Support NeoGAF

[enoirmeplz]

I have a mid 2012 macbook pro. It randomly started running pretty hot after some upgrades. Then I started having kernel panics until it eventually boot loop with a panic at startup. I reinstalled the OS (10.10), but the kernel panics started right back. Does anyone know what could be the cause?

This also started after making a few upgrades (installing a ssd, and second hdd in optical bay). HOWever I did restore it to completely stock standards (4gb ram, original hdd, replace optical drive) the panics continued. This makes me think it could maybe be logic board issues?

Oh, I also had the os installed on the ssd in the regular drive bay, but had multiple folders sym linked to the second hard drive.

 

[EmiPrime]

I'm sick of my iMac every now and then deciding it doesn't want to use my second monitor.

 

[nampad]

I just started the Apple Music free period for a family membership and set up a Apple family afterwards. Somehow, my girlfriend still can't use Apple Music and is asked if she wants to apply for a free period.

Can anyone help me? Is the free period not shareable?

 

[Deku Tree]

I still love OS X, and Safari, and Mac's in general including their awesome build quality... but it is becoming more and more apparent with each new yearly OS X release that Mac OS X development is being further and further marginalized and de-prioritized each year.

The new features are great and I use a lot of them... but Apple keeps making more and more changes even at the level of permissions and small decisions that the OS makes in the background to make OS X more like iOS... these changes usually give the end user less freedom and require additional convoluted work arounds in order to dig yourself out of whatever computational issue or problem arises because Apple disabled this or that thing that you used to be able to do for some reason that only seems to make sense in the unending quest to overly simplify everything...

... sometimes simplifying too much throws the whole "it just works" moniker right out the window.

I feel like it wouldn't even be a surprise if one of these next few updates removes the file system from OS X.

 

[Autumn Wind]

Part of what gets me about the 5K iMac is the lack of nVidia cards in them. I wish they had either the 960M or 970M in them. What are some advantages of the current cards such as the M395X?

 

[japtor]

Not sure if anyone can help me out but I'm trying to grab some online lectures off of Chrome so I can watch them on a plane.

I usually use Wondershare Convert but it hasn't worked so I tried using a plug in from Firefox. It was able to download the video but not at HD/1080p.

The player uses JW Player... but I really have no idea how it works.

Not sure if it'll work (cause I vaguely recall JW Player stuff being a pain) but when loading the video in Chrome open up a new tab and go to "about:cache" where the video will hopefully be there with a .flv or .mp4 extension. Highlight and copy the URL (don't right click copy the URL directly cause that's the about:cache page link), then download it however you want. Hell if I know how in Chrome, but in Safari you can open up the downloads popup and paste there. Might not work if it requires a login cookie though.

Part of what gets me about the 5K iMac is the lack of nVidia cards in them. I wish they had either the 960M or 970M in them. What are some advantages of the current cards such as the M395X?

Core/die wise it's the desktop 380X iirc, presumably downclocked a bit. Basically it's like a lower mid range (or higher low end) desktop card.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Part of what gets me about the 5K iMac is the lack of nVidia cards in them. I wish they had either the 960M or 970M in them. What are some advantages of the current cards such as the M395X?

Beside Apple probably getting a good deal from AMD for them, I imagine the main advantage is that Nvidia cards are still very weak when it comes to OpenCL performance, and OpenCL alongside dual-GPU support is what makes FCPX as fast as it is.

 

[Deku Tree]

I need a bunch of 5K desktop background images.

 

[The Real Abed]

InterfaceLift

 

[Deku Tree]

Yeah this InterfaceLIFT Wallpaper Downloader feels like cheating.

 

[Remembrance]

If anyone has a 1TB drive and is running a Boot Camp partition for Steam, what do you feel like is the right size for the Windows partition? And do you ever feel like you over- or under-allocated space?

 

[thebigmanjosh]

If anyone has a 1TB drive and is running a Boot Camp partition for Steam, what do you feel like is the right size for the Windows partition? And do you ever feel like you over- or under-allocated space?

