For the same reason you never see a sale at Louis Vuitton. There is a significant market for quality and thus there is never a need to put anything on sale.

If quality costs a little extra then the example of my new iMac 27" certainly made me enjoy every moment of unpacking and setting up.
Just peeling the clear protective sheets off even the Magic Trackpad was very satisfying!

Having opted for the i7 Core 2.93 GHz quad chip and the ATI 5750 graphics and added 8GB of RAM [12GB total] I can honestly say that the iMac is a joy to use and having had Macs since 1984 this one is not without its missing items [blu ray for one] and I should have gone for the 256 SSD plus 1TB HD instead I chose the 2TB HD option. Cheaper but having tried a pals SSD HD iMac I realise how slow mine is by comparison in startup and accessing big apps.

In all the time I have had Macs I have only ever had a problem with the 22" Cinema Display and that was replaced foc. Now it is my second screen and having two screens is very handy.

Although Apple are a little overbearing on some issues I am one satisfied customer. I guess its horses for courses but I do see my associates having problems with their PCs that I have never encountered with my Macs. Retrofitting SSD HDs is not easy but I will inevitably do it when the prices drop on top quality SSD drives. Till then.......... :)

^ Insanely jealous..... Enjoy!

Me too!! I got my Macbook pro from an ebay seller brand new. I paid around 250 pounds less. It has a full 12 month warranty. I bought iwork for a great deal less.

Bought first MacBook in 2007.

Actually feel physically averse to using PCs now.

Farrell

Pilots Pal conversion PC to Mac
 

Hi,

I purchased a copy of Pilots Pal for Mac a few months ago. Since then I haven't been able to convert my old PC datafile to the sqlite format required for the Mac version. I've tried to e-mail the Pilots Pal support 3 times now and have after 2 months still not received a reply. I tried to call the phone number on the webpage but it seems as if it's been disconnected. Needless to say I'm rather frustrated as I've paid quite a bit of money for a license I cannot use.

As I've started giving up on ever getting a reply from the support I'm now asking here. The problem I get is that my license for my PC version has expired and I cannot update to the version required for being able to export to sqlite because of that. If I try to activate with the license I have for my Mac it says it's already been used and if I try to download the latest version of Pilots Pal PC from the webpage and replace the data file, the whole application crashes.

Has anyone here had any similar problem and reached a solution? Or is there any program that can convert a data file into an sqlite file? Any thoughts or suggestions are more than welcome. The flight records are piling up....

Hi sk61bulldog

I have a lot of experience in data conversion. If you don't mind sharing your log, PM me and I'll take a look at it.

Cheers

Boot Camp problems
 

Have searched and could not find anything, although am sure this is not the first time the question has been asked.

Trying to install XP sp2 on a Leopard (10/5/8) iMac. Have managed to partition successfully. However, when I start the XP installation, I lose the keyboard and cannot select the disk to install. Quick trawl through Google suggests disconnecting the mighty mouse before getting to the XP installation stage or using a keyboard from a Windows machine. Tried both and getting nowhere. Has anybody met this and found a way around the problem?

HI all, it's the forst time I post in this section, so let me introduce myself. My name's Marco, I'm a 28 years-old italian guy and I'm an fATPL holder. Oh, yes, and of course I'm a Mac user since I was born!!! :E

Just a question: I'm thinking about to buy a couple of softwares from jeppesen like Flitestar and Jeppview, but those are not available for Macs. Do they work with bootcamp or parallels?

Any kind of advice will be much appreciated!

Happy Landings....with Mac!! ;)

Marco

Evening Star, see here: Apple - Support - Discussions - Boot Camp Installation of XP freezes in ...

It is a simple fix, i had the same problem then thought it through.
make sure you are ready to install windows after you do this.

Go to System Preferences - Keyboard And Mouse.

Then it says, 'Use the F1-F12 Keys to control software features' etc
Click the box next to that then do the set up.

make sure you uncheck that after the set up because while that is checked you will not be able to use the volume,brightness or keyboard brightness.

New thing available from Apple which seems really useful [unless one is a geek].




