The OFFICIAL Mac User Support Thread

[The Evolutionist]

I fell into the trap once of vowing not to buy a PowerBook until the new ones came out. The rumor sites kept saying that it was just a month away or so. Eight months passed before they finally released their new model and I was able to get my new PB. The advice I always give people about buying Apple hardware is, if you need it right now and have the money, then get it and be done with it. Chasing rumors, waiting for the latest and greates will just bring you grief. The ONLY indicator I have ever seen that's SORT OF an indicator that they might be releasing something new at some point in the near future is when channel availability of certain models becomes scarce. Even then, I've seen months pass before a new model is released. I haven't seen any rumors about desktops, lately, but I haven't been looking that closely, either. Are you thinking PowerMac or iMac?

jag

Well, I was thinking iMac, but I was unaware that they were still selling PowerMacs. But I know I definitely want an intel processor, which takes out the PowerMac, doesn't it?

 

[jaguarr]

Well, I was thinking iMac, but I was unaware that they were still selling PowerMacs. But I know I definitely want an intel processor, which takes out the PowerMac, doesn't it?

Well, I guess they're called MacPro's now, aren't they? Same chassis as the PowerMacs but with an Intel chip in them.

jag

 

[The Evolutionist]

Well, I guess they're called MacPro's now, aren't they? Same chassis as the PowerMacs but with an Intel chip in them.

jag

Oh, I see them now...and definitely more than I need for my purposes. The only thing i'd need that much power to do is video editing, which I can use my school's computers for.

When I was looking through the specs for the iMacs, then 20 inchers with the upgraded RAM looked like it should do fine. The question is just which processor speed I want. I'm getting this computer as kind of the center of a network, which will feature my macbook pro and (hopefully) one of the new 3G iphones. My thought it to use it for my homework, which is mostly papers and script editing (I'm a Performing Arts major), and some light gaming (looking like Spore will be about all for time being). Between iTunes and the internet on top of my word processors I figure that I can spring what looks to be about 200 bucks for the somewhat better processor.

I really just started looking into this about an hour ago, so it's all up in the air about now.

 

[DAMU RYDER]

I fell into the trap once of vowing not to buy a PowerBook until the new ones came out. The rumor sites kept saying that it was just a month away or so. Eight months passed before they finally released their new model and I was able to get my new PB. The advice I always give people about buying Apple hardware is, if you need it right now and have the money, then get it and be done with it. Chasing rumors, waiting for the latest and greates will just bring you grief. The ONLY indicator I have ever seen that's SORT OF an indicator that they might be releasing something new at some point in the near future is when channel availability of certain models becomes scarce. Even then, I've seen months pass before a new model is released. I haven't seen any rumors about desktops, lately, but I haven't been looking that closely, either. Are you thinking PowerMac or iMac?

jag

That is true, i work at a microcenter and when we start noticing certain mac products are not getting restock, we know for a fact a new model is about to come out.

 

[DAMU RYDER]

I fell into the trap once of vowing not to buy a PowerBook until the new ones came out. The rumor sites kept saying that it was just a month away or so. Eight months passed before they finally released their new model and I was able to get my new PB. The advice I always give people about buying Apple hardware is, if you need it right now and have the money, then get it and be done with it. Chasing rumors, waiting for the latest and greates will just bring you grief. The ONLY indicator I have ever seen that's SORT OF an indicator that they might be releasing something new at some point in the near future is when channel availability of certain models becomes scarce. Even then, I've seen months pass before a new model is released. I haven't seen any rumors about desktops, lately, but I haven't been looking that closely, either. Are you thinking PowerMac or iMac?

jag

That is true, i work at a micro center and when we start noticing certain mac products are not getting restock, we know for a fact a new model is about to come out.

 

[Scarlet spidey]

I saw this banner ad.

It made me laugh.

 

[jaguarr]

I saw this banner ad.

It made me laugh.

I see nothing.

jag

 

[Rezzo]

Anyone know of any software that would allow me to play FLAC files on OS X?

 

[jaguarr]

Anyone know of any software that would allow me to play FLAC files on OS X?

http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/2006/08/30/open-source-audio-player-for-mac-os-x/

Or, you can add FLAC support right into iTunes with Xiph:
http://www.xiph.org/quicktime/download.html

jag

 

[Rezzo]

http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/2006/08/30/open-source-audio-player-for-mac-os-x/

Or, you can add FLAC support right into iTunes with Xiph:
http://www.xiph.org/quicktime/download.html

jag

Thanks for the help.

 

[Raiden]

I'm interested to install XP on my Mac laptop, and I'd like to know how I can get it done. I heard that there's a software for it, but I'm not sure where to get it. Thanks.

 

[wiegeabo]

Do you want to run XP natively (by itself), or while you're running OS X?

 

[Raiden]

Do you want to run XP natively (by itself), or while you're running OS X?

