apple's general refusal to adopt Blu ray is baffling.

6/15/2010 11:58:02 AM

blu ray eats into itunes sales

6/15/2010 11:59:25 AM

^^yea, where's the 1700-word essay on why not to adopt Blu-ray?

6/15/2010 12:23:15 PM

i would buy one if it had bluray and came w/ windows 7

6/15/2010 12:27:04 PM

Quote :

"blu ray eats into itunes sales"

nailed it.

6/15/2010 1:07:03 PM

any time the question is "Why doesn't apple do [standard thing x]". the answer is it eats into other apple markets

6/15/2010 1:20:25 PM

except in the case of flash where its because flash would eat into apps sales plus flash is total shit

6/15/2010 1:21:11 PM

or rather in the case of Flash, it makes Apple products run like shit

6/15/2010 4:02:48 PM

flash sucks on all platforms and is full of security holes. it deserves its death.

6/15/2010 4:03:51 PM

Quote :

"blu ray eats into itunes sales"

how would blu ray eat into itunes sales any more than DVDs?

iTunes movies are not HD quality to my knowledge, and may not even rival DVD quality.


different pricepoints
different levels of quality
different markets

I don't really see that being the case at all.

6/15/2010 4:56:43 PM

No one wants to buy dvds because thats a dead format. They'll either buy a separate bluray player or buy it through itunes. Apple is betting more people will buy through itunes. The new mac mini replaces the failed appletv (note the hdmi port). Apple is going to use it as their push into the livingroom and they want to make sure that the itunes store is at the core. You buy your apps your music your videos all on apple devices all from the itunes store. Thats what they're aiming for.

Whether or not they hit it is another matter entirely.

6/15/2010 5:56:09 PM

Forget blu ray, anyone who cares already has a player, I want to know why a $2000 laptop with a slot load optical drive still cant take miniature CDs like a $200 Wii can.

6/15/2010 8:19:27 PM

Decided to join the club and get a 13" Mac Book Pro. I realize it wasn't updated to the i3/i5 series and has the Nvida 320m (so basically a Mac Book with more ram/unibody/backlit keys etc) but I'm alright with that.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3762/apples-13inch-macbook-pro-early-2010-reviewed-shaking-the-cpugpu-balance

Pretty convinced after reading that review. Great battery life, and everything I need. I'm getting it to replace my 12" Asus netbook. Anyone have one?

7/20/2010 1:49:29 PM

Ok got the MBP. Few questions. Do you really need a third party app to turn off the start up chime? Secondly why is the aol system message still poping up in adium when it's blocked? I'm sure i'll run into other issues soon. OSX is annoying.

7/23/2010 10:36:01 PM

You can turn off the chime in Terminal but it might be easier with an app. Def annoying though

7/23/2010 10:38:16 PM

So there's no way built into OSX to turn off the chime in the beginning of startup without muting your computer every time you shut it down?

-and fully charged it says 5 hours left battery life (idle). Apple says 10? Just not accurate?

[Edited on July 23, 2010 at 10:50 PM. Reason : a]

7/23/2010 10:46:33 PM

nope

nor have i ever had irl battery life the same as what they advertise

7/23/2010 11:51:10 PM

Quote :

"Ok got the MBP. Few questions. Do you really need a third party app to turn off the start up chime? Secondly why is the aol system message still poping up in adium when it's blocked? I'm sure i'll run into other issues soon. OSX is annoying."

The chime, yes.
AOL System Message? You've got something else causing that. I've been on Adium for... at least 3-4 years, it doesn't have any ads / start messages / etc.
I can't help you with the rest, but that's because I prefer OS X.

[Edited on July 24, 2010 at 12:16 AM. Reason : ]

7/24/2010 12:15:51 AM

AOL started doing stupid shit with Meebo logins recently as well. "We see that you're logging in from Meebo. Upgrade to AIM now!" sort of shit. I hope they're not doing that with Adium now too (I'm not seeing it myself at the moment).

