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Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh

Q

Qblivion

Member
So I installed a new hdd in my sister's MBP because the old one died, and I am trying to install OSX from internet recovery but shit seems broken. If I click on "Reinstall OS X" (which from what I looked up it should say Install OS X on a fresh HDD) and accept the terms and go to select which drive to install to it is just blank.

Disk Utility also shows just disk0 and Mac OS X Base System as 1.19GB. It is a 500GB HDD.
 
Coreda

Coreda

Member
I want one.

E9jqzjQ.jpg
 
C

crispyben

Member
GAF, I find my late 2009 21.5" Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz 4GB RAM iMac slowing to a crawl lately. Is it due to the new versions of OSX getting too much for it? The 500 GB HDD is getting rather full too, could it be related? What's the best course of action? More RAM? Clean install? Emptying the HDD a good bit?

I'm also considering replacing it with a 11" or 13" MacBook air with an external SuperDrive and external HDDs as I only really use to manage my iTunes library, which is close to 250GB I think. Anyone got experience with this kind of set-up ? Thanks.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
crispyben said:
GAF, I find my late 2009 21.5" Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz 4GB RAM iMac slowing to a crawl lately. Is it due to the new versions of OSX getting too much for it? The 500 GB HDD is getting rather full too, could it be related? What's the best course of action? More RAM? Clean install? Emptying the HDD a good bit?

I'm also considering replacing it with a 11" or 13" MacBook air with an external SuperDrive and external HDDs as I only really use to manage my iTunes library, which is close to 250GB I think. Anyone got experience with this kind of set-up ? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Could be due to any number of factors. Cleaning your hard drive, doing a clean install of the OS and only restoring applications or docs you need, and adding RAM would all speed up your system. If you're enterprising, swapping the HDD for an SSD would probably make the biggest performance difference.

In terms of hard drive space, you want to keep at least 10% of the drive free at all times; you can start running into severe issues when your hard drive reaches capacity (but at least on Mavericks and newer the system warns you about it.)

Xun said:
How would I go about that?

Good to hear!

For the price the 660 seems tempting to me.
Click to expand...

Ask Google, I don't have any experience to inform you, unfortunately. I purchased a pre-flashed AMD 7950 off eBay and it worked like a charm for a lot cheaper than the official 7950 Mac Edition model.
 
V

VPhys

Member
crispyben said:
GAF, I find my late 2009 21.5" Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz 4GB RAM iMac slowing to a crawl lately. Is it due to the new versions of OSX getting too much for it? The 500 GB HDD is getting rather full too, could it be related? What's the best course of action? More RAM? Clean install? Emptying the HDD a good bit?

I'm also considering replacing it with a 11" or 13" MacBook air with an external SuperDrive and external HDDs as I only really use to manage my iTunes library, which is close to 250GB I think. Anyone got experience with this kind of set-up ? Thanks.
Click to expand...



Clean install and keep at least 15% of your HDD capacity free at all times.
 
T

thenexus6

Member
Well my two week old retina macbook has died it seems. Screen just went like this..


TBhdx99.jpg



Better get an appointment for the apple store then.
 
R

RockAction

Member
Should i be worried about the above? (good luck with it thenexus6! )seems a lot of screen failures with the retina lines. Or are these isolated? Thinking of upgrading from a white 2007 macbook to a retina pro 13in

Also, does anyone have any advice for how to ship an iMac over seas, only from ireland to england so it wont be on a plane long

i dont know whether to ship it or just hand luggage it in a big bag - its only a 21in so i could probably look like an idiot but get away with it - or are there safer ways to package it up and have it shipped?
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
RockAction said:
Should i be worried about the above? (good luck with it thenexus6! )seems a lot of screen failures with the retina lines. Or are these isolated? Thinking of upgrading from a white 2007 macbook to a retina pro 13in

Also, does anyone have any advice for how to ship an iMac over seas, only from ireland to england so it wont be on a plane long

i dont know whether to ship it or just hand luggage it in a big bag - its only a 21in so i could probably look like an idiot but get away with it - or are there safer ways to package it up and have it shipped?
Click to expand...

Not many indications of any endemic problem with the retina Pros, although that's given with the caveat that for all we know there could be real issues that haven't surfaced yet (such as the 2011 MBP's higher-than-normal chance of GPU failures.) Not exactly comforting, but such is the way of the world. Get AppleCare on any laptop.
 
N

Nosgoroth

Member
Fuchsdh said:
Not many indications of any endemic problem with the retina Pros, although that's given with the caveat that for all we know there could be real issues that haven't surfaced yet (such as the 2011 MBP's higher-than-normal chance of GPU failures.) Not exactly comforting, but such is the way of the world. Get AppleCare on any laptop.
Click to expand...

