Andy's Un-Official Unsolicited Mac Advice Thread

wxwax · January 28, 2007

Last time I visited the Apple Store, i thought the 30" was too much. I understood why folks preferred dual 23-inchers.

Yesterday I went back. And changed my mind. That 30" is freakin' cool.

On a side note, I wouldn't do final work on a photo on either a MBP or an MB screen. Neither is reliable. The MBP screen washes-out colors. And the MB screen artificially enhances them.

colourbox · January 28, 2007

The reason is easy to see if you use Apple ColorSync Utility to compare the profiles you made for your monitors. Here are the 3D plots for my PowerBook and my Apple 20" after calibrating them with the Eye One.

If you are using ColorSync Utility you can rotate the 3D plot to see gamut coverage at all colors and tonal levels. I faked the side-by-side comparison in Photoshop, CSU doesn't do that. It can superimpose them if you right-click the graph.

cabbey · January 29, 2007

colourbox wrote:

Wow. I hadn't realized the laptop LCDs were that far away from the desktop LCDs. Was that MBP on AC power with the brightness turned up to something "normal" (i.e. not 100% bleached beyond recognition)? or was it on battery with the display dimmed?

colourbox · January 29, 2007

Yeah, I always calibrate the PowerBook at full brightness on AC. The Apple Cinema Display, on the other hand, was calibrated at only a few bars of brightness to get down to the range the calibrator wants. The ACD turned up all the way is very bright! A laptop can't reach the same power level as a desktop monitor on AC power, so I would be surprised if a laptop was brighter than a desktop when both are turned up all the way.

As for the desktop LCD gamut being bigger than the laptop LCD, you can see this yourself with the default Apple profiles for the monitor and laptop. The Cinema profile will still be larger than the Color LCD default laptop profile. Although when I did this, I found that the laptop profile I had the Eye One generate was smaller than with the Apple default Color LCD profile. I can't explain that one except that the default profile is probably a more idealized (less individualized) representation.

And my very old CRT now profiles to a smaller gamut than the new ACD.

Mike Lane · January 30, 2007

Mike Lane, checking in with macbook pro c2d 3gb!

Poseidon · January 30, 2007

Open with?
Is there an easy way to reduce the number of options in the "Open With" after right click? Say when I right clock a picture, I would like a list with

PS
iPhoto
Preview

and maybe a few others... DPP or whatever...

The list I have now is HUGE!

Seamus · January 30, 2007

From a thread in advrider

spagthorpe wrote:

wxwax · February 6, 2007

Are Apple's Promo deals stackable?

For example, they offer rebates if you buy Final Cut Express and a new Mac, or a new printer and a new Mac.

If I do both, do I get both rebates?

DavidTO · February 6, 2007

wxwax wrote:

Are Apple's Promo deals stackable?

For example, they offer rebates if you buy Final Cut Express and a new Mac, or a new printer and a new Mac.

If I do both, do I get both rebates?

I don't know, and I wouldn't trust their site, either: meaning that if the site were to say no, you can't, I'd give a call and talk nice to the sales rep and try to get both.

I do think that if they were going to limit it, they'd be up front about it.

Also, inkjet printers. Blecch. patooey.

wxwax · February 6, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

I don't know, and I wouldn't trust their site, either: meaning that if the site were to say no, you can't, I'd give a call and talk nice to the sales rep and try to get both.

I do think that if they were going to limit it, they'd be up front about it.

Also, inkjet printers. Blecch. patooey.

Not for documents, they aren't.

Thanks for the advice.

DavidTO · February 6, 2007

wxwax wrote:

Not for documents, they aren't.

Thanks for the advice.

Yes, for documents, too. Laser printer much betterer, IMO.

Sid, I'm on a rant against ink-jet lately. I hate the things. They cost way too much in the long run. Ink is $10k/gallon.

Just my personal tirade.

wxwax · February 6, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

Yes, for documents, too. Laser printer much betterer, IMO.

Sid, I'm on a rant against ink-jet lately. I hate the things. They cost way too much in the long run. Ink is $10k/gallon.

Just my personal tirade.

Fair enough. I haven't plugged my 1999 Espon into the Mac, maybe it'll work. Doesn't on my PC. :bluduh

patch29 · February 6, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

Yes, for documents, too. Laser printer much betterer, IMO.

I agree. I replace my laserjet toner cartridge at most once a year, inkjet cartridges seem constant and the laser looks better for text.

rosselliot · February 6, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

I don't know, and I wouldn't trust their site, either: meaning that if the site were to say no, you can't, I'd give a call and talk nice to the sales rep and try to get both.

I do think that if they were going to limit it, they'd be up front about it.

Also, inkjet printers. Blecch. patooey.

I just got my new mac (LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! definitely recommend! how are y'all living with one?!) and I got $100 off a new printer. I got he HP c3180 and it was 99.00 so it was technically free, and it's GREAT. it has a scanner on the top so you can copy and scan stuff too. it's great! and yes, when you check out, you'll be able to choose to pre-install final cut and then when you further in the process you'll pick the printer you want (if you want one). so yes, I'm pretty sure they're stackable.

