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Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh

giga

Member
My expectations for the 12" Retina MBA have been tempered by disappointing Broadwell (Core M) reviews. All benchmarks (so far) say both the CPU and GPU will be slower than current Haswell parts. I guess that's the sacrifice for being a fanless design.

Yoga Pro 3 (Core M 5Y70): http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/11/yoga-pro-3-review-broadwell-is-a-mixed-blessing/
HP Elitebook 1020 (Core M 5Y71): http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014...-business-ultrabook-youll-want-to-bring-home/

HP-EliteBook-1020-charts.004-980x720.png


A slower GPU is supposed to power a higher resolution display? Sounds great. I'll be waiting for the 2015 MBP refresh instead. #waitforskylake (and thunderbolt 3)
 
Posted in the TechSupportGAF thread got refered to this thread.

Hello TechSupport GAF just doing my homework on a MacBook Pro, is it worth it? And hopefully the ones that are sold are the recent models for the product. I want something medium sized so I am looking at 13" screen. Friends tell me to get one with retina and stuff.

So timing wise when should I look into purchasing one, this holiday season didnt have the best deals for pro, plus I missed Black Friday deals. It might sound like a dumb question.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Posted in the TechSupportGAF thread got refered to this thread.



So timing wise when should I look into purchasing one, this holiday season didnt have the best deals for pro, plus I missed Black Friday deals. It might sound like a dumb question.

Timing-wise probably the best time to buy is whenever they drop the new models; that way you can pick up cheaper refurbs or discounts from resellers, or else spring for the new ones. When that will be is up in the air.

My expectations for the 12" Retina MBA have been tempered by disappointing Broadwell (Core M) reviews. All benchmarks (so far) say both the CPU and GPU will be slower than current Haswell parts. I guess that's the sacrifice for being a fanless design.

Yoga Pro 3 (Core M 5Y70): http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/11/yoga-pro-3-review-broadwell-is-a-mixed-blessing/
HP Elitebook 1020 (Core M 5Y71): http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014...-business-ultrabook-youll-want-to-bring-home/

HP-EliteBook-1020-charts.004-980x720.png


A slower GPU is supposed to power a higher resolution display? Sounds great. I'll be waiting for the 2015 MBP refresh instead. #waitforskylake (and thunderbolt 3)

Huh. I was expecting Core M to be a bit better (already knew Core U was going to be a step back in a lot of respects.)

Still, Apple magic works, and they rarely make big steps back in performance (entry-level SKUs aside). So it will be interesting to see what they end up doing.
 

giga

Member
Only way they'll match performance is if they use the Broadwell-U variants--which means no decrease in TDP. Broadwell is a "tick"—which is basically a die shrink of Haswell.
 
I see a Macbook Air
13" Display
1.7GHz
HD 5000 Graphics
8GB RAM
256GB SSD
62 Battery Cycle Count
Applecare until July 2 2016

on Craigslist for $650. Should I go for it?
 
I'm thinking of either using my External drive back up or "Cloning" my HDD to the SDD but idk if that will result in any issues because of TRIM.

Nothing to do with TRIM.

I'm pretty lost. Gonna go with the Samsung 850 EVO 500GB. idk if you guys have any other suggestions or methods to do

Become less lost: Wiki/Write Amplification

I have just been over provisioning the last few SSDs I've installed in Macs and not worrying about TRIM; allocated 440GB of the 480 one I installed in a 13" MBP. That 480GB and your 500GB SSD are are over provisioned from the factory from 512GB, I'm just adding extra padding. The only gotcha was that the recovery partition the 10.10 installed put on the 480GB SSD ended up 30GB in size, so I had to use diskutil to shrink that down to its minimum size.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
I see a Macbook Air
13" Display
1.7GHz
HD 5000 Graphics
8GB RAM
256GB SSD

on Craigslist for $650. Should I go for it?
Sounds good. But what year is it? The generation of processor will make all the difference.

Edit: according to Wikipedia it's either a 2011 model if its 13" with 1.7GHz and 4GB RAM or its a 2912 model with a 1.8GHz and 8GB RAM. There is no 1.7 with 8. At least according to Wikipedia. Can you double heck with the seller? If they have Mavericks or Yosemite on it they can find out the manufacturer date by using About this Mac.
 
Sounds good. But what year is it? The generation of processor will make all the difference.

Edit: according to Wikipedia it's either a 2011 model if its 13" with 1.7GHz and 4GB RAM or its a 2912 model with a 1.8GHz and 8GB RAM. There is no 1.7 with 8. At least according to Wikipedia. Can you double heck with the seller? If they have Mavericks or Yosemite on it they can find out the manufacturer date by using About this Mac.

