Time to upgrade or still life left?

So I'm trying to decide whether upgrade an older laptop that my parents still use or just buy a newer model. It's a 2nd generation Macbook Pro:
2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo
2GB RAM
NVIDIA Geforce 8600M GT 128MB
It's running Mountain Lion right now, and for the most part works adequately. The main issue it's having though is video lag when watching netflix and HD videos off an iPhone 4/5. With Netflix, the audio starts off fine, but then is off sync after a few minutes. With the iPhone video, it's just slideshow.
Anyone have any experiences with upgrading the RAM and HD in this thing. While looking at Activity Monitor during video playback, a lot of RAM is still free, so I'm thinking it's either a CPU or HD issue. Since the CPU is set in stone, I was considering upgrading to a SSD as a last ditch effort to keep it going, otherwise it's time to retire it and move my parents to a more modern system. Maybe I'll just get them iPad Minis.lol
Any opinions, would an SSD help with the issues I mentioned, or is it a lost cause?
One thing, the battery in this laptop totally died, so it's now used in plug-in mode only with the battery reoved. Not sure if that would affect performance any, but just throwing it out there.

A 3.1 model MBP can support up to 6 GB RAM.
Third party batteries entail a degree of risk. I have witnessed a number of dissatisfied purchasers who find that the battery lasts a very short period of time. If you are thinking about the long term, a battery from Apple or OWC might prove to be the better option from a cost perspective.
Swapping HDDs in a pre-Unibody MBP is more involved than the current crop of Unibody MBPs, but not overly difficult if you pay attention to the sequence. I have a 2006 MBP and have done this a number of times.
SSDs are the future but are still not cost effective (my opinion). In addition, the capacity is limited in choice for drives over 500 GB.
I have several 750 GB 7200 rpm HDDs in my inventory, one in my 2010 MBP (Seagate). I can't say that I have noticed any difference in battery life. It may be that there increased speed offsets the additional power required? A 7200 rpm HDD will be faster than a 5400 rpm HDD, but the overall performance increase in a MBP will be very slight, so if the budget is tight, a 5400 rpm HDD will do just fine.
There are advocates and detractors for every brand of HDDs. I generally choose Seagates or HGSTs (Hitachi) principally because those are the ones I have found in my MBPs. If it is good enough for Apple, it is good enough for me.
Ciao.

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6.0 upgrade..still seeing left side menu

I have just upgraded a 4.x install to 6.0 and am still seeing the left nav sidebar. In a new install this, of course, is replaced by the second layer of tabs.
is this a settting I need to change in a config file? Or does the upgrade somehow keep the old .jsp files?
thanks.
--dana

Hi Dana,
I've not tried to update any of previous IDM to 6.0, but once I've had similar issue after upgrade. It has occured when I've modified the .jsp files... An evidence of this can be found in some directory in your IDM root... savedObjects or something like that.
It's just a shoot into a darkness, but maybe it's the same issue.
p.s. Have you tried another browser? (to exclude cache issue)
Ivan

I have an Airport Extreme Base Station and have recently upgraded to Mountain Lion. Now airport utility won't work with my base station so I bought a Time Capsule. For the life of me I can't make the substitution work and only see a blinking amber light.

I have an Airport Extreme Base Station and have recently upgraded to Mountain Lion. Now airport utility won't work with my base station so I bought a Time Capsule. For the life of me I can't make the substitution work and only see a blinking amber light. Can anyone who has made this change offer some advice?

