thinking of biting the bullet/Apple

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mobile
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 10:52 am

anyone have any pearls of wisdom on the subject?
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Euler
Posts: 24704
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm
Location: Bet Angel HQ

We've had so many request for info on the Mac I bought a Mac book pro and like it.

I dual boot it so I can run it as a Windows PC (Windows 10 works well on it) and a Mac.

I seem to use it as a Mac for casual day to day stuff and as a PC when trading. But of course you can use a VPS to trade from and that works just as well.

Because I run automated strategies alongside my manual trading a quick swipe on the Mac and I can whiz back and forth between VPS's. It works pretty well.

I'm happy with my Mac experience so far and it integrates well with the iPhone if you have one.
PeterLe
Posts: 3715
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:19 pm

Im a real Apple fan, a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a flicker on my external LED displays..(they were in sync so I knew it was a graphics card issue in my Macbook Pro rather than an individual screen)...
I bought this Macbook in the US 5 years ago, so well out of warranty..

I booked an appointment at the local apple store (Genius Bar) yesterday to see how much it would cost to repair
The appointment was for 3pm.
At 1 minute past 3, they had it coupled up to their network and ran some diagnostics and confirmed that the graphics chip was indeed failing. The cost for a new logic board (with includes the graphics chip) was £398 fitted
They offered to fix it free as it was a known fault! (Even though it was out of warranty 4 years ago)
I asked how long it would take to have it sent away and be repaired...they answered - "it will be repaired on site (they have a resident engineer) and you can pick it up in 3 hours!"

Now seriously; where would you get that level of customer care anywhere else? (for free)

I have a massive piece of work to do which requires two screens for a campaign Im working on. I was dreading the though of having to use my work windows laptop (I just hate working with windows!) I can crack on with it this weekend now!

One very happy customer!

Regards
Peter

PS Peter - If you havent got a ackup solution yet, Id recommend - Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC). I think its better than the time machine option (although I use that too).
CCC Creates a Bootable copy. (I have a 1tb drive partioned and back up both my macbook and my Imac on a single drive - perfect!) Thinking about buying an SSD too
Last edited by PeterLe on Fri Jan 08, 2016 1:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
xitian
Posts: 457
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 2:08 pm

I'd have to agree with Peter on that one. Apple customer service is excellent. You obviously pay a premium for their products, but I think that's made up for by the service and sublime design. Customer service is really underrated in the retail industry, or at least taken for granted.

Over the years I'm sure my wife and I have had problems with our iPhones at least 3 times, and each time we just get given a new one. The most recent time her phone was 40 days past warranty but they still gave her a new one (I presume by 'new' it's actually refurbished, but you couldn't tell the difference).
andyfuller
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Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm

I like some Apple products but I have to say I hate Mac computers. I am a big fan of windows and have always found it very good and easy to use. I would never have a Mac as my main PC it is just such a pain I find especially with compatibility when working on projects with others who are on windows like the vast majority of the population.

I guess a happy middle ground is to have a mac that can be booted into windows as well but for me I will just stick with my trusty windows machines.
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Euler
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Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2010 1:39 pm
Location: Bet Angel HQ

andyfuller wrote:I guess a happy middle ground is to have a mac that can be booted into windows as well but for me I will just stick with my trusty windows machines.
I used the think in a similar manner but I'm 50/50 now on what I'll boot up the Mac to be during any particular session.
PeterLe
Posts: 3715
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:19 pm

Just upgraded my Macbook to an SSD
Unbelieveable performance now (especially on the applications I use for work)

I was just thinking; my VPS's are used solely for Betangel. Would they benefit (even if just a few milliseconds, bet placements etc) by having SSD's? (I would have though not as once launched, Betangel will just reside in memory). Any thoughts please?
andyfuller
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Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm

Peter - did you do the upgrade yourself or get someone to do it for you also what SSD did you go for. My father who uses a Macbook was complaining just this week about his running slow so this could be an option for him.

Thanks.
xitian
Posts: 457
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 2:08 pm

PeterLe wrote:I was just thinking; my VPS's are used solely for Betangel. Would they benefit (even if just a few milliseconds, bet placements etc) by having SSD's? (I would have though not as once launched, Betangel will just reside in memory). Any thoughts please?
It's a good question, and one which has an answer which is hard to measure I think.

I agree that once your app is loaded, assuming your server has enough memory, that it's not going to use the hard drive much. I still go for an SSD just because I like the responsiveness generally if I'm doing other things, but also because I do a lot of writing to logs for monitoring and collecting data to database. If any of your strategies read from a database on the fly, then that would be another reason too.

I think across racing, football, tennis, I must write several gigabytes of data daily.
PeterLe
Posts: 3715
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:19 pm

andyfuller wrote:Peter - did you do the upgrade yourself or get someone to do it for you also what SSD did you go for. My father who uses a Macbook was complaining just this week about his running slow so this could be an option for him.

Thanks.
Hi Andy
Sorry I didnt see this post
yes did it myself..

These are the steps he needs to do..
Click on the Apple symbol top left of the desktop, click on "About this mac", from there you can obtain the serial number
Go to www.macupgrades.co.uk
Type the serial number in and it will show the laptop config and the various options
Click on "internal Hard Drives and SSD's"
This will show you whch SSD's are compatible with you Dad's laptop

I went for the OWC Mercury 480 GB Extreme
Once you have determined which drive you need...order it direct from OWC in the US as its cheaper :D

www.macsales.com

I bought the drive AND external enclosure to house my old drive for £50 cheaper than just the drive from macupgrades...

To copy the data:

Check out the FAQ and Guides on Macupgrades; very simple to do. Id very strongly rec the software "Carbon Copy Cloner CCC" you can use it free for your upgrade, In the end I bough the software as I was so impressed with it. (Unlike Time Machine, CCC creates a bootable copy).
Very easy to do overall.
If you do decide to go ahead; You've got my number so please call if you have any questions or I can help in any way
Regards
Peter
andyfuller
Posts: 4619
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:23 pm

Thanks for that - very grateful!
sam8080
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2016 1:44 pm

Be careful how old the product is because after a while they no longer are able to upgrade to the newest version depending on the model/age.
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