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Mac OSX Noob thread of OSX noobs

D

Dreams-Visions

Member
just a note about the 2011 MBP battery life.

after an hour on just battery life browsing online and writing, my battery life was at a strong 90%.

I don't think any other Quad Core laptop is doing that. I approve, boys. I approve.
 
C

charlemagne

Member
Jimmy Stav said:
I'm having trouble figuring out what I'll eventually replace my 2.5 year-old MBP. It's always plugged into a 27-inch monitor with a keyboard and mouse, accompanied by a netbook for school and whatnot. I find that these things just aren't portable enough (the MBP) what with their size, heat, and battery life. The most sensible thing to do would be to just build a 500 dollar PC for it's cost-effectiveness (I already have a case) and buy an Air or iPad, but I'd hate to lose OS X on my "primary" computer. Power consumption would also rise, and I'd lose out on space and portability of having something laptop-sized (I move semi-frequently). I guess I just wish the Mac Mini sucked less, or that the Air was more powerful. Any suggestions as to which "path" I should take over the next 2-ish years would be greatly appreciated. It's occupying my thoughts more than it should. MBA+PC seems like the most logical to me, but again, I'd rather have OS X be my primary OS.
Click to expand...
The logical thing would definitely be to go PC+MBA, but if you really hate Windows I guess it's not for you. I guess your only options in that case is to go Mac Mini or iMac, or just deal with the less-portable nature of the MBP. Personally, I'd go PC+MBA.
 
U

UnluckyKate

Member
Is there some kind of application on OSX (or website for that matter) that let me type and send text to phones numbers ? Even manage text just like it was from my phone ? Just like emails !

Basicaly, I hate to type text on a phone keyboard and even more with the iPhone. 90% of the time, when I receive text, I'm in front of my computer and it would be 100% easier to not grab the phone to anwser but directly read/respond through the keyboard, like emails, instead of all the crap you have to go through to text with a phone.
 
X

Xyphie

Member
Mr. Wonderful said:
Could somebody (Dreams Visions, etc.) with a 15" or 17" 2011 MBP test to see if the Intel AMD GPUs now support video, and more particularly Flash acceleration?
Click to expand...

VDADecoder (Apple ATI equivalent of something like DXVA) still only works on some nVidia-chips like MCP79 (9400M), MCP89 (320M) and 330M IIRC. Unless that has changed no H.264-acceleration on Intel or ATI-chips in 3rd party applications.
 
F

Futureman

Member
UnluckyKate said:
Is there some kind of application on OSX (or website for that matter) that let me type and send text to phones numbers ? Even manage text just like it was from my phone ? Just like emails !

Basicaly, I hate to type text on a phone keyboard and even more with the iPhone. 90% of the time, when I receive text, I'm in front of my computer and it would be 100% easier to not grab the phone to anwser but directly read/respond through the keyboard, like emails, instead of all the crap you have to go through to text with a phone.
Click to expand...

Google Voice, though you'd have to change your phone number. The change was worth it for me for the exact reason you list. I probably send ~80% of my texts through a computer now.
 
U

UnluckyKate

Member
Futureman said:
Google Voice, though you'd have to change your phone number. The change was worth it for me for the exact reason you list. I probably send ~80% of my texts through a computer now.
Click to expand...

Not in the US though. I think operators are doing all they can to prevent Google Voice to get fully active in Europe. I'm going to google that to know a bit more about the situation and the actual service.
 
S

Stuck

Member
Futureman said:
Google Voice, though you'd have to change your phone number. The change was worth it for me for the exact reason you list. I probably send ~80% of my texts through a computer now.
Click to expand...

Same here. I do all of my texting now through the Google Voice extension in Chrome. I actually cut my entire texting plan on AT&T since I realized I did so much of it on my laptop anyways.
 
