MAc book pro questions

leandrogonza · Post by **leandrogonza** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:58 am

Hi:

I have two questions.

1) Is it better the glossy display or the matte?? please explain why one is better than the other.

2) I understand that there used to be a problem, to use two firewire slots simultaneously. I mean using the fw400 with the audio interface, while recording in an external HD by the fw800.
I read there used to be clicks and noises, cause they shared the same card.

Is there a way to set it up with an extra FW card???

I am about to get a macbook pro, i need this respones.

thanks

Leandro

Ps: is it better to get in an apple store, or is there any better way??
i am in miami, florida. usa.

dcease · Post by **dcease** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:20 am

glossy seems a bit brighter, and will reflect light, while matte seems to absorb it. if i were you, i'd check both out and see which you like better...

i ran off both ports,one fw800 drive and a fw400 interface for a while with no problems. added another firewire drive, a fw400 behind the 800 drive, and got glitches, so now i have the interface, followed by the drives, and this works fine. you could always get a card for the express card slot, these come in a range of flavors, from sd card readers, to usb ports, fw ports, and esata ports. esata drives appear to be a little faster than firewire, but may not make that big of a difference... there are a couple of threads from a few weeks back dealing with this.

i haven't seen or heard of any difference in price where apples are bought, but i have seen back stock when a speedbump was introduced, at a lower price, on line they have the refurbished macs at a lower price... but price is fairly constant across the board.

mohler · Post by **mohler** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:49 am

Heya,

As Dcase has covered some of this stuff I'll only comment on the FW.

I use the 400 and 800 port simultaneously the whole time. I've a disk on the 800 and a n interface on the 400. I don't have problems and haven't had since I switched from PC.

You can always install a separate card for the card slot, I've always considered this option for expansion but never needed it. I guess I'd probably go for a Sata interface to drive disks instead of more firewire.

sxezskoz · Post by **sxezskoz** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:28 am

dcease wrote:you could always get a card for the express card slot, these come in a range of flavors, from sd card readers, to usb ports, fw ports, and esata ports.

where can i find me one of these with more usb ports? in fact, i haven't shopped for an express card ever since i first got my laptop and couldnt find anything interesting to plug in there.

tricil · Post by **tricil** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:50 am

i think he's referring to the unfortunate fact that using both the 800 and the 400 ports cuts the 800 speed down to 400... unless santa rosa fixed this.

robbmasters · Post by **robbmasters** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:48 am

tricil wrote:i think he's referring to the unfortunate fact that using both the 800 and the 400 ports cuts the 800 speed down to 400... unless santa rosa fixed this.

Really? That's pretty disappointing. Especially when I've just bought a FW800 portable hard drive (I haven't got it yet...)

Edit: Can anyone point me towards any more information on this? I'm just wondering if it's a hardware or software issue? If it's the latter it may be OK under Boot Camp...

And I prefer matte screens. The glossy screens are "nicer", but I find the matte ones more practical.

dcease · Post by **dcease** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:11 pm

http://eshop.macsales.com/

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:24 pm

Regarding the display, I prefer the Matte myself. I work with my laptop outside, and for DJing in clubs, and in those scenarios the glossy would give me too much glare. The matte still gets some glare, but it's not as bad as the glossy.

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:37 pm

Tarekith wrote:Regarding the display, I prefer the Matte myself. I work with my laptop outside, and for DJing in clubs, and in those scenarios the glossy would give me too much glare. The matte still gets some glare, but it's not as bad as the glossy.

i personally have the glossy and did not had ever a problem yet with glare of any sorts, neither outdoor in the sun, nor in clubs.

the glossy one seems to be brighter, gives the feeling of a greater sharpness and and black is really black.

best is jump into an apple store and have a look on both, what YOU prefer...

dysanfel · Post by **dysanfel** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:20 am

I use my 800 for a HD and my 400 for my Apogee Duet and I never have a problem, even with large track counts.

Akshara · Post by **Akshara** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 4:17 am

1) Is it better the glossy display or the matte?? please explain why one is better than the other.

I like the LED matte. No glare whatsoever, even under bright lights and sunlight, and it feels more like a computer monitor rather than a TV screen. DVD movies do look better on the Glossy screens, though the useable viewing angle on my wife's Macbook with the glossy screen is lower than on mine.

Is there a way to set it up with an extra FW card???

Yes, there are Express Cards available with Firewire ports. Some who have experienced the Agere chipset incompatibility on the recent models have gotten Express Cards with the Texas Instruments chipset to get their interfaces working. Specifically these models...

SIIG Firewire Express Card NN-EC2012-S1

PYRO1394a ExpressCard API-650

Just try to get either:

a) a MBP with the Texas Instuments firewire chipset, pre-October '07 built, for maximum compatibility with firewire audio interfaces;
or
b) a firewire interface confirmed to work with the Agere chipset in the new MBP models. Contact the manufacturer of any interface you're considering and ask.

PookyNMR · Post by **PookyNMR** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 4:21 am

Both FW ports are on the same bus, your bandwidth is limited. Getting an extra FW port via a card will actually get you a separate bus and plenty of bandwidth for more drives / interfaces.