I found an answer to my 2 wk old question about using more than 4-6 Gb RAM in my Macbook Pro: 'Secret' Firmware Update Unlocks Support for 8 GB RAM on 'Late 2008' Notebooks

It appears that I do have the proper firmware and model to support 8Gb RAM with Snow Leopard. Not sure it's worth doing though, but I thought following up on this issue might help others.

OWC has a frame that will put a notebook drive in place of the optical drive if you want to seriously upgrade your MBP's internal capacity.

I want more storage space and an optical drive built in, not external. We take it when we travel as our mobile multimedia center, and I prefer not to be stuck with an external HD and DVD hanging off the MacBook Air. I'm a computer data pack rat. My 15" has a 640Gb drive and there's only 69Gb free, so I'm thinking about a 750Gb drive upgrade. Without any iTunes and FLAC music I could fit everything on a 200Gb drive with a little left over room on the Air, but then I have to carry my 400Gb or 640Gb portable HD if I want to listen to music or watch movies.

Plus I might want to use Thuderbolt accessories in the future. An Air with thunderbolt would be more appealing because I find USB2 to be too slow for copying large files or movies - I'd be more willing to store things on external if I could swap files back and forth very quickly to keep what I want on the internal drive. Right now it can take an hour to copy 60-80Gb from external to internal or back.

I get the appeal of consolidating. We've chosen to travel with no laptop, but bring the iPad, a case of DVDs and CDs, a portable DVD player, MP3 player, GPS, books, magazines, a bunch of kids toys, then wonder why it's such a tight fit in the Prius.

I accept that when I'm away from home, I've got to make compromises. It's been years since I've used an optical disc away from home, I acknowledge personally that I don't need 3TB of music and movies on my laptop, and when I'm going on a trip that involves the whole family, I bring the 1st gen appletv loaded with movies they're likely to want to watch. Everything else I stream if I need it, which I rarely do. It's not til you take the step to declutter that you notice how nice it is not to have to carry an 8 lb laptop bag.

I'm with you on the decluttering, Dan. I'm a bit of a pack rag by nature, but I don't like it. I actually feel better when j am able to streamline and get rid of stuff. Traveling to Florida this week with my tristar and rockhopper is a good start toward the goal of not so much crap. And one of the reasons I'm having a difficult time deciding between the MBA and the iMac as my next main computer.

Dan and Jim (or anyone else who has an air). What model do you have? If you have the 1.4Ghz 11", do you have any trouble playing Netflix on the Air (played in HD vs non-HD)? Seems that Silverlight "requires:" Intel Core Duo 1.83-gigahertz (GHz) or higher processor. Since I have a couple of work trips planned in the next month and a half, I was thinking it might be useful to have the Air sooner rather than later. The only real complaint I have read is with running Netflix in HD, some say it is choppy (although, maybe it was just their internet connection).

Edit: Have you tried Amazon instant streaming. That is flash based so don't know whether that would be better or worse.

Edited April 21, 201115 yr by shellylh

I have the 11.6" 1.6ghz 4gb version. Both work great, and amazon doesn't seem to use flash, but netflix does.

So, that little mini iHub 2 thingee got blasted by Apple.

Message from M.I.C Store

You have received a new message regarding order #82xx:

Dear Customer, We are warned by Apple Inc. to stop selling the iHub and pull it down from our store. If you have already made a purchase, you are one of the lucky ones. We ship all orders within 3 working days after payment made but due to the Easter Public Holiday from Apr 22~25, shipping resumes only Apr 26. As we have many orders to process, there will be a slight delay. Delivery takes 10-14 working days after ship out from Hong Kong and tracking will be provided upon ship out. Please accept our apologies and rest assured that we are working hard to rectify this. w/rgds, Cyril Chang

Yup, I got notice that they were honoring my order, but they weren't allowed to sell any more.

I have the 11.6" 1.6ghz 4gb version. Both work great, and amazon doesn't seem to use flash, but netflix does.

I thought Netflix uses Silverlight. (Which is why I can't use Netflix on my linux build.)

It used flash when I tried it

Also have the 1.6 GHz/4MB model. No problem with netflix or hulu streaming for me.

It used flash when I tried it

How do you use flash with Netflix?

What does amazon use?

Edited April 22, 201115 yr by shellylh

I clicked play, and it used flash

in chrome, on the netflix website, when I clicked watch instantly, it used flash.

yah,because it actually using flash on my laptop (no silverlight installed) is overruled by some random google search.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2008

I tried to play a movie on Netflix via Chrome on a computer that didn't have Silverlight installed and it just told me I had to install Silverlight...

Ok, so apparently I do have silverlight installed, so it's using both flash and silverlight...

I'm using killflash

Jim and Dan: Honestly, if you didn't have an Air right now and had to choose between waiting to see if a possibly faster processor comes out in June (which of course could be totally off) and getting one of the current models, what do you think you would do? You don't have to answer of course if you don't feel like speculating. Also, do you think it is worth it to upgrade to the 1.6Ghz?

I got the ultimate because the price was close enough I didn't want to worry about it.

I'd buy now if I needed it now, if I could wait, I'd wait . I don't think the new one will be a drastic improvement, I think there will be tradeoffs. That said, Apple's surprised me in the past.

it may be blocking silverlight the same way and just putting the same overlay on it. uninstall flash and see if you can still use netflix streaming.

I don't care enough to make a pedantic point. I was wrong, it's using silverlight. BFD?

none of the caring required much effort. Figuring out how to get chrome to not have flash built in goes beyond what I care about.