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Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh

E

Emperor Bohe

Member
how the hell do I install Windows 8 on a 2013 iMac without a disc drive? There is nowhere that I know of that I can download an ISO, and I can't just purchase an activation key from Microsoft. This is giving me a damn headache.

If it helps, I also have a laptop that is running Windows 8. If I can somehow use it to make installing Windows 8 on my iMac easier, then please let me know how =(

edit: even if I manage to create a boot disk, there is nowhere that I can buy a full product key for a fresh windows install. fuuuuuuuck
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Actually, you can get an ISO from Microsoft I believe. Or you can use a retail disc, and another Windows machine and a USB stick and a program to put the installer on the stick. And any legal key should work. Do you own a copy of Windows yourself?
 
E

Emperor Bohe

Member
The Real Abed said:
Actually, you can get an ISO from Microsoft I believe. Or you can use a retail disc, and another Windows machine and a USB stick and a program to put the installer on the stick. And any legal key should work. Do you own a copy of Windows yourself?
Click to expand...

I do have a Sony VAIO laptop that is running Windows 8, that I upgraded from Windows 7 Home Premium that came installed with the laptop. I upgraded through that digital upgrade for 15 dollars deal that happened last year. Therefore I don't have a Windows 8 disc or anything, or even a Windows 7 disc as that came preinstalled with my laptop.

But even if I do get the ISO onto my external HDD, there is nowhere I can buy just a product key for Windows 8. I don't think I would be able to use the key that I have on my Sony VAIO, as that is an upgrade key...

Does anyone know if Windows 8.1 will have the option for a full digital purchase? My brain hurts.
 
J

japtor

Member
For install media I did the USB stick thing through Windows in VMware.

For the upgrade key there was a trick in Windows 7 but hell if I know it works in 8. Just going off the top of my head now so this isn't 100%, but I think one way was to just install Windows twice, where the second install made it appear as an "upgrade." The other way was to mess with some setting in regedit iirc, which like the other, made the install appear as an upgrade.
 
K

kennah

Member
Emperor Bohe said:
Is it easier to access files in a Windows partition from the Mac OS partition, or is it easier to do it vice versa?
Click to expand...

Depends.

Windows by default can't access a Mac Partition because it can't read the file system.

Macs can by default access Windows partitions, but the cannot (by default) write to NTFS.

FAT32 and exFAT can be read and written by both operating systems.
 
S

StopMakingSense

Member
kennah said:
Depends.

Windows by default can't access a Mac Partition because it can't read the file system.

Macs can by default access Windows partitions, but the cannot (by default) write to NTFS.

FAT32 and exFAT can be read and written by both operating systems.
Click to expand...

Bootcamp these days installs a HFS+ driver for windows.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Or you can just run Parallels... especially considering they have DX10 implemented now, as long as you don't want to play new or fairly recent games, it fits the bill for me.
 
A

Autumn Wind

Member
Iris or bust for me on the new Mac mini. I know (though I'd like to be proven wrong) the new base model Mac mini will not have an SSD option.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Autumn Wind said:
Iris or bust for me on the new Mac mini. I know (though I'd like to be proven wrong) the new base model Mac mini will not have an SSD option.
Click to expand...
That would suck so much. Apple needs to move towards all Flash for boot drives in all their machines. But I hope it's at least an option for them. Probably a Fusion option on a higher model. But I'd rather just have Flash with no HDD option. Just to keep the price low.

And I feel like we're having the same conversation again. lol

Gimmie dat new Retina Pro though. Still sad my local Apple dealer is out of business now. Question: Do Apple Stores carry all the standard model configurations on the website? i.e. on the Store there's two 15" rMBP models. A $2199 one with 256 and 8 and a $2799 one with 512 and 16. Would a store have both of them? Or do they just like to carry the bottom line of each computer? Because when they come out, if the bottom 15" model doesn't have 512 I will want to get the higher one and would rather get it right then and there.

I guess when the time comes I can call them up. I want to get it from a store so I can do split payment since the online store doesn't let me.
 
P

polyh3dron

Banned
The Real Abed said:
That would suck so much. Apple needs to move towards all Flash for boot drives in all their machines. But I hope it's at least an option for them. Probably a Fusion option on a higher model. But I'd rather just have Flash with no HDD option. Just to keep the price low.

