Some Macbook questions ...
 

Right. The other 'arf has decided that her 6 year old Dell laptop is in need of an update (it is, badly .... :eek:) and, because several of the people she's working with have all got Macbook Pros, she wants to go down that route. No real objections, apart from the price obviously, but I have a couple of queries I'd like answers to before I part with some wonga .... As I'm an Apple 'novice' any pointers to the best place to get the answers would also be helpful ... :thumb:

Anyway, as I/we would like the beastie to be fairly future-proof I'd get an SSD with it. So,

a) how much disk space does a comprehensive OSX install take? I've seen a comment somewhere that it's about 20GB?
b) does OSX have a TRIM option these days?
c) any noticeable speed differences, in normal day-to-day running, between the 128 and 256Gb SSDs?

d) CPU. Any idea what the Intel model numbers of the CPus Apple use are? They're not obviously available, just 'Core i7' or whatever. Look at ... http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-...view?artc_pg=2 ... which says that the latest laptops use the latest Sandy Bridge CPUs but that's about the only place I've found the info.

e) screen resolution. I assume the higher res. option is worth the extra?

Ta in advance.

Dave

a) Yes, I'd say about 20 - 25 GB for Snow Leopard sounds about right, Lion would probably be about the same, perhaps 30GB max.

b) Yes, Mac OS X does have TRIM. Pretty sure the latest SSD laptops had support for TRIM enabled, and it's certainly enabled for sure in 10.6.8, as that was one of the new features of 10.6.8

c) Cannot really answer as I don't have SSD. However, a co-worker has a Macbook Air and was complaining about filling up the SSD, upgrade kits are rather expensive at the moment. Note that he is a developer, so tends to have Xcode and numerous rather large (400 - 500 MB) project files on disk. Personally I'd go for the 256GB, better to have more for when you need it

d) Hmm, not sure. I've looked at my Mac in the MacTracker app and it states the following for processor:
Intel Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7 ("Clarkdale, Lynnfield") (it is an i7 2.93GHz) Not sure if you want more than that, guessing you do, something like i7-920? If so, not sure where to find that info

e) Depends what you are doing, if stuff that requires a hi res display then it make sense to get it. I guess I could say you would be future proofing yourself somewhat, but it also depends on the additional cost.

When it comes to cost, I would strongly suggest looking at the Apple Refurbished section of the online Apple Store. Take for example a Mid 2011 iMac i7, normal price is about $2100, Same model from the refurbished section is $1800, so you'd save $300, which isn't bad, and it is essentially a new mac. You could save more if you went for a slightly older model.
I would also suggest you wait until the end of next week as there are rumors of new / updated Mac laptops, so you could get a very good deal on what is this week a "new" model and what will be an "old" model next week!

If you have more questions, ask away :)

Ta for that. "Clarkdale, Lynnfield" are the older Intels, 'Sandy Bridge' are coded like 'i7-2xxx'.

Top tip on next week. I know that new Mac Airs are coming along so even though the missus wants it 'now!' she'll have to wait ....

Cheers
Dave

So, ordered 15" MBP with 128GB SSD. No higher res. or anti-glare. Got my way with the SSD, though the girlie in Stormfront tried to get my wife to go with the normal hard drive - 'we only sell those to business people on the road all the time .' .... WTF???? Take the feckin' order and STFU! Me thinks she was born well after I had forgotten everything she knows about IT ....

What is it with the retards that get sales positions with these companies? The sales guy who took my order in the shop started to mumble about the app store when I asked about binary compatibility of apps. on the Mac platform ... :wonder:

In PC World (NO intention of buying from there, they just had a reasonable selection - looks-wise, not specification-wise for the wife to check out if she liked the "look" better than the Mac), the "Apple Expert" got awfully confused when I mentioned screen resolution .... FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :Suspiciou :Suspiciou Where do they find these idiots??? And who interviews them ????????????????? :eek: :eek:

Dave

To be fair to them they probably don't get asked a lot about binary compatabilty.

It's a bit like me asking a tv salesmen what's the best bit error ratio that freeview will handle.


But as for pc world that's just daft :lol1:

I didn't use that phrase to be honest, I couched it in terms even a retard could understand ... Having been in the 'industry' for many moons one of my pet hates is others not being able to put things in terms that the 'man in the street' could understand.

Anyway, what is the best bit error ratio that freeview will handle? And will it make me more attractive to the opposite sex .... :Suspiciou :D

Dave

About 1.0 - E4 , you need to be about 1.0-E7 to get all the bitches :D

the latest Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, Mini and imac use Sandybridge chipset models. And are very quick.

