<p>I like matte much better than a glossy screen.
Its nice to hear that with some there is a choice.
I use bluetooth to connect, or else wireless internet. I dont use the ethernet cord except on my time machine to my modem.</p>
<p>We recently bought a MacAir with no internal disc. The sales guy recommended just buying a $40 external for the few times you might want it. </p>
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<p>If you’re doing photo/multimedia editing work which requires high levels of color accuracy or in bright light conditions…especially outdoors, the matte screen is actually better than a glossy one. </p>
<p>Everyone I know who uses their mac for such work avoided glossy screens because it actually served to hinder them in their work. </p>
<p>Hi - no more firewire either but there’s an adapter for that! $29 - thunderbolt to firewire. </p>
<p>In the past, we could connect two Macs with each other by firewire and boot the Macs in such a way that one Mac becomes a hard disk for the other Mac.</p>
<p>Do you think, if I use the thunderbolt-to-firewire adapter to connect two Macs, can the Mac connected to the firewire end of the adapter becomes a hard disk of the other Mac using the similar way?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Hi @mcat2 - it works the same way. I LOVE being able to boot into transfer mode.</p>
<p>Is the rectina display worth the price? I have replace my macbook and trying to decide between MacBook Pro w retina dispaly or the regular kind.</p>
<p>Retina display MacBook Pros are lovely computers. Beyond the display, which is nice but many apps still don’t make great advantage of it, is the fact it’s light and has a solid state hard drive. SSDs are much faster plus since there aren’t moving parts, can take wear and tear better. The downside is the cost of the SSD. Retina displays also lack an internal super drive (DVD/CD) and built-in ethernet. As mentioned above, both can be purchased as external add-ons if you really need them. But if having a built-in super drive is important, that’s something to consider in favor of the “regular” MBP. Also, the built-in hard drive of the regular MBP usually is larger since it comes with the regular rpm drive (but you can have an SSD installed as an option). So it depends on what you’ll be using the computer for. </p>
<p>Also wondering about upgrading the standard specs. Probably will opt for 8GB storage 9for an extra $90) because of photos, but what about the processor? Is there a big difference between 2.4Hz and 2.6Hz?</p>
<p>The 8 gb is RAM, not storage. Definitely go for at least 8 gb RAM. My retina display has a 512 GB hard drive and I’m happy with that amount of space. I don’t get as excited about the processor but again, it depends on what you do with your computer. Is the 2.4 ghz an i5 or an i7 (ditto for 2.6 ghz)? If you can swing it, do go with the i7 processor as I think it will get you down the road a bit further (the i7 is newer). Here’s an article comparing the i5 and the i7 processors. <a href=“http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac/apple-mac-i5-vs-i7-processor-which-cpu-imac-macbook-buying-advice-3489917/”>http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac/apple-mac-i5-vs-i7-processor-which-cpu-imac-macbook-buying-advice-3489917/</a> </p>
<p>Once you go retina, it’s hard to go back.</p>
<p>As for matte or glossy, I’ve watched photographers edit on iPads and those are glossy. But the main goal is proper calibration. I don’t follow this closely. It used to be that Windows machines were hideous for color but I assume that’s changed. </p>
<p>I’m pretty certain that at least for the retina screens, matte is no longer an option</p>
<p>I have an older MacBook with a CD drive which I use maybe twice a year. My next computer will undoubtedly not have the drive.
The only negative that I can think of would be that if you have a CD/DVD collection but no other means to play the discs, you’ll be in a bad position. This is where I’ll be with a new computer, which will leave me with about 4 useless DVDs (I’m not big on movies).
If you carry the computer around a lot and are definitely not going to be doing anything that requires power, go for the lighter computer.</p>
<p>I’d note that as long as your child is going to a country that has Apple Stores, it’s really easy to get the computer serviced. I used to go to the Apple Store in the Louvre weekly :).</p>
<p>Regarding storage, what is the real-world difference between 256GB PCIe-based flash storage and 512GB PCIe-based flash storage? The price difference is $300 (which also includes the 2.6GHz rather than 2.4GHz processor.)</p>
<p>If a photo is taking up 2.56 MB, then the difference is 256,000/2.56 = 100,000 photos. Did I do that math correctly? 
A photo can take even more space, and videos are way bigger. Other way to think about it, it is just 32 trips during each you completely filled a 8 GB SD card of your camera. When it comes to HD, the bigger the better, IMO. Can you get an alternative way of storing your files for less than that? Plus, it looks like you are getting a nicer processor.</p>
<p>The kid does take a lot of photos, but he actually stores them on the SD cards (I have no idea how reliable this is, but for some reason he refuses to delete all of the photos from an SD card, which at least are pretty inexpensive these days - a lot also get stored on the Costco photo website and of course some on Facebook).</p>
<p>He does minimal video editing, such as for the soccer team’s banquet. His iTunes library is huge but as I understand it there is some sort of cloud way to store things purchased from iTunes without having it all on the computer. On the other hand, for the next year at least he will be using a VPN to connect to the internet, which might or might not be very reliable. So he might want to have the whole library on his computer.</p>
<p>The only additional programs he’ll be installing (at least for now) are the Office ones (Word/Excel/Powerpoint).</p>
<p>If the kid has a ton of stuff, buy a drive. You can get huge drives for under $100. SD cards aren’t reliable for a variety of reasons. </p>
<p>BTW, I find using Apple’s Numbers much, much easier and, frankly, much more fun than Excel. It exports to Excel very well so I do stuff in Numbers and make a pdf if it’s a static picture needed or print it or export to Excel if necessary. I admit I hope it’s not necessary because Numbers is so much easier to use. It doesn’t have the truly advanced features of Excel but I don’t know many people who actually use those. For simple stuff, like putting together a small spreadsheet that you want to embed, Numbers is so much better: you can put any size sheet anywhere you want and write around it, put pictures next to it, etc. </p>
<p>Definitely have his data/pictures somewhere in addition to the SD card. There are several cloud-based services specifically for pictures - I use flickr - that provide for a safe place to keep photos. They definitely should be someplace other than the SD card for sure. @Lergnom - we’re had some issues with translation between Pages and Word so if your college primarily supports Office products, that’s what I’d suggest. I’ve had a few frustrated faculty who haven’t been able to read the document in Word. </p>
<p>I’ve exported many documents to Word but if there are comments/tracking those don’t translate well. It’s fine for reading but that particular part is lousy. The only issue I have with exporting to Excel is that Excel, despite its advanced capabilities, is incredibly stupid with basics that it makes hard.</p>
<p>It’s really frustrating that there are things here and there that just don’t translate between the two “suites” - I’m sure it’s by design. 
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