I plan on buying the ACP at the end of the one year warranty. No need to buy it until that time.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Must Have MacBook Pro Accesories
- Thread starter bigbro1096
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I plan on buying the ACP at the end of the one year warranty. No need to buy it until that time.
I disagree about the ram. I just upgraded my laptop from 4 to 8GB and I do notice the difference. Launching large applications is much faster. And the laptop no longer gets bogged down by anything. Its about 90-100 bucks on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Techn...21KA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1298860931&sr=8-5
Since the MBP will never support over 8GB, you never have to worry that you might need to upgrade again, and most likely the price will not drop significantly in the future.
The SSD on the other hand, those will become cheap given time, so wait on that.
Keeping it in a neoprenesleeve is a good idea, it protects it from dents if you drop it. and from scratches if you put it in a backpack. And finally, a mouse is often vital if you use your laptop a lot. But the magic mouse may not be the right one for you. I find it far more uncomfortable than just using the trackpad. Go to an apple store to test that out.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
With my pro I got the incase sleeve, a 1TB Lacie external drive (for time machine) and the moshi mini dp adaptor for my external monitor and tv. If you want a better case get a booq hard case.
LOL, my 7 year old monitor has more pixels than an iPad, of course the MBP has higher pixel density than an iPad.
If nothing important is on your Mac and everything important is on your iOS device, you might as well dunk the iOS device into your toilet. Sooner or later that thing will die, while a Mac can endure much longer usage. Even if a Mac dies, an external hard drive backup such as a Time Machine backup will always be there.
BUT, if you don't sync your iOS data to your Mac, then you're not backing up your iOS device. If this is the case, then your iOS device dies, you lose all your data with no backup.
An external drive therefore serves two purposes: provide backup, and provide extra storage. If backup is not important to you, and you feel like a 120GB HDD is big enough for you, you don't need an external hard drive. If you feel like 2TB is too small for you, then you need a huge enclosure or NAS.
I would go with the following:
Neoprene sleeve
Mouse and keyboard
External display (esp since you are looking at a 13").
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Neoprene sleeve
Mouse and keyboard
External display (esp since you are looking at a 13").
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Actually one of the reasons I am upgrading my 08 MBP is the memory limit increase. I run my Win7 Bootcamp partition concurrently with VM Fusion all day, every day... That being said I have the need to run a couple more VMs, but cannot unless i have more memory... Agreed though, the 200$ price tag that Apple is offering is more pricey that the 115$ upgrade at OCW. And you can always sell your 2x2GB modules after you upgrade... Just my two cents...
On the RAM issue: It's a very relative and perceived difference in speed when talking about basic use (I'm defining basic use as mail, web, music, word processing, all open at the same time). On my mac, I can have Chrome open with 9 tabs (one of which running flash) while running Aptana Studio with 5 documents open and the XULRunner runner rendering pages for Firefox while talking on Windows Live Messenger and running GIMP with 2 images open in X11. On 4 gigs of ram. I was still able to move around the OS just fine, and still had plenty (About 1 gig) of ram that was Inactive and very little page ins/outs.
Now on my desktop, I push a lot harder workflow sometimes and wish I had 8+ gigs.
Personally, I think a lot of people see the difference from more applications staying in inactive ram, so they get more ram startups than disk startups. This doesn't necessarily mean you needed more ram before, not at all, it means you are keeping more applications "cached" in inactive ram. The general rule of thumb for needing more ram relates to how often you have to page out.
Not to say more ram is a bad thing, some are willing to pay the overhead for a few seconds shaved off subsequent application start times, this is just a personal observation. Like I said, it's relative and perceptual at the level discussed in this thread.
On the topic of this thread:
You said you were writing papers for school on your Mac. By all means, BACK IT UP! It's like having Apple Care, for your data!
I'm curious about the Razer Orichi as well. I want a bluetooth mouse so I can keep one of my USB ports clear (and not having to worry about a cord is nice) and I love Razer products, but I'm not sure how well bluetooth will work overall.
