Do not buy the non retina MacBook Pro. It's basically two years old at this point. Use a streaming service like Google Music or iTunes Match for your music. Carry a small external USB 3 hard drive.
-
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
- Thread starter 3N16MA
- Start date
Don't order the non-retina MBP. It hasn't been updated in ages. As for storage, I store all my media (like movies and music) on an external drive and NAS. Is there a reason you want all your storage internal? It's really not price effective yet with SSDs.
As for what to go for, choose between these two if you're set on maxing out your RAM:
1. http://store.apple.com/us/product/G...-26ghz-dual-core-intel-i5-with-retina-display
2. http://store.apple.com/us/product/G...-26ghz-dual-core-intel-i5-with-retina-display
First is 256GB and second is 512GB.
SSD's are the greatest advancement in Laptop design in at least the last ten years IMO. I have three Mac laptops with small SSDs in them. How about a laptop that boots up in 10 seconds? I put all my large files that I access infrequently on an external super fast USB3 HDD. The prices for large SSDs are crazy.
The Mac laptops with HDDs in them have processors in them from a few years ago.
Well having an HDD is far cheaper for mass storage still. But I can understand your point when talking about NOT having an SSD. An SSD(main) + HDD(secondary/external) combo should be near mandatory in this day and age.
Thanks everyone. I'd probably go with that 512GB Macbook. The primary reason I'd want to have larger storage is for the VM's I'd be running. But, having external storage for my media makes more sense. I just checked the laptop I have for work at it has ~300GB HDD. It's not anywhere near full and I have a TON of work stuff on it(Including a few virtual machines).
Fuck my life.
Just bought my new rMBP Friday, and last night my cat knocks over my glass of wine right on top of my keyboard. I immediately turned it off, wiped it down and have been letting it lay upside down so gravity can do its thing. How fucked am I? Lets say worse case scenario, how much is that repair? $800?
This will be an expensive lesson. Hopefully everything works fine after drying, but I'm worried about corrosion over time. Any other advice? Should I make a genius appointment so they can inspect it and clean it?
Just bought my new rMBP Friday, and last night my cat knocks over my glass of wine right on top of my keyboard. I immediately turned it off, wiped it down and have been letting it lay upside down so gravity can do its thing. How fucked am I? Lets say worse case scenario, how much is that repair? $800?
This will be an expensive lesson. Hopefully everything works fine after drying, but I'm worried about corrosion over time. Any other advice? Should I make a genius appointment so they can inspect it and clean it?
is it easy to source my own battery and replace it?
for mbp 15" mid 2010
background: i haven't turned on this machine in 10 months. been using it plugged in for a day, but then power died immediately after yanking the power. only after rebooting that i noticed the Replace Now status for my battery. donno if there's any hope of reviving the battery.
on the other hand, i think i've revived the battery in my 2nd gen ipod nano multiple times, at least to a somewhat usable level
for mbp 15" mid 2010
background: i haven't turned on this machine in 10 months. been using it plugged in for a day, but then power died immediately after yanking the power. only after rebooting that i noticed the Replace Now status for my battery. donno if there's any hope of reviving the battery.
on the other hand, i think i've revived the battery in my 2nd gen ipod nano multiple times, at least to a somewhat usable level
I'd feel too guilty trying to do that
I'll just own up to my mistake, even if it costs me a good chunk of change. I'm hoping I acted fast enough to stop any liquid from getting to the logic board. I'm going to bring home some isopropyl alcohol from work today and try to clean up any residue I can. Hopefully it boots up after that!
I'd feel too guilty trying to do that
I'm going to bring home some isopropyl alcohol from work today and try to clean up any residue I can. Hopefully it boots up after that!
just take it to the Genius bar, the damage is done and they will know the second they open it up and look at the liquid contact indicators.
Yes, extremely easy. You will need a tri-wing screwdriver though for a single screw.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2010+Battery+Replacement/3024
Alright, so I've been playing around with my laptop for the last half hour. It's completely dry, the keyboard isn't sticky at all. You can't even tell something was spilled on it.
It's working perfectly. All keys and and I/O slots work. Battery is charging fine. Hard drive looks perfect. Screen is flawless. Backlight still works, as do the speakers.
