Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

sorted now, swapped the mini-DVI with the HDMI and now they're both running smoothly..

thanks so much for the help, wish Id done that 7 years ago!

Apple designed and patented a pizza box for their new cafeteria...

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/16/new-macbooks-coming-at-wwdc/

Cheers. Is it to be assumed that Katy lake chip=capable and can be purchased with 16Gb RAM?

Yep, though I would expect a price bump. (and be pleasantly surprised when it doesn't happen)

Price should come down, if anything.

I need some advice. Im looking on buying my nephew a iMac as he's off to uni in September to study Graphic Design. If I were to purchase a second hand model (2014-2015 version) would these be hopelessly obsolete? or should I bite the bullet and get a new one.

Defo not obsolete. Imo, the even older 2013 models were some of the best. Without the retina displays and with actual high end nvidia Gpus. There are new iMacs coming this year, confirmed by Apple, so I'd keep an eye out for them rather than buy a current model of buying new.

Agree. Plonk an ssd and max out ram and you should have a solid work station

Though with an iMac he won't be able to waste his time and money in overpriced coffee shops like the real graphic designers of London famous London does.

I can assure you it's still possible.

Also, what a generous uncle.

Aint no desktop gonna hold one back from wasting time when work should be getting done.

This. :(

I'd also wait until he's started as well so you can make use of University student discount which is quite substantial and comes with free apple care.

Aaaannd it's going to sound like my last post was just a sales pitch... but I'm considering selling mine as I may have to move back to laptop for work (new coffee shop round the corner), it's a 27inch, i5, 775M, 1.1 TB Fusion drive with 24GB of ram. Pretty BAD BOY.

Now it's just standard 10% across the board and no more free Apple care nor big discount on it...

Ah FS, that takes away how good it was especially with the applecare for £50 too.

There was a very specific reason why the deal was so good, it was part of a supply contract Apple had with many UK universities, which is why you could only get or at least see the discount on a campus computer / WiFi or do it over the phone. Now the contract has ended, Apple just gives 10% to everyone student and staff so same deal with FE has always had... Shame but still much better than nothing...

Might also be worth checking out what is in the Apple refurb store as often there are some pretty good deals

I've currently got a mid-2012 13" Non-Retina MacBook Pro with 2x 4GB RAM (purchased in October 2013) that's starting to slow down, especially when using Safari.

Before I drop £1200 on a new MacBook Air with 500GB SSD, is it worth getting someone like macupgrades.co.uk to install 2x 8GB RAM & a 500GB SSD at a cost of around £300, or is this likely to be a false economy? Would I end up having to replace it next year no matter how much I spend on it? Would the Air still be quicker anyway?

The screen & battery on my current one are fine, and it's cosmetically decent enough too.

I spent about £900 on this one (bought it in the US when the exchange rate was better), so to spend another £300 on it would still be the same cost as a new Air. However, I could also get £200 back from this one, bringing my net cost down.

If it doesn't already have an ssd in it then putting one in will make it run like a new computer. Don't bother paying someone to do it, there are loads of guides online how to do it yourself, it's fairly straight forward. I think a 500gb ssd is about £150.

Upgrading ram is also straight forward to do yourself. However it will have much less of a performance improvement. Unless you using multiple intensive programs at the same time then it might not be worth it.

What @haveo says...

If you have never done it before, it'd probably take you 15mins to watch a video or 2, then maybe 15mins to do it.

And don't buy a MacBook Air in 2017.

Why is buying an Air a bad idea? The MB is all but useless with no USB ports and the Pro is incredibly overpriced.

Surely RAM as opposed to a new HDD would make it run quicker, or have I got that wrong?