• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh

T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
lord quas said:
Thanks! I wonder why most games run shit on my MacBook all of a sudden though... I think I'll take it down to the store and see what's up
Click to expand...
Download an application called gfxCardStatus. It lets you switch between them, or even force a specific card to always be used if you need to or want to. It's indispensable for me. It also shows you what card is currently being used with a letter in the menubar. (n for Nvidia and i for Integrated/Intel.) And will throw up a Notification when the card switches in case you have a suspicion that something is being naughty or hungry. As well as what app or process is currently forcing the Discrete GPU to be activated. (For me it's usually Flash in Safari if not a game or something.)

Highly recommended.

I find it very useful when testing a game I'm creating in Löve to force the Discrete GPU to save me a second or two when launching my project since it doesn't have to keep turning the card on and then turning it back off when I'm done. Time saver.
 
K

Kaidfather

Member
Clomipramine said:
Just bought a 13 retina macbook pro, quite happy with it.

A few questions:

1) i can see a slight yellowish tint on the left border of the screen.
it's nearly unnoticeable and visible only on white backgrounds and maybe my ocd is fooling me, but is it normal?
I think it may be due to the backlight.

2) do you think screen protectors and keyboard protectors are necessary?
I'm pulling the trigger on a case though.

3) do you recommend Apple Care?
Click to expand...

I bought the same machine back in April and have been more then happy with it. I do not believe #1 is normal, but on other mac forums I have seen other people with similar issues who took it in to either get looked at or get replaced.

I'm not using a screen protector or keyboard protector at all. I'm the only one using the machine and I take excellent care of my gear. For travel purposes I am using a sleeve to protect while its in my messenger bag, the sleeve I'm using is the Booq Taipan Spacesuit - fits it perfectly, the zipper does not touch the machine at all so I'm not worried about scratching the case while its in there.

Apple care I highly recommend. I pulled the trigger the day I bought it, the peace of mind that Apple will help me if something goes wrong is worth it.
 
A

Auron_Kale

Member
I still need to buy AppleCare for my rMBP, since I'm technically sharing it with my mom, so anything that can give me piece of mind is what I'll take.

As for MS Office, I got the Home & Business 2013 edition through work. Best $9.95 I've spent for something that's worth $219.99.
 
N

Number45

Member
Also, for people thinking about Office, don't forget Office365 which is £8 a month and you'll get (from next month) 1TB of OneDrive storage into that.
 
K

killertofu

Member
$280 for a 2009 13" MacBook Pro is pretty alright, right?

I kinda just need a burner for small video editing...I'm tired of lugging around my giant desktop to work everyday
 
K

kennah

Member
killertofu said:
$280 for a 2009 13" MacBook Pro is pretty alright, right?

I kinda just need a burner for small video editing...I'm tired of lugging around my giant desktop to work everyday
Click to expand...
That computer is no good for modern video editing at all. I have a 2009 15" and anything hd in Premiere CC takes hours.

If you are burning already completed edits fine, but even transcoding to dvd takes way too long. I wouldn't waste my money.
 
K

killertofu

Member
kennah said:
That computer is no good for modern video editing at all. I have a 2009 15" and anything hd in Premiere CC takes hours.

If you are burning already completed edits fine, but even transcoding to dvd takes way too long. I wouldn't waste my money.
Click to expand...

Really? Even simple cuts from a DSLR for web?
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Just got a Samsung BluRay player. I like how the Samsung YouTube app allows me to control YouTube on my TV with my mobile device (iPhone) and que up a collection of video's to be played sequentially. Maybe this is an old feature, I don't know. Is there any similar version of this que feature for my Apple TV?
 
E

EmiPrime

Member
Has anyone here used a Surface 3? I don't particularly like Windows 8 but OneNote on that device looks pretty nice. Looking for a Mac user's perspective.
 
V

VPhys

Member
Rbk_3 said:
I am in the market for a new MacBook Pro. I'm lost at what to do. Since Broswell doesn't seem likely until at least Q2 2015, do I bite the bullet now and take advantage of the student deals, or do I wait for possibly a minor update this fall?

What would you guys do? Currently have a 2011 Air I'll be giving to the GF in September.
Click to expand...



With the current deal do it now.

<---- Just pulled the trigger on a base model rMBP 13

I used to have a 15 rMBP that i fried with a liquid spill :(
 
F

Furyous

Member
Help!

