Looking to Buy - but questions first

I'm looking at buying an AppleTV, primarily to play home movies that are saved on the computer (and to see pictures saved on computer).
Here's the dilemma - the computer in question is a Windows XP machine. Does AppleTV play nice with Windows XP?
I also have a MBP that shares iTunes library with the desktop PC. Will AppleTV see both computers/iTunes libraries? They should stay synced but I don't know what to expect from this kind of setup.
Do the videos that AppleTV will play have to be in iTunes, or can I have a directory full of videos instead of importing all of them to iTunes?

I don't have a windows machine so I can't answer that question. ATV will see both libraries as long as they are both under the same account.
The videos have to be in iTunes and the computer must be on to use home-sharing (streaming from computer to apple tv).
If you have an ios device (itouch, iphone, ipad) you can use that and stream directly

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Looking to buy, but questions about wireless

I am hoping to buy a macbook very soon, but I have some questions about the wireless. I have heard that you can only use an apple router for the wireless, but already have a regular Linksys router. Is this going to be a problem?

I have been using a Linksys with Macs for two years and never had a problem.

Going to buy a new MBP 17, but questions first

Hi all, looking to buy a custom build new Feb'11 refresh MBP 17 as soon as possible, but have a number of questions.
(As background, Im a freelance IT software developer and professional music producer/DJ/performer - need the laptop to support both activities - Mac OS for music, Windows 7/64 for IT work).
1. Intel support chipset flaw - does anyone know EXACTLY what Apple have done regarding this?
I am guess one of:
1. Waited for replacement from intel - shipping seems too soon.
2. Only use the 3Gbps ports and not using the 6Gbps ports (Net contains suggestions that Apple made a 'logic tweak' to get aorund the issue, which sounds to me like they intended to use the 6Gbps ports and downgraded back to the 3Gbps ports - if so will postpone purchase, but I need to know one way or the other)
2. I am tempted by 256GB SSD rather than a mechanical HD as the laptop is likely to be used near very loud PA systems. Should I go with Apple or just take the cheapest mechanical HD and sort out an SSD myself?
3. Because I also need to have alot of online storage, then I am also tempted by an OptiBay mod to replace the otical drive with an additional SSD in the future (160GB sample library, music files etc).
4. Is Apple care worthwhile and is apple care support impacted by swapping out the HD or optical drive and going with an Optibay etc?
5. I need to also run windows 7/64 via bootcamp as a second and heavily used OS as I still make much of my living from IT work as well as music. Pre-refresh MBPs were not exactly perfect for running windows - power management etc. Does anyone know if this situation has improved post refresh? Is the situation likely to be even worse with thunderbolt / display etc?
Thanks all for any answer anyone might be able to give
A
Message was edited by: Khazul

You can read my initial view of the i7 17" Quad Core here: http://www.markc.me.uk/MarkC/Blog/Entries/2011/2/25Early_2011_MacbookPro.html
The unit supports SATA 3 & SATA 6: http://grab.by/9adG
I have a 240Gb SSD and a 1Tb normal hard drive in place of the SuperDrive. It's a great solution - personally I'd sort an SSD myself rather than buy Apple's.
Swapping out the SuperDrive does void you warranty as far as I know.
I run virtualised Win7 x64 all day every day and it's ace.

Looking to buy but have some questions

I'm currently using a Mac Mini and Frontrow, I'm hoping to replace this with the AppleTV but have a couple of questions I hope someone can help with.
1) Can the screen saver display photos from iPhotos on the Apple TV, same
way as a Mac does.
2) I'm looking to export all my movies from EyeTV to the AppleTV format, all
my movies have descriptions in them and I know these are exported to the
AppleTV format. However does AppleTV show you this information when
you browse your movies, I know Front row doesn't
3) Can you just "copy" movies to the AppleTV or do they have to be synced,
as I have a small drive on my Macbook, it would be great to just copy them
over to the AppleTV and deleted them from my Macbook.
A lot of questions I know but would really appreciate any help

1) Can the screen saver display photos from iPhotos on the Apple TV, same
way as a Mac does.
Slightly differently, I'd say better.
2) I'm looking to export all my movies from EyeTV to the AppleTV format, all
my movies have descriptions in them and I know these are exported to the
AppleTV format. However does AppleTV show you this information when
you browse your movies, I know Front row doesn't
The tv shows some fields on the tv screen, eyetv doesn't always put these descriptions where tv can best use them, however it isn't too difficult to move them around in get info.
3) Can you just "copy" movies to the AppleTV or do they have to be synced,
as I have a small drive on my Macbook, it would be great to just copy them
over to the AppleTV and deleted them from my Macbook.
No they have to be synced. You can use an external drive for your itunes library though.

