Considering Aluminum...to buy or not buy?

Well, I LOVE my Titanium. I do.
Looks better, performs well, but I need more power. Say it ain't so...but it is!
Ok, I know it's stupid to buy now, but I kind of have to, or there is a great window of opportunity at this moment. The new series might be out this week according to some rumors, so I might luck out. Anyway!
Are there any "switchers" around? How do you guys like the "new" Aluminum books vs. "ol' love"?
Thanks for your advice!

That's why my old PB180 is still in use
I use it for writing. It's like pen and paper.
I still have a 160 which I loan out to others not fortunate enough to own a computer, and they use it just as you describe (I don't care for it because it's passive matrix - couldn't justify the extra cash for a 180 at the time, over 3000 if I remember right).
There is no sound unless the harddrive comes on, which you can avoid for as long as you want. I mean NO sound. No whirr, no click, not even a faint hum.
Serenity!
Don't know if you're aware of RAM disks, but I used to set up a RAM disk and drop a System Folder and AppleWorks in it; improves batt life and HD never spins up until you save to HD or trash something. Be aware that if you ever freeze/crash and have to restart, RAM disk contents will be lost . . . of course, I can't remember a single time that my 160 (running 7) ever showed me the bomb.
A warm summerrain in the digital age.
guess the Ai can't get hotter than the Ti, otherwise it will seriously start burning holes in wood tables or your clothes
;-0

Similar Messages

A few questions from someone considering whether to buy an Airport Extreme

Hi there,
I've spent the last couple of months grapping with an APPALLINGLY bad router from D-Link that has had more problems I can count on all my fingers and toes. I'm deciding between whether to replace it with kit from Netgear, Belkin or Apple. If anyone here who has Apple's net connection hardware could help me out with either of the questions below I would be most grateful and award points accordingly.
Q1.) What is the difference between the new 'AirPort Extreme Base Station' and an 'Airport Express Base Station with AirTunes'? I can't figure it out and am therefore unsure as to which I would need.
Q2.) It is essential for me that the access to the utilities or management interface (whatever you wish to call it) for the router is secure. I have a nightmare of a brother, who would do just about anything to be able to tinker with the settings to stop family members getting online everytime he gets annoyed with us, so it's essential that I can set up a password so only my dad and I can use it. Does Apple's gear allow this?
Thanks alot for your time,
Charity

Thank-you so much, that table is fantastic for comparing things. At first I thought the 'AX' was a like a range booster or repeater, but as I understand it now, it can either act as a booster for a network using another router, or it can work as your main router itself.
I have concerns about the quality, reliability and lifespan of both the AEBS and the AX, as there are some bad reviews on the Apple Store pages, so that's a risk I'll have to weigh up against the Belkin and Netgear routers by having a look around online to see which ones seem to have the better track record. Nothing can be as bad as the D-Link, that much I know for sure.
Thanks for the help.

Mac Aluminum keyboard VOLUME KEYS not remapping

So I bought a new full size aluminum keyboard from apple. Totally great design, except that the volume keys are perplexing me. Apple, in its infinite wisdom, has moved the volume keys to F10, F11 and F12, instead of above the keypad where they used to be.
There's apparently no way I can figure out how to move these volume keys back to the old places which are easier to use.
But even if they couldn't move, the big problem I'm having is when I use Final Cut Pro. I map the function keys F1 through F9. However, I CANNOT map any of these keys unless I check the keyboard control panel box to use the function keys as "standard function keys". This is great except that when I check this, I can no longer adjust the volume with the volume keys without holding down the "FN" key. I adjust the volume a LOT while working with video. So holding the FN key each time to adjust or mute the volume is VERY VERY ANNOYING.
So here's the question, is there a solution to this or are the Apple Engineers giving their users the middle finger? I've called Apple and they have no answers. Awesome.
Thanks,
Frustrated

