The OFFICIAL Mac User Support Thread - Part 2

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Source: http://jmak.tumblr.com/post/9377189056

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

 

[wiegeabo]

For some reason, this actually makes me want a 4S.

 

[wiegeabo]

So, any good 3rd party batteries for older Macbook Pro's out there?

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Not from what I've seen or heard. They're all pretty much POS. I've heard of some good ones from third party online sites, but for the most part, it appears to be, you get what you pay for. $30 for a battery, hopefully it will last you three months.

I'm all about third party products, much cheaper than Apple's stuff, but for adapters and batteries, the extra cash [most of the time] will prove it's worth in the quality and life you will get.

Also...

www.apple.com/batteries

 

[twylight]

My beloved Macbook Pro died (it's seriously dead-dead) earlier this month, and because I'm *now* a super poor college student I bought a Windows 7 laptop (Lenovo). Here's my dilemma: Is there a way to somehow access my Time Machine back-up, on the external I have, on the Lenovo? I need my music/files/art/etc >.<; The external isn't registering on any of the windows PC's I've connected it to. I do have a friend who owns a Mac if that's somehow needed in terms of McGuyvering a way to the files?

It's stressing me out.

 

[Anita18]

My beloved Macbook Pro died (it's seriously dead-dead) earlier this month, and because I'm *now* a super poor college student I bought a Windows 7 laptop (Lenovo). Here's my dilemma: Is there a way to somehow access my Time Machine back-up on the Lenovo? I need my music/files/art/etc >.<; I do have a friend who owns a Mac if that's somehow needed in terms of McGuyvering a way to the files?

It's stressing me out.

As far as I know, no. Mac disk drives use a completely different file system from PCs so you can't just hook up the disk and look at the files. You won't even see the drive on the PC.

Use your friend's Mac to access the files, though I think you might need to make a guest account on there to recover the entire Time Machine backup.

 

[wiegeabo]

Yeah, PC's can't see or read Mac drives or Mac partitions on a drive.

Your only choice is to use another Mac, or get software for the PC that allows you to access the Mac drive.

 

[Anita18]

Well that's the short answer.

Both Macs and PCs can read drives in FAT32 format. Native Mac format is HFS, which PCs can't read. Another PC disk format is NTFS, which can't be read by Macs. So I have a bunch of partitions on my external drive set to FAT32 when it comes to files I want to share with PCs. Problem is that FAT32 can't write files larger than 4GB, so my DVD rips are on a NTFS partition. My Time Machine backup is on the HFS partition. Yeah, all on the same drive.

Moving from a PC to a Mac last year, I read up on all that stuff. It was a pain in the ASS to partition it, since PCs can only partition FAT32s and/or NTFS (I've forgotten already), so I had to do that stuff before partitioning the HFS.

 

[twylight]

LOL

I thought so. I know about the different file formats. I was just curious. Because for some super weird reason the travel external I have partitioned has both sides (Mac, I think it's a FAT32 though from what memory tells me,and PC) picked up on the Windows 7 machine at work. But other Windows machines don't pick it up. Anyway. Was just wondering if there was a way to do it without involving the friend......... or money for software. *sigh*

 

[Poetic Chaos]

Anyone know if COD4:MW on the Mac App Store 360 controller compatible?

 

[Octoberist]

My Macbook pro from 2006 just died.

Question:

Should I get an Imac with an Ipad for mobility. Or should I get a new Macbook Pro?

It's tough. I can get a damn powerful Imac for my editing and photoshoping, and it'll be cheaper than a standard equiped MBP. However, I do like mobility and I tend to write a lot on the go. Sometimes, I'll get a freelance writing gig where I have to write on-site. I've heard that the Ipad's awkward to write on and you've got limitations in general.

So which is the better option?

 

[wiegeabo]

If you need to do a lot of typing, iPad probably isn't the way to go. Even if you get a keyboard to go with it, you're carrying around the keyboard, and the iPad has a tendency to not be able to keep up with speedy typing.

Better off just getting a cheap netbook or something.

 

[Anita18]

For myself, I'm thinking iMac for work and iPad (or cheap PC netbook) for portability. If you're going to be typing a lot, I'm definitely thinking netbook for you. Just get a free Dropbox account to sync work files between computers.

 

[Octoberist]

So nay on the Macbook Pro then?

I mean, once I make the decision, I have to stick with it since this will be a big investment no matter what option I go with..

 

[Anita18]

Depends on what you want to do with it.

My aspiring career trajectory means I'll need a bigger screen (and more RAM) than what an MBP can afford me, so I'd need an iMac. If you don't need more power or a bigger screen than what a laptop can provide, why not get another MBP? My bf and my sister's bf are both developers and are very happy with their 13" MBPs, but that would be WAY to small to do art with. I have a 15" and it's getting to be a little small and slow, although this one is an older model. The newer ones are more powerful, but an iMac would still be better for it.