Looking to buy, SSD question, and more..

Howdy,
I have a MacBook Air (original, 3 years old or more). I love it. I have the SSD. I love it too.
I have had a few MBP's in the past with normal HD. However, I have never used a MBP with an SSD...
I am intending to buy a MBP (15" or 17") and am curious if the normal HD is loud/buzz/issue ? I am spoiled by the silence of the SSD, but the cost is a lot, so if the newer MBP's have improved HD's then maybe it will be ok..
Any one have any experience with both SSD and normal HD's on a MBP?
Also, any issues for the 17" I should know about?
Thanks!

Mfoster wrote:
Howdy,
I have a MacBook Air (original, 3 years old or more). I love it. I have the SSD. I love it too.
I have had a few MBP's in the past with normal HD. However, I have never used a MBP with an SSD...
I am intending to buy a MBP (15" or 17") and am curious if the normal HD is loud/buzz/issue ? I am spoiled by the silence of the SSD, but the cost is a lot, so if the newer MBP's have improved HD's then maybe it will be ok..
Any one have any experience with both SSD and normal HD's on a MBP?
Also, any issues for the 17" I should know about?
Thanks!
I had the new MBP (late 2011 and early 2011) with both original Apple HDDs and now an original SSD, and I can say that the former two (both the Hitachi 7200rpm and Toshiba 5400rpm versions) had this constant buzzing. I never heard it on my 2009 or 2007 MBPs, so it's something new... not so loud, but having an SSD now, I can say it'd be really annoying to go back to it.
I'd reccomend you buy the MBP with the HDD anyway, and then buy an SSD seperately, change it yourself, and use the HDD as an external drive (in an enclosure you can find on eBay).

TS1424 itune store will drop down what I am looking to buy- but will not let me click on it so I can buy a song

help me- cannot get a song from the itune store- I put in the name- the list drops down but will not let me opne it so I can buy

help me- cannot get a song from the itune store- I put in the name- the list drops down but will not let me opne it so I can buy

Looking to Buy; Several Questions

1. I am ripping my entire DVD collection to several hds (over 1,000 dvd). They show
up in folder: VIDEO_TS. They play fine with Apple DVD player.
Will Apple TV Play this files? My family is using the WD TV live media hub and it works fine.
I really want to us Apple TV. Will this work.
Thanks for any help.

I'll answer anyway; the Apple TV cannot play those files, since they're MPEG-2 which the Apple TV cannot support. And if these are commercial and hence copy-protected DVDs, we can't discuss any solutions here since breaking the encryption on the DVD is illegal in the US due to the idiotic provisions in the DMCA.
Regards.

HT201269 Have new iPhone 5s and older iPad ( looking to buy new iPad ) question for both is should I hook them up to mu computer and back up the computer on each devise and sink and than the next one. The second question is should I do the I pad first ca

Have new iPhone 5s and older iPad ( looking to buy new iPad ) question for both is should I hook them up to y computer and back up the computer on each devise and sink and than the next one. The second question is should I do the I pad first cause it has photos in my email that have not been downloaded and it is one of or is the first model

No it's not stealing. They have an allowance that you can share with so many computers/devices. You'll have to authorize her computer to play/use anything bought on your acct. You can do this under the Store menu at top when iTunes is open on her computer.
As far as getting it all on her computer....I think but I am not sure (because I don't use the feature) but I think if you turn on Home Sharing in iTunes it may copy the music to her computer. I don't know maybe it just streams it. If nothing else you can sign into your acct on her computer and download it all to her computer from the cloud. Not sure exactly how to go about that, I haven't had to do that yet. I wonder if once you authorize her computer and then set it up for automatic downloads (under Edit>Preferences>Store) if everything would download. Sorry I'm not much help on that.

Im looking to buy the new ipad but Iv a question. I can only afford either the 16gb with cellular or the 32gb without cellular...if one HAD to pick between the two what would u pick

I'm looking to buy the new ipad but I've a question. I can only afford either the 16gb with cellular or the 32gb without cellular. If one HAD to pick between bigger storage space or the added cellular which would u pick? Please help!

