Question About MacBook
Hi I’ve got the chance to buy a cheap used MacBook Pro but I’ve always had Windows and don’t know much about them.
What I wanna know is will it run my S4 ok - not gonna be used for anything else.
15" 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 120GB HD, 1GB RAM
Obviously I’ll need to stick some more RAM in but would the processor be up to the job? Seems pretty ancient compared to what I’ve got in my current PC …
It’s enough I don’t see any problems
Yeah, that processor will be more than enough. Like you said, it’ll need more RAM and depending on the size of your music collection, you may need to upgrade your HDD too.
If you’re unsure about using Mac as a primary operating system, you can always dual boot it with more or less any Windows version…
One more question - he say’s he’s just formatted it and it’s got OS X Tiger on, but if I want he’ll put Leopard on for me.
Which should I go for - remember all I want is to use it for dj’ing with my S4.
Thanks
Just make sure it has snow leopard. If it doesn’t it’s only a $29 upgrade and Bootcamp is way more reliable and the drivers are better. Plus you can set it so that your Windows partition is your startup disk and it will boot up in Windows every time you turn the computer on. Then, when you want to use the s4 just hold down the option key when you boot up and choose the osx partition. And, like everyone else said the processor should be fine just add more RAM, 4GB should more than enough, plus it’ll allow you more horsepower if you ever get into production or start working with DAWs and their sometimes resource-heavy plug-ins. Plus, 4 GB is going for like $79 either single or dual channel.
in other words yes ask for leopard.
No, get snow leopard. They’re different.
If he makes you pay anything tell him to stuff it. A full copy of snow leopard costs like $29 and anyone could install it. Just click on the “customize” button when you see it and disable language packs and printer drivers…you don’t need them and they take up a lot of space.
Other than that, keep clicking yes. It’s no harder than installing Windows.
ah right, I thought the $29 was only the upgrade from leopard to snow leopard. I am aware that they’re different 
Do it and when you get the ram max that sucker out!!!
Tiger, is not supported, Leopard and Snow Leopard ($29 DVD) FTW.
I forgot to mention if you upgrade the HD, its major surgery, i’ve done it several times and its does take some time and the right tools.
^step by step with pix
Nope. Snow Leopard wasn’t a huge upgrade, so it was cheap. I mean…there was a lot of stuff in the internals of the OS, and I do notice the difference in a few UI tweaks. But because it was considered a small upgrade, Apple gave people a price break.
Normal OS versions are like $129…again for a full copy. I don’t think upgrade copies even exist for OS X.
does that mean someone with like 10.1 could upgrade to 10.6 for $29? what a deal!
Pretty much yeah, if your computer works with the OS.
One of the things apple is good about is keeping their software reasonably priced.
And that $29 gets you a full install if you want, not just an upgrade.
I love apple
Ok so I was a bit unsure about the specs of the mac my mate was selling but I’ve bought one from eBay instead:
15" 2.5 dual core with 6mb level 2 cache and 4gb ram - happy days.
Question I have is about my music library.
I will be downloading music on my windows pc and setting cues/loops etc on there, then storing them on an external hd.
First off should I get a USB or Firewire drive?
And will the cue/loop/grid info transfer to the mac?
No thats not right dude.
Tiger to Leopard costs about £80 then theres the Leopard to SL update thats £29.
I had to do it on my other MBP so i just didnt bother with the SL update.
Your cues etc will transfer with the MP3 to Mac no worries mate.
With only 2 USB ports on the Mac id get a FirewWire Ext HD but make sue its Mac/PC compatible as most need fomatting for one of the other.
Are you sure? You can take the $29 disc and do a full install on a hackintosh and you can do a full install on a Mac starting from scratch with the new OS. You may not be able to if you follow the upgrade path, but if you just start from scratch I think you can.
EDIT: I guess if you can’t do it following the upgrade path Apple sets forth it may not be technically legal to do a full install on a system that doesn’t qualify. 
Cool - I’ve read that mac’s can read/write to FAT32 so I’ll just format it to that first - cheers 