I have the 1TB SSD and I only used ~320GB for bootcamp. I do have fast internet and no caps so that partly led to the decision.

Conundrum: my 2011 15" exploded in a ball of fire last week so I took the opportunity to upgrade to a 2015 model. However I know the Skylake models are coming <6 months so I was wondering if the performance/hardware will be a big enough upgrade to just wait? I got my 2011 back today after they replaced the motherboard so I won't be without a laptop in the meantime

 

[Fuchsdh]

I have the 1TB SSD and I only used ~320GB for bootcamp. I do have fast internet and no caps so that partly led to the decision.

Conundrum: my 2011 15" exploded in a ball of fire last week so I took the opportunity to upgrade to a 2015 model. However I know the Skylake models are coming <6 months so I was wondering if the performance/hardware will be a big enough upgrade to just wait? I got my 2011 back today after they replaced the motherboard so I won't be without a laptop in the meantime

Performance-wise there's probably nothing stellar happening on the processor side. Only big boosts would be if they get Thunderbolt 3, and I guess the integrated graphics.

 

[Remembrance]

I have the 1TB SSD and I only used ~320GB for bootcamp. I do have fast internet and no caps so that partly led to the decision.

Thanks.

As it happens I also just upgraded from the 2011 15"... After my third motherboard replacement. They were all covered, but what a waste for everyone involved.

 

[ElTorro]

It's disappointing that you cannot install bootcamp on an external hard drive without hacks.

 

[Autumn Wind]

Beside Apple probably getting a good deal from AMD for them, I imagine the main advantage is that Nvidia cards are still very weak when it comes to OpenCL performance, and OpenCL alongside dual-GPU support is what makes FCPX as fast as it is.

So if I was going to get a 5K iMac. Should I go M395X or bust? I won't be doing anything intensive honestly but a few things:

1. I like the Mac mini but they have not updated it and I'm not sure they will again.

2. The 5K iMac is not much more money than the 4K iMac especially since I'm adding flash storage and 16 GB of RAM and at least with the 5K I can save money and add the RAM myself.

 

[Fuchsdh]

So if I was going to get a 5K iMac. Should I go M395X or bust? I won't be doing anything intensive honestly but a few things:

1. I like the Mac mini but they have not updated it and I'm not sure they will again.

2. The 5K iMac is not much more money than the 4K iMac especially since I'm adding flash storage and 16 GB of RAM and at least with the 5K I can save money and add the RAM myself.

If you have the space for a 27" screen, I agree the 5K iMac is the much better buy. It's got better processors, easier to upgrade memory, that big-ass near-pro-quality screen and is now the only line with dedicated GPUs. The only thing that really hurts it is it's so thin that the CPU and GPU can throttle pretty easily under max load, and I'm still wary of the temps it gets up to with regards to longevity... there have only been 5K iMacs out for a year, so it's possible two or three years down the line we get another 2011 Macbook Pro issue with cooked GPUs failing.

Really whether or not you wanna' buy now is the main determinant to your question. I imagine they're not going to update the Mac mini again until they get Thunderbolt 3, and that might also be a reason to wait and get a iMac as well (The 27" models are on Skylake, but didn't get Thunderbolt 3). That could be a year away, though.

 

[JonathanNemo]

I have a mid 2012 macbook pro. It randomly started running pretty hot after some upgrades. Then I started having kernel panics until it eventually boot loop with a panic at startup. I reinstalled the OS (10.10), but the kernel panics started right back. Does anyone know what could be the cause?

This also started after making a few upgrades (installing a ssd, and second hdd in optical bay). HOWever I did restore it to completely stock standards (4gb ram, original hdd, replace optical drive) the panics continued. This makes me think it could maybe be logic board issues?

Oh, I also had the os installed on the ssd in the regular drive bay, but had multiple folders sym linked to the second hard drive.