Anybody (Markus?) know if Quicktime can take advantage of the 'quicksync' ability in the chipset for super-quick H264 encoding?

I've not seen any mention of QS being used by QT on the sandy bridge macs to help with encoding / transcoding. Pretty sure it wasn't in the press release info. They have been out only a few days so perhaps something might come up within a few weeks.

Well, it's finally here and me is not impressed so far. Wifey is as it looks very shiny ... It is very fast to boot etc with that SSD but the Apple Migration Assistant, well, it doesn't .... :brickwall Seems there are lots of threads on the old interweb about it as well. Tried wifi and hard wired but no connection. Work in progress for Apple me thinks! You'd think, though, that with Apple wanting people to migrate from PCs they'd at least have a migration tool that works :idea:

Plus it doesn't migrate the files into the user you're using, it creates a new one. I mean WTF???? I want to use my newly created shiny username to copy files from my old PC to THIS username. How feckin hard can it be??!!

Given up and am going to use O2M to transfer the mail and just copy the rest of the files the good old fashioned way, across the net!

It really does amaze me how big companies manage to screw up the most simple tools. The classics are the larger Android handset makes, HTC and Samsung to name but two, having sh!te syncing SW for PCs. Oh, and Nokia's just as bad.

Rant over ...



Dave

Yup. Office 11 here. Have to admit I had the same issues with migration assistant when Wifey's macbookpro died. Although it worked fine on 2 iMacs.

Umm, yeah. It networks fine and I can see the PC no problem. The issue is that Migration Assistant does not see it. The 'transfer all your files in one go' super-dooper, Apple approved and supplied, make your breakfast as well piece of software is cr*p! And there are many many threads on Apple forums that say the same. With no real solution.

So I will be using 'drag and drop', as that also gives wifey the chance to get rid of the crud she's been hoarding on her machine for years. But then using 'drag and drop' is not a real Apple feature. It just means the Macbook has been able to play nice with my network. :Suspiciou

I've seen threads where people have been having problems even with two Macs. And it's not even as though it's a difficult problem to solve ....

Dave

yeh it worked using Firewire Target mode, but over the network..... which was weird. (despite all macs being "seen" in ARD beforehand....)

Still sorted now, but not what I've come to expect from Apple.

I have had a couple of instances at work where migration assistant could not see the machines, be they wired (direct connection to each other) or wireless. Never really had the time to find out why. They could be seen and connect to each other before hand, so it should not be a connectivity issue.

So, all up and working, just about. O2M did a grand job on the email $12.95), but not the contacts (no need for any calendar stuff to be brought over - yet anyway). csv file didn't work (it may have done eventually but I gave up without checking the route out too hard). Went the 'vcf' card route - but Outlook can't export ALL contacts in one go as vcf cards for some weird reason but found a workaround. 'Select all' contacts and 'forward vcf card as email'. This then puts all your contacts into one email. Save them into a temp. folder on OSX and drop them onto the address book. Sorted. Or rather not quite .... :wonder:

Seems doing this from Outlook 2010 meant about half were not recognised but doing the same thing from Outlook 2000 all were recognised. Hmmm ...

Getting there ..... :thumb:

Dave

Right. Another "issue" crops up and the usual Googling brings up "possible" suggestions but nothing definitive. Wondered if anyone here could point me in the right direction.

Basically it's to do with setting email up, or rather, editing the settings you've put in. All worked with wifey's email until this morning when it said 'account is offline'. Hmm. Put it online and nothing comes in .... Now you can look at the account information summary where it gives you the incoming and outgoing server settings and I saw that SSL was set for incoming, when it was not set previously. But how the heck do you figure out where to edit this? You go into mail preferences/account settings and there doesn't seem to be any way to differentiate between the settings for incoming and outgoing mail servers. Have I missed something?

At least on Outlook you have separate pages for each and each is labelled 'in' and 'out' (or close ish ... ). Who said that Mac's just work??? Feck orf. It's a computer!! And the forums seem to have lots of threads along the same lines with no general consensus as to a fix ...

Ta

Dave

This is on Lion BTW ...

Anyhow, 'Get account info gives in and out mail servers and and the SSL status. BUt you can't edit from there.

