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Anyone have a recommendation for a solid screen protector for a 15" MBP (2011 version)? I'm going to be using it outdoors in a dusty environment and would like to keep the screen as clean as possible. Recommendations for a keyboard covers or touch pad covers would be appreciated as well, but I may end up covering them in a few layers of plastic wrap. I don't need to be able to use the keyboard and only need minimal use of the touch pad while the computer is open.
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Aug 15, 2011 08:01
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How quickly should a MBP (early '11 sandy bridge) battery drain while asleep? I feel like if I close the top when its fully charged and don't touch it for a week (or maybe a bit longer), it will be close to dead the next time I opening it. This seems a bit quick to me, but maybe it could be attributed to ninja girlfriend usage. I'm going to charge it tonight and make sure it is not touched until Monday to confirm/deny my suspicions. Similarly, how fast should the battery drain while shut down (if at all)?
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Aug 24, 2012 01:46
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How much does replacing the DVD drive in a MBP with a mechanical hard drive affect battery life, especially if what is stored on the drive isn't accessed while on battery power for most use case? Does hard drive speed (e.g. 5400 vs 7200 RPM) have a noticeable effect on battery life? I've also read that the amount of idle time before the drive spins down can be adjusted via a terminal command. Will lowering that time significantly reduce the battery life impact?
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Feb 20, 2013 01:06
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I have an early 2011 15" MBP. OP and Apple website says max RAM is 8GB, but OWC sells a 16GB kit for 2011 MBPs and Googling returns people claiming they've put 16GB in w/ no issues. Which is it, 8 or 16? If 16 is some sort of hack required to make it work, or is it plug and play?
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Feb 21, 2013 20:23
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Are there any decent docks for a 15" early 2011 MBP that are designed for using the laptop screen as a second monitor? The Henge docks in the OP look nice, but it looks like they only work if the laptop is kept closed. They do have a horizontal dock available for pre-order, but it seems it's only compatible with the new retina MBPs.
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Feb 22, 2013 20:56
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Are there any thunderbolt (mini DP) to dual link DVI adapters that don't also require a USB port? If not, can the USB portion of that adapter be attached to a hub or does it have to have a port to itself?
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Feb 25, 2013 22:32
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Ruin Completely posted:the current 13"(non retina) model doesn't really feel like it has anything that seperates it from a regular, half as expensive PC laptop other than the OS, which I don't benefit from that greatly with what I use it for.
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Apr 5, 2013 21:51
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I personally don't find the 15" MBP too big or heavy for carrying around. I'm pretty happy I went 15" with the high-res screen option (this was before the retinas) because I have a feeling the lack of screen real estate on a 13" or even 15" w/o the high-res would drive me nuts when doing things other than web browsing.
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May 31, 2013 07:06
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It all depends on what you're using it for and what you value. If you want ultra-portable light and thin, then the Air is the obvious choice. Personally, I use my MBP for DJing, music production, photo editing and programming and don't always have access to an external monitor. The apps I use for those activities can get frustratingly cramped on smaller screens, so I chose to sacrifice some portability for screen size and resolution. However, even though it's less portable than an Air, I still find it pretty drat portable. I don't mind bringing it to meetings or coffee shops for instance. To me it just seems like all this talk about the lack of portability of a regular MBP is a bit exaggerated. Don't get me wrong though, I'd love to have an Air. But I'd need something larger (like a MBP) as well, for when I want to maximize my productivity at times when I don't have access to an external monitor (e.g. when staying at hotels while travelling). With the MBP I can get by comfortably with only 1 laptop.
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May 31, 2013 09:00
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Hogscraper posted:A decent late 2011 17" showed up on CL today with Apple Care. Specs say ram is only upgradable to 8GB but I was trying to nail down a good price and eBay has a few late 2011 models saying they're coming with 16GB. Did Apple release a firmware update?
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Jun 13, 2013 07:49
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Any reason I shouldn't go with this 16GB RAM kit for my early '11 15" MBP? It's not advertised as "for Mac" like some kits, but the price is hard to beat with the 15% coupon code. Is there anything special about the "for Mac" memory, or is it just marketing? Reviewers have reported success using what I linked with MBPs, but I don't mind paying a few bucks more for the "for Mac" stuff if it will be more stable or has some other sort of benefit.
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Aug 31, 2013 09:55
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How should I format an external hard drive (2TB WD red) so that it will be plug and play with both OSX and Windows? I assume I want exFAT for the file system, but what about the partition table? GPT or MBR? Does it matter if I don't need to be able to boot from the drive?
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Sep 6, 2013 18:30
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Anyone have experience with this Logitech wireless solar keyboard? Any issues? I'm looking for a wireless keyboard for use when my MBP is 'docked', and am leaning toward this one since it has the number pad unlike the Apple wireless and I like the idea of not having to worry about batteries.