And I feel like we're having the same conversation again. lol

Gimmie dat new Retina Pro though. Still sad my local Apple dealer is out of business now. Question: Do Apple Stores carry all the standard model configurations on the website? i.e. on the Store there's two 15" rMBP models. A $2199 one with 256 and 8 and a $2799 one with 512 and 16. Would a store have both of them? Or do they just like to carry the bottom line of each computer? Because when they come out, if the bottom 15" model doesn't have 512 I will want to get the higher one and would rather get it right then and there.

I guess when the time comes I can call them up. I want to get it from a store so I can do split payment since the online store doesn't let me.
Click to expand...
When I bought by rMBP from Apple's online store I was able to split the payment between two credit cards.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
polyh3dron said:
When I bought by rMBP from Apple's online store I was able to split the payment between two credit cards.
Click to expand...
I bought my last two Air's from them and I never saw an option to do that. But if it's there, maybe I'll look closer when the time comes. If I decide to order online. If the Apple Store has them in stock, I'd probably prefer to drive down and pick it up the same day.

That is when they are released and I figure out which model I'll need. I kinda want to have 512 GB and 16GB RAM so I don't need to replace it so soon again. I plan on installing Windows on half of it and downloading a lot of my Steam games (I have so many games I got from sales and haven't installed many of them because a lot of them take up 6, 7, 8, 12GB. That's a lot of space.) and maybe tackling some of my backlog for once. The anticipation is killing me. I might still just go 13". But then I'd have to spend $500 just to get to 512GB Flash.

I wish they'd make 512 the standard for the bottom 15" model. Though I highly doubt they will. Flash is still so expensive. It sucks. But 256 is pretty small when you need to install games.
 
A

Autumn Wind

Member
Here would be the lowest possible option they could use for the base model Mac mini and possibly the 13" classic MacBook Pro if they are even going to still make it.

http://ark.intel.com/products/76348/Intel-Core-i5-4200M-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz

I just can't see myself rushing out to drop $600 on this because I really don't think it'll be that much faster than the current model I have now for the usage I use.

http://ark.intel.com/products/75118/Intel-Core-i7-4702HQ-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_20-GHz

I might be able to pull for the one above however.

http://ark.intel.com/products/family/75023 <--- Any idea why the Iris Pro i7-4750HQ costs $14 less than the Iris i7-4558U?
 
F

Futureman

Member
Got an iMac with two 4 GB RAM sticks. Can I add one 8GB stick? Or do I have to do two more 4 GB sticks? Basically is it bad to have different size sticks?
 
F

Futureman

Member
anyways, I picked my BTO 27" iMac up at the Apple Store today.

I installed the Crucial RAM I bought online before I even turned it on. Added an 8 GB stick to the Apple installed two sticks of 4 GB for a total of 16 GB.

I turn on for the first time and immediately the fans are going at full blast. They won't stop. I restarted, same thing. I looked online and reset the SMC and did a PRAM reset. Still same issue.

So I took it to the Apple Store and they are looking at it overnight, and I assume if they can't figure anything out they return it and I'll order a new one in the store and have to wait 10 more days.

the reason I asked about the RAM is the genius mentioned "Oh I don't know if I would have mixed the different sizes".. I didn't say anything, but I thought that's just with older RAM, right? Shouldn't matter on the latest iMac?

sucks because I'm probably just going to have to drive back there again tomorrow just to give them the box and all the cables and stuff so they can return it.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
kennah said:
You should always install RAM in matched pairs...
Click to expand...

You'll see speed gains with matched pairs, but in some cases mismatched modules is the only way to go. The official RAM capacity of my old 4,1 MBP was 4GB but you could boost it to 6GB. Generally, however, you do want to match on desktops.
 
A

Autumn Wind

Member
kennah said:
Nope. The low power one would be harder to manufacture - thus more expensive.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. Now I have asked this before on other forums, but would I see a substantial boost from the Intel HD 3000 on a dual-core processor to an Intel HD 4600 in a dual-core processor? How about a quad-core processor?

I feel however that the Iris 5100 will be a nice boost for me and the Iris Pro 5200 will be even better. I would plan on having the computer for probably two years before selling it for the new model. Of course with the increased cost of the processors that include these graphics, Apple would charge more for the mini.

$600 I feel is a fair price to charge for the mini and some on the Mac boards I visit think Apple should charge less. The only problem there is, I feel they would include even less for the money.

