Ordered the 17" MacBook Pro i5 last night. Should receive it sometime next week.

Question for the IT/Mac experts here.

1) Do I need antivirus for this thing? Based on Apple's adverts and some research on the net, it doesn't seem like it's worth the trouble to install antivirus software. Opinions?

2) I want to get a wireless router for this. I've never purchased a wireless router, so any suggestions would be helpful. I live in a 2000sf condo, so range isn't an issue. The router will need to support my MacBook and iPhone wirelessly, while it also needs two line connections to my PC and PS3. What to get?

3) Any recommendations for a protective sleeve? Apple.com has these Incase sleeves for $40. Any alternatives?

 

I've had my MBP for over 2 years and no antivirus software and haven't had a single problem.

 

The only sleeve I trust is this: http://www.booqbags.com/laptop-backp...ook-pro-sleeve

I have one of those for my 15" MBP and love it.

As for router, I'd get a dual band that supports Wireless N and G.

For the last year or so I've been using this router: http://www.netgear.com/Products/VPNa.../SRXN3205.aspx

I chose that one mostly because it's a Dual Band that supports N and G. I was hoping to also take advantage of the VPN functionality, but just never got around to setting it up.

 

The best thing about a macbook, and I've had mine since december of '07 -- no antivirus, no cleanups of the hard drive, and it works exactly the same as the day I got it.

 

The words Mac and antivirus should never be together in the same sentence..

wait.. shit I just divided by zero.

 

That's twice today!

 

F-C, don't even worry about anti-virus-no need for it. I have the Airport Extreme wireless rounter-it works great! I highly recommend this. Go to your local Apple Store-they have black sleeves specifically made for your size MacBook Pro. The inside of the sleeve is white-I've forgotten the name of the manufacturer, but you'll see them there. It's their most popular case/sleeve. I've got one and I don't take my MacBook Pro out of the house without it.

 

1. No
2. Seriously, any current router will do. I like Linksys.
3. I use this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=263602_263622

 

I think that this paradigm will be a pinful one to re-adjust when everyone who knowingly leaves themselves vulnerable gets a craptastic bundle of joy delivered to them in a zeroday attack on the MAC OS.

 

Had my 17" macbook pro for 2 1/2 years with no anti-virus and it still works like the day I got it. Mac OSX FTW!!!

 

I second and third the suggestions above. I use a Time Capsule from Apple for wireless G/N capability, the option of a guest wireless network, and reliable automatic data backup. My MBP was stolen when my truck was burglarized last week, and thanks to my Time Capsule, I re-imaged from my backup and was up and going with my new MBP (15" i7) in no time. It's worth the extra cash IMO.

http://www.apple.com/timecapsule/

 

I've been waiting about 5 years for this. So far I'm good. Maybe it will be part of 2012.

Get an external hard drive for backups. Time Machine is so simple that you are really an ass if you are not using it.

 

I had a fun filled weekend trying to transfer my home movies from PC to Mac.

I had a bunch of old AVI files (13MB each) from a NTFS formated external hard drive that I wanted to move over. I first reformated a second external hard drive from NTFS to Mac OS Extended (journaled). Then I hooked up both hard drives to my MacBook using USB 2.0 cables. However, when I tried to transfer the files from the PC drive to the Mac drive, I'd always get the error message "THE FINDER CANNOT COMPLETE THE OPERATION BECAUSE SOME DATA IN file.avi COULD NOT BE READ OR WRITTEN."

The AVI files seemed perfectly fine, because I can run them in Quicktime on the MacBook. I just couldn't transfer them to the Mac OS Extended hard drive. I even tried to transfer them directly onto the hard drive in the MacBook, and that didn't work as well. Some smaller AVI files did transfer successfully. I think the AVI files that did work were recorded off my camera, while the AVI files that didn't work were recorded from my old DVI camcorder.