Now on my desktop, I push a lot harder workflow sometimes and wish I had 8+ gigs.
Personally, I think a lot of people see the difference from more applications staying in inactive ram, so they get more ram startups than disk startups. This doesn't necessarily mean you needed more ram before, not at all, it means you are keeping more applications "cached" in inactive ram. The general rule of thumb for needing more ram relates to how often you have to page out.
Not to say more ram is a bad thing, some are willing to pay the overhead for a few seconds shaved off subsequent application start times, this is just a personal observation. Like I said, it's relative and perceptual at the level discussed in this thread.
On the topic of this thread:
You said you were writing papers for school on your Mac. By all means, BACK IT UP! It's like having Apple Care, for your data!
I'm curious about the Razer Orichi as well. I want a bluetooth mouse so I can keep one of my USB ports clear (and not having to worry about a cord is nice) and I love Razer products, but I'm not sure how well bluetooth will work overall.
I recently had to purchase the MiniDisplay Port to VGA adapter for my new 2011 MBP 13".
It was difficult to plunk down $29 for it, but I need it for a large presentation I'm giving next month.
It was difficult to plunk down $29 for it, but I need it for a large presentation I'm giving next month.
+1
I picked up 2 mini dp to vga and a mini dp to dvi for the price of one apple adapter
YUCK
Also if you are not careful with them (cases) dirt/etc can get under the edges and scratch the aluminum. Carry a soft cloth a wipe it down from time to time....DO NOT HIDE THE SEXINESS! Naked is the only way!!!
Moshi ClearGuard Keyboard protector. I used my new MBP for 2 weeks without one and discovered the spacebar key had a nice shiny wear mark on it. The black keys make this issue more noticeable, so needless to say I really bummed out.
What I like about the Moshi is that because it's urethane and not silicone, it's thinner and fits perfectly. It's clear, so the keyboard backlighting is visible. When clean you almost don't know it's there. You have to be careful cleaning it though as not to bend it or you will get a permanent crease. Overall, this product is well worth having. It lists for around $25 but can be purchased for less if you shop around, I paid $18 on Amazon.
What I like about the Moshi is that because it's urethane and not silicone, it's thinner and fits perfectly. It's clear, so the keyboard backlighting is visible. When clean you almost don't know it's there. You have to be careful cleaning it though as not to bend it or you will get a permanent crease. Overall, this product is well worth having. It lists for around $25 but can be purchased for less if you shop around, I paid $18 on Amazon.
Personally, Speck case, a sleeve for it. Some sort of mouse. (The Magic Trackpad is awesome btw)And a DP to VGA or DVI just in case.
On the RAM issue. Everyone at the Apple store tells me to just get 4G. But I just have one MBP and I have every application I use open nearly all the time. I now have only 2G RAM and my available memory is never over 50MB. I am being strangled. Granted, 4 is double that and looks OK on the face of it but 2G looked OK 4 years ago (yes, I keep my MBPs for a very long time!!!).
There is no advantage to buying 8G at the outset as you have to toss the 4G when you upgrade to 8G so it's 200 bux now from Apple or 100 bux later from Amazon.
I think I just talked myself into getting the standard 4G and upgrade later as needed...
Thanks
There is no advantage to buying 8G at the outset as you have to toss the 4G when you upgrade to 8G so it's 200 bux now from Apple or 100 bux later from Amazon.
I think I just talked myself into getting the standard 4G and upgrade later as needed...
Thanks
I love my InCase Compact Backpack that I got today with my MBP in the mail. It's sleek and fucntional. It has pockets custom fit for MBP, iPad, and even iPhone. The interior pockets perfectly fit my MagicMouse and the larger pocket fits comfortably the charger. More room than I thought at the bottom for small to medium sized books, sketchpads, pencil boxes, Wacom tablets, etc. Great for a design student like me!