If Apple went to $500 (which is what the price was for the base model when it was introduced in 2005), I don't even think they would have an i5 processor, but an i3. Go even lower and you might be looking at a Pentium or Celeron. *shudders*
 
J

japtor

Member
Autumn Wind said:
Fair enough. Now I have asked this before on other forums, but would I see a substantial boost from the Intel HD 3000 on a dual-core processor to an Intel HD 4600 in a dual-core processor? How about a quad-core processor?

I feel however that the Iris 5100 will be a nice boost for me and the Iris Pro 5200 will be even better. I would plan on having the computer for probably two years before selling it for the new model. Of course with the increased cost of the processors that include these graphics, Apple would charge more for the mini.

$600 I feel is a fair price to charge for the mini and some on the Mac boards I visit think Apple should charge less. The only problem there is, I feel they would include even less for the money.

If Apple went to $500 (which is what the price was for the base model when it was introduced in 2005), I don't even think they would have an i5 processor, but an i3. Go even lower and you might be looking at a Pentium or Celeron. *shudders*
Click to expand...
All quad core desktop parts, but at least they're all of a similar CPU level so hopefully the GPU comparison is useful, in a relative comparison sense:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-4770k-haswell-performance,3461-6.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-4770k-haswell-performance,3461-7.html

i3s don't appear to be cheaper for whatever reason, so I wouldn't expect them whatever the price of the machine. If they don't change things up I expect Iris Pro for the $799 model or as a BTO option on it. Or bring back the $999 as another higher spec model (instead of just dual drive server), who knows.
 
I

Iacobellis

Junior Member
I don't understand the comments behind killing off the 13" MBP this year. There is no way Apple can deduct ~$300 from the baseline 13" rMBP to replace it.

Unless, they do an iDevice movement and sell last year's models alongside the 2013 refreshes, but I don't see that happening.

Also, does anyone know what the kind-of-new font Apple is using called? They've been using it for about a year now, starting around the iPhone 5 release, I think. The Mac Pro page on the Apple website uses it extensively. I've tried the three variants of Avenir, but it still doesn't look the same to me.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Iacobellis said:
I don't understand the comments behind killing off the 13" MBP this year. There is no way Apple can deduct ~$300 from the baseline 13" rMBP to replace it.
Click to expand...
Yeah. The normal Pro won't go anywhere until they can get the Retina down to its level. What's the most expensive component in the machine? The screen? Maybe with HiDPI taking off it could get cheaper?

I hope there's a little bit of a price drop this year just to show that they're working towards it.
 
I

Iacobellis

Junior Member
The Real Abed said:
Yeah. The normal Pro won't go anywhere until they can get the Retina down to its level. What's the most expensive component in the machine? The screen? Maybe with HiDPI taking off it could get cheaper?

I hope there's a little bit of a price drop this year just to show that they're working towards it.
Click to expand...

Either the screen or the flash storage. I have a feeling the screen will get cheaper quicker, this is especially becoming evident with mobile devices. We've been stuck with the same storage capacities since 2010 or so, whereas the displays have been getting drastically better each year.
 
F

Futureman

Member
So I posted yesterday about my brand new iMac's fans running full blast the second I turned it on for the first time.

They checked it out over night and apparently it wouldn't even start.

Mine was the i7, 1 TB Fusion, 4 GB graphics. In store they had the exact configuration except for a 3 TB Fusion. The manager there gave it to me at no extra charge for my trouble!
 
I

Iacobellis

Junior Member
Futureman said:
So I posted yesterday about my brand new iMac's fans running full blast the second I turned it on for the first time.

They checked it out over night and apparently it wouldn't even start.

Mine was the i7, 1 TB Fusion, 4 GB graphics. In store they had the exact configuration except for a 3 TB Fusion. The manager there gave it to me at no extra charge for my trouble!
Click to expand...

You lucky duckling! That's a late 2013 model, right?
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Migration Assistant has been around since, what, 10.5 or 10.6? As arduous as some processes are (moving all my custom Photoshop brushes and actions, resetting my presents on pro applications), I still much rather do clean installs and housekeeping than migrate all my crud over.
 
F

Futureman

Member
A major reason I did it is the fact I have Adobe CS5 and no optical drive on my new iMac.

Plus I've used it in the past with no issues.
 
J

japtor

Member
Iacobellis said:
I don't understand the comments behind killing off the 13" MBP this year. There is no way Apple can deduct ~$300 from the baseline 13" rMBP to replace it.

