MacBook Pro Video Issues

July 31, 2015 in Apple, Computer, Equipment, Gear, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Technical

Video Issues and Logic Board Failure

The Problem

Owners of 2011 to early 2013, 15 and 17 inch MacBook Pros need to be aware of any issues that causes video problems like freezes, distorted screen, black or gray screens and restarts. My 17 inch MBP would show green strips and restart on its own and boot to a black, blue or gray screen! This issue is solved with a new logic board replaced under warranty. This repair would cost $600+ if you have to cover the cost of the repair.

Apple Repair Extension Program

This program was set up earlier this year after consumers discovered that the problem was widespread. The page on Apple's support site on this issue has 5 million views: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577. My 17 MBP failed a Apple diagnostic test at the service center so they offered to replace the logic board at no charge and under warranty. I decided to order a new top case or unibody case which includes a new keyboard and touchpad since the laptop was being serviced anyway. My shop had my MBP back in my hands in less than two full days for a grand total of $319 ($219 for the top case alone). This shop is an independent Apple repair center called AMS and is located in Torrance California http://www.amsus.com/ The program covers affected MacBook Pro models until February 27, 2016 or three years from its original date of sale, my computer thankfully failed in the last couple of months of the coverage and thankfully there were no issues with OWC aftermarket SSD drives (two) and RAM effecting the warranty process. Need more info, see Apple's support page: https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

Any questions or comments? Leave a question below or send me an email.

MacBook Pro Retina Display Issues

June 17, 2012 in Apple, Computer, Equipment, Gear, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro

There are some issues with the MacBook Pro Retina that you should be aware of and what you need to know

Yesterday a friend asked me about my thoughts on the new the new MacBook Pro with Retina display. My thoughts about some issues might be useful for other photographers out there that are considering buying one. For the record I have not seen the MacBook Pro with Retina display in real life but I hope to get out this weekend to check one out.

Here's the important thing to understand about the MacBook Pro Retina, there is no way to see the full retina resolution of 2880 x 1800 so there is no way to see 1:1 or actual pixels, unless maybe you use Aperture which is the only editing program that is written to work with it so far. This is a huge problem for photographers until Adobe updates Photoshop and Lightroom.

Even though the Apple site tells you otherwise as I understand the MacBook Pro Retina ships with the display set to 1440x900 (which is what my 13 inch MBA runs) and not 2880x1800. What you get is the effective desktop resolution of the standard 15.4 MacBook Pro with a 1440 x 900 panel, but with four pixels behind every single pixel on the screen. This configuration should offer amazing detail but you don't actually get any more desktop space. There is no way to actually see this actual 2880 x 1800 unless you run Windows 8 (see the anandtech link below).

The MBP Retina is really running insane resolution then scaling down to display 4 pixels for every 1 pixel on a normal display. To help you understand the issue think of this like a the resolution of a print, lets say the normal MPB 15.4 display looks like a 72 ppi 8 x 12 print for example, the MBPR display is similar to a the same 8x 12 inch size but at at 220 ppi. This is based on what I have read I can't actually say what it really looks like since I have not seen on in person.

There's one other thing that shouldn't be overlooked, images shown on a normal MBP will look exactly half the size on a MBPR since the display is showing them scaled down. You would have to resize an image to twice the size for a MBPR to show at the same size as a normal MBP.

Conclusions and recommendations?

I am keeping my 17 inch MBP and 13 MBA for awhile, although a 13 MBA with USB 3 looks interesting!

If you've have anything interesting to share can know something that isn't mentioned here, be sure to share 'em in the comments below.

Links for more info:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6008/windows-8-on-the-retina-display-macbook-pro

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5996/how-the-retina-display-macbook-pro-handles-scaling

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5998/macbook-pro-retina-display-analysis

This CNET tech blogger gets did get some of his facts wrong but his post makes for interesting reading:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-33620_3-57454551-278/forget-retina-look-how-much-the-new-macbook-pro-displays/?tag=mncol;cnetRiver

MacBook Air 480 GB SSD Upgrade

May 08, 2012 in Apple, Articles, Computer, Mac, MacBook Air, Technical

What you need to know about Apple's MBA SSDs

The Apple MacBook Air is a seriously good laptop and is almost the perfect back up or travel computer for a photographer. In 2011 Apple finally refreshed their MacBook Air lineup with new SSDs using new form factor Called mSATA SSDs (also known as blade SSDs). Although Apple does offer two choices on the 13 inch MacBook Air, 128 and 256 GB (on the 11 inch you can choose 64 or 128 GB), this is one area where the MBA disappoints.