Like I said, I only have WiFi iPads, and don't know much at all about the data plans, but I don't think that you have to commit to a long term contract and I believe that there are plans that you can cancel at any time. My point is that if you sign up for a plan, and you use it say 4 months out of the year, you could be spending that money that you saved on the original cost of the iPad and even more in the future.
Actually, you can look at the AT&T plans here.
http://www.att.com/ipad/#fbid=HZQiE7ToAE6

Hi - was looking to buy a macbook air soon but wanted to get it with lion software....anyone know when that is available and second question is what is best software for personal money management that works with lion.....use quicken now thanks

Hi - was looking to buy a macbook air soon but wanted to get it with lion software....anyone know when that is available and second question is what is best software for personal money management that works with lion.....use quicken now thanks

quicken should work with lion.
Quicken Essentials will work with Lion. Most people that have used Quicken for a while (i.e. Quicken 2007) have found that Quicken Essentials isn't much better than a basic spreadsheet. It is a significant step down from previous versions and does not offer many of the features previously offered. Right now, it seems like the two most common options are iBank and MoneyDance.
Frankly... this is a major opportunity for these companies. The largest commercial distributor of this type of product has been Intuit (Quicken). That makes it hard for any other company to get any of that market as so many people were already using Quicken and may have had years of data stored in it. Now, with Quicken effectively out of the picture, it's a great chance for another company. Just imagine if iPhones were suddenly off the market. That would give other manufacturers a tremendous opportunity since they wouldn't have to fight an up hill battle against a market giant.

Looking to buy a MacBook, but I have some questions.

Hey, i'm looking to buy a Macbook for school, but I want to know if I can buy a Macbook without the hard drive or ram. I have a compatable hard drive and ram already, and my dad has a family license for Tiger.
So... can I buy a Macbook without the RAM/HD/OS? (I can't seem to find an option for that in the store).
Thanks,
MIkeB

Thanks RadE8! My dad bought a MacBook Pro, but then upgraded the HD and the RAM, so i was hoping that I could use the stuff that came with it... Ah well.
Thanks again,
MIkeB

HT5312 I'm trying to buy iTunes for first time, but can't verify security questions.

I'm trying to buy iTunes for first time and can't answer security questions.
<Personal Information Edited by Host>

The page that you posted from has instructions for how to reset them i.e. if you have a rescue email address (which is not the same thing as an alternate email address) set up on your account then steps 1 to 5 half-way down that page should give you a reset link.
If you don't have a rescue email address (you won't be able to add one until you can answer your questions) then you will need to contact iTunes Support / Apple in your country to get the questions reset (these are user-to-user forums).
Contacting Apple about account security : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5699
When they've been reset (and if you don't already have a rescue email address) you can then use the steps half-way down the HT5312 page that you posted from to add a rescue email address for potential future use

Looking to buy my first Mac computer product. . .

Hey there Mac support users! I'm looking to buy my first Mac computer product, and I am currently caught indecisive between the 13in and the 15 inch Macbook Pro. I have been over the technical specifications of both, and I do not really want to push out the 1700$ it would cost to buy the 15 inch if getting the 13 would be just as effective for my purposes. And of course, here is some background info on me:
I am currently a college student (hooray education pricing), and am also a musician who plays guitar, bass, some keys, and does vocals.
I will be using the Macbook for some light gaming (Diablo III with friends, maybe some other stuff later), but I am specifically wondering about which version to buy as concerns Pro Tools and audio recording -- something I plan on getting into after purchasing the Macbook.
I am aware that the 15 inch has a more powerful processor able to handle more things at once, which may come in handy while utilizing Pro Tools. In addition, I have noticed that the 15 inch Macbook version comes with two built in 3.5mm jacks on the side -- one for audio in, and the other for audio out (as compared to the standard headphone jack of the 13inch model). I am curious to know whether having the two separate jacks would be ultimately beneficial for music recording, or would it simply be better/cheaper to buy the 13 inch and get an adapter for the headphone jack?
I guess, in sum, I am just looking for some pointers in the best direction -- which would be best for a musician using Pro Tools: cheaper normal/super version of the 13 inch? Or the more expensive yet powerful 15inch model?
Any help is greatly appreciated
Thanks!

