New Macbook Owner Thread #3,294

[phungy]

I'm typing this on my new MB! Heard the FedEx truck pull up and I ran downstairs. Asked me if I was Paul and laughed when I confirmed that I was.

Before turning on the MB I applied the Best Skins Ever Full Body Skin as well as the iSkin and 2x1GB G.Skill.

Hooked it up to an external 19" widescreen from Samsung (931BW). I'll post a pic of my setup in the "Mac Setup" thread.

Going to play around with the different features for now.

Alittle disappointed when I only had 55GB free. Thinking about getting a 100GB 7200rpm or 120GB 5400rpm from Newegg.

Maybe my expectations for the MB was a bit high because I was hoping the MB would be a bit lighter.

Other than that...Loving every second of it!

 

[panzer06]

Go for the Hitachi HD

I'm typing this on my new MB! Heard the FedEx truck pull up and I ran downstairs. Asked me if I was Paul and laughed when I confirmed that I was.

Before turning on the MB I applied the Best Skins Ever Full Body Skin as well as the iSkin and 2x1GB G.Skill.

Hooked it up to an external 19" widescreen from Samsung (931BW). I'll post a pic of my setup in the "Mac Setup" thread.

Going to play around with the different features for now.

Alittle disappointed when I only had 55GB free. Thinking about getting a 100GB 7200rpm or 120GB 5400rpm from Newegg.

Maybe my expectations for the MB was a bit high because I was hoping the MB would be a bit lighter.

Other than that...Loving every second of it!

EDIT: How do I take a screenshot? Tried searching but couldn't find...

Go with the Hitachi 160GB 5400rpm drive at newegg.

HITACHI Travelstar 5K160 HTS541616J9SA00 (0A28844) 160GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Notebook Hard Drive - OEM

Works great in my MB CD 2.0. I've never even used the original 60GB drive.

Great with OS X and Bootcamp.

Cheers,

 

[dpaanlka]

Alittle disappointed when I only had 55GB free. Thinking about getting a 100GB 7200rpm or 120GB 5400rpm from Newegg.

Yes, OS X + Apps + Language Translations takes a lot of space. I usually use my restore CDs to reformat the hard drive, and install everything EXCEPT the Language translations, which saves you a ton of space.

Do not, however, use the language translation remover utilities.

Command + Shift + 4 is the wrong key combo. Command + Shift + 3 is what you want. Command + Shift + 4 will give you cross hairs with which you can drag out a specific area of your screen to take a shot of (instead of the whole one). Also, if you hit Command + Shift + 4 then hit space, you can simple move your mouse over whatever window you want to take a screen shot of.

Command + Shift + 3 does the entire screen.

 

[phungy]

Yes, OS X + Apps + Language Translations takes a lot of space. I usually use my restore CDs to reformat the hard drive, and install everything EXCEPT the Language translations, which saves you a ton of space.

Do not, however, use the language translation remover utilities.

As in monolingual? Oops =X It saved me about 1.6GB already...

 

[dpaanlka]

As in monolingual? Oops =X It saved me about 1.6GB already...

Monolingual has a history of severely messing stuff up. When you get you're new drive, just use your restore CDs to reinstall the OS, and all the factory apps, even if you "think" you don't need them - you only think that because you don't know what they are, but one day you'll read about how awesome GarageBand is or something, and then be like "**** I didn't reinstall that"... but simply deselect the Language translations in the customized install option.

 

[phungy]

Monolingual has a history of severely messing stuff up. When you get you're new drive, just use your restore CDs to reinstall the OS, and all the factory apps, even if you "think" you don't need them - you only think that because you don't know what they are, but one day you'll read about how awesome GarageBand is or something, and then be like "**** I didn't reinstall that"... but simply deselect the Language translations in the customized install option.

Gotcha, thanks for the advice.

 

[Mac'Mo]

Congrats on the new mac, question: can MBs run HDs at 7200 rpm? i too was interested in upgrading my macbook.

 

[dpaanlka]

Congrats on the new mac, question: can MBs run HDs at 7200 rpm? i too was interested in upgrading my macbook.

Yes. I had such a drive inside my PowerBook.

 

[Mac'Mo]

damnit i should've replaced the HD when i first got my mb, now i really dont wanna transfer all the stuff on it to a new hd =(

 

[fivetoadsloth]

Congrats on the new mac, question: can MBs run HDs at 7200 rpm? i too was interested in upgrading my macbook.

yeah tha macbooks can run a 7200 rpm perfectly fine.