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Sep 17, 2013 22:16
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I'm trying to avoid wires as I'm often shuffling the keyboard and music gear around and despite my best efforts everything always ends up a tangled mess.
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Sep 17, 2013 22:58
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Any particular reason you are recommending this + the Apple wireless rather than the Logitech? The LMP keypad has bad reviews on both Amazon and the Apple store and is pretty expensive for what it is as well.
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Sep 17, 2013 23:19
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flyboi posted:Yeah, worked great so long as I remembered to turn it off when I didn't use it otherwise I'd have to leave it on the windowsill to charge. Thanks for the offer, I may take you up on it if I decide to go this route. echobucket posted:I have this guy I use with my Apple TV.
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Sep 18, 2013 03:39
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The stupid K750 only pairs to one thing and uses a dongle.
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Pertplus posted:So I just installed a second hard drive in my 13" 2011 Macbook Pro in place of the optical drive. Now my Macbook is significantly louder. Is there any way to turn the second HDD off / make it "sleep" when not in use? edit: If you don't want to completely eject or unmount the disk, there's also a variable that sets how long the drive will idle before it goes to sleep. By default this is set to 10 minutes. A lot of people will drop this to 5. If you make it too short you may hurt your battery life due to frequent spinups/downs. The idle time can also be configured differently for when you are on battery on plugged in. Some googling should give you the exact commands you need to run for all of this. Splinter fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Sep 19, 2013 |
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Sep 19, 2013 00:10
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I just had a silly thought. Is OSX Flash bad enough that it could be more battery efficient to visit Flash sites in a Windows VM (lets say using Parallels w/ Aero disabled) than on native Chrome or Safari?
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Nov 5, 2013 22:31
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Anyone have recommendations for a laptop stand for a 15" MBP that is sturdy, height adjustable and rugged enough to survive some travel?
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Nov 25, 2013 19:24
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Opened my 15" early 2011 MBP one day around 2 weeks ago and there was a pixel wide neon green line running vertical on the screen somewhere close to the center. The line does not show up in screenshots, so it seemed to be an issue with the screen rather than the GPU. Some googling confirmed it was probably the screen or the screen connector, and that I should bring it in to an Apple store because there isn't anyway for me to fix it and it will probably only get worse. However, later that day I opened the laptop up again and the line was gone, so I let it be. Fast forward to earlier this week. The line came back again in the same spot, and it has not gone away after numerous opens/closes over the past few days, so I'm going to take it in. Questions: I installed 16 GB of RAM (which works fine even though the tech specs say it maxes out at 8) and replaced the superdrive with an OWC data doubler. Should I remove either of these upgrades prior to taking the laptop in? Could either of these things be used as a reason not to repair this? My Apple Care is still active until May, so I'm OK on that end. Also, has anyone had this happen to them? If so, what caused it and what had to be done to get it fixed?
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Dec 20, 2013 04:49
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tl;dr: How much will adding a 7200 RPM HDD to a 15" MBP affect battery life? Backstory: I have a early 2011 15" MBP with a 128GB SSD. I added a 1TB 7200 RPM HDD in place of the DVD drive. Currently, I have terminal scripts in the dock to mount and unmount (which causes the drive to spin down) the HDD so that it's only spinning when I actually need data on it (which is usually only when I'm doing music production or photo editing at home connected to AC power). Recently, I've been running into the 128GB limit on the SSD and as a result have been spending more time than I'd like managing what data stays on the SSD, and what goes to the HDD or external drive. To avoid this, I've been considering combining the SSD and HDD into a fusion drive, but I imagine that would result in the HDD being constantly spinning when I'm running on battery. I'm concerned that the extra power drain and heat generated by the HDD spinning may have a noticeable negative effect on battery life. Is this a valid concern, or will the effect be marginal?
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Aug 14, 2014 19:49
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fleshweasel posted:Ehhh you should let OS X manage whether the drive is spun up or not instead of mounting and dismounting it. It's not going to spin perpetually. I would be very surprised if making a Fusion volume caused the drive to spin constantly-- the controllers in these things are smart enough to let the thing sleep. Jerk McJerkface posted:Curious, without these scripts what happens, does the drive spin like mad? I'd bet there's some firmware updates for the drive that would help to reduce power consumption. I'd also wager it's possible that when you mount the drive, OSX indexes the drive like it's a freshly connected one, causing a bunch of drive thrashing, but if you leave it mounted it, it can index it and just leave it be until it's needed. Bob Morales posted:Why not just buy a 256GB SSD for $100 and then sell the 128GB one for $60 or whatever? FCKGW posted:Almost nothing. 1997 posted:I set up a fusion drive in an early 2011 MBP and the battery and heat are pretty much the same as before. No change from what I can tell.