S

Splash Wave

Member
charlemagne said:
The logical thing would definitely be to go PC+MBA, but if you really hate Windows I guess it's not for you. I guess your only options in that case is to go Mac Mini or iMac, or just deal with the less-portable nature of the MBP. Personally, I'd go PC+MBA.
Click to expand...


You're probably right, but I guess it depends on what the MBA and MBPs are offering next year. I'd probably be able to get by with an MBP+iPad, and wouldn't end up having to spend much more. I don't hate Windows 7 by any means, I just vastly prefer OS X.
 
edgefusion

edgefusion

Member
So I'm watching the hour long Google Goes Gaga video on YouTube and I notice in Activity Monitor that Flash is taking up (consistently) 60% of my CPU. Please tell me that's not normal and I can do something to fix it, otherwise... smh.
 
L

LCfiner

Member
edgefusion said:
So I'm watching the hour long Google Goes Gaga video on YouTube and I notice in Activity Monitor that Flash is taking up (consistently) 60% of my CPU. Please tell me that's not normal and I can do something to fix it, otherwise... smh.
Click to expand...


youtube.com/html5

that's the best bet
 
G

giga

Member
edgefusion said:
So I'm watching the hour long Google Goes Gaga video on YouTube and I notice in Activity Monitor that Flash is taking up (consistently) 60% of my CPU. Please tell me that's not normal and I can do something to fix it, otherwise... smh.
Click to expand...
What browser do you use?
 
Burger

Burger

Member
UnluckyKate said:
Is there some kind of application on OSX (or website for that matter) that let me type and send text to phones numbers ? Even manage text just like it was from my phone ? Just like emails !

Basicaly, I hate to type text on a phone keyboard and even more with the iPhone. 90% of the time, when I receive text, I'm in front of my computer and it would be 100% easier to not grab the phone to anwser but directly read/respond through the keyboard, like emails, instead of all the crap you have to go through to text with a phone.
Click to expand...

I remember I used to use a Dashboard widget which would pair with my phone over bluetooth and send SMS messages, but not receive them.

Can't remember if this was before my iPhone though. In any case, it wasn't as useful as you think it will be.
 
D

dmshaposv

Member
My 15" MBP has been delivered to my contact in CA, fucking woot!

Now the excruciating wait till Sunday, till he travels back to Dubai...

Youspinme.gif
 
M

Mr. Wonderful

Member
Xyphie said:
VDADecoder (Apple ATI equivalent of something like DXVA) still only works on some nVidia-chips like MCP79 (9400M), MCP89 (320M) and 330M IIRC. Unless that has changed no H.264-acceleration on Intel or ATI-chips in 3rd party applications.
Click to expand...
This is getting ridiculous. If widespread third-party hardware acceleration isn't included with Lion, an operating system coming out in 2011, it's going to look pretty bad.

I wish Apple would have another keynote to explain some more of what the actual goals are for Lion.
 
A

Ashhong

Member
UnluckyKate said:
Is there some kind of application on OSX (or website for that matter) that let me type and send text to phones numbers ? Even manage text just like it was from my phone ? Just like emails !

Basicaly, I hate to type text on a phone keyboard and even more with the iPhone. 90% of the time, when I receive text, I'm in front of my computer and it would be 100% easier to not grab the phone to anwser but directly read/respond through the keyboard, like emails, instead of all the crap you have to go through to text with a phone.
Click to expand...

You can text any phone number using iChat. I'm not sure if it matters what account you are signed into, but I sign into AOL and add a + to the number and type away. For example, +19091234567.

Edit: I thought you just wanted to send. You won't receive your texts through AOL this way though. Too bad you can't use Google Voice
 
G

giga

Member
Mr. Wonderful said:
This is getting ridiculous. If widespread third-party hardware acceleration isn't included with Lion, an operating system coming out in 2011, it's going to look pretty bad.

