I have a 3 year old Macbook pro, snow leopard. Do I need to upgrade?

Just wondering if I need to upgrade to Mt Lion or not or if I need to upgrade anything on it? Also, what can I do to make my computer to keep running smooth, since warrenty has expired? Using Mac OS X 10.6.8 snow leopard

cc12345 wrote:
Also, what can I do to make my computer to keep running smooth, since warrenty has expired?
Backups, especially bootable clones.
Most commonly used backup methods
Keep your performance up by learning how not to over tax your machine or over fill the boot hard drive.
Why is my computer slow?
How to safely defrag a Mac's hard drive
Don't use Safari as it's a older version on 10.6 and not receiving updates, use Firefox instead
Install AdBlock Plus into Firefox and Web Of Trust, search online for "Make Firefox 10x faster" if you have broadband and it will REALLY make your browsing faster as it downloads all the elements at one time, instead of one at a time like slow Safari does.
More information
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

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I have a 3 year old MacBook Pro with MAC OSX 10.6.8, iPhoto '09 version 8.1.2 and have downloaded two software programs: one is Aperture 3.2 and the other is Photoshop Elements 9 (which I got from a friend who didn't need it). I am totally happy with the

I have a 3 year old MacBook Pro with MAC OSX 10.6.8, iPhoto ’09 version 8.1.2 and have downloaded two software programs: one is Aperture 3.2 and the other is Photoshop Elements 9 (which I got from a friend who didn’t need it).
I am totally happy with the way iPhoto organizes my photos and how I can work with iMovie to create slide shows with music from iTunes, etc.
I have been shooting mostly high resolution jpegs and I continue to learn more and more about photography, post processing etc. I realize that the small adjustments I can make in iPhoto are good, and are adequate most of the time. However, a have started to experiment with shooting RAW images and would like to go the next step, ie. post processing.I am totally technically challenged and need SIMPLE, INTUITIVE programs and am certainly NOT anywhere ready for Photoshop CS whatever!
After having these programs sit on my computer, I decided to try to see if I could figure them out. When I opened Aperture, this is what first comes up.
“Welcome to Aperture 3.2
Your library needs to be upgraded to work with this version of Aperture. Once upgraded, you will not be able to use this library with previous versions of Aperture.
Upgrading a library from previous versions of Aperture 3 generally takes a few minutes or less, though larger libraries will take longer. After that, Aperture 3.2 will upgrade your library's thumbnails, but you can use the application during that time.
Tip: To open a different library, quit Aperture and hold the Option key down while starting Aperture
Current Library Location:
Jadzia (home) -----Pictures------Aperture Library
QUIT UPGRADE”
I have heard horror stories about moving your entire library to Aperture, ending up with 2 libraries, etc. etc. hence my previous reluctance in attempting Aperture. In addition, many of my photography friends are saying: Go with Lightroom 3.....you’ll love it!
So here is my dilemma. I don’t want to mess around with my iPhoto library. All I want to be able to do, is to isolate a few photos, export them to Aperture, Elements, and work on them there, then bring them back into iPhoto.
Can I do this? Should I forget about Aperture and Elements and look at purchasing yet another program like Lightroom?