Go to account preferences and Account info gives in and out servers with no way of changing the SSL stuff. Advanced gives 'enable ccount' etc then below the line, Port and SSL options. BUT it does not specify whether this is for in or out servers and there seems to be no way of telling.There is no outgoing mail drop down .....

Obviously I've missed the extremely easy to get to Mac option that you mention? Or maybe I'm holding it the wrong way ....

Oh, it's a POP account if that makes a difference. It shouldn't ...


Dave

Ho ho ho on the pop bit .... :hjtwofing That's not the issue, it's how the info is presented to edit. So, are you saying that on the 'advanced' screen that the 'ssl' and 'port' refer to the incoming server? That's what I've 'inferred' from a couple of threads I've found, and your post, but it doesn't state that anywhere!!!!

That one is 'off', as ssl should be for the incoming server, but if you 'right click' (or use two fingers ... :thumb: ) over 'Inbox' and look at 'account info' it says that ssl is on for both incoming and outgoing .... que?????

Who said computing was easy/obvious?

Dave

I think the get info window for the account might be telling porkies.

My understanding is that the option for SSL next to the "port" option on the "Advanced" screen is for incoming mail.
If you look at the list of outgoing mail servers, pick one, then hit the advanced option, the "Use Secure Socket Layer (SSL)" item is for outgoing connections as it's in the SMTP section, which unless I'm wrong is what would be used for sending email, thus outgoing.

Thanks for that. Agrees with what I've managed to glean over the last couple of hours. I just think it could be a lot clearer the way it's set out. I see so much stuff like this where, if you're an IT "expert", it's easy to "work out". If you're a normal man in the street who just wants things to work then you've got no chance......


Why use POP? Why not? For my purposes it suits very well. If circumstances/needs change then I'll look at imap is that looks like a solution, but for the moment POP is fine. If it doesn't suit you then fine, horses for courses.

Anyway the questions were not about whether pop or imap was the best solution. The questions were about the Mac's confusing 'edit settings' layout.

Dave

No. I was struggling with Apples non-intuitive settings panel. Plus the fact that things had been working fine for several days and now weren't working when nothing had been changed.

As a couple of posters I read said, seems to be a fairly common occurance but dead-silence from Apple (the random email issues that is).

Dave

Sorry Jack, but what is it you don't get? The issue here is 'Apple's settings panel'. I asked a query earlier about Apple's Migration Assistant, which is obviously "faulty" in that there are many many recorded instances of it c*cking up. But all you do is defend the 'Job's machines'. :brickwall

Dave

http://lostinthevalley.files.wordpre...rest-trees.jpg

I rest my case.

No it wasn't feckin obvious. And all I did was aks a couple of simple questions that, maybe, had simple answers. Or at least it'd mean that someone could point me to a vast new repository of Apple information I hadn't come across over the last week or so. Not to be. The research I did indicated that I wasn't being stupid, that there wa s areal problem and, part of my problem, that Apple's settings panel is NOT BLEDDY obvious.

Now I don't dislike Apples products. I dislike all the hype, and people like yourself, and Apple, trying to convince us that 'it's our fault' there's a problem when it's quite clear that it's an Apple problem. Now I'm quite well aware that other products have their issues and I'll bitch about them if I come across them and can't find a solution, especially when it's something trivial


MA should have worked in my case. It did not and if you bothered to check things out you'll see that many many people have the same problem with it.

Dave

A warning has been issued regarding the replies to the OPs issues - please keep this on topic, and if someone has something helpful to add, it would be appreciated

MA didn't work for me either after trying to get my files over from my Windows 7 - despite lots of tries (lots of forum posts on the net about it not working). Ended up just copying the files over via a USB drive plus O2M worked to covert my email, contacts and calander over - though I needed to use O2M on a small number of mail folders at a time otherwise it didn't process them all.

Also tried using Outlook for Mac for a while - but it's pretty average compared to Windows Outlook - so went back to Mail.

Couple Mail addon-ons that are a must for me:

1) http://lokiware.info/Attachment-Tamer - this gets round the problems with attachments sent from Mail not appearing correctly for Windows Outlook recipients.

2) http://www.hungerfordroad.com/ - Mailhub - wonderful addon.

And for iCal:

1) http://flexibits.com/fantastical - delightful tool!

General:

1) http://www.alfredapp.com/

Cheers
Richard.

Cheers for the links. I'll definitely test out the attachment issue as I use Outlook.

Dave

gmail has added an outlook like format for all you people stuck in the past....

http://www.hindustantimes.com/New-Gm...e1-730148.aspx