I wish Apple would have another keynote to explain some more of what the actual goals are for Lion.
Click to expand...
Chill, i'm on the HD 3000 and it's accelerated. 30% CPU decoding high profile 720P and ac3:

4y2zm
 
E

ericexpo

Member
OSX is still all F'ed up,
Had SSD with HDD (replaced cd drive)Tried to reinstall on SSd and HDD but same problem each time i turn on Mac, screen goes white apple comes up after 5 mins spinner spins and won't boot into os.

So I'm making an appointment, can I leave the ssd I put in there inside (it has os on it) or put the HDD in there with no os but it's original?
 
H

hirokazu

Member
ericexpo said:
OSX is still all F'ed up,
Had SSD with HDD (replaced cd drive)Tried to reinstall on SSd and HDD but same problem each time i turn on Mac, screen goes white apple comes up after 5 mins spinner spins and won't boot into os.

So I'm making an appointment, can I leave the ssd I put in there inside (it has os on it) or put the HDD in there with no os but it's original?
Click to expand...
Have you tried Verbose Mode so you can see what it's doing when it's trying to boot?
 
J

Jasoco

Banned
Dreams-Visions said:
well well...lookie what I just did. :)

http://img864.imageshack.us/img864/5343/trim.png[IMG]

info:

[url]http://forum.hardmac.com/index.php?showtopic=10020&pid=18043&st=0&#entry18043[/url]

[url]http://www.hardmac.com/news/2011/03/23/how-to-activate-trim-on-an-apple-ssd[/url][/QUOTE]
Not fair. I have an SSD that supports TRIM. Lion better as hell support TRIM on all SSD's that support it.
Click to expand...
 
F

Firestorm

Member
So is it a long shot to hope that an Apple Store will have Windows 7 on hand to install via boot camp? Booking a Genius Bar appointment to get Snow Leopard back on my Mac (hard drive crash, had to RMA but my software isn't here with me) and am hoping I can put Windows via boot camp at the same time... Got my CD Key and everything x.x
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
Firestorm said:
So is it a long shot to hope that an Apple Store will have Windows 7 on hand to install via boot camp? Booking a Genius Bar appointment to get Snow Leopard back on my Mac (hard drive crash, had to RMA but my software isn't here with me) and am hoping I can put Windows via boot camp at the same time... Got my CD Key and everything x.x
Click to expand...
they'll probably get you 90% of the way there.

just download the Windows 7 ISO and have them start the Bootcamp Assistant.
 
F

Firestorm

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
they'll probably get you 90% of the way there.

just download the Windows 7 ISO and have them start the Bootcamp Assistant.
Click to expand...
It's the first part I don't want to do. I'm fine with installing lol. I just left all my software at home and have a 125GB cap per month that's shared with 4 other people here -_-
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
Firestorm said:
It's the first part I don't want to do. I'm fine with installing lol. I just left all my software at home and have a 125GB cap per month that's shared with 4 other people here -_-
Click to expand...
ah. :-(

go to a public library or coffee shop and download the ISO? think out of the box! :)
 
Joel Was Right

Joel Was Right

Member
For the past few days I've noticed spikes in my bandwidth usage. Using a network traffic monitoring piece of software, as well as Activity Monitor's Network Usage, my Mac is downloading something at 1.1MB/second (fastest my connection is capable of). This goes on for several minutes at a time. I noticed it happening today again and checked how traffic this particular laptop has received since its been online today. Over 430MB! I haven't been browsing on it that much let alone watching any media on it. And then this mysterious event happens again, and by the time it stops it had downloaded almost 90MB according to my traffic usage.

