General Apple Megathread

[CKPThunder]

Originally Posted by Mccree

I believe we purchased the iMac in 2009. I think I will upgrade the RAM for $60 I can get 8GB for RAM. Without the exact model number will the RAM in your link work in my machine? I am not at home so I can't check the model number.

edit to add processor

2.66 GHZ Intel core 2 duo

Sounds like you are in the same boat I was in. My iMac I believe uses the same type of RAM that yours does. I think it's a PC3-8500 DDR3 1066MHz. Memory Express only seem to sell the these in 2GB modules only. I ended up having to buy them online.

I'm guessing that your iMac is probably the March 2009 model and not the October 2009 model. Is your computer black or silver on the back? I think the earlier model (black) only have two slots for memory available. I think OWC is selling 8GB of RAM now (4x2) for $74US and Crucial is selling 8GB of RAM (4x2) for $60US.

Whatever the case, just keep checking around and I'm sure you will find good deals right now. I believe Crucial.com will scan your computer to determine the exact type of RAM you require.

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by CKPThunder

Sounds like you are in the same boat I was in. My iMac I believe uses the same type of RAM that yours does. I think it's a PC3-8500 DDR3 1066MHz. Memory Express only seem to sell the these in 2GB modules only. I ended up having to buy them online.

I'm guessing that your iMac is probably the March 2009 model and not the October 2009 model. Is your computer black or silver on the back? I think the earlier model (black) only have two slots for memory available. I think OWC is selling 8GB of RAM now (4x2) for $74US and Crucial is selling 8GB of RAM (4x2) for $60US.

Whatever the case, just keep checking around and I'm sure you will find good deals right now. I believe Crucial.com will scan your computer to determine the exact type of RAM you require.

Mine is Black in the back. I will check out those sites.

[MarchHare]

You'll need to look at this article to find your exact model:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3011

iMacs from 2008 and 2009 used PC3-8500 RAM, so the memory in my link will not work in your computer. Also, older models had a maximum RAM configuration of 4GB or 8GB (and maximum stick sizes of 1GB or 2GB), so make sure you look into that too.

Here's a Memory Express link for PC3-8500 RAM. They have 2GB sticks for $20 and 1GB sticks for $30 (with limited quantities available).

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...)/Default.aspx

[FanIn80]

Look up MacTracker in the Mac and/or iOS App Store. It's free and tells you every single in-depth spec for every product Apple has ever made.

[photon]

Neat, I didn't know I could upgrade my MBP to 6GB!!

Except I can't find anyone in Calgary with a 4GB DDR2 SODIMM

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Look up MacTracker in the Mac and/or iOS App Store. It's free and tells you every single in-depth spec for every product Apple has ever made.

Written by a Canadian too..great app.

[Mccree]

So I was able to upgrade my iMac (early 2009) ram today. Went from 2gb to 8 gb (max I can added according to MarcHare link above). Not noticing a huge difference but haven't really played that much with it.

[metallicat]

I was talking to someone over the phone about my Macbook, and he told me about an app I can download for my Macbook that will keep track of how the system is running, stuff like temperature. Does anyone know what this is? I forgot the name.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

I was talking to someone over the phone about my Macbook, and he told me about an app I can download for my Macbook that will keep track of how the system is running, stuff like temperature. Does anyone know what this is? I forgot the name.

iStat

[metallicat]

iStat isn't coming up with anything in the app store...is it MiStat maybe? It's 4.99, I was hoping it would be free.

Edit - Looks like this may be the same thing. Thanks.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

iStat isn't coming up with anything in the app store...is it MiStat maybe? It's 4.99, I was hoping it would be free.

Edit - Looks like this may be the same thing. Thanks.

Grab iStat Pro (for Dashboard) or iStat Menu's directly from the companies site. Better than MiStat, but by the same people

[metallicat]

Got it, thanks. The guy (I think from one of the Apple retailers here) told me I could use it to monitor the temperature to see if I do have an overheating issue. I took the laptop apart as per your instructions from a few days ago, and there wasn't a ton of dust, so maybe it is the heatsink failing on me or something.

[Russic]

I love iStat. When things are getting a little sluggish it's great at weeding out the problem.

[Hoj]

Originally Posted by Russic

Macbook Air update!

I was originally looking to upgrade from my *dinosaur* Powerbook G4 from about 6 years ago. It's finally dying and I was looking to replace it with its current-day counterpart, a 15" MBP. Now lately I have been hearing very good reviews about the new MBAirs and have been considering getting a 13" MBA instead. I use it mainly for academic purposes, watch the odd movie, mess around the odd time on garageband etc. but really nothing graphic intensive (ie. no gaming). Would the MBA be good enough? I don't want to buy the Air and have it be semi-slow when I have a big presentation open with lots of pictures, referencing, literature, word, excel, internet and youtube all open and then have me regretting not buying the MBPro.

Thoughts?

[photon]

Anyone else notice that Apple was, for a while, the biggest company in the world today? Passing Exxon?

