my new MBP retina

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Hey guys. So first off im a kid going to college next year and I just purchased the new MBP retina. I know a good ammount about computers and this is not my first mac. I need three things.

1) I need a back up hard drive. I want it to be around 500gb. I'm broke after the $2200 computer, so cheap is good. USB 2.0 is okay but 3.0 or thunderbolt would be good if its affordable. So basically im just looking for a drive thats easy to use and mac compatable.

2) I will probably need to use ethernet in my dorm so I will most likely but the converter. Are there any 3rd party ones that are less then apple?

3) Since I believe that many proffesors willl require us to install software im looking for a external USB drive. I'd rather not pay the hefty price of apple's. I would liek one that does the same thing and only reqires one USB port.

Links would be great, but any response is greatly apprechiated.

Thanks
 
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1 - What is your budget? I personally like the Seagate Goflex Drives. They come with USB 3.0 but you can buy connectors to convert them to anything. I bought a firewire connector. I also bought a thunderbolt connector - but that wasn't cheap. The thunderbolt adapater is $99 plus you need to buy a thunderbolt cable which is $50 from Apple. I bought a shorter one for $60 (go figure) from elgato
Amazon.com: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 500 GB USB 2.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive STAA500100 (Black): Electronics
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007TSKPJM/?tag=macforums0e4-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006P1QWOQ/?tag=macforums0e4-20

2 - There are some 3rd party usb adapters but I don't know if they are any cheaper
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...keywords=usb+ethernet+mac?tag=macforums0e4-20

3 - are you talking a time machine drive with time capsule? You don't need time capsule and to be honest you could use the seagate goflex drives for backup as well. You generally want a dedicated drive if you can afford it as it will fill up quickly with backups.
 
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1. Western Digitals My Book Series is popular with people on budgets.
Amazon.com: Western Digital My Passport 500 GB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive - WDBKXH5000ABL-NESN (Blue): Electronics

2. Hmm, unless your campus has banned setting up a wireless access point… IvanLasston's link has some. Beware that some may need drivers in order to work. And from my experience with a USB wifi card, getting the drivers to work is a game of luck.

3. Something like this, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YT578O/?tag=macforums0e4-20
That one has the most positive reviews of the ones I looked at. It may not look to great but for that 1 CD you need to read once a month it'll do fine :p
 
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Thanks for your reply.

1) Yeah those seem to be around a hundered. I like it less then that but if thats the best price i can find ill go for it. Thanks for the reccomendation.

3) I'm looking for a external CD drive like the Apple USB super drive, i just think that is over priced. So i wanted to see if there was a better option
 
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Yeah i probably only will need on CD a month. Do you know if that drive is compatabe with the MAC?
 
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It should be, I found the link to it on a forum where someone wanted a DVD reader for his Mac Mini.
Also one review on amazon.
I used this on my 1st Gen MacBook Air running OSX Snow Leopard, IBM x-31 laptop running Ubuntu 10, Desktop PC running Windows 7, and my Acer Revo Aspire Nettop PC running Windows 7. With all computers, the Asus drive fired up immediately (plug-and-play) with no drivers to load, or any hassle. Works great on all the platforms/machines I tested with just the single USB plug. Reads and plays DVD's just fine (I used VLC Media Player on the Mac and Ubuntu), though I have not tried burning disks yet.
And, http://www.amazon.com/Will-this-wor...ding=UTF8&asin=B003YT578O?tag=macforums0e4-20

Darn it I'm envious, lucky you :p
 

dtravis7


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I am very partial to Western Digital drives. Do know this though, there is no such thing as a Mac compatible drive no matter what the box says. I always buy just normal PC drives. The ones with Mac on the box are way more $$$.

I am not a fan of USB with networking. If you can, get the Apple one as I believe that plugs into the Thunderbolt port. Yes I know USB 3 is a lot faster than 2 but it still has some issues USB has always had. Up to you but if you get the Apple dongle, you know it will for sure work.

You can get pretty much any external DVD drive but on Optical drives, be sure they will work with OSX. My friend has a Plextor USB external DVD R/W and loves it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004I44BRW/?tag=macforums0e4-20
 
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okay I think ill get the thunderbolt convertor from apple and the Asus drive. Thanks for the responses.
 

dtravis7


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I am sure that Asus drive is fine. They make good products.
 
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Sorry OP - I misread #3 - You meant a USB Optical Drive. Honestly there are very few programs that require a Optical drive. Maybe installing Windows (but there are several sites that say you can do it with a USB key)

I use WD drives as well and I haven't had any problems with them. I like the goflex because of the ability to change the interface. The goflex also comes with paragon ntfs drivers. It only works with seagate drives but you can keep the drive formatted ntfs so it can be used with Windows machines as well.
 
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I recently bought a OWC external drive. Mercury Elite - All Pro. 500 gb. I wanted to use firewire 800 this drive comes with all the cables. I think it came with firewire 800, 400, usb 2 & 3. Also includes CCC software. When you add all you get with this kit it is a good value. I might add it works well with my MBP.
 
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dtravis7


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I am well aware of that. Thanks anyway.
 
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"the hefty price of apple's." (USB Superdrive). It's $79. That is not a hefty price!
 
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That all depends on your income ;)
 
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Why would you get the retina when you knew the MBP would be used for college. Loosing so many useful things to just get a better screen
 

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