Official Mac Tech Support Thread.

[aptmunich]

Originally Posted by jeffdrafttech

I'm really impressed by this thread. You guys know your shit.

I'm thinking about buying a new laptop if my job stays steady through the holidays.

I've sworn off anything running windows after my tragic Vista machine purchase. Fuck learning the Linux CLI. I really want a mac.

I really dig the new Macbook. The price is sort of off-putting for the specs. A $1300 computer with 2gb of ram and 160gb hard drive. I'm definitely not spending a lot more than that and I definitely want a bigger drive.

My question is: if I buy one of these and upgrade the ram and HD myself, am I voiding the warranty?

The Apple site says that both upgrades are easy. Is this true? I have upgraded RAM and Hard Drives on Windows desktops before without any trouble.

When I shop all of this, what specs should I look for in a hard drive and memory for great performance? I'd like to price this out. Are higher rpm drives worse on battery life? Are there drives to avoid? Same with memory: give feedback on what to look for and avoid.

I'm kind of clueless, but browsing Amazon it looks like 4gb of ram and a 320gb hard drive run about $125. Those upgrades in the apple store are $350

Lastly, are the Nvidia graphics, LED screen, half-pound of weight, and aluminum case worth the extra $300 over the plastic model? Is the plastic model easy to upgrade (drive and memory)?

Anything else to consider?

I know I will get a mac for my next notebook. Even if it's a couple hundred bucks more, I can avoid the many many many hours lost and software downgrade purchase I went through with my vista machine.

Opinions?

I have both models (aluminum is mine, white belongs to work):
They're both easy-breezy to upgrade: I've done the RAM and harddrives on both and it's a cinch. (Make sure you have the right miniature screwdriver though - you don't want to strip the screws!).

The plastic model is really solid and feels great...... until you get the aluminum model. I seriously have never seen a computer that feels this solid, and that includes a $3000 aluminum sony vaio my Dad owned as well as the previous gen aluminum MacBook Pro.

A faster harddrive will have a slight impact on battery life, but it should be negligible. I'm not convinced the performance benefit is that huge either though, so I've always gone for a larger, equally priced 5400rpm drive over the smaller 7200 models.

[1goodI]

whats up peoples. please assist. i just got a hold of a used mac powerbook 12" (yeah I know I had one before and thank god it was stolen). Anyway its for my gf who is a graphic designer and just lost her job. So she can use it to freelance.

anyway, as i said, it's used. And by used I mean obtained from a friend of a friend of an unscrupulous manner. What is the best way to get this thing running top notch. I already busted the original admin password. It has the 78 gb hard drive with only 19gb left. I can't find what is taking up so much space on this thing. btw ... I dont think the disk drive works. Which is common for this model.

I use a macbook pro myself. I know macs but not the inner workings of them. I buy macs because they turn on and do what you want it to do.

Here is the particulars...
osx 10.3.9
1.5 ghz power pc g4
512 mb ddr sdram

thanks.

[m0o0op]

Well, if you just got it and there's nothing on that machine that's yours, the best thing would be to do a erase and install. Now, you can put Leopard on that machine, and depending on if you want to or not, you can boost the RAM in that machine to 1.5GB, and that'll make it much faster. Remember, the RAM in the 12" PowerBooks is strange, you'll have to buy specific RAM from a place like this: Apple PowerBook G4 G4 12-inch 1.5GHz (DDR M9691LL/A Late 2005) Memory Upgrades - 100% Compatible Apple PowerBook G4 G4 12-inch 1.5GHz (DDR M9691LL/A Late 2005) RAM Memory
For the disk drive, you're probably out of luck warranty wise, unless the machine has extended AppleCare, in which in that case you might have a few days left on it (late 2005 machine, 3 year warranty), but I doubt it. You can get a replacement, but it's not an easy thing to replace, however, here's a link: PowerBook Guy :: G4 Aluminum :: Optical Drives

Good luck, and if you have any other questions, just ask

[yourfriggindad]

My Imac g5 keeps going to sleep unexpectedly. I have shut off hot corners, messed with energy saver, set the processor speed to reduced and it still happens. Any suggestions other than throwing it out the window?

[m0o0op]

So, let me clarify. Is this just sleep with the pulsating white light or total shutdown? If total shutdown, it's probably the power supply, but if it's sleep, it's probably a heat issue, where the insides get to hot, and this trips the sensor so the computer sleeps to cool down. I'll do more research though.

[brizzlewizzle]

I've had this happen under windows due to flat battery on the motherboard, I presume the same thing could happen under Mac, does anything weird happen with the date/time?

[m0o0op]

There is a battery on the motherboard of at least all Macs up until the Intel Macs (and I think still now) that keeps track of time, and yeah, I've heard of problems where the battery goes flat and their time goes weird when your machine is powered on until you set it again.

[yourfriggindad]

It's just sleep, date and time are unaffected.

[m0o0op]

I'd say it's overheating. This can either be a problem with the power supply where the fans aren't going on, or it could be a dust issue.

Maybe try cleaning the dust off the vents at the bottom of your iMac, I've heard that works on some cases. If this keeps occurring, I saw that Apple had a warranty exchange program for iMacs with faulty power supplies, where they would fix it for free, even out of warranty. Unfortunately, the program ended (sucks for you ) on the 15th of December 2008 (10 days ago), but if you take it into an Apple Store, you could get them to replace it I'm sure. Apple's usually pretty good with that kinda stuff.

Good luck!

[yourfriggindad]

Overheating was definitely the problem. I installed a temp. monitor and the cpu and memory controller would spike at over 90C. It didn't look dirty but I took the case apart and vacuumed out a huge dust bunny. It works fine now as I have been torrenting and converting video for about four solid hours and the temp hasn't gone above 68C. Thanks for the help.