Hey Guys...

[Dreambird]

Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to the people that helped me get my DeeBee account back!

I don't know if you all want to hear... "I'm baaacckkkk!!!" but that probably describes it as I'm planning on purchasing one of those new fangled MacBook Pro 15" with the Retina display and with that comes oh... about 1001 questions...   and probably some...  

I've all but ignored the progress of Mac technology the last couple of years so this machine will be quite different from my current MacBook Pro 17" circa 2007 running 10.6.8. From what I see not much is completely familiar...  

So just a "hello" to everyone for now with questions to follow. If anyone has one of these new machines please do tell me about it... do you like it? Much hassle using old firewire/USB 2 externals? How is the OS... Mountain Lion? No internal CD/DVD drive... what if you want to reinstall your OS, run Disk Warrior etc? I do have an external unit which is firewire/USB 2.

Off to grab some zzzzz's for awhile,
DB

[Highmac]

  BACK!

Haven't gone the ML way yet, but plenty have and I'm sure they'll be around to give you answers when you wake up

[Johanbgoot]

From one Canuck to another, welcome back.  Johan

[Paddy]

I bought a new MBP in June, but opted for the high-res, non-glare display instead of the Retina, for a number of reasons.

1. Didn't want to pay over $4K to get the largest amount of storage and RAM
2. Didn't like the fact that I couldn't upgrade either of the above, ever.
3. Don't like glossy displays - though the Retina isn't quite as bad as the glossy regular MBPs
4. Still wanted ethernet and the optical drive, though have to admit, I have yet to actually use said optical drive...

I love Mountain Lion - haven't had any issues with it, other than the widely reported issue with Transmit. (If you leave Transmit running and your machine goes to sleep, it freezes the wifi - only resolved if you restart. Very annoying) I've still not upgraded my Mac Pro, but that's simply been due to lack of time due to ongoing elderly parent issues etc. I have to move one last client website from GoLive to Dreamweaver before I do that, as GoLive won't work in ML.

Lion Tweaks and Mountain Tweaks take care of all the odd things that have been introduced with the last two OS', like the Library visibility etc.

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

No internal CD/DVD drive... what if you want to reinstall your OS, run Disk Warrior etc?

Same as with the MacBookAir, I guess. Same as with an iPhone/iPad/iPod. Everything is handled via the interwebs. Even the OS. Lion and Mountain Lion create a Recovery partition on your hard drive. If you need to restore the OS you just hold down command-R on start up. That partition includes Disk Utility, BTW. Most of us also create a thumb drive with a similar setup.

QUOTE

I do have an external unit which is firewire/USB 2.

You can also create a clone or a Recovery Drive on an external drive. USB 2 will work, it's just slower than FireWire (which the MBP doesn't have) or USB 3. You'll have a Thunderbolt port, but it's not yet supported (inexpensively) well.

I use an external FireWire drive with a stripped down OS and all the utilities (Disk Warrior/TechTool Pro/etc.) I want. Many of those require un-mounting the main drive so they aren't as helpful only being installed on it, anyway.

Most software now comes via the Mac App Store, which will be an app installed by the OS. But I hear that even Adobe is using downloads for its software.

[kimmer]

Welcome back, DeeBee. You'll be way beyond me with your new toy, but it'll be nice to have you hear sharing all the fun and joy.

[Dreambird]

QUOTE(Paddy @ Oct 4 2012, 10:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I bought a new MBP in June, but opted for the high-res, non-glare display instead of the Retina, for a number of reasons.

1. Didn't want to pay over $4K to get the largest amount of storage and RAM
2. Didn't like the fact that I couldn't upgrade either of the above, ever.
3. Don't like glossy displays - though the Retina isn't quite as bad as the glossy regular MBPs
4. Still wanted ethernet and the optical drive, though have to admit, I have yet to actually use said optical drive...

I love Mountain Lion - haven't had any issues with it, other than the widely reported issue with Transmit. (If you leave Transmit running and your machine goes to sleep, it freezes the wifi - only resolved if you restart. Very annoying) I've still not upgraded my Mac Pro, but that's simply been due to lack of time due to ongoing elderly parent issues etc. I have to move one last client website from GoLive to Dreamweaver before I do that, as GoLive won't work in ML.

Lion Tweaks and Mountain Tweaks take care of all the odd things that have been introduced with the last two OS', like the Library visibility etc.

