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Before I purchase my 15" rMBP...

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Iusername20

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 28, 2011
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Are there any accessories and cables that you reccommend me picking up? How about a usb 3.0 cable? is this needed?. I have an older 1TB lacie external harddrive. Should I pick up firewire? Thanks

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Oh and should I go from the base 2.3 to 2.6 for $100? I will be a student in law school in the fall. Dont do any video editing or photoshopping.
 
simsaladimbamba

simsaladimbamba

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Nov 28, 2010
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Nowadays external HDDs come with a cable to connect the HDD to the computer, thus an extra cable is not needed, unless you want to have an extra cable.
A USB 3.0 cable will not give you USB 3.0 speeds with a USB 2.0 or USB 1 device, a USB 2.0 device will work with a USB 2.0 cable on a USB 3.0 port.
Firewire is not needed, unless you have an external HDD with Firewire 800 interface and want to use it via the FW800 interface with your MacBook Pro with Retina Display, but you need a Thunderbolt <> Firewire adapter for that.

2.3 GHz should suffice.

To learn more about Mac OS X: Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios​
 
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swerve147

macrumors 6502a
Jan 12, 2013
837
114
Iusername20 said:
Are there any accessories and cables that you reccommend me picking up? How about a usb 3.0 cable? is this needed?. I have an older 1TB lacie external harddrive. Should I pick up firewire? Thanks

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Oh and should I go from the base 2.3 to 2.6 for $100? I will be a student in law school in the fall. Dont do any video editing or photoshopping.
Click to expand...

The only thing I felt I needed when picking up my rMBP was a nice sleeve to protect that gorgeous aluminum finish. I ended up getting a Colcasac sleeve (and really like it).

As for 2.3 to 2.6 that's entirely up to you and your budget. It isn't a massive speed bump but then again it's only $100. You won't really notice any real-world differences for normal everyday tasks between the two, if that helps. Pro work and benchmarking will better display the difference between the two.
 
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Iusername20

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 28, 2011
122
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Ok so I have an iphone 5. Should i pick up an extra wire if i dont want to have to unplug my phone charger all the time? I'm not sure what firewire interface my external harddrive runs nor the usb speeds although ill bet its 2.0
 
simsaladimbamba

simsaladimbamba

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Nov 28, 2010
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Iusername20 said:
Ok so I have an iphone 5. Should i pick up an extra wire if i dont want to have to unplug my phone charger all the time?
Click to expand...
Probably. I have three USB <> Lightning cables for example.


I'm not sure what firewire interface my external harddrive runs
Click to expand...
2012_01_02_pA1_Firewire_Ports.png

nor the usb speeds although ill bet its 2.0
Click to expand...
Can be found out via the external HDDs model name.
 
P

Patrick Boyle

macrumors member
Jun 30, 2010
53
4
Western Montana
2.3 to 2.6 is a small increase. Probably not worth the $100 unless you're going to really need it. However, if you're really going to need it you should go w/ the 2.7 which doubles the L3 cache to 8MB. That's a big difference.
 
I

Iusername20

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 28, 2011
122
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Yeah im not sure of the model number of my harddrive. I will have to check it out after work.

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If i use my phone charger to plug into my rmbp I will be using usb to thunderwire. Is it worth it to get a wire with two ends being thunderbolt connection?
 
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Soulweaponry

macrumors 6502
Mar 13, 2010
394
1
Iusername20 said:
Yeah im not sure of the model number of my harddrive. I will have to check it out after work.

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If i use my phone charger to plug into my rmbp I will be using usb to thunderwire. Is it worth it to get a wire with two ends being thunderbolt connection?
Click to expand...

Huh?...Why not just use the usb with the usb port? Why thunderbolt? My head hurts
 
bobr1952

bobr1952

macrumors 68020
Jan 21, 2008
2,040
39
Melbourne, FL
The only accessories I have for my rMBP are a nice Rickshaw sleeve and a Razer Imperator mouse. I use a Time Capsule for Time Machine backups and have several external drives for storage.
 
I

Iusername20

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 28, 2011
122
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Soulweaponry said:
Huh?...Why not just use the usb with the usb port? Why thunderbolt? My head hurts
Click to expand...

ha sorry. i meant with my phone charger, i would be plugging the usb part into the computer with the thunderbolt part in my phone. Would it be faster to do thunderbolt to thunderbolt instead?
 
simsaladimbamba

simsaladimbamba

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Nov 28, 2010
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Iusername20 said:
If i use my phone charger to plug into my rmbp I will be using usb to thunderwire. Is it worth it to get a wire with two ends being thunderbolt connection?
Click to expand...

