[Mac 101] Ask your questions here!

[kawatsu]

Actually, I disagree. I find that regular use prolongs the battery life more than leaving it plugged in. There'll naturally be a balance. The problem with this advise is that we assume people bring their laptops out often enough for the battery to still be used reasonably. This isn't the case for most Singaporeans though - they're more likely to leave their laptops at home and tethered to the power point like a desktop.

The battery is designed to retain 80% of the charge for 300 full charge/discharge cycles. That's good enough for me. If you've used some other laptop brands, they don't even get that kind of stats. I'm at 163 cycles and still 98% battery health.

/Dan

Hi Dan,

So its better for me to just use the laptop as per normal without plugging in the power source?

i bring the laptop out almost everyday! is that too often? should i bring the power cable along too and just plug it in?

 

[kawatsu]

For the Speck, bring to applecare and try your luck. Nobody can really advise since we're not working with Apple. If it does bother you to a large enough degree, you could try and get the screen replaced. Best to call the hotline and get authorization before you go down. 6835-1812.

As for the modem, it's already been brought up many times that the 2wire crap is useless for non-intel wireless chipsets. Get another router - most of us have no issues with the Dlink DIR-655, so that comes pretty heavily recommended other than the Apple ones. There are reported problems with the Linksys implementation, so YMMV.

/Dan

How much is the Dlink DIR 655? Should i get the Dlink or the Apple Extreme?

Thanks!

 

[leinad]

Hi Dan,

So its better for me to just use the laptop as per normal without plugging in the power source?

i bring the laptop out almost everyday! is that too often? should i bring the power cable along too and just plug it in?

It's better to use the laptop off battery regularly enough to be reasonable. If your bring it out everyday and run it off battery often enough, it shouldn't be an issue. Just remember that you'll have to do a full discharge/charge cycle at least once a month to ensure all the cells in the battery are still functioning well.

How much is the Dlink DIR 655? Should i get the Dlink or the Apple Extreme?

Thanks!

If you can afford the Extreme, then go with it - it's prettier and more importantly will work with your Macs. I've had the DIR-655 for a few years now, so I'm sticking with it. However, in terms of pros and cons:
+ the performance of the DIR-655 is slightly better thanks to the very powerful Ubicom stream processor and the well-implemented QoS.
- The DIR-655 is single-band (the old, overcrowded 2.4Ghz band). The AEBS is Simultaneous Dualband (2.4Ghz/5Ghz). This is actually why it is justified to pay that little bit more. If you have a lot of devices around your neighbourhood interfering/operating in the 2.4Ghz band (other routers, microwave ovens, cordless telephones, wireless keyboards/mice, etc), moving to the 5Ghz band might help things a bit.

/Dan

 

[redline15]

I have Snow Leopard and used Boot Camp to install Win 7 RC. I understand that with SL, I should be able to view the Mac files but I can't see the Mac partition.

Please advise. Thanks

 

[leinad]

I have Snow Leopard and used Boot Camp to install Win 7 RC. I understand that with SL, I should be able to view the Mac files but I can't see the Mac partition.

Please advise. Thanks

Did you install the Boot Camp tools?

/Dan

 

[redline15]

Did you install the Boot Camp tools?

/Dan

Hi Dan, how do I install the Boot Camp tools? The Win 7 is 64bit. In the SL CD, do I go to Drivers - Apple and click on Bootcamp64?

Thanks.

 

[kawatsu]

im having some error messages when using word.

it says " the disk is full trying to write to Macintosh HD. Free some space on this drive or save the document on another disk,...."

but when i choose "Get Info" on my HD, i still have almost 100gb of available memory!

Right now, im only using adium, word, and iTunes and safari..

 

[leinad]

Hi Dan, how do I install the Boot Camp tools? The Win 7 is 64bit. In the SL CD, do I go to Drivers - Apple and click on Bootcamp64?

Thanks.

Just boot up to Win7 and insert the SL disc. It should Autoplay and prompt you to install the correct one.

/Dan

 

[redline15]

Just boot up to Win7 and insert the SL disc. It should Autoplay and prompt you to install the correct one.

/Dan

The CD didn't autoplay but I got an error message. I found the answer to my question

Extract from http://www.simplehelp.net/2009/01/1...ndows-7-on-your-mac-the-complete-walkthrough/

QUOTE
I ran into the error message “Boot camp x64 is not supported on this computer model”.

To get around this, explore the OSX disc while you are in Windows 7. Navigate to Boot Camp -> Drivers -> Apple. Then open “BootCamp64″ and it will install all the drivers (I assume if you are using the 32-bit version you should open “BootCamp” instead of “BootCamp64″). All the drivers installed in a few moments!