I had another unrelated keyboard problem that gave me a tiny bit of information.
(QPI would not connect to keyboard on start and restart, Apple updated the SMC to fix this problem but only on the new Ash Can Mac Pros, older Mac Pros are simply out of luck)
In this process I was shipped a replacement keyboard for free as a troubleshooting test.
I was sent the wrong keyboard as luck would have it.
In this case the wrong keyboard was the "A" model and my Mac Pro uses the "B" model.
The tiny bit of information I received is that Apple defines the "A" model as "Keyboard, Extended, Wired (2007)" and the "B" model as "Keyboard, Extended, Wired (2011)".
This can be helpful.
You can contact Apple and request the 2007 model as a replacement part.... OR.... use the serial number from an older Mac and request a replacement keyboard.
This will allow you to purchase a spare "A" model. ($50-$60)
(it also helps to know the model number of the keyboard but not much because Apple does not seem to have that as a reference)
How long the 2007 model will be available requires a crystal ball but we can bet that it won't be around forever.
The writing is on the wall.
DID YOU KNOW?
You can no longer purchase a compatible Apple Monitor for ANY Mac Pro previous to 2013.
Since the new model keyboard is incompatible (or nearly) with older machines and there is no Apple monitor compatible with older machines, the writing on the wall says.... you MUST purchase a new Mac if ANY peripheral fails.
(management calls this.... "doing good business")
To answer your question.
If a peripheral fails and your computer is still fully functional, you are out of luck IF.... you did not buy compatible spares when they were available.
I certainly did. (I bought both original keyboard and aluminum "A" model spares as well as three 27" DisplayPort monitors.... Displayport monitors work with Thunderbolt machines - Thunderbolt monitors do Not work with DisplayPort machines.... its One-Way Street)

Apple aluminum (USB) keyboard is not working at all in Vista

I just brought a apple aluminum (USB) keyboard. it works fine under Leopard. But when I plug it into Vista. Vista tells me keyboard driver install correctly, and device is working, but none of the keys on the USB keyboard is working. I mean not even "abc".

As I installed Windows on my Mac, I was unable to use my wireless keyboard and mouse (which are the standards from Apple) when i was operating on the Windows partition. I had to call my buddy and use his keyboard and mouse, which were not wireless, and it worked fine. While in Windows, i did download Mac OS X, to make the two OS compatible, but the wireless still did not work on Windows. Is there something additional i need to do to allow my wireless keyboard and mouse to work on the Windows side of things. Please let me know if you have the answer

Materials in stock at u loc consider for Availability check but not for MRP

Dear ALL,
Please solved the problem by settings in the customizing we are able to set the materials at stock U location (serviceable )should not be considered in Mat Availability for PM orders
Settings we have made for all storage locations in U * By excluding storage location stock from MRP
If storage location stock is excluded from MRP at plant level, no receipts for this storage location will be created in the planning run.
so we are able to run the availability check perfectly
But now MM dept.is not accepting this as they want this stock to be considered for MRP
Has anybody done this scenrio successfully please reply the solution
Regards
Pratap

A way that I think of, is to set the ATP at SL level, so in PM order you check only in a specific location, not in all the plant.
Of course that you need to let all SLs to be relevant for MRP, otherwise this stock is not considered for planning.

Consider site for inclusion is not listed?

We are now ready for our university’s iTunes U site to be reviewed for inclusion in the iTunes store, so I tried to click on the “Consider this site for inclusion” option on the Edit Site Settings page, but the option seems to no longer be there. I also do not have access yet to the Public Site Manager, and wish to be able to do this as well. Thank you for any help.

Send your request for inclusion and your site information to [email protected]
-Thanks

My Aluminum iMac WiFi performance not good. How is yours?