" In an attempt to put more troubleshooting know-how in the hands of its customers, Apple has created Express Lane, a simple to use resource for locating issues and solutions to common problems with all of Apple's products.
The site is incredibly easy to navigate, using a simple three-column approach to determine the general scope of the issue you are having. Once you've narrowed down the topic, you can select one of the thousands of helpful articles available directly from Apple about nearly any documented problem--including information for many older Macs and previous generation iPhones and iPods.
But Express Lane isn't just a way to surf troubleshooting articles. If you enter your Apple ID in the My Products tab, you can get a full overview of all the Apple stuff you've registered. That tab also provides a streamlined way to access articles that relate directly to the products you own.
The third function of Express Lane includes the capability to look up any active cases you have on your products as well as any support functions--phone support, in-store repairs, or AppleCare repairs--you've used in the past.
We urge everyone with an Apple product to head on over to the Support pages on Apple.com and check out what Express Lane is all about. Be sure to register all your products and fill out your "My Support" profile. You can even enable VoicePass, a service that lets Apple see that you are calling them and immediately pull up your information.
(Credit: uncarved.prometheas.com)
All-in-all, Express Lane is extremely useful and well worth exploring should you encounter an issue with one of your Apple devices. It could even save you a trip to your local Apple Store or a call to AppleCare." From cnet

Sorted. Knew there would a simple solution. Many thanks.:ok:

Grey shadow of Death
 

Yesterday while surfing Safari on my 4-year-old MacBook Pro, the screen froze, a grey shadow rolled down from the top, and it told me I had to shut down and restart.

I did so, and on restart the same thing happened.

I tried removing the battery for a while, but the same shadow descended.

Once, instead of a shadow, the screen came up bright white, it beeped at me 3 or 4 times, and stayed white. Turned it off again.

Left it overnight, now it won't even start, just the whir of the hard drive, no gong, no screen action, and a steady light on the lid-release button.

Any ideas?:{

one idea
 

Have you tried booting in safe mode? (Hold down the shift key). It takes quite a bit longer, but it does some tests etc. while it's booting.

Also - If you don't have Disk Warrior, you should. Insert the disk, and hold down the C key while booting. Again long time to get started, but rebuilding the directory may work!

Might be worth reseting the System Management Controller (SMC). Guidance is available here : Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

I had that.

The HDD was knackered.

Have you got an install disk, if so do a disk check using that.

Probably the wrong place to post as I probably don't know what I'm talking about. However some advice would be much appreciated. The question might easily have been asked before although I have not found it.

If one were to buy a Mac Pro what extras would be the favoured ones? I note for example that a solid state hard drive is available in various options, all of which are quite expensive. Would this be a favoured option for a travelling man? One can spec up a 15" Mac Pro to a prodigious amount of money.
When I ask at the Apple store near where I stay in England I am always asked what I'm going to do with the computer. It was on that basis that I specked (?) my last Sony PC. However, after two years I find that that that machine is not capable of running Total War for example, so I need to plan ahead for the dotage. Any advice would be appreciated including software suggestions.
Thank you.

An added thought. The same specification Apple Mac in the States is much cheaper than in the UK even when you add 7% sales tax to the on line prices. Extras are considerably cheaper in the USA as well. A solid state drive over there is in $ to £-as usual! Any downsides to buying an Apple Stateside with extended warranty and one to one for use in Europe and other areas where there are Apple shops?

The only benefits I can think of for having a solid state drive are:

1. Faster booting, and application loading.
2. Longer running time.
3. Less prone to shock damage.

Well...

1. I rarely shut my MacBook Pro down, if ever. I simply close the lid, in which case the machine is ready to go in a few seconds, so a faster boot up time is not really going to be much of a benefit. Most of the applications I use are already loaded as well, so no real gain there either.
2. My elderly MacBook Pro runs for quite long enough for one sitting, 2 to 3 hours, it will play music with the screen blanked for over 5 hours. Even on the longest flight I wouldn't use it continuously anyway. Travel power adapters help anyway.
3. I try to protect the whole machine from shock damage anyway. So a rugged drive is of no benefit, especially considering I keep a Time Capsule backup anyway at home, and replacing a drive is an easy job.

The price differentials between solid state and mechanical hard drives is so wide the strongest argument has to be on cost at the moment. A mechanical laptop drive is about 10GB/£ at the moment, whereas solid state is only 0.5GB/£, and to be honest I prefer having the space rather than any potential performance boost.

If I were allowed to spec my work Macbook, then a 250Gb SSD would be top of the list, with 8Gb Ram.

But then running 4 - 6 VMs at various times is a bit of a performance drag and the SSD would help enormously.

Other than playing "Total War", cavortingcheetah doesn't tell us what sort of use the lappy would be put to so it's difficult to advise more.

Thank you and sorry for the paucity of information. Any computer I bought would be way head of my capabilities. I only use a computer for browsing and for filing e mails on Outlook Express. I have hundreds of business e mails on file and store a lot of music on my machine as well. I do a lot of travelling but would not usually be so addicted as to have to use a computer sitting in economy on a long haul. Any little Acer with a bit of speed would do me quite well actually. What I was really after finding out was what well informed chaps would specify in an ideal world with especial emphasis on the two expensive options, solid state drives and extra RAM.

