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Flagheimer · Oct 24, 2007, 09:46 AM

Hello,

So old faithful's (12" PowerBook G4) hard drive is failing. I installed a new 80GB Seagate HD in it a few months back. Everything was working fine until yesterday. My mail accounts were gone, my FireFox bookmarks are gone, my iTunes isn't opening. Can't even install OSX. Disk Utily's 'S.M.A.R.T. status' states it's "Failing"

It's a good thing they have a 5 Year warranty, because I'm sending it back for a replacement. Until then, I'm in desparate need of a computer!

I'm a student and I have major papers and math work due this week and on top of that I told my Mass Comm. group that I'd put everyone's Power Point presentation together and bring in my PB to use this Saturday to present!

I've been thinking of getting a new Mac, just not this soon, especially after I got a new HD for my PB, I just upgraded my RAM too! So I'm picking up a MacBook (can't afford a MacBook Pro) today because I just need to get restarted on my homework!

First Question:
I'm going to the Apple Store at my local mall to use my student discount. I have a student ID, which I assume they'll want to check, but my sticker is still for Spring, never updated it for this semester as I don't use the light rail. Will they not approve my discount?

Second Question:
I have a backup of my PowerBook's hard drive on an external hard drive, will I be able to put that on the new MacBook? Mind you, I was still running 10.3.9 and it wasn't an intel machine.

My main thing is getting my Microsoft Office work onto the new MacBook, because that's all my work for this semester.

Third Question:
Regarding Microsoft Office, I don't have the install disc for that, would I be able to drag the Microsoft office folder from the external hard drive to have it work? Or are there other factors here? Would I have to buy Microsoft Office for Mac instead?

There are other questions I may have, but my main priority is getting my homework on the new MacBook?

If any of you can help me out I'd appreciate it! I'm at work right now, but three hours I'll be off to the Apple Store!

Thanks

nonhuman · Oct 24, 2007, 10:52 AM

1. Your student discount should work fine. I assume your ID is valid even if your light rail sticker isn't?
2. You'll want to just connect the external hard drive to the MacBook and copy over the files that you need. Will work without a problem, but you don't want to try and run the MacBook off the system on the external drive.
3. Yes, you can just drag it over. Everything Office needs is in the Microsoft Office folder. Copy the folder over, then the first time you run one of the Office apps it will run an installer to extract and install the other files that it needs. Keep in mind that Office 2004 runs pretty slowly in Rosetta. To counter this I highly recommend that you get at least 2 GB of RAM in it (everything but Office will be fine with 1, Office will be usable with 1, but slow).

mdc · Oct 24, 2007, 11:05 AM

1. I've bought stuff from the Apple Store and have forgotten my student ID at home. I'm sure they won't have an issue with yours being for Spring.
2. When you boot the MacBook it will ask you if you have a backup that you'd like to Migrate off. You can try point it at your backup drive and see if it works.
3. See nonhuman's reply.

JonoMarshall · Oct 24, 2007, 11:13 AM

3. Turn off spell checker in office or it will be slooooow under Rosetta.

Flagheimer · Oct 24, 2007, 11:31 AM

Thanks a lot everyone! I'll be leaving in half an hour!

turnedge762 · Oct 24, 2007, 06:07 PM

I'm working back with Office v.X, so I don't know if it's the same as 2004, but won't it ask you for the product key the first time you start it too? So you better have that handy.

earthlings · Oct 24, 2007, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by Flagheimer

Thanks a lot everyone! I'll be leaving in half an hour!

Why not wait 1 day 21 hrs 55 min and 20 seconds to get a computer with Leopard?

0157988944 · Oct 24, 2007, 09:24 PM

Originally Posted by JonoMarshall

3. Turn off spell checker in office or it will be slooooow under Rosetta.

I really don't get this. I have Office v.X and spell checker is on and I notice no difference between my eMac (PPC) and iMac (Intel).

ghporter · Oct 24, 2007, 09:36 PM

Originally Posted by adamfishercox

I really don't get this. I have Office v.X and spell checker is on and I notice no difference between my eMac (PPC) and iMac (Intel).

Ditto. Office 2004 may not be snappy® but it sure isn't "slooooooww". Spell checking is sometimes as much as two words behind my typing, and every now and then I can hit a few keys before the display catches up, but all this stuff is very temporary. I also use Excel and PowerPoint, and neither one of those is "really slow" either. The only thing I consider slow is in Word when you select page setup and want to change the margins, it takes a while for the margins/layout box to show up. Since I do that so seldom, it's no problem to me at all.