apikoros wrote:
The Utility transferred all of the AE's settings, so I still have to change the password, which leaves me with only 2 other questions, I think:
1) I assume it's just a matter of using the Utility, entering a stronger password and checking for it to be remembered in Keychain Access. But do I have to change the password for each individual unit-- the TC, the Extreme and both Expresses-- or will changing it just for the TC alone work for the entire network?
Resetting the password you will need to do for each device... the utility cannot even see those old units.
So you will have to do it for each one.. think it through.. because as you change passwords the others will lose connection.. so start from the express which are wireless extending .. change those first.. and go back up the chain.. as each one changes it will drop off the network.. until you reach extreme and change that. Then you might need to reboot the whole network to get everything talking again. If something goes wrong.. just pluck that one out of the mix and plug in ethernet.. reset and redo the setup. That is my preferred method anyway.. do everything in isolation one by one. By ethernet and then nothing goes wrong.
2) Who's the treasonous SOB who spilled the beans to you about the ICBM in my back yard?!?
N.Korean hackers.
[Edit] Whoops-- one more question: I want to partition the TC's disk, but Disk Utility doesn't see it. What do I need to do?
You cannot partition a network disk. And apple provided no tools for it in the TC itself. You can pull the disk out and partition it but that voids your warranty. (although done with care who is to know).
Look at Q3 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
Mixing TM and data on the TC is worth planning carefully. They don't necessarily sit happily together.

ITunes could not connect to this iPhone because an unknown error occurred (0xE800001). I'm directly connected to the my Laptop USB 3.0 so no USB problem 1 time I upgrade ios 4.1 (8B117) because of this problem but still haven't good result

iTunes could not connect to this iPhone because an unknown error occurred (0xE800001).
I’m directly connected to the my Laptop USB 3.0 so no USB problem 1 time I upgrade ios 4.1 (8B117) because of this problem but still haven’t good result
anyone please halp me As soon as possible

Since i have upgraded my i phone5 to 7.0.3 it has problem with 3g it display the service message every time, it reduce the battery life also.

since i have upgraded my i phone5 to 7.0.3 it has problem with 3g it display the service message every time, it reduce the battery life also.

Try using Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings.

HT201412 After upgrading my iPhone 4S to IOS 8, Opendoor App doesn't run. I have deleted and downloaded the app several time, but the problem still exists

After upgrading my iPhone 4S to IOS 8, Opendoor App doesn't run. I have deleted and downloaded the app several times, but the problem still exists

Try:
- Reset the iOS device. Nothing will be lost
Reset iOS device: Hold down the On/Off button and the Home button at the same time for at
least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
- Contact the developer/go to there support site
- Reset all settings
Go to Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset All Settings.
All your preferences and settings are reset. Information (such as contacts and calendars) and media (such as songs and videos) aren’t affected.
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Phone shutting down with 75% battery life left.

Hello,
I've had my iPhone 3GS for 1 month and it's developed a problem.
The phone shuts down, and won't let me restart it.
Holding down the power button and home button doesn't revive it, not matter how long I hold it on.
If I plug it into charge, I get the battery symbol with a small red bar on the left, and the lightning symbol at the bottom. The phone still won't allow me to fire it up.
After a short while (1 minute or so) the phone lets me fire it up as per normal. As soon as it's up and running, it's telling me I have greater than 70% battery life left!
I've reset the phone preferences, deleted a load of unwanted apps (I was nowhere near full on memory capacity though) and restarted the phone by holding hte power and home buttons until the apple appears. This hasn't solved the problem.
I'm going to try and run it totally flat (whatever that seems to mean) and give it a full charge a few times.
Has anyone else come across this problem?
Thanks in advance,
Pip

Hi,
Exactly the same problem here. I left it to charge for hours, but the red, low battery bar would not dissapear. When I unplugged it, the phone turned off after a few seconds. I managed to turn it back on a few times, and it showed battery charges of approx. 80%. But after a few minutes, it shut down automatically and showed the low batt symbol again . I returned it to the store. No news yet.

Time to upgrade, but concerned...

