Does anyone have a Mac?

Leopard

Markymoo,

Yeah, I saw it.

But what do you expect? These are people "know" that Windows is better because they've never been "mad" enough to try using a Mac.

Just console yourself with the fact that they're the victims of their bigotry, not you. You've got a Mac.


This is the sort of remote-controlled electric socket I use: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BYRON-Remote-Control-Sockets-3-in-pack-BNIB-RRP-25_W0QQitemZ190235627920QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

They work by radio, so you don't need line-of-sight. In fact, they're ideal for controlling things plugged into sockets in inaccessible places - behind desks, for example.

Plenty more, sealed and unused, on eBay if you just keep watch. Run an eBay search on "Byron remote".

You can use up to four different Byron handset circuits of three sockets each. (And, if you buy extra sockets and configure them, you can switch more than one socket with each of the three buttons.)

Bear in mind that each socket consumes 3.2 watts constantly - and that overhead applies whether the device it's switching is on or off. So, it's worth using them to control a 4-gang or a 6-gang.

They work well and have good range. One of my handsets, in the kitchen, switches both devices running in our garage (e.g the ice-making machine) and devices in our loft (e.g. the TV distribution amp).

What you can do with them is limited only by your imagination.

(So, they're not much use to PC zealots. )

millypede

Leopard wrote: »

What the hell do you mean, you "totally, totally disagree" ?

The problem with Airport Express units dying suddenly and prematurely is widely documented all over the world. Thousands of people have expressed their grievance about it.

Even just a simple Google search on "Airport Express died" and "Airport Express dead" will throw up hundreds.

.

The reason for this is due to power spikes and them being shorted out, no one seems to use a £4 surge protector to look after it.
I must have about 5 at home, all on mini surge plugs and are all good.

millypede

TiTheRev wrote: »

The Genius Bar is a new one to me, and looks very handy but the nearest of those is nearly 2hours away (Southampton or Bluewater). Having a 1year old son makes this kind of journey a bit less spur of the moment and a little more regimented in its conception, lol! Thanks for the advice, it is as ever greatly appreciated

find a Apple Premium Reseller, much quieter than a apple store and more happy to help.

TiTheRev

Have found an Apple approved repairer a little closer to home, will continue with the other routes of repair for the moment and have friends who may be able to help but need to pin them down to helping!

Leopard

Reverend,

Please think very carefully about the economics of this Mac.

This is a Money Saving site and, given your vocation, I imagine that unless your family is wealthy you are not in a position to spend cash unwisely.

Money saving is not about doing the cheapest thing, it's about avoiding false economy.

Your iBook, in working order, is worth perhaps £250. It's out of warranty, it uses a genus of processor that Apple has abandoned and it won't be able to run Apple's next, shortly-forthcoming, operating system.

I know how tempting it is to keep an old Mac going. I have five Macs that are older than yours and (well, actually, because) I'm fond of them all - one in particular. Three of them run OS 10.5.4.

But I'm not unrealistic. My head rules my heart with computers and I would not spend more than £25 on four of them, nor £50 on my favourite, if one of them developed a fault. And £50 is a lot less than a tankful of petrol.

I keep them around because I also have modern Macs that can cut the latest mustard and deliver work reliably and on time when it's needed. I don't have any sentiment towards those; they are simply tools of my trade.

Like anyone with any sense, I use Macs for work not merely because they are more pleasant to interface with but because I don't want to find myself in hand-to-hand combat with Microsoft's concept of computer efficiency, battling with viruses and wading through several thousand threads of Windows woe on MSE for a salivating geek's solution when I have a deadline to meet.

Trying to stay abreast of computer technology is an exercise somewhat akin to climbing up an escalator that is going down, while tearing up high-denomination banknotes.

I urge you not to spend money uneconomically on this iBook: it would be better spent on buying, say, a Core 2 Duo MacBook of at least 2.2 GHz that can accommodate and run 4 GB of RAM when you will (all too soon) need it to. Such a MacBook (at least in white) can be bought for £500 - and for little more than that from the Refurbs section of the Apple Online Store, delivered free to your door, in perfect condition and complete with (renewable) AppleCare for a year.

It would be far better to do this (and extend the AppleCare) - even if it means binning a defective iBook - than to spend more than, say, £50 on trying to keep an ancient and now severely obsolete Mac going.

You need a computer you can rely on. How will you feel if you spend £100 on your iBook now and it packs up in three months time when you're behind schedule and trying to write a sermon? That's not Money Saving.

Perhaps its ailment is a message from :A You Know Whom :A to upgrade to an Intel Mac?

There are a lot of weird people in the MSE forums who spend unfathomable amounts of money and a great deal of their time tinkering with arcane computer kit as a hobby and will urge you to do the same. These are the type of people whose idea of a joke is to declare that they live at 127.0.0.0. But unless it is just a hobby for you and you can afford to spend money on it unproductively, it's best to ignore them.

Old computers are like old cars - fine as a leisure pastime, if you like that sort of thing, but usually uneconomic. To get a job of work done, you need something modern, efficient and reliable - at least to fall back on.

Here endeth today's lesson.

TiTheRev

Almost a sermon in itself!

Point taken, and will consider the above before spending any undue monies on the now-dated iBook

Thanks

Ad-Hoc

To test current and new Ram use Rember which is a freeware utility :T

TiTheRev Almost a sermon in itself!

Point taken, and will consider the above before spending any undue monies on the now-dated iBook

When/if you get a refurb Macbook, check the system profiler for the hard drive. If you're unlucky, you might get one of the Seagate 2.5-inch SATA drives that are made in China and loaded with firmware version 7.01. Model numbers affected include ST96812AS and ST98823AS see this link



Ad-Hoc

TiTheRev

Thanks Ad-Hoc, will definately check it out if I go down that route, which is looking more and more likely each day :rolleyes: but at least I may be able to get some good money for the iBook as Ive seen one on eBay with a fault HDD for over £120 already with 5 days to go...

Leopard

Have you got it sorted yet, Rev?

Marty_J

This made me laugh. Don't know what that says about me, but there you are.