I wiped it down with IPA so everything is sparkling again.
Not sure where to go from here. Should I still take it to the genius bar so they can properly inspect it? Or should I just monitor it over the next few days/week to see if it starts acting up?
I think acting immediately might have saved my ass.
It's working perfectly. All keys and and I/O slots work. Battery is charging fine. Hard drive looks perfect. Screen is flawless. Backlight still works, as do the speakers.
I wiped it down with IPA so everything is sparkling again.
Not sure where to go from here. Should I still take it to the genius bar so they can properly inspect it? Or should I just monitor it over the next few days/week to see if it starts acting up?
I think acting immediately might have saved my ass.
CrudeDiatribe
Member
If it works, it works.
Yes.
Cleaned coffee + Baileys out of my sister-in-law's MBP a few months ago. Her keyboard backlight is patchy, but otherwise it's fine.
I think they bought them in bulk. Not certain what they were thinking. Some foolish person may have thought they needed physical disk drives.
Picked up the MacBook I purchased to replace my returned one from FedEx today. 15" Mid 2012 2.6ghz 8gb RAM 750gb with the 1gb GT 650m.
It's beautiful, and so much better than the one that I returned. Installed a 256GB Crucial MX100 SSD instead of the HDD right away and loaded up Mavericks on it. (Adding a caddy for the HDD this weekend). Apple bliss.
While I had the guts exposed I noticed a significant lack of dust. My cycle count is at 10 as well on this machine, and the tri-wing screw didn't show any signs of contact. I'm being cautiously optimistic that I may have gotten a near-new 2012 for $1300.
Glad to be in the OSX ecosystem guys.
It's beautiful, and so much better than the one that I returned. Installed a 256GB Crucial MX100 SSD instead of the HDD right away and loaded up Mavericks on it. (Adding a caddy for the HDD this weekend). Apple bliss.
While I had the guts exposed I noticed a significant lack of dust. My cycle count is at 10 as well on this machine, and the tri-wing screw didn't show any signs of contact. I'm being cautiously optimistic that I may have gotten a near-new 2012 for $1300.
Glad to be in the OSX ecosystem guys.
So I have the opportunity to buy a previous gen macbook air, the i5 1.7ghz 128gb flash drive 4gb memory version that has barely been touched at all for around $500.
I'm wondering if it's worth doing that or just getting a refurbished i5 of the newer version for $800 from apple.
This would be my wife's work computer, but she doesn't do anything intensive, just document editing and internet browsing.
I'm wondering if it's worth doing that or just getting a refurbished i5 of the newer version for $800 from apple.
This would be my wife's work computer, but she doesn't do anything intensive, just document editing and internet browsing.
Do it, that is an amazing price. I wish I could find one for that price.
the 4GB ram may not be so future proof if you are doing major computing applications. But yeah $500 is a steal.
So the seller I think realized how low that price is and is asking six hundred. Still a better choice compared to an $800 current gen refurb? The condition of this one is really fantastic, it has probably been used for less than thirty hours
A refurb comes with a 1 year warranty I think. Your computer sounds like it might be out of warranty, unless the owner bought Apple care. It probably won't make a difference but if something goes wrong then paying $200 more be worth it.
May as well go for the refurb. 500 it's a no brainer, but 600 gets a little close to new
I got the cheapest sleeve they had in the apple store. Just need something to cover it.
CrudeDiatribe
Member
"Sleeves" also refers to the slim spandex bike short/seat-like cases that offer no additional pockets, straps or handles; they're useful when you already have a bag that you want to throw your Mac into.
I have an InCase case for my MacBook Air and love it.
I have an InCase case for my MacBook Air and love it.
Finally got my rMBP 15". It's blazing fast, thin and not that heavy. The first days I was trying chrome on it but decided against it since it killed the battery much faster. Couldn't get more than 5h just browsing and listening to music. Now I use safari and firefox and get around 7/8h on it.
Been trying to install windows 8.1 on it with bootcamp but been running into a bit of trouble. Can't seem to get my head around this one. Supposedly, it was a pretty straight forward process but after booting windows I get the "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration" error and I still don't know what to do about it...this has been bugging me. Other than that, amazing laptop!