Hi...I currently have an iBook G4, and while I love this little white book, it is deffently time to upgrade. I have droped this puppy more then once and now it is a permenent desktop due to hinge damage.
Anyways, im thinking of buying a new macbook, but a couple things concern me.
1. Ive heard the new macbooks overheat like a vintage PSX during ff7. haha.....you know what i mean...(if you don't, look up some PSX game system history...lol). Anyways, my ibooks fan never turns on. during the 2+ years that ive owned it, its maybe turned on 5 times, and that was usually during WOW. It also scared the crap outta me, because it would just turn on and id hear this wizzing noise.
2. Sence apple is still somewhat experimenting with the intell chips, im still concerned on how they are working out. Any personal thoughts, experiances...ect.
Any help would be greatly appriciated.
Thanks. Derek =]

1. Ive heard the new macbooks overheat like a
vintage PSX during ff7.
I got mine 5 months ago and when I first got it, it did run hot. But after the firmware update, it's been beautiful. I mean it never seems to get hot. Not even toasty-warm.
And I rarely noticed the fans running, though, of course, sometimes they do.
2. Sence apple is still somewhat experimenting with the intell chips, im
still concerned on how they are working out.
Again, there were some hiccups at the very beginning, but at this point the experimentation is waaay over. Every new Mac is using them and they're working out brilliantly. Lightening speed and great performance.
Upgrade, guy. You will be amazed not just by the speed and performance of this machine, but by its stunningly beautiful screen, the incredibly responsive keyboard and being able to use the built-in camera. It's really a fantastic machine.

Time to upgrade my 1st Generation Airport Extreme?

As the title says, thinking it's time to upgrade my 1st Generation Airport Extreme (Draft 'n') to the latest 5th generation model, just to be clear my existing Extreme is the current form factor white square design and not the very earlier dome version (although I did have one of those too once upon a time).
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With my current iMac networked to the wall mounted Fibre (1000 Mbps ethernet) router via Cat 5e I'm getting amazing speeds on speedtest.net (i.e 760 Mbps down and 228 Mbps up), however when wirelessly connected to the Extreme with my iPhone 4S and MacBook (Black) I get the following speedtest.net results:
iPhone 4S: 17 Mbps down and 34 Mbps up
Macbook: 24 Mbps down and 63 Mbps up
(Interesting that the uploads seem to have better connection/throughput than the downloads, normally the opposite applies?)
I understand that the current Extreme is somewhat crippled as it features 100 Mbps Ethernet ports (latest models have 1000 Mbps), however the wireless speeds still seem way below what I would expect (i.e. nearer 100 Mbps), both the 4S and Macbook are within feet of the Extreme.
The Extreme is set to 'n' only 2.4 Ghz, bridge mode (letting the wall mounted Fibre router do all the routing/DHCP work) via Ethernet Cat5 from one of the 4 Ethernet ports on the wall mounted Fibre router to the Extreme WAN port, tried various channels, 1, 6 and 11. Current Firmware 7.6.1 on the extreme. I have also disabled the wireless connection/network on the Fibre router to avoid any possible interference with the Airport network.
So my main question is, should I look to upgrade to the latest Extreme model, will this improve the wireless speeds, based on my setup what wireless speeds could/should I expect with a new Extreme, or am I missing/overlooking something within the current setup?
Thanks in advance.

Thanks John, this certainly helped.
Speedtest.net results:
2.5 Ghz n: 19 Mbps down and 53 Mbps up
5.0 Ghz n: 28 Mbps down and 58 Mbps up
It also came to light that I wasn't using the best of the speedtest.net servers to do my testing, by accident I selected a different one (Newbury UK - Vodafone) to the one I had been using (Milton Keynes UK) and the Newbury server indicated download speeds of around 50 Mbps, which I feel much happier with.
Seriously considering a new Extreme for the simultaneous 'n' networks, 1000 Mbps ports and no doubt improved components, antenna etc.
Will report back if/when set up.
Thanks again.

Is it time to upgrade my Macbook's RAM?