Export those few photos via the File ➙ Export ➙ File Export menu option with Kind = Original to the Desktop. Then import them into the Aperture library. That would keep one copy in your iPhoto library and another in your Aperture library to edit, etc.
You can use Photoshop Elements 9 from within iPhoto as your editor of choice. However, if you edit a raw file in iPhoto with PSE9 the resulting edited version must be saved outside the iPhoto Library and imported back in as a new file. For editing jpegs just do a Save (not a Save As) and it all will be kept within iPhoto.
Using Photoshop or Photoshop Elements as Your Editor of Choice in iPhoto.
1 - select Photoshop or Photoshop Elememts as your editor of choice in iPhoto's General Preference Section's under the "Edit photo:" menu.
2 - double click on the thumbnail in iPhoto to open it in Photoshop. When you're finished editing click on the Save button. If you immediately get the JPEG Options window make your selection (Baseline standard seems to be the most compatible jpeg format) and click on the OK button. Your done.
3 - however, if you get the navigation window
that indicates that PS wants to save it as a PS formatted file. You'll need to either select JPEG from the menu and save (top image) or click on the desktop in the Navigation window (bottom image) and save it to the desktop for importing as a new photo.
This method will let iPhoto know that the photo has been editied and will update the thumbnail file to reflect the edit..
NOTE: With Photoshop Elements the Saving File preferences should be configured as shown:
I also suggest the Maximize PSD File Compatabilty be set to Always. In PSE’s General preference pane set the Color Picker to Apple as shown:
Note: to switch between iPhoto and PS or PSE as the editor of choice Control (right)-click on the thumbnail and select either Edit in iPhoto or Edit in External Editor from the contextual menu. If you use iPhoto to edit more than PSE re-select iPhoto in the iPhoto General preference pane. Then iPhoto will be the default editor and you can use the contextual menu to select PSE for your editor when desired.
OT

Have a 2 year old macbook pro that won't turn on--logic board?

We have a 2 year old Macbook Pro that will not turn on. A computer repairman said it's probably the logic board. Does Apple warrant that or are we just out $1,700?

When you attach the power adapter, does the led light up? If so, what color?
What happens if you press the external battery check button?
Have you tried a SMC reset?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
Have you had it evaluated at an Apple store genius bar or an AASP?
Ciao.

I have a 2 year old MacBook Pro and the superdrive has stopped working, it won't take discs in as if there is one already inside but iTunes or the dvd player doesn't recognise that there is a disc inside and if there is it can't be ejected

I have a 2 year old MacBook Pro and the superdrive has stopped working, it won't take discs in as if there is one already inside but iTunes or the dvd player doesn't recognise that there is a disc inside and if there is it can't be ejected, i have tried shutting down and restartinf while holding down the trackpad, as recommended on some forums but that has done nothing
It might be a huge coincidence but the drive was working fine before i installed lion?

Installing Lion would not cause the superdrive to stop working. Are you unsure as to whether or no a cd/dvd is inside? Something may be broken inside and you should consider bringing it in for service.

I have a 2 year old macbook pro os x 10.5.8 want to upgrade to lion

I have a 2 year old macbook pro os x 10.5.8 want to upgrade to lion

Mountain Lion Requirements:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5444
App Compatibility:
http://roaringapps.com/
Check both above first. Then call Apple Sales & have them send you a retail Snow Leopard Disk(US $29)...there is no download. Update to 10.6.8, then go to Mountain Lion or Lion if you like(US $19).
Don't know if Apple is still selling Lion...you'll have to ask Apple sales when you call. You need Snow Leopard to get the Mac app store where you can then purchase Mountain Lion...Lion is no longer available in the store.

Hi, I have a 3 year old Macbook Pro 13" and I accidentally cracked the outer screen of my mac book, however the LCD panel is fine and works well. Please advise what to do

Hi, I have a 3 year old Macbook Pro 13" and I accidentally cracked the outer screen of my mac book, however the LCD panel is fine and works well. Please advise what to do. I live in India and I have gone to authorised Apple technicians and they infomed me that I will have to replace the LCD panel as well even though it is not cracked, is this really true or can I just change the outer shell? Also they say that they cannot do it in India... can I do it myself at home?

Since it is 3 years old find a local repair shop that can replace the glass Only. you may have to send it out to a Non Local shop for that but there are some that specialize in doiing that on Mac notebooks.
Apple will ony replace the complete screen enclosure with all normal parts included, LCD, Camera, Aluminum housing and glass as one unit. Which is very expensive. Or you could just use it as a desktop system with external monitor and buy a new notebook.

I have OSX 10.6.6 MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard) and i am trying to format my whole hard drive (back to factory settings) from the original CD. Can someone please give instructions?

