The Mac Thread - Page 3

Shorty · 10-01-2007, 03:30 PM

As with a lot of computer gear, you get what you pay for so the more money you put down, the more capable equipment you'll be able to buy. It all depends on how much you're willing to throw down. Apple gear is great for graphic design and DTP work, which is why a lot of professional graphic designers and publishers use Macs. Whatever you buy, I recommend it has a decent size screen as that'll give you a larger canvas to work on. For desktop, maybe a 20" iMac. Or you could get a 15" MacBook Pro laptop. Either one of those would be good starting out. And as Norman pointed out, you can get some pretty good educational discounts.

Let us know how it goes. 8)

ZeRgY · 10-01-2007, 08:47 PM

Mummy always said that if I can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all...

*blushes*

:O

Shorty · 12-01-2007, 04:03 PM

And what did she say about saying stuff that made sense? :P

Shorty · 25-03-2007, 03:51 AM

Okay, obviously the Mac users among you have been pretty quiet so I think I'll break the silence.

Today, I discovered quite a sizeable bulge in my MacBook Pro's battery. Being quite familar with the "Sony exploding battery" fiasco, I immediately removed it and took it in to the Apple store to get it replaced. Bottom line, I am confined to AC power until about mid-next week.

I also managed to fix a problem I've had since installing Boot Camp (which wasn't getting the Mac to automatically boot into OS X - that was fixed by restoring the drive to a single partition using Boot Camp Assistant), and that's getting the unit to "hibernate" or "safe sleep". For the past few days, I've been losing my session whenever I run out of power and I eventually discovered that it was because the laptop's sleep mode had been changed and I hadn't set it back to hibernate. Current Intel Macs use a sort of hybrid "safe sleep" mode that keeps power to (and thus the contents of) the RAM by running it off the battery when the lid is closed and the system is sleeping but also saves the memory to the hard drive as a backup so that if power is lost, the session can restored from there instead (you might notice that if you open the lid and the screen is greyed out with a white progress bar across the bottom - it means your laptop is waking from hiberation).

I've also been a bit annoyed at how often I'm asked for the Administrator password ever since I made myself a regular user. For this reason, I now try to change system settings as little as possible (which I suppose can be a good thing :P).

Also, who's looking forward to Leopard?

Pai Mel · 25-03-2007, 04:00 AM

Hey, if you have any designer friends, try and get them to calibrate your Mac's screen with an Eye-One Match Pro. It makes everything look better. Lucky for me my bro is into photography - he imported a monitor calibrator from the US and these things apparently cost like $2000 over here.

Looking forward to what Leopard can do. Don't think I'll install it on my G4 though. I want a slow computer. Not a very slow computer, hehe. I wish CPU upgrade cards were cheaper. It makes more sense to just get a Mini instead.

Shorty · 25-03-2007, 04:10 AM

Actually, OS X upgrades usually don't make the system slower at all. They may even improve performance because Apple optimises existing features with each new release as well as adding new ones.

Pai Mel · 25-03-2007, 04:34 AM

I dunno... they've already had many updates since 10.0.

10.5 is adding all these new animations and Time Machine and desktop spaces. I can't imagine it running as fast as it is now on my Mac. Heck my video card doesn't even support Quartz Extreme.

My Mac is almost twice as fast running OS 9. But it doesn't look as nice.

Shorty · 25-03-2007, 05:12 AM

Are you running a desktop or a laptop? Because you'd have to go pretty far back to find a G4 that doesn't support Quartz Extreme (like, a first-run PowerMac G4 or a first-run PowerBook G4).

Pai Mel · 25-03-2007, 05:22 AM

I have the Gigabit Ethernet model. Dual 500MHz. ATI Rage Pro with a whopping 16 MB of video ram. 896 MB SDRAM. About 1/2 a terabyte of HD space. Lol, def. time for an upgrade, methinks. I still love it to bits though. Foist computer (and only) I've ever bought.

At least I know that I can install Leopard if I wanted to, unlike Microsoft Vista which requires a fairly new PC.