I don't think I want to uninstall OS X and replace it with XP, but I'd like to be able to pick which OS to run when I boot up the laptop.

 

[wiegeabo]

It won't replace XP. XP will get it's own partition, and you can boot into either at startup.

 

[Raiden]

It won't replace XP. XP will get it's own partition, and you can boot into either at startup.

That sounds great. So, is there a place I can get this program that can help me install XP on my Mac laptop?

 

[wiegeabo]

The program you're looking for is BootCamp. What Mac do you have? If it's a newer version, then BootCamp came with the operating system.

 

[Raiden]

The program you're looking for is BootCamp. What Mac do you have? If it's a newer version, then BootCamp came with the operating system.

It's a MacBook, but I don't see any program called BootCamp in my laptop. Perhaps it because it was purchased about a year ago and not considered "new".

 

[jaguarr]

It's a MacBook, but I don't see any program called BootCamp in my laptop. Perhaps it because it was purchased about a year ago and not considered "new".

Are you running Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard"? Bootcamp comes with Leopard and is very easy to use. Apple has a great tutorial and guide on it.

Your other option is to use Parallels or VMWare Fusion to run XP or Vista natively from within OS X in a virtual machine. My wife runs XP on her MacBook using Parallels for some of her real estate software and it works fantastic; it's faster than my dedicated XP box at work, actually.

jag

 

[Raiden]

Are you running Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard"? Bootcamp comes with Leopard and is very easy to use. Apple has a great tutorial and guide on it.

Your other option is to use Parallels or VMWare Fusion to run XP or Vista natively from within OS X in a virtual machine. My wife runs XP on her MacBook using Parallels for some of her real estate software and it works fantastic; it's faster than my dedicated XP box at work, actually.

jag

It's OS X, but not Leopard. Is there a way for me to get BootCamp regardless?

Btw, I'll look into Parallels as well. Thanks.

 

[Raiden]

So where can I get BootCamp? I hope it won't cost anything.

Thanks.

 

[jaguarr]

So where can I get BootCamp? I hope it won't cost anything.

Thanks.

Buy a copy of Leopard and upgrade your system. It comes with it.

jag

 

[Crook]

Ok, I need serious help here, because I think this is my biggest problem yet.

For some unknown reason, my programs and whatever were going extremely slow or weren't loading at all. So I had to force a shutdown. Once I restarted, now I get a flashing folder with a question mark inside it.

Now I've seen other people talk about this before, so I somewhat knew that it may either be a small problem, or very big cost-wise. So I booted my Mac off the software disc, tried to use disk utility to repair my hard drive. Unfortunately, I get an error: invalid b-tree node size.

I did some quick searches on this, and it seems I'm completely f**ked or I could try using "Disc Warrior" or something like that. So, any advice? Should I try going to the Genius Bar first, cause I really would rather let professionals handle this.

Ironic thing is I was just about to invest in an external hard drive and use Time Machine to back all my info up. Now it seems like I'm too late...

 

[jaguarr]

Ok, I need serious help here, because I think this is my biggest problem yet.

For some unknown reason, my programs and whatever were going extremely slow or weren't loading at all. So I had to force a shutdown. Once I restarted, now I get a flashing folder with a question mark inside it.

Now I've seen other people talk about this before, so I somewhat knew that it may either be a small problem, or very big cost-wise. So I booted my Mac off the software disc, tried to use disk utility to repair my hard drive. Unfortunately, I get an error: invalid b-tree node size.

I did some quick searches on this, and it seems I'm completely f**ked or I could try using "Disc Warrior" or something like that. So, any advice? Should I try going to the Genius Bar first, cause I really would rather let professionals handle this.

Ironic thing is I was just about to invest in an external hard drive and use Time Machine to back all my info up. Now it seems like I'm too late...

The question mark/folder icon that's flashing on your screen means that the system isn't finding your hard drive to boot off of. The b-tree node size is worrisome but could turn out to be nothing. You're best off taking this one in to the Genius Bar and getting some professional, hands-on help as there are quite a few things that could cause this. Having someone who knows what they're doing actually working on your system is the best way to go at this point. They may be able to save your data, so don't muck with anything else or power it up again at this point. Just get it in and get it looked at. Hope it turns out to be an easy fix.

jag

 

[Crook]

I also forgot to mention that right before this, there was a weird thing that showed up on start-up where I had to choose my hard drive (an icon), before it started up normally again. Then that's when the problem arose. Would that hint at a hard drive failure?

And does it matter if the hard drive is not the stock one that came with the Macbook? I got mines from OWC I think. I know that Apple won't replace anything that's not theirs, but I don't know the policy for date recovery or whatever needs to be done in this case.

 

[Raiden]

Buy a copy of Leopard and upgrade your system. It comes with it.

jag

How much is Leopard, and will I need to reinstall all my applications after installing Leopard?