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Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh

F

Fuchsdh

Member
Pinewood said:
Well, depending whats broken it also might be a super easy fix and since this is also somewhat similiar to what Im learning... (not an electrical engineer though)

Anyways, any good programs out there to log hard-drive activity, check health and so on? My computer's kinda slow and Im suspecting the HDD is the culprit. (maybe I should do something with all the tabs I have open, too)
Click to expand...

You can check using DriveGenius, I believe. You can also see if an externally booted drive with the same stuff on it feels faster.

EDIT: Wooh, my 5,1 Mac Pro arrived fresh from eBay. Now comes the fun of swapping the quad-core Nehalem processor for a W3680 3.33GHz hexacore. Theoretically it's not going to be an issue since this model has processors with the integrated heat spreader as opposed to the custom Apple chips in some configs. Also my SO thought when I opened the little box the processor came in that it was jewelry :p She was disappointed...

MC5uhkK.jpg
Click to expand...
 
X

Xun

Member
I think the GPU on this Mac Pro (early 2009) is on its way out, since I got some pretty intense graphical artifacts last night.

I'm going to try and stress test the computer later to see if it happens again, but does anyone have any suggestions for graphics cards?

I'm also hoping it's not the motherboard that's conking out...
 
K

kennah

Member
Xun said:
I think the GPU on this Mac Pro (early 2009) is on its way out, since I got some pretty intense graphical artifacts last night.

I'm going to try and stress test the computer later to see if it happens again, but does anyone have any suggestions for graphics cards?
Click to expand...
What os? If you're on a recent one a 750Ti would be a good choice if you don't have the extra power connecting cable. You'll lose your boot apple logo but it should work by the time you get to a login screen.
 
X

Xun

Member
kennah said:
What os? If you're on a recent one a 750Ti would be a good choice if you don't have the extra power connecting cable. You'll lose your boot apple logo but it should work by the time you get to a login screen.
Click to expand...
Mavericks.

I barely play games on my Mac, but I'll need something pretty decent for Maya.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
I've got a 7950 flashed, and it's a solid card.

My 5,1 is now a 3.33GHz 6 core. Waiting on my 24GB of RAM to arrive. Sadly, it's actually louder than my 3,1. Going to have to see about manually throttling the fans because they kick up quite audibly compared to normal use on my old comp.
 
T

The Xtortionist

Member
Went to the Apple Store today to check out the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pros. The 15-inch felt very heavy and the 13-inch felt extremely light. I'm curious if the 15-inch I played with possibly had a dedicated graphics card in it? I know the two models' reported weight only differs by a pound, but it felt huge to me. Can a graphics card in the 15-inch widen the gap? Didn't think to look at the specs of that specific model in-store. Similarly, can the weight of the 13-inch differ according to specs? The one I saw was feather-light.

Edit-to clarify, I don't need a dedicated graphics card in the 15 inch if that's what I go with.

Side note, does anyone else think the iPhone 6 plus is difficult to grip? I didn't have a problem with the screen size, but it felt like a struggle to get my hand comfortably around it and hold it steady. Felt too damn thin and slippery. A thicker unit (without adding weight) with course materials would probably have helped. I'm thinking phone cases are a must. Will probably pick up the regular 6 when i'm eligible to upgrade in a few months. Love the plus' screen, though.
 
P

Pinewood

Member
Fuchsdh said:
I've got a 7950 flashed, and it's a solid card.

My 5,1 is now a 3.33GHz 6 core. Waiting on my 24GB of RAM to arrive. Sadly, it's actually louder than my 3,1. Going to have to see about manually throttling the fans because they kick up quite audibly compared to normal use on my old comp.
Click to expand...
Maybe the fans are worn. I don't know much about Mac Pro innards, but you could swap them out for some new ones.

I use Arctic Cooling in my Windows PC, they have quiet fans.


I don't think a dedicated card would make much weight difference, I'm guessing it's the extra pound. You can check from About this mac in the store though.
 
C

ConradCervantes

Banned
Jumped into the Mac world on Friday, ordered a MBA since my 2008 HP laptop has been on its very last legs. I ordered the entry-level 11" with 128 SSD, but I upgraded the RAM to 8GB because this thing will probably be my primary computer for the next few years at the very least. Should be here Wednesday. Very excited!
 
MoodyFog

MoodyFog

Member
ConradCervantes said:
Jumped into the Mac world on Friday, ordered a MBA since my 2008 HP laptop has been on its very last legs. I ordered the entry-level 11" with 128 SSD, but I upgraded the RAM to 8GB because this thing will probably be my primary computer for the next few years at the very least. Should be here Wednesday. Very excited!
Click to expand...

Don't you find 11" to be a bit small for a primary machine :eek:?