Hi Ziatheral, and welcome to the forums!
You've asked a lot of really good questions, and I'll do my best to be helpful.
For starters, you'll need to know that Pro Tools requires a 7200 RPM hard drive. Your standard off the shelf Mac ships with a 5200 RPM drive, so you will need to custom order a machine to meet specs.
Pro Tools is not yet officially qualified to run on Mountain Lion, although some users report it runs ok for them. It will take Avid a while to release an up-to-date version of Pro Tools.
You can NEVER have too much screen real estate. I've run Pro Tools on a 27" monitor, and even the 15" screen seems tiny by comparison. You get better graphics on the 15" monitor, too.
When recording, most artists use some kind of breakout box for mic preamping and monitoring. It's cool to think that the built in inputs and outputs will work, and in some cases they will, but that method is far from how pro recording is done. Many people like the Apogee Duet 2 for this:
http://apogeedigital.com/products/duet2.php
Personally, I'm kind of cheap, and if you're not going to be using MIDI, I like the Mackie Blackjack. I can at least afford one of those more easily:
http://www.mackie.com/products/onyxblackjack/
You have some time. It'll probably be a month or two before Pro Tools is ready to run on Mountain Lion. Keep looking. Do your homework. Don't just take somebody's word for it (including mine). And write if you have any more questions. The community is here for you.

Looking to buy a MP Retina - A few questions!?

Hi, first time I have posted on here, looking to buy a 15" Macbook pro with retina display, 16gb ram and 2.6 ghz. I know a bit about laptops but not in depth so a few of these questions might seem a bit stupid.
1. On my current laptop when I watch Videos online, HD or standard, the fan gets loud and it heats up alot making the video choppy so I need to pause it and wait until it cools down a bit. Does the same apply to a laptop of this spec or will it run the videos much better without getting too loud and warm?
2. I also play Football Manager 13, again on my current laptop, the fan gets loud and makes the game run slow can I expect the pro to run it very well and fairly easily while doing other things, like being on skype and just general browing?
3. How good is the graphics card in the pro, I am not looking for anything amazing as I know macs arent known for the gaming experiance just something that can run a few games on a reasonable level.
4. Are apples office applications any good compared to MS office, mainly numbers and pages?
5. Does the Retina display make videos look worse that are not optimized for it, or do videos just look the same and HD videos will look better?
6. Lastly, in terms of futureproofing can i expect this laptop to last at least 4 years in terms of being powerful enough to accomodate future software programs such as autocad and other programs?
Thanks

