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[Mike_Hawk689]

Probably has been answered before but.. As a student who's currently for a laptop for school work, note taking, internet browsing, easy to carry and not heavy, does the entry rMBP good? Should I upgrade anything? I was thinking about the 8gb ram. What about the processor?

 

[Fuchsdh]

Probably has been answered before but.. As a student who's currently for a laptop for school work, note taking, internet browsing, easy to carry and not heavy, does the entry rMBP good? Should I upgrade anything? I was thinking about the 8gb ram. What about the processor?

Definitely up the RAM; if you think you're going to hang onto the computer for a while I'd just max it to 16GB. Prolly you won't notice the processor much though.

 

[Deku Tree]

Probably has been answered before but.. As a student who's currently for a laptop for school work, note taking, internet browsing, easy to carry and not heavy, does the entry rMBP good? Should I upgrade anything? I was thinking about the 8gb ram. What about the processor?

Personally I like as small and light as possible. So I prefer the 11" MBA with top specs. But the rMBP is also fantastic. Both machines might be upgraded in Late October if you can wait.

 

[Mike_Hawk689]

Definitely up the RAM; if you think you're going to hang onto the computer for a while I'd just max it to 16GB. Prolly you won't notice the processor much though.

16gb upgrade will burn my wallet! 270$ extra hahaha (90 for 8gb)

Personally I like as small and light as possible. So I prefer the 11" MBA with top specs. But the rMBP is also fantastic. Both machines might be upgraded in Late October if you can wait.

I feel like waiting for the new release, but is there any chance that the new models will take over the current prices (and lowering older products) or will they have a higher price?
My edu discount is not bad right now, 1339$ CDN for rMBP 2.4ghz & 8gb ram

 

[kennah]

Fun fact - the education discount pretty much exists to blow out old models riiiight before the new ones are released.

That said. $300 off is nothing to sneeze at.

Get 16 gig if you plan on keeping it for a while. Since it is non upgradeable that money is cheaper than a whole new system down the road.

Edit - see if you have a friend in Alberta who would forward it to you for additional savings.

 

[Deku Tree]

I don't think Apple is going to raise prices on their new laptops. If anything the trend has been for prices to go down. The new laptops should take over the old prices.

 

[Mike_Hawk689]

I can save 15% through a friend so I got that going good for me lol
I will wait for the new release though.. Hoping that battery life will increase!

 

[Fuchsdh]

I can save 15% through a friend so I got that going good for me lol
I will wait for the new release though.. Hoping that battery life will increase!

Intel touts Broadwell as 30% more power-efficient, so theoretically some of that will be realized in battery life improvements (as I doubt Apple's going to shave down the chassis and battery.)

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Intel touts Broadwell as 30% more power-efficient, so theoretically some of that will be realized in battery life improvements (as I doubt Apple's going to shave down the chassis and battery.)

I think they might make the 15" lighter, in the same way they made the 13" lighter last year. Maybe get rid of the second fan in the 15".

MacBook Airs might go completely fanless. Hoping we retain a single fan in the 13" for now.

 

[Dynamite Ringo Matsuri]

Another dumb question for you guys. Does anyone know why OSX keeps loading super old mail into my notifications panel? It's really annoying. After I synced up my mailboxes it's just pulling seemingly every email that I've ever received all the way back to 2009 or so. Is it just gonna load every message until it gets up to the present day or what? Cause notifications for mail is completely useless like this

 

[Water]

Probably has been answered before but.. As a student who's currently for a laptop for school work, note taking, internet browsing, easy to carry and not heavy, does the entry rMBP good? Should I upgrade anything? I was thinking about the 8gb ram. What about the processor?

The 13" Air's resolution is a bit too small for some things like comfortably running a game editor with lots of windows/controls that need to be on screen simultaneously, so I'd personally buy the rMBP if I was buying right now, but for all the basic uses you list, both the 13" Air and rMBP are valid options. 11" Air has awful resolution, is not substantially lighter than the 13" and has worse battery life - a huge sacrifice to make for slightly better portability and tiny cost saving.

The entry level CPUs are great, not many people should even consider upgrading. The faster CPUs also have a little bit of a hit on battery life so it's not just a price issue.

 

[Water]

I don't think Apple is going to raise prices on their new laptops. If anything the trend has been for prices to go down. The new laptops should take over the old prices.