Should I? It's not cheap, and here in Spain we get a two-year warranty by law, so I don't really know if there's much benefit for me.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Nosgoroth said:
Should I? It's not cheap, and here in Spain we get a two-year warranty by law, so I don't really know if there's much benefit for me.
Click to expand...

Yeah if you only have the one year warranty then paying for three years is a good idea.

If you have a two year warranty by law then paying for the extra year is a little more in the "up to you" category. If your computer doesn't break then your fine. If your computer breaks within years 2-3 then Applecare can save you. It's good insurance if you want to buy insurance.
 
C

chronos4590

Member
Ok help guys, family member of mine just got a External HDD and instead of doing a full back up for some reason they wanted to take individual photos from the source folder and back it up that way. external HDD isnt formated to the mac and she already deleted the files too. Now she goes into the external hdd and the files are not there.
idk why they didnt go for me to help since i could do that no problem but anyhow

on the external hdd, files re there and organized by date but they're not the original files, i guess they're the leftover space or the raw files but it cant be read. I guess apple or another store can retreive the information. I konw this is all vauge stuff but any way i could help them? If it helps to give more concrete information i will
 
nicoga3000

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
So my wife's MBP has been acting all kinds of strange. She was updating her iPhoto and it froze today. Lately, she's been getting a lot more rainbow wheel. The MBP is somewhere around 4-5 years old now. Trying to decide if now is the time to get a new one, or if they'll be announcing new models soon?

Whatever the case, she has a 15" right now, but may want to go to a 13" on her next purchase. What would the argument be for an air vs MBP? Just trying to decide the most cost smart way to go about this. We could probably completely wipe her MBP and sell it for a few hundred bucks, no? I don't really know MBPs at all, so I don't know if there's actually a problem with it or if it's just getting bloated from her files.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
So I'm thinking of a Mac Mini for my next computer, and it would also be my first Mac. I'm looking at the $699 model, and thinking of upgrading it with a flash drive to help with system boot times.

Is there anything else I would need to get a solid PC?

My main uses for this would be web browsing, iTunes (from an external USB drive) and netflix. I don't do much PC based gaming anymore....it's all PS3 stuff.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Mr. Sandman said:
So I'm thinking of a Mac Mini for my next computer, and it would also be my first Mac. I'm looking at the $699 model, and thinking of upgrading it with a fusion drive to help with system boot times.

Is there anything else I would need to get a solid PC?

My main uses for this would be web browsing, iTunes (from an external USB drive) and netflix. I don't do much PC based gaming anymore....it's all PS3 stuff.
Click to expand...

No that's a solid computer for your uses. I don't think you need anything else right now. How much RAM is in it? Might think about putting extra ram in it for future proofing it.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
Deku Tree said:
No that's a solid computer for your uses. I don't think you need anything else right now. How much RAM is in it? Might think about putting extra ram in it for future proofing it.
Click to expand...

It would be 8GB ram in the base model, can be upgraded to 16GB for $200.....and I know these minis aren't really upgradable, I'm not as interested in that though.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Mr. Sandman said:
It would be 8GB ram in the base model, can be upgraded to 16GB for $200.....and I know these minis aren't really upgradable, I'm not as interested in that though.
Click to expand...
Wow. Really? $200 sounds like a lot for an extra 8GB ram. 8GB is OK for everything your doing now. 16GB would be more versatile but not needed. The thing is more ram helps your computer last longer if you plan to keep it for a while. Can you put the more ram in yourself later? Or I thought I heard someone say earlier that the ram was not user replaceable on the new mini's... I don't remember.

Edit

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Apple/mac-mini-(late-2014)

Yup not user replaceable.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
Deku Tree said:
Wow. Really? $200 sounds like a lot for an extra 8GB ram. 8GB is OK for everything your doing now. 16GB would be more versatile but not needed. The thing is more ram helps your computer last longer if you plan to keep it for a while. Can you put the more ram in yourself later? Or I thought I heard someone say earlier that the ram was not user replaceable on the new mini's... I don't remember.
Click to expand...

They're not....I have time to consider it though. I'm not getting it till April or May, just doing some early window shopping here.

Oh, and I'd also have a second display....so I'd use the HDMI port, and I'm guessing I'd need a mini displayport (thunderbolt) to DVI adapter for the other.

I'll be coming from an aging desktop tower that I built as a gaming PC 5 years ago. I can tell this machine is near death, and it will be nice to go to something with a smaller foot print.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Mr. Sandman said:
They're not....I have time to consider it though. I'm not getting it till April or May, just doing some early window shopping here.

Oh, and I'd also have a second display....so I'd use one of the HDMI ports, and I'm guessing I'd need a mini displayport (thunderbolt) to DVI adapter for the other.

I'll be coming from an aging desktop tower that I built as a gaming PC 5 years ago. I can tell this machine is near death, and it will be nice to go to something with a smaller foot print.
Click to expand...