My two month old rMBP 13" won't turn on.

I let it charge this morning and forgot about it. Now it won't turn on. I took the magsafe adapter out of the surge protector and plugged it into an outlet and it still won't turn on.

I'm MAD AS SHIT.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Furyous said:
Help!

My two month old rMBP 13" won't turn on.

I let it charge this morning and forgot about it. Now it won't turn on. I took the magsafe adapter out of the surge protector and plugged it into an outlet and it still won't turn on.

I'm MAD AS SHIT.
Click to expand...
Have you tried holding down power for a while?
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Furyous said:
Help!

My two month old rMBP 13" won't turn on.

I let it charge this morning and forgot about it. Now it won't turn on. I took the magsafe adapter out of the surge protector and plugged it into an outlet and it still won't turn on.

I'm MAD AS SHIT.
Click to expand...

The good part is that it's only two months old, so you can take it to apple and get it fixed for free or demand a new one if needed. Hope you had a backup of your data.

Edit: maybe you just have a dead battery because of a faulty charger?
 
G

GWX

Member
Haeralis The BRave said:
I'm a complete and utter Mac noob. Got a 13in' MBP today. What are some must know things about it?
Click to expand...

I hope that MBP is retina (if new), or else you dun goofed. Well, know that it's awesome, that the best browser is Safari, that Alfred is the best productivity app ever made and that BetterTouchTool will change the way you use pointing devices such as the trackpad.
 
V

VPhys

Member
Haeralis The BRave said:
I'm a complete and utter Mac noob. Got a 13in' MBP today. What are some must know things about it?
Click to expand...

First rule is to call it what it is, a rMBP. If that's not what you got return it.

Next, stick to the native res for the best framerate (performance).

Just got my rMBP today and I was surprised to see how much it stuttered at higher resolutions compared to my old 15" retina. Oh well that's the price you pay for affordability an portability.
 
H

Haeralis The BRave

Banned
Sorry, yeah I got the retina MBP. I didn't think I needed to specify, since there isn't a reason to have bought the non-retina screen version haha. Also, why is Safari the best browser?
 
G

GWX

Member
Haeralis The BRave said:
Sorry, yeah I got the retina MBP. I didn't think I needed to specify, since there isn't a reason to have bought the non-retina screen version haha. Also, why is Safari the best browser?
Click to expand...

It's the fastest, the most lightweight and the easiest on your battery. And dat smooth scrolling and zooming.
 
O

opticalmace

Member
GWX said:
It's the fastest, the most lightweight and the easiest on your battery. And dat smooth scrolling and zooming.
Click to expand...

The only complaint I have about Safari is that it chokes on animated gifs. I open up Firefox when I want to read the latest 'pics that make you laugh' pages.
 
E

EmiPrime

Member
Deku Tree said:
I might guess that you use a desktop and/or you keep your laptop plugged in while using it.
Click to expand...

I use an iMac yes. I will probably be getting a MBA soon but I will use Chrome on that too because there are extensions I need that I can't get on Safari and because I use Android as my mobile OS.

Safari definitely comes up trumps for battery usage and while that is a huge consideration I think that everything else about it is worse than Chrome.
 
Fixed1979

Fixed1979

Member
So I joined the ranks, I was hoping to wait another couple months but my desktop PC is fucked. I'm still going to try to get it up and running one more time otherwise I'll need to find an easy way to get data off of my storage drives.

Ordered a 15" rMBP (GT 750M option) and it's now "Preparing for Shipment", grabbed the education discount which is a nice little bonus considering I'm not a student. Though I felt a little dirty lying, but $200 off and a $110 itunes card helps alleviate the feeling of guilt.

Also ordered the LaCie 6TB 2big which I'll probably run in Raid 1 and should hopefully be enough storage for the time being. I couldn't bring myself to spend more than that on a storage option right now.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Fixed1979 said:
So I joined the ranks, I was hoping to wait another couple months but my desktop PC is fucked. I'm still going to try to get it up and running one more time otherwise I'll need to find an easy way to get data off of my storage drives.

Ordered a 15" rMBP (GT 750M option) and it's now "Preparing for Shipment", grabbed the education discount which is a nice little bonus considering I'm not a student. Though I felt a little dirty lying, but $200 off and a $110 itunes card helps alleviate the feeling of guilt.
Click to expand...

