2. Wireless connection for the Mac Pro. They can put something in it at Apple (not in their configurator, though). Should I just let them do that, or get a wireless something or else at Amazon, etc.? Really clueless on this one, since we've connected, um, somehow else lately, or by stealing waves from neighbors on our lappy's, which I will not admit to unless I'm tortured. (will be ordering up a real broadband service too, since we've got enough use for it now).
Thanks!
If you want the Apple one, it has to be installed at purchase (at least by Apple). They won't sell it to you later so that you can install it. This is important if you're thinking about stuff like a wireless keyboard of their new touchpad.
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
If you want the Apple one, it has to be installed at purchase (at least by Apple). They won't sell it to you later so that you can install it. This is important if you're thinking about stuff like a wireless keyboard of their new touchpad.
Thanks, Ian. Wireless keyboards and small peripherals don't much interest me. I just need to connect to the router wirelessly.
My Smugmug
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
BTW, if you bought any of a number of machines with an Nvida GPUs in them, including 15 and 17 inch MBP's, you may receive a notice of proposed settlement. If you're not sure, hit the settlement site for more info.
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
I'm surprised that Lenovo is not included, but maybe they have a separate suit going. I'm pretty sure that the failure I had on my ThinkPad was due to the NVIDIA GPU. Lenovo replaced the motherboard for free, no questions asked, but like the other manufacturers, they have been rather quiet about the whole issue.
I'm surprised that Lenovo is not included, but maybe they have a separate suit going. I'm pretty sure that the failure I had on my ThinkPad was due to the NVIDIA GPU. Lenovo replaced the motherboard for free, no questions asked, but like the other manufacturers, they have been rather quiet about the whole issue.
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
I've noticed on a few Mac forums that MBP's from a year or so ago have had unusual failures with non-Apple bigger displays like the Dell U2711's. Connected?
My Smugmug
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
I've noticed on a few Mac forums that MBP's from a year or so ago have had unusual failures with non-Apple bigger displays like the Dell U2711's. Connected?
Don't know. In my case, it's not related at all.
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
Mac Pro ordered just now. I secured a steal of a 1 month-old (or less) refurbished unit from the online Apple store. Basic unit - 4-core, 2.8GhZ, 3GB RAM, 1TB drive for $380 below normal price w/ free shipping. I will add a second 2GB drive myself and boost up the RAM later. For now, Apple sells extra RAM below what Crucial sells it for, which shocked me, so I held off until prices settle down more.
Off to Amazon next for a DVI-I to mini DVI connector for my Viewsonic monitor to Mac.
My Smugmug
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
Mac Pro ordered just now. I secured a steal of a 1 month-old (or less) refurbished unit from the online Apple store. Basic unit - 4-core, 2.8GhZ, 3GB RAM, 1TB drive for $380 below normal price w/ free shipping. I will add a second 2GB drive myself and boost up the RAM later. For now, Apple sells extra RAM below what Crucial sells it for, which shocked me, so I held off until prices settle down more.
Off to Amazon next for a DVI-I to mini DVI connector for my Viewsonic monitor to Mac.
Nnice. Love my Mac Pro, 4+ years now, never a problem. I've upgraded disk & ram and vid cards (I have 2x30s now) all myself, sooooper easy.
Apple isn't starting off on a good footing with me. After ordering and paying for the thing a week ago, and Apple promissing 3-5 days shipping, I find out tonight that it never left their warehouse until this morning.
My Smugmug
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
That's OK David. I ordered an AppleTV box a month ago (knowing it would take a while to get). They sent a notice saying it would arrive on Oct 18th. On the 8th, I got the shipping notice and on the 11th, I had it in hand.
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
That's OK David. I ordered an AppleTV box a month ago (knowing it would take a while to get). They sent a notice saying it would arrive on Oct 18th. On the 8th, I got the shipping notice and on the 11th, I had it in hand.
You'll have to report back on that. The tv box, not the shipping.
You'll have to report back on that. The tv box, not the shipping.
I ordered one, and cancelled the order. You can only stream content you've rented. Anything else you have to download and then stream from your computer. Too much hassle. Amazon VOD on the Roku lets me stream anything, rented or purchased. I don't have cable or satellite, so the few shows I want to keep up with I do through Amazon VOD. Any improvement in interface the Apple TV has is completely overrun by this PITA.