Shorty · 25-03-2007, 05:32 AM

Yeah, that's a little thing that impresses me about Macs. You can go a shockingly long time without upgrading your hardware. Unless you're me, that is. 8)

10-01-2007, 03:30 PM	#21
Shorty Super Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 3,879	As with a lot of computer gear, you get what you pay for so the more money you put down, the more capable equipment you'll be able to buy. It all depends on how much you're willing to throw down. Apple gear is great for graphic design and DTP work, which is why a lot of professional graphic designers and publishers use Macs. Whatever you buy, I recommend it has a decent size screen as that'll give you a larger canvas to work on. For desktop, maybe a 20" iMac. Or you could get a 15" MacBook Pro laptop. Either one of those would be good starting out. And as Norman pointed out, you can get some pretty good educational discounts. Let us know how it goes. 8) __________________

10-01-2007, 08:47 PM	#22
ZeRgY Crash Bandicoot Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Adelaide Posts: 43	Mummy always said that if I can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all... blushes :O __________________ My homepage

12-01-2007, 04:03 PM	#23
Shorty Super Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 3,879	And what did she say about saying stuff that made sense? :P __________________

25-03-2007, 03:51 AM	#24
Shorty Super Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 3,879	Okay, obviously the Mac users among you have been pretty quiet so I think I'll break the silence. Today, I discovered quite a sizeable bulge in my MacBook Pro's battery. Being quite familar with the "Sony exploding battery" fiasco, I immediately removed it and took it in to the Apple store to get it replaced. Bottom line, I am confined to AC power until about mid-next week. I also managed to fix a problem I've had since installing Boot Camp (which wasn't getting the Mac to automatically boot into OS X - that was fixed by restoring the drive to a single partition using Boot Camp Assistant), and that's getting the unit to "hibernate" or "safe sleep". For the past few days, I've been losing my session whenever I run out of power and I eventually discovered that it was because the laptop's sleep mode had been changed and I hadn't set it back to hibernate. Current Intel Macs use a sort of hybrid "safe sleep" mode that keeps power to (and thus the contents of) the RAM by running it off the battery when the lid is closed and the system is sleeping but also saves the memory to the hard drive as a backup so that if power is lost, the session can restored from there instead (you might notice that if you open the lid and the screen is greyed out with a white progress bar across the bottom - it means your laptop is waking from hiberation). I've also been a bit annoyed at how often I'm asked for the Administrator password ever since I made myself a regular user. For this reason, I now try to change system settings as little as possible (which I suppose can be a good thing :P). Also, who's looking forward to Leopard? __________________

25-03-2007, 04:10 AM	#26
Shorty Super Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 3,879	Actually, OS X upgrades usually don't make the system slower at all. They may even improve performance because Apple optimises existing features with each new release as well as adding new ones. __________________

25-03-2007, 04:00 AM	#25
Pai Mel X360 GT: Meld Magic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Alpoko Posts: 2,125	Hey, if you have any designer friends, try and get them to calibrate your Mac's screen with an Eye-One Match Pro. It makes everything look better. Lucky for me my bro is into photography - he imported a monitor calibrator from the US and these things apparently cost like $2000 over here. Looking forward to what Leopard can do. Don't think I'll install it on my G4 though. I want a slow computer. Not a very slow computer, hehe. I wish CPU upgrade cards were cheaper. It makes more sense to just get a Mini instead.

25-03-2007, 04:34 AM	#27
Pai Mel X360 GT: Meld Magic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Alpoko Posts: 2,125	I dunno... they've already had many updates since 10.0. 10.5 is adding all these new animations and Time Machine and desktop spaces. I can't imagine it running as fast as it is now on my Mac. Heck my video card doesn't even support Quartz Extreme. My Mac is almost twice as fast running OS 9. But it doesn't look as nice.

25-03-2007, 05:12 AM	#28
Shorty Super Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 3,879	Are you running a desktop or a laptop? Because you'd have to go pretty far back to find a G4 that doesn't support Quartz Extreme (like, a first-run PowerMac G4 or a first-run PowerBook G4). __________________

25-03-2007, 05:22 AM	#29
Pai Mel X360 GT: Meld Magic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Alpoko Posts: 2,125	I have the Gigabit Ethernet model. Dual 500MHz. ATI Rage Pro with a whopping 16 MB of video ram. 896 MB SDRAM. About 1/2 a terabyte of HD space. Lol, def. time for an upgrade, methinks. I still love it to bits though. Foist computer (and only) I've ever bought. At least I know that I can install Leopard if I wanted to, unlike Microsoft Vista which requires a fairly new PC.

25-03-2007, 05:32 AM	#30
Shorty Super Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 3,879	Yeah, that's a little thing that impresses me about Macs. You can go a shockingly long time without upgrading your hardware. Unless you're me, that is. 8) __________________

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