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Mac Hardware and Software |OT| - All things Macintosh

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Yeah, it was the work order they sent me, parts + labor.
Damn, they really need to work on making that cheaper. Is the price for the battery or keyboard? Is the battery in the new machines really that much more expensive? I was floored when I found out mine was only $200. (Maybe because it's an older machine. Maybe that $310 might possibly be much less by the time that machine is the same age as mine.)

Still, $200 for a whole new battery AND a brand new fresh hunk of aluminum plus more is a hell of a deal. At least yours was under warranty.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Guys, is there a way to set the default zoom setting for Mail.app? On my 15" screen at 1200p it's a bit too small to be readable. Safari has Zoom options now that remember their setting and can be set on a per-site basis. But Mail doesn't have a Zoom setting. You can ⌘+ or ⌘- to change the zoom but it only remembers it until you switch to another email, then it resets to 100% witch is way too small to read in most HTML email. All I can find is the setting to change the font for plaintext email but that's useless.
 
My friend is selling his Retina Early 2015 MacBook Pro for £500 .. is it worth it? I was looking at the new MacBook's but the entry price is so high... I'm rocking a Mid 2012 MBP at the moment that is a little long in the tooth.. just wondered what was the better value for money here if anyone has an opinion!
 
My friend is selling his Retina Early 2015 MacBook Pro for £500 .. is it worth it? I was looking at the new MacBook's but the entry price is so high... I'm rocking a Mid 2012 MBP at the moment that is a little long in the tooth.. just wondered what was the better value for money here if anyone has an opinion!

Damn a 2015 for 500, that's damn good depending on which one it is. 13"? Entry, mid, high? 15"? Entry, mid, high? How much ram? SSD space?
 
Anyone think this is a decent deal?

I do motion graphics/editing. I'm mostly looking into iMacs for the screen real estate.

Because of the uncertainty of the Pro lineup right now, I feel like maxing out an iMac would be useless. The iMac Pro also seems like a stop-gap so I'm kinda feeling like getting this refurb iMac would 'work' for now (better than me using a 2013 MacBook Pro) and even if I get rid of it next year I feel like this wouldn't lose that much value if I wanted to sell it on craigslist.

Thoughts?
 

Fuchsdh

Member
It'll definitely be faster for your work. Whether or not it's worth the cost of buying it now rather than waiting four months at a minimum or for whenever the Mac Pro comes out is a question I can't answer.

*As I type on my 2010 Mac Pro I will run into the ground.*
 
Figured I'd ask here: I developed an issue with the magsafe2 on my MBA this afternoon. The green light on the magsafe no longer turns on. When I plug it in, the battery indicator shows that it's charging, but the battery percentage doesn't appear to be going up. Oddly enough though, it doesn't drain either as long as I have it plugged in (stays at 80% in this case). Any ideas?
 

Wish we didn't have to wait so long (I don't want to gamble and play the "Is the GM really the final GM"-game).

Is anyone using the latest build/GM? How is the performance? Any noticeable improvements with Metal 2 and APFS?

The transition to Metal already made the OS the smoothest it's been for me since the GPU update released half way through Snow Leopard.

It took Apple a couple of years to figure it out, but I feel like they've finally figured out quality control with more frequent releases.
 

giga

Member
Wish we didn't have to wait so long (I don't want to gamble and play the "Is the GM really the final GM"-game).

Is anyone using the latest build/GM? How is the performance? Any noticeable improvements with Metal 2 and APFS?

The transition to Metal already made the OS the smoothest it's been for me since the GPU update released half way through Snow Leopard.

It took Apple a couple of years to figure it out, but I feel like they've finally figured out quality control with more frequent releases.

Does it really make that much of a difference? This is the first year I haven't bothered with a macOS beta (because of apfs) so I don't know how much it'll change on Iris GPU.
 
Figured I'd ask here: I developed an issue with the magsafe2 on my MBA this afternoon. The green light on the magsafe no longer turns on. When I plug it in, the battery indicator shows that it's charging, but the battery percentage doesn't appear to be going up. Oddly enough though, it doesn't drain either as long as I have it plugged in (stays at 80% in this case). Any ideas?

Maybe you've figured it out already, but usually I find the problem with magsafe issues involves buildup on the connector or port - they start showing "blast damage" as if this was Star Wars or something. So if it can't communicate properly it might still deliver power, but not charge, or just do neither.

Usually I think you can clean them with a soft bristle toothbrush.

