MacBook Users?

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smileyranger's picture
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MacBook Users?

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone here used or owned a MacBook. Feel free to talk about them here.

I own a 2.4 ghz Intel core2duo 13" (mid 2010) MBP and use it as my main computer.
Although they are new machines and don't fall into the usual Apple // and Power PC chat that goes on here, I just thought a MacBook thread would be nice.

I hope I am not spamming up Apple Fritter posting so much in one night!

-Smileyranger :3

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Re: MacBook Users?

(Since you can't edit the first post, I'm saving this one for future stuff)

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Re: MacBook Users?

I'm presently on my second MBP - a 15" early 2008 - the last variant with the form factor of the aluminum PB G4's, albeit modified for MBP duty. I'm still not a big fan of the unibody MacBook Pro's of late 2008 onwards - they remind me a little too much of the titanium PowerBook G4, but without the wow factor that the tibook had back in the day.

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Re: MacBook Users?

I am using the same MBP 13" as my main computer (besides to minis and a G5). My iPad works as second display via AirDisplay in applications like Photoshop and else. It's a trusty machine and offers anything I really need.
There isn't much I could complain about this fine piece of design, just some sort of audio pulsing when connected to a KVM. Had not the time to find out what is the reason for it but I am sure it's the MBP causing this (as neither the two minis nor the G5 cause any hearable audio pulsing).

J

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Re: MacBook Users?

I use a 2.1GHz Macbook (Early 2008) myself. It has been and still is a excellent machine. It doesn't have the overall power of a newer machine but it's very responsive thanks to the SSD in it.

The battery is in good condition and holds a long charge but is bulging, though. I haven't really bothered getting a replacement since its desk-bound anyway.

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Re: MacBook Users?

@Hokusai

My friend has that same model of MacBook with a 120 GB (I think) hard drive in it that's filled up. I take it you'd recommend a SSD

I apologise for not responding to you all sooner. I'll try to stay on my internet toes when it comes to remembering to check the threads that I have started.

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Re: MacBook Users?

I'm a very happy MacBook Air user. I use a 256gb SSD i7 model. I also have an i7 iMac (previous generation), but since I got the Air the only thing I use the iMac for is stuff that needs 16gb of ram like video work and running multiple VMs at the same time. I have my old white MacBook my oldest son uses.

I agree the only way to go is SSD drives if you have to replace a drive these days.

Once you go Mac there is no going back Smile

Cheers,
Corey

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Re: MacBook Users?

Personally, I would definitely recommend an SSD if you can afford it. The 150MB/s SATA bus will bottleneck a newer SSD but that's more than enough to notice the difference from a mechanical drive.

As for the brand, there is a very wide assortment nowadays. There probably isn't THAT much of a choice since there are only a few controllers that these drives use. A good 120GB drive will probably run you around $200 or less. Heck, it was $400 when I bought mine, and that went up not long after I got it.

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Re: MacBook Users?

I will be sure to inform my friend that an SSD drive would be his best bet.

I plan on getting a regular drive as an external for my MacBook simply because I don't want to spend 200 on a small HD, seeing as how for my needs, which is primarily video editing, I need a 500gb HD or larger.

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Re: MacBook Users?

Although I agree with all statements about SSDs I still use the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid HD (4 GB SSD, nearly 500 GB standard HD). It is a good alternative to SSDs if You are not switching applications very often. As I only use 4 or 6 applications regularly the 4 GB SSD are speeding up the start of these applications quite good. 7200 RPM standard HD a sufficient for my needs - but I will change to SSD in complete some day.

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Re: MacBook Users?

Hmm. That sounds very interesting. I'll have to look into that.
I'm bad about using 10+ applications at a time...so I'd have to electronically re-train myself in order to keep from opening every app known to man.

Do any you have any 7200 RPM external hard drives that you'd recommend? I am looking for a 500 gb or larger.

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Re: MacBook Users?

Not really. The Seagate Momentus XT is the only HD up to now that I call "good". I experienced other brands getting pretty hot in passive cooled housings or making lots of noise. The Seagates do get pretty warm, too but at least You can pick them out of there housing just after shut down... I am owning five of these: one in each of the two mac minis, one in my MBP and two in external housings, one working as Time Machine drive, one working as Pogoplug drive. One mac mini is my local server and runs 24 hours a day - since nearly 1 year by now no troubles with any of the seagates.

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Re: MacBook Users?

I have the Segate Momentus XT as an external USB drive in one of those iHDD cases you can buy online. I use it for VMWare Images and work files. It's very fast when you are "in cache", otherwise it's just like a regular drive. I think I paid less than $100 for 500gb, not a bad deal. If you can put your OS on SSD and have one of these as your regular drive, it's a great compromise.

