The Big Switch (PC -> Mac) - Page 6 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

FanIn80 · 07-23-2009, 02:29 PM

Titan: Here's the guide for resetting your PRAM, but I would wait for someone more knowledgeable than me to comment first.

Or, if you're still under warranty, just give Apple a call. If you're not under warranty, you can always head down to the Apple Store and see if you can ask a Genius a "quick question" about it.

Barnes · 07-23-2009, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mykalberta

What is a logic board - do you mean motherboard? I know you cant mean an actual logic board. How much did the warranty cost that got you that service?

Apple calls them logic boards:

Wiki

A logic board is the Apple Macintosh equivalent of a motherboard. The term logic board was coined back in the 1980s, when the compact Macs at the time had two separate circuit boards, the Logic Board, containing all of the computer's "logic" circuitry (processor, RAM, etc.), and the analog board, containing all of the hardware necessary to drive the built-in display and to power the rest of the computer's components. The term logic board stuck over the years of Macintosh manufacturing, even in the non-all-in-one Macs. A longtime practice for Apple when an existing model was upgraded was to offer a logic board upgrade where a user could bring their computer into an Apple dealer and have the old motherboard replaced with the new one, along with other upgrades necessary to bring their computer in line with the new model's specs. The old motherboard would be kept by the dealer as a trade in.

FanIn80 · 07-23-2009, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barnes

Apple calls them logic boards:

Wiki

A logic board is the Apple Macintosh equivalent of a motherboard. The term logic board was coined back in the 1980s, when the compact Macs at the time had two separate circuit boards, the Logic Board, containing all of the computer's "logic" circuitry (processor, RAM, etc.), and the analog board, containing all of the hardware necessary to drive the built-in display and to power the rest of the computer's components. The term logic board stuck over the years of Macintosh manufacturing, even in the non-all-in-one Macs. A longtime practice for Apple when an existing model was upgraded was to offer a logic board upgrade where a user could bring their computer into an Apple dealer and have the old motherboard replaced with the new one, along with other upgrades necessary to bring their computer in line with the new model's specs. The old motherboard would be kept by the dealer as a trade in.

Yeah, I figured they were just talking about motherboards, but I thought there might also have been a separate part of the board that was replaceable... cool!

Actually, what's very cool is the bit about the logic board upgrade. I wish they still did that.

McG · 07-24-2009, 11:15 AM

wow! this thread exploded! thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond to my questions and to add to the general debate. i have a much better handle on things now wrt apples and where i need to move my thought processes to.

thanks again to everyone. "i'll be baaack"

RougeUnderoos · 08-13-2009, 07:36 PM

Okay, ridiculous question time.

How do I get a CD out of this machine? I was importing a few into this thing through iTunes. The first 3 went in and out and imported just fine. The fourth one went in and nothing happened. It didn't start automatically doing it like with the previous three. The bigger problem is that the little "eject" button in the left menu disappeared. That's what I had been using to get rid of them. It's not there anymore.

WTPH?

FanIn80 · 08-13-2009, 08:27 PM

Try Option+Eject (the Eject key on your keyboard)

Winsor_Pilates · 08-13-2009, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Okay, ridiculous question time.

How do I get a CD out of this machine? I was importing a few into this thing through iTunes. The first 3 went in and out and imported just fine. The fourth one went in and nothing happened. It didn't start automatically doing it like with the previous three. The bigger problem is that the little "eject" button in the left menu disappeared. That's what I had been using to get rid of them. It's not there anymore.

WTPH?

just push and hold the eject button shown in the previous post or drag the cd from your desktop to the recycling bin.

sclitheroe · 08-13-2009, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

just push and hold the eject button shown in the previous post or drag the cd from your desktop to the recycling bin.

I'm a Mac user so I can bash on this - dragging CD's and mounted disk images to the trash is the worst UI convention Apple has ever come up with...that's not what the trash is for, dammit!

DrJ · 08-13-2009, 08:52 PM

"Apple + E" will also do the trick! http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801?viewlocale=en_US will also help you if the disc is physically stuck and you need a manual eject.

Barnes · 08-13-2009, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

I'm a Mac user so I can bash on this - dragging CD's and mounted disk images to the trash is the worst UI convention Apple has ever come up with...that's not what the trash is for, dammit!

At least with OS X, the trash turns into an eject icon. Classic Mac OS didn't do that.

chid · 08-13-2009, 10:45 PM

Figured I would just add this here rather than start a whole new thread, I have a White Macbook Dual Core and the Airport card just died, can no longer detect networks. Anyone know if a USB network thing will work or if I have to get a new Airport card installed?