The cable to charge and connect your iPhone 5 to a computer is called "Lightning to USB cable", the ports on the MacBook Pro with Retina Display are two Thunderbolt ports, two USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port, one headphone port, one SDXC card slot and one MagSafe 2 port (though that is only for power).
ports_hero.jpg
A dedicated Thunderbolt cable is only needed to connect another Thunderbolt equipped device to a Thunderbolt equipped computer or device.

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Iusername20 said:
ha sorry. i meant with my phone charger, i would be plugging the usb part into the computer with the thunderbolt part in my phone. Would it be faster to do thunderbolt to thunderbolt instead?
Click to expand...

No, since the iPhone 5 has no Thunderbolt port, but a 9-pin Lightning port.

MR2ss_2013_02_06_pA1_LightningScreenShotAppleSite.png


from http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/
 
I

Iusername20

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 28, 2011
122
3
simsaladimbamba said:
The cable to charge and connect your iPhone 5 to a computer is called "Lightning to USB cable", the ports on the MacBook Pro with Retina Display are two Thunderbolt ports, two USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port, one headphone port, one SDXC card slot and one MagSafe 2 port (though that is only for power).
A dedicated Thunderbolt cable is only needed to connect another Thunderbolt equipped device to a Thunderbolt equipped computer or device.

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No, since the iPhone 5 has no Thunderbolt port, but a 9-pin Lightning port.
Click to expand...



Uhh i think im confusing lightning and thunderbolt?
 
I

Iusername20

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 28, 2011
122
3
Im just gonna buy a sleeve/case from the store. I will purchase wires as the needs arise.
 
duervo

duervo

macrumors 68020
Feb 5, 2011
2,467
1,232
For law school? My sister-in-law is in law school right now. She's using an old black Macbook for it, and it still does the job. So, there's not a large demand for performance for the types of workloads that you will be having.

- Skip the CPU upgrade. You'll be doing word processing and Keynote/PowerPoint for "office" type stuff ... maybe some spreadsheet, but not a whole lot. The marginal boost in CPU performance is not worth the extra $100, imho.

- Skip firewire devices. USB3 is faster. If you shop for an external enclosure or drive, get a USB3 one with OS X support.
 
I

Iusername20

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 28, 2011
122
3
duervo said:
For law school? My sister-in-law is in law school right now. She's using an old black Macbook for it, and it still does the job. So, there's not a large demand for performance for the types of workloads that you will be having.

- Skip the CPU upgrade. You'll be doing word processing and Keynote/PowerPoint for "office" type stuff ... maybe some spreadsheet, but not a whole lot. The marginal boost in CPU performance is not worth the extra $100, imho.

- Skip firewire devices. USB3 is faster. If you shop for an external enclosure or drive, get a USB3 one with OS X support.
Click to expand...


Great!. Im going from a 2006-2007 white macbook that is slower than my 2001 dell.
 
AppleDeviceUser

AppleDeviceUser

macrumors 6502
Jan 7, 2012
492
10
Canada
If you are going to connect a firewire device you need this
Thunderbolt to Firewire
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD464ZM/A/apple-thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapter?fnode=51

If you are going to connect it to any external display or projector you need this
Thunderbolt to VGA
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB572Z/B/mini-displayport-to-vga-adapter?fnode=51 (The Mac doesn't have a mini display port but you can plug it into a thunderbolt port.)

If you are going to connect to a wired internet connection (Ethernet) you need this
Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD463ZM/A/thunderbolt-to-gigabit-ethernet-adapter?fnode=51

If you are going to use it on a desk alot you might want these 2 things
Rain Design mStand
http://store.apple.com/us/product/TN740ZM/A/rain-design-mstand-for-macbookmacbook-pro?fnode=54
Apple Magic Mouse
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB829LL/A/apple-magic-mouse?fnode=56

Just for keyboard protection you might want
Moshi ClearGuard Keyboard Protector (Not sure if this one works with the Retina model)
http://store.apple.com/us/product/T...for-aluminum-macbook-and-macbook-pro?fnode=54

If you're going to use a Disc drive you need this
Apple USB SuperDrive
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD564ZM/A/apple-usb-superdrive?fnode=59


Hope that helped
 
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