Anyways congrats! The MBA is an awesome machine
 
C

ConradCervantes

Banned
Samowski said:
Don't you find 11" to be a bit small for a primary machine :eek:?

Anyways congrats! The MBA is an awesome machine
Click to expand...

Maybe primary is the wrong word, but I don't really use intensive software or game that much on my computers. I also spent an hour in my local Apple store trying out each MacBook and the 11" just felt the best to me.

Just need something I can take to school that's lightweight and will get the job done. Could've gone with something cheaper, but I decided to treat myself since I've never owned a Mac.
 
D

DUFFMCWALIN

Member
So my MBP took a shit last night. Once I log in it goes to the Blue screen of death. Not sure if it's a hard drive issue or a motherboard issue but I'm gonna try and do a fresh install of osx before I call apple care. Is there an easy way to install osx on an external drive via Windows? Any other suggestions you guys have would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
A

Autumn Wind

Member
So I see there are rumors of a new Mac mini being announced in October. For me to be interested, the base model has to have a PCIe SSD and Iris graphics standard. If it doesn't, it's a bust.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Deku Tree said:
It's still gotta be Haswell though...
Click to expand...

Still a nice bump from a 2012 model, though, and the power-saving still has some benefit to those who run their minis as servers and the like...

(plus god knows getting rid of Intel HD 4000 or maybe even against all hope offering a dGPU again would be awesome.)

The mini is basically perfect for me right now so aside from updated guts and the second TB port I can't think of anything I'd change.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
I'm thinking about getting one too, it might be fun to replace my 2009 iMac at work.
But I don't really need it. The iMac is still crazy good even if it boots slowly.
 
C

CrankyKong

Member
I may need to sell my Macbook Air to someone in the family who needs it for study, and plan to buy a Pro to replace it.
I am not a power user, and just prefer the look of the Pro and its black bezelled retina display.

However I have heard that there may be new processors early next year, and I feel buying a haswell Pro soon might give me a feeling of buyers remorse.

Is there a noticable drop in battery performance going from a Mid 2013 Air to a current Pro?

Otherwise I might just have to buy a cheapie tablet to tide me over until next year.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
TUSR said:
That kind of pixel density on a 27". Wouldn't it just be easier to use a 4k panel and brand it Retina?
Click to expand...

That would be easier. I thought there were other rumors of a super high pixel density Retina iMac though... they would also need to put a really good graphics chip into it.
 
T

TUSR

Banned
Deku Tree said:
That would be easier. I thought there were other rumors of a super high pixel density Retina iMac though... they would also need to put a really good graphics chip into it.
Click to expand...

Which Apple really isn't known for, I can't see a Retina 27" display being driven by a graphics card following Apples current paradigm.

I have been waiting for a TBD refresh for a couple years now, even with updated I/O would be nice. 2560x1440 is enough for my needs, but having the integrated I/O hub would save me so much desk space and organization.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
TUSR said:
Which Apple really isn't known for, I can't see a Retina 27" display being driven by a graphics card following Apples current paradigm.

I have been waiting for a TBD refresh for a couple years now, even with updated I/O would be nice. 2560x1440 is enough for my needs, but having the integrated I/O hub would save me so much desk space and organization.
Click to expand...

Yeah I got the Dell u2713hm two years ago because I didn't want to wait for the TBD refresh. Glad I didn't wait... It is absolutely crazy that the current TBD still has USB2 ports and no real TB hub IMO. Although TB hubs are very pricey....
 
V

victreeb3l

Member
Deku Tree said:
Yeah I got the Dell u2713hm two years ago because I didn't want to wait for the TBD refresh. Glad I didn't wait... It is absolutely crazy that the current TBD still has USB2 ports and no real TB hub IMO. Although TB hubs are very pricey....
Click to expand...

Yeah, the current TBD is a really bad value, even 2 years ago. I bought a 27" Dell and its been amazing. Also helps that its matte and not glossy.

But I'm ready for more screen space.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
The TBD is pretty, has fairly good color accuracy out of the box, and has a very convenient ability for pass-through of ports. But yeah it's at least two years out of date in some respects. You can get monitors for far cheaper, the iMac is far thinner, and the glossy displays are much nicer and less glare-prone.

Problem with just doing a 4K display is that unless that 4K display is 21", it's not retina per Apple's 2x implementation (dual 4K 21" monitors would be awesome and I would buy them, though.)

I don't see why they wouldn't just make a dual TB 5K display like the dual-link DVI 30 incher before. The downside is that only the very newest computers would be able to actually run it, so maybe a standalone 4K display plus the 5K in an iMac would make sense. Then again, the standalone displays have always been cut from iMac parts...

