What's going on with my MBP?

a-m-k said:

LOL, I know.... I know. I just didn't repeat the obvious. I am waiting for someone to reply to a message I left for them. I don't think you all will care about the final outcome, so I won't post it. I just have to wait. It's not that easy for me to get out because I don't drive. Everybody else have their own lives to live, so even just going down the street might be too much for them because they are busy.

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We/I may come over as rude to you but believe Me/We we're here to help you and just get a bit frustrated at the slow progress.
We can not see into your life, so we don't know if you have easy access to things.
I do hope this will get solved, and I do hope you keep us updated.

Hope you'll find a keyboard and will try the things said above.

You might try putting an add on a site somewhere where they give away stuff.

Maybe there are people here on MR and live near to you and can help you out!!!!!

a-m-k said:

I'll find my answer one way or anouther tommorow.

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Good, keep us updated.

Ouch.

If it were just optical drive and keyboard, I would get it fixed.

Logic board bad too tells me that it's time for a new MBP. That drove the repair cost up into new MBP territory.

a-m-k said:

I'm supposed to call back Monday to tell them my decision. Either way, I will still have a macbook. If I decide to keep my current MBP, I think my dad wants it. I can just upgrade and let him use the included discs since everything will be wiped clean. We'll see.

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Sad to hear it was more than we expected, I think you are better of not to fix it, a Logic board alone will set you back lots of $$$.

Sadly MBooks aren't that cheap, but you could also try to sell it on Ebay, you'll be amazed what people might give for a non(partly) functional Mac.

Thanks for coming back here and reporting.

a-m-k said:

So if I go ahead and start over, I can put it on my Best Buy card and earn reward points, too. It's going to be awhile though. I am going to wait until my family needs to make a necessary trip because the Best Buy where we go anyway is right there.

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I am non American so I can't give you much advise on this, if it is cheaper and get points this might be better, if not then I think the better choice is buying from Apple directly, depends all on what deals you can get.

a-m-k said:

Would I still be posting in this section of the forums if I go ahead and order a new MBP. The one with the retna display and (from what I understand) no optical disc drive?

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Yes, you would still post here, and no, the retina does not have an optical drive.

BTW if you need an optical drive, you can get one from Apple for a few bucks, but even cheaper would be to buy an optical drive enclosure and use that. If you've got an old laptop OR desktop with an optical drive in it, yank that drive out and stick it in a $15 enclosure of the appropriate size, and then you've got it! Laptop sized enclosures are more portable and generally self powered, although in my case my external optical drive is on my desk, I rarely use it.

I have a classic, but I've removed the optical drive in favor of a second SSD.

Adapaters and external devices will never replace integrated parts. Just get your self a classic MacBook Pro, a fancy screen doesnt make up for lack of ports. Also you cant away take all that external parts with you, others please dont post any replys stating other wise.

a-m-k said:

Thanks, everybody. I just ordered my new MBP.

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Good on ya, hope you'll enjoy it.

makaveli559m said:

Adapaters and external devices will never replace integrated parts. Just get your self a classic MacBook Pro, a fancy screen doesnt make up for lack of ports. Also you cant away take all that external parts with you, others please dont post any replys stating other wise.

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I have to agree here, a fancy screen but limited in ports and expansion.

makaveli559m said:

Adapaters and external devices will never replace integrated parts. Just get your self a classic MacBook Pro, a fancy screen doesnt make up for lack of ports. Also you cant away take all that external parts with you, others please dont post any replys stating other wise.

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Well that's not very fair is it, posting an opinion but asking others not to rebuttal?

It's definitely a reason why Apple carries both. In fact, when the retina was released, at the keynote they STATED that it was designed with cutting-edge-only in mind. It's designed for users who do not need legacy technologies, like FireWire or optical drives. That's not everyone, though.

Ultimately though, if you need that many ports, a desktop might be a better solution. Laptops will always have limited connectivity.

a-m-k said:

Since I ordered a new MBP, what is the best way to transferre my ipod songs. should I get the senuti program again to transferre my ipod songs or can I just use my external hard drive to upload them?

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I guess I don't understand the question, but, if you have an iPod, why don't you just sync it with iTunes on your new Mac? What I did with my iPhone was just did a backup onto the new Mac, then restored from the new Mac. Now the iPhone would sync with iTunes without losing any data.

Another option, if you can limp your old machine long enough to do this, is to connect the two MBP's together with a FW800 cable and use the on-screen instructions with OSX to transfer your files from the old mac. Then, the new mac should look just like the old one, including hanging on to all of your music! Just plug in the cable, power on both machines, and you should have an option then to 'migrate from another Mac' or something like that.

If the only thing you want to recover is songs though, then the easiest thing would be to just backup and then restore your iPod on the new machine. All of your songs will be in there. Although I personally like iTunes match for my laptop, since space is a little more limited. Then none of the songs are actually ON my laptop, they just stream. $25 a year, it's a real bargain honestly.

a-m-k said:

Since I ordered a new MBP, what is the best way to transferre my ipod songs. should I get the senuti program again to transferre my ipod songs or can I just use my external hard drive to upload them?

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el-John-o said:

I guess I don't understand the question, but, if you have an iPod, why don't you just sync it with iTunes on your new Mac? What I did with my iPhone was just did a backup onto the new Mac, then restored from the new Mac. Now the iPhone would sync with iTunes without losing any data.