The new Airport Extreme has a great little utility which shows the WiFi bit-rates for all connected devices.
Here's a screencap from my 802.11n network (running at 5GHz).
It shows that the iMac is not doing great here. One tenth of the data rate of the AppleTV.
All three machines are equally distant from the AEBS. Yes, the signal is passing through walls and floors. But it's pretty much the same for all of them.
If you have an Aluminum (or Aluminium) iMac - it would be interesting to compare notes. I think this level of performance is much less than I would expect.
Glyn

I guess what I am saying is I would experiment.
I wonder why your AppleTV noise is so much lower than your iMac noise. Noise in this case refers to interference so I wonder what devices are interfering with each other. If your imac had a signal of -81Db and a noise floor of -92Db like your iTV does, your throughput would at least increase. I guess it's possible that noise is coming from inside the iMac al case as well so the iMac could be inherently "noisier" than the other devices.
Did you try turning off all the devices connected to the AE except the iMac and see if that changes anything?
Signal propagation is hard to predict if there is no LOS. 3 or 4 feet in one direction or another can sometimes make a 10Db difference depending on the interfering material, the antenna's receive sensitivity, and the chipset variations.
In rudimentary tests with my imac and macbook side by side connected to airport express:
(signal, noise, rate)
macbook -53 -96 18
imac -66 -88 54
So, for some reason the macbook which has better signal has a lower rate. When I disabled my Imac's airport card, my macbook jumped up to a rate of 54. Looks pretty clear that they were interfering with each other.

Aluminum Keyboard USB Ports Not Working

I bought a new aluminum keyboard for my Intel Core 2 Duo iMac last week. Everything worked fine at first. I was able to connect my digital camera, flash drive, and iPod through the USB 2.0 port, while my mouse was plugged into the other.
Anywho, now the only thing that I can get to work in either port is my mouse! If I plug anything else in I get the following notice:
That's impossible being 1) it worked last week and 2) these are USB 2.0 ports.
I've tried restarting my system and running software update. Any solutions?

These ports being USB2.0 does not prevent this message at all. There is still a restricted power supply from 1 USB port (tracing back to your computer, all 3 items are being powered by the 1 port on the iMac). There is also the possibility that other USB items attached to the computer are having a very small effect, just enough to make a difference, so try with all others removed.
I would personally get a small USB extension cable plugged into the iMac, and plug your units into that. If you need more ports, a good powered hub will sort this out, as it can provide the 500ma current from each port, rather than splitting the available 500ma current between a keyboard, a mouse and another item.
Karn.

My Aluminum MacBook Pro will not startup (no chime), only sound is the dvd(dl) that is spinning inside. I have tried everything I know (dmc? reset), still disk spinning but no chime, (this is a spare-backup).

All of a sudden,will not startup (no chime), only sound is the dvd(dl) that is spinning inside. I have tried everything I know (dmc? reset), removing 1 memory module at a time and trying to startup, still no chime only spinning of disk, still disk spinning, (this is a spare-backup), and I dont want to spend alot of $.
my next ts is to open it up and disconnect the dvd drive (maybe it is hung up????) the hd is the original 1, maybe the power supply.......ANY suggestions?

bump, I think ill cook my book...............

If i was going to buy an iphone 5s 16gb at an apple retailer should i call in and preorder?

JUst wondering

Since the 5s has been out for over a year now, its doubtful they would be out of stock of it currently, more so considering people are buying the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in droves, not the 5s.

Buying a new mac with snow leopard vs. lion?

I've been saving up to buy a Macbook pro for sometime, to make the PC to Mac switch, and after the announcement of lion I've been considering waiting to buy a new Macbook until lion comes out. I'm not entirely sure about this decision though because of new OS bugs and the like so I was wondering if anyone had any advice on waiting until lion comes out to buy a Macbook or just buying now while snow leopard is still out and wait to update to lion in the future.

As Paul indicated, there's no sense in waiting. Lion, while announced, still has not received a release date. In addition the current architecture (Sandy Bridge) is the latest and greatest. Intel and Apple are always working on new stuff, so even if you wait for Lion there's a new machine being assembled in China the day you purchase the "latest and greatest."
Another thing to consider is compatibility. With any new major release there's going to be problems/issues and existing software compatibility issues. As a "switcher" you'll also need to purchase new software, as just about all of your existing PC software will not be compatible with OS X (Snow Leopard or Lion for that matter).
Personally, I don't think there's any compelling reason to wait. Apple does not always release new hardware with a new OS.