I'm very late to respond to this, but there's a recall in effect until late February for those Macbook Pros.

Most likely, your discrete Nvidia GPU is failing and taking down the rest of the computer with it. Get that looked at by AppleCare if you haven't already, and bring up the recall so you won't have to pay for the repairs.

 

[ncslamm]

Best Buy has the 5k iMac with 8GB Ram, 2TB Fusion Drive, and the M395 for $200 off to bring the price to $2,099. I already have an early 2014 Macbook Air that I use for everything. I don't play games and my main uses are pretty minuscule. I do my school work (online university) which includes using Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Everything else is just internet browsing and watching videos. My only problem is that my MBA doesn't have the retina display so it looks pretty terrible in that regard. Do you guys think getting the 5k iMac while it's on sale is a good idea or should I wait until the next model update? I know they don't go on sale much so I doubt it will get much cheaper and I don't think I really need the upgraded GPU. I can always upgrade the RAM myself.

Link to the deal at Best Buy

 

[EmiPrime]

Best Buy has the 5k iMac with 8GB Ram, 2TB Fusion Drive, and the M395 for $200 off to bring the price to $2,099. I already have an early 2014 Macbook Air that I use for everything. I don't play games and my main uses are pretty minuscule. I do my school work (online university) which includes using Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Everything else is just internet browsing and watching videos. My only problem is that my MBA doesn't have the retina display so it looks pretty terrible in that regard. Do you guys think getting the 5k iMac while it's on sale is a good idea or should I wait until the next model update? I know they don't go on sale much so I doubt it will get much cheaper and I don't think I really need the upgraded GPU. I can always upgrade the RAM myself.

Link to the deal at Best Buy

If you can wait for next year's you probably should. I'd rather have all flash internal storage instead of the fusion drive too.

 

[User 479360]

You can't get viruses from .jpg files, correct?

 

[The Real Abed]

You can't get viruses from .jpg files, correct?

We answered this in the other thread. But short answer: Not on OS X, and probably not on Windows anymore.

 

[Remembrance]

The only thing that really hurts it is it's so thin that the CPU and GPU can throttle pretty easily under max load, and I'm still wary of the temps it gets up to with regards to longevity... there have only been 5K iMacs out for a year, so it's possible two or three years down the line we get another 2011 Macbook Pro issue with cooked GPUs failing.

Man, this comment hits home hard. But some owners seem to be reporting that the 2015 model runs cooler than 2014, so I'm hoping that will hold out in the years to come.

I'm on the M380 because the PC games I'm running are basically still PS3/360-gen in terms of specs. For anything current-gen I plan to just get a PS4.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Man, this comment hits home hard. But some owners seem to be reporting that the 2015 model runs cooler than 2014, so I'm hoping that will hold out in the years to come.

I'm on the M380 because the PC games I'm running are basically still PS3/360-gen in terms of specs. For anything current-gen I plan to just get a PS4.

Well, if the eGPU promise of Thunderbolt 3 comes true, than that solves a lot of my concerns going forward (although Mac gaming seems like it's still likely to cede a lot of its gains from the Intel era, which is sad.)

 

[Xun]

Is there a way to stop my Mac from being able to use the applications on my old hard drive without taking it out?

It's causing certain annoying issues.

 

[Deku Tree]

Is there a way to stop my Mac from being able to use the applications on my old hard drive without taking it out?

It's causing certain annoying issues.

Copy the old applications to an external drive and delete them. Or copy them onto a disk image and close it.

Your Mac shouldn't open the apps unless you click on them anyway, or turn off them starting automatically upon startup.

 

[Xun]

Copy the old applications to an external drive and delete them. Or copy them onto a disk image and close it.

Your Mac shouldn't open the apps unless you click on them anyway, or turn off them starting automatically upon startup.

It's mainly an issue when I try to open files with "open with".

It sees a lot of the old applications from the HDD instead.

 

[Deku Tree]

It's mainly an issue when I try to open files with "open with".

