Ye Macce Threade

[Dusty Chalk]

I meant on the iPad -- agreeing with Sherwood, essentially. But I think you're right -- at least, they should start with the higher-end models like the Airs and the MBP's. But it's almost like the iPads and the iTouches are a completely different market. Instant-on is a game-changer.

it would be silly without resolution independence.

Ah. I actually knew that, but hadn't thought things through. The science behind just fonts, for example, is pretty well thought out, and targeted specifically at pixels and pixel characteristics, so I know you're right (at least, in your underlying point, that resolution needs to be taken into account).

[postjack]

I don't think there exists a video card capable of driving a 27" retina display, much less the mobile GPUs they use in the iMac.

Gosh darn PC gaming and the lack of $2500 keeping me away from a Mac desktop.

[blessingx]

Wonder if this is a good sign?

Apple hires THX inventor to head up audio projects http://j.mp/mlEZBE

[Salt Peanuts]

So I'm thinking of grabbing a new iMac, either 27" or 21" with an iPad (assuming I can convince my better half to let me grab two new toys, even though it would be about the same pricewise). Also, 27" is gorgeous, but it may be too big since I want to use it at my couch, placed on some kind of low-height mobile station. Thoughts?

Oh and does anyone have a suggestion for the said low-height mobile station? I thought about laptop tables, but iMacs weight too much, I think.

[Voltron]

So I'm thinking of grabbing a new iMac, either 27" or 21" with an iPad (assuming I can convince my better half to let me grab two new toys, even though it would be about the same pricewise). Also, 27" is gorgeous, but it may be too big since I want to use it at my couch, placed on some kind of low-height mobile station. Thoughts?

Oh and does anyone have a suggestion for the said low-height mobile station? I thought about laptop tables, but iMacs weight too much, I think.

I'm not sure what you mean by couch use, but a 27" iMac is a big beast and would not be able to sit on a laptop table. I would get a short cart with wheels if you want to move it around and maybe consider a strap to keep it from tipping.

[aardvark baguette]

I dont see an imac working well in a couch situation at all.

[Salt Peanuts]

Yeah, those were my thoughts as well. I guess i will be reordering MBP again, after i decide if i really want better CPU/GPU, though I'm leaning toward aftermarket SSD.

Now, if they would cancel the temporary authorization on my cc so I can place my order again without being charged twice.

[Knuckledragger]

w00t. Just upgraded my MB from 2GB to 4GB of RAM. Installation was a relatively painless process ...once I started reading the installation guide for my model MB.

The performance difference is noticeable, particularly if I want to run FFX and (anything else).

Edit: The most difficult part of the whole process was booting my my old XP box and wading through the month's worth of updates it wanted to install first before I open a browser and look at the sodding install guide.

Edited May 5, 2011 by Knuckledragger

[Sherwood]

Reason for the dual Thunderbolt ports on the 27" iMac is apparently for triple monitors. A single thunderbolt port can only run one additional monitor, though it can also run other devices.

Also, I ran some numbers on a 27" "retina display", for the edification of all. The theory goes that our eyes are physically capable of discerning a finite amount of detail, and that number lies somewhere around 300 pixels per inch (PPI). The iPhone has a 314 PPI display, which is deemed a "retina display" due to its having a greater pixel density than is theoretically discernible by the human eye. I'm sure there's an astute parallel to be drawn to the Nyquist frequency here, but I'll leave that to someone fussier than I.

The current 27" iMac monitor, sporting a (beautiful) 2560x1440 resolution, boasts approximately 108 PPI. To contrast that, I'll point out that my office has a Mac Pro running 4 27" cinema displays in a grid, for an effective resolution of 5120x2880 (albeit on what is effectively a 54"screen). If, by some feat of engineering, all that graphical power were poured into ONE 27" monitor, rather than FOUR, it would still only have a PPI of around 220.

So, Mr. Reks, your point is well taken. While I'm sure that it's theoretically possible, I doubt Apple intends to get into the $25,000 desktop market just yet.

[Grahame]

^ You've omitted viewing distance. ~300 dpi at 10-12 inches according to His Jobsness. I'll leave it to the math nerds to work that out in terms of angular resolution ( the angle subtended by one pixel at the eye ) . But good enough if you assume you view your monitor screens from the same distance.

[Sherwood]

^^

Good catch. This is the point at which my mathematical interest runs dry.

[manaox2]

firmware hack can transform a 2009 mac pro into a 12 core monster

Nice.

Edited May 12, 2011 by manaox2

[Currawong]

OWC's 480GB SSD is now only $879.99 and the others have dropped too. They have new, faster SSDs, useful for people with 6Gbit controllers (doing the math for the speeds attainable), but that is only the latest MacBook Pros IIRC.

[morphsci]

Anybody here have any experience using BRISK as a Latex alternative for mathematical expressions?

[GPH]

It looks similar to LaTeXiT, which is included for free in MacTeX.

[morphsci]

Looking for something smaller and more svelte (unlike me) for the MBA.

[HeadphoneAddict]

My WD 640gb 2.5" drive seems to be dying in my MacBook pro. Can't reinstall OSX in an attempt to stop the crashes, spinning beach balls, and copy errors.. My last backup clone was 2 weeks ago, and I get errors trying to copy the more recent files onto another drive. Fortunately most of the files will copy when I boot from another drive. Thinking about a hybrid HD to keep the budget really low. Best Buy has the Seagate Momentus 500 Gb 7200 rpm hybrid SSD HD for only $139. Anyone with experience with those?

PS: the directory errors return sooner or later after repairing the drive with disk utilities.

Edited May 14, 2011 by HeadphoneAddict

[grawk]

I used to hear good things about the momentus, but have heard worse things more recently. I'd probably either get an SSD, or go with a 750 or 1tb traditional drive.

[Salt Peanuts]

I used to hear good things about the momentus, but have heard worse things more recently. I'd probably either get an SSD, or go with a 750 or 1tb traditional drive.

x2, the reason I'll probably go with SSD in the future.

[grawk]

well, since Apple has been completely mum about whether people would get a prorated discount for MobileMe subscriptions, with the rumored (and almost certainly real) new free service coming up, i decided to not risk spending $100 for a few weeks use, and have switched to gmail. man the google ecosystem is a mess. anyway, is there a way to sync safari bookmarks between computers and my iphone without mobileme?

not that i know of, unfortunately. you should be able to get a free trial on mobile me tho

[grawk]

Apple really does seem to be screwing the pooch on this transition. It was worth it to me to pay the $69 for my family pack upgrade via ebay to avoid the hassles.

[grawk]

yah, mine expired back in november, I think.

[Salt Peanuts]

Basically in the same boat as you, Jacob. I've been making do with google, but it's been a huge pain in my ass. I really hope they roll out the free version soon.

[shellylh]

Guess I am a little bit late but just found out about this.

Mac Malware

Luckily, I don't use Safari and I like to think that I am smart enough to let random downloads off the internet install on my computer. However, I did do a quick look in my downloads folder and found anti-malware.zip which contains the MacSecurity app which is a tiny bit scary.

Just thought I would let others know in case it is still a threat.

Edited May 16, 2011 by shellylh

[shellylh]

I am not worried about this particular trojan but it did make me realize that I should really add a separate admin account and make my everyday account just a normal user account (just to be cautious). Don't know why I didn't do that years ago.

Edited May 16, 2011 by shellylh