[The_Monk]

Here is mine. As I said previously, I'm a complete noob when it come to specs.

I just wish I could play Diablo III with my MacBook Pro... but a fellow GAF-er told me that my graphic card might be the most bigger problem with that.

[Jill Sandwich]

I remember really wanting one. It's hideous!

[AbsoluteZero]

[IMG]http://junecloud.com/journal/uploads/key_lime_ibook.jpg[IMG] I remember really wanting one. It's hideous!

I still want a tangerine one.

If today Apple put up iBooks for sale, sealed in box, I'd buy one.

[shuri]

why are the 27" displays so expensive? I want to buy a second display for my imac and they want 999$ for one! Whaaaattt

[Jtwo]

why are the 27" displays so expensive? I want to buy a second display for my imac and they want 999$ for one! Whaaaattt

Aside from the Apple tax you get a full on thunderbolt hub with gigabit ethernet..

[ngower]

Good thread. I've been considering selling my year-old 15" MBP, had nothing but issues with it. Not sure if I want to wait for rumored MBPs or go with the MBA.

[Always-honest]

I remember really wanting one. It's hideous!

This was my fist mac. My first computer really.. I was so happy with it. Monitor too.
(not my photo though)

[bionic77]

Noob question - I heard that Apple employed proprietary interfaces and its now difficult to upgrade the HDD?

Before unibody MBP it was a bit tricky to get the case open. I did it though but it did get a little hairy at times. The MacBooks and unibodies are very upgrade friendly and Apple has been SATA for awhile so any drive will fit in there.

[bananas]

Wait until Apple sells the Thunderbolt Display Pro, which has a graphics card built-in that works through the Thunderbolt port.

$2499, lol.

[Gary Whitta]

Best computer I've ever owned.

[IMG]http://i55.************/smbrk2.jpg[/IMG]

[StopMakingSense]

why are the 27" displays so expensive? I want to buy a second display for my imac and they want 999$ for one! Whaaaattt

It's actually $100 less than Dell's complementary 27" high-quality IPS panel monitor.

[Jtwo]

Here is my Mac:




Showing it's age a little bit, but it is still a beast. Come February it will be 5 years old! I got this computer when I was 19 and will use it will into my 25th year. I'm actually really attached personally to this machine. Its handled everything I've ever thrown at it. Anyway, it's "portable" days are over. Its just too rickety to carry around everywhere now, so I built this sweet little stand you see it sitting on. The desk I have all this stuff set up on is not really much deeper than the MBP itself (whole thing fits in a closet) so I built this little contraption to have it elevated so I could put my mouse directly underneath it! It also elevates the laptop's display to the same height as the external display.

[StopMakingSense]

Noob question - I heard that Apple employed proprietary interfaces and its now difficult to upgrade the HDD?

lol, in the iMac, its ALWAYS been difficult to upgrade the hard drive. Really, it is NOT an upgrade for the faint of heart. You got suction cups to take the glass off?

The HD's use a non-standard firmware for temperature monitoring, but those should be available for purches from OEMs in the next while.

[HenryGale]

Lion sure seems to allocate RAM differently. I am blowing through my 8GBs on my 2011 iMac.

When I'm not using things like FCP 7 or Photoshop CS5 I find I'm still going through my RAM. With just Safari open I'm using 1-2GB. When Im running multiple apps Im hitting 6-8 no problem. I could swear I never used it this much.

ANything think I'll see a performance bump going to 12 or 16GB. Is it worth it?

Best computer I've ever owned. [IMG]http://i55.************/smbrk2.jpg[/IMG]

I upgraded from this in may to the current top of the line iMac. THat 2009 one was so awesome. I just upgrade my Apple stuff regularly. Got 1850 for that one. I mostly did it so I could get a 2TB HDD (went with 1TB the first time) and the 2GB graphics and thunderbolt.

[StopMakingSense]

Lion sure seems to allocate RAM differently. I am blowing through my 8GBs on my 2011 iMac. When I'm not using things like FCP 7 or Photoshop CS5 I find I'm still going through my RAM. With just Safari open I'm using 1-2GB. When Im running multiple apps Im hitting 6-8 no problem. I could swear I never used it this much. ANything think I'll see a performance bump going to 12 or 16GB. Is it worth it?

I think it has to do with apps not necessarily being immediately dumped from memory when you quit an app now in Lion. Activity Monitor might not reflect that well in the memory usage. Safari might be caching more aggressively with more memory as well, though like all browsers it leaks memory like a mofo. You shouldn't need more than 8gb.

[bananas]

[Nightshade1765]

Bought her last year after having a Sony Vaio for about two years. My high school was all Mac, so the transition was pretty easy. Probably going to throw four more gigs of RAM in here too at some point.

[mr_chun]

My 2007 Macbook (w/craptastic GMA 950) is on it's way out. Looking at getting an iMac soon, but I can't decide if I want to jump in now or wait for the next revision. Really want to make sure the gpu can handle everything. I don't want Minecraft at 15fps anymore lol.

