Currently on a 15" MacBook Pro -- I really like the design and aesthetics. I can see why they're so popular, to say the least. Installed Snow Leopard without a hitch yesterday.
Being a med student, my primary usage is for things like Microsoft OneNote (not included in Office 2008 for Mac), and I've got a 1GB+ folder with OneNote stuff in it. Unless I'm missing something, my options for using those same files/folders are:
1. Dual-boot Windows XP/Vista/7 on this MacBook Pro and live with the crappy battery life.
2. Use VirtualBox to create a Windows VM in which I can run Office 2007 and suffer with the performance hit.
3. Use CrossOver to run Office 2007 and deal with the occasional bug (and slight performance hit).
I am aware that Evernote can convert .one files, but only on a Windows platform. Currently experimenting with using that in a VM to convert the .one files, and then transferring the result to my Snow Leopard install.
But beyond all of that: if I end up having to return this MBP, what Windows-based notebook is the closest thing as far as design/quality/aesthetics? Any Montevina-based platform and a minimum of 250 GB / 4 GB works for me.
Intel Claims Core i5-Based MacBook Pro Promotion a Marketing Error
Quote:
Spanish site faq-mac.com, which was first to note an Intel promotion yesterday apparently revealing at least one forthcoming MacBook Pro based on the company's new Core i5 processors, now reports [Google translation] that Intel has revised the promotion to offer HP Envy notebooks instead of MacBook Pros, blaming a marketing error for the incorrect promotional materials. [url]
To start I should remind everyone that i'm not a mac user. I have never owned a mac or used OSX properly before today. As such, my opinions should be taken as coming from someone who has much knowledge and experience as far as PC's are concerned, but who is a total mac n00b.
First Impressions
When I first walked over to the Macbooks I was quite taken aback. The build quality is out of this world. In fact, I immediately walked over to the latest PC laptops to compare and immediately thought "manufacturing FAIL". Really, the Macbooks are italian sports cars, and PC's are 30 year old farm tractors to use the typical "car analogy".
The Macbook
I really only had any interest in the Macbook when I first went to the Apple stand, but came away with the intention of buying a MacBook Pro. Let me explain:
The MacBook's build quality is awesome. It's solid, no creaking plastic or flexable build, completely and utterly solid. Awesome.............
I never thought I'd be writing this, but Dell (yes, Dell), is charging customers a monthly fee to have access to its United States-based customer service representatives.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the PC maker is charging customers with a Dell account $12.95 per month to have access to an American agent or $99 per year for customers who buy a new PC from the company.
Those who don't pay the sum will be contacting center agents in India or the Philippines. But before you start your bellyaching, Dell is sweetening the pot: wait times are guaranteed to be 2 or fewer minutes!
I think this only pertains to the Dell Home systems.
Correction: They will provide this option for all Dell Home computers including XPS. If your curious the option is under services and the "Your Tech Team" option.
First of all great forum, I have found a lot of useful information here
I want to buy a new laptop from Dell, but I just cannot decide between the XPS M1530 or the Studio XPS 16.
I want to be able to play games on it that look good, like Warcraft, COD5, Source games like HL2. I'm not looking for something that will play well with maxed out settings, nothing close. Just a laptop that would do it smoothly while still looking good at maybe medium settings. I also need it for some university work like programming and other computer science related topics.
I am after having a terrible expierience with a HP pavilion dv2699ea special edition laptop. Recently it just got boiling hot, it was always very hot, but much hotter than normal now, you could not sit with it on your lap, the keyboard and mousepad and the area for resting your palms were just too hot to touch, and when I would be watching a dvd on it lately it actually shut itself down several times without explanation. Now the GPU has gone bust. Sometimes it produces no image on screen, or a distorted one, and it has made the laptop as slow as hell .....
I currently have all Windows 7 PC's in my house. I find that it is easy to share foles and filders through Windows 7's "Homegroup" thing.
My question is: If I have windows 7 running through parallels on a macbook pro, will with macbook pro show up in my homegroup?
On a side note I am also thinking of getting a 27" imac. I have an extra monitor so I would like to have windows 7 running on the external monitor, and os x on the main 27" screen.
I just want to make sure I can still share files easily with all the computers.
I received a brief pop-up notice that there was an important BIOS upgrade for my Inspiron 7720 and then when I went out to the Dell Support Link there is a one paragraph stating that there is a critical new BIOS update. I had hope to read more about the update and what it required but there was nothing. So I clicked on the link, this launched a download of a file - 7720A13.exe and nothing else.Â
How am I to distinguish this file from a SPAMMER sending me a file?
I have an HP mini 1000 that a friend gave me. It is asking for a password at the startup before windows kicks in. My friend doesn't remember the password and after 3 failed attempts.How do I get the bios password based on this error code?
i need to know can i install windows server 2003 in the same laptop. I have partitoined my Laptop in to C, D and E drives,
now i installed Vista in C: drive is it posible to install windows server 2003 in D: drive? Suppose if i install like tht it will cause any problem? . Thank you all
For those that use Windows on your Mac's, which version do you recommend? I'm thinking, what's best for battery life, performance etc..