7/24/2010 12:19:48 AM

No like the aol system message that says i'm logged into two different locations. On other clients i'm typically able to prevent this message by blocking aolsystemmsg but in adium that doesn't work. It shows up as blocked but still pops up every time i load adium.

7/24/2010 9:51:47 AM

Quote :

"Secondly why is the aol system message still poping up in adium when it's blocked?"

Sounds like an adium problem, does it do the same thing under windows or linux?

Googling suggests it is an adium problem: http://trac.adium.im/ticket/9129

And there's a fix for OS X: http://people.csail.mit.edu/siracusa/aolsystemmsg/index.html

Quote :

"-and fully charged it says 5 hours left battery life (idle). Apple says 10? Just not accurate? "

While I have rarely gotten advertised battery life from any laptop, I have never had anything as bad as 50% of advertised on a new system. Two things to check:

1) If you MBP has dual graphics cards, make sure the bigger one is turned off unless you need it. Obviously more power draw = less battery life, hence the dual cards.

2) Check your system profiler (Apple Menu -> About This Mac -> More Info), make sure your full charge capacity looks right and that your Cycle Count is low (in the 1-20 range). Cycle Count is a count of the full charges and discharges your battery thinks it has gone through. Since this is a new computer, it should be relatively low. If its up much higher than that, I would take it back to the store, you probably have a dud battery.

7/24/2010 3:01:22 PM

Thanks! I installed that adium plug in and it doesn't pop up anymore.

It says:
cycle count: 1
condition: normal

Maybe i'm just being paranoid. It's the 13" MBP so no switchable graphics. Apple says 10 hours of battery life. Most reviews said that was about dead on. It's at 33% now and says 3:20 remaining. I think it just bounces around so much based upon what you're doing that it might have just estimated the time remaining when it was doing something cpu intensive. I'll just watch it.

7/24/2010 4:30:12 PM

It does bounce around and will base it on the average of what you're doing in my experience. I've recently switched back to a Win7 machine but my '10 MB would go from 4 hours left on a full charge while using Lightroom & Photoshop to 7-9 hours when I finished and got online.

Have you conditioned the battery yet? Fully charged and then let it run all the way down until it shuts down, let it sit for a few hours, & then charge it fully? Then once a month or so you want to run it down to <30%.

7/24/2010 10:44:42 PM

Yeah i still need to condition the battery. That just calibrates the battery meter right? Doesn't actually increase battery life.

Also i do this every time i get a new laptop, but what's the best way to use it? If i'm able to plug it in should i just use it plugged in? Or on battery then charge it? Ideally you don't want to use charge cycles right, so using it plugged in would be the best?

7/24/2010 11:05:31 PM

Yeah, the battery meter will adjust its estimate based on what you're doing at that moment, and it's generally pretty accurate. Under most conditions, with a new battery and real world use, you should see about <=1 hour less battery life than advertised (obviously dependent on specific usage, like avoiding flash).

Yes, generally you just want to use the laptop plugged in when you can. You'll still use charge cycles over time, but very very slowly. About once a month though, you do want to discharge it completely and recharge.

7/25/2010 12:14:23 PM

Thanks! I have yet to see over 7 hours on the meter. I'm going to calibrate it later today per Apple's instructions.

Plug-in, charge to full. Let set for 2 hours.

Run computer down until it goes to sleep. (can i loop a movie? or just normal use? over a few days, does it matter for calibration?)

Let computer sleep for 5 hours or more. Recharge until full again. I'll see how that works.

7/26/2010 8:53:15 AM

the trackpad

it is magic

7/27/2010 12:32:36 PM

Are you constantly throwing away toxic, dead, single-use batteries? Do you wish your batteries could be recharged? Do you want rechargeable batteries that are charged more efficiently than any other batteries in the world? Do you want a battery charger that is environmentally friendly and doesn't act like an electricity vampire?

You need the Apple Battery Charger! It's magical*!!!