RougeUnderoos · 08-13-2009, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Try Option+Eject (the Eject key on your keyboard)

That did the trick. Sort of. I pushed those buttons and it seemed to "pick up" on the cd that was in there and started importing it. A minute later it was done and then the eject button popped back up on the left side and everything was hunky-dory.

llama64 · 08-14-2009, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chid

Figured I would just add this here rather than start a whole new thread, I have a White Macbook Dual Core and the Airport card just died, can no longer detect networks. Anyone know if a USB network thing will work or if I have to get a new Airport card installed?

In my experience, the Airport card in white Macbooks is rather fidgity. Mine would often stop seeing wireless networks if it was plugged into an external monitor using a specific cable (my best guess was interference). I've also had trouble where its key data got confused or corrupted. Clearing out the keys in Keychain Access occasionally helped - as did creating a new user and using that account to get online.

Sometimes deleting all the system config files for airport and redoing it all fixed the issues. For instance, clearing out "com.apple.airport.preferences.plist" from the /Library directory would solve the issue.

There are USB adapters that you can find that will work on OS X but it seems you need to search them out specifically. Most of the ones sold in stores don't seem to come with drivers for OS X. I'd spend some time verifying that your Airport card is indeed borked before buying one of these.

If you have Applecare, just take your laptop in to the Apple store and get it fixed/replaced.

Titan · 08-20-2009, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotze

What is the best way to watch movies on the mac. I have put in a regular DVD but it looks crappy, and pixelly and choppy. When you download a trailer like that Avatar one, it looks totally awesome, I want to watch movies on it now after seeing how nice it looks.

The answer to most video related questions is vlc. It is video player software. A little tricky to use but it really does play anything. vlc.com I think.

It plays everything and works very well.
Your source will likely determine the quality more than the software used to play it though. Was it an old/bad dvd?

FanIn80 · 08-20-2009, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotze

What is the best way to watch movies on the mac. I have put in a regular DVD but it looks crappy, and pixelly and choppy. When you download a trailer like that Avatar one, it looks totally awesome, I want to watch movies on it now after seeing how nice it looks.

I use Front Row for watching all my movies, both on DVD and ones I buy from iTunes or download from the web. Stupidly, it doesn't play iTunes rentals though.

You'll need to get Perian (codec pack for Mac) though. Also, Flip4Mac (wmv for Mac). Both free and both painless installs.

It's very rare that I find a video format that won't play in Front Row (Quicktime) with those two codec packs installed. If I do, then I use VLC... but I like the Front Row interface a lot better for remote control use.

FanIn80 · 08-21-2009, 09:58 AM

Negative. There's talk of it coming soon, though... I don't know how much stock can be put in that.

llama64 · 08-21-2009, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Negative. There's talk of it coming soon, though... I don't know how much stock can be put in that.

I get the sense that Apple is waiting Blue-Ray out and betting on digital distribution (iTunes Store seems to indicate this strongly).

Plus, Jobs once described the Blue-Ray licensing model as a "bag of hurt".

Jedi Ninja · 08-21-2009, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotze

Are the movies you can order on itunes in HD? Are they going to look like crap on the computer like a classic DVD?

I understand that you can download "HD" movies from iTunes and from other sources. But these files are compressed quite a bit more than you would see on a Blu Ray disc. According to Apple's site, a typical size for an HD movie download from iTunes is 3-4.5gb. That's a lot better than the 1GB "HD" movies that my coworker brags about downloading off of torrents, but that's still an awful lot more compression than a Blu Ray disc. (The average size of a BluRay stripped of extras is about 20GB.)

Russic · 08-21-2009, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotze

Are the movies you can order on itunes in HD? Are they going to look like crap on the computer like a classic DVD?

I think unless your monitor can handle it you won't see much difference. You can watch the tv show previews in hd or standard and I see little to no difference on my monitor. Check out the previews for yourself if your monitor is hd.

FanIn80 · 08-22-2009, 04:21 AM

My current HD collection from iTunes:

House (all 5 seasons)
Californication (both seasons)
The Office (1st season)
Weeds (1st 3 seasons)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Iron Man

They all look great on both my 24" LCD HD monitor and my 42" plasma HD TV. As for the file size and resolution... I believe HD movies and TV shows from iTunes are 720p, whereas Blu-Ray (I believe) is 1080p.

I've watched Blu-Rays on my TV before, they look amazing... but the HD stuff from iTunes is very close. I have to really focus in order to tell the difference.

(...and yeah, the machines themselves really are worth it.)