It has the HD 5000 Graphics. That's either Mid 2013 or Early 2014. I hope I'm not wrong..

Did I make a bad and hasty purchase?!
 
Going with a crucial instead. It allegedly while not as fast as Samsung usually is more or usually "compatible" with Mac hardware so I'm being safe with this. Could return for the Samsung either way
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
It has the HD 5000 Graphics. That's either Mid 2013 or Early 2014. I hope I'm not wrong..

Did I make a bad and hasty purchase?!
Upon second look you're probably right. So no, it's a really good deal providing the machine doesn't have any problems the seller isn't telling you. The 2013 and 2014 models are almost identical because of the Intel delay. If so then that's a really nice price.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
It has the HD 5000 Graphics. That's either Mid 2013 or Early 2014. I hope I'm not wrong..

Did I make a bad and hasty purchase?!
You're fine. HD5000 graphics are a recent model.

If they don't give details I always use Mactracker to figure out what model it is and then go looking at similar prices.
 

thenexus6

Member
So the internet is bone crushingly slow on my new retina pro when bluetooth is on.. whats the deal with that? This is my first retina so looking online I notice some people experiencing this problem - is it common with retina users or something?
 
Nothing to do with TRIM.



Become less lost: Wiki/Write Amplification

I have just been over provisioning the last few SSDs I've installed in Macs and not worrying about TRIM; allocated 440GB of the 480 one I installed in a 13" MBP. That 480GB and your 500GB SSD are are over provisioned from the factory from 512GB, I'm just adding extra padding. The only gotcha was that the recovery partition the 10.10 installed put on the 480GB SSD ended up 30GB in size, so I had to use diskutil to shrink that down to its minimum size.
Oh Ok good Thanks for the Tip I read it before i got the SSd! I got a Crucial mx100 yesterday, got a Nexstar TX enclosure as well and the screws i need. I think i'm pretty much set lol.
 

Sourcerer

Member
Anyone got any advice on selling a late 2013 iMac of the following spec?

• 3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
• 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X4GB
• 1TB Fusion Drive
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
• Apple Magic Mouse
• Apple Wireless Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)
• Accessory Kit

Has a little under 2 years left of AppleCare too, can that be transferred? Looking for somewhere I can sell it without much risk of being scammed or hassled by the buyer. It's in perfect working condition, but I'm worried about scammers on eBay.

After a year of using it I've concluded I'd rather return to windows for home use. I mostly watch video and play games and no video player compares to MPC on windows unfortunately. Also like being able to customise hardware and the space saving isn't necessary.
 

Deku Tree

Member
Anyone got any advice on selling a late 2013 iMac of the following spec?

• 3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
• 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X4GB
• 1TB Fusion Drive
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
• Apple Magic Mouse
• Apple Wireless Keyboard (British) & User's Guide (English)
• Accessory Kit

Has a little under 2 years left of AppleCare too, can that be transferred? Looking for somewhere I can sell it without much risk of being scammed or hassled by the buyer. It's in perfect working condition, but I'm worried about scammers on eBay.

After a year of using it I've concluded I'd rather return to windows for home use. I mostly watch video and play games and no video player compares to MPC on windows unfortunately. Also like being able to customise hardware and the space saving isn't necessary.

I think Amazon will buy yur computer for less than top dollar and you get an Amazon gift card but once they buy it that's it. No risk. Otherwise I think your looking for a cash transaction in person eiyhet through Craig's list or somewhere else.
 

EmiPrime

Member
I should be getting a MBA this month (can't wait for the new one) to complement my iMac. Can I use migration assistant on first boot so I have all my applications and licenses on both machines?
 

Yoda

Member
My expectations for the 12" Retina MBA have been tempered by disappointing Broadwell (Core M) reviews. All benchmarks (so far) say both the CPU and GPU will be slower than current Haswell parts. I guess that's the sacrifice for being a fanless design.

Yoga Pro 3 (Core M 5Y70): http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/11/yoga-pro-3-review-broadwell-is-a-mixed-blessing/
HP Elitebook 1020 (Core M 5Y71): http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014...-business-ultrabook-youll-want-to-bring-home/

HP-EliteBook-1020-charts.004-980x720.png


A slower GPU is supposed to power a higher resolution display? Sounds great. I'll be waiting for the 2015 MBP refresh instead. #waitforskylake (and thunderbolt 3)

Skylake refresh on MBP would almost certainly be next year. Intel never hits their release targets and the higher end SKUs will won't be the first ones to hit the market.
 
