Grant Watt

Member since Jun 8, 2011

Recent Blog Comments By Grant Watt

My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Oct 19, 2011 at 9:49 PM

Hi Brett: I have a 2011 i5 Macbook Pro 13 inch. I have tried a g.skill Falcon 2 but it froze the machine and I removed it. I had enabled the TRIM using a hack and I don't know if that caused the issue. I now have a Vertex 3 in it but I haven't done anything about TRIM. The advice is that it doesn'... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Aug 10, 2011 at 8:33 PM

Hi Carl: No one gets a Mac for gaming. You can play games on them but the choice is much more limited. You would also end up paying a small fortune for the high end Macbook Pro. A desktop is the way to go for game playing but then if you want a laptop, get a windows one and just read a few on line ... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Aug 5, 2011 at 10:17 PM

I thought I would update my own progress on the Mac, being new as of June to the Mac and now a few months later here I am still using the Macbook Pro 13 inch i5 model. I'm still not really in love with the Mac OS X Lion (or otherwise). I think overall it is somewhat disjointed and inconsistent in i... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jul 6, 2011 at 12:05 AM

@Jaana, The best option for you regarding a 'docking station' is just set the laptop up under the desk. Use a Magic Mouse if you don't like the trackpad (personally I love it) and a Apple Wireless Keyboard. I do this with mine and it takes less than a minute to unplug the VGA adapter, power cord a... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 28, 2011 at 10:56 PM

@Ben, You are quite right about the all or nothing failures on the SSD. The first one I got did mind you fail slowly but the potential is there for total failure so backups are important. A hard drive, as you say, will normally follow a pattern beginning with unreliability and throwing errors which... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 21, 2011 at 1:01 AM

@David: It is confusing to be sure. If I bought a Macbook Pro I would happily put a vertex 3 in it. The thing with Apple is you don't know what they are doing if they choose to be unhelpful. The guy at anandtech seemed to have no trouble with a variety of SSD drives in 2011 Macbook Pros but did hav... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 21, 2011 at 12:24 AM

@David This is a link from Anandtech. They've evidently done lots of testing on Macbook Pros with different SSD products and haven't found any issues although they claim TRIM is enabled in Apple SSD products. Still confusing although it looks like it is perfectly safe to do, TRIM or not. http://w... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 21, 2011 at 12:13 AM

@David: I know about the TRIM thing but reading through the blogs etc, at least a few people have just popped one in without experiencing any problems at all. Apple use pretty well identical SSDs in their systems to what is commercially available and they either don't need TRIM or don't use it. TR... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 20, 2011 at 11:33 PM

@Randall Apple also charge 20 - 30 % more for their digital products available from the Apple shop also. Overall it doesn't leave a good impression. There is competition at least with windows products which means that this sort of thing can't be done very effectively. There is always a raft of 'g... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 17, 2011 at 11:54 PM

Part of the reason about whinging about prices is that we get overcharged here in Australia for anything overseas companies feel that they can get away with. In the PC world it is competitive so we pay pretty much what other people pay in the USA and other places. The Mac Pro, the basic one, sells ... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 17, 2011 at 3:46 AM

Hi Jordan: How much does it cost to get into development on the Mac. I think that latest .Net visual studio is nearly $900 here in Australia. Hi David: Apple would dearly love to have their own hardware so that they can charge a fortune without users being able to price check on hardware. Underne... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 16, 2011 at 1:35 AM

@Ben thanks for the helpful comments. I hope my colourful analogy doesn't put you off medium rare steak... I think I will look into the other touch programs also that have been mentioned. Apple definitely have something going with the trackpad although probably not quite as fast as a mouse when s... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 14, 2011 at 10:12 AM

I have been experimenting with the Magic Trackpad and the only application where pinch and zoom and rotate work 'perfectly' is in Preview. In Adobe Premier trial I just downloaded it works pretty well but is oversensitive and jumpy but works. Pinch and Zoom works OK in Safari. iPhoto seems to be ... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 14, 2011 at 10:03 AM

@Tee, I have noticed on some laptops especially those running i7 processors that they get far too hot. This could be just Intel trying to cram too much wattage into a laptop form. It will also depend on the fan and heat sink although if a lot of heat is produced it will be noticeable either as the... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 13, 2011 at 10:06 PM

@David I do like the trackpad, I really do but I can't help making the comparison, of course, with a mouse. The mouse is going to be faster for a point and click operation which will make it more efficient if point and click are what most of the operations are. You know you are moving and controlli... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 13, 2011 at 12:04 PM

@David, I've only used it a few hours but already I am enjoying the keyboard and trackpad. The only thing it doesn't work well on is in iPhotos when you resize, you get 5 - 10 second lag then seems to queue up the gestures so it keeps going bigger and bigger or smaller. The rotate works quite w... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 13, 2011 at 10:57 AM

@Anna, Well, rather than trying to replace my new four year old MacBook which cost $500 (with a magic mouse) with a much more expensive brand new laptop, I went out and bought a Magic Trackpad and a matching wireless keyboard. I also bought a copy of parellels and a VGA adapter. I have the Macbook... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 11, 2011 at 7:36 PM

@Bilal, The interface looks a bit dated and plain. i thought the Mac would be more eye candy than windows but it isn't. Maybe Lion will bring more meat into the tent. One advantage I see with mac at the moment are the touchpad devices and some aspects of the interface are nice like the smooth scr... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 11, 2011 at 10:48 AM

@Jason, Well, read the link above. You are perfectly correct about those synaptics touchpad as they are not based on capacitive technology AND they are maybe too small as well. I am asking as I really want to know if it is worth the large (relatively) amount of cash to upgrade to a Macbook Pro (th... read more »
My First Year As A Mac User On The Apple MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 11, 2011 at 10:23 AM

@Lola, It looks like it is the technology used in the touchpad that distinguishes the PC touchpads from the Mac ones. http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/18/the-windows-pc-clickpad-finally-improved-synaptics-clickpad-is It looks like it is coming to the PC very soon and even this review of a protot... read more »