*(Pixie dust not included)

Quote :

"Now there’s a better, more environmentally friendly way to power your wireless keyboard, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, or just about anything that requires AA batteries. The Apple Battery Charger kit comes with a sleek, compact charger and six high-performance AA NiMH batteries that are ready to use right out of the box. The reusable batteries are exceptional at holding a charge and last for up to 10 years. Which means you can finally break the cycle of buying and disposing of those toxic, single-use alkaline batteries. Overview A smarter way to charge your batteries. The sleek, compact Apple Battery Charger is all about efficient charging. It's optimized for Apple-supplied batteries, but it works with AA NiMH batteries from other companies, too. And with a feature that automatically reduces its power intake once your batteries are fully charged, the Apple Battery Charger is one of the most energy-efficient rechargeable battery solutions available. It comes fully loaded. And then some. Each Apple Battery Charger comes with six NiMH batteries — two for your keyboard, two for your mouse or trackpad, and two for charging. Not only do these high-performance batteries have up to a 10-year lifespan(1), they also hold a charge for an incredibly long time. So you always have power when you need it. Best in class. The Apple Battery Charger has the lowest “vampire draw” of any similar charger on the market. That’s the energy that most chargers continue to draw even after their batteries are done charging. Unlike other chargers, the Apple Battery Charger senses when a battery charge cycle is complete and automatically reduces the amount of power it uses to 30 milliwatts — more than 10 times better than the industry average.(2) Better for the environment. With the Apple Battery Charger, you no longer have to buy or hassle with the disposal of batteries every few months. The charger works quickly and efficiently. And once your batteries are fully charged, it draws less power than any other similar charger on the market. (2) (1) Based on designed cycle life and anticipated user scenario. (2) Testing conducted by Apple in February 2010 on a selection of similar leading NiMH rechargeable battery chargers. "

Oh, and yes, this is actually a real Apple product:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC500?mco=MTg1ODA3ODY

[Edited on July 27, 2010 at 1:15 PM. Reason : .]

7/27/2010 1:14:44 PM

That looks like an awesome charger, I'm disappointed they're not charging more for it though...

7/27/2010 2:34:49 PM

I decided to stop caring about the battery life and keeping it plugged in etc. Apple says 1000 charge cycles before it drops below 80%. That's almost three years assuming i charge it almost every day which i won't.

8/2/2010 7:33:00 PM

Hey anyone installed a SSD on a MacBook Pro? thinking about picking up a Vertex 2 either 60 or 120 and putting it in my 13" MBP.

10/27/2010 6:43:29 PM

i haven't myself, but i think i recall seeing some favorable reviews on newegg from people who have

10/27/2010 6:45:56 PM

Yeah I think it's pretty easy. At least now. You just pop it off, take out the screws and switch the drives.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/macbook-pro-unibody-faq/macbook-pro-13-15-17-mid-2009-how-to-upgrade-hard-drive-ssd.html

Decided to do it after playing with the new MacBook Airs. Pretty zippy. Still lacking in the CPU department but the boot up and app load times are pretty quick.

Thinking this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227551&cm_re=vertex_2-_-20-227-551-_-Product

[Edited on October 27, 2010 at 7:03 PM. Reason : s]

10/27/2010 6:50:09 PM

damn Apple. be a little more blatant?

3/17/2012 9:07:52 AM

Has anybody else tried out the new iChat beta with iMessage support? OMG, it rivals iTunes in how horrible it is. I can't believe that Apple would even release beta software that is this bad.

3/17/2012 5:27:09 PM

what innovation? all they do is buy up "patents" and then sue the piss out of everyone that runs afoul of their nebulous patents.

[Edited on March 17, 2012 at 6:00 PM. Reason : ]

3/17/2012 5:59:52 PM

http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/23/iwork-for-icloud-beta-open-to-all/

8/23/2013 8:23:07 AM

Just an update to my post from 2010.

I don't really care about the blu ray player anymore.

8/23/2013 10:27:03 AM