 

[Hellion]

Hi, sorry to intrude, I use a Macbook Pro, and recently my original/main administrator account stopped running safari. You run safari, and after a few seconds a pop-up/alert comes up and says Safari Quit Unexpectedly. The Guest account and a 2nd account I created still run Safari and so far no issues. How can I fix the issue on that account? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Anita18]

Now my MacBook Pro is on the fritz. Am still wanting to stick with my current plan of going with an iMac instead of another Pro. (I'm typing this right now on an iPad and it's actually not that bad. Then again I have tiny hands...)

Does anyone have any opinion on SSDs? They're super-expensive from Apple but installing it after-market on the iMac involves taking off the glass screen with suction cups. I think I'll pass on that for a new $1,500 computer.

My sister's bf tricked out his MBP with all the after-market snazzle, but I'll have to make the decision about SSDs when I buy the thing. I hear programs will run super-fast if you have them on the SSD, but there's the question of whether it's worth $540..

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Now my MacBook Pro is on the fritz. Am still wanting to stick with my current plan of going with an iMac instead of another Pro. (I'm typing this right now on an iPad and it's actually not that bad. Then again I have tiny hands...)

Does anyone have any opinion on SSDs? They're super-expensive from Apple but installing it after-market on the iMac involves taking off the glass screen with suction cups. I think I'll pass on that for a new $1,500 computer.

My sister's bf tricked out his MBP with all the after-market snazzle, but I'll have to make the decision about SSDs when I buy the thing. I hear programs will run super-fast if you have them on the SSD, but there's the question of whether it's worth $540..

1. It's not that hard if you have the right tools.

2. SSD are still a relatively new area for the consumer market, so they are going to be expensive. It depends, do you want quickness, or do you want storage capacity?

SSD in theory are supposed to be more reliable, I don't think there is any definitive evidence that proves this. But, they are supposed to be easier to recover data from if you have a failure, and didn't back up your data!

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Hi, sorry to intrude, I use a Macbook Pro, and recently my original/main administrator account stopped running safari. You run safari, and after a few seconds a pop-up/alert comes up and says Safari Quit Unexpectedly. The Guest account and a 2nd account I created still run Safari and so far no issues. How can I fix the issue on that account? Any help is appreciated.

It's most likely an issue with Safari inside of that user account. So you would want to either

A. go into the user account's Library>Preferences>com.apple.Sarfari.plist

Delete that file. See what happens, if you haven't already taken care of this.

 

[Ilayda]

Alrighty, I am getting a Mac soon too. I just dont know which one should I choose... I am very interested in Mac Book Air. It is really thin and light. I can carry it everywhere I go. Also keep it home too. I just would love to hear reviews from someone who owns it and tried it. Any problems with it?

 

[wiegeabo]

Firstly, why a Mac and not a PC?

 

[Anita18]

Alrighty, I am getting a Mac soon too. I just dont know which one should I choose... I am very interested in Mac Book Air. It is really thin and light. I can carry it everywhere I go. Also keep it home too. I just would love to hear reviews from someone who owns it and tried it. Any problems with it?

I don't use one (I need more power), but I did pester the guy at the Mac store about all the computers.

If you travel a lot and don't use any intensive programs, an Air is definitely what you need. I have heard of people running even Photoshop an Air and it's fine (and fast), but it's not really built for it.

An SSD failing is probably the reason why I wouldn't spring for one without considering a backup plan. From what my cousin (a computerphile) say, the lifespan of an SSD is actually about the same as a regular hard drive. BUT, when/if it fails, it fails spectacularly and there is no recovering your files like with a regular hard drive. (If a regular hard drive fails, you can often recover your files if you get someone who knows what they're doing.) This just means you have to be pretty diligent about backing up your files onto an external drive or the cloud on a regular basis.

 

[Golgo-13]

I just got a MacBook Pro7. I have a Linksys e1000 router that i use for all the computers in my house, but the MacPro said that OS X 10.7 in incompatible with this router..? Anyone know the name of a router i can switch to?

EDIT: i updated my router and it works. I'll leave the question up in case it helps someone else.

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Alrighty, I am getting a Mac soon too. I just dont know which one should I choose... I am very interested in Mac Book Air. It is really thin and light. I can carry it everywhere I go. Also keep it home too. I just would love to hear reviews from someone who owns it and tried it. Any problems with it?

My two cents: As far as raw power goes, any of the processors in any mac is more than powerful enough for 90-99% of users. RAM and a dedicated graphics card would be a bigger factor than the CPU.

So unless you are doing something that requires huge crunches, i.e. handbrake, video games, graphic rendering and so on, the CPU is a non factor.

Make sure you get at least 4GB of RAM, which every Mac comes with standard currently [except the low end mini and I'm sure that will change when the rev them], but I would recommend 8GB of RAM. And unless you need a dedicated GPU, you're fine.

BTW: The MBAs are super legit.