Wish we didn't have to wait so long (I don't want to gamble and play the "Is the GM really the final GM"-game).

It took Apple a couple of years to figure it out, but I feel like they've finally figured out quality control with more frequent releases.

May as well wait; HS is not meant to be a transformative release, but rather an efficiency release. Which is honestly what it needs to be: more stable, more efficient, smaller. Everything that Windows *can't* be.
 
Maybe you've figured it out already, but usually I find the problem with magsafe issues involves buildup on the connector or port - they start showing "blast damage" as if this was Star Wars or something. So if it can't communicate properly it might still deliver power, but not charge, or just do neither.

Usually I think you can clean them with a soft bristle toothbrush.



May as well wait; HS is not meant to be a transformative release, but rather an efficiency release. Which is honestly what it needs to be: more stable, more efficient, smaller. Everything that Windows *can't* be.

Still haven't figured it out but I'll try that thanks.
 
Gonna be getting a new 13ntbMBP. Is it worth waiting and paying for the 16gb RAM? I'll stick to the 256gb storage, only upgrading the ram but it means I can't just go into store and pick one up straight away.
 
Gonna be getting a new 13ntbMBP. Is it worth waiting and paying for the 16gb RAM? I'll stick to the 256gb storage, only upgrading the ram but it means I can't just go into store and pick one up straight away.

Speaking as someone who just ordered the 16GB/512GB BTO model, I had exactly this dilemma for weeks. I think it depends on your needs. As an average use device, macOS is very efficient and 8GB is plenty. The MBP will probably go vintage before you even hit the wall. Hell, my MBA 2011 still doesn't have memory issues and it came with 4GB stock.

But if you're working with bigger projects in some form, 16GB is good breathing room. In my case, for Xcode and game engine compilers. For others, video and image crunching. That sort of data heavy stuff might see a need. And resale value will be higher because you'll have a white unicorn among MBP laptops.
 
2010 macbook is making a noise like a power tool was active in there.

I think its the fan when ramping up.

Thing is, it doesnt go down again unless I close the screen...
 

febLey

Member
Gonna be getting a new 13ntbMBP. Is it worth waiting and paying for the 16gb RAM? I'll stick to the 256gb storage, only upgrading the ram but it means I can't just go into store and pick one up straight away.
Like Crazymoogle said, depends on your needs. If you do Internet browsing, text editing, light image editing and this kind of stuff 8GB is more than enough.

If you're a developer, open large .psd files or doing some other memory intensive work, I'd recommend you to go for 16GB.
 
2010 macbook is making a noise like a power tool was active in there.

I think its the fan when ramping up.

Thing is, it doesnt go down again unless I close the screen...

Check the Activity Monitor app (Apps -> Utilities directory) and see if there's an app that's burning a lot of your CPU.
 

febLey

Member
I have a weird problem with my iMac at work.
It shuts down randomly, like someone pulled the power supply.
It already happened 3 times, once two days ago and two times yesterday.

Does someone have an idea?
 

Strampas

Neo Member
I've been using a Mac for like 8 years, but I'm still a noob. So I have a couple of questions:

- I rarely organize my photos on my iPhone, but I have a couple of photo albums at least. Is there anyway to export the albums to photos on my macbook? I haven't been able to find a way, and I've tried to google it.

- If I delete my photos on my iCloud library, nothing will happen with the photos on my phone, or in my photos-app on my Mac, right? I don't need the photos in the cloud...I think. The only reason I guess is to free up space.

- A really nooby question: When I create a new activity on my calendar, it let's me choose one of my connected email addresses. What does that do? Is it for notifications? Or syncing with that email?
 
I've been using a Mac for like 8 years, but I'm still a noob. So I have a couple of questions:

- I rarely organize my photos on my iPhone, but I have a couple of photo albums at least. Is there anyway to export the albums to photos on my macbook? I haven't been able to find a way, and I've tried to google it.

- If I delete my photos on my iCloud library, nothing will happen with the photos on my phone, or in my photos-app on my Mac, right? I don't need the photos in the cloud...I think. The only reason I guess is to free up space.

- A really nobody question: When I create a new activity on my calendar, it let's me choose one of my connected email addresses. What does that do? Is it for notifications? Or syncing with that email?

For questions one and two, are you using iCloud Photo Library on all your devices, or photo stream?