Jesus and Tim Cook look at you disappointedly.
Also ordered the LaCie 6TB 2big which I'll probably run in Raid 1 and should hopefully be enough storage for the time being. I couldn't bring myself to spend more than that on a storage option right now.
Click to expand...

Make sure you've got a backup solution there... losing 6TB of data is not going to be fun.
 
Fixed1979

Fixed1979

Member
Fuchsdh said:
Jesus and Tim Cook look at you disappointedly.


Make sure you've got a backup solution there... losing 6TB of data is not going to be fun.
Click to expand...

That'll be my back up, it's comprised of 2 3TB drives running in RAID 1.



Any suggestions on a single drive hardware enclosure, probably just want to use it once to transfer data to the MB... I'm guessing it doesn't much matter if I'm only transferring once, just grab the cheapest I can find and be done with it?
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
my 2011 MBP's dedicated ATI GPU checked out on me. Funky lines on the screen, refusal to show the desktop, etc. etc. Apple was gonna talk that $1200 "get urself a new logic board" stuff...

...had a local guy reball and reflow the GPU.

Srys procedurez.

She's back to purring like a kitten and they only charged me $180. Hopefully it stays stable until the next wave of MBP's with the new chipsets come out.
 
L

Laekon

Member
Fixed1979 said:
So I joined the ranks, I was hoping to wait another couple months but my desktop PC is fucked. I'm still going to try to get it up and running one more time otherwise I'll need to find an easy way to get data off of my storage drives.

Ordered a 15" rMBP (GT 750M option) and it's now "Preparing for Shipment", grabbed the education discount which is a nice little bonus considering I'm not a student. Though I felt a little dirty lying, but $200 off and a $110 itunes card helps alleviate the feeling of guilt.

Also ordered the LaCie 6TB 2big which I'll probably run in Raid 1 and should hopefully be enough storage for the time being. I couldn't bring myself to spend more than that on a storage option right now.
Click to expand...
You probably would have saved more on the refurb store. This is $400 off.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE294LL/A/refurbished-154-inch-macbook-pro-23ghz-quad-core-intel-i7-with-retina-display
 
The Elite

The Elite

BOSS
Ok, so I want to extend my wireless network in my new two bedroom apartment. I currently just own an Apple Express which gives me full speed (60mb/s) in my living room where it is connected to the cable modem. In my bedroom the speed drops to an abysmal 10mb/s and sometimes I will lose connection completely.

I'm going to buy an Extreme to put in my living room which will be connected to the cable modem and move the Express to my bedroom. The thing is that the building is relatively old (built in 69) and there is a concrete wall between my living room and my bedroom.

Will my potential new setup help me at all or will I experience the same drops from the living room to the bedroom due due to the concrete wall being in between them.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
DoctorWho said:
Ok, so I want to extend my wireless network in my new two bedroom apartment. I currently just own an Apple Express which gives me full speed (60mb/s) in my living room where it is connected to the cable modem. In my bedroom the speed drops to an abysmal 10mb/s and sometimes I will lose connection completely.

I'm going to buy an Extreme to put in my living room which will be connected to the cable modem and move the Express to my bedroom. The thing is that the building is relatively old (built in 69) and there is a concrete wall between my living room and my bedroom.

Will my potential new setup help me at all or will I experience the same drops from the living room to the bedroom due due to the concrete wall being in between them.
Click to expand...

It should help. Do you have a new express?

I have three airports in my house extending the range of my wifi network. I live in a dense city so there is a lot of wifi congestion. I have a a gen 6 - gen 5 and gen 4. I see no drop in speed in most places in my house where I get a good signal. I get 28mbps.

I used to have a 1st gen express that I tried to use to extend my range further but it didn't help very much at all. So I think it should work if you have relatively new airports. In the worst case if it doesn't work then you can return the equipment.
 
The Elite

The Elite

BOSS
Deku Tree said:
It should help. Do you have a new express?

I have three airports in my house extending the range of my wifi network. I live in a dense city so there is a lot of wifi congestion. I have a a gen 6 - gen 5 and gen 4. I see no drop in speed in most places in my house where I get a good signal. I get 28mbps.