The OWC 480 GB 6G SSD upgrade installed on my 13 inch Macbook air with 1.8GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7.

Apple uses both Toshiba SSDs and Samsung SSDs on the current 2011 MBA. This doesn't sound like anything to worry and really its not but you should know that the Samsung SSDs are much faster than the Toshiba units and there is no way of knowing which one you get before booting up the machine for the first time. This just takes a second. Go to the Apple menu > About this mac > more info > System Report.. > Serial - ATA.

You can tell what SSD type you have by looking at the model string in a System Report from your machine. The SM prefix indicates a Samsung drive while the TS indicates Toshiba. A Samsung 256 GB drive will show up as - Apple SSD SM256C.

The problem is that the performance difference between the two Apple 3G drives is pretty significant, the Samsung is about 2X or more faster than the Toshiba SSD, see the Anantech's MBA review -

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4528/the-2011-macbook-air-11-13inch-review

Upgrading the MBA with the 480 GB SSD

The OWC 480 GB 6G SSD upgrade and 256 GB Apple Samsung 3G SSD side by side. The pink square is a foam thermal pad.

The OWC 6G SSDs are about 3x faster than the Apple Samsung factory SSDs. The 480 GB SSD upgrade costs right around $1000. The Apple 256 GB upgrade for the 13 inch MBA is $300 or $2.34 per GB, the OWC upgrade is $2.14 per GB and 3X faster and you get to keep the factory SSD for back up or other tasks. This is a great value for someone like me that needs the additional HDD space.

OWC's Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD should guarantee a significant boost in speed and with the 480 GB model, almost twice the disk space as Apple's largest SSD. There are no other SSDs suitable for 2010-2011 MBAs, unless you find an original Apple unit on the used parts market.

Installation notes

Because OS X Lion is preinstalled on the removable Apple factory SSD, you cannot simply remove that drive and replace it with a new SSD. There are two methods to prepare using a new SSD, I used two USB HDDs to back up and restore the OS. Remember to format the new SSD with the disk utility before you restore the OS. For more details -

OWC Mercury Aura OS X Lion installation instructionshttp://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/format_2011_air/

Installing the OWC SSD

The installation is quick and easy only taking about 15 minutes or so. All the necessary tools for the job such as Torx and Pentalobe drivers are supplied by OWC with the SSD purchase. Make sure you use a proper container or at least a strip of tape sticky side up to hold onto the tiny Pentalobe screws that secure the MBA bottom cover.

OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express installation videoshttp://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbook_air_2011_ssd/

Important links

Information on OWC MacBook Air SSD upgrades -

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express

OWC SSD review at Anandtech.com -

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5076/owc-mercury-aura-pro-express-6g-review-a-fast-macbook-air-ssd-upgrade

MacBook Air Display Check

April 26, 2012 in Apple, Equipment, Gear, How to

The MacBook Air display panel lottery

The Apple MacBook Air is seriously one of, if not the best laptop I have ever owned. I think it makes the perfect back up or travel computer for a photographer. The top of the line MBA offers you a 1.8 GHz Intel Core i7 processor (2677M), 4 GB of DDR3 SDRAM, and a 256 GB SSD (that can be upgraded to 480GB), all packed in a razor thin 2.96 pound aluminum case with a 13.3" widescreen TFT LED backlit active-matrix "glossy" display with 1440x900 px resolution.

If you already own one or are looking at buying one you should be aware of a few issues. Over the next weeks I will be talking about display and SSD issues and upgrading a MBA with a new 480GB OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G Solid State Drive to replace the puny factory 256GB SSD.