Might be my last inquiry hopefully, Cloned my HD to the SSD using Carbon Copy yesterday. My HDD says it used 169.7 GB while my new SSD that has been cloned only has 158.54 GB. Any reason why that might be? I'm thinking maybe it might just be either blocks or something else. idk, I dont think its an issue at all. Just wondering. Will put the SSD in my macbook pro later on today
 

giga

Member
Skylake refresh on MBP would almost certainly be next year. Intel never hits their release targets and the higher end SKUs will won't be the first ones to hit the market.
Jesus it's going be a mediocre year for Mac hardware. The faster Apple can get away from Intel the better.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Jesus it's going be a mediocre year for Mac hardware. The faster Apple can get away from Intel the better.

Really not any options, though. AMD can't compete, and while they've made great strides with mobile devices even a Macbook Air can still beat out an iPad.
 
Jesus it's going be a mediocre year for Mac hardware. The faster Apple can get away from Intel the better.
I still have hope. The high-end Broadwell (mobile quad-core ) lineup is still looking kind of funky, to the point where maybe they might just have a limited lineup and release Skylake this year?

The other thing is, Intel has said so many times that Skylake is not delayed. I'm with you, though. It most likely means, "Yay! Tablet/Ultrabook class Skylake in 2015 if we're lucky, actual get shit done processors in 2016!"

I wonder if 2016 is going to be the year where ARM versus Intel competition actually starts to get interesting with Skylake?
 

giga

Member
I still have hope. The high-end Broadwell (mobile quad-core ) lineup is still looking kind of funky, to the point where maybe they might just have a limited lineup and release Skylake this year?

The other thing is, Intel has said so many times that Skylake is not delayed. I'm with you, though. It most likely means, "Yay! Tablet/Ultrabook class Skylake in 2015 if we're lucky, actual get shit done processors in 2016!"

I wonder if 2016 is going to be the year where ARM versus Intel competition actually starts to get interesting with Skylake?
I would honestly prefer they not use Core M. Broadwell-U is fine. Practically silent fans don't bother me.
 
Just Installed my my SSD, used Carbon Copy, everything intact everything booted well, apps are running as amazing as ever. I'm so impressed and happy :). Didn't install Trim Enabler, Might get it just in case i have issues but so far all good! Much appreciated to everyone who responded to my post. Was a lot easier than i expected really
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Found on twitter a while ago

http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/06/macbook-air-12-inch-redesign/

new 12" MacBook air.

Going from those mock photos it looks weird, and removing all the ports is a bad move in my opinion.

I will believe it when I see the final product pulled out of a manilla envelope. The renderings have the classic "artist's conception" BS about them.

While I can see Apple jumping on the USB Type-C train early, I don't see any way the final product would make you unable to charge your computer *and* use a peripheral at the same time. As the article itself points out, Apple comes up with crazy designs all the time. Whether or not this makes it to a final product is very much up in the air.
 

EmiPrime

Member
This is why I bought the MBA this week. I knew Apple's obsession with thinness would hobble the new model. I'm not willing to sacrifice standard USB ports and magsafe for little gain.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
If they're going to only use one port it;s not going to be USB. It'll be a new Thunderbolt port connection and they'll include a portable connector to add a couple USB ports and a regular Thunderbolt connection and third-parties will follow suit with their own hubs for adding other ports.

I dunno, going super thin for the sake of just being super thin is silly. I don't think it needs to be any thinner than the Air and MBP we have now.
 
The details of the new MacBook Air sound terrible (and I am a gleeful owner of an 11").

I know some people like tap-to-click, but they're terrible people. We got an HP Elitebook Ultrabook 3000 Deluxe (or whatever) at work, and I hurt my fingers clicking the motionless trackpad with the speakers muted (it played a very convincing click).
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
I need a USB3 hub. Any recommendations? (I really hope I didn't ask this before and just forgot.)

I need it to be powered and able to support all HDDs. (I don't want any ports that are going to be underpowered. They all need to be able to support hard drives at all times.)

I need only like 4 ports but would take 7.

Right now I'm running on a Kingston USB2 hub and am slowly replacing my USB2 drives with USB3. So I need something faster.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
The details of the new MacBook Air sound terrible (and I am a gleeful owner of an 11").

I know some people like tap-to-click, but they're terrible people. We got an HP Elitebook Ultrabook 3000 Deluxe (or whatever) at work, and I hurt my fingers clicking the motionless trackpad with the speakers muted (it played a very convincing click).

At least on my '08 Macbook tap-to-click worked wonders. Tactile feedback is great, but I don't think it would be a huge loss now that we have these comparatively massive and smooth trackpads.

I need a USB3 hub. Any recommendations? (I really hope I didn't ask this before and just forgot.)