Yes, I see your point... the price of the 15" Retina display has come down a fair bit over the last few months... actually I'm not sure if they still have the standard MBP's at least in the US... I do see it on the Canadian site.
1. I figure that all told the thing will cost me about $3,200.00 or close with the max. 16GB RAM and a 512GB solid state drive/storage/flash/whatever...
2. Agreed, which is why I will definitely opt for the max RAM option. A 768GB storage is optional too but I'm not sure I'll go for that as it would boost the price by about $500. Of course I intend to keep the machine until I "need" to consider a new one, if it lasts 5.5 yrs. like this one I don't have a lot to complain about I guess.
3. Yeah... *sigh** I do agree on that point too although I did note when playing with the machine that it isn't as glaring as standard glossy. I do think it's a faux pas to drop the anti-glare option on Apple's part but...
4. Yup on those points too... but I think I'll get past it as Shaw cable upgraded me to a Wi-Fi Modem and I can surf wirelessly with no issue and I do have an external CD/DVD drive... any connections I'm assured can be made with adapters, ethernet or firewire to the new thunderbolt.

If they still had an option for a standard anti-glare 17" MBP I'd be hard pressed not to get that but I'm told 17" of real estate is no more. Glad to hear you like the OS... I think I will too. As far as software my major worry is Photoshop... that's generally my biggest software hurdle. Other than that I think everything I've got is good to go, I'm sure I'll get the odd surprise though!

If I were just to get lucky enough to stumble across someone who could install a new logic board in this machine it would be worth keeping in addition to the new one... as it is I'm too squeamish to dig into a notebook so I'm not sure yet what I'll do with it. Perhaps sell it for a reasonable price... it's in mint condition just for the logic board... I'm pretty sure that's what is going. At least the video chip... I'm getting all sorts of stuff I've seen before when that was the issue.

[Dreambird]

Jim, yes the fellow at the store advised me that thunderbolt is still too new to be fully used yet, fortunately he swears he has an adapter that will plug my firewire externals into a thunderbolt port and make it work. I just spoke briefly with him today to say I'd be down tomorrow or Saturday to see about putting in an order and that's when I asked him "what if I want to reinstall my OS"... to which he said... "download it" so I guess that's the way things are going.

I've always used Disk Warrior as the one tool besides OnyX that I like... guess I'll install it on an external or use the external CD/DVD. I will always make a periodic clone for myself even though Time Machine has worked well for me when needed I feel comfortable with my own clone as well. It's always come in handy when needing to reboot to some other drive than the internal one, I do generally boot to my clone to use DW myself...

I think probably my main goal here is NOT to need another computer for hopefully another 5-6 years! I just can't do this every couple of years... it's a major event for me...

Hi Kimmer.... thank you for the warm welcome. I'm sure there will be some fun ahead... I'm not generally one to adopt new stuff until others have worked it over but... oh well. I do have the new 3 gen. iPad with Retina and it is nice... it goes everywhere with me!  

[Paddy]

QUOTE(Dreambird @ Oct 4 2012, 11:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, I see your point... the price of the 15" Retina display has come down a fair bit over the last few months... actually I'm not sure if they still have the standard MBP's at least in the US... I do see it on the Canadian site.

Actually, the price of the Retina display model hasn't budged since it came out - the cheapest one is $2199 in the US and $2229 in Canada, as announced on June 12 when they debuted. I've never seen Apple reduce prices on something that is still the current model - other than in the refurb store - and the standard MBPs are available everywhere.

http://www.apple.com/why-mac/compare/notebooks.html

Until they can bring the price of the Retina models down, I suspect that they'll continue offering the standard models, as they'd lose out on a large segment of the very important student market if $2229 was the base price for a Mac laptop. If you've been on a university campus lately, you'll know what I mean - there are MacBooks everywhere you look, and a lot of them are the 13" standard model.

[dolphin]

Welcome back...DB!

[beacher]

Hey Dream, I was blown away to see you back!  Good to know you're still up there; hope you're doing well.  I still pop in here a couple times a week, but since I'm still happy on the G5 Quad, I don't have much to add to anything.  I guess that I'll make "the move", if I ever have an unfixable problem, but so far, no probs.  And, I see that the speed of the machines hasn't changed too much, so. . .  I DID get a notice on one web site, that started, "We notice that you are using an outdated browser. . .", but the site seemed to work fine, so. . .

12 years?  Unbelievable, isn't it?

Take care my friend!  I take it that your "minipin" is still in good health and keeping you company, and protecting you from that big, bad biker next door.

[Dreambird]

Hi Beacher! Sorry I've been slow getting back here... I've been doing some running around. I have ordered my new MBP, they said it could be up to 4 weeks. Typical you know, with new(er) products and Apple. It's been out for some months now but.... they are behind.

It's so good to talk to you again! We've had an unbelievable summer up here... hot and blue skies.

Yes, my little Fidget is still with me... he's 8 yrs. old now but he's a small dog and full of energy. He takes good care of me and the house... The only thing I notice on him is that there's more white hair so he's my little "cinnamon and sugar" as his natural colour is a beautiful Stagg Red (auburn).

12 years! Indeed, that was the banner up when I posted my first time... amazing!