Cold Warrior · Oct 24, 2007, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by turnedge762

I'm working back with Office v.X, so I don't know if it's the same as 2004, but won't it ask you for the product key the first time you start it too? So you better have that handy.

Unless you grab the right files and folders (one of them may be an invisible file in an Office folder) -- then it won't ask you if those items are placed in the correct (i.e., default) locations.

oddjob42 · Oct 25, 2007, 02:36 AM

Why not wait 1 day 21 hrs 55 min and 20 seconds to get a computer with Leopard?

But that would mean buying it seperately, surely. Unless you're buying it online, the chance of getting it pre-installed on the day of release is slim. When I bought mine yesterday, I was told that it would be 2 weeks until they'd start selling them pre-installed, since they need to get rid of all their tiger stock.

0157988944 · Oct 25, 2007, 06:33 AM

It would still come free, as opposed to $129...

nonhuman · Oct 25, 2007, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by oddjob42

But that would mean buying it seperately, surely. Unless you're buying it online, the chance of getting it pre-installed on the day of release is slim. When I bought mine yesterday, I was told that it would be 2 weeks until they'd start selling them pre-installed, since they need to get rid of all their tiger stock.

They won't sell it pre-installed, but it should come with a free Leopard drop-in. I'm trying to call to confirm this right now, but that's how it's been done in the past.

MarkLT1 · Oct 25, 2007, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by adamfishercox

It would still come free, as opposed to $129...

Nope. Either way he'd have to pay $9.95 for the update. Any new Mac purchased after October 1st, qualifies for Leopard for $9.95: Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Up-to-Date

oddjob42 · Oct 25, 2007, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by MarkLT1

Nope. Either way he'd have to pay $9.95 for the update. Any new Mac purchased after October 1st, qualifies for Leopard for $9.95: Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Up-to-Date

That's what I'm hoping to do. Although, not straight away. I'll try and wait until they release a .1 version, or there are no serious side-effects, before I order.

Nodnarb · Oct 25, 2007, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by MarkLT1

Nope. Either way he'd have to pay $9.95 for the update. Any new Mac purchased after October 1st, qualifies for Leopard for $9.95: Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Up-to-Date

No. If he buy's it the day of, there will literally be a leopard cd inside his macbook box. The link you pointed to is for someone who bought a macbook 2 weeks ago, if you buy it the day it's released you'll get the actual CD with your new computer.

Originally Posted by oddjob42

That's what I'm hoping to do. Although, not straight away. I'll try and wait until they release a .1 version, or there are no serious side-effects, before I order.

If you do buy it before the 26th, and hope to qualify for the up to date, you may want to get the cd right away, even if you don't install it immediately. If you wait, you may get screwed and end up having to pay $129 for no reason.

turnedge762 · Oct 25, 2007, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior

Unless you grab the right files and folders (one of them may be an invisible file in an Office folder) -- then it won't ask you if those items are placed in the correct (i.e., default) locations.

How do you grab invisible files?

Mojo · Oct 25, 2007, 12:26 PM

You should take care when using Migration Assistant to move data from your external backup. Since you were running 10.3.9 on a PPC Mac there are compatibility issues. There is info about this in the knowledge base at Apple.com.

oddjob42 · Oct 25, 2007, 01:42 PM

If you do buy it before the 26th, and hope to qualify for the up to date, you may want to get the cd right away, even if you don't install it immediately. If you wait, you may get screwed and end up having to pay $129 for no reason.

Do you think that could happen? I was going to wait to see if they'd release a .1 update, but I definately don't want to be paying full price. So, would you recommend ordering the disk now, and not waiting?

analogika · Oct 25, 2007, 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Ditto. Office 2004 may not be snappy® but it sure isn't "slooooooww". Spell checking is sometimes as much as two words behind my typing, and every now and then I can hit a few keys before the display catches up, but all this stuff is very temporary. I also use Excel and PowerPoint, and neither one of those is "really slow" either. The only thing I consider slow is in Word when you select page setup and want to change the margins, it takes a while for the margins/layout box to show up. Since I do that so seldom, it's no problem to me at all.

It's not spell-checking, it's GRAMMAR CHECKING.

That actually makes a huge difference.

ghporter · Oct 25, 2007, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by analogika

It's not spell-checking, it's GRAMMAR CHECKING.

That actually makes a huge difference.

I have that on too and I still don't see any major slowness. Really, I just spent two hours using Word, and it kept up as well as my browser does. For that matter, when my wife uses Word on her 800MHz G4 iBook, she doesn't have any speed problems either-perhaps the performance is not as much faster on my Intel computers as I'd like, but Rosetta doesn't make them noticeably slow either.