- RE

Mike Lane · February 6, 2007

rosselliot wrote:

I just got my new mac (LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! definitely recommend! how are y'all living with one?!) and I got $100 off a new printer. I got he HP c3180 and it was 99.00 so it was technically free, and it's GREAT. it has a scanner on the top so you can copy and scan stuff too. it's great! and yes, when you check out, you'll be able to choose to pre-install final cut and then when you further in the process you'll pick the printer you want (if you want one). so yes, I'm pretty sure they're stackable.

- RE

Why hasn't your printer made it into your signature yet?

:hide

rosselliot · February 7, 2007

Mike Lane wrote:

Why hasn't your printer made it into your signature yet?

:hide

what a GREAT idea!

- RE

wxwax · February 8, 2007

Paging davidTO, davidTO to the chartreuse courtesy phone, please.

What's your answer to this guy, in post 61?

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4064888#post4064888

DavidTO · February 8, 2007

wxwax wrote:

Paging davidTO, davidTO to the chartreuse courtesy phone, please.

What's your answer to this guy, in post 61?

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4064888#post4064888

Well, I don't compare prices, but there've been 3 posts lately here with people switching because of cost. They did the research and found comparably equipped Macs to be a better deal than the PCs.

As for the comparison to XP/Vista, you probably know better than I do. You have more experience on XP, I have virtually none.

OSX is a safer, more reliable, less frustrating and more advanced OS than XP. Not sure it wins on all those counts against Vista, but it's several steps ahead of Vista. The next release will leave Vista in the dust, IMO.

There are some people who are interested in Mac, but just not enough. Like Gus. He most likely made the best decision for himself sticking with PC. If he HAD switched, he probably would have been happy, too, but the things in PCland that drive me nuts, just don't bother him.

So, I dont' really know how to answer it, not sure if it's worth the time, if you know what I mean. That poster is just one of those people that I don't think will cross the line.

wxwax · February 8, 2007

Cool, thanks David. I believe him re: price. I suspect there may be machine combos in which a mac turns out to be a better or equal value, perhaps just not in the range he was looking at.

DavidTO · February 8, 2007

wxwax wrote:

Cool, thanks David. I believe him re: price. I suspect there may be machine combos in which a mac turns out to be a better or equal value, perhaps just not in the range he was looking at.

Well, I'm no expert on price. I did go to the Dell site and give my best to pricing one and comparing to Apple, and I gotta say, they're really close.

Mike Lane · February 9, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

OSX is a safer, more reliable, less frustrating and more advanced OS than XP.

OSX isn't always less frustrating than XP. Things that could be so simple sometimes require so much effort, it's ridiculous.

Having said that, OSX is clearly a better OS than XP.

DavidTO · February 9, 2007

Mike Lane wrote:

OSX isn't always less frustrating than XP. Things that could be so simple sometimes require so much effort, it's ridiculous.

Like what?

Mike Lane · February 9, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

Like what?

Compare what I had to do to get something working in XP versus getting something to work in OSX here.

DavidTO · February 9, 2007

Mike Lane wrote:

Compare what I had to do to get something working in XP versus getting something to work in OSX here.

Well, it's hardly a run of the mill thing, but versiontracker lists several free PNG crushing apps. Do none of these do what you want? (I know that the link has many irrelevant apps, but there are several in there that are relevant, I think.)

DavidTO · February 9, 2007

Or this?

Mike Lane · February 9, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

Well, it's hardly a run of the mill thing, but versiontracker lists several free PNG crushing apps. Do none of these do what you want? (I know that the link has many irrelevant apps, but there are several in there that are relevant, I think.)

I browsed through the apps on the 1st 2 pages and even googled them to see if they did what I needed (simply to remove the gamma info from a png). None of them do. All the googling that I've done points only to the way that I had to do it. It was by sheer luck that I came across 1) a working version of darwin ports (whatever that is) and 2) the fact that I had to download xCode to get darwin ports to work.

It was infuriating to say the least.

DavidTO · February 9, 2007

Mike, I believe that GammaSlamma is exactly what you need. Download Link.

Mike Lane · February 9, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

Or this?

I saw that one. If it removes the gamma chunk, then that is an unadvertized feature. I in fact found a site that specifically mentions that they used OptiPNG for reducing the png file size and another program (which was windows only) to remove the gamma chunk.

Mike Lane · February 9, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

Mike, I believe that GammaSlamma is exactly what you need. Download Link.

Where was that 2 days ago???

It was still a frustrating process. I stand by that.

DavidTO · February 9, 2007

Mike Lane wrote:

Where was that 2 days ago???

It was still a frustrating process. I stand by that.

It's the top result in a google search: osx remove gamma png

Andy's Un-Official Unsolicited Mac Advice Thread

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