I like to keep all of my TV show on my local drive because I've had too many problems with my external drives failing and me losing everything then having to re download.
Backups?
Got a tip for us?
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Pro vs. Air
- Thread starter HeyKatie
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Backups?
I've also had numerous Time Machine drives fail on me as well.
Hard drives do fail, but not all the time.
You must be doing something wrong and it's worth trying to diagnose what.
Probably the two things that most frequently kill hard drives are vibration and temperature.
Are you (unwittingly?) subjecting your external hard drives to vibrations? Do you frequently put them in a backpack or car or some other vibration- and shock-prone environment? Do you put them next to big speakers and listen to loud music? etc.
Are you subjecting them to temperature extremes? Do you (occasionally?) leave them in direct sunlight or in your car on a hot summer day? Do you rest things on top of them when they're in use, which would impede airflow?
Also, now that I'm thinking about it, using hard drives at an angle is bad for them. Do you rest your external drives on e.g. your leg or a nearby chair while you're using them?
I've had many (at least 5) small 2.5" USB external hard drives and I've used each one for years, one of them more than 5 years, and none of them have failed on me. I use two of them almost continuously.
I do none of these, once in awhile I've banged one off of my night stand while moving my laptop from there to my bed so I know that is a factor and I think it could be because I have my MBP set to sleep at 3AM and so it's puts the drive to sleep as well and it's basically not being ejected properly. That's one reason I like to keep everything on my HD so I don't have to watch shows/movies off of the drive.
Of course a fall from a nightstand could easily kill a drive. Maybe not immediately but probably in the following weeks or months, as any mechanical part that becomes unbalanced will just get worse.
Ejecting a drive properly or not has nothing to do with drive longevity--that's a software thing, to preserve data integrity. That is, to make sure the computer wasn't in the middle of writing stuff to the disk when it was disconnected, thus leaving it in an undefined state.
Surely you could put all your movies and TV shows on an external drive, and then when you know you want to watch something in the upcoming few days, you can copy it to your computer. That should only take a few seconds with today's drive speeds.
Surely you don't need instant access to every possible TV program and movie at all times?
Another thing you might want to think about if you are willing to consider an external drive but are wary of the reliability--you can purchase a 500GB Samsung SSD for well under $200 these days. Add a USB 3.0 external enclosure and you're still under $200, and you'll end up with an external drive that's much faster and more reliable than a hard drive (or at least more resistant to vibration, shocks, temperature extremes, etc.) and it will cost you less than half of what the 512GB upgrade costs for the MBA.
Okay I will look into that as well. Another question would the 4gb of RAM be enough to run Windows on the Air in case I need to install it via boot camp for school?
Yes, if you want to run Windows via Bootcamp then 4GB will be fine.
If you want to run Windows in a virtual machine like via Parallels or VirtualBox then 4GB is pushing it.
Go to eBay, then the advanced search section, and search "sold listings" for the same model.
That will show you how much other people have been willing to pay for the same thing.
What would be a good asking price for my MBP?
Late 2011
15.4 inch
4gb of RAM
500gb HD
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
Intel HD Graphics 3000 384 MB
Thanks for the tip I'll be sure to do that. I looked on Gazelle and it said $350 and I thought that was kind of low.
Late 2011
15.4 inch
4gb of RAM
500gb HD
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
Intel HD Graphics 3000 384 MB
Thanks for the tip I'll be sure to do that. I looked on Gazelle and it said $350 and I thought that was kind of low.
Just normal wear one big stratch on the bottom, screen in perfect condition. Brand new battery and logic board. They're going for anywhere between $500-$900 on Ebay and Kijiji.
$500 maybe, but $900 or even $700-$800 is very unrealistic. It's a 2011 with 4 GB RAM and iGPU only. I guess that improves the situation as it avoids Radeongate but honestly for what it is I would not set your expectations high. I'm sure if anyone buys it they will then want to put a SSD in it and upgrade the RAM as well.
I'm a college student about to go to optometry school. I have macbook air and I love it. I'm also a storm chaser in my area and that is what I run my radar on. It works flawlessly. You have to decide what will work. I think most would agree that the best laptop for them may not be the best for you or i. It all comes down to personal preference.
No need to speculate.
Like I said earlier, just look at eBay and you will see what people are actually paying for these things.
I just checked and it seems almost guaranteed that the seller can get over $500 for it, no maybe about it. Closer to $600 seems more likely. The laptops selling for over $700 seem to be upgraded models.
The rMBP is a more powerful machine then what I need. All I'm going to be doing is school work, surfing the web, & netflix So I'll save myself some money and go ahead and get an Air, plus it'll be more portable. thanks everyone for your options.
So I'll save myself some money and go ahead and get an Air, plus it'll be more portable. thanks everyone for your options.Yes, this is very true IMO. I see so many people spending all of that money on MacBook Pro's when all they do is surf the web and use office apps. I run a business with my MBA, but nothing I do is processor intensive. For many of us, the hardest work the processor ever does is boot up the computer lol. The MBA is more than enough for us.The rMBP is a more powerful machine then what I need. All I'm going to be doing is school work, surfing the web, & netflix