The "I just ordered / bought / got my new/refurb MBP" thread [Merged]

akamichaelmusic said:

I just received my MBP 15" 2.66 9400M, and right out of the box, the CD-Rom drive was a little noisy upon startup, and when it "wakes up". It sounds like it's goes through a series of three "shuffles" and finally stops. It's quiet as a mouse other than that. It's this normal?? My previous Powerbook G4 1.5 makes a little noise when it's waking up but, this sound is much different. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

FYI- I put a brand new audio CD in the drive, and it accepted it just fine and itunes opened right up. I'm not sure if i'm just being paranoid

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I think all Apple laptops do it. you just can't hear it in a busy apple store. When it turns on, wakes up, or gets used, it will be noisy. However, when I got an iMac, it was defective out of the box since the CD drive was making a CRAZY (Almost scary!) loud sound that definitely was not right.

rick3000 said:

I'll also add that the MBP are now shipping with 3GB/s SATA instead of 1.5GB/s where you need to do a firmware update.

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Strange. A post from the day before called #1360 indicates that the 13" just delivered has not gotten the firmware update yet in the standard factory install image. You had the 15" so that one could have new install image before the 13".

I received my MacBook Pro 2.26 yesterday, luckily it came with SMC Firmware below 1.7 so i could re- use my WD Caviar Blue which i had installed in an Alu Mac Book 2.0 GHz. Now i'm done migrating my data from a Time Machine Backup.

I really like the better screen, iluminated Keyboard and Firewire port compared to the 2.0 GHz MacBook which is a great machine however. Maybe i will give the 2.0 to my wife - she usually uses my old iBook G4 800MHz.

I got my 15" replacement about a week after the 1.7 firmware and it didn't have it installed yet.

i bought my sister one yesterday with her new education discount and have not stopped hitting F5 since now says Prepared for Shipment hope to get it by Wednesday

My new 15" MBP

Hi guys, so I ordered and received my new MBP 15" 2.8 ghz last week and in setting it up I thought I'd take some pics and share my experience.

I had ordered a bunch of things including a Moshi Palmguard, Moshi Codex and Moshi Clearguard.


In addition I had ordered a 128gb G.Skill Falcon SSD and a optical bay caddy from the US


Before turning on the MBP for the first time, my first order of business was to rip open the notebook and install the SSD


The innards of the MBP are very impressive, everything is neatly tucked away and ordered!

I then took the stock HDD and mounted it in the optical bay caddy. Instead of buying the overpriced Optibay I opted to purchase one from these folks:
Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy(p/n OBHD9-SATA-SATA-B) Black, 9.5mm [OBHD9-SATA-SATA-B] - $42.00 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks





I then ripped out the Superdrive and replaced it with the afforementioned caddy.


My plan is to use the SSD as the boot drive, and then use the 500gb hdd as storage and TM backup :thumbup:

I also installed the Moshi products. The Clearguard keyboard protector is amazingly thin!



However it is a little bit loose at the top around the function keys


Moving on to the Palmguard, I ordered the 15"er and this is seemingly what I got

But after opening it, it looks like they put the 13" in the 15" package, so I will have to sort it out


Anyway, since I didnt have a Superdrive, I had to create a bootable image of the OSX installation CD onto a USB drive. I then used this to install Leopard onto the SSD.

At first the installation went well (installed in under 10 mins!) and everything seemed fine, but then the frustrating beachballing started. I decided to take the risk and install EFI firmware update 1.7, and wouldnt you know it, the beachballing is gone!
I would like to say that once you go SSD, you wont want to go back! Boot time from press of the button to fully loaded desktop in under 20 seconds!

Well, thats all for now, feel free to ask questions

Nice job. Have to say I agree with you on the SSD point. I just put an Intel x25m in my pro a couple days ago and the thing absolutely screams.

Can you take a pic of the side of the notebook where the optical drive used to be? Does the bay notice at all? I'm considering this mod.

Yup, pic attached
The caddy isnt visible at all from the outside and the foam 'curtain' hides the contents

3 screws and the superdrive is out

Smacky said:

Yup, pic attached
The caddy isnt visible at all from the outside and the foam 'curtain' hides the contents

3 screws and the superdrive is out

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Sweet thanks. Yeah I should have known really by looking at mine that it would be hidden away.

Only problem I have is sourcing one in the UK. They're pretty damn expensive.

take off that keyboard protector its bad for you macbook the keys are where the macbook pretty much breaths with that on your blocking the airflow its a bad product to use imo

...are there USB external DVD drives that work with Macs if you still like to use DVD media?

Or is there a way to use my bootcamp/VMFusion to import into the Mac via my winXP external DVD?

Nocturnal22 said:

take off that keyboard protector its bad for you macbook the keys are where the macbook pretty much breaths with that on your blocking the airflow its a bad product to use imo

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Yeah this was a concern before I purchased it, but given the aluminium body acts as a huge heatsink I dont think it makes a huge difference. I'd be more concerned with those skins that go on the outside of the notebook e.g. zagg

J&JPolangin said:

...are there USB external DVD drives that work with Macs if you still like to use DVD media?

Or is there a way to use my bootcamp/VMFusion to import into the Mac via my winXP external DVD?