It sees a lot of the old applications from the HDD instead.

I delete old software that I'm never going to use again. If I'm really worried about it, then I copy it to an external hard drive.

But I almost never use the open with command. I always open with the default application.

 

[Xun]

I delete old software that I'm never going to use again. If I'm really worried about it, then I copy it to an external hard drive.

But I almost never use the open with command. I always open with the default application.

I only use it if I want to open something into say Photoshop.

It's problematic since it boots up Photoshop from the HDD instead of from the SSD.

 

[Deku Tree]

I only use it if I want to open something into say Photoshop.

It's problematic since it boots up Photoshop from the HDD instead of from the SSD.

If you don't need to use your old copy of Photoshop too frequently, then disconnect that HDD from your computer. Why not?

 

[Remembrance]

Oh god, Boot Camp drivers are completely broken for the 2015 5k iMac.

Windows 10 will install fine... And then if you accept the Boot Camp driver installer when Windows first boots, you will reboot to a black screen because Windows can no longer turn on the display.

On top of that, there is no way to interrupt Windows 10 startup to get into safe mode. So you're locked out of Windows entirely until such time that fixed drivers are released (at which point you will probably have to reinstall completely to install the new drivers).

Edit: Even reinstalling Windows doesn't work. It seems like you actually have to delete the partition and start over in order to get rid of the bugged drivers.

Edit2: To get into Windows 10 safe mode via Boot Camp, reset PRAM after you've powered down during enough Windows startups for Windows to realize that there is a problem. At least I figured out that much.

Edit3: It wasn't the Boot Camp drivers after all. It was Windows automatically downloading and installing the wrong drivers at the same time as Boot Camp was installing the correct drivers.

Between my experiences with W10 and Yosemite/El Capitan, turns out it's a very good idea to set up OSes with no internet connections. Something will go wrong if the installers have internet access, somehow.

 

[clip]

What's a good app to remotely log in to, and control my MBP at work? I've got a MBP at home I'd be using to connect to it.

 

[Fuchsdh]

What's a good app to remotely log in to, and control my MBP at work? I've got a MBP at home I'd be using to connect to it.

What do you need to do? I generally just use Back to my Mac via iCloud to get remote access to my work computer, although I've found that it's less consistent going the other way—not sure if the age of the computer has anything to do with it or how sleep settings affect access, because I can always see and access my 2014 MBP but my 2010 Mac Pro is inconsistent.

 

[clip]

What do you need to do?

General usage, desktop control, accessing files I can't at home, etc.

 

[Meus Renaissance]

Been using Mac OS for several years now and the window management of Finder is dire. It's such a chore to use compared to Explorer.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Been using Mac OS for several years now and the window management of Finder is dire. It's such a chore to use compared to Explorer.

In what way? I certainly hear complaints about the Finder but I don't see where it's so exasperating or what makes Explorer much better.

 

[Granadier]

In what way? I certainly hear complaints about the Finder but I don't see where it's so exasperating or what makes Explorer much better.

I'd be curious to know this too. Finder hasn't given me any issues when it comes to window management at all. (Gotta know your shortcuts)

 

[Deku Tree]

Using my 4Ghz 5k iMac for the first time just now... wow it is really nice.

EDIT: But the fan in the back is certainly blowing.

 

[Granadier]

Using my 4Ghz 5k iMac for the first time just now... wow it is really nice.

EDIT: But the fan in the back is certainly blowing.

Is this overclocked?

 

[Deku Tree]

Is this overclocked?

No, I just took it out of the box.


4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz

 

[Granadier]

No, I just took it out of the box.


4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz

Wow, I didn't know they were selling iMacs at the 4.0 mark. Kind of a bummer that the fan does work though.

 

[Deku Tree]

Wow, I didn't know they were selling iMacs at the 4.0 mark. Kind of a bummer that the fan does work though.