For the third question, that’s just a matter of preference. A calendar event has to be tied to a certain calendar, which has to be tied to an account, be it an iCloud account or other email address. If you use any other programs like Microsoft Outlook that just dictates which account you have to sign in to to get your calendars, and to which web service you would go to check it from a browser
 
Hey quick question, I just bought a MBP with the TB a few weeks ago. I notice that it tends to get pretty warm/hot sometimes when I use chrome and other apps. Any ideas? Should I return it?
 

Deku Tree

Member
Its warmer than what you would expect from running random apps. I searched on google and it appears to be common(?).

Chrome has a reputation for being poorly optimized on Mac. Don’t know if that is still the case. Safari is much better on Mac other than not having favicons.

I don’t know how to feel about “hotter than you would expect”. Google searches for hot computer can be I don’t know how helpful.

You can install something that checks your CPU temp. I don’t know how to do that. I know people who do it with windows partitions on their Mac. Or you can return it. Or you can take it to the Genius Bar and ask them to run diagnostics. That’s what I know about that you can do.
 
Hey guys,

Not sure if this is the thread for this, so I apologise if it's not.


My macbook pro 13"s battery is dying.. Apple store wants to charge me $200 for the battery and further $80 for fixing it.

crazy, I know.. now would it be possible for me to buy it myself from somewhere else and try to change it?

Battery model number bq20z451 and the Macbook pro is: MacBookPro 9,2

Much appreciated..
 

Deku Tree

Member
Hey guys,

Not sure if this is the thread for this, so I apologise if it's not.


My macbook pro 13"s battery is dying.. Apple store wants to charge me $200 for the battery and further $80 for fixing it.

crazy, I know.. now would it be possible for me to buy it myself from somewhere else and try to change it?

Battery model number bq20z451 and the Macbook pro is: MacBookPro 9,2

Much appreciated..

https://9to5mac.com/2017/07/06/how-to-replace-macbook-pro-retina-battery/

or Google "MacBookPro 9,2 battery replacement" and you'll find a bunch of info

If it was me then I would just pay Apple but that's just me.
 
Use Safari.

Chrome has a reputation for being poorly optimized on Mac. Don’t know if that is still the case. Safari is much better on Mac other than not having favicons.

I don’t know how to feel about “hotter than you would expect”. Google searches for hot computer can be I don’t know how helpful.

You can install something that checks your CPU temp. I don’t know how to do that. I know people who do it with windows partitions on their Mac. Or you can return it. Or you can take it to the Genius Bar and ask them to run diagnostics. That’s what I know about that you can do.
Gotcha I will check it out and post it. Yeah I was vague with the details, so that's my bad.
 
Hey quick question, I just bought a MBP with the TB a few weeks ago. I notice that it tends to get pretty warm/hot sometimes when I use chrome and other apps. Any ideas? Should I return it?

I know people love their Chrome, but I really suggest at least trying out Safari. It's pretty great these days, and it's much more efficient than Chrome is.
 

whiteape

Member
Do we know how the iMac Pro will be for gaming? I don't know how Xeon CPUs and Radeon Vega Pro perform with games since both are labeled as workstation hardware.
 

kennah

Member
Do we know how the iMac Pro will be for gaming? I don't know how Xeon CPUs and Radeon Vega Pro perform with games since both are labeled as workstation hardware.
you could buy a top end pc and a regular iMac combined for the price of the iMac pro. It would probably be a substantial waste of money for easily beatable performance and likely not that great of an experience due to the resolution and refresh rate of the monitor.
 

Cody_D165

Banned
Hello Mac GAF! I recently bit the bullet and purchased my first Mac computer of my very own, since my local Best Buy had a pretty great deal on an openbox 2015 15" MBP :)

I haven't been a frequent Mac user, so if anyone has some tips/tricks on neat features of Mac OS or app recommendations I'd love to hear them. Set myself up a Bootcamp partition for Windows 10 as well so I'm pretty excited at the prospect of having both OS on a single portable machine.

