Very first MBP and new to the forums!

[Irock619]

Hello everybody,

I see this is a pretty active forum so I decide to join. I just purchased my first MBP 15" 2011 from Best Buy and so far I love the computer. I had an HP Pavilion that was also a great computer for about two years and then it slowly started to decline. I am glad that I made the change to Apple although I have always been a fan of their iphons and ipods.

So far this computer is great. The screen resolution is magnificant and the speed is amazing. I am still trying to get used to OSX Lion as it is way different from anything I have ever seen. Best Buy gave me a virus software program free for six months called Smart Surfing. So far this anti virus program seems to be doing good, however it seems to slow down my computer a little bit.

So far I have one complaint with the computer, the battery life. It says the battery should last seven hours. I know certain things we do on the computer affects the life of the battery. I was on skype for about 30 min and the battery was going quick Can somebody tell me what the problem is with the battery? I have adjusted all the settings to try and maximize the life.

Also I noticed that some people were posting their computers temperature and stats. Where do I find this on the computer? I looked around in system preferences and couldn't find anything.

I am glad to be on tis forum and I hope to learn a lot about my new Mac.

 

[miles01110]

Battery life is dependent on usage. It should be obvious that using your machine to browse the internet will have a different drain on the battery compared to watching a 1080p movie.

 

[OllyW]

Also I noticed that some people were posting their computers temperature and stats. Where do I find this on the computer? I looked around in system preferences and couldn't find anything.

Welcome to the MacRumors forums.

You should take a look at the iStat Pro Dashboard Widget.

 

[GGJstudios]

Your battery life is dependent on many factors, including screen brightness, WiFi, Bluetooth, apps/widgets/processes running, etc. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

Helpful Information for Any Mac User

 

[johnhurley]

Hello everybody,
I am glad to be on tis forum and I hope to learn a lot about my new Mac.

Hey welcome!

I really liked the ( relatively new ) book "Mac OS X Lion for Dummies" by Bob Levitus. Read it a couple of times from cover to back ( skipping only a couple of chapters ) and then re-read most of it a couple more times.

The new mac book pro's are pretty dang sweet!

 

[Irock619]

Thanks fo the quick replies!! I will look into purchasing that book. Also thanks for recommending the Istat Pro app. I signed up for a workshop at my local Apple store. Hopefully they can teach me some cool things with these computers.

 

[dusk007]

Amazing how not helpful most post some so many people produce. Why bother posting at all?

The thing is you have a 15" with a dedicated GPU that sucks quite a lot of power. Apples automatic switching is about as useful as dumb as can be done. You need to goolge for an app called gfxCardStatus and force the Intel GPU unless you need. Skype makes the AMD GPU kick in although you really don't need it.

You can get istat menus trial. There you can show the battery power draw at every moment in the menubar. This is the only way to get a good idea of what usage means what power draw. Watching the estimated time has too much delay to be really useful.
Also there can be just some little program in the background sucking away a lot of battery life. Or some program just experiences some bug that destroys battery life.
Most of the time is just a save bet to run only the programs you are actually using for which it is very helpful to get some Snow Leopard behavior. Namely to show the white dot again at active applications.

One secret tip for battery maximum battery life is do less scrolling. Especially in Lion it sucks a lot of power. If you read a pdf and want maximum battery life use the space to jump a page down instead of scrolling all the time a little.

 

[BiggAW]

Amazing how not helpful most post some so many people produce. Why bother posting at all?

The thing is you have a 15" with a dedicated GPU that sucks quite a lot of power. Apples automatic switching is about as useful as dumb as can be done. You need to goolge for an app called gfxCardStatus and force the Intel GPU unless you need. Skype makes the AMD GPU kick in although you really don't need it.

You can get istat menus trial. There you can show the battery power draw at every moment in the menubar. This is the only way to get a good idea of what usage means what power draw. Watching the estimated time has too much delay to be really useful.
Also there can be just some little program in the background sucking away a lot of battery life. Or some program just experiences some bug that destroys battery life.
Most of the time is just a save bet to run only the programs you are actually using for which it is very helpful to get some Snow Leopard behavior. Namely to show the white dot again at active applications.

One secret tip for battery maximum battery life is do less scrolling. Especially in Lion it sucks a lot of power. If you read a pdf and want maximum battery life use the space to jump a page down instead of scrolling all the time a little.

I'm a 7-year Mac user (albeit only a few months with the Pro), and I learned something new. I got gfxCardStatus, should help with battery life since I don't need the graphics card anyways.

 

[GGJstudios]

Amazing how not helpful most post some so many people produce. Why bother posting at all?