[gimmmick]

Awesome thread OP.

Checking in.



15` Mid 2010 MBP Core i5, best computer I ever purchased.

Switched back in Fall 05 (imac g5, loved it to pieces). Would have still been using it but the software updates fell short since the shift to intel chips.

[VGChampion]

Has anyone tried out the Kanex XD or Belkin AV360? Considering buying one as the biggest HDTV currently in the house is 19"- much smaller than the 27" the iMac is sporting.

I haven't tried one but don't those usually have some input lag? Tech. could have gotten faster since I've looked into these types of devices though as well.

[Tobor]

Apple TV got a nice firmware update today. You can now once again purchase TV shows and stream directly from iCloud to the device, as well as download to your computer. You can stream and redownload as many times as you want! And of course, you can stream or redownload anything you bought in the past as well. Hopefully they work out the licensing for movies soon.

They also added Vimeo, Lol.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...red+Content%29

[omgkitty]

Figured I would ask this again since no one saw it last time.

After I updated to Lion and my 4 year old Macbook has started to slow down considerably when doing anything, I have decided to buy a new Macbook Pro. My question is, has anyone used the Barclaycard from Apple? I could probably wait a couple months and buy one outright, but I need to build some credit, so I thought it would be a good way to do so. I don't currently have a credit card and never had. Just wondering what people thought if they had used it before, or if they know anything about it.

[oatmeal]

any idea if Vimeo is added to the first gen Apple TV?

[HenryGale]

Figured I would ask this again since no one saw it last time. After I updated to Lion and my 4 year old Macbook has started to slow down considerably when doing anything, I have decided to buy a new Macbook Pro. My question is, has anyone used the Barclaycard from Apple? I could probably wait a couple months and buy one outright, but I need to build some credit, so I thought it would be a good way to do so. I don't currently have a credit card and never had. Just wondering what people thought if they had used it before, or if they know anything about it.

If you don't have credit or a credit card odds are you won't get approved for barclays let alone enough.

[richiek]

I sold my old white 2007 Macbook and bought a 13" Macbook Pro for only $999 at Micro Center. Upgraded to Lion and I'm lovin it so far.

[Jacobi]

Here is mine. As I said previously, I'm a complete noob when it come to specs. I just wish I could play Diablo III with my MacBook Pro... but a fellow GAF-er told me that my graphic card might be the most bigger problem with that.

You graphics chip isn't on that screen, but it's probably a Intel HD 3000, which truly is pretty bad (and the reason why i chose an imac over an mbp).

[BGBW]

<y poor 2006 model is dying. ;__; If only my local apple store wasn't so mean and actually took into repair when I asked them to rather than turning me away due to it being a busy period. It was under warranty but now it isn't.

[3N16MA]

Reports are saying that the new MBA is selling out at some locations. Huge hit right now for Apple with the high end 11" being most popular but all models selling well. Apple really did a turnaround with the MBA.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...tock_outs.html

[JavyOO7]

I really want that Mac Mini that just came out (the one with the Radeon card) but crap... its kinda expensive. Is there a Windows equivalent that I can compare? Because I want a Mini to replace my trash desk top from 2004. =p

I swear, if the Mini with the radeon had the quad core like the server at that 800 price point then I'd think it'd be an excellent purchase for me.

[Captain Pants]

I'm debating on either a Mac Mini or a MacBook Air for when I go back to school. Part of me thinks I'll be a lot more productive if I'm not tempted to hop on the internet during class, but it would be nice to have something portable.

[Jason Raize '75 - '04]

Make sure you have wifi access in class first

[Dennis]

Reports are saying that the new MBA is selling out at some locations. Huge hit right now for Apple with the high end 11" being most popular but all models selling well. Apple really did a turnaround with the MBA. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...tock_outs.html

Great news.

This will ensure we get more focus on Ultrathin laptops in the future from both Apple and others.

Roll on MacBook Air Pro!

[3N16MA]

I'm debating on either a Mac Mini or a MacBook Air for when I go back to school. Part of me thinks I'll be a lot more productive if I'm not tempted to hop on the internet during class, but it would be nice to have something portable.

I have my iPhone 4 with me at all times and it's tempting as hell to start surfing during boring lectures.

[SeanR1221]

Great news. This will ensure we get more focus on Ultrathin laptops in the future from both Apple and others. Roll on MacBook Air Pro!

Or we'll have an iPad effect.

The airs sell in droves but other ultraportables can't touch it.

[AbsoluteZero]

I'd have a difficult time deciding between the 11" and 13" MBA were I in the market for one.

[btkadams]

macbook pro 15"
2.3 ghz i7 quad core
8gb ram

just bought this a few weeks ago after my earl 2008 model gave out. quite the upgrade!

[Hatty]

if the air came with 8gb of ram I would be on board in an instant.

[3N16MA]

if the air came with 8gb of ram I would be on board in an instant.

Other than the Mac Pro Server there is no other Mac that comes with 8GB standard.

[SeanR1221]

GF loves my air.