Apple isn't starting off on a good footing with me. After ordering and paying for the thing a week ago, and Apple promissing 3-5 days shipping, I find out tonight that it never left their warehouse until this morning.
3-5 business days is what they'd tell you. And with a weekend in there, sounds like they met their commitment.
I ordered one, and cancelled the order. You can only stream content you've rented. Anything else you have to download and then stream from your computer. Too much hassle. Amazon VOD on the Roku lets me stream anything, rented or purchased. I don't have cable or satellite, so the few shows I want to keep up with I do through Amazon VOD. Any improvement in interface the Apple TV has is completely overrun by this PITA.
I had a Roku; it bit the dust and to be honest, their product support was crappy (and they're in Saratoga--about 20 minutes away). I used it mostly for Netflix. The Roku's picture quality wasn't as good as the AppleTV's seems to be either.
I was disappointed with the ATV setup. I would have figured Apple would have a small utility (like Airport does) to get it going. If you use strong passwords, setup is a FPITA because you have to scroll with the remote. I mean it's OK to use the box/remote to setup if you're a Windows user as you're already used to that
I tried the YouTube stuff as well. It's OK but not really something I'll use. Same with the Flikr stuff.
It's a shame you can't use your ATV in the same way you could the Roku. Seems easy enough to enable. I've also asked for the ability to stream stuff not on the list--like SmugMug--you can do Flikr but not SmugMug.
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
< rant > The home media center has me banging my head against the desk on many occasions. I have a PS3, a Wii, a Tivo, a Mac, an iPad, an iPod, a Windows machine, and a Linux box. You would think that with all this stuff and what I do for a living I would be able to figure out how to use the same media on all the machines. Every machine wants things just a little different. I could cobble something together each time I wanted to watch something but it is a pain to do that, I just want it to work. And ATV doesn't seem to improve it at all. < /rant >
The Pro arrived this afternoon in a big white box the size of a small motorcycle. So 8 days, but yeah, I have it now. I didn't need the conversion cable - the old DVI-I fit right in to the back of the card's big DVI connector, but upon first start up, the monitor wasn't recognised. After a second restart, it found the ViewSonic somehow. Following the registration screen, I reset it to full res. The Airport Extreme can't find any of the dozen or so wireless networks that both our laptops grab easily, so I have to figure that out.
Until I can connect, I'm just poking around and testing things.
So here's my first real question: Any way to silence system sounds, or isolate them from, say, the volume up and down keyboard keys? In ITunes, I could always adjust volume with the slider control right on the app, but the keyboard buttons or other system volume controls makes that loud "paddle" sound which is horrible. I would prefer those buttons for expediency.
My Smugmug
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
Ordered myself the 11" Macbook Air. I think the processor is underpowered, and I am disappointed in the 5 hour battery life claim (I was hoping it was going to be 10). Still, I've been looking for small and light, and I think the SSD speed may make up for the processor. We'll see.
If I keep it, it means the wife gets my iPad. That'll be hard to part with.
So my question is this - what's the best way to run Office (Windows version) on a Mac? Since this only has a 64GB SSD I'm probably not going to do Boot Camp. Parallels? Fusion? Some other option? I far prefer the Windows versions of MS Office to the Mac versions (no surprise since I prefer Windows to OSX) and I'd like to find some way to make that work, since I spend a large part of my day using Word and Outlook.
Me --> MacPro (2008) running OSX 10.6.4 with Fusion. WinXP installed there. I have both Office for Mac (came with the wife's computer) and Office for WinXP (I had this for years).
Wife --> MacBook Pro (2010) running OSX 10.6.4 with Bootcamp. WinXP installed there. She, too, has both Office for Mac and Office for WinXP.
Outside the fact that I can run both simultaneously there really is not much different.
Fusion or Parallels? For most users it really does not matter from what I have heard. I have read the Parallels is better for those that do gaming under the windows environment, but that was a few years ago. Not sure if Fusion has gotten better in the later releases (which I don't have) in the graphics area to better support gaming.
I'm probably not going to do Boot Camp. Parallels? Fusion? Some other option?