Hello, and welcome.
1. That just sounds like an overheating CPU (doens't mean it's a bad CPU necessarily), most likely (very) old laptop. This kind of stuff will not happen even on a $400 laptop (windows) being sold nowadays. It definitely won't get loud because playing HD vids is not a taxing task for the CPU/RAM/Video Card in the retina MacBook Pro.
2. You will not have a problem running FM13 + the OS + skype + multi-tab browsers, at the same time. Generally, when you want to have multiple things going on at the same time, your computer gets slow because of two reasons: your hard drive cannot retrieve the data you request fast enough, and the computer has used up all of its RAM resources and is trying to dump non-critical RAM content to your hard drive which in turn gets back to the first problem I mentioned.
3. The video card that's in the 15" retina MBP is NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M. It has a 3DMark score of 2190 - definitely not a gamer rig. Here's a comprehensive list of games this laptop's video adapter can handle: http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu/NVIDIA+GeForce+GT+650M/games
4. Office applications are comparable to that of Microsoft's, if you stick to simple stuff (for example, writing math equations in Pages is the biggest headache). However, there's a steep learning curve due to the multi-pane interface Apple employs. Esentially, you have a different layout, different shortcuts, different effects in Keynote. There's also Office for mac which is probably the silliest solution Microsoft has come up with: an office Suite that doesn't share the same features with its windows counterpart. If you save a file in Word on the Mac and then open it up in Windows most of the stuff is in the right place - but quite a bit of your layout and formatting gets messed up. Heck, even on Windows, if you format a document in Word 2013 and open it up in Word 2007 it will be different. So, don't have great expectations of being compatible with your windows buddies, it's going to be a pain most of the time.
5. I have no idea, I did not play with a retina display enough. Logically speaking though, I would expect the vidoes to be much more enlarged when you full screen on that display as opposed to a 1080p one. HD videos will also be up-scaled, but not quite as much. So overall, I expect video to look a little less than crisp (not in the sense of being able to notice individual pixels...) on the retina display. But go ahead and test it out on a mac at the apple store - fire up a youtube video.
6. This is probably Apple's first step towards alienating people who know the least bit about hardware. I refuse to buy a retina MacBook Pro because I can't even upgrade my RAM. Everything is soldered onto the logic board, which means that in 1 year from the point when you buy your mac, if the RAM fails, they'll replace the whole logic board/mother board rather than the relatively cheap RAM stick. And worse of all, you'll have to pay the premium for that, since your warranty will have expired. So if you're looking at upgrading RAM/HDD in this machine down the road, I'm afraid you're out of luck. This machine will be obsolete in a year or so (Apple releases updates to their MacBook Pro lines every year or so), and in 2 years expect to be left out of some features. For example, 2010 MacBook Pro owners cannot use AirPlay mirroring with their shiny new Apple TV in 2012.
And here's some extra information for you to consider: You're paying a really high premium for hardware that's not worth that much. Just as a reference point, I put 16GB of RAM in my 2011 MBP for $120. If I were to upgrade from Apple, I would have paid $200 for 2x4GB (because Apple does not officially say that the laptop works with 16GB of RAM).
If you're looking to game some, just get a serious Alienware gaming laptop or an MSI one for way less and way more powerful, and more future-proof than the retina MBP. For example, most of those gaming laptops come with 2 HDD bays which allow you to RAID 2 SSDs (that translates into mind-blowingly fast boot ups, game loading screens will be a thing of the past).
In my opinion, there's only 2 advantages of owning a MBP over any other comparable laptop:
1. Looks (it's very well crafted) and battery life (well designed power saving features, more than battery capacity)
2. OS X-only software like Final Cut Pro, Coda...

I am going to buy a new external hard drive and have some questions first

Although I asked this question several years ago, I would like to ask it again, just if in case technology in general or external hard drives in particular have changed in any significant ways.
I need to replace a 1 terabyte LaCie external hard drive that died on me after a few years.
1. I am afraid of buying another LaCie. What other brands are reliable? I heard that Western Digital is. Also another brand beginnibg with S (so helpful, I know).
2. Do I have to look for a drive that is MAC FORMATTED? I vaguely recall this term from years ago. I also remember another term that I was to look out for, but I don't remember what it was. Something like ”chronicled“ but obviously not that.
3. Should I get more than 1 terabyte? Right now I have an old, old 125 gigabyte LaCie that still lives, but it is so small that it is almost nothing
4. What do you think about buying external hard drives fron Costco as opposed to from the Apple Store?
~L

Ziatron, you wrote ”All you do is open the enclosure and the hard drive plugs in. (done.)“ What enclosure?
This is the enclosure I like, it needs a hard drive to work : http://www.cooldrives.com/ox93saiihadr.html
But there are many others.
looking at my two dead laCie ext. hard drives and they don't have ”enclosures.“ Just holes in the back to receive the cables.
A hard drive enclosure is a box or case the actual hard drive goes into. Look at the images in the link above. You can see what is inside.
This hard drive goes inside the above cool drive enclosure: http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Intellipower-Desktop-WD20EADS/dp/B001RB1TI S/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258862242&sr=8-1
You recommended getting a hard drive with a Firewire connection, but most of the hard drives have USB.
Well maybe, the better drives are Firewire.
Should that matter to me?
Yes, Firewire is "isochronous", basically meaning that you can pump "clocked" data though it in real time. USB works more like TCPIP, with the data chopped up into packets and later reassembled. (Thus, at a minimum, you have latency, that is, the wait for the data to be "put back together".) Second, the Firewire protocol allows more direct address to memory (including mass storage) with minimal intervention of the CPU.
Is USB a whole lot slower than Firewire if I am transferring materials?
Firewire is faster and _more reliable._
Take a look at the link below, "Build Your Own External Hard Drive". The enclosure I like is easier to use.
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/tips/hard_drive/
http://macs.about.com/od/diyguidesprojects/ss/externalhdcase.htm
Also you need a Mac Pro to use eSATA, with a iMac use the Firewire port.

Looking to Buy - but questions first

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