Apple Toolbox

If you have a non-Unibody MacBook Pro, and it suddenly starts to make an odd grinding noise, there are a number of possible explanations. The most obvious choice, especially if the noise occurs when the computer is working very hard, is the hard drive. Hard drives fail for many reasons, and once the failure begins, [...]

Apple has released MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.9, which addresses an issue we have covered extensively in which users experience frequent stalls/hangs, accompanied by the spinning beach ball progress indicator, under varying conditions (previously noted here). The problem appears to be hard drive-related, and occurs most frequently with the standard 320 GB 5400 RPM drive, [...]

Late last week we noted that Apple had released a Boot Camp Update for 2010 13-inch MacBook Pro, but the download links were broken soon after release. The update has now been officially posted, and appears on Apple’s software download page. Apple says the update: “addresses an issue that may cause the Boot Camp Control [...]

Apple has released a Boot Camp Update for 2010 13-inch MacBook Pro. A knowledge base article says the release: “addresses an issue that may cause the Boot Camp Control Panel applet to display a warning message when you select the brightness tab, and an issue that may result in no headphone sound.” The article also [...]

Users of mid-2010 MacBook Pros continue to experience frequent stalls/hangs, accompanied by the spinning beach ball progress indicator, under varying conditions (previously noted here). The problem appears to be hard drive-related, and occurs most frequently with the standard 320 GB 5400 RPM drive, but is also occurring with the 5400 500GB and 7200 500GB drives. [...]

gfxCardStatus, a tool initially designed to display which graphics subsystem is active in MacBook Pro (Mid-2010) models via ”i” and “n” icons that signify Intel HD Graphics, and NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics, respectively, has now been updated to allow on-the-fly switching between the cards. MacBook Pro (Mid-2010), Core i5 or Corei7, 15″ and 17″ models [...]

MacBook Pro (Mid-2010), Core i5 or Corei7, 15″ and 17″ models automatically switch between integrated Intel (lower power) and NVIDIA (higher power) graphics. Unfortunately, although there is an option to keep the higher-power NVIDIA card on at all times, there is no option to keep it off at all times. This has resulted in significant reduction [...]

Several users of newly released MacBook Pro (April 2010) models reported frequent stalls/hangs, accompanied by the spinning beach ball progress indicator, under varying conditions. The problem appears to be hard drive-related, and occurs most frequently with the standard 320 GB 5400 RPM drive, but is also occurring with the 5400 500GB and 7200 500GB drives. [...]

Some users of the new MacBook Pros (April 2010) report poor to mediocre battery life from the notebooks. Although real-world battery life often falls far short of manufacturer claims, several users are reporting battery life that is half or less of that indicated by some tests under similar usage conditions. These users are experience battery life [...]

Apple has posted a series of knowledge base article addressing issues with the mid-2010 MacBooks and MacBook Pros, which were introduced yesterday. Among the new articles: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010): FireWire drives perform slowly with Windows 7 MacBook Pro (Mid 2010): Found New Hardware dialog boxes appear when installing Boot Camp Drivers for Windows [...]