I have a copy of Windows XP Pro SP3 and Windows Vista Ultimate SP2. I'm tempted to go with XP for simplicity, and the fact that it has equal compatibility and a shed load less intrusive DRM.
Would this female Mini-Displayport to male Displayport adapter work to connect the 24" LED Cinema Display to a non-Apple PC with standard Displayport connection ?
My understanding is that the Minidisplayport and Displayport are electrically identically, with the difference being in the size of the connector and gauge of the cable. And that only Apple is using the Mini!
I just bought a Dell Studio XPS 16 and the LED Cinema is on my short list for a desktop monitor. To my knowledge it is the only H-IPS panel with LED backlight available, excluding some extremely expensive professional displays.
Dell is introducing a U2410 that also has a 24" H-IPS panel and Displayport connector. But unfortunately it keeps the CCFL backlighting, LED probably would have made the display too costly to compete with the HP L2475. I expect it to be about $600 and would be willing to pay the extra for the Apple. The XPS 16 has the RGBLED 1080p screen so I expect to be disappointed with the typical CCFL on 24" monitor...
The adapter is cheap so I could always order it, and bring it with my Dell notebook to the Apple store. They'd probably let me give it a try. I know the captive cable also has a USB connector which will work without trouble. Obviously the power cable will not, although it would be interesting to replace the adapter with one that would fit the Dell
I was wondering if any apple owners could post if they are using a 7200 rpm drive in their macbook. Does the new aluminum unibody experience vibration from this drive or is it ok. I suppose the macbook pro would also fall under this since its also aluminum.
Im looking for a faster drive but im afraid the whole macbook will shake like crazy spinning up and down.
Can I connect an "Apple" hard drive into a laptop of another brand? I've been looking at this old IDE 60Gb harddrive but it says it's for Apple. It's basically the same, right?
When the laptop is on and I pick it up to move it I would often hear a loud CLICK sound coming from the HD. It had me freaked out that something was loose or that the heads were scratching the platters.
I just came across an article explaining what this noise has been. It is the sound of the read/write heads parking because of the "Sudden Motion Sensor" built into the laptop. It senses the rapid movement when I pick up the laptop and then it parks the heads to prevent scratching the platters... that is the click sound of the heads parking.
The sensor is a tri-axis accelerometer that detects sudden changes in "position and accelerated movement".
Anyways, I tested this to see if it was the "sudden motion sensor" parking the heads: - first I confirmed that the sound would still occur when picking up the laptop and tilting it quickly while still on - then I checked the sensor's settings to see if it was really on by running a command I found in the linked article. - then I turned off the sensor (that command is also in the article). - then I tested by picking up the laptop again and tilting it quickly...
no more CLICK
I enabled the sensor again because it is better to have it enabled than to risk scratching a platter if I drop the laptop. I'm just happy to have found the source of the CLICK and to know it wasn't a faulty HDD.
I just installed windows vista 32-bit on bootcamp, my problem is that when i am using vista, there is this high pitched noise coming from the laptop, but the noise isnt there when i use leopard.
I just bought an apple Time Capsule and started using it last night, router and switch works great, but can I use that as an external harddrive, because I tried to transfer files from my laptop to time capsule but it always gives me errors saying that the device is disconnected and whatnot. Anyone got any words on how to use it as an external harddrive freely? By the way, I use it on my Windows 7.
I have a inspiron 710M. Every time i try installing windows, my laptop shuts down. I have the recovery CD from Dell.
When i ran the diagnostics test, its giving me "DST short test" failed message.
I have checked my hard disk and there is no problem. I have formatted my drive and every single time i try to install windows, it shuts down at different times but never lets me install.
I am about to re-install Windows on my friend's laptop, an Aspire 4520.
I am not super familiar with laptops, however I have noted that at the top of his desktop, there is an utility program, a toolbar that I think is called Empowering Technology. My friend uses it mainly to check his battery charge level, although there are a few other tools in this bar, like "acer eData Security Management".
The problem is, if I reinstall Windows, all programs on the Windows partition will be erased. That included this program/toolbar. And I don't know where to get back it back...like where to download a new one for installation.
I have a Sony Vaio VGN-FS93S laptop. It is about 4-5 years old. I bought it in Thailand so I think it is a Sony Asian region model.
I installed Windows 7 on it today without any problems. It runs fine, but I am having some driver problems as expected. Even though there are a couple of red lights in the Device Manager, all my hardware is working fine except for the wireless network card. I don’t mind the errors in the Device Manager as long as everything works somehow. But I also can’t get the function keys working on the laptop, which I would like to have working too.
I called Sony in Thailand and they said the laptop is too old so Sony won’t be supporting it with new drivers for Windows 7.
Are there any Windows 7 drivers from other Vaio models which might be compatible with my laptop?
How do I restore  windows 7 to my laptop when the option for dell data safe restore is not one of the options when I try to repair it ? I have never had this problem before. Only just pressed F8 , repair computer but the last option is not coming up. I have the discs that came with it and when I tried it with these discs in the same result.