Finally, since I was able to open the files in Quicktime, I simply saved them onto the Mac OS Extended external hard drive from Quicktime using the save as feature.

What a pain, this took forever. Not only that, but the newly saved files have went from 13MB each to around 26MB each. Did Quicktime uncompress the files? My guess is that there is some kind of formatting issue in the AVI files that OSX doesn't like.

To be fair, this pales in comparison to the troubles I had when I tried to upgrade from Windows XP to Vista four years ago. But slick Steve would try to give his sales pitch of how easy is it to go from PC to Mac.

 

you fell for it.....




j/k

 

http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/migrate/

 

make sure you install perian, and the flip4mac & divx codec so that quicktime can truly play all your avi files. no idea why you couldn't copy them, sounds like an pebkac issue though.

 

It was my wife that insisted on getting a Mac. Of course, it always falls on me when something wrong happens.



I read that. That's the part I'm ranting about. It all seems so easy on the Apple website.


I did some searches on the transfer issue and the error message, and while I found nothing that relates exactly to my problem, this error does occur frequently and the opinion seems to be compatibility issues between the Mac OS Extended format and certain data formatted in PC.

 

I got one about four years ago, I only use it when I travel. Need to sell, want to get a iCore W7 notebook.

 

I blame the slow ass USB 2.0 cable....

 

Speck Products make great shells for the macbooks.

I use one on my 13" MBP instead of a sleeve

 

I just became a convert this past weekend...

Any experiences with VMWare Fusion? I was planning on running Bootcamp and installing Windows 7, but a coworker said this may work better for when I need Windows...

 

yeah i use it and its great. I would prefer this over bootcamp if you dont need any intensive programs running and just want to do basic things.

 

I see no reason running windows on a mac....

 

Get a Mac...Oh wait..Conrats!

 

It's not that the Mac is invulnerable to an attack, it's just that they comprise such a small percentage of the computer marketplace that no one is wasting time attacking them.

 

^From Apple's report just released moments ago.
That sounds to me like an awful lot of macs worth attacking.

 

All of you need to stop buying Macs!

 

But it's a 33% increase of Mac sales which is only about of 10% of the computers out there so you're still dealing with a small number. Like Stogie said though, our safety period could be coming to an end as more people like F-C jump and board and screw it up for us.
Say's the last guy in the Mac pool.

 

I'm the cut off point.

 

 

Alright screw all the other tips on this thread, they ain't got shit on my tip! Check this I got that tip that can double your battery life, son!

One of the new features of the current MBP is on the fly GPU switching between integrated and discrete graphics. Sound great right? Well not really, cause all sorts of apps will trigger the discrete gpu for no good reason and if they're running your battery life. For example Firefox, Google Chrome, iPhoto, handbrake and probably a bunch of other apps will trigger the GPU and as long as you have those apps open you're gonna get shitty battery life. Luckily there's a great utility the will tell you which GPU you're using and if you're using the discrete GPU it will tell you which process is triggering it. Also it will allow you to manually switch between GPUs on the fly and the latest version lets you run full time in either Intel or Nvidia mode. I choose Intel mode and get probably another 2-3hrs of battery life and a much cooler laptop.

Check it out, you'll be glad you did!

http://codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus/

 

So If I get one of these I could trade it for a 4runner?

 

Stogie says if any one else buys one Zeroday is gonna give us all a virus.

 

I'd take a wild guess and say thats how many pc's are sold in a couple of weeks


I'm still not ready to jump on the mac bandwagon
Give me time, I like my vaio for now.

Congrats on the purchase

 

Ohh and I forgot to mention, this macbook is gonna bring you bad luck to the F1 league

 

Love my mac

 

Can't get any worse.

 

Obviously you weren't in the thread about the boy who turned a free cell phone into a Porsche boxster.

 

You're right, that was my twin brother label black posting in that thread but he was signed in on my account.

 

post pics with both of you holding a stick of butter next to a Nissan GTR