I have a Macbook 2nd generation (2 GHz, 1 GB memory).
When I open Photoshop CS2 or Illustrator CS2, it tells me that my memory is running low.
Also when I have several programs open, such as iTunes, Safari, and iChat, they seem to run slower.
ALSO I've discovered the Activity Monitor and been watching it...when I have Illustrator and a few other programs open, it says I only have 17.31 MB of free memory left. Also it may state 66063/4749 (for example) for Pages ins/outs.
In conclusion, does this mean it's time to upgrade my Macbook's memory? I've had this laptop for almost 3 years now and it's definitely held up way better than my previous HP laptop.
If I need to upgrade the RAM, how much does Apple charge for installing it themselves? I don't think I'm confident enough to install it myself.
Any thoughts would be very appreciated. Thanks!

You can install the memory yourself, you just need a size 0 philips screwdriver (avail in any hardware store or radio shack). Memory is cheap, I would go to 3 or 4g (I think your model can only address 3g). See http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Models.cfm?stype=Memory&0133 and http://eshop.macsales.com/Reviews/Framework.cfm?page=/Tips/macbookcore23gb/macbo okcore23gb.html

I wish I could remember what exactly happenned the last time I upgraded iphoto years ago, but something

I wish I could remember what exactly happenned the last time I upgraded iPhoto years ago. Did my address book go kaflooey? But whateverit was, it discouraged me from any updating eversince. Believe it or not, I have been limping along with Iphoto 6.0.6 and basically faring fine, given my needs. But I would now like to be able to order prints from my photo library -- and you can't do that any longer with 6. So my question is: what are the things that
can go wrong with the later systems? And is there any way around having that happen?

Make a back up.
Make a second.
Upgrade. Get on with your life.
Regards
TD

System beep every time I mouse to the lower left hand screen corner

Can anyone help me with this?
Every time I mouse to the lower left hand corner of the screen, I get a system beep.
I am using a Mac Book Pro with a 24 inch Cinema Display attached.
I do not use Expose or Spaces, I have no hot corners set.
I have no hot corners set for the screen saver.
Any suggestions?

Sounds like the beep I get when I go to the upper right corner, for which I've set the "All windows" in expose. Try this: go to System Prefs >expose&spaces, and set your lower left corner for all windows. Then close system prefs, and throw your mouse into the lower left corner to activate expose. Then go back to system prefs and set that corner for nothing (just the dash). Now try it and see if that beep still happens.

TS1424 when i try to purchase a movie or tv show from apple tv, the message comes back that I must go to itunes store on my computer and authorize the purchase, which I have done several times but apple tv still won't let it happen

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Aladane wrote:
Why is it they claim to sell you something they do NOT intend on allowing you access to for the life of your account?
It is not Apple that decides this. Since Apple is just the retailer, they do not own the copyrights to the content they sell on the iTunes store, if the copyright owner decides to remove something from the store that you have purchased Apple must abide by the terms of their licenseing agreements and remove it. Regretablly this also removes the items from your purchase history. This is why it is up to you to download and backup all of your purchases if you wish to maintain your investment.
In the Apple KB article Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore and iTunes Store, and in many other places, it is clearly stated:
It is recommended that you always back up your iTunes library in the event that a purchased item is no longer available on the iTunes Store. For more information about backing up your library, see this article.

From the time i upgraded to os lion my battery backup from 7 hours became 4 hours, how do i resolve it?

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When you upgrade to Lion, Spotlight will re-index your hard drive. This happens only once, but can take a while and may eat a lot of battery. Is still Spotlight indexing? If yes, then check your battery amount in the coming days after the indexing is complete. If Spotlight is done indexing, do the same and check it the coming days.

I have the 4th Generation Airport Extreme, is it time to upgrade?

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Cheers,
Andrew

In order to take advantage of the new 802.11ac performance on the new AirPort Extreme, you will have to buy one or more new MacBook Air laptops.
That is the only computer offered by Apple that can utilize the 802.11ac capabilities of the new AirPort Extreme.
Apple indicates that new Mac Book Pros with 802.11ac capability will be introduced at a later time.
You will receive no real performance benefit with the new AirPort Extreme using your current wireless devices. The only exception might be a bit better signal reception with the new "tower" antenna design.
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Time to upgrade or still life left?

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