Buying A New Mac - Recommendations for FCP?

It is sales tax holiday weekend in my state, so that means I can get a new Mac and save a significant amount of dough. I currently have a 17 inch PowerBook G4, 1.33 Ghz. with 2 Gb of RAM. I use the machine to do all sorts of graphics and video work, using programs like Final Cut Studio, Adobe Creative Suite, iWork and iLife.
I'm interested in opinions on a new machine. There are some budget constraints, but I'd like to know the following:
1. Is the iMac 24 inch a viable option as a video editing station using Final Cut Pro Studio? One option I am considering is to buy an iMac 24 inch and a MacBook, doing my video work on the iMac and presentation work on the Macbook. What is your opinion about this?
2. I've looked on the Apple Store at both new and refurb MacBook Pros. If you had to pick a model, which gives the most bang for the buck? Do you think a refurb Core 2 Duo machine would be fine for my needs? Is there a disadvantage to buying a refurb vs. a new machine for the style of work I am doing?
3. Again, concerning Macbook Pros...do you prefer a 15 inch or 17 inch screen? Are there any disadvantages for going with the smaller screen? Both sizes come in both matte and glossy finishes: do you recommend one over the other for video editing?
4. Are Apple's RAM module prices in line with others? I would like to trick out the machine with as much RAM as possible right now. If Apple is high, who would you buy RAM from? I have used Other World Computing in the past, but I hear Apple is now competitive on this.
Thank you for any help you can provide on this situation!
wncmacs
Message was edited by: David Biddix

It has taken me longer to get resources lined up for my new Mac purchase, but I think the consensus here is to buy the 15 inch MacBook Pro instead of the 17 inch and purchase an external monitor.
I've looked at the refurb units available and they have a 15 inch MBP with a 200 Gb hard drive and 2 Gb of RAM and the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory for $1699. They also have a 15 inch with the same specs with the exception of a 250 Gb hard drive and a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB of GDDR3 memory for $1999. Is the hard drive bump and the VRAM increase on the NVIDIA card worth the extra $300?
I also note that there is a 17 inch MacBook Pro that slots in with basically the same computer as the lower priced 15 inch model, save only a 160 Gb hard drive instead of a 200 Gb one for $1899. Should I even think about this one or just concentrate on the 15 inch?
I'm still torn over the screen...glossy or matte. I do lots of Web work and audio/video production on my machine. Is one style advantageous over the other one for what I do?
I'm also thinking about external monitor options for the 15 inch solution if I go that way. Apple has the 20 inch for $499 refurb and the 23 inch (of which my workplace owns 2 of on my workstation) for $749. Is the 23 inch worth the extra $250? Should I consider another make of external monitor?
I'm going to upgrade RAM from 2 to 4 Gb, and Other World Computing has that today for approximately $94. I'll have to remove all of Apple's RAM and add in my own here, right? OWC also has an upgrade for the hard drive to a Hitachi 320 Gb 7200 RPM model for $160. I guess this would be the time to make that move while I'm replacing the RAM, or do you think a better deal will be coming down the line soon?
Thanks again to everyone who has weighed in with their opinion on this. Your advice is greatly appreciated!

Best Buy Lie!

So, to start out I just purchased a Gallaxy S5 at a Knoxville Tn. location. In the shopping process I ask the sales person what are the advantages of me purchasing my phone from best buy. The answer I got was that if I also got the insurance that if anything happened to the phone, all I would have to do is return it to the geek squad and it would be repaired right in the store. Well I tried this, because after a week my Gallaxy S5 with the miracle glass called gorrilla glass, developed a crack in the lower left hand corner. So, when I arrived back in town I went to best buy and walked to the geek squad desk only to find out that for another $190.00 and my brand new phone I could get a like new (used) remanufatured phone. (what a deal) I was told that any crack, no matter the reason (even defective glass) was considered an accident and would not be repaired but replaced as mentioned before. But another problem is that they assumed that the crack was from an impact, not even considering or listening to the fact that there was not an impact from a fall or any other reason. I guess the assumtion was that I was the one lying. What ever happened to good old customer service ( where the customer is always right). I guess the way best buy sees it is the more customers we can deceive the better.