Unless, they do an iDevice movement and sell last year's models alongside the 2013 refreshes, but I don't see that happening.

Also, does anyone know what the kind-of-new font Apple is using called? They've been using it for about a year now, starting around the iPhone 5 release, I think. The Mac Pro page on the Apple website uses it extensively. I've tried the three variants of Avenir, but it still doesn't look the same to me.
Click to expand...
Remember the MBA? The original (which was 13" only) was $1800 with an iPod platter drive, or $3100 with faster CPU and 64GB SSD. I wouldn't rule out a drop, and it wouldn't necessarily have to be a $300 drop to begin with, could be somewhere else between $1200 and $1500. And regardless there's still going to be the 13" MBA for $1100. Keeping older models generally isn't an option cause Intel's pricing on old parts is usually prohibitively expensive iirc (like they don't drop in price, it pushes manufacturers to adopt new parts instead).

As for the font, on the Mac Pro page, for the header at least, it looks like the Light version of Myriad (...but with tweaked tighter spacing it looks like, going by the Try It demo tab). I believe they've been using Myriad since they ditched Garamond Narrow way way way back, I'm not sure how long they've been using this lighter variant though.

(Otherwise there's Helvetica Neue Ultralight in other places like iOS 7 but it doesn't look like you're thinking of that one)
Iacobellis said:
Either the screen or the flash storage. I have a feeling the screen will get cheaper quicker, this is especially becoming evident with mobile devices. We've been stuck with the same storage capacities since 2010 or so, whereas the displays have been getting drastically better each year.
Click to expand...
The CPU is probably more than the flash these days. There's ultimately only Intel for those (barring a massive surprise) vs multiple suppliers for screens, flash memory, RAM, etc.
 
A

Autumn Wind

Member
Iacobellis said:
4GB VRAM seems like an insane number for a Mac. I envy you, my dude. Rocking a 2012 15" rMBP with a lowly 1GB. :(
Click to expand...

The max amount for the 650M in the 2012 rMBP was 2 GB and it's a shame they didn't put at least an option for that.

This year, the max amount for the 780M is indeed 4 GB.
 
M

MGL

Member
I am having audio issues with my 2013 Macbook Air which I think I have fixed. I have two pairs of noise cancelling ear in headphones. I recently noticed that there was a lot of static white noise when playing any audio (music, videos, youtube etc) at low volume and even audio distortion, particularly on the bass.

I opened up the utility 'Audio Midi setup' and changed the format from 2ch-16bit integer to 2ch-24bit integer and the static noise has gone. Can anyone here confirm which setting is the default on their macbook? Also, is there any difference in audio quality between these options?

Thanks
 
I

Iacobellis

Junior Member
Autumn Wind said:
The max amount for the 650M in the 2012 rMBP was 2 GB and it's a shame they didn't put at least an option for that.

This year, the max amount for the 780M is indeed 4 GB.
Click to expand...

2GB would have been much more suitable for what the computer is designed for. Even at 1440 x 900, Photoshop and FCP X can be jittery.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Fuchsdh said:
Migration Assistant has been around since, what, 10.5 or 10.6? As arduous as some processes are (moving all my custom Photoshop brushes and actions, resetting my presents on pro applications), I still much rather do clean installs and housekeeping than migrate all my crud over.
Click to expand...
I've migrated half a dozen times now with new OS updates and nothing has ever broken. Including PhotoShop. MA is very smart in making sure everything comes over. Basically anything that isn't part of the OS install is moved over. And anything that is part of the OS install is imported and updated if it's a settings file.
 
I

Iacobellis

Junior Member
The Real Abed said:
I've migrated half a dozen times now with new OS updates and nothing has ever broken. Including PhotoShop. MA is very smart in making sure everything comes over. Basically anything that isn't part of the OS install is moved over. And anything that is part of the OS install is imported and updated if it's a settings file.
Click to expand...

I am 100% doing a clean install for Mavericks, but should I use MA for future installations? Do the OS files that get imported clutter up the system at all?

EDIT: Wait, does MA even work on one machine? I always thought it was for Mac/PC to Mac?
 
jobber

jobber

Would let Tony Parker sleep with his wife
Anyone know what's the max RAM you can put in a 2012 MBP?

I have 8 now, but I rather have 16 >_>
 
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