Cheers,
Corey

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Re: MacBook Users?

my macbook pro has worked fine until recently. I cannot get it to work with the Southwest Airlines site. It keeps loading...forever. Sometimes I can get to one part but cannot move between sections. It worked fine until about a month ago, and once I went back to timemachine. I got it to work for a while then it stopped again. It works on all other websites, I just don't get it. I've used firefox, safari & google chrome with the same issue. Whazup?

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Re: MacBook Users?

my macbook pro has worked fine until recently. I cannot get it to work with the Southwest Airlines site. It keeps loading...forever. Sometimes I can get to one part but cannot move between sections. It worked fine until about a month ago, and once I went back to timemachine. I got it to work for a while then it stopped again. It works on all other websites, I just don't get it. I've used firefox, safari & google chrome with the same issue. Whazup?

Have you tried loading the website on other computers, or even mobile devices? I almost sounds as if they have a horribly broken website.

Also, I see this is your first post here. Welcome to Apple Fritter!

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Re: MacBook Users?

it used to work on mine. I can get on it with my husband's pc. when I called them they said theirs is explorer-based. I can get on it with an iphone but it has limited areas on the phone.

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Re: MacBook Users?

and, thank you for welcoming me to Apple Fritter! the more I learn about Apple the more I know I need to learn.

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Re: MacBook Users?

How dare a company make a website only for IE. Haha. They must be out of their minds!

Apple Fritter is definitely a good place to learn and discuss all things apple! Although it may not be the largest apple site, it's probably the most diverse!

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Re: MacBook Users? (And how I used mine like a pillow...)

Well, seeing as how I had a bit of an accident with my MacBook Pro, I thought I should share it with this thread.

On most Friday nights, I will be up rather late, working on different projects until the early morning, as I am oddly productive then. This night, however was different, because I had run out of tea, which provided me with my main source of caffeine. (I will have an upwards of 5 glasses of tea on a weekend night in efforts to get more done.) Due to this calamity I fell asleep, propped up in bed. Typing.

When I woke up, I was sitting on my poor anodized aluminum circuit crusted child...I jumped up, and pulled it out from under me seeing no immediate issues. There are no cosmetic issues either.

I've come to these conclusions.

1: Either Apple builds their laptops like tanks, or

2: It will randomly go kaput in the near future as a result of this event.

-Ranger.

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Re: MacBook Users?

As I have stated, I have had my MacBook Pro nearly 2 years, relatively problem free.
Over the past 2 months I have noticed the hinge getting rather loose, as well as the keyboard becoming less sensitive.

Has anyone here had similar problems? I still have a year left of my applecare warranty, so I assume I'll take it in and try to get these things fixed provided that the methods used to correct the issues are not too horribly invasive, causing more problems down the road.

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Re: MacBook Users?

Mine is a late '08 MacBook Pro. Still running strong with the latest version of OS X on it. Also have Windows 7 Ultimate on the other side through Boot Camp. Best of both worlds, so to speak. Replaced the HD with a 750 GB hybird HD. It has its own firmware that is OS-independent designed to speed up boot time significantly.

Took it to Iraq during my last deployment, dropped it all over the place, got sand all in it, and generally just mistreated it to the point the screen began to separate from the cover over time. Talked to Apple about a replacement, and they wanted an outrageous sum. So instead used JB Weld to repair it myself, and haven't had an issue since then. Had to replace the A/C adapter a couple of months ago.

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Re: MacBook Users?

@jegs2 I will admit that I am painfully curious to see a picture of this machine. And the fact that it survived sand comforts me, as one time I sneezed while eating the powdery fun-dip candy... well, you can guess where a good deal of the packet wound up... In my keyboard. That's awesome that it has held up to all of that though. For some reason I've recently gotten quite good at dropping mine, of course after the warranty runs out. Before I think I had only dropped it once or twice.

--------

Recently I have been doing more video editing in Final Cut Pro 7, and I would like to be able to edit some sequences without being plugged to an external drive. I've had the same internal 500GB HDD for the duration of the life of the machine (A little over 3 years), and would like to get an SSD. Probably this one as I've not got too much money to sink into this computer at the moment. I'd keep the drive basically empty except for a few applications, pictures, and whatever I would be editing at the time, which would go to an external after I was done with it.
Should I be worried about using my current internal drive as a scratch disk? Because if I don't get the SSD, I could upgrade from 4gb to 8gb of ram, which would also help greatly.