The first issue you need to look at is the display panel type Macs are supplied with. There is one to avoid and another that is preferred so this is important if you are looking into buying one in the future. Apple sources computer parts from different vendors with display panels (and SSD drives). Every MBA model, 11 & 13-inch, ship with one of two available panels. One is made by LG and the other by Samsung.

How to ID a MacBook Air display panel

To find out what panel a certain MBA is equipped with you simply open terminal and run a string. Terminal is an Apple OS X operating system app that allows the user to interact with the computer through a command line interface.

To run the Terminal application go to Applications/Utilities/Terminal

Type or better yet cut and past this string into Terminal:

ioreg -lw0 | grep IODisplayEDID | sed "/[^<]*</s///" | xxd -p -r | strings -6

This is a screen capture of what I see in terminal after I execute the string on my MBA. The long code: LTH133BT01A03 is the panel model number.

There are two prefix possibilities, LP means that the panel is made by LG Philips or the LT prefix that tells you that it is a Samsung panel. My understanding is that the LG panels are not as good as the Samsung panels. The LG panel is dimmer, have a smaller gamut and more narrow viewing angle. You can read more on this including test results on the always superb Anandtech site and another link below.

For the record I have a Mid 2011 A1369 model 13 inch MBA with 1.8GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7.

Important links

For more info and display testing see the links below.

Anandtech's original MBA review: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4528/the-2011-macbook-air-11-13inch-review

Anandtech's MBA update: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4554/apples-11inch-macbook-air-core-i7-18ghz-review-update

Notebook review on the display issue:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/apple-mac-os-x/606276-2011-13-macbook-air-inconsistent-screen-quality.html

Check for the Flashback Trojan

April 11, 2012 in Apple, Equipment, Gear, How to, MacBook Pro

What is the Flashback Trojan?

This is a new version of malicious software called Flashback that exploits a security flaw in Java in order to install itself on Mac OS and has made news headlines all over the world over the last couple of weeks.

First thing you want to do it update your Mac. Apple released a Java update on April 3, 2012 that fixes the Java security flaw for systems running OS X v10.7 and Mac OS X v10.6. Now your Mac automatically checks for software updates every week, but you can run Software Update at any time to manually check for the latest updates - go to the Apple menu and choose Software Update.

Mac users have been almost in a panic over this in the last couple of weeks thanks to the media. Even though I still have yet to hear of someone from people in the computer industry that actually knows someone that was infected by it I would recommend checking your Macs just in case.

How to check if your Mac is infected

Checking your Mac is easy and only takes a few seconds.

You can find instructions to check your Mac and complete instructions on how to remove it on the F-secure site:

http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/trojan-downloader_osx_flashback_i.shtml

To check for the Flashback Trojan go to the Manual Removal Instructions and follow them carefully. This will tell you if you have it in a few keystrokes and how to remove it in a few seconds if you do.

You will be doing is opening the Terminal app and entering some instructions (commands).

If you don't want to run a Terminal command you can also download a free app to check your Mac:

https://github.com/jils/FlashbackChecker/wiki

To run the Terminal application go to Applications/Utilities/Terminal

Type or better yet cut and past from the F-secure site into Terminal:

defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info LSEnvironment

You should see:

"The domain/default pair of (/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info, LSEnvironment) does not exist"

This means the Mac you are on is not infected but you are not done yet.

Next type in the command:

defaults read ~/.MacOSX/environment DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES

If you see the following then your system is clean.

"The domain/default pair of (/Users/.../.MacOSX/environment, DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES) does not exist"

If you see anything other than the above the F-secure link will give you all the info you need to know how to remove the virus.

Important Flashback Trojan Links

Apple's support page:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5244

Apple's support page for manual software update:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1338

F-secure site:

http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/trojan-downloader_osx_flashback_i.shtml

Free Flashback Checker App:

https://github.com/jils/FlashbackChecker/wiki

Update April 12, 2012

Apple has released a security update to take of the Java vulnerability and remove the Flashback Trojan variants. To download just run Software Update manually by going to the Apple menu and choose Software Update.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5242

This update disables the automatic execution of Java applets.