General Apple Megathread

[Jimmy Stang]

iOS 5 doesn't seem too bad on a 3GS (my boss and brother-in-law have one), but then again, I lived through the iOS 4 on the 3G debacle. I have never seen a device so crippled in my life. They fixed a number of the issues with 4.1, but those first few weeks were horrendous.

I recently used the old 3G as a travel phone in the UK... brought back some memories.

[ah123]

Originally Posted by Notorious Honey Badger

So, wtf is going on with iPhones and how slow/crap they are now? Is the new OS simply too beefy to handle on iP4 and they're geared towards 4S?

One thing I noticed with iOS5 on a 3GS: if you are using all the space on your phone, things slow down. I had less than 2GB free on my phone and things were really crawling. I freed up another couple GBs and things started working much better...

[burn_this_city]

http://www.thestar.com/business/arti...summer-release

[Russic]

I honestly don't see how the iPhone 5 will be seen as anything but a failure by people who don't really care about this stuff. I can't think of anything this phone is missing that would really wow people. There are things that a certain pocket of the population want (flash for example) that are total pipe dreams, but in terms of things that the phone is truly lacking I'm at a loss. You could remove the bezel and have the screen extend to the edges, perhaps add NFC for using the phone as a credit card or adding haptic feedback. Other than the standard speed/camera update I don't see it doing much else.

[Burninator]

I would guess new form factor. The 4s was basically just a spec bump and I can't see them using the same design for 3 straight years.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Russic

I honestly don't see how the iPhone 5 will be seen as anything but a failure by people who don't really care about this stuff. I can't think of anything this phone is missing that would really wow people. There are things that a certain pocket of the population want (flash for example) that are total pipe dreams, but in terms of things that the phone is truly lacking I'm at a loss. You could remove the bezel and have the screen extend to the edges, perhaps add NFC for using the phone as a credit card or adding haptic feedback. Other than the standard speed/camera update I don't see it doing much else.

LTE & haptic feedback are the only things I can think of.

[Devils'Advocate]

Funny how different prices are between iTunes stores.

L&O: Criminal Intent is $34.99 in the Canadian store.
$10 in the U.S. store.

Normally I don't buy TV shows, but zip.ca only goes up to season 5, none of the L&Os are on netflix... and $10 is dirt cheap.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by CKPThunder

MacX DVD Ripper Pro is now available free for the first 30000 users. This version does not include updates or tech support but the price is right.

http://www.macxdvd.com/giveaway/giveaway.htm

I have been using this Thanksgiving free giveaway version for several months now and I like it. But it has now expired and wants me to pay $35. Anyone have a cheaper alternative for ripping DVDs?

[DownhillGoat]

^MacTheRipper (free)
Ripit ($25)

[Devils'Advocate]

Mmm... Mac The Ripper, or at least the free version, doesn't work on Lion because it requires Rosetta.

I'll look at Ripit. $25 < $35

I've heard that you can use Handbreak to rip, but I'm not sure how to do that. I always used Mac the Ripper to rip and then Handbreak to encode.

[CKPThunder]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Mmm... Mac The Ripper, or at least the free version, doesn't work on Lion because it requires Rosetta.

I'll look at Ripit. $25 < $35

I've heard that you can use Handbreak to rip, but I'm not sure how to do that. I always used Mac the Ripper to rip and then Handbreak to encode.

If you are not in a rush, I'd wait cause this type of software goes on sale all the time. I believe Ripit went down around $12 last winter and DVD Ripper Pro which is normally $20 went down to $6 last year. Many of these ripper apps are also part of bundle packages as well.

[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

LTE & haptic feedback are the only things I can think of.

LTE has to be a given after the new iPad launch.
Haptic feedback ...I'm not so sure it's a technology Apple believes in.

[CKPThunder]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Mmm... Mac The Ripper, or at least the free version, doesn't work on Lion because it requires Rosetta.

I'll look at Ripit. $25 < $35

I've heard that you can use Handbreak to rip, but I'm not sure how to do that. I always used Mac the Ripper to rip and then Handbreak to encode.

Funny this topic came up as Ripit is now on sale for $10 until this Sunday @ 10PM MDT. There is a free trial version as well.

http://www.mupromo.com/

[CKPThunder]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I have been using this Thanksgiving free giveaway version for several months now and I like it. But it has now expired and wants me to pay $35. Anyone have a cheaper alternative for ripping DVDs?

I hope you didn't buy anything yet cause it looks like these guys are giving away their software again.

http://www.macxdvd.com/giveaway/cultofmac.htm

From what I gather, I think all you have to do is like them or tweet this deal. This sounds like the same software you had from last Thanksgiving.

[nickerjones]

Can anyone school me on if I will see a big improvement by upgrading my i7 late 2011 Macbook pro from 4 gb of Ram to 8gb? Thx!

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by nickerjones

Can anyone school me on if I will see a big improvement by upgrading my i7 late 2011 Macbook pro from 4 gb of Ram to 8gb? Thx!

Fire up Activity Monitor (it's in the utilities folder in Applications), after you've been using your machine for a while and have what you feel is a representative workload up and running. Don't bother looking at these numbers after a fresh boot with your browser just recently launched. I mean report them after you've used the machine extensively, and have your usual apps open (if you use multiple apps at a time)

Activity Monitor:

Click on the system memory tab at the bottom

What numbers do you have for:

Free
Active
Inactive

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[Eagle Eye]

looking to buy a Macbook Pro, now it seems there are rumours about a new model being released, what should one do? Everytime I seem to purchase an apple product a new model comes out less than a month after.

I would like to buy it this month and I would be fine if something new came out in 6 months newer than what I bought. How early do people seem to find out about actual release dates?

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Eagle Eye

looking to buy a Macbook Pro, now it seems there are rumours about a new model being released, what should one do? Everytime I seem to purchase an apple product a new model comes out less than a month after.

I would like to buy it this month and I would be fine if something new came out in 6 months newer than what I bought. How early do people seem to find out about actual release dates?

They tend to come out at a reasonably predictable rate. Try this site out:

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

According to that it's nearing the end of it's current cycle, but it's still about 3 months away from the average refresh time.

[Eagle Eye]

Thats exactly what I was looking for, thanks.

[nickerjones]

Free 112.9mb
Wired 898.1 mb
Active 1.99 gb
Inactive .99 gb

Page ins 732.6
Page outs 447.0
Swap Used 998.2