Another option, if you can limp your old machine long enough to do this, is to connect the two MBP's together with a FW800 cable and use the on-screen instructions with OSX to transfer your files from the old mac. Then, the new mac should look just like the old one, including hanging on to all of your music! Just plug in the cable, power on both machines, and you should have an option then to 'migrate from another Mac' or something like that.

If the only thing you want to recover is songs though, then the easiest thing would be to just backup and then restore your iPod on the new machine. All of your songs will be in there. Although I personally like iTunes match for my laptop, since space is a little more limited. Then none of the songs are actually ON my laptop, they just stream. $25 a year, it's a real bargain honestly.

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A network Cable (patch Cable) should also do the trick but much slower.

Both Macs need firewire for it to work and Firewire Cables are more expensive than a Patch Cable, but Monoprice should also have cheap FW Cables.
If she ordered the Retina it does not have Firewire, she then needs or a TB to FW Cable or TB to ethernet Cable.
Cheapest way is an external case and get the HD out of the old one, but then she needs tools again.

justperry said:

A network Cable (patch Cable) should also do the trick but much slower.

Both Macs need firewire for it to work and Firewire Cables are more expensive than a Patch Cable, but Monoprice should also have cheap FW Cables.
If she ordered the Retina it does not have Firewire, she then needs or a TB to FW Cable or TB to ethernet Cable.
Cheapest way is an external case and get the HD out of the old one, but then she needs tools again.

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You actually don't need a patch cable with a MacBook Pro, it will automatically reconfigure the ethernet ports to work with any ethernet cable to link two MacBooks together.

But you're right, migration assistant will work just fine using ethernet vs FW800. In theory gigabit ethernet is faster, though I'm not sure which (FW800 or GbE) will actually end up working faster.

el-John-o said:

You actually don't need a patch cable with a MacBook Pro, it will automatically reconfigure the ethernet ports to work with any ethernet cable to link two MacBooks together.

But you're right, migration assistant will work just fine using ethernet vs FW800. In theory gigabit ethernet is faster, though I'm not sure which (FW800 or GbE) will actually end up working faster.

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Isn't a patch cable the same as an ethernet Cable, if not then I stand corrected, just a normal Ethernet Cable will do.
But, as said before, if she has the retina she can't and needs an extra TB/Ethernet Adapter or a TB/FW adapter which is more expensive than buying a USB casing/enclosure and put the HD in there.

Edit: I work with electronics and we always called them Patch Cables.

justperry said:

Isn't a patch cable the same as an ethernet Cable, if not then I stand corrected, just a normal Ethernet Cable will do.
But, as said before, if she has the retina she can't and needs an extra TB/Ethernet Adapter or a TB/FW adapter which is more expensive than buying a USB casing/enclosure and put the HD in there.

Edit: I work with electronics and we always called them Patch Cables.

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Well there is actually a difference. A 'straight through' ethernet cable has each wire corresponding with a 'pin', which is the same 'pin' on the other side.

So, in the example of ethernet;

1 -> 1
2 -> 2
3 -> 3
4 -> 4
5 -> 5
6 -> 6
7 -> 7
8 -> 8

That's a 'straight through' ethernet cable. I HAVE heard people call it a 'straight through patch' though. But, I guess I've always referred to 'patch' as a crossover cable, in which;

1 -> 3
2 -> 6
...and so on and so forth. It's sort of convoluted. To connect an ethernet client to a router or switch or modem, you want a straight through cable. To connect to ethernet clients together without the aid of a router or switch, usually, you need a 'crossover' patch cable. However with the MacBook, the computer automatically does the 'crossover' functions in the ethernet port, allowing any ethernet cable to work as a 'crossover' cable for linking two devices together without a hub or router.

I may be the one who is mis-labeling them though. I guess I've just always heard 'ethernet' or 'straight ethernet' vs. 'patch' or 'crossover patch'. You rarely hear about them anymore. Nowadays, people have several computer in their home, home networking equipment is dirt cheap, and everyone is wireless anyway...

Speaking of which, you CAN use migration assistant over Wi-Fi as well, but it'll be very slow, even best-case scenario perfect signal dual band 5GHz wireless N, is less than half as fast as ethernet.

The first home network I ever did was with a 50 foot crossover cable, I had a PC in the basement, and a Mac upstairs with an external dial up modem. It was really really tricky, but I managed to share the internet connection between the two machines, along with some files, using a crossover cable. I even got it working well enough that if the connection was dropped, the Windows client could force the mac to reconnect (back then I had two phone lines; one for always-on dial up. Today I have NO phone lines and always on cable! LOL). Networking Macs and PC's is a cakewalk now, in fact I find networking my Mac to my Windows PC's easier than networking two Windows PC's, but back then it was a nightmare. That was Mac OS 8 and Windows 98 IIRC.

el-John-o said:

Well there is actually a difference. A 'straight through' ethernet cable has each wire corresponding with a 'pin', which is the same 'pin' on the other side.

So, in the example of ethernet;
........ Edited

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We are going a bit off topic here so my last post on this.

If you google you get just normal cables mostly, in my job when we needed a crossover we really asked for a crossover and not patch cable.
I think crossovers gets rarely used now, it in my opinion was a stupid invention, why make it hard when you can do it easy