutorials online on how to replace the battery and it looks pretty easy to do. I've replaced the ram and cleaned the dust within the fan here and there so i'm pretty familiar with how to fix up the pro, but i'm no expert at this stuff by any means.
What do you guys think I should do? I need to replace this thing asap.
EDIT - This is what it looks like so i'm assuming it's permanently dead since it dies whenever I remove the charger
Help GAF?
With that in mind, I have 2 options:
- Spend $200 on a replacement at my local genius bar
or
- Spend under $100 buying the battery and replacing it myself
(Keep in mind i'm no longer under warranty so i'll have to figure this out myself)
I looked up tutorials online on how to replace the battery and it looks pretty easy to do. I've replaced the ram and cleaned the dust within the fan here and there so i'm pretty familiar with how to fix up the pro, but i'm no expert at this stuff by any means.
What do you guys think I should do? I need to replace this thing asap.
EDIT - This is what it looks like so i'm assuming it's permanently dead since it dies whenever I remove the charger
Help GAF?
Autumn Wind
Member
You can take a chance like I did (I installed an SSD on my Mac mini) and replace the battery. If you mess up though, you might be out $300 though if you have to take it to the genius bar. Give it a try though.
Cosmic Dreams
Member
Seems low risk but yeah, think i'll just go with the bar.
Crazymoogle
Member
On previous versions of Windows, to get past the upgrade requirements you would have to install, then install overtop of the install in order to make it think it upgraded. Not sure if that's the same process with Windows 8, but made it a relative pain in the butt every time you needed a reinstall...
Beyond that, presumably the download install might work if it can be put on a USB key?
There's ways to do it. I think it involves changing a registry key and some fiddling about in the command prompt.
robertsan21
Member
wow, sounds complicated for a person with no skills exept browsing the web.
must be an easier way of installing windows OS on my damn macbook air than that?
I'm partially sure you can actually just do a fresh install of windows even with the upgrade disc. It's just a format and install when you boot from it. If you can somehow find an ISO and use your legit cd key, You can go through the bootcamp steps to install everything onto a USB stick. Otherwise you will have to buy an external dvd drive.
What macbook? I'm guessing it's one of the one without a removable battery? All you need to do is take the 10 screws off the bottom off and you should see the battery sitting there. They are screwed in with 3 tri-lobe screws and you simply pull the battery connector off the logic board and pull the battery out. If it's a slightly different model then it will also have 3 smaller screws on the bottom of it. Installing a battery is super easy, It's just the screws that stop you from doing it.
I'm thinking of purchasing a Macbook Pro 15" Retina, was hoping to get some advice.
I was thinking of using it to replace my PC, I have a good Dell IPS monitor so an iMac seems a little pointless. What with the iMac essentially being a laptop in a monitor.
I was thinking of using it to replace my PC, I have a good Dell IPS monitor so an iMac seems a little pointless. What with the iMac essentially being a laptop in a monitor.
- Would having the laptop plugged in allday/everyday kill the battery quickly? I'd use it's portable convenience from time to time, like my 3 week holiday in November and general lounging around the house, but it would stay in one place for the most part.
- The monitor has a display port, is a thurderbolt to displayport the best way to output at 1440p?
- Can the monitor be used as the primary and only display instead of the laptops display?
- Am I better to wait till the next iteration or Macbook retina? Which will be in 7-ish month?
I'm feeling the need to add two 4 GB ram to my late '12 iMac. I bought my previous ram from OWC but, I remember someone telling me I could've gotten them cheaper. First of all, since I have some in my computer from OWC do I have to get the other ones from there? If not, where can I get my other ones from that is cheaper?
No
Newegg/Amazon like this I think...
Just get the same SPEED (should be PC3-12800 DDR3 1600Mhz it looks like) and I think iMac is "Laptop" ram.
edit: Also, make sure you know for sure what you have where. If you have 2x4gb already then 2x4gb more would be good. About this Mac -> Memory is always a good thing to check (it also tells you the speed there)
No, but once a month drain the battery down to about 10% or so and then charge it back up. Apple recommends this for extended battery life overtime.
Yes, but after you get used to the retina display you might not want to use your Dell display again.
If you can, yes. I think this is not a good time to buy a MacBook retina.
see here, scroll down to cart
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7099/best-mac-laptops-june-2013
OWC is definitely not the cheapest option out there, however they are the best for Mac support. Their RAM is under lifetime warranty and they'll take your Apple stock RAM off your hands as well. Saved me hundreds just a few days ago when two 8GB modules failed on my Mac Pro. They can even send you replacements before you've shipped back the defective stuff to them.
RAM doesn't often fail (it's happened to me twice in 16 years on a Mac, once on the only PC I owned) but if the piece of mind is worth the 10-15% price difference I'd still suggest OWC.
Hey guys,
I need to buy an external hard drive for my MBA. I'm about to leave to go study in Chile for six months, and my Air's storage won't cut it photowise.
I'm thinking of getting 500 GBs (I want to go down the NAS route after I'm done with my studies, so I don't need to get a gazillion TBs this time around), and my main criteria are thinness and weight (after reliability of course). My budget is max 100 (currently in France).
I've found these two so far, any others I should be looking at?
