A few questions from a new MBP 13" owner

Hello everyone,

After six months of saving and TONS of setbacks, I have finally purchased my new 13" MBP! Uses will include basic usage (nothing intensive, I have a 17" beast for all my media needs) and app development.

I have a few questions about my new laptop, though.

What would be a good case for it? I need a messenger bag, (so the iSkin SOHO is out, unfortunately) and it must be able to hold the A/C adapter (I was willing to forgo that on the SOHO, but it has no strap). Any suggestions there?

To keyboard cover or not to keyboard cover? (I saw the topic, just asking for opinions)

I decided to just go ahead and take the plunge for the SSD. I know that Apple limited the SATA controller, and that they took of the limiter. I saw the topic about it but it's too long. Long story short, what's the status on that now?

I've seen/previewed the trackpad, but not the gestures. Does anyone use them or accidentally activate them?

If I have any other questions I'll update this first post.

Thanks for your help!

 

Personally I think keyboard covers are more trouble than they're worth.

If you go into SYSTEM PREFERENCES and then TRACKPAD it will give you information about all the gestures.

 

1)get SSD from other place
2)98% of issues/speed problems were corrected-only few people report anomalies

you can't accidentally activate them.

And don't update 1st post,make new ones-that will be more easy to follow

 

what's the price range for the case / messenger bag?

 

I'd like to try and keep it sub $50.

 

I dunno . . . for a quality messenger for $50 or less, you might try looking at timbuk2 to see which bags are a good fit for the 13" MBP -- and then checking to see if they're available at a discount at places like

http://www.sierratradingpost.com/Timbuk2.html
or
http://www.rei.com/outlet/brand/Timbuk2

 

If you do get a messenger bag just make sure its well padded. My Incase bag unfortunately did not protect my 13" MBP and now I have a dent The area around the zipper was not padded.

 

Yeah I'll second that, really do spend the bit extra to protect the laptop...I bought a pretty flimsy bag however I was lucky enough to buy a belkin sleeve but it's not the same.

 

Okay, recommend me some decent bags and I'll see what I can work with, how's that? I don't want a ruined Mac!

 

I'd recommend any of the Timbuk2 bags chris-m posted. Find something fits your range.

This is a smallish bag but fits the MBP 13" :

http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/,84022_Timbuk2-Classic-Messenger-Bag-Small-.html

Just double check the dimensions, but after a quick look it looks like everything fits. There's a hugh sale on at the site right now and that bag has 41 reviews with a 4 1/2 out of 5 star rating.

 

I just purchased my new MBP 13" about three weeks ago. As far as a case goes, I just got an InCase sleeve and am planning on just sticking that in my backpack for classes/transportation.

Keyboard cover, I would say yes. I just received the Moshi Cleargaurd a couple of days ago and am enjoying using it. It's not a perfect fit and does get some use to typing but it's not a problem at all. I like the security of knowing I won't get crumbs/water on my keyboard with it on and the keys won't get glossy/used after awhile. The feel of keys is actually better in my opinion with the cover.

I LOVE the trackpad gestures. I have had no problems with it activating accidently. It's a pleasure to use.

 

Thanks everyone for your input! It's invaluable!

Still considering my choices for a case...reconsidering the messenger bag thing. I might not need a messenger since I have a SSD and the battery life is supposed to be so good. Thoughts?
In that case I'm looking at the iSkin SOHO.

Next questions:
I know OS X is built upon Unix and consequently, Ubuntu (or any Linux distro) will work flawlessly in tandem with Leopard. I do dabble from time to time in Ubuntu, but I really want to know if there any real benefits to having a SSD with Ubuntu, besides a faster boot time?

Also, my MBP has the 2.26ghz processor with 2gb ram (had to go cheaper because of the ssd). Down the line, should I upgrade the ram? Isn't Leopard and SL running on 64-bit architecture? I know OS X runs extremely well on the given resources, just looking for opinions. And again, no there isn't any media editing or gaming on this machine.

 

not sure i understand that. If you want to do Unix stuff, you can do it fine on OSX without any other OS... if you want to use Ubuntu, your best bet is in a virtual machine, VMware runs it good... installing it directly on your machine has driver issues... and OSX is better anyways. There is nothing you can do on Linux that you can't do on OSX... just might be more trouble finding information on how to do something. Its possible to do all kindsa of things, heck you can run X11 full screened with Gnome and make it look just like Ubuntu if you wanted to.

 

Well hello everyone!

My macbook is on its way, as is its new SOHO case (Cheaper off Amazon!). Both will arrive on Wednesday. CANNOT. WAIT.

Anyway, I thought up another question: I don't know if removing the keyboard will void the warranty or not, but regardless, is it possible to send your mac to Apple and have them replace the keyboard?

If they do, I won't need to worry about a keyboard protector (yes, I may have to pay, but I won't mind it as much down the line).