UNQUOTE

It was the same error message.

Cheers!

 

[redline15]

For those thinking of using Boot Camp with Win 7, this is a good walkthrough but do note the possible problem with Win 7 (64bit).

http://www.simplehelp.net/2009/01/1...ndows-7-on-your-mac-the-complete-walkthrough/

 

[slang]

not sure if anyone can help me with this...

I have a portable 2.5" HDD (Maxtor OneTouch Mini4)...I format it at FAT32 in my macbook...then detection in MB is okie. But when i plugged into a windows system. It did detect my drive somehow. But when i go into MyComputer in the windows...there is such drive inside??I tried with various windows system...all did detect a plug-in of device via USB....but somehow...I could not find the drive anywhere at all.

Anyway to solve this issue??
Thot FAT32 should be detectable as well as good for both read and write in win and mac environment?

anyone can help?

 

[leinad]

not sure if anyone can help me with this...

I have a portable 2.5" HDD (Maxtor OneTouch Mini4)...I format it at FAT32 in my macbook...then detection in MB is okie. But when i plugged into a windows system. It did detect my drive somehow. But when i go into MyComputer in the windows...there is such drive inside??I tried with various windows system...all did detect a plug-in of device via USB....but somehow...I could not find the drive anywhere at all.

Anyway to solve this issue??
Thot FAT32 should be detectable as well as good for both read and write in win and mac environment?

anyone can help?

Perhaps mount the drive manually? Disk Management should help.

/Dan

 

[emuji]

For the Speck, bring to applecare and try your luck. Nobody can really advise since we're not working with Apple. If it does bother you to a large enough degree, you could try and get the screen replaced. Best to call the hotline and get authorization before you go down. 6835-1812.

As for the modem, it's already been brought up many times that the 2wire crap is useless for non-intel wireless chipsets. Get another router - most of us have no issues with the Dlink DIR-655, so that comes pretty heavily recommended other than the Apple ones. There are reported problems with the Linksys implementation, so YMMV.

/Dan

Thanks Dan. I will try to call Apple. Regarding my wireless losing connection, it only happen after I upgrade to Snow Leopard. I have never lose any wireless connection on Leopard before. The air port will start to search for network. Can anyone help?

 

[beary2teddy]

hi, i was wondering if anyone knows which 1tb external hdd is able to use firewire800?
also, what does it mean when a external hdd is formatted for mac?does it mean i can only use these kind of hdd and not others?

 

[PetPet]

hi, i was wondering if anyone knows which 1tb external hdd is able to use firewire800?
also, what does it mean when a external hdd is formatted for mac?does it mean i can only use these kind of hdd and not others?

All 1TB harddrives can be used on a mac when it is connected to firewire.
It should be able to detect.

When it says an external hdd is formatted for mac it means it comes formatted as HFS(Journalled)

 

[beary2teddy]

All 1TB harddrives can be used on a mac when it is connected to firewire.
It should be able to detect.

When it says an external hdd is formatted for mac it means it comes formatted as HFS(Journalled)

oh ok.
will i be able to get the full speed of firewire800 if i get wd my book home edition which is firewire400 compatible only, but i'll use a 400 to 800 adaptor?

 

[PetPet]

It'll remain as firewire 400 speeds.

 

[beary2teddy]

It'll remain as firewire 400 speeds.

ok thx alot petpet.
juz to confirm i can get non-mac formatted hdd right?
i just have to reformat the hdd myself using partition?

 

[PetPet]

ok thx alot petpet.
juz to confirm i can get non-mac formatted hdd right?
i just have to reformat the hdd myself using partition?

Yes you can, format it to HFS file system through the Disk Utility app.

You can also do partitioning on Disk Utility app as well.

 

[leinad]

Thanks Dan. I will try to call Apple. Regarding my wireless losing connection, it only happen after I upgrade to Snow Leopard. I have never lose any wireless connection on Leopard before. The air port will start to search for network. Can anyone help?

It happened in Leopard too for many people, it's just that there's no "search for network" in Leopard so you don't see.

The drop outs for the 2wire are well-documented all over many forums. It's been discussed to death here on HWZ and many people have confirmed these findings themselves. There're also many discussions on the 2wire and signal dropout on international forums like Macrumors.

You claim to say that people are ignoring your queries, but perhaps it's also because the wireless issue with the 2wire's discussed so often that people don't really want to bother to reply, since the answers are all over. And for the record, even PC laptops are experiencing these issues - those using non-intel wireless chipsets (Broadcom, Atheros) assuredly are having intermittent problems.

/Dan