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With Seagate announced their new ‘Hybrid’ 500gb 2.5inch Drives they claimed it could offer SSD speeds but with only a small premium on top of a normal magnetic hard drive. The drives use inline 4GB flash memory and use what Seagate calls Adaptive Memory. The firmware automatically relocates frequently accessed data and stores it on the flash memory while keeping most stuff on the the drive.
Their marketing pitches substantial improvements to most general usage situations.

I was certainly intrigued. I have wanted a solid state drive for some time but its so hard to justify the cost of a decent model and the bite in storage space does make them a far off dream.
What I find interesting with this technology is that Seagate may have now found a middle ground that could become the bridging technology we all use before SSDs reach a price per gb we can accept.

Suffice to say I splashed out and ordered a couple of XT’s for the 2 MacBook Pros in our office and although I’ve only had one of them installed for mere minutes I thought people might be interested in a benchmark.

I ran AJA’s free drive speed test program on my original 320GB Seagate 7200.3 and then 500gb XT immediately after the first boot. To be clear – I have about 250gb of data on both drives which works out to be 78% of the 320gb 7200.3 and only 50% of the 500gb XT. This alone should make some speed differences.

Seagate XT Hybrid HDD vs 7200.3 HDD

I will update this with a few more impressions once I’ve given it a good going through.

The drives are available in NZ now, I got mine via Aquilatech for $232 inc GST.

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App UpdateI’ve been using a Mac for the last 4 years and I’ve over time built a little list of apps that must be installed. I thought I should share them here. They are all free to download or open source so go give them a try. Feel free to share some more in the comments.

App Update – A simple application update widget, in my opinion, besides currency converter, the only good widget in dashboard. It reads you Application folder against 3 update notifications sites – Apple’s official software directory, MacUpdate and Version Tracker. Best thing – it just works – and well.
http://gkaindl.com/software/app-update

The ArchiverThe Unarchiver – an open source decompressor app. For years stuffit was either preinstalled or a must download on the Mac. Over time the the program gained the usual bloat of over developed applications. Apple has included a built in zip tool for a while but it’s file support was limited really only dealing with zip’s. The Unarchiver, which is open source will extract RAR, ZIP, 7-Zip, LHA, SIT, HQX and TAR files to name just a few. The app has enough options to do everything you could need. To install, just drag it into your Applications folder, run once to set associations and you’re done.
http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html

PerianPerian – Chances are you’ve already got this – if not – get it. Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats. XVID, Divx, AC3, MKV, FLV and even adds subtitle support. The only thing missing is extensive WMV support – for that check the free Flip4Mac.
http://perian.org/

VLCVLC – if you do find a video that won’t play via Perian then VLC should have it covered. If you have these 2 apps installed there are few files you can’t play. Personally I find VLC’s interface clunky to use but as I say – it will play everything.
http://www.videolan.org/

MPEG StreamclipMPEG Streamclip – Where Perian is ‘the swiss army knife of video playback’, Streamclip is surely the swiss army knife of video conversion. It allows for setting in and out points and will read almost every format – from malformed mpeg2 streams to xvids to quicktimes to avi’s. I haven’t met a clip I can’t convert with this app.
http://www.squared5.com/

TextWranglerTextWrangler – an extremely versital text editor. Made by the company that makes BBEdit, this is a cut down yet surprisingly feature complete version. TextWrangler supports source formatting and is the one stop tool for editing HTML, PHP, plists or just about anything else.
http://www.barebones.com/products/TextWrangler/

MAXMAX – One stop open source audio converter – it will change anything to anything else. MAX can convert over 20 compressed and uncompressed formats including MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, Apple Lossless, Monkey’s Audio, WavPack, Speex, AIFF, and WAVE.
http://sbooth.org/Max/

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I had posted this a while ago on the forums but I feel it’s as much a review/blog post and thought I would also update it with my long term experiences.