Been trying to install windows 8.1 on it with bootcamp but been running into a bit of trouble. Can't seem to get my head around this one. Supposedly, it was a pretty straight forward process but after booting windows I get the "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration" error and I still don't know what to do about it...this has been bugging me. Other than that, amazing laptop!
The Xtortionist
Member
Currently debating between a new mid range 13 inch rMBP and a refurbished low range 15 inch. The 15 inch would only be about $100 more. Anyone have any thoughts on the screen sizes? That would pretty much be the only difference for me. Don't really need the quad core processor for anything. This would be my only computer btw.
If you aren't feeling like you "lug" your camera around I'd say the 15". Always nicer to have increased screen resolution if you're trying to do something.
The Xtortionist
Member
I currently have a 14 inch laptop that weighs 5.5 pounds (lol) because it has a dedicated graphics card (that I don't really need anymore). It's a real pain to lug around for 6 hours at school, which is part of the reason why I'm looking for something else. The 15 and 13 inch rMBPs are 1 and 2 pounds lighter, respectively.
I probably need to hit up an Apple Store to see the weight and screen size of the rMBPs. But anything lighter than what I have is a plus.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
I used to be strictly 13". I started with a white MacBook then a silver MacBook Pro and eventually moved to 13" Air's. So when I got my 15" rPro I was afraid it'd be too heavy, and while it's definitely not as noticeably light as the Air, it's totally not so heavy that it's unwieldy. The Retina 15" is much lighter than the older non-Retina 15" was and is actually lighter than the 13" non-Retina Pro.
The extra resolution is nice. I run at 1920x1200 Retina, which you can't do on the 13", (Max Retina is 1680x1050 I believe) which is really nice. It's pretty much 4K on my laptop. But then again I have the dGPU. But the Iris Pro is nothing to sneeze at. I assume the refurbished model is either a 2013 or 2014 model, it should be fine if you choose it. Just don't run it at "Best for Retina". My god. How can anyone use a resolution that low on a 15" laptop? This isn't the early 2000s.
You're not losing anything if you spend the extra $100. You'll just have an extra pound to carry and a better GPU/CPU basically. Side note though, if I hadn't wanted the dGPU, I would have probably stuck with the 13" myself. But I really wanted the GeForce so I went all out. Then again, the 13" only has Iris and 15" has Iris Pro. So that helped push me over the size threshold and the dGPU pushed me the rest of the way.
The Xtortionist
Member
Yeah, 13 inch would be the 2014 model and the refurb 15 inch is from Oct 2013.
Good info, thanks. When I get around to it, I might start off with the 15 inch. If it's too heavy, I can probably return it and pick up the 13 inch. Wouldn't be out any money since the 15 inch is more expensive to begin with. I'm at 14 inches right now which is fine, but anything lower might be pushing it (never used anything that small before). Though I bet the 13 inch would feel like a feather compared to my 5.5lbs 14 inch.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Do you have an Apple Store nearby? Or anywhere that sells Macs? You should definitely go and play with both of them. They should let you close them and lift them and see how noticeable the difference is. Personally, after having used a 13" white MB and then MBP, both of which weighed the same as this current 15" rPro, it's not hard to get used to for me. I only had Airs for about 2-3 years total before I got this so I guess I never got too used to the super lightness. But I will say, the Air's lightness is amazingly awesome. So don't play with those, you might regret going Pro. lol
Curious, is there a reason you wouldn't consider an Air? They really are super awesome machines. And even if they're not the powerhouses the Pros are, they're still super fast and super light. So light that you feel like you're just carrying a few pieces of paper everywhere. I assume you use some Pro apps? That would make sense. In which case, either Pro will work fine for you. Just play with them if you can and see if you can tolerate the 15". And as you said, you can always return it if you do go 15" and decide it's too much. If you can, talk to the clerk and get his input. You're going to buy one of them either way. You just want to make sure it's the one you're going to love. And they'll probably be glad to assist you in the decision.
The Xtortionist
Member
Honestly, the retina screen is the biggest reason I'm drawn to the pro models. I mainly use my laptop for browsing and schoolwork (word processing, etc), but I'm on it so many hours a day that I really want a nice display to look at. I don't plan on intensive gaming, video editing, etc. I would definitely consider a retina Air (which I hear may or may not be announced soon) if possible.