The price of a MBP with a decent GPU went though the roof at the last refresh though.

 

[Deku Tree]

The price of a MBP with a decent GPU went though the roof at the last refresh though.

The very top spec CPU-GPU is always a lot. So I sometimes get the second best specs if the price difference is big and the spec difference is small enough.

 

[Water]

The very top spec CPU-GPU is always a lot. So I sometimes get the second best specs if the price difference is big and the spec difference is small enough.

Early 2013 15" models all had the same decent midrange GPU so price of a decent GPU started from $2200 (US). Now only the top model has a decent midrange GPU, and everything below is Intel integrated, so the new starting from -price is $2600.

That is not exactly a price reduction.

 

[Deku Tree]

Early 2013 15" models all had the same decent midrange GPU so price of a decent GPU started from $2200 (US). Now only the top model has a decent midrange GPU, and everything below is Intel integrated, so the new starting from -price is $2600.

That is not exactly a price reduction.

True. But also the base line standard configuration machines have all seen stable or decreasing prices though.

 

[EmiPrime]

Is it worth spending a fair bit more for a HDD advertised for NAS?

Also are Hitachi and WD the same thing now?

 

[kennah]

Is it worth spending a fair bit more for a HDD advertised for NAS?

Also are Hitachi and WD the same thing now?

If you are doing it professionally sure. If it's just a home NAS just get whatever is cheap and make sure everything has redundant copies.

 

[EmiPrime]

If you are doing it professionally sure. If it's just a home NAS just get whatever is cheap and make sure everything has redundant copies.

I wouldn't be using it as a NAS, just something to clone my Mac's SSD to one partition and use the rest of the space for storing large files. Effectively I am asking if a WD red is more reliable than a WD green given they're advertised for backups.

 

[kennah]

I wouldn't be using it as a NAS, just something to clone my Mac's SSD to one partition and use the rest of the space for storing large files. Effectively I am asking if a WD red is more reliable than a WD green given they're advertised for backups.

Don't buy a red/NAS drive unless you are putting it in a NAS. The distinction is there for a reason.

 

[EmiPrime]

Okay.

 

[Deku Tree]

"Today my mom asked me to see if her 30 year old Mac worked"

http://m.imgur.com/gallery/15Aai

I knew Macs were built to last.

 

[Trojita]

For those that run bootcamp, has anyone donated to the Trackpad++ guy? I want to get a serial since installing a new version every week is annoying, but I wasn't sure if you had to pay $15 to do that or not.

 

[Number45]

Are we expecting a refresh on the iMac line in September? I'm basically ready to buy, but I'll wait if there's likely to be a refresh (even a spec bump).

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Are we expecting a refresh on the iMac line in September? I'm basically ready to buy, but I'll wait if there's likely to be a refresh (even a spec bump).

There needs to be, but given the timelines we've seen for Broadwell parts and the fact that they just introduced a new iMac last month, things are looking grim.

The best we could hope for is a 4K screen bump with maybe a mobile Maxwell GPU by then.

 

[Deku Tree]

Wait until late October to be sure IMO. Sept is for iOS devices.

 

[EmiPrime]

I like how whenever there is a laptop for university thread there is inevitably someone slagging off Macbook prices because they got this amazing deal on a gaming laptop with a 17" screen, HDD storage and a 3 hour battery life that is 3 times as heavy as a MBA.

Must be really fun lugging that mess around campus.

 

[Fuchsdh]

I like how whenever there is a laptop for university thread there is inevitably someone slagging off Macbook prices because they got this amazing deal on a gaming laptop with a 17" screen, HDD storage and a 3 hour battery life that is 3 times as heavy as a MBA.

Must be really fun lugging that mess around campus.

I've never understood gaming laptops. Sure, they're "portable" in the sense that packing it up and lugging it around is less painful than a Wagnerian full tower case, but they're heavy and barely good for a few hours of performance. Seems like a really limited use case.

 

[Water]

I've never understood gaming laptops. Sure, they're "portable" in the sense that packing it up and lugging it around is less painful than a Wagnerian full tower case, but they're heavy and barely good for a few hours of performance. Seems like a really limited use case.

Some of them are heavy, some are not too far from a Macbook Pro, like the new generation of 860/870M GPU laptops from MSI, Razer etc.