Hello GAHargis,
One of our goals is to ensure that we provide the best, most accurate information that we can about our products and services and I regret very much if our associate didn't live up to that easily obtainable objective at the time of your purchase. What you describe is not the superior level of service to which we aspire!
The associate with whom you worked could have chosen better language when discussing your phone's cracked screen. The Terms & Conditions of your Geek Squad Protection plan define a cracked screen as damage and so our representative was correct, though apparently not very tactful. In the case of a cracked screen, a service fee is assessed in order to provide a replacement. This is also described in the Terms.
I hope this helps clarify your coverage. Please know that I'm grateful that you took the time to write to us about your experience.
Sincerely,
John|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
Private Message

Should I buy 24" imac or macbook pro

Hello,
With all the problems I am reading about the 24" imac, should I get a macbook pro instead?
Is the imac that much faster for window games?
Thanks
Frank

Firstly you must consider that there are substantial differences between a Desktop and a Laptop computer that have to be considered.
Secondly I would not and have not personally chosen an Apple computer on the strength of how and what quality I could get for playing Windows Games. I bought my iMac for my real intended use as a tool for my hobby of photography.
Yes you can play windows games albeit through an installation of Windows xp on your Apple computer but you have to know what you are doing as you may need additional driver software for the type of graphics card used in the Mac to run in the other environment i.e. Windows.
If you want only really want to play windows games then really you should buy a windows based computer and save the hassel of trying to build one inside an Apple computer.

Told my friend to buy a Mac Pro today...right choice?

She wanted a new computer so she could edit music and video, but she only had $2200 to spend. She was gonna grab a MacBook Pro, but I told her to buy the Mac Pro but in its lowest configuration. 2.0GHz, 1GB Ram, 160 GB HD, no WiFi etc. It came in at $1962 with her student discount.
Is that the right choice? I told her it's upgradeable, but I wasn't sure if she could ever upgrade the CPU. Did I point her in the right direction? Or should she cancel her order and get the MacBook Pro?

Given her budget she's going to be tightly squeezed which ever way she goes. Ultimately, the startup price of a Mac Pro is probably going to be slightly higher if you need to consider a display. If not then they're going to more or less the same.
In my opinion you did point her in the right direction for several reasons…
1) 2 x 2GHz Xeon processors are going to be far better than single 2.16GHz Core Duo Mobile processor. I would however suggest she makes every effort to beg, borrow or steal the cash to stick with the standard 2.66GHz processors. They're far better value than the 2GHz and will serve her far better in the long run.
2) RAM is a real problem with all other Mac s as they're limited to 2GB. For serious video editing you want 4GB or more. With 1GB in either system she'll be struggling so it's suggest she have at least 2GB.
3) Laptops are limited to 2.5" drives and hence, are currently limited to 160GB (which you cannot even get as a CTO option) forcing MB/MBP users into external drives. The Mac Pro you can add up to 5 drives.
4) No RAID in the MBP which provides a huge performance boost for video editing.
5) No DVD+R DL recording in the current MBP.
6) No upgradeable GPU in the MBP. Even though the ATi X1600 Mobility in the MBP and the Nvidia 7300 GT are more or less the same, the Mac Pro does give upgrade options where the MBP does not.
7) No TOSLink in the MBPs.
Having been a laptop users for some time before going with a Mac Pro I can reasonably say that the only reason I would ever recommend a laptop is that you require portability.
The MBPs do come with Airport and Bluetooth as standard although you can buy USB Bluetooth adapters cheap enough and I'd suggest using Ethernet cables in any case.
Finally, have you/she considered going with say a 24" iMac?

Considering Aluminum...to buy or not buy?

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