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MacBook: Part Two

chenstopher — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:33:54 +0000

After installing the new RAM sticks and hard drive, I had to reinstall OS X onto the new hard drive and set up the rest of my new MacBook. Windows 7 on a separate partition was a must so I installed that too.

Installing Leopard

First I popped the installation disk in and it automatically booted from cd drive. I don’t really remember all the steps but it was really easy. I got stuck on one part with the formatting options. I was used to the NTFS and FAT stuff that windows uses. The Mac installer has like a bunch of different options that I had no idea about. There was Mac OS Extended, Mac OS Extended(Journaled), Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive), and Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive Journaled).

Found the answer after some googling. Mac OS Extended is HFS+. A Journaled partition does some magic to make it more fault-tolerant or something like that. Case-sensitive makes file and folder names well, case-sensitive (“filename.txt” != “fileName.txt”). And Case-sensitive, Journaled is a combo of both.

I picked the default one, Mac OS Extended Journaled and continued with the install. Installation finished in about 30 minutes or so. I was surprised that there wasn’t any serial number thing or activation. But then again, Apple doesn’t really make money from software stuff. Then came the super cool welcome screen.

Set up my account info. After that, I put in the applications disc and installed all that crap (Garageband, iPhoto, iMovie).

BOOT CAMP BITCHES

And then came Boot Camp. Ran the Boot Camp Assistant and partitioned the drives for about half OSX, half Win7. But oh noooo I have no DVDs for Windows 7! I spent an hour trying to figure out how to install Windows 7 to the Boot Camp partition using a USB drive or something. No dice. I just went to sleep and waited till tomorrow to get some blank DVDs at the bookstore.

I went to the bookstore the next day and bought a 2 pack of blank DVDs. IT WAS FREAKING 5 BUCKS FOR TWO DVD-R DISCS. Shit. So expensive. Stony Brook sure knows how to rip students off.

Windows 7?

Burned the win7.iso to the dvd and installed it through Boot Camp. Win7 install was an easy process, as usual. But when it finished installing and booted to Win7, the cd wouldn’t eject! I kept pressing the stupid eject button on the keyboard over and over again and that crap wouldn’t eject. So I had to restart, boot into Mac OS X, eject the cd from there, put in the Mac install disc and boot back into Win7. Mad annoying. And the Boot Camp driver auto-install thing wouldn’t work at first so I had to find the right install file in the CD.

Zombie Killing Fun

After the driver stuff finished, I immediately installed Steam and L4D to see if that crap worked. I didn’t get the MacBook for gaming but I was wondering how the 9400m would hold up. The L4D installation took FOREVER. It would keep disconnecting and reconnecting. Stupid Stonybrook resnet bullshit. They need to get it fixed. After about an hour or two or three.

L4D finally finished installing. Ran it, played a little single player. Works perfect. Well, I had to dial down the graphics a little to medium but it does work. Sweet. Another L4D gaming machine.

Next next post

This is getting kinda long and boring so I think I’ll split it into multiple posts. Next time:

Parallels & VMWare
Why doesnt OS X allow me to customize multitouch gestures
I don’t like this keyboard
Glossy screen is a fingerprint + glare magnet
Spaces + Expose + Quicksilver + Screen Corners = <3
This trackpad isn’t that great
and more sheet.

MacBook: Part One

chenstopher — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:29:59 +0000

So I got a MacBook.

My mom wanted my old Fujitsu tablet so she offered to get me another laptop for it. I took it. I’ve been wanting to try out Mac OS X and get into iPhone development. So I ended up ordering a MacBook ‘cause those things are only available on Macs, well at least legally.

Its Refurbished

I got a refurbished MacBook. 2.4GHz, 2GB, 250GB. Yeah, it’s used but most of the MacBooks that are refurbished were probably returned for minor cosmetic defects. Those returned Macs go through Apples refurbishing process where the computer is fixed up and tested. Anything that’s wrong with it gets replaced so it’s almost like getting a brand new computer. Plus it was $250 dollars cheaper than with the education discount and $300 cheaper than a new one. Too bad there isn’t an education discount on refurbished Macs. That would kick ass.

The Package

I got the package yesterday and was super excited to open it. I’ve opened up a MacBook package before and I’ve gotta say, the refurbished one is much less epic. It comes in a larger, uglier, white box and just lacks the niceness of a new MacBook package. Inside is a long box with only the words “Apple Certified” written on it that contains the discs, papers, power brick, and cables.

Under the box is the actual MacBook wrapped in plastic and encased in foam inserts to protect it from shipment damage. The computer looks brand new despite it being refurbished and all. There aren’t any scratches or defects to be found, looks and feels really study. I booted it up and tested that it was working okay.

Then turned it off.

What?

Here’s where the Newegg package comes in. I took the $250 I saved and bought a 500GB hard drive and 4GB of ram with $100 left over. Take those parts, stick that in my refurbished Mac and I end up with a MacBook that is cheaper and better than a brand new one. Replacing the parts took a measly 5-10 minutes.

Installing the Hard Drive

Opening the latch allowed me to remove part of the back cover and gave me access to the battery and hard drive. The picture on the left is actually the laptop after I finished installing everything cause I forgot to take a picture beforehand. I removed the battery by pulling the tab attached to it. The hard drive is held by a retaining bar with a screw. Unscrewed that, removed the hard drive, and transferred the four Torx T6 screws and plastic tab over to the new hard drive. If you’ve never heard of Torx T6 screws, its okay, neither have I. Luckily I had this little screw driver kit on me that had a screw bit that fit (that’s a lot of “it”s).

Installing the Ram

Now for the RAM. This part was a little more annoying, lots of little screws to deal with. There were 8 of them. After removing them, the whole back panel comes off, exposing the internal components of the MacBook. Fancy. The two 1GB sticks are located right above where the battery should be and are held in by retention clips. The sticks are easily removed. I replaced them with the two 2GB sticks that I got from Newegg.

Screw the back plate back on, put the hard drive, battery, and cover back on and it’s done.