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Aug 14, 2014 21:54
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Toebone posted:I don't think a SSD is really necessary for my dad to do email, fantasy football, and putting songs on his iPhone, but thanks for the tip.
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Sep 4, 2014 19:29
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What does this mean for someone with an early 2011 15" MBP that has not yet had GPU issues? That if the GPU fails in the next year or so it will be a free repair/replacement?
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Feb 20, 2015 04:47
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I assume this isn't good for business: Does it really take a store 5 business days to turn around a battery replacement? I suppose this would be a good chance to have them run the VST.
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Feb 24, 2015 06:04
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How well will an early 2011 15" MBP w/ 2 GHz quad core sandy bridge i7 and 6490M (256MB video RAM) drive a 1440p monitor? Specs list support for up to 2560x1600, but my laptop already screams when driving the native display (1680x1050) plus a 1080p monitor. I'm kind of worried it may struggle if I upgrade to a 1440p external display. My primary uses are programming, photo editing and music production. Nothing super graphics intensive like 3D gaming.
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Apr 1, 2015 20:37
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The main issue with Safari as a Chrome or Firefox user is some common keyboard shortcuts don't work as expected. For instance, I'd expect Command + a number to switch to the corresponding tab, but instead that navigates to the corresponding bookmark (or something like that). I'm guessing there are extensions to make Safari function more like other browsers in that respect, but I haven't taken the time to look into it.
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Apr 22, 2015 23:29
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All I want is a Mac desktop without a monitor with performance somewhere between a Mini and Mac Pro. iMac specs without the screen would be perfect. At least a Mini that is as powerful as a maxed out 15" rMBP (can't believe this isn't an option). Bonus points if it is a form factor that can handle a decent load without causing the fan to scream (but I'll take a screamer over nothing). It sucks that if I want to bring my own monitor and don't want a Mac Pro, my next best option (performance wise) is a 15" laptop.
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Jun 7, 2015 20:51
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FCKGW posted:It's not like the iMacs have a trash screen. You can even still do dual monitors, I really see no value in a midrange Mac sans monitor. Why so angry...? I already have a calibrated 27" ultrasharp. I don't have room for, or need for that matter, a dual 27" setup. Whenever I do get a new display, it will be a 34" 21:9 ultrawide. I don't need Mac Pro power, but I do a little bit more than a maxed out mini (e.g. discrete graphics and a quad core). If you can't see why someone would want something between a Mini and a Pro w/o a monitor, then I don't know what else to say.
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Jun 8, 2015 02:24
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Needing to a battery replacement and more SSD space has got me thinking about upgrading my aging early 2011 15" MBP (2GHz sandybridge i7 & low end discrete GPU (6490M 256MB) config). After doing some research, it looks like a 2.6 GHz late 2013 rMBP 15" w/ discrete GPU would be a good bang for buck candidate since it doesn't look like the '14 or '15 models added much performance. Is that a fair assessment? According to geekbench that would net me around a 53% increase in single core performance, and 61% in multicore, which seems like it'd be more than an incremental upgrade. Improved battery, SSD speed, graphics performance and sound levels under load also would also be nice. My main question: would it be wise to save up and wait for skylake rMBPs to be released rather than buying a used or refurbished late 2013 now? It sounds like the move to skylake could be a more significant upgrade than the recent refreshes, and also will likely include a move to USB-C (which I assume would make it more "future proof").
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Oct 1, 2015 02:57
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computer parts posted:If you have the money, I would wait for the new ones. Force Touch is probably going to be more and more relevant as time goes on, and (probably) having some new USB ports would help too. fleshweasel posted:I'm holding out for Skylake myself though. Sounding like holding out for Skylake is the way to go. I can just fork out for a battery replacement and a replacement SSD in the meantime to keep my '11 going strong in the meantime.
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Oct 1, 2015 21:43
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Yeah, I think it's crazy that there isn't a mini that at least rivals a 15" rMBP in performance. In other news, my early 2011 15" MBP appears to be suffering from the infamous discrete GPU failure. From what I gather, this issue is still covered by Apple until sometime in February 2016. Anything I should know before I bring it in for repair? Any point in taking video of graphics glitches in action, or are the internal genius bar diagnostics all that matter? Years ago I replaced the DVD drive with a data doubler (with 1TB mechanical drive) and upgraded the RAM to 16GB. Could either of these modifications potentially void coverage? Should I swap the stock parts in before bringing it in for repair? I also plan on paying for a battery replacement when I bring it in ("service battery" message and horrible battery life...19.4% of design capacity).
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Oct 6, 2015 08:27
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Sounds good. What's a consistent way to stress the GPU to ensure I'm able to reproduce the issue when I bring it in. Is GpuTest legit?
