So, I went into the apple store...

[orangemacapple]

Though if i'm not grounded I've noticed that my MBP makes weird buzzing noises along with the brick itself.

the grounding prong has nothing to do with your mbp. if there's a buzzing noise, it's from another reason -- maybe the position or location you have the mbp in when you're using the brick without the extension cord. dc current (from the brick to the mpb) has no use whatsoever for an additional ground.

try using a regular lamp extension cord and see if the buzzing goes away? it can't hurt your mbp.

I went into the car dealership today and told the guy there that since the airconditioner is proprietary to my new car, Ford should be including it at no extra cost withn each car.

He told me I was crazy.

i didn't know you could buy a car without A/C anymore. it's included in the price, the way a mini dvi should be.

 

[Fearless Leader]

the grounding prong has nothing to do with your mbp. if there's a buzzing noise, it's from another reason -- maybe the position or location you have the mbp in when you're using the brick without the extension cord. dc current (from the brick to the mpb) has no use whatsoever for an additional ground.

try using a regular lamp extension cord and see if the buzzing goes away? it can't hurt your mbp.

No it only happened when i was ungrounded. But I remember the only time im not grounded is when im in a car using a power adapter.

 

[orangemacapple]

then it's dirty power from your inverter. get a good sine wave inverter and the problem will go away.

 

[orangemacapple]

dirty power

i've know a lot of people that have lost a lot of power tools, (drills etc.) equipment by using the cheap inverters. they don't have a true sine wave and will trash your equipment if used much.

i would not trust my computer on a cheap inverter.

 

[mopppish]

My old ibook would shock me (gently) when I used it with only the power brick and two-prong plug.
This was not a problem at all when I used the three-prong cable extension (when it was plugged into a grounded outlet).
Strangely enough, my new MBP does not exhibit this behavior, though I have heard of other people with this issue (with various models).

 

[orangemacapple]

moppish

now that one is going to make me go hit the books again. i don't have an answer for that one. dc power isn't going to hurt you and you can rarely feel it -- unless it is intermittent like when you grab a spark plug wire. just think of a van de graff generator -- it uses dc power and you can make a nifty light show with it, but not get hurt and feel very little.

 

[djdawson]

then you can buy a dvi to vga adapter for about $8. they're made by a bunch of companies.
the mini dvi is the proprietary problem.

Actually, that won't work either. The Apple mini-dvi to dvi adapter doesn't include the analog pins needed by those cheap dvi-vga adapters. If you think you might need to connect to either DVI or VGA monitors you'll need one of each of the mini-dvi adapters.

 

[orangemacapple]

thanx dj

Actually, that won't work either. The Apple mini-dvi to dvi adapter doesn't include the analog pins needed by those cheap dvi-vga adapters. If you think you might need to connect to either DVI or VGA monitors you'll need one of each of the mini-dvi adapters.

that never ocurred to me. i didn't notice a couple pins missing. now i feel doubly ripped off.

why doesn't apple include the pinouts? i guess it would make too much sense to just buy one mini dvi adapter?

 

[mattster16]

now that one is going to make me go hit the books again. i don't have an answer for that one. dc power isn't going to hurt you and you can rarely feel it -- unless it is intermittent like when you grab a spark plug wire. just think of a van de graff generator -- it uses dc power and you can make a nifty light show with it, but not get hurt and feel very little.

That and the fact that the voltage in your spark plug wire is typically anywhere from 10,000 to 35,000 volts!

Now just because this cord is proprietary does not mean Apple should include it.

Tons of things are proprietary and you have to buy them seperately.

My Xbox should give me component and vga and dvi and every other cable possible, because they are proprietary.
Tons of electronics I buy I need to buy additional components to get all the features to work. This is nothing new.

Apple doesn't include the adapter because probably 85% of the people who buy a MB will never use the DVI port or even know what it is.

 

[orangemacapple]

¼ million volts

a van de graff generator puts out a quarter or a milion volts.

 

[wozzlewoozle]

I guess that this is part of being greener. My PB came with minDVI-to-DVI and miniDVI-to-VGA adapters. I do actually use both (DVI for external monitor, VGA for presentations), however, most others I know only use the VGA for presentations. This way they only manufacture the parts (which will eventually be thrown out...) which people will use.

 

[JAT]

The Mini comes with an adapter, because it requires an external monitor. The Pro laptops come with an adapter, presumably because they are expected (by Steve) to be used with a presentation projector or something. MBs are not expected (by Steve-o) to be used this way, so no adapter. None of them come with all the available adapters.

Truly, you missed your timing on this thread. It was hashed and beaten to death last May when the MB first shipped.

And I don't know what all the worry about grounding is for. Every laptop I've seen doesn't take good advantage of the house ground, anyway. Desktops do. I always have to de-static myself on something else before operating a laptop. If we were talking about the iMac, defeating the ground would be an issue.