Thanks!

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Re: MacBook Users?

[url=http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-2-duo-2.0-black-13-specs.html][/url]
[url=http://support.apple.com/kb/sp23]MacBook (13-inch, Late 2006)[/url] 2.0GHz MacBook (MA701LL/A)
I got this MacBook used, but it has been my main workhorse computer for quite a number of years now. It is feeling very tired.

The battery bulged to the point of killing the internal hard drive, I've since removed the battery and the MacBook is plugged in the wall all the time, AC only. I boot from a big external USB 2 drive. Some of the keys don't work, so I use an external keyboard and mouse, plugged into a powered USB 1 hub connected to the remaining USB 2 port on the MacBook. WIFI doesn't seem to pick up wireless unless the WIFI is less than 12 inches from the MacBook and even then it may not work, so it is connected with Ethernet cable. I am stuck with Snow Leopard which is good enough.

Despite all this it still works, and has served me well.

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Re: MacBook Users?

Got an early '08 A1181. The midrange version. So, white with the 2.4GHz processor. Decent computer, but I wish I had an earlier MBP with the regular keyboard. Sometimes, the chicklet keys don't respond to touch typing. Also, with it being white, it does tend to get kinda dirty. If I stick with it, I may get the case plastics from a black A1181 and turn it into the top-end model, but with the 160GB drive.

-J

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Re: MacBook Users?

I have a Late 2007 2.2 Ghz MacBook. Started out in life as a white MacBook with 1GB of RAM and a 120GB HDD running 10.5, now its a black MacBook with 6GB of RAM and a 750GB HDD Smile (same machine, I did a Blackbook conversion on it in 2011) Still my daily driver Mac, though I intend to buy a new MBP later on this year.

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Re: MacBook Users?

Got an early '08 A1181. The midrange version. So, white with the 2.4GHz processor. Decent computer, but I wish I had an earlier MBP with the regular keyboard. Sometimes, the chicklet keys don't respond to touch typing. Also, with it being white, it does tend to get kinda dirty. If I stick with it, I may get the case plastics from a black A1181 and turn it into the top-end model, but with the 160GB drive.

-J


Got the same machine here. Only used on weekends or when I just can't sit at my desk. However, I thought all was lost as far as playing games or whatever else I do on the weekends with my family. I've found three things that make it easier. First being Windows 8.1 (7 SP1 was a dog on this machine but 8 works great. Next being the Intel Video Config Utility that let me set my WoW graphics "vertex processing" to software, rather than hardware. Which makes me able to play (mostly smooth) with my nephew. And lastly, an older Logitech wireless desktop keyboard and mouse, plugged into a dual PS/2 to USB adapter. The laptop's keys are flush with the macbook's top case, so the keyboard can sit on top of the laptop to be used (trackpad is disabled via 'Trackpad Magic')

Also the case has seen better days. I've fixed all the chipping and cracking with epoxy and spray paint (and polishing) , but new cracks are starting to form. I'm thinking about taking the innards out and mounting them between two sheets of lexan, after I redo the thermal compound. Definitely won't be a macbook any longer. :/

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Re: MacBook Users?

I got a 13" MacBook Pro on new years day of the year 2013. It is my most powerful PC.

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Re: MacBook Users?

Recently I did a complete backup, and wiped my HDD completely, and did a fresh install of Mavericks.
Granted, I'm making sure not to fill up the internal HDD, and i'm being mindful of what I run, but currently it seems to run faster on here than Snow Leopard did nearly 4 years ago.
I can't wait to use Yosemite, if the Mavericks experience carries over. (I never used Lion or ML.)

Has anyone here downloaded the Yosemite beta and used it yet?

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Re: MacBook Users?

I assume that most of you have had a chance to look over the new MacBooks. There's a lot of things about it that make me excited, and there's a lot of things that still leave me scratching my head, wondering if anyone thought about it before it was announced, such as the lack of a dedicated charging port. (At least have two usbc ports?)

Anyway, I am at least curious to see how they are received by those who get their hands on them.

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MacBook Pro late 2016 keyboard problems

This model has known keyboard problems with the butterfly hinge beneath the keys. On my own keyboard, the R has popped off and I've bought replacements online, but neither I nor any technicians can get it fixed. Apple will fix it -- for $600 -- by replacing the entire keyboard. The keys have periodically gotten stuck (various keys, space bar, etc. and required careful cleaning). Very bothersome. Now am stuck with a decision: live with an R that pops off repeatedly, or spend $600 to fix, or ditch an otherwise fine machine and spend a couple thousand to replace it?

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