For the heavy 17" laptops, battery life is irrelevant as their use case is not mobile to begin with. Sometimes you need performance, period.

I considered buying a gaming laptop both for work and gaming purposes to complement my Air before I found a laptop I was able to get from work for free. It's a mobile workstation with an old Quadro GPU, as heavy as the gaming laptops. Not too bad to carry, but obviously a machine you only bring if you intend to actually do stuff instead of just posing at a coffee shop.

 

[Auron_Kale]

Looking for a new slim profile backpack for my MBP, something along the line of the Cocoon SLIM backpack that they have at the Apple Store.

Does anyone have any experience with that backpack or something similar to it? I need something much smaller for when I go to conventions.

Thanks!

 

[Deku Tree]

Looking for a new slim profile backpack for my MBP, something along the line of the Cocoon SLIM backpack that they have at the Apple Store.

Does anyone have any experience with that backpack or something similar to it? I need something much smaller for when I go to conventions.

Thanks!

I bought the cocoon a month ago for similar reasons. And I love it. Keep in mind that it is very small. Only room for a laptop an iPad and a few small papers in the main compartment. The outside compartment has enough room for a few other essentials.

A lot of reviewers complained about ripped zipper threads and I think this is because they tried to overfill the bag. The bag is small so it holds a small amount of stuff. I don't overfill it and the zippers seem good.

So I like the cocoon bag a lot so far. Although I wish it had an interior change pocket. I guess I could buy one...

 

[Auron_Kale]

I bought the cocoon a month ago for similar reasons. And I love it. Keep in mind that it is very small. Only room for a laptop an iPad and a few small papers in the main compartment. The outside compartment has enough room for a few other essentials.

A lot of reviewers complained about ripped zipper threads and I think this is because they tried to overfill the bag. The bag is small so it holds a small amount of stuff. I don't overfill it and the zippers seem good.

So I like the cocoon bag a lot so far. Although I wish it had an interior change pocket. I guess I could buy one...

Yeah, I was looking at it in the store today and considering what I carry around during conventions, I'd like to keep it as light as possible. Probably just the laptop, charger, and some small things (keys, chapstick, pens & small notebook). If I need to carry anything else, it'd probably be shikishis for autographs.

Thanks for the comment and would love to hear more from anyone who's got a slim-profile backpack.

 

[Deku Tree]

Yeah, I was looking at it in the store today and considering what I carry around during conventions, I'd like to keep it as light as possible. Probably just the laptop, charger, and some small things (keys, chapstick, pens & small notebook). If I need to carry anything else, it'd probably be shikishis for autographs.

Thanks for the comment and would love to hear more from anyone who's got a slim-profile backpack.

Yeah I did a lot of searching around, and I also liked the bags by Focused Space

http://focusedspace.com

In the end I didn't buy one of their bags (and instead bought the cocoon) because (1) most of their bags are expensive and (2) I was reluctant to buy such an expensive bag without actually seeing it in person and (3) I liked the Cocoon.

 

[Water]

I bought the cocoon a month ago for similar reasons. And I love it. Keep in mind that it is very small. Only room for a laptop an iPad and a few small papers in the main compartment. The outside compartment has enough room for a few other essentials.

A lot of reviewers complained about ripped zipper threads and I think this is because they tried to overfill the bag. The bag is small so it holds a small amount of stuff. I don't overfill it and the zippers seem good.

If the bag has ripped in several reviewers' use, it's shit quality. Good bags do not rip unless you are purposely trying to break them, they'll just fail to close when overfilled.

On their website, Cocoon does not detail what goes into the construction of their bags. Their bags have a one-year limited warranty.

Compare to Tom Bihn, who are very specific about how they make bags and what they put in them, and offer a lifetime warranty. I have had a Bihn bag in daily use something like 8 years now, looks about as good as new. A plastic buckle has broken twice (presumably since I live in arctic temperatures), and when I snapped a photo and sent an email to the factory, I got a new buckle in the mail in under a week (US to Finland). They're giving this level of service for a $100 bag.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Broadwell now officially 2015. Ugh. I guess maybe no Retina Air this year.

 

[Auron_Kale]

If the bag has ripped in several reviewers' use, it's shit quality. Good bags do not rip unless you are purposely trying to break them, they'll just fail to close when overfilled.