0157988944 · Oct 25, 2007, 04:16 PM

ditto.

nonhuman · Oct 25, 2007, 04:22 PM

How much RAM do you guys have? I was working in IT during the Intel switch, and when we started using Intel machines there was a very noticeable slowdown when using Office 2004. Prior to the switch I had been putting 1 GB of RAM in all machines Afterwards, in order to get the Office apps running reasonable I had to up the standard to 2 GB or RAM.

0157988944 · Oct 25, 2007, 05:30 PM

1 GB Standard. Only noticeable slowdown in Word is a couple second typing lag that only occurs twice a day or so.

applemacbook · Oct 25, 2007, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by nonhuman

How much RAM do you guys have? I was working in IT during the Intel switch, and when we started using Intel machines there was a very noticeable slowdown when using Office 2004. Prior to the switch I had been putting 1 GB of RAM in all machines Afterwards, in order to get the Office apps running reasonable I had to up the standard to 2 GB or RAM.

2Gb here as well, although my brother has 3gb in his MacBook Pro. The truth is, most apps don't utilize 3Gb yet but 1Gb is not quite enough either.

Flagheimer · Oct 29, 2007, 02:39 PM

So here's my update...

I had no time at all to reply from when I started this post. The day of this Post I did get the MacBook w/ Superdrive, student discount worked fine, also got Apple Care and everything came out under $1480. Everything transferred fine. Office looks to be the same (speed-wise). Other than that I love it! I was cramming doing my homework the entire rest of the day and week. I did order Leopard for the extra $10. I wish I could've waited, especially now, as I'm hearing new MacBooks *may* be available soon. OH well... I had no choice. It was either get bad grades or get a new computer. Talk about bad timing!

My PowerBook's hard drive is somewhat useless. I can re-install Panther, but if I try to restore to my backup, it'll stall near completion. It sucks, because I just got that Seagate HD a few months back and now S.M.A.R.T. status says it's "Failing". I'm waiting for my advanced replacement to come in, been having trouble with Seagate though. The replacement was sent back to Seagate, and Customer Service says they don't know why.

I have a question -- my MacBook came with the Tiger installation disc, of course. I tried to install it on my PowerBook (with the failing hard drive), so I boot up my PB, hold "C" and I guess it's called a kernel panic, pops up "We're hanging here" and all that jazz. Is it because my HD is failing or that Tiger can't be installed on my PB? I'm just wondering because Panther can be re-installed just fine... I'm waiting for my replacement HD to come in to see...

Note to self: No more online classes and Saturday classes next semester.

nonhuman · Oct 29, 2007, 03:22 PM

That failure is probably because your hard drive is failing. However if your hard drive were not failing it still wouldn't work because the OS disks that come with new computers can only be used with that particular model.

thetman · Oct 30, 2007, 02:24 AM

Originally Posted by Flagheimer

I have a question -- my MacBook came with the Tiger installation disc, of course. I tried to install it on my PowerBook (with the failing hard drive), so I boot up my PB, hold "C" and I guess it's called a kernel panic, pops up "We're hanging here" and all that jazz. Is it because my HD is failing or that Tiger can't be installed on my PB? I'm just wondering because Panther can be re-installed just fine... I'm waiting for my replacement HD to come in to see...

Note to self: No more online classes and Saturday classes next semester.

the discs that came with the macbook are not UB, intel only if I'm not mistaken

Flagheimer · Oct 30, 2007, 07:58 PM

Interesting day yesterday...

I noticed a black line, about centimeter long on my new MacBook's screen. I called up the Apple Store where I got it and they said I can come in and switch it out with a new MacBook since I was in the 14 days of purchasing it. So I was like: "Sweet". Rushed to the store because it was going to close in an hour. Switched out my MacBook, got a new AppleCare box too. I opened the box and checked out the the contents, and I noticed I got the Leopard install disc! When I got the first MacBook it was a few days before Leopard was released. So that was cool!

A few minutes later, I turned on my MacBook and the screen was just white for about a minute. ...Which was odd. Then it started to do the whole "Getting Started" routine, so then I thought it was fine. After I registered everything and did all the updates, I decided to upgrade to Leopard, the problem was, the drive was dead. I couldn't put the DVD in... unfortunately the store was closed. So I called them up after class and switched to another MacBook. Now I'm running Leopard!!! And now I'm finally happy!

(Hopefully nothing goes wrong!)