The only application that is open that uses the Internet, other than my browser, is my RSS reader. That updates every few minutes and i've been watching the traffic as its been downloading RSS feeds and I do not believe it is related. To be honest, I don't think - beside highly seeded torrents - there is a server being used by anything I have that can output levels of data like that. The only website in recent memory where I downloaded from and got speeds like that were www.microsoft.com

Click here for screenshot
 
M

mrkgoo

Member
Meus Renaissance said:
For the past few days I've noticed spikes in my bandwidth usage. Using a network traffic monitoring piece of software, as well as Activity Monitor's Network Usage, my Mac is downloading something at 1.1MB/second (fastest my connection is capable of). This goes on for several minutes at a time. I noticed it happening today again and checked how traffic this particular laptop has received since its been online today. Over 430MB! I haven't been browsing on it that much let alone watching any media on it. And then this mysterious event happens again, and by the time it stops it had downloaded almost 90MB according to my traffic usage.

The only application that is open that uses the Internet, other than my browser, is my RSS reader. That updates every few minutes and i've been watching the traffic as its been downloading RSS feeds and I do not believe it is related. To be honest, I don't think - beside highly seeded torrents - there is a server being used by anything I have that can output levels of data like that. The only website in recent memory where I downloaded from and got speeds like that were www.microsoft.com
Click to expand...
Do you have software update set to download automatically? There've been some
Updates recently.
 
Burger

Burger

Member
Meus Renaissance said:
For the past few days I've noticed spikes in my bandwidth usage. Using a network traffic monitoring piece of software, as well as Activity Monitor's Network Usage, my Mac is downloading something at 1.1MB/second (fastest my connection is capable of). This goes on for several minutes at a time. I noticed it happening today again and checked how traffic this particular laptop has received since its been online today. Over 430MB! I haven't been browsing on it that much let alone watching any media on it. And then this mysterious event happens again, and by the time it stops it had downloaded almost 90MB according to my traffic usage.

The only application that is open that uses the Internet, other than my browser, is my RSS reader. That updates every few minutes and i've been watching the traffic as its been downloading RSS feeds and I do not believe it is related. To be honest, I don't think - beside highly seeded torrents - there is a server being used by anything I have that can output levels of data like that. The only website in recent memory where I downloaded from and got speeds like that were www.microsoft.com
Click to expand...

Like mrkgoo said, it's probably Software Update. If you still are not sure, download Little Snitch, that should tell you.
 
M

MikeE21286

Member
Looking at possibly getting the high-end 15" MBP (it would be my first Mac) and I had a couple questions...

I was looking at getting the Hi-Res antiglare screen upgrade. I guess my questions were
A) thoughts for those who made this upgrade
B) I heard/read that it actually decreases the weight by 0.5 lbs (true? or BS?)

Thanks
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
MikeE21286 said:
Looking at possibly getting the high-end 15" MBP (it would be my first Mac) and I had a couple questions...

I was looking at getting the Hi-Res antiglare screen upgrade. I guess my questions were
A) thoughts for those who made this upgrade
B) I heard/read that it actually decreases the weight by 0.5 lbs (true? or BS?)

Thanks
Click to expand...
A) get it.

B) probably BS. but it probably is lighter, as it loses the edge to edge piece of glass.
 
Joel Was Right

Joel Was Right

Member
Burger said:
Like mrkgoo said, it's probably Software Update. If you still are not sure, download Little Snitch, that should tell you.
Click to expand...

Nice. Will the port configurations remain even if I later uninstall it? I have bad experiences with programs like this in the past
 
Burger

Burger

Member
Meus Renaissance said:
Nice. Will the port configurations remain even if I later uninstall it? I have bad experiences with programs like this in the past
Click to expand...

Port configurations? I don't think it messes with stuff like that, plus you can turn it off completely, or uninstall it.

Basically you allow apps/processes internet access once/until quit/forever to either site & port/site/port/any connection.

Works well, and it has a network monitor so you can see what's doing what.
 
J

Jasoco

Banned
MikeE21286 said:
Looking at possibly getting the high-end 15" MBP (it would be my first Mac) and I had a couple questions...

I was looking at getting the Hi-Res antiglare screen upgrade. I guess my questions were
A) thoughts for those who made this upgrade
B) I heard/read that it actually decreases the weight by 0.5 lbs (true? or BS?)