On their website, Cocoon does not detail what goes into the construction of their bags. Their bags have a one-year limited warranty.

Compare to Tom Bihn, who are very specific about how they make bags and what they put in them, and offer a lifetime warranty. I have had a Bihn bag in daily use something like 8 years now, looks about as good as new. A plastic buckle has broken twice (presumably since I live in arctic temperatures), and when I snapped a photo and sent an email to the factory, I got a new buckle in the mail in under a week (US to Finland). They're giving this level of service for a $100 bag.

I do like Tom Bihn bags but unfortunately none of the ones on the website fit the criteria of what I wanted in a slim-profile backpack. The Aeronaut comes close but it's more of a packing solution than an actual backpack.

Thank you though.

 

[Number45]

Broadwell now officially 2015. Ugh. I guess maybe no Retina Air this year.

Does this have any implications for an iMac refresh this year?

 

[Fuchsdh]

Does this have any implications for an iMac refresh this year?

Maybe. I dunno if there are viable candidates to spec-bump the iMacs while they wait for Broadwell.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Does this have any implications for an iMac refresh this year?

The chips the iMac would have used on the mid-high end won't be available until July 2015, which most likely means the Sept-Oct refresh, if any, will be mild CPU upclocks and newer graphics chipsets (provided you're buying something with discrete graphics). Not exciting but close enough to wait on...

tl;dr I expect a stealth refresh now, which is not a good sign...

 

[Number45]

I've been planning to get the top version of the 21.5" (the one with the discrete graphics). My requirements won't be extensive (may actually never play any games on it) but I'd like to ensure I get the most mileage as I won't replace it for some time.

I'll hang on for now. The only urgency is that it'll allow for a smaller footprint for the PC in the dining room and we can arrange the room accordingly! (turning it into a second living space).

 

[kennah]

I'm holding hope that they put the 4ghz i7-4790 into an iMac.

 

[Chris R]

Broadwell now officially 2015. Ugh. I guess maybe no Retina Air this year.

This is a bummer... Ugh.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Broadwell now officially 2015. Ugh. I guess maybe no Retina Air this year.

The low-power Broadwell processors that could potentially be put into a MacBook Air are the ONLY processors slated for release this year.

I hope Intel realizes that this is only going to contribute further to the decline of PC/laptop sales.

 

[Deku Tree]

If the bag has ripped in several reviewers' use, it's shit quality. Good bags do not rip unless you are purposely trying to break them, they'll just fail to close when overfilled.

On their website, Cocoon does not detail what goes into the construction of their bags. Their bags have a one-year limited warranty.

Compare to Tom Bihn, who are very specific about how they make bags and what they put in them, and offer a lifetime warranty. I have had a Bihn bag in daily use something like 8 years now, looks about as good as new. A plastic buckle has broken twice (presumably since I live in arctic temperatures), and when I snapped a photo and sent an email to the factory, I got a new buckle in the mail in under a week (US to Finland). They're giving this level of service for a $100 bag.

I looked all over and it was very very hard to find a small good laptop iPad bag. A few bad reviews =/= shit quality automatically. In fact having only a small number of bad reviews on Apple's website indicated to me that it might be good quality. So many good products on Apple's website have thousands of horrible reviews. I decided to risk the one year warranty because I like the bag a lot.

 

[EmiPrime]

I am glad I got my iMac when I did instead of holding out for later this year. I don't care about 4K either.

 

[killertofu]

Ugh, so no decent Retina Macbook Pro until late 2015?

How's Skylake looking?

 

[Crazymoogle]

Ugh, so no decent Retina Macbook Pro until late 2015?

How's Skylake looking?

Still set for late 2015, which is probably driving everyone nuts who is involved in forecasting their product lines.

 

[The Real Abed]

Ugh, so no decent Retina Macbook Pro until late 2015?

How's Skylake looking?

The too of the line 15" Retina MacBook Pro I have is pretty damn decent.

 

[Deku Tree]

That ARM based Mac Rumor is looking more and more promising.

 

[LeleSocho]

Broadwell now officially 2015.

What? who said that? GODDAMNIT

 

[titusandronicus]

Going to the Apple Store today because someone spilled vodka on my MBA. Turned itself off and haven't turned it back on yet. Anyone have a rough idea of what the repair fee would be? And/or if they would do it for free because I've fanboy'd hard all my life plus have Apple Care?