Recently purchased a refurbished MacBook Pro via Apples online store.
I was a little unsure of how ‘refurbished’ my new laptop would be – is it second hand? is it a lemon from someone else?
If there was one reason I could be reasonably sure of quality is that all refurbs come with the standard 12 month international warranty and Applecare can be added at anytime in the first 12 months. Giving you 3 years total hardware coverage available anywhere in the world. The cost of Applecare does increase the price by another $495 – and it’s a must have. My last MacbookPro purchase was a 17″ 1st Gen MacBookPro – and after 2 years of problems has the whole machine replaced via Applecare. Although not perfect, the service from Apple was complete and I feel you do get a more complete warranty cover than other Notebook brands.

Anyway, back to the refurb, I had heard stories that some people recieved units in America with (*gasp*) fingerprints on it but over all found an almost new computer. Apple was listing a current generation 15″ Macbook Pro (2.4Ghz C2D Penryn, 2gb, 200gb HD, 8600GT 256MB) listed at 22% off the RRP.
No matter how ‘used’ the computer could be, these models were only introduced 6 months ago, I knew the machine couldn’t be that beat up. So I ordered the computer.
It was 4.06pm on Monday.
It arrived 10.31am Tuesday (yes the very next day).
From Sydney!
Seriously scary service! I’ve order things from Auckland and they’ve taken longer to arrive. Shipping is done via TNT and all the necessary taxes are dealt with on Apples end. A paper reciept arrives a week later via the snail mail, funnily enough my credit card was charges as ‘iTunes New Zealand’.

As it’s a refurb, the unit came in a nondiscript whte box, with the computer surrounded in some solid yet basic padding and a long white Apple branded box (with all the standard cables/DVD/clothes inside).
Leopard was installed by default (as it is on all refurbs from Apple).

I took the computer out and it looked mint. I gave it a smell, it smelled brand new (you know the smell). It looked brand new. To be honest you wouldn’t know it wasn’t a fresh out of the box orginal if I threw it in a similar box.
The battery was brand new (as was the power adaptor) and showed 1 charge.

I don’t need to take you on a full review of the comp, I’ve written this to pass on my experience of Apple Refurbishments more than cover a 15″ MacbookPro.  So I got what seems to be a brand new $NZ3200 laptop for $2499 – A real bargin. I would highly recommended this way to get a good deal on a Mac. If you want to see what current deals are available look for the link on the bottom left side of the site – there’s plenty of iMacs, Macbooks/MacbookPro’s and even Air’s and AppleTV’s.

And finally, what’s broke? theres a couple of slight issues

The left side USB port isn’t quite flush with the casing. This is inside the case not outside, and the plug still fits all the USB cables I’ve tried, so it as much an aesthetic (and microscopic) issue.

Also I’ve had a total of 4 occourances of a strange banding in the bottom of the screen similar to the pic below. It isn’t life threatening and looks likely to be software more than hardware. I could kick up a fuss and get it replaced but for now it’s just not a biggie.

MacBook Pro liney's from Apple Discussion user 'Docfilm'

Since buying this my flatmate also took advantage of the same deal (15″ MacBook Pro) and his came in exactly the same state – a seemingly brand new laptop and a lower price.

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After going unbundled with Orcon’s Gold+ Account I was having issues getting online and was recommended an Orcon HomeHub over D-Link DST-502T. The 502T was theoretically more than capable of doing ADSL2+ (as I was running it at home on the same plan already). But at $5 a month, and to solve a problem I thought, stuff it, and got one sent out.

