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BRMUG Meeting Notes May 2009 - Laptop Essentials Upgrades Apple does not leave much room for upgrades on their laptops. Pretty much your choices are memory and hard drive. Currently, most folks consider 2 GB a resonable amount of memory and 4 GBs very useful (on the machines that support more than 4 GB, the price is prohibitive). Laptop hard drives are notoriously small and slow. A few years ago, anything over 60 GB was great. Today, the 100-160 GB drives are just getting small. You should consider 320 GB or 500 GB. Memory:$25 goes from 2 GB to 3 GB, and $50 goes from 2 GB to 4 GB (if you do the work yourself). Hard drive: 300 GB replacements are about $75 (if you do the work yourself). 500 GB drives are as low as $100 (DIY again). Laptop Bag(s) Look around a lot. There are a lot of different bags in various price ranges. I have discovered I would rather get a new bag every year or so (just because of wanting a change). Bags fall into 3 general categories: Briefcase style Backpack Sleeve Briefcase style backs with a single over the shoulder strap have been the defacto solution for a long time. I find them useful and very practical. I also find that having all the weight on one shoulder is tough if carrying it a lot. I have shifted to backpack cases. In a hurry, I still use one strap. For longer hauls, I use both straps. I find that my back and my shoulders are much happier. Sleeves have gotten very popular for short trips and as added protection in your main bag You might also consider keeping a nice bag on reserve in case you have to impress a client or something Laptop Bag Fillers Laptop bags often carry a lot more than laptops. Below is a brief list of things you are likely to find in a person's laptop bag (that are related tot he laptop). A short extension cord (6-10 feet) A 3 outlet adapter (turn your cord into 3 outlets) A 3 prong to 2 prong adapter (old wiring?) Computer Monitor Cord Adapter plugs on end of a "normal" computer power cord (C14) and provides a regular power socket (turns any power cord into an extension cord) USB cable assortment - for details on USB cable types USB male to female extension male to Type A male to Type B male to Type mini-A male to Type mini-B male to Type micro-A male to Type micro-B male to cell phone male to iPod/iPhone USB power adapter USB Light USB to IDE/SATA adapter - turn a bare drive into a hard drive Powered USB hub USB Card Reader - read various memory cards (make sure it is SDHC compliant) USB Flash Drive - have several of various sizes for file transfer and data backup Ethernet cable Airport Express - make your hotel room ethernet jack a shared wireless access point 1 gallon slide-lock bag (to put all the loose cables and stuff into) A CD wallet with a few blank CD-Rs and DVD-Rs (for giving away), CD-RWs and DVD-RWs (for backup) Hardware Addons Extra battery ($130), batteries always seem to run out when you are not near a power outlet Extra charger ($80), I keep one at home, one in my office and one in my laptop bag. If you use one at home a lot you will eventually forget to put it back in your bag one night and be without it the next day (good thing you have that extra battery). External hard drive or an External Case and a hard drive Printer(s) Ink Jet printer (price ink before choosing printer) So far I have been happy with Epson Inkjet printers. Here are a couple of suggestions: Epson CX8400 All-in-One (under $40), 4-pack of ink is $24 Epson NX400 All-in-One (under $75), 4-pack of ink under $30 Laser printer (price toner first) So far I have been very happy with brother laser printers. In particular, check out the Brother 5250DN 30 PPM, duplex laser printer with ethernet for $100-200. External monitor - consider a 20-22 inch LCD display to connect your laptop to for extended use periods. Keyboard - USB or Bluetooth Mouse - USB mouse or a Bluetooth mouse (multi button with scroll wheel) Software Software for laptops is very similar to software for desktops. There are certain things you need everywhere. But laptops are unique: portable, smaller, more limited resources, take more punishment. Certain software products can enhance the laptop experience. Here are some ideas: [F]Monolingual - removes space wasted by languages you do not use (laptop hard drives are smaller -- space is critical) [F]TinkerTool - limited screen space makes customizations that more critical [C]TechTool Pro - recovery of data more likely because of harsher conditions [D]Carbon Copy Cloner - makes a bootable backup [F]Smart Reporter - monitors hard drive for indications of problems [F]EigenClock - enhanced menu bar clock and calendar (I used to recommend wClock but they never rewrote for Intel). [F]IP in Menubar - displays your current IP address in the menu bar. This allows me to know when I have an address (and in some cases to make sure I have correct one). [D]PTHPasteboard - clipboard manager (commercial version with enhanced features available) [D]Lab Tick - allows you to control brightness of keyboard illumination (COOL!) [D]Slim Battery - replacement for Apple's battery monitor in the menu bar Bracket Explanation: [F] - freeware, no charge [C] - commercial, pay before you get it [D] - donationware, payment is requested but not required [S] - shareware, you may download but continued use requires payment (sometimes the product is crippled until you unlock). Interesting Links MacBook Pro Memory Seagate 500 GB hardrive How to upgrade a MacBook Pro hard drive OWC Install Videos Version Tracker - great source for software DealMac - great summary of cuurent bargains Mac OS X Hints> - great place to look for answers to questions O'Grady's PowerPage - Macintosh Laptop centric web site MacSurfer - survey of each days Apple related news