Mostly planning on using it for amateur music production and graphic design, so I did a fresh install of my old Adobe CS6 collection as well as getting a hold of Logic Pro for producing music and I am falling in love with it.
 

jetsetrez

Member
Hey guys, I hope someone can help me here, I haven't messed with partitioning drives in like 15 years, outside of creating a Bootcamp drive with the assistant. I'm hoping I haven't screwed anything up, because I was using Bootcamp and wanted to delete my Windows partition, and before I looked it up and saw that the way you're supposed to get rid of Bootcamp is by running Bootcamp Assistant, I just used Disk Utility and deleted that partition. Is there any way to recover that partition and absorb the space back into my main Mac OS drive? I tried running Bootcamp Assistant again but now it crashes, and I tried booting into recovery mode and clicking restore on the empty partition but it failed, though I'm not sure what I was actually doing by doing that. I've attached pics of what my setup looks like in recovery mode (sorry for phone pics, but I assumed I couldn't screenshot from recovery mode).

https://i.imgur.com/baJCwPG.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/KGUTyGz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/t3wQdpc.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sPRWwP6.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/SDITH1o.jpg

I don't know what container disks are, or mounting, or what really anything is supposed to do. Am I boned/doing something wrong, or does anyone have any ideas? I'm hoping there is a simple solution that I just don't know, that doesn't require wiping the Mac partition. Any help would be much appreciated.
 

Strampas

Neo Member
For questions one and two, are you using iCloud Photo Library on all your devices, or photo stream?

For the third question, that’s just a matter of preference. A calendar event has to be tied to a certain calendar, which has to be tied to an account, be it an iCloud account or other email address. If you use any other programs like Microsoft Outlook that just dictates which account you have to sign in to to get your calendars, and to which web service you would go to check it from a browser

Sorry for my late answer. I neither use iCloud Photo Library or Photo Stream on any device now, but I think I used ICloud Photo Library on my phone for a while, and then some pictures were added there. But if I delete the ones that been added on ICloud photo library, nothing will happen with my pictures on my phone and macbook (which sounds logic)?
 

Draper

Member
I think I may try on Safari again- I like the cross site tracking prevention concept.

Edit: Why does Reader put everything into one narrow column?
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
I think I may try on Safari again- I like the cross site tracking prevention concept.

Edit: Why does Reader put everything into one narrow column?
Text is easier to read when the lines are shorter. You can change the size and font of the text and background colors if you need to.
 

Draper

Member
Text is easier to read when the lines are shorter. You can change the size and font of the text and background colors if you need to.

Yeah, I see that, but it just seems like weird space utilization on a widescreen.

I totally get it for an iPad or iPhone. Oh well, I still like it.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Yeah, I see that, but it just seems like weird space utilization on a widescreen.

I totally get it for an iPad or iPhone. Oh well, I still like it.
That's exactly why they do it. On a wide screen you end up with really long lines of text which can make you get lost easily. It's basically the reason Reader mode exists. Remove distractions and make it easier to read.
 

giga

Member
Mouse suggestions? I'm returning my MX Master becuase of poor battery (40 days? i get less than a month) and interference issues.

I would consider the Magic Mouse only with a grip like these. Anyone try one?

https://www.elevationlab.com/products/magicgrips-for-magic-mouse (review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t9nOog-Ga8)

http://mmfixed.com

IMG_2098.jpg
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
That looks super useful. I got one of those with the refurbished iMac I bought in 2014, if it wasn't a refurb I would have gotten the trackpad instead, so I rarely use it. Though I really only find it hard to move around a table or desk. Seems too grippy. But it's also uncomfortable so I'd probably be interested in those.

Anyway, I wonder why Apple removed the tab thumbnail grouping in Safari's Tab Overview screen. Not that I'm complaining but I did like it sometimes. Basically what it did was any contiguous tabs on the same domain (tabs next to each other, for instance if you had two or more YouTube or NeoGAF windows open) would be grouped into groups of 4 to compress the listing of tabs down. Long ago there used to be an option to disable it, but now the option seems gone and it's just off by default, possibly removed.
 

giga

Member
I had a magic trackpad once but I couldn't use it for long periods or precision tasks in lightroom/photoshop so I need a mouse. The grips are coming today so I'll see if it helps!

Everyone backed up for High Sierra tomorrow?
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I had a magic trackpad once but I couldn't use it for long periods or precision tasks in lightroom/photoshop so I need a mouse. The grips are coming today so I'll see if it helps!

Everyone backed up for High Sierra tomorrow?

Since I'm on an old computer that isn't likely to see much benefit I'm holding off. Just recently upgraded to Sierra, in fact.
 

Deku Tree

Member
I usually install the new MacOS immediately when it is released, and I sometimes run the beta.

But this time I am not sure that I want to jump right into AFS on day 1. I may wait for the first .1 update to jump in.

All my internal drives on every computer that I use is already an SSD. No fusion drive at all.
 
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