Siemens SX753

The HomeHub is really just a Siemens SX-763 WLAN DSL Router. Its running a slightly modified firmware that has the Orcon settings preset. You can’t flash newer vesions of Firmware, although Orcon can from their side of things. This could lead to an interesting future for this little hub – more on that later.
The Homehub features (according to Orcon) –

“This sleek wireless router lets you access your Broadband from anywhere in your house without plugs or cables.
What’s more, because our network can talk to it, our helpdesk can easily support the device remotely to get you back online faster if there is ever a problem.
In the future, we’ll be teaching the Homehub some cool new tricks to give you an even better Orcon experience through new and interesting services, so stay tuned…”

On the Siemens site it lists it features as –

  • High-speed wireless data transfer at up to 108 Mbps (compatible with IEEE 802.11b/g)
  • Integrated ADSL 2+ modem
  • 4 Port 10/100 Hub
  • External broadband access modem support (e. g. VDSL, cable)
  • Support for up to 6 VoIP public telephone accounts (SIP Protocol)
  • USB Support (SMB/FTP/Web/Printer).

So after ordering it, the unit arrived a couple of days later, interestingly I had to pay postage, with a white Orcon slip over a standard Siemens box. In the box were all the cables one could ever need to setup and use the unit. Network cable, phone, filters etc… Annoyingly Siemens have gone with RJ-45 (Network) Adaptor plug for the phone cable, not the smaller and standard phone plug – so don’t go loosing your cables.
The Unit is one of the nicer Routers or modems I’ve seen, although it does feel a but light and plasticy. All the ports are nicely placed on the back. It can be mounted on a wall or look fine on a desk.

Homehub Back Ports

The web inerface is pleasent to look at, and functionally seems to include all the settings. There’s wizards both for the absolutely basics and also for the security features. Add to that the normal Advanced Settings, It’s feature packed but simple to get around. There’s support for all the necessary wireless standards – WEP, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK/WPA-PSK.
I’d love to go into the VOIP settings but as I have never been too interested in it before, I wouldn’t know much. The fact they’re there, and are quite feature complete shows a feature I imagine Orcon will use in the future.

Connection wise, the wireless seems solid, although I personally use an Apple Airport Extreme to run a parallel 5ghz Only 11N based network and a 2.4Ghz for older clients. Excessive. Maybe. A bonus of using the $5 a month homehub though.
Internet wise, in the Auckland CBD, just off K Rd I’ve got a 12286 kbps (upstream) ADSL Connection. Its strange as when the connection was first setup I was getting up to 22500kbps on the connection – close to ADSL2’s limit – and now its back down to the top of ADSL1’s top……. Orcon?
UPDATE As you’ll see in the first comment, theres a bug and it’s being worked on – although 2 weeks later and I’m still stuck at the same connection rate – and just enjoyed a shit 11k/s uploade to my webserver in the states. AWESOME! (NOT).
UPDATE 2 Well 2 weeks later (8 Aug) and we’re finally back at full speed ADSL2 again – the modem is reporting 21412 kbps (downstream) / 1328 kbps (upstream) – near theoretical limits. I’ll post an updated speed test blog soon.

Heres some results from speedtest.net –

Auckland -> Auckland (WorldxChange Communications) – 9907 Down / 354 Up

Auckland -> Christchurch (Snap Internet) – 6587 Down / 266 Up

Auckland -> Sydney (Mammoth Media) – 3327 Down / 333 Up

Auckland -> London (Namesco) – 1723 Down / 180 Up

Auckland -> San Francisco (Unwired) – 2739 Down / 194 Up

Things that aren’t cool –
USB only does FTP no SFTP so not great for putting online.

Only 54g Wireless, although future proof in other features, if this was offered with 11n wireless it would be a must have for Orcon users.

The DHCP server won’t list connected devices – Wireless status lists the Host name, Mac and IP’s of any wireless clients but for the overall IP’s – nothing. The settings are there – just broken, a bug that I hope Orcon will get on to fixing.
UPDATE Orcon do indeed have a forthcoming update. Orcon were nice enough to flash mine and it does indeed fix the issue and give you a bunch more information as to the ADSL2 connection quality.

Basic NAT Support – Doesn’t do true UPnP/NAT-PMP. So, in my case, no Back to My Mac support between home and work. Just lots of manual and possibly insecure setup.

Things that are cool –
USB Features.
Looks good.
A full featured router for only $5 a month (on Orcon).
Assumably VOIP support from Orcon in the future.