I have an OS X 10.6.6 MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard) and i am trying to format my whole hard drive (back to factory settings) from the original CD.
Can someone please give instructions?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
To restore the MacBook Pro to factory settings:
1. Make a backup of your files because everything will be erased.
2. Insert the Snow Leopard disc and press the C key while your Mac is starting to start from the DVD.
3. Go to Utilities menu > Disk Utility, select Macintosh HD on the sidebar, go to Erase tab and erase the disk.
4. Close Disk Utility and install Mac OS X

I currently have a one year old MacBook Pro, and right when I boot up the system, the kernel_task is using about 1GB of the 4GB of RAM that I have. Is this normal? Or if not, how can I reduce the kernel_task?

I have noticed that my computer is running super slow, even when I only have one application (like Chrome) running for a short amount of time.

First, back up all data immediately, as your boot drive might be failing.
Step 1
This diagnostic procedure will query the system log for messages that may indicate a hardware fault. It changes nothing, and therefore will not, in itself, solve your problem.
If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator. I've tested them only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, they may not work as described.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
syslog -k Sender kernel -k Message CReq 'Channel t|GPU D|I/O|nspace-h|n Cause: -' | tail | open -ef
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V).
The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear.
A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Normally the command will produce no output, and the window will be empty. If the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window) has anything in it, stop here and post it — the text, please, not a screenshot. The title of the TextEdit window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that.
Step 2
There are a few other possible causes of generalized slow performance that you can rule out easily.
Reset the System Management Controller.
If you have many image or video files on the Desktop with preview icons, move them to another folder.
If applicable, uncheck all boxes in the iCloud preference pane.
Disconnect all non-essential wired peripherals and remove aftermarket expansion cards, if any.
Check your keychains in Keychain Access for excessively duplicated items.
Boot into Recovery mode, launch Disk Utility, and run Repair Disk.
If you're booting from an aftermarket SSD, see whether there's a firmware update for it.
If you have a MacBook Pro with dual graphics, disable automatic graphics switching in the Energy Saverpreference pane for better performance at the cost of shorter battery life.
Step 3
When you notice the problem, launch the Activity Monitor application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Activity Monitor in the icon grid.
Select the CPU tab of the Activity Monitor window.
Select All Processes from the menu in the toolbar, if not already selected.
Click the heading of the % CPU column in the process table to sort the entries by CPU usage. You may have to click it twice to get the highest value at the top. What is it, and what is the process? Also post the values for % User, % System, and % Idle at the bottom of the window.
Select the System Memory tab. What values are shown in the bottom part of the window for Page outs and Swap used?
Next, select the Disk Activity tab. Post the approximate values shown for Reads in/sec and Writes out/sec (not Reads in and Writes out.)
Step 4
If you have more than one user account, you must be logged in as an administrator to carry out this step.
Launch the Console application in the same way you launched Activity Monitor. Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Select the 50 or so most recent entries in the log. Copy them to the Clipboard (command-C). Paste into a reply to this message (command-V). You're looking for entries at the end of the log, not at the beginning.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some personal information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting. That should be easy to do if your extract is not too long.

I have a 41/2 year old MacBook running Snow Leopard 10.6. Can I upgrade to Mountain Lion on this machine?

Can I updgrade an old Macbook to Mountain Lion so I can put stuff in iCloud? I am currently running Snow Leopard but I've been told this machine will not upgrade to Lion or Mountain Lion.

First we need to know which one of the 9 different models of MacBook you have. To see which model you have go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac, then click on More Info. When System Profiler comes up check the Model Identifier and post it back here.
The Early 2006 model 1,1 Core Duo can only run a maximum of 10.6 Snow Leopard. The models Late 2006 Core 2 Duos 2,1 through Early 2008 4,1 can only run a maximum of 10.7 Lion. The Late 2008 model 5,1 Aluminum Unibody through the Mid 2010 White Unibody model 7,1 can run 10.8 Mountain Lion.

Old MacBook Pro, Snow Leopard, iMovie 09 and Sony DCR-SX41 Finally Solved!

