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Need A LOT of guidance here guys. :P

X

xMassacrex

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Alright.

first off, hello everyone.

So I need some help.
I have a 2008 MacBook.

I'm to the point to where i could use an upgrade. But instead of shelving the MacBook and shelling out for a new one, ive decided to maximize my money and sell it. I have a buyer lined up and everything but my problem comes in with the transition.

See i plan to move from the MacBook to an Ipad. i dont own an Ipad yet, and im planning on using my sale of the MacBook to allow me to purchase an Ipad, and then once ive done that i plan on purchasing a new mac in the coming months. but i have a few questions on how to do this best.

okay. so i currently have an external hard drive. I have my entire mac backed up using time machine. so im covered there for when i move to a new mac. however, in the interim i need to know what i need to do to be able to maintain my ipad and iphone music collections and whatever.

see i have access to a PC through friends and family, so my plan is to sync my iOS devices before i sell the mac, and then using the external in order to update anything necessary (i.e. OS update, adding music, etc.) so how do i setup my external the best way? Do i partition a FAT32 portion of the drive and put all media on there that my iOS devices will use so then the PC's can access the information?

Also is there a way to setup an External HDD so that i can manage my devices without leaving a footprint on the computer? I dont expect to be doing this often, i just want to be able to do so if need be.

I also need to know how to securely remove any information left on the mac for when i sell it. i dont want to risk any of my personal things to be risked being accessed by someone else.

Sorry for all of the needs guys, but this is crucial to me. and i'd love the help!
 
An iPad isn't a proper computer. I bet you'll miss tons of features that real computers have that tablets lack...

What do you use your MacBook for?
 
Simple. Use carbon copy cloned to mirror your Mac on the external drive. Then boot off the external on a friends Mac and sync your iOS devices with your data
 
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Ashman, any chance you could explain how to do the things you described a little better?

And I use my MacBook for mainly web surfing and managing my music collection to sync with my iPhone. I find myself using my phone for a vast majority of my Internet browsing, and I have my media library to the point where it doesn't need much tweaking. If a new album or artist hits that I absolutely must have, I can either purchase the album or wait.

As I said, this should only be a few month period where I am without a MacBook, and if need be I have access to PC's at friends and family's house.

I don't do any editing, gaming, or anything really requiring a full fledged OS. although I plan on having one.

And oh, Ashman, the computers I'll have available to me will almost guaranteed to be PC's. So, I'll need a solution windows friendly.

Thanks.
 
Getting a MacBook Air would be a lot better than an iPad. It'd be completely independent, with none of this "syncing to PC" crap.
 
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"Sir" I see your point. I just would like to get an iPad at some point and I see an opportunity. I feel that a MacBook air and an iPad are competing. Since I plan on getting a higher end MacBook pro in a few months I'd rather go with the iPad for now.

I understand that people are going to argue the point of getting an iPad or not, but I've decided to go with it. (not to be a dick or anything) and I'd just love some advice on how to best go about doing this transition and having everything setup as efficiently as possible.
 
xMassacrex said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Ashman, any chance you could explain how to do the things you described a little better?

And I use my MacBook for mainly web surfing and managing my music collection to sync with my iPhone. I find myself using my phone for a vast majority of my Internet browsing, and I have my media library to the point where it doesn't need much tweaking. If a new album or artist hits that I absolutely must have, I can either purchase the album or wait.

As I said, this should only be a few month period where I am without a MacBook, and if need be I have access to PC's at friends and family's house.

I don't do any editing, gaming, or anything really requiring a full fledged OS. although I plan on having one.

And oh, Ashman, the computers I'll have available to me will almost guaranteed to be PC's. So, I'll need a solution windows friendly.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

If you're only doing those simple things with your computer, why do you need to upgrade? If anything upgrade the internals, not the entire system.

I have an upgraded blackbook (same as yours I think) and the thing runs flawlessly; 1080p video, the computer never slows down and it has great battery life. Upgrading your computer will give you better overall specs but if you don't want to waste money and since you're only doing trivial (concerning cpu) tasks, an upgrade wouldn't be cost effective.

Concerning the iPad; it is nowhere near a replacement for a computer; it's great for consuming data like surfing the web, listening to music, watching tv,a nd looking at pictures, however when you need to do "real" work or something that requires composition, movement, and just general activities, the iPad falls far, far too short.
 
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The current MacBook I have is the 2008 unibody. It was the initial launch unit for the switch to the aluminum casing.

But I see your point. And as I previously said, the iPad isn't a replacement, but more of merely an interim solution, and a chance to purchase something I was in the market for to begin with.

I would really appreciate some input on how to go about doing this. Believe me, I hate wasting money just as much as the next person, so I appreciate the concern. But I feel confident with my decision thus far, and hope to remain so.

So if anyone has any advice for how to do this transition best, it would be much appreciated.
 
xMassacrex said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

The current MacBook I have is the 2008 unibody. It was the initial launch unit for the switch to the aluminum casing.

But I see your point. And as I previously said, the iPad isn't a replacement, but more of merely an interim solution, and a chance to purchase something I was in the market for to begin with.

I would really appreciate some input on how to go about doing this. Believe me, I hate wasting money just as much as the next person, so I appreciate the concern. But I feel confident with my decision thus far, and hope to remain so.

So if anyone has any advice for how to do this transition best, it would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Well then if you aren't going to be doing anything that you need a computer specifically for, go ahead and sell the MacBook; only if you know for certain that you'll be able to get another, better computer down the road within a limited amount of time.
 
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That's exactly my plan. I'm going to be looking into getting a new MacBook or potentially an iMac here within a few months.

My next questions are those I asked in my original post. I have my Mac, an external HDD, an iPhone and an iPad to work with. What I need is a way to have my entire current Mac bcaked up and ready to be recovered on my next Mac (taken care of via time machine backup) next I need the ability to access whatever information I will need in order to be able to sync my iPad/iPhone to a friend or family members PC. I would love to be able to do this without leaving a footprint on the PC I'm using, if there's a solution for that. (if so, I may need a walkthrough) and the last and final question is what steps do I need to take to completely reset the Mac to where it's practically brand new.

Thanks.
 
Well I don't really know for sure about completely resetting the computer but I'm sure there is a comprehensive guide online somewhere. In terms of backing up, try CarbonCopyCloner for Mac; people give it great reviews and rate it higher than other programs in terms of ease of use and speed. I haven't used this yet but I had downloaded it to my HDD about 2 weeks back to use when I get home.

With this, it's possible to backup to a portable hard drive (just like Time Machine, apparently any external HDD large enough will work) and will enable you to re-install everything when you get your new computer.

And again I haven't used it yet but I'm sure this is how it works. good luck 🙂
 
Pop in the software cd that came with the macbook, the the snow leopard disc, whichever OS you want to put on there. Reformat the drive and install from scratch. Once you bring up the registration form stop at that point so the buyer can put all his information in. Use Carbon Copy before you reformat for the buyer.
 
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