If your using two monitors and you might have a lot of windows open etc and your thinking of holding on to the mini for a while and an extra $200 is in the budget then if it was me I would go for the 16GB especially since you can't do it yourself later. It seems like about a 100% mark up on the price you would pay for the ram yourself but apple puts high quality ram in their machines.

I would also look into buying Apple Care for the 3 year warranty. They really cover you if something goes wrong.

I hate HDMI for external computer monitors. If you can use DisplayPort (works with Thunderbolt port) or dual link DVI ($100 adaptor) or regular DVI (not as high res) I feel like those work better.
 
H

hateradio

The Most Dangerous Yes Man
Anyone know if AppleCare can replace a lost charger? I lost mine, or at least I can't find it.

I know they will replace it at the store if it's not working or something, but I'm not sure if I can just get one if it's missing.
 
E

EmiPrime

Member
Am I alone in thinking that the MBA screens are quite okay? I have seen some really crappy TN panels on cheap Windows laptops with absurdly bad viewing angles but the MBA screens are nothing like that. A 1080p IPS panel would have been nice but I am not unhappy.
 
T

TUSR

Banned
Been using my rMBP a lot on Bootcamp and I haven't used OSX in months.

Finally came back to OSX to write a report, god damn I missed taking advantage of the Retina display.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
EmiPrime said:
Am I alone in thinking that the MBA screens are quite okay? I have seen some really crappy TN panels on cheap Windows laptops with absurdly bad viewing angles but the MBA screens are nothing like that. A 1080p IPS panel would have been nice but I am not unhappy.
Click to expand...

They're pretty good quality displays for what they are, obviously not as nice as IPS monitors these days.

Really wish IPS didn't come with such hits to performance, though, because if I want to get a 4K display that I'll be gaming on, TN is really the only option unless I want 3-4x the latency.
 
B

Blackhead

Redarse
EmiPrime said:
Am I alone in thinking that the MBA screens are quite okay? I have seen some really crappy TN panels on cheap Windows laptops with absurdly bad viewing angles but the MBA screens are nothing like that. A 1080p IPS panel would have been nice but I am not unhappy.
Click to expand...

eh, why are you comparing MBA screens to "cheap" windows laptops? You're paying a $1,000 for an MBA while Windows laptops/covertibles/tablets in that price range have had much better screens for the past two years yet Apple is still coasting on having the best TN screen of 2010. Fuck that.

Apple Predicted to Launch Optional Stylus Accessory Alongside 12.9-Inch 'iPad Pro'
ho5zgiW.jpg
Click to expand...

So a 12" Macbook retina with only one port and then a 12" iPad Pro with a stylus? Any one think it should be the other way around ― iOS still doesn't have the appropriate workflow and project file management OS design features to be a proper tool replacement for creatives (or, in plainspeak, iOS sucks) while any Pro laptop with one port is gimped.

Unless.... these two rumors refer to one integrated device

PT6AgbH.gif
 
S

SweetDonuts

Member
My laptop had it today, I've kept it going for the past 3 months after my HD failed but this time it couldn't find the start up drive, I tried everything but will have to take it in tomorrow. Sad times, thankfully it's under warranty still.
 
jts

jts

...hate me...
I have a question.

I have an HDD in an optical bay caddy with the OS installed. No disk in the HDD bay (it burned, I have to replace the ribbon cable).

When I fix the HDD bay can I just swap the HDD to over there?
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Long Johnson said:
I have a question.

I have an HDD in an optical bay caddy with the OS installed. No disk in the HDD bay (it burned, I have to replace the ribbon cable).

When I fix the HDD bay can I just swap the HDD to over there?
Click to expand...

You're asking if you can move hard drives between bays with no ill effects? If so the answer is yes.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
giga said:
A proof of concept that requires physical access? Nah. Remote atracks are far more worrisome.
Click to expand...

Indeed. They also need to restart your machine to install the firmware—it's not as if three minutes with your laptop would be enough time to do it.
 
T

thenexus6

Member
Angelus Errare said:
Ah, I was about to say holy shit someone is dirty as fuck!
Click to expand...

The computer arrived in brand new condition. Its just the cover and my bad phone camera.


So I went into apple I had two options I could either get the screen replaced right there (come back end of the day) but because its under 30 days old I can get a completely brand new one. Because I ordered online they couldn't simply replace it right there.

Doing an apple live chat right now to get one sent out to me.
 
M

MadraptorMan

Member
Thinking about getting a 21.5 2.7ghz model iMac, with only a fusion drive as an upgrade. It's either that, or get the high tier 21.5 inch and forgo the fusion drive.

What do you guys think? I'm mainly planning to use it for music production and not gaming. I looked into the minis, but it's just too much of a hassle for me to buy a monitor and a nice keyboard/mouse to go with it in the end.
 
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