 

[panzer06]

damnit i should've replaced the HD when i first got my mb, now i really dont wanna transfer all the stuff on it to a new hd =(

If you don't use bootcamp the transfer is very simple using SuperDuper or even DiskUtil (but I really like SuperDuper). I created several bootable versions of my system to be able to go back to any one of my Point in Time versions in the event of a major problem. Makes reloading a snap. Even created a fully configured version with all my base apps that I keep updated (OS X) just in case I want a complete fresh start w/o any data or small utilities that may have messed up something over time.

Having a few external drives (or one big one with many partitions) is a great way to save yourself a lot of trouble in the future.

Cheers,

 

[djinn]

Before turning on the MB I applied the Best Skins Ever Full Body Skin as well as the iSkin and 2x1GB G.Skill??

Isn't that silicon keyboard protector hard to type on? I bought one for my Dell and used it for like a week before it drove me nuts. Only thing I bought was the
ScreenSavrz - Notebook and Sleevz. And if the MBP cycles its airflow through the keyboard, you might want to rethink using that keyboard cover.

 

[taurean]

macbook problems

Hi all,

I recently switched from my decade long experience with Windows to Mac. So, I went and bought a Macbook 2.0GHz standard version.

1. Whenever I start the macbook, I hear to a slot drive access noise. Is that pretty normal or is it just with me ?.

2. Also, sometimes, the firefox browser takes few secs. (3-4 secs. occasionallly) to bring up a new page.

3. Has anyone bought the DVI-out from Apple itself ?. I find it really short in length, I was looking to use my macbook and monitor as dual monitors. Let me know the solution if there is any.

I am unsure whether I am expecting too much or it is the way these thing works.

Appreciate your help.

.taurean

 

[phungy]

Isn't that silicon keyboard protector hard to type on?

And if the MBP cycles its airflow through the keyboard, you might want to rethink using that keyboard cover.

I hadn't tried typing without it yet. It seems about the same..maybe a bit tougher but I'll probably get use to it. It makes typing much more quiet though.

Does air cycle through the keys? Maybe that's why smcFanControl says its 140F right now. =X

 

[phungy]

3. Has anyone bought the DVI-out from Apple itself ?. I find it really short in length, I was looking to use my macbook and monitor as dual monitors. Let me know the solution if there is any.

I bought the mini-DVI to VGA...I'm sure the mini-DVI to DVI is the same length but I don't think its too short. The VGA cord from the external monitor is long enough. I don't think you should have a problem if the MB is with a ~3 feet from the external monitor.

 

[Mac'Mo]

Before turning on the MB I applied the Best Skins Ever Full Body Skin as well as the iSkin and 2x1GB G.Skill??

Isn't that silicon keyboard protector hard to type on? I bought one for my Dell and used it for like a week before it drove me nuts. Only thing I bought was the
ScreenSavrz - Notebook and Sleevz. And if the MBP cycles its airflow through the keyboard, you might want to rethink using that keyboard cover.

i've got ScreenSavrz, they're awesome!

 

[djinn]

140? is that idle? If it is.. you might not want to use that keyboard cover.

 

[phungy]

140? is that idle? If it is.. you might not want to use that keyboard cover.

I was running about 4-5 programs at the time. Right now I just have Adium/FF and smcFanControl and its reading at 120F +/- 2 degrees.

 

[phungy]

i've got ScreenSavrz, they're awesome!

So ScreenSavrz is not a clear LCD protector right? It's just the cloth with the cleaning solutions?

 

[bankshot]

1. Whenever I start the macbook, I hear to a slot drive access noise. Is that pretty normal or is it just with me ?.

Perfectly normal. Happens on every Apple notebook I've owned or used.

 

[phungy]

If you don't use bootcamp the transfer is very simple using SuperDuper or even DiskUtil (but I really like SuperDuper). I created several bootable versions of my system to be able to go back to any one of my Point in Time versions in the event of a major problem. Makes reloading a snap. Even created a fully configured version with all my base apps that I keep updated (OS X) just in case I want a complete fresh start w/o any data or small utilities that may have messed up something over time.

Having a few external drives (or one big one with many partitions) is a great way to save yourself a lot of trouble in the future.

Cheers,

I'm taking your advice and have partitioned my external with bootable versions of OSX. Don't know why I didn't think of it before but Time Machine should be useful too.