I don't know which posts you're referring to, but both your gfxCardStatus and istat menus recommendations are in the Battery FAQ.

 

[Irock619]

Amazing how not helpful most post some so many people produce. Why bother posting at all?

The thing is you have a 15" with a dedicated GPU that sucks quite a lot of power. Apples automatic switching is about as useful as dumb as can be done. You need to goolge for an app called gfxCardStatus and force the Intel GPU unless you need. Skype makes the AMD GPU kick in although you really don't need it.

You can get istat menus trial. There you can show the battery power draw at every moment in the menubar. This is the only way to get a good idea of what usage means what power draw. Watching the estimated time has too much delay to be really useful.
Also there can be just some little program in the background sucking away a lot of battery life. Or some program just experiences some bug that destroys battery life.
Most of the time is just a save bet to run only the programs you are actually using for which it is very helpful to get some Snow Leopard behavior. Namely to show the white dot again at active applications.

One secret tip for battery maximum battery life is do less scrolling. Especially in Lion it sucks a lot of power. If you read a pdf and want maximum battery life use the space to jump a page down instead of scrolling all the time a little.

Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like I really need to download that app to monitor what my computer is doing.

 

[squeakr]

Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like I really need to download that app to monitor what my computer is doing.

It is a nice app and great for the information junkies (like myself) that like to keep a tab on what is happening with the system (I develop so I am constantly making changes and it is nice to see the effects), but for the average user the free widget is more than sufficient. I would suggest you just use your Mac and not be overly concerned about the little things. If you find something errant, then use this app to help you figure things out. This app is just a nice centralized gui for presenting the information (it is still available through other programs that are already included with your Mac). Just use and enjoy it.

 

[accessoriesguy]

The battery is going to be rocky at first. (it hasn't been used for a while, your computer is indexing, your downloading updates).

Welcome to the iworld, it takes a while to get used to things, but once you do and you customize things to your liking it becomes impossible to go back.

do yourself a favor and get rid of that anti-virus program, its just going to eat up your RAM and processor (which you have more than enough of) for no reason. what do anti-virus programs do on macs anyways?

 

[GGJstudios]

do yourself a favor and get rid of that anti-virus program, its just going to eat up your RAM and processor (which you have more than enough of) for no reason. what do anti-virus programs do on macs anyways?

I agree! I'm glad you mentioned that, because I missed that part of the original post.

Best Buy gave me a virus software program free for six months called Smart Surfing. So far this anti virus program seems to be doing good, however it seems to slow down my computer a little bit.

You don't need any 3rd party antivirus software to protect Mac OS X from malware. No viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any, since it was released 10 years ago. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install. Also, Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion have anti-malware protection built in, further reducing the need for 3rd party antivirus apps.

Mac Virus/Malware Info​

 

[Irock619]

I agree! I'm glad you mentioned that, because I missed that part of the original post.

You don't need any 3rd party antivirus software to protect Mac OS X from malware. No viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any, since it was released 10 years ago. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install. Also, Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Lion have anti-malware protection built in, further reducing the need for 3rd party antivirus apps.

Mac Virus/Malware Info​

Hmmm, isn't it better safe than sorry? I know that Mac doesn't get viruses through the web but what about emails?

 

[204353]

Since no-one else has, I thought I'd point out that Skype is a massive CPU hog (when transmitting video) and so will quickly drain your Mac's battery.

 

[GGJstudios]

Hmmm, isn't it better safe than sorry? I know that Mac doesn't get viruses through the web but what about emails?

Current Macs don't get viruses. Period. Whether on the web or via emails, there are no Mac OS X viruses in existence. The only malware you can get on your Mac requires that you actively install it.

 

[Badrottie]

Hello everybody,

I see this is a pretty active forum so I decide to join. I just purchased my first MBP 15" 2011 from Best Buy and so far I love the computer. I had an HP Pavilion that was also a great computer for about two years and then it slowly started to decline. I am glad that I made the change to Apple although I have always been a fan of their iphons and ipods.

So far this computer is great. The screen resolution is magnificant and the speed is amazing. I am still trying to get used to OSX Lion as it is way different from anything I have ever seen. Best Buy gave me a virus software program free for six months called Smart Surfing. So far this anti virus program seems to be doing good, however it seems to slow down my computer a little bit.

So far I have one complaint with the computer, the battery life. It says the battery should last seven hours. I know certain things we do on the computer affects the life of the battery. I was on skype for about 30 min and the battery was going quick Can somebody tell me what the problem is with the battery? I have adjusted all the settings to try and maximize the life.