Start with VirtualBox because it's free and pretty capable. I use Parallels on my Mac Pro and it's great, but I found that VirtualBox was more than good enough for the Windows apps I wanted to run on my other Mac, instead of paying for a second Parallels license.
I far prefer the Windows versions of MS Office to the Mac versions
Are you aware that the new Mac Office 2011 is much closer to the Windows version and now includes a Mac version of Outlook instead of the old Entourage? You might want to check it out. If it worked out, you'd save the considerable loss of RAM, disk space, and CPU that goes with running Windows in virtualization. It is being released this month.
Comments
If you want the Apple one, it has to be installed at purchase (at least by Apple). They won't sell it to you later so that you can install it. This is important if you're thinking about stuff like a wireless keyboard of their new touchpad.
Thanks, Ian. Wireless keyboards and small peripherals don't much interest me. I just need to connect to the router wirelessly.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
The BT module is part of the wireless card.
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"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
Don't know. In my case, it's not related at all.
Off to Amazon next for a DVI-I to mini DVI connector for my Viewsonic monitor to Mac.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
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Nice!!!
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I had a Roku; it bit the dust and to be honest, their product support was crappy (and they're in Saratoga--about 20 minutes away). I used it mostly for Netflix. The Roku's picture quality wasn't as good as the AppleTV's seems to be either.
I was disappointed with the ATV setup. I would have figured Apple would have a small utility (like Airport does) to get it going. If you use strong passwords, setup is a FPITA because you have to scroll with the remote. I mean it's OK to use the box/remote to setup if you're a Windows user as you're already used to that
I tried the YouTube stuff as well. It's OK but not really something I'll use. Same with the Flikr stuff.
It's a shame you can't use your ATV in the same way you could the Roku. Seems easy enough to enable. I've also asked for the ability to stream stuff not on the list--like SmugMug--you can do Flikr but not SmugMug.
The home media center has me banging my head against the desk on many occasions. I have a PS3, a Wii, a Tivo, a Mac, an iPad, an iPod, a Windows machine, and a Linux box. You would think that with all this stuff and what I do for a living I would be able to figure out how to use the same media on all the machines. Every machine wants things just a little different. I could cobble something together each time I wanted to watch something but it is a pain to do that, I just want it to work. And ATV doesn't seem to improve it at all.
< /rant >
Pictures | Website | Blog | Twitter | Contact
Until I can connect, I'm just poking around and testing things.
So here's my first real question: Any way to silence system sounds, or isolate them from, say, the volume up and down keyboard keys? In ITunes, I could always adjust volume with the slider control right on the app, but the keyboard buttons or other system volume controls makes that loud "paddle" sound which is horrible. I would prefer those buttons for expediency.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
www.tednghiem.com
www.ivarborst.nl & smugmug
www.tednghiem.com
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I'll say that the new iMovie looks good. The presentation of that was great.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
If I keep it, it means the wife gets my iPad. That'll be hard to part with.
So my question is this - what's the best way to run Office (Windows version) on a Mac? Since this only has a 64GB SSD I'm probably not going to do Boot Camp. Parallels? Fusion? Some other option? I far prefer the Windows versions of MS Office to the Mac versions (no surprise since I prefer Windows to OSX) and I'd like to find some way to make that work, since I spend a large part of my day using Word and Outlook.
Wife --> MacBook Pro (2010) running OSX 10.6.4 with Bootcamp. WinXP installed there. She, too, has both Office for Mac and Office for WinXP.
Outside the fact that I can run both simultaneously there really is not much different.
Fusion or Parallels? For most users it really does not matter from what I have heard. I have read the Parallels is better for those that do gaming under the windows environment, but that was a few years ago. Not sure if Fusion has gotten better in the later releases (which I don't have) in the graphics area to better support gaming.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
Start with VirtualBox because it's free and pretty capable. I use Parallels on my Mac Pro and it's great, but I found that VirtualBox was more than good enough for the Windows apps I wanted to run on my other Mac, instead of paying for a second Parallels license.
Are you aware that the new Mac Office 2011 is much closer to the Windows version and now includes a Mac version of Outlook instead of the old Entourage? You might want to check it out. If it worked out, you'd save the considerable loss of RAM, disk space, and CPU that goes with running Windows in virtualization. It is being released this month.