Crazy.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Hoj

I was originally looking to upgrade from my *dinosaur* Powerbook G4 from about 6 years ago. It's finally dying and I was looking to replace it with its current-day counterpart, a 15" MBP. Now lately I have been hearing very good reviews about the new MBAirs and have been considering getting a 13" MBA instead. I use it mainly for academic purposes, watch the odd movie, mess around the odd time on garageband etc. but really nothing graphic intensive (ie. no gaming). Would the MBA be good enough? I don't want to buy the Air and have it be semi-slow when I have a big presentation open with lots of pictures, referencing, literature, word, excel, internet and youtube all open and then have me regretting not buying the MBPro.

Thoughts?

If you can see yourself keeping the hard drive relatively managed I'd say you'll have no problem. The speed is quite shocking, although the MBP is still designed for more heavy lifting. What I would do in your situation is buy the Air and put it through the paces for week, really try to slaughter it with open applications and see how it does. If you find the performance unacceptable, return it within 14 days and get the pro. If you find it holds up well, enjoy the smaller footprint. That's what I did and within half a day I realized the pro wasn't even an option as the speed was more than I needed and the size was so nice.

Some pros and cons based off of what you've mentioned:

Pro:
It would be ideally sized for a lecture theater or campus life. You mentioned the 13", but give the 11" an honest look. It fits in a VERY small area. I can actually have it fully operational below my iMac screen

Con:
- It has no dvd drive, so any movie watching you'll be doing will have to be from a usb stick or streamed. If you see yourself needing a disk drive you'll either need to buy the external drive from apple or have a machine that can handle it for you. That's been my one complaint as several times I've needed to make a disk image using my imac and then transfer over via dropbox or usb stick
- You mentioned garageband... I have a firewire interface for guitars and mics and sadly my air doesn't have a firewire port. I'm a little sad about that.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Russic

If you can see yourself keeping the hard drive relatively managed I'd say you'll have no problem. The speed is quite shocking, although the MBP is still designed for more heavy lifting. What I would do in your situation is buy the Air and put it through the paces for week, really try to slaughter it with open applications and see how it does. If you find the performance unacceptable, return it within 14 days and get the pro. If you find it holds up well, enjoy the smaller footprint. That's what I did and within half a day I realized the pro wasn't even an option as the speed was more than I needed and the size was so nice.

Some pros and cons based off of what you've mentioned:

Pro:
It would be ideally sized for a lecture theater or campus life. You mentioned the 13", but give the 11" an honest look. It fits in a VERY small area. I can actually have it fully operational below my iMac screen

Con:
- It has no dvd drive, so any movie watching you'll be doing will have to be from a usb stick or streamed. If you see yourself needing a disk drive you'll either need to buy the external drive from apple or have a machine that can handle it for you. That's been my one complaint as several times I've needed to make a disk image using my imac and then transfer over via dropbox or usb stick
- You mentioned garageband... I have a firewire interface for guitars and mics and sadly my air doesn't have a firewire port. I'm a little sad about that.

I am not a mac guy, so I might be out to lunch, but couldnt you just share out the dvd drive to the network and mount it on the macbook?

[J epworth]

Okay, looking to see if any of you guys could solve an "issue" I'm having with my new MacBook Pro.

On my external hard drive I have everything from my old macbook backed up onto it, including Microsoft Office 2008. So transferring Office 2008 to my new macbook, it works fine, can access all the features. I was very excited that I could just do this, since I couldn't find the installation disk anywhere (think I left it in another city)

So after finding this out, tried to transfer Microsoft Office 2011 that was on my brother's girlfriends computer (MacBook air) onto my hard drive, then onto my new Macbook. Got it onto my new computer, but then whenever I try to open word, excel etc., says there is an issue, and to reinstall office.

Of course I can't do that because I don't have the disk, but is this just Microsoft getting better security technology between the 2 versions (Because I know it's not supposed to be that easy to just transfer office), or does anyone know a way around this so I might be able to use Office 2011? Thanks a lot

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by photon

Anyone else notice that Apple was, for a while, the biggest company in the world today? Passing Exxon?

Crazy.

Yes.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by J epworth kendal

Okay, looking to see if any of you guys could solve an "issue" I'm having with my new MacBook Pro.

On my external hard drive I have everything from my old macbook backed up onto it, including Microsoft Office 2008. So transferring Office 2008 to my new macbook, it works fine, can access all the features. I was very excited that I could just do this, since I couldn't find the installation disk anywhere (think I left it in another city)

So after finding this out, tried to transfer Microsoft Office 2011 that was on my brother's girlfriends computer (MacBook air) onto my hard drive, then onto my new Macbook. Got it onto my new computer, but then whenever I try to open word, excel etc., says there is an issue, and to reinstall office.

Of course I can't do that because I don't have the disk, but is this just Microsoft getting better security technology between the 2 versions (Because I know it's not supposed to be that easy to just transfer office), or does anyone know a way around this so I might be able to use Office 2011? Thanks a lot

I dont know Macs, but wherever you can uninstall software ( I think System Preferences?) you might be able to do a repair. That's how I would do it in Windows anyway.