Mac Newbie here! *MACBOOK PRO

[pyune]

Hi, before I embark on the list of my problems... I guess a proper introduction is needed for my Mac.
I recently purchased a Mac book pro ... well ordered in late july. the specs go as follows the Serial of the mac begins with W8626

2 ghz 80gig harddrive 1 gig of ram.. (it was the better one) and yeh the rest were what was given to me .. video card etc.

Before I go into the software details, Ive noticed a gap between the lid and the keyboard when closing it... So my first question is should i send it in for a new one orr will they just send me another one with the same exact cosmetic problem.

Moving on I have installed windows xp sp2 via bootcamp and as of now I am running both Mac OSX and Windows XP giving both approximatly 40 gigs each. The first thing i noticed off the bat was Windows XP takes much longer to start up than even my 4 year old Dell Desktop. Which is not good. It stays in the WINDOWS XP loading screen for a good 6-7 seconds. I dont expect a power pc like the macbook pro to run windows with such mediocrity!!!! IS this an installment problem or a combatibility problem? I woudl appreciate if you guys can enlighten me with that.

Splitting up the Harddrive Ive noticed I really dont have enough disk space with just 80 gig for both OS's. I have 16 gigs left on the mac and 26 on the PC which doesnt really appeal to me. I know this will make teh computer slower just from lack of space. So anyone know the most convenient way to upgrade the Mac? And If i send it in will I lose all my information etc. ?

I feel as if I bought my mac book Pro too early with the new processors coming out and I really want to upgrade my mac but if I send it in since i have the 3 year warranty wil they replace it with a new one per se with the new upgraded hardware? Yeh.. Im really all over the place with teh questions

thanks for putting up with me this far and I will appreciate ANY input.. please. Tips for what i should do, response to my questions.. etc. I look forward to the responses

 

[quruli]

Hi, before I embark on the list of my problems... I guess a proper introduction is needed for my Mac.
I recently purchased a Mac book pro ... well ordered in late july. the specs go as follows the Serial of the mac begins with W8626

2 ghz 80gig harddrive 1 gig of ram.. (it was the better one) and yeh the rest were what was given to me .. video card etc.

Before I go into the software details, Ive noticed a gap between the lid and the keyboard when closing it... So my first question is should i send it in for a new one orr will they just send me another one with the same exact cosmetic problem.

Moving on I have installed windows xp sp2 via bootcamp and as of now I am running both Mac OSX and Windows XP giving both approximatly 40 gigs each. The first thing i noticed off the bat was Windows XP takes much longer to start up than even my 4 year old Dell Desktop. Which is not good. It stays in the WINDOWS XP loading screen for a good 6-7 seconds. I dont expect a power pc like the macbook pro to run windows with such mediocrity!!!! IS this an installment problem or a combatibility problem? I woudl appreciate if you guys can enlighten me with that.

Splitting up the Harddrive Ive noticed I really dont have enough disk space with just 80 gig for both OS's. I have 16 gigs left on the mac and 26 on the PC which doesnt really appeal to me. I know this will make teh computer slower just from lack of space. So anyone know the most convenient way to upgrade the Mac? And If i send it in will I lose all my information etc. ?

I feel as if I bought my mac book Pro too early with the new processors coming out and I really want to upgrade my mac but if I send it in since i have the 3 year warranty wil they replace it with a new one per se with the new upgraded hardware? Yeh.. Im really all over the place with teh questions

thanks for putting up with me this far and I will appreciate ANY input.. please. Tips for what i should do, response to my questions.. etc. I look forward to the responses

Ok. I don't own a Macbook Pro. I am guessing that there should be a small gap between the lid and the keyboard as I have not seen a laptop where the lid sits COMPLETELY flush. I would need to see a pic though.

Windows. Windows XP is crap. I am not trying to be biased. But it doesn't take much for WIndows to run like crap. I would suggest reinstalling and seeing if the performance gets better. Also, make sure the drivers are properly installed (check in the device manager). Remember that boot camp is in beta. So Apple is not promising uber support or performance at this point. When it ships in Leopard, if it runs like crap then there is a problem. There is no reason you can't have Windows running quickly. Altough you just said startup time. Which, 6-7 seconds isn't bad.

If Windows runs bad when it is fully loaded, there is a problem. Startup time is not a measure of performance nor should it ever be used a one. Because you don't use the computer at the start screen.

Moving on. As far as hard drive space. The computer will not run slowly because you have less drive space. If you get down to 10MB, then there might be a problem. I would recommend maxing out the memory rather then going with a bigger drive. Another fix is to reinstall OS X and take out some of the things you won't use. There are threads on this all over if you need help with that.

They will send you the same unit you shipped. No upgraded hardware. If you are within the return period and you want to wait. By all means return it, before sending it to AppleCare.

Hope that helps.

 

[pyune]

how long is the return period? i hvae the 3 year warranty program apple care thingy

 

[apfhex]

It stays in the WINDOWS XP loading screen for a good 6-7 seconds. I dont expect a power pc like the macbook pro to run windows with such mediocrity!!!!

Maybe you didn't mean it this way but, the MBP isn't a PowerPC, it's Intel. That's why you can run Windows. That said, 6-7 seconds doesn't seem so long to me. If performance is bad once Windows is booted that might mean something's wrong, but as quruli said, startup time isn't and shouldn't be used as a measure of performance.

If you are very low on hard drive space you'll probably see degraded performance in both OS X and XP. But the amount of space you mentioned is way more than enough. You can always buy a larger hard drive and install it yourself—Apple provides very good instructions in their manuals—or you could take it to a store that'll do it for you.

 

[quruli]

how long is the return period? i hvae the 3 year warranty program apple care thingy

Um... Return is... 14 days I think.

If you are beyond that, you have no choice really but to send it to AppleCare to get it fixed.

 

[pyune]

Thanks for your input guys

 

[n8236]

As for the gaps, it couldn't be worse than mine. I could almost fit a dime on both sides of the edges when shut. I just live w/ it. I don't think it's justified enough unless it's REALLY obvious.

I suggest you get 2gbs of ram. 1 is sufficient, but it seems you'll want 2.

 

[gadgetgirl85]

You shouldnt feel bad about not waiting its not such a substantial increase. Unless you wanted to wait until next year

 

[atticus1178]

my macbook pro boots windows just as fast as it boots os x

i suggest a reinstall for windows

also, are you booting xp home or prof, home is crap, professional is much better