Thanks
Click to expand...
0.5 pounds? I doubt it. The glass is very light. The weight loss is probably negligible.
 
B

Blackhead

Redarse
Jasoco said:
0.5 pounds? I doubt it. The glass is very light. The weight loss is probably negligible.
Click to expand...
This might be the source (06/28/10):

Marco said:
Glass MacBook Pro screens are heavier

I finally got to weigh my “anti-glare” matte 15” MacBook Pro against my friend’s nearly-identical 15” with the default glass screen on the same scale.

  • 15” MacBook Pro with matte screen: 5.18 lbs.
  • 15” MacBook Pro with glass screen: 5.52 lbs.
To be fair, the components weren’t identical. He has the newest model with the higher-resolution screen, and I have the summer-2009 model (the first unibody 15” model available with a matte screen). And I replaced my disk with an X25-M, which reduced the weight by 0.03 lbs.

But that’s still a significant difference. It doesn’t make it a MacBook Air (3.0 lbs.), but keep in mind that the original white plastic 13” MacBook was 5.0 lbs. (Today’s 13” aluminum MacBook Pro is 4.5 lbs.)
Click to expand...
 
edgefusion

edgefusion

Member
MikeE21286 said:
Thanks! Confirms what I was thinking
Click to expand...

Definitely go with the anti-glare. If you get a glossy screen you will regret it for every single day that is even remotely sunny and your computer becomes nothing more than an expensive paperweight.
 
M

Mr. Wonderful

Member
So odd problem that I encountered last night, and I'm wondering if you could help me, GAF:

After reading about that story about enabling TRIM, I went to create a new Time Machine Backup on my external hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme. Since I'm low on space, I had to delete the old Time Machine backup. Problem is, even though I deleted it, I did not regain the space. What could cause that and what can I do, save reformating and loosing everything on my external disk, to regain that space?

So far all I've done is run Repair Disk in Disk Utility, and currently I'm deleted this gigantic lost and found folder that Disk Inventory X found. Though I have to do it securely, because no matter what I do, it says it's in use.

And yes, I've emptied the Trash.
 
Mustaphadamus

Mustaphadamus

Member
MikeE21286 said:
Looking at possibly getting the high-end 15" MBP (it would be my first Mac) and I had a couple questions...

I was looking at getting the Hi-Res antiglare screen upgrade. I guess my questions were
A) thoughts for those who made this upgrade
B) I heard/read that it actually decreases the weight by 0.5 lbs (true? or BS?)

Thanks
Click to expand...
anti-glare is actually quit good BUT it depends on how you are using the machine. if you are doing something with that machine that requires color accuracy I would NOT get anti glare. Depending on your viewing angle things can be come distorted (in terms of color and even brightness.)
 
E

ericexpo

Member
hirokazu said:
Have you tried Verbose Mode so you can see what it's doing when it's trying to boot?
Click to expand...

Verbose or Safe mode didn't work. So used pluged in a external HD into the mac and it well boot that, so it well boot external HD's but not internal.
going to Apple tomorrow
 
J

Jasoco

Banned
I'm thinking of reinstalling Windows 7 either onto a partition or into a VM (Probably the former) for use just for the times I want to play the random indie game that I can't play on OS X, but W7 takes up so much fucking space for shit I don't need. Is there any easy way to install a slimmed down version of 7 that will still work?
 
F

Firestorm

Member
MikeE21286 said:
Looking at possibly getting the high-end 15" MBP (it would be my first Mac) and I had a couple questions...

I was looking at getting the Hi-Res antiglare screen upgrade. I guess my questions were
A) thoughts for those who made this upgrade
B) I heard/read that it actually decreases the weight by 0.5 lbs (true? or BS?)

Thanks
Click to expand...
Is hi-res 1680x1050? If so, I love that on my work MacBook Pro. Same goes for the anti-glare screen although I do miss the nice black border :(
 
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