Also I noticed that some people were posting their computers temperature and stats. Where do I find this on the computer? I looked around in system preferences and couldn't find anything.

I am glad to be on tis forum and I hope to learn a lot about my new Mac.

Welcome aboard Irock619 I am sure Steve Jobs is excited to have you here!

 

[Irock619]

Thanks everybody for the welcome! I am enjoying my new Mac for sure. I am also a student and this computer does everything I need it to do, plus more. I am truly amazed how more advanced these are compared to PC.

I noticed when picking it up that there is a slight rattle sound coming from the CD drive area. Is this normal? It probably is since there is a lot of moving parts in that part of the computer. Also the bottom plate is a tiny bit loose. I checked all the screws and they are tight. I know I am being picky but I'm sure many people are after spending $1500 on a new Mac.

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to uninstall the anti virus program. Maybe after I stop being paranoid and have more confidence in my new product

 

[BiggAW]

Since no-one else has, I thought I'd point out that Skype is a massive CPU hog (when transmitting video) and so will quickly drain your Mac's battery.

There's not much anyone can do about that. They may have poor optimization, or their proprietary video encoding technology may just be doing a lot of optimization for latency and bandwidth, at the expense of CPU usage.

Current Macs don't get viruses. Period. Whether on the web or via emails, there are no Mac OS X viruses in existence. The only malware you can get on your Mac requires that you actively install it.

Exactly. Although there may be malware at some point if a security vulnerability can be found, it would be extremely hard, or maybe nearly impossible, as Unix is multi-user from the ground up, and the important parts of the system are pretty well isolated, and require the user to type in their admin password to modify.

 

[kbfr08]

Thanks everybody for the welcome! I am enjoying my new Mac for sure. I am also a student and this computer does everything I need it to do, plus more. I am truly amazed how more advanced these are compared to PC.

I noticed when picking it up that there is a slight rattle sound coming from the CD drive area. Is this normal? It probably is since there is a lot of moving parts in that part of the computer. Also the bottom plate is a tiny bit loose. I checked all the screws and they are tight. I know I am being picky but I'm sure many people are after spending $1500 on a new Mac.

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to uninstall the anti virus program. Maybe after I stop being paranoid and have more confidence in my new product

That rattling sound may be the HDD parking the read write head, to protect it from damage when the laptop is jostled. I have an HP elitebook for engineering class, with a similar (although more rugged) technology, and its drive also makes noises when I move the laptop. You'll be thankful for it eventually, I've dropped my laptop from 6ft on a corner, and the drive has been just fine since.

And by the way, uninstall that antivirus. It's a total scam just to get money from people who don't know better (like my grandmother, for example ). You'll be fine without it, since apple maintains a malware list that will tell you if an app is infected when you try to launch it. Mac OS X also has a built in firewall, but you could also use littlesnitch if you're paranoid about what apps are accessing the internet.

 

[GGJstudios]

Mac OS X also has a built in firewall,

... which is disabled by default. (OP) To enable it, go to System Preferences > Security > Firewall and enable it.

 

[204353]

Also the bottom plate is a tiny bit loose. I checked all the screws and they are tight.

Does your bottom plate make a faint creak noise occasionally when you pick up the machine, or put a bit of pressure on the middle of the bottom? Mine does that and I think it's simply the catches that hold the middle of the plate in place flexing a little, or something similar. it's nothing to worry about.

After all, the bottom of the Mac is really only designed to take pressure at the four feet.

 

[Irock619]

Had no idea there was a built in firewall. Thanks for pointing that out. I will uninstall the anti virus and enable the firewall. The bottom plate doesn't make a creak. It just seems a tiny bit loose when I pick it up. No big deal i'm sure. Well i'm off to apple now for a workshop they are doing this morning. Maybe i'll learn a thing or two My first question to them is how I go about connecting my iPhone via bluetooth. I can't get that to work for some reason.

 

[BiggAW]

Had no idea there was a built in firewall. Thanks for pointing that out. I will uninstall the anti virus and enable the firewall. The bottom plate doesn't make a creak. It just seems a tiny bit loose when I pick it up. No big deal i'm sure. Well i'm off to apple now for a workshop they are doing this morning. Maybe i'll learn a thing or two My first question to them is how I go about connecting my iPhone via bluetooth. I can't get that to work for some reason.

To do what? You can't sync over Bluetooth, I don't think you can do speakerphone through the computer...

 

[Irock619]

To do what? You can't sync over Bluetooth, I don't think you can do speakerphone through the computer...

To transfer files like contacts, music, videos etc etc.... It would be nice to not have to plug in all the time and manage files through iTunes. I guess iCloud would alleviate all this though.