Pinewood said:
Why? I mean, if you wont run games on it, current cards would be most likely fine from the raw horsepower aspect. The problem is, do the cards support the resolution though?
Click to expand...

What's awesome is with my 7950 I can crank my 20" ACD and 21" ASUS up to 4K if I want. Sadly I can't set up retina, or at least not without some tinkering.
 
P

Pinewood

Member
Deku Tree said:
That would be easier. I thought there were other rumors of a super high pixel density Retina iMac though... they would also need to put a really good graphics chip into it.
Click to expand...

Why? I mean, if you wont run games on it, current cards would be most likely fine from the raw horsepower aspect. The problem is, do the cards support the resolution though?
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Pinewood said:
Why? I mean, if you wont run games on it, current cards would be most likely fine from the raw horsepower aspect. The problem is, do the cards support the resolution though?
Click to expand...

That's the question... I am not sure if the current graphics chips will support the high pixel density.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Seriously, I don't care what processor a new mini has. As long as it's newer than the 2012 model. I'd have bought one already if there wasn't an impending update. If they'd updated in 2013, I'd probably have just upgraded earlier this year. But since they skipped a year, I'm not getting stuck with a 2 year old model again. I bought this 2010 model a few weeks before they finally updated it. I'm not doing that again.

Haswell. Broadwell. Maxwell House. I don't care what it has. Just give it to me. I need USB3 and quad-core. This USB2 dual-core mini is slower than moles asses in winter. Doesn't help that I need to make it do so much too. It serves everything for me. All my media and backups. I have like half a dozen different server apps running on it. For serving video files, photos, Plex media, audio streaming (Airplay), DropBox, Transmission, Carbon Copy Cloner for backing up the terabytes of media and files, a Minecraft server with 4GB allocated (Though they never hit that much actually used)...

Either that or an iMac. Though I already have a (almost a decade old) 20" Apple Cinnamon Display, it's 1680x1050. Which is fine for a server I don't need to always interact with, but a display a bit more modern could be nice. But if I can save $1000 or so, it's all good.

Hopefully both come out the same time so I can have a big decision to make. I already have the money for either of them set aside. I just need Apple to give me my product choices so I can throw my money at them.

I feel like I've been saying that for months. That's how long it's taking for these updates!
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
A Retina iMac, at the same price point as the current models (Including a model at $1299) would make me get an iMac instead. I don't see that happening though. A Retina model will probably be 27" at the least.

Then again, my 15" Retina MBP makes my 20" 2005 ACD look like terrible horrible shit. SUCH HUGE PIXELS OH MY GOD. But it still works.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Yup. IMO the Retina models will be a premium product at a premium price. They're not going to get rid of the lower Rez Screen models. They'll just add a new higher tier top end 27" model I'd guess.
 
M

Mr. Wonderful

Member
Deku Tree said:
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/09/29/retina-imac-27-amd/

Apple May Launch 27-Inch Retina iMac With AMD Graphics as Soon as Next Month.

Update 6:46 AM: 9to5Mac is hearing similar information about Retina iMacs being in "late testing stages" at Apple.
Click to expand...

My only concern would be that unless we're going to be getting the first mobile 20nm AMD cards in these new iMacs or something, these GPUs are going to suck. At least Nvidia has Maxwell at 28nm. That would actually be a nice improvement, if they actually put a desktop card in an iMac again.
 
Z

ZeroX03

Banned
Deku Tree said:
Ok, so the Rumor is

27" iMac with 5K 5120 x 2880 display (double the current 1440p) with Haswell processor but a change to AMD graphics...
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/09/29/retina-imac-27-amd/
Click to expand...

Why? Just why?

Retina display isn't necessary. AMD seems ridiculous when the 900m line is absolutely killing it. 1440p with a 980m as their top choices would be able to handle anything you throw at it, as well as play most titles on medium-high at native res. Was looking forward to potentially picking up an iMac for casual use (installing a 980 into my rig today for serious use) and this really rains on my parade. Hope it isn't true, or that AMD has something amazing up their sleeve that Apple has seen.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
ZeroX03 said:
Why? Just why?

Retina display isn't necessary. AMD seems ridiculous when the 900m line is absolutely killing it. 1440p with a 980m as their top choices would be able to handle anything you throw at it, as well as play most titles on medium-high at native res. Was looking forward to potentially picking up an iMac for casual use (installing a 980 into my rig today for serious use) and this really rains on my parade. Hope it isn't true, or that AMD has something amazing up their sleeve that Apple has seen.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if AMD does, but why would a retina iMac rain on your parade? There's no way they're going to migrate the entire line in one swoop. It's going to be the retina Macbook Pro migration, maybe even more staggered.
 
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