Seagate Slim STCF500203, ~90, 9.6mm, 150g
Toshiba Stor.E Slim HDTD105ES3D1, ~70, 9mm, 230g
Any recommendations?
I need to buy an external hard drive for my MBA. I'm about to leave to go study in Chile for six months, and my Air's storage won't cut it photowise.
I'm thinking of getting 500 GBs (I want to go down the NAS route after I'm done with my studies, so I don't need to get a gazillion TBs this time around), and my main criteria are thinness and weight (after reliability of course). My budget is max 100 (currently in France).
I've found these two so far, any others I should be looking at?
Seagate Slim STCF500203, ~90, 9.6mm, 150g
Toshiba Stor.E Slim HDTD105ES3D1, ~70, 9mm, 230g
Any recommendations?
Valkyr Junkie
Member
Get whichever HDD you can get at the best price assuming you aren't looking for anything specialized (rugged, additional security/encryption, etc). Differences in similarly-specced HDDs are pretty much a wash at this point unless you discover one that has firmware-related issues with your particular model MBA.
Ok thanks, I went with the Seagate since every gram counts on this trip haha
Next-Generation 15-Inch MacBook Pro Shows Up in Benchmarks
http://www.macrumors.com/2013/07/09/next-generation-15-inch-macbook-pro-shows-up-in-benchmarks/
http://www.macrumors.com/2013/07/09/next-generation-15-inch-macbook-pro-shows-up-in-benchmarks/
victreeb3l
Member
do you get the $100 gift card if you buy from the education store? like the education discount + the gift card, or only one promotion/discount at a time?
DeadRockstar
Member
I did when I bought my Air. Of course in the UK it was like £75.
No dedicated GPU on a machine that's lowest entry will cost $2000? Apple really likes their profit margins.
DeadRockstar
Member
Price wise the Iris 5200 GPU for Haswell costs about the same as Nvidia's GT 740/50, and $90 more than the HD4600. If they chose the Intel part it's because it's 47W, rather than because it's cheaper.
I'm in the market for a Haswell retina, so I'm very interested to see how this turns out.
Crazymoogle
Member
Iris 5200 has 128MB of on-package DRAM, typically with laptops anything beyond that would be shared main memory.
If Apple ships a Retina macbook with a discrete video card, I'd expect it to still have 1GB of GDDR5.
How does the Iris 5200 stack up to a Radeon HD 6750M?
That's what I've got in my early 2011 MacBook Pro, and that's pretty much will determine if I stay Mac or get a PC laptop for gaming.
polyh3dron
Banned
If the new MBP has no discrete GPU then fuck MBPs from now on. A 780M would make me upgrade for sure.
Yeah, this is pretty much how I feel...
Can't say I'm looking forward to going back to PC, though. I may just end up having two laptops, a PC laptop for games and the Mac for everything else.
Looks like the Iris Pro 5200 does outperform my current GPU by about 37%, but considering that I can get a Razer Blade Pro for less and its GPU outperforms the Iris by 56%, I think I'd rather go with the Razer Blade Pro.
DeadRockstar
Member
This should give you an idea about the 5200: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6993/intel-iris-pro-5200-graphics-review-core-i74950hq-tested. And the notebook check page for the 6750m you have: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6750M.43958.0.html.
The 5200 comes out a bit worse than the GT 650m from last year's retina, which is why I really expected them to roll with a GT 740/50m to be honest. With the recent push for battery life in the new Air though, maybe they've done the same with the retina.
polyh3dron
Banned
I seriously abhor all the shit I have to do to make Windows run properly and do what I want it to do on my Mac (run games in Steam Big Picture Mode on a secondary screen with 5.1 audio) and I just hate the whole micromanagement aspect of Windows that doesn't exist on anywhere near the same level on OS X, but even then I would go Windows for my next computer if the next MBP doesn't have a discrete GPU. Either that or I'll finally say fuck it and build a dedicated gaming PC and use the Mac for strictly non-gaming stuff.
I dunno considering the taxing nature of pushing pixels on the Retina I would figure they would at least offer a discrete as an option. Battery life on the Pros is solid as is, keeping them powerful takes precedence for me at this point.
It used to be that you could install it twice, "upgrade the upgrade" so to speak, and it would take the key.
polyh3dron
Banned
Yep, I got my rMBP financed for free with 0% interest since I paid it off within a year. Pretty sweet deal. Problem is, now that I have a Barclay credit card from that offer I can't do the free financing for future Apple purchases.
The properly-sized MBP has never had a discrete GPU and I support any initiative that rids the world of the shameful notebook-gamer.
That was quick, praise be to Bobby Mansfield (SAW) for saving another soul.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
I haven't been this excited for an update since my white 2007 MacBook was on its last legs and I was eagerly awaiting the 2010 Pro update that took forever.
DeadRockstar
Member
Yeah, it's looking like the 13" retina has the chance to be the machine I've been looking for since returning the 15" 1st gen. I can't deal with using notebooks to game either, so performance in that regard won't factor in for me.
If the Iris 5100 can smoothly drive the retina display, it'll be dangerously close to a flawless product assuming the battery life, heat & hard drive speed will be in line with the Airs, as they should.