I think that I was just working it really hard right when I was setting it up, copying a lot of files etc. The fan is not blowing now.

Even when the fan is blowing, I can't hear it. But I put my hand by the vents in the back and it was pretty hot earlier. Now it's not hot at all, room temperature back there.

 

[serversurfer]

In what way? I certainly hear complaints about the Finder but I don't see where it's so exasperating or what makes Explorer much better.

Yeah, I just leave two windows open in column view. Works great. Even wrote a little AppleScript to re-open them at one point, but I haven't even used that in years.

 

[ncslamm]

If you can wait for next year's you probably should. I'd rather have all flash internal storage instead of the fusion drive too.

I just couldn't help myself. I wanted to get myself something for Christmas so I bought it. It's being shipped to my local store and should be available for pickup on Friday. Can't wait to use it.

 

[Deku Tree]

I just couldn't help myself. I wanted to get myself something for Christmas so I bought it. It's being shipped to my local store and should be available for pickup on Friday. Can't wait to use it.

People always say "wait till next year". The 5K iMac this year is an amazing machine. I bought mine with a 512GB internal SSD.

Next year you will probably have a USB-C connector and TB3.0 but for me USB3.0 is very fast and I have never bought anything TB because of the price.

Hopefully if TB3.0 goes big then I can buy TB2.0 drives for much cheaper and then I can never imagine a situation where I will have a problem with speed.

In any case if you have a 5400 RPM drive would there be any speed gains using TB2.0 over USB 3.0? Your still restricted mostly by the speed of the drive at that point rather than the speed of the USB 3.0 right?

 

[Remembrance]

Even when the fan is blowing, I can't hear it. But I put my hand by the vents in the back and it was pretty hot earlier. Now it's not hot at all, room temperature back there.

It really does cool down very quickly, and most of the time it hardly gets above room temperature. I'm on the 3.2 GHz.

By the way, when waking up from sleep does the display stutter a bit for you? It snaps abruptly from dim to full brightness for me, which is a bit distracting.

 

[Deku Tree]

It really does cool down very quickly, and most of the time it hardly gets above room temperature. I'm on the 3.2 GHz.

By the way, when waking up from sleep does the display stutter a bit for you? It snaps abruptly from dim to full brightness for me, which is a bit distracting.

I haven't noticed that. But maybe I wasn't looking for it.

 

[japtor]

People always say "wait till next year". The 5K iMac this year is an amazing machine. I bought mine with a 512GB internal SSD.

Next year you will probably have a USB-C connector and TB3.0 but for me USB3.0 is very fast and I have never bought anything TB because of the price.

Hopefully if TB3.0 goes big then I can buy TB2.0 drives for much cheaper and then I can never imagine a situation where I will have a problem with speed.

In any case if you have a 5400 RPM drive would there be any speed gains using TB2.0 over USB 3.0? Your still restricted mostly by the speed of the drive at that point rather than the speed of the USB 3.0 right?

Yeah you need a SSD or RAID to saturate USB 3...and that'll still be decently fast for regular use, over 300MB/s no problem. TB stuff will be faster, but personally storage is the most boring use cause it's...just faster (well there's one nice use case: you can boot Windows off TB). And TB3 is supposed to be backwards and forwards compatible with TB2 with a dongle*, so at least in theory you'll be able to use TB3 drives and other devices with your TB2 port anyway.

*I'm not sure if USB 3.1 fits there though, since that's technically part of the TB3 controller. It'd be neat if you can essentially get that for free with the dongle, but Intel hasn't said anything about that specifically afaik.

 

[clip]

Could anyone recommend a lock/cable for a 13" MBPR?

 

[Deku Tree]

Could anyone recommend a lock/cable for a 13" MBPR?

I thought that all the rMBP do not have a connector for a lock or a cable?

IMO turn on "Find my Mac" and keep it locked in your desk at work if you feel like that is warranted or lock it in the room safe if you are on the road in a hotel. Otherwise keep in on you when you are out and about.