SSDs are really good, but the price difference isn't worth the performance benefit at the moment unless you are doing crazy stuff with your comp.

RAM is always good. You should be fine with 2GB but 4GB will set you up for a few years to come.

Is anybody experiencing Safari site hijacks?
Briefly when clicking to go to another site perhaps from an existing one, a redirection to another advertising site occurs. I have investigated Help sites and found many pleas for assistance. Some 'cogniscenti' have concluded some malware is either present in the machine or is even presented by the
ISP. In any event it is irritating and I would dearly love some solution.
Any Clues?

BlueHarvest
 

BlueHarvest - DS_Store, ._Resource Forks, .Folders. Keep it clean. | zeroonetwenty

"BlueHarvest is the easiest way to keep your disks and file servers clean of Mac “dust”. BlueHarvest automatically removes DS_Store and ._ AppleDouble files from your USB keys, SD cards and file servers, etc. BlueHarvest removes these items as they’re created so you’ll always be “dust” free"

I like it. Keeps my servers and removable drives clean. Worth the $17. Try it.

Mac :ok:

My MacBook, my new iMac, and taken on my iPhone. I'm now a MacMan!

http://s216.photobucket.com/albums/c...s/IMG_0454.jpg

Dave

Welcome. :D

Have you seen the new 11" Macbook Air.? :ok: I want....

Also FaceTime for Mac and a new Mac App Store opening up. :p

Macbook Air 11" ordered. Will write a report when it's here. :ok:

Jealous :) Very jealous !!

Java no longer supported on MAC

Way to go! - hope Windows and Linux aren't too far behind!

Are you sure Gertrude, i could have sworn that i downloaded an update of java only yesterday for OS 10.6.4.......:confused: Or do you refer to the iPad or somesuch ?



SHJ

Got it from El Reg:

Apple threatens Java with death on the Mac ? The Register

They're not in the habit of printing stuff that's factually inaccurate.

Can Somebody please help me?

When I put a contact into my iPhone 3G and then plug it into my iMac via a USB cable, that contact does not transfer to my Address book during the synch process. It seems to work the other way ie from iMac to iPhone.

Should it, if so, is there a setting in the Address Book, iTunes or the iPhone that I have missed.

Regards
mcdhu

Help needed macsters!

I'm just about to hook up an external HD to my MBP to do a backup using Time Machine for the first time. Straightforward.....but i'd like to partition said HD so that one partition deals with TM and the other with various other stored items. Any pointers appreciated. Thanks



SHJ

SHJ,

You can use Disk Utility to partition the disk. Just open it up, select the disk you want to partition on the left and then click the the "Partition" button and choose the size(s) you want.

Applemacster

Thanks Mr AM!

I'm happy that it was as simple and straightforward as that....



SHJ

Mac Air up and running. It doesn't seem small but when I compare it to the Macbook it does become obvious.
Any one who has used a late model Macbook will feel right at home.
I am still getting used to the keyboard, mainly the return and shift keys are causing a minor irritation but then again, used to happen on the Macbook.

Screen very nice.
Had to download flash but that didn't take long at all.
Flash drive nice and fast. Appears to boot up/start quite quickly.

Ease of transferring info from one Mac to another, simple. Uses wifi.

Very quiet too.

It's passed the ease of use in bed test with flying colours. :ok:

Printers for Mac
 

Jeez! It's still getting to me!! Can anyone please recommend a multi function printer that I can plug into the back of my Mac that will print/scan docs and photos - nothing special - but which will print duplex - either auto or manual. Canons, which I like, will not do duplex using Snow Leopard - according to the Canon website, HP has a bad reputation when it comes to drivers and I don't know anything about any other makes. T'internet is short on info and PC World/Staples are next to useless.

Apple publish a list of 'compatible' printers and say it will all be fine, but it isn't. No expert can make my Mac print to the Canon printer via the router which is connected to a Win Xp PC on the other side of the room!! Yes, I have tried all the advice on Apple support and even got a 'professional' in. No joy! So I've given up - hence the need for a printer to plug into the Mac.

First hand info would be greatly appreciated and then I could perhaps bin the trusty but 4 year old Dell laptop - which will print wirelessly to the Canon via the PC!

Might it be that the Canon drivers do not permit Duplex (manual or auto), but that the Apple drivers for Canon products might?

Hopefully,
mcdhu

mcdhu,

Don't write off HP. My HP laser printer is duplex and does A3 as well as A4. It is compatible from Mac OS 8 (introduced 1997!) to 10.6.4, and it still works fantastically well. HP do a pretty good job of keeping the drivers updated.

Applemacster

..........isn't it just - and what sort of printer is that tucked away and will it do Duplex??!!