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Yes there are slimline external dvd burners
Other options:
- if you have another mac you can use dvd sharing
- if you have a PC you could share the dvd drive and it would be recognised on the Mac vis SMB networking
- You can create an image of the disk on a usb stick and use that
- you can create an iso of the disk on another computer and transfer it to the mac via network

So basically, theres always a way around dvds and cds

I'm glad that EFI 1.7 update worked for you.
Tons of people including me are having beachball/freezing problems after the EFI update.
Have you installed the EFI 1.7 update after you installed your SSD?

Smacky said:

Yes there are slimline external dvd burners
Other options:
- if you have another mac you can use dvd sharing
- if you have a PC you could share the dvd drive and it would be recognised on the Mac vis SMB networking
- You can create an image of the disk on a usb stick and use that
- you can create an iso of the disk on another computer and transfer it to the mac via network

So basically, theres always a way around dvds and cds

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...thanks for the info, I've got a little research to do...

here is what i did

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/680228/

bought a samsung slot laod lightscribe DVDRW....all usb powered.

works fantastic.

i had 2 intel 80gb in raid0, now im thinking about a 13" 2.26 with 2x256gb samsungs in a raid 0

Great idea on the optical drive replacement!

I'll wait a couple more weeks for the new Intel SSDs and put the stock 320GB drive in place like that...

Congratulations on your new MBP - enjoy it - and thanks for posting the pictures. May both you and your MBP live long and prosper together.

Cheers and good luck

assisterah said:

I'm glad that EFI 1.7 update worked for you.
Tons of people including me are having beachball/freezing problems after the EFI update.
Have you installed the EFI 1.7 update after you installed your SSD?

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Yup I only ran the update as a last resort to solve my freezing problems after I had the SSD in there

I swear to (some higher) being that there is a sticky about this....

How does the Moshi effect typing?

Ok, I'll join in. I just sold my 24" iMac and purchased a brand new 15" uMBP from the Apple Store in Buchanan Street, Glasgow.

This is the most amazing Apple computer I have ever owned or used. The model I have is flawless. I love the display, which I am surprised about since it was the one thing putting me off 'downgrading' from the 24" iMac.

The keyboard is also stunning. I've been working away with it for over 5 hours now and it still has over 2 hours of battery life left.

It is stunning, just stunning.

thetrystero said:

This arrived via DHL on Friday (after the delivery van "broke down" on Thursday") from Tech-Com in Shanghai, China. Delivery to Kuala Lumpur took about 1 week ( I ordered it on Thursday the week before) because I wanted CTO RAM (can't get decent DDR3 Mac RAM in Malaysia).

The computer: Mid-2009 13" 2.26GHz, 4GB (Factory), 160GB
Screen: 9CC2 (as far as my search has shown me. can't find any other forumers with this screen and I'm not quite sure how to determine it's quality since I don't have another MBP to compare with. However, compared to my 2001 iBook Dual USB ,it's brilliant! )
SATA: 1.5Mbps, I guess this means that firmware had NOT been upgraded to EFI 1.7
xBench score: 138.1
Runs very hot when using Skype/watching movies (averages about 75 degrees Celsius, but not more than 80)
Contemplating upgrading HDD to WD Blue 500GB but might wait for SSDs to come down in price.

I'm particularly interested in calibration for my screen so if anyone else has a 9CC2 and hardware calibration for it, please post it!

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thetrystereo... I think we both got our MacBook Pro's on the same day (July 1). A couple things you stated I would like you to elaborate on. You said you can't get decent ram from Malaysia. I got mine from OWC and it says made in Malaysia and it seems okay. Also, you state you are getting 138.1 XBench score. Mine is only 133.2. Maybe you have something regarding the ram thing.

HLdan said:

That's unacceptable. Why would you want to keep a flawed machine? If it's got a dent it's considered defective. You should return it for a replacement, you shouldn't have to fix Apple's mistakes by hammering it out. I highly recommend that you exchange it, it's your money you're dealing with.

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It's not noticeable unless you look at the bottom. My computer runs perfect otherwise and who knows, if I sent it back I might get a replacement that has something worse wrong with it. Besides, if I misplace my Macbook pro and someone finds it and says something like prove it is mine, I can just say that it's the one with the small dent in the bottom.

I'm just glad it's not my car which I am totally anal about. When I bought my car (2008 Infiniti G35x), it had a dent in it too (I'm not joking). I spotted a hail dent in the hood right after they brought it up. I was freaking, but the said they would PDR it. After they explained that meant paint-less dent repair, I told them that if I could still tell there was dent there I wanted a new hood. They said okay and after the PDR, I could not tell so I was happy about the way that turned out.

Small question about my order

Hi Guys,

I ordered by 17inch MacBook Pro (BTO from Apple online store UK) on Saturday 4th.

My order is expected to ship within 3 Days, but the expected delivery date is 17-20 July 2009?

Is this normal? - Hope i've not got a lengthy wait ahead, I can hardly contain myself.

thanks

New MBP

Well I finally broke down and bought the MBP 15'' 2.66, it's an awesome computer but I have to say that I am having a very difficult time with the transition. At least when windows was not doing what I wanted it to do I knew how to fix it, so far all I know is that before I open any file I have to mount it etc... Well anyways I finally got quicktime to play all my weird file formats.

Well off I go to learn how to use this thing...