So this has been a real trial...
Finally got video to import in iMovie09 using the DCR-SX41.
The issue was that the Snow Leopard upgrade trashed a critical file. I found that out here:
http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html
So I purchased the file from Apple, at $21.00.
I downloaded and installed the file, and iMovie "found" the DCR-SX41 just fine!
If you are just coming to this camera, the trick to getting it to work with a Mac is to find the "USB Mode" or "DVD create" button. To find the button:
*Open the viewfinder
*Look at the body of the camera, there are two rows of three "buttons".
*On the top row of buttons, the extreme right button looks like an arrow piercing a DVD (or CD).
*Making sure the camera is connected to the Mac with the USB cable (on external power is helpful), *Press the "pierced DVD" button.
* On my mac, iPhoto 09 starts up, which is annoying. So I quit iPhoto9. It sometimes takes awhile to quit!
*Start iMovie 09
*Open "Import from Camera" under the "File" menu
*The Import window will open, and it will say "Import from iSight".
*In 30 to 120 seconds, yes, a long time, a window will pop up saying "locating DCR-SX41"
*In another 2-4 minutes, the camera will be detected, and the memory cards will be read.
*You can now select and import videos!
The key is waiting for iMovie 09 to detect the camera. It takes forever!
Good Luck!
*

I have tried to download the MPEG STREAMCLIP, as suggested by apple, but after the download is done, when you clic on the icon on desktop, 2 folders appear. One with EXTRAS, with 2 options, About save as AVI.rtf, and another, Save as AVI.component, wich is the one I shoul finalize the instalation of the program, but, when I click on this option, a window appear a ! yellow exclamation mark over the Quicktime Player icon, with the message: 'THE MOVIE COULD NOT BE OPENED" THE SPECIFIED FILE FORK DOES NOT EXIST.".
What else I have to do, to work?, Please, help me!!!!!

Have a 3 year old MacBook Pro and it won't turn on.

We have tried using another power cable and it won't take a charge. WE used our power cable and it works on another computer. We have finals at Va Tech and I need my computer. Can anyone confirm this a battery?

Your point is well taken. My apologies. Look at this and see if there is any useful information:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367
Ciao.

I have a 3 year old mac pro running 10.6.8 should i upgrade to the latest software?

Will the upgrade slow down my computer or will it be more beneficial?
Thanks for any info, D.D.D

There is no way to intelligently answer your question (re: performance). Since you are running what is unsupported software (by Apple), I would seriously consider upating to the latest software.
Barry

My 3 year old Macbook Pro is getting slow..

Hello, i have a 3 year old Macbook Pro which have been great use to me. When i first purchased it, the boot up time was extremely fast, and the general speed of the mac was superb. However 3 years later the machine take at least 3 mins to boot up and is pretty slow when i use it to carry out my daily tasks.
It originally came with Tiger but i upgraded to Leopard, basically i'm after advice on how i can increase the speed or how to make my mac as fast as it was 3 years ago. anyway help or information would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks in advance.

Use a Utility like MainMenu or OnyX to clean out the caches, archived and temporary files.
Do a Parameter RAM reset - hold down apple/option/p/r keys at start up and wait for three chimes before releasing the keys.
Use Disc Inventory X to examine your hard drive and see a) if there's anything there taking a lot of space you can delete and b) that you still have 10%+ free space.
Consider doing a clean install of the OS and all Applications, it's a lot of work but is the one sure way of "starting over"

How to get audio to tv from 4 year old macbook pro

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If you Macbook Pro is a 2009 model the mini display port does not carry audio. You must use a separate audio cable from your computer's audio out to your TV's audio in.

My 3 year-old macbook pro is very slow. I have run disk utility and virus scan with no improvement. The "beach ball" will spin for minutes at a time when opening, closing or changing windows. Apple Store looked at it a few months ago with no help.

my 3 year-old macbook pro is very slow. I have run disk utility and virus scan with no improvement. The "beach ball" will spin for minutes at a time when opening, closing or changing windows. Apple Store looked at it a few months ago with no help. What can I do?

Under CPU: 3.5% user; 5% system; 91% idle; 441 threads; 90 processes.
Under System: out of 2GB - 54.7MB free; 530MB wired; 603MB active; 862MB inactive; 1.95GB used.
Is too much of the system memory tied up? If so, what can I do to free some up?

I have a 3 year old Macbook pro, snow leopard. Do I need to upgrade?

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