I told her she should sell her MacBook too, but she's not impatient like me.

"If it still works, I don't NEED something new"

Screw that, gimme dat sweet sweet air.

[Gary Whitta]

I upgraded from this in may to the current top of the line iMac. THat 2009 one was so awesome. I just upgrade my Apple stuff regularly. Got 1850 for that one. I mostly did it so I could get a 2TB HDD (went with 1TB the first time) and the 2GB graphics and thunderbolt.

I'd like to upgrade on the next rev but the problem is that I also use my iMac in target display mode as the monitor for my PC gaming rig, which works fantastic. The current iMac only supports Thunderbolt so there's no way to connect my PC graphics card to it. Hopefully by next-gen I'll also be able to upgrade to a PC GPU with Thunderbolt support, or there'll be some kind of simple adapter available.

[Hatty]

Other than the Mac Pro Server there is no other Mac that comes with 8GB standard.

but the other ones can be upgraded when 4gb becomes too limited.

[Gary Whitta]

Reports are saying that the new MBA is selling out at some locations. Huge hit right now for Apple with the high end 11" being most popular but all models selling well. Apple really did a turnaround with the MBA. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...tock_outs.html

Glad to see this, it's a fantastic computer and deserves to be a big hit!

[sn1pes]

My baby. It's really become a multiple use machine. Surfing, work, and gaming are all great. And it's portable. Added a 1080p monitor to my setup as well.

Now shopping for a 256gb SSD for OS X, then will put the 500gb 7200 HDD in the bay and run bootcamp from there.

Edit: Should also add that I have the high-res anti-glare screen. Love it.

[tigerin]

Nice OP. might as well run through all the Macs I’ve owned and sold due to upgrade-itis. Mac Mini G4 Macbook Core Duo macbook Pro 15” (old design) Macbook pro 13” unibody iMac 24” (aluminum) macbook Air 13” first rev iMac 27” Quad core i5 All of these have been sold except the iMac 27” let me assure you… Macs have incredible resale value. anyway, there was a lot of flurry of activity the first few years but I’ve been incredibly happy with the 27” iMac for a while now and don’t have any urge to upgrade for a long time, either. that back and forth between desktop and laptop is now over for me as I have the ipad for light mobile use. Great machines with great software. worth every penny (well, except for the 256 MB of default Ram in the G4 mini. that was bullshit)

where you sell it at? i want to be like you when i grow up sir!!!

in another word, any tips and tricks? =)

[Skel1ingt0n]

Love this OT!

I was on my HS's newspaper staff for my first three years there. As I approached my fourth year, I became the editor-in-chief, and decided it was time I buy my very first "own" computer. I debated that entire summer prior to my senior year going back and forth between a 13" MacBook or a 17" iMac. Eventually got the MB, and loved it!

The next year, I bought my mom a refurb'd 17" iMac that she's still using today.

My sophomore year in college I purchased a 24" top-of-the-line iMac that was on clearance as the new models were unveiled. I'm still using it today. It's a 2.8Ghz C2D "Extreme Edition", with 4GB, 500GB, and 2600XT.

The summer prior to my junior year, I sold my aging Core Duo MacBook and picked up a one-year-old 2.53Ghz Core2Duo, 4GB, 320GB. I quickly replaced the HDD with a 128GB SSD.

My junior year, I splurged on a great deal I had found on the Alienware in the pic below. It was the first Windows PC I had purchased myself.

I graduated this past May, and can still not find a job. Very unfortunately, I was forced to sell the MBP. :-( It's hard no longer having a laptop.

So, this is my current setup:





Once I get a job, I'm going to try to get the following setup going ASAP by keeping the gaming PC and selling my iMac to fund the new toys:

Gaming tower (currently the Alienware)
13" MacBook Air
11" Alienware M11x
iPad 2

*Crossing my fingers* I can have that setup by early next year.

[Gary Whitta]

Great setup. I have that same desk, or at least one very much like it. My setup is similar too, but instead of the dedicated TV monitor for the PC I have my gaming tower hooked into the 27" iMac.

[Tobor]

Does the genius bar offer a class on how to hang a frame properly? ;)

[AlexMogil]

Apple TV got a nice firmware update today. You can now once again purchase TV shows and stream directly from iCloud to the device, as well as download to your computer. You can stream and redownload as many times as you want! And of course, you can stream or redownload anything you bought in the past as well. Hopefully they work out the licensing for movies soon. They also added Vimeo, Lol. http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...red+Content%29

Yay streaming pron!

[Gary Whitta]

Question: is Thunderbolt backward-compatible with Mini DisplayPort? A friend of mine just bought a new Air and wants to use it with an older Apple Cinema Display. With a regular Mini DisplayPort adapter will it work with the Air's Thunderbolt port?

[MercuryLS]

Question: is Thunderbolt backward-compatible with Mini DisplayPort? A friend of mine just bought a new Air and wants to use it with an older Apple Cinema Display. With a regular Mini DisplayPort adapter will it work with the Air's Thunderbolt port?

AFAIK it should work just fine.