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Oct 6, 2015 19:43
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Binary Badger posted:Highly not recommended to do yourself; that particular model is one of the machines that Apple has a recall out on for having defective graphics chips, the best solution is to take it in to Apple so they can install a brand new logic board with working chip. Is Apple's flat rate repair of ~$350 for out of warranty MBPs not an option if they detect water damage?
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Oct 10, 2015 01:41
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Splinter posted:Yeah, I think it's crazy that there isn't a mini that at least rivals a 15" rMBP in performance. Trip report: the video test failed in about 5 seconds, so it was the covered GPU failure as expected. They gave no shits about the data doubler. Rather than just comp a logic board replacement, the tech comped a "flat rate repair" (any hardware that fails is replaced for a flat fee). Since the battery also failed its test, it was replaced for free even though it was out of warranty.  Question: what's the best way to maximize battery lifespan for a laptop that is docked 90% of the time? I've read things like run the battery down to 75% 2-3 times per week, and run it to 20% at least once every month or 2. Does that sound right?
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Oct 14, 2015 05:47
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Haggins posted:I'm thinking about selling the iMac while it's still worth something and then switching completely to the MBP. I would have to buy a good 27inch monitor for when I want to edit photos and some kind of external storage solution (have about 2TB of photos I need to keep archived). Sound like a crazy idea? I use a 15" MBP hooked up to a 27" IPS as my 'desktop' when I'm home. A 15" rMBP should have no issue driving a 1440p monitor for photo editing.
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Oct 21, 2015 00:14
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Haggins posted:How much is a good monitor that's as good as or better than my iMac? I use a Dell UltraSharp U2715H. It's currently $470 on Amazon. That is at least similar quality to a 1440p 27" iMac screen (if not the exact same panel). You can find cheaper monitors with the same or similar panel as the U2715H, but you may lose some input options, quality control (some of the cheap Korean brands get panels that were rejected by Apple/Dell/Samsung/etc), and/or factory calibration (could be a selling point for you for photo editing if you aren't serious enough to use a hardware calibrator). There's a monitor thread in SH/SC that can help you out with choosing a monitor. For storage, something like a Drobo certainly can work. An external USB3 HDD (or USB3 enclosure + internal drive) can certainly work as well. Right now I have an external HDD and other peripherals hooked up to a USB hub, so when I 'dock' all I have to do is connect 1 USB and the external monitor cable. There are also thunderbolt docks that can consolidate everything into 1 cable, but those are more expensive.
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Oct 21, 2015 08:47
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Binary Badger posted:IMHO if you absolutely positively can't afford to lose any data, you get the Drobo or something similar. In my experience, shoving a single drive into an enclosure, especially if it gets carried around a lot, gives you one big fat point of failure. Unless you back it up onto another drive, by which point you may as well have a JBOD array. I personally handle this by having my external auto backup to my always on home server which then automatically backups up to a remote server (CrashPlan). I do see the appeal of something like a Drobo or Synology though, and probably will get one eventually, they just are pretty expensive if you want one that has 4+ drive capacity.
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Oct 21, 2015 18:30
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Display quality wise, something like the previously mentioned Dell U2715H as well as other, cheaper options are equivalent to the TB display. If you only ever plan on using the TB display as a dock for a Mac laptop, and the default height of the TB display works for you ergonomically, then it's a decent option. But the Dell and others are much more versatile, especially if you ever want to use it with multiple or non-Mac devices (e.g. game consoles, multiple computers, etc). TB display Pros
Dell U2715H (and others) Pros
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Dec 31, 2015 19:47
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IuniusBrutus posted:Yeah, the Dell seems like it'd be great...I just would be annoyed at having to run a second cable to the Mac for the USB ports, but I guess I could always buy the monitor, and then a Thunderbolt hub later. Yeah, only having to run 1 cable for display/USB/ethernet/firewire is a big plus for the TB display that I missed in my list. For me it's not a huge deal, but I can see the appeal. The way I look at it is I already need to run at minimum 2 cables when docking (magsafe and TB), so adding a 3rd doesn't make much difference. I velcro tie all the cables I connect when I dock together, so with some basic cable management there's not really much clutter or hassle added by having to run one more cable. In terms of other non-Apple monitors to look at, the monitor/display thread a better place to ask for up to date advice. Personally, I care a lot about screen real-estate, so I wouldn't be interested in scaling 4k down to 1080p. I currently have a 27" 1440p IPS, but if I were to buy a new monitor now I'd be looking at the 34" ultra-wides (3440x1440, 21:9) that have been popping up recently. That's close to the horizontal resolution of 2 1080p monitors (3440 vs 3840) with the vertical resolution of 1440p. Basically a dual monitor setup without the bezel down the middle.
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Jan 3, 2016 03:54
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