I used to have a 1st gen express that I tried to use to extend my range further but it didn't help very much at all. So I think it should work if you have relatively new airports. In the worst case if it doesn't work then you can return the equipment.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I bought the Express in 2014. It worked great for my one bedroom apartment but it's struggling to cover my new two bedroom. The square footage is 895sqft but that concrete wall is probably hampering the signal greatly.

Floorplan for my apartment.

The Express is currently hooked up in the living room near the wall that has the bathroom. I have a small office setup in the large bedroom next to the window. That's where I'm getting only 10mb/s. Huge drop from the 60 in the living room. The bedroom wall closest to the bathroom is concrete.

I plan to place the Extreme where the Express is now and hook up the large bedroom.

What is Apple Store's return policy if this does not work?
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
DoctorWho said:
Yeah, I bought the Express in 2014. It worked great for my one bedroom apartment but it's struggling to cover my new two bedroom. The square footage is 895sqft but that concrete wall is probably hampering the signal greatly.

Floorplan for my apartment.

The Express is currently hooked up in the living room near the wall that has the bathroom. I have a small office setup in the large bedroom next to the window. That's where I'm getting only 10mb/s. Huge drop from the 60 in the living room. The bedroom wall closest to the bathroom is concrete.

I plan to place the Extreme where the Express is now and hook up the large bedroom.

What is Apple Store's return policy if this does not work?
Click to expand...

You should ask them, but I think it's 14 days.

BTW, IMO you might have better luck setting up one of the wifi routers in your linen closet or the closet across from it if that is possible I.e. If you have power.
 
Rbk_3

Rbk_3

Member
VPhys said:
With the current deal do it now.

<---- Just pulled the trigger on a base model rMBP 13

I used to have a 15 rMBP that i fried with a liquid spill :(
Click to expand...

Yep, went with the mid range 13"

Pretty happy so far :)

Bootcamped Windows as well as my GF was able to get it free through school.
 
H

Haeralis The BRave

Banned
So, I got a MacBook Pro and I love it so far! I have a bit of a dilemma though, that hopefully some of you can help me with. I think I made a mistake, and should have spent $300 more on the 512GB rMBP 13''. I am worried about space on the 256GB model. I bought this on Tuesday, so I believe I could still return it.

What I'm wondering is: is this a good idea? I've heard mixed reviews about the internal storage being replaceable on this model, even that they may offer the service themselves in the future.

If I were to take it back to the Apple store, I'm sure I'd get my money for it back (which I could then put forward to get the best 13'' model), but I'm also wondering about AppleCare. I bought the 3 year plan with my initial purchase. Would it disappear, and make me have to buy it again?
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Haeralis The BRave said:
So, I got a MacBook Pro and I love it so far! I have a bit of a dilemma though, that hopefully some of you can help me with. I think I made a mistake, and should have spent $300 more on the 512GB rMBP 13''. I am worried about space on the 256GB model. I bought this on Tuesday, so I believe I could still return it.

What I'm wondering is: is this a good idea? I've heard mixed reviews about the internal storage being replaceable on this model, even that they may offer the service themselves in the future.

If I were to take it back to the Apple store, I'm sure I'd get my money for it back (which I could then put forward to get the best 13'' model), but I'm also wondering about AppleCare. I bought the 3 year plan with my initial purchase. Would it disappear, and make me have to buy it again?
Click to expand...

Doubt it. They also by law have to allow returns on AppleCare for a limited time IMO. Call and ask.
 
M

mug

Member
Managed to get a good deal on a mid-2011 Mac Mini - $300. Last model I had was a 2010 MBP that I had sold over a year ago. Glad to be back and it sits next to my gaming PC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

INSIDE APPLE'S MASSIVE PUSH TO TRANSFORM THE MAC INTO A GAMING PARADISE
2 3 4
151
17K
RoboFu replied
Apple Sued by DOJ for Illegal Monopoly over Smartphones
2 3 4 5 6
270
19K
PaintTinJr replied
The Mac vs PC War is back on (sprawling newsletter article by Tom Warren about Windows & Arm)
2 3
142
8K
GHG replied
Former Apple XR manager Bertrand Nepveu, says Apple headset will be “Macintosh moment”
2
80
7K
Eddie-Griffin replied
Bloomberg: Apple Pushes Back Mixed-Reality Headset Debut Two Months, to June at WWDC
5
2K
ZehDon replied
Top Bottom