I need it to be powered and able to support all HDDs. (I don't want any ports that are going to be underpowered. They all need to be able to support hard drives at all times.)

I need only like 4 ports but would take 7.

Right now I'm running on a Kingston USB2 hub and am slowly replacing my USB2 drives with USB3. So I need something faster.

Could do worse than checking out what the Wirecutter reviews:
http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-usb-hubs/
 

Deku Tree

Member
I need a USB3 hub. Any recommendations? (I really hope I didn't ask this before and just forgot.)

I need it to be powered and able to support all HDDs. (I don't want any ports that are going to be underpowered. They all need to be able to support hard drives at all times.)

I need only like 4 ports but would take 7.

Right now I'm running on a Kingston USB2 hub and am slowly replacing my USB2 drives with USB3. So I need something faster.

I just bought one on Amazon that said it was compatible with Mac and had mostly good reviews by users. All of them seem to have some bad reviews I think people don't know how to use them. Mine works great but if it gets bumped even slightly sometimes drives get disconnected. So I put it somewhere that doesn't often get bumped.

I bought this Anker one.
 

thenexus6

Member
I was running to that ridiculous file vault glitch where I couldn't stop it or remove it as it my computer "needed to be connected to power" to continue encrypting.. looked online and only real option was to completely wipe and start again so I did that..

Apple should address this problem, along with the bluetooth wifi bug in Yosemite..
 
Thanks, I hope not too many apps moan about it. Really don't want to buy anything a second time.

You absolutely shouldn't have to buy anything a second time, just enter the serial number/account details in again and hit the ol' activate button (thinking especially of MS Office).
 

derder

Member
So, i'm looking for a Macbook Pro Retina for 3 use cases:
--Amateur Photo Editing in Adobe Lightroom
--iOS Simulator for Software QA Testing (self-taught, self-directed)
--Light gaming

I had a 2013 MBA, but found the resolution, storage and power lacking for Lightroom, everything else was awesome.

My question is really just how do I find good metrics and benchmarks for Lightroom performance between MBP iterations (2012 v 2014) and models (13.3 dual core vs 15.6 Quad with discrete GPU)

Thanks!
 

Blackhead

Redarse
My question is really just how do I find good metrics and benchmarks for Lightroom performance between MBP iterations (2012 v 2014) and models (13.3 dual core vs 15.6 Quad with discrete GPU)

Thanks!

I'd usually suggest Anandtech or Macintosh Performance Guide but they haven't put out reviews of the 2014 version (which implies it was a minor bump). Read the 2013 reviews and check Arstechnica for details of what the 2014 refresh includes
 

EmiPrime

Member
You absolutely shouldn't have to buy anything a second time, just enter the serial number/account details in again and hit the ol' activate button (thinking especially of MS Office).

Ah no different then to when I transferred everything from my old iMac to my new one. Makes sense!

Thanks.
 

giga

Member
So, i'm looking for a Macbook Pro Retina for 3 use cases:
--Amateur Photo Editing in Adobe Lightroom
--iOS Simulator for Software QA Testing (self-taught, self-directed)
--Light gaming

I had a 2013 MBA, but found the resolution, storage and power lacking for Lightroom, everything else was awesome.

My question is really just how do I find good metrics and benchmarks for Lightroom performance between MBP iterations (2012 v 2014) and models (13.3 dual core vs 15.6 Quad with discrete GPU)

Thanks!
I use Lightroom a ton on my 13" retina mbp (2013). It will bring it to its knees easily. If you're serious about photo editing, get the fastest CPU and the most RAM (8GB min) you can afford. Lightroom is heavily multithreaded, so it'll take advantage of however many cores you have.

GPU doesn't matter as much. And don't forget to look in the refurb store.
 

derder

Member
I use Lightroom a ton on my 13" retina mbp (2013). It will bring it to its knees easily. If you're serious about photo editing, get the fastest CPU and the most RAM (8GB min) you can afford. Lightroom is heavily multithreaded, so it'll take advantage of however many cores you have.

GPU doesn't matter as much. And don't forget to look in the refurb store.

This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

Btw, has anyone seen this video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-U_XhD9Xuw
 

itsinmyveins

Gets to pilot the crappy patrol labors
Right, had a weird tone changing issue when my iMac Retina woke up from sleep, and after some trouble shooting Apple sent me a new one. I did take the opportunity to upgrade to a flash drive instead of the fusion one, though. Either way, got the new computer yesterday and the hue issue's present on this one as well. So now I'm chalking it up to normal and just being the screen optimizing slowly or something, altering the gamma or what not.

What annoys me now is that I believe the fan's louder. I can hear it whirl. It might very well just be me looking for issues but what the hell.
 
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