The non-retina screens are absolutely superb in their own right. All of Apple's displays are the best of the best in my opinion.
Anybody suffering from a lack of responsiveness on the keyboard? I'm on a 2009 Macbook Pro. So far, I've had to really hammer certain keys to get them to respond (Caps lock specifically being a big issue).
My AppleCare service plan is already expired, so replacing it will probably be costly, but I might just run over to the Apple Store just to confirm.
My AppleCare service plan is already expired, so replacing it will probably be costly, but I might just run over to the Apple Store just to confirm.
I've been having some issues with my 2010 MBP the past couple of days. Whenever I open my laptop back up it shows that it connects to the wireless at a normal speed, but I don't actually get an internet connection back for about 5 minutes. It's almost like it thinks it's connected but it doesn't actually have any connection. Whenever I open a page it's just constantly loading until the internet connection is finally made, I never get any errors or anything like that.
What makes it even more bizarre though, is even after that connection was made I tried using incognito mode. The same thing happened again but exclusively in incognito mode. As in, I was using the internet fine in regular browsing but when I opened incognito mode it's like it had to search for the connection all over again, taking another 5 minutes before any pages would load.
I briefly tried some googling but couldn't find anything helpful.
Any tips?
What makes it even more bizarre though, is even after that connection was made I tried using incognito mode. The same thing happened again but exclusively in incognito mode. As in, I was using the internet fine in regular browsing but when I opened incognito mode it's like it had to search for the connection all over again, taking another 5 minutes before any pages would load.
I briefly tried some googling but couldn't find anything helpful.
Any tips?
Fantastical
Death Prophet
Damnnnn I think my SATA cable is broken in my Macbook Pro.
I thought my hard drive failed, replaced it with an SSD, and the drive cannot be found. I guess I'll have to check if it works on my desktop.
I thought my hard drive failed, replaced it with an SSD, and the drive cannot be found. I guess I'll have to check if it works on my desktop.
Which model?
wat
The 13" Macbook Air's biggest weakness is display quality. It was one of the better laptop displays on the market when it got its last major upgrade in 2010 (!), it's still adequate for most uses and the 16:10 aspect ratio is good for work. But the viewing angles and color are crap due to TN panel, and the 1440x900 resolution is behind the market. The competition in that size and price class has had 1080p IPS for a while now.
Yeah but "the competition" if they have the same form factor will have much worse battery life IMO. On an Air I'd personally prefer battery life.
Air's battery life would barely be affected if it got a 1680x1050 IPS display. The battery life difference to the average non-Mac laptop is 90% not due to the displays.
I'd bet that 90% number goes down on a super optimized Mac, and in any case 10% would be like over an hour of battery life on my haswell MBA. That's way more than "barely affected".
I'm not sure where else to ask this, Id on't want to bump the most recent marvel unlimited threads since then people will think the $0.99 promo is back.
When reading comics on non-retina ipad mini when I try to zoom it it always shifts the page to the right cutting off a portion of the page. I can't drag over to see it, the only way to regain that lost portion is to zoom back in.
I think it has something to do with them trying to cut off the white borders? It seems to be less of a problem with pages that have white borders.
Anyone have any experience with this?
When reading comics on non-retina ipad mini when I try to zoom it it always shifts the page to the right cutting off a portion of the page. I can't drag over to see it, the only way to regain that lost portion is to zoom back in.
I think it has something to do with them trying to cut off the white borders? It seems to be less of a problem with pages that have white borders.
Anyone have any experience with this?
I did not say 10% of the total battery life.
I'm seeing maybe 8-9 hours of usable battery life from my 2013 13" Air. I expect a 1680x1050 IPS display might lessen that by maybe half an hour. The pixel count isn't radically higher, and modern IPS isn't very power hungry, as you can see from the fact phones use it. It wouldn't make a meaningful dent to the usability of the laptop. Apple is just cheap.
Fantastical
Death Prophet
Mid 2012.
Did you get this sorted? I had the same issue and found the solve let me know if you need it.