Chatting with Apple

[Witness]

Hi, is it possible to chat with an apple genius online?
I just need to ask a couple of questions.

[monkeysrock0622]

Have you tried asking here?

[Lincoln]

In answer to your question, I do not believe it is possible to speak with a Genius online. But...



You have a giant Genius Bar at your disposal. It's called EIC. :wink:

[Witness]

Have you tried asking here?

Alright , EIC will help me
:)

I have a 37 inch ambilight phillips LCD tv, I was thinking of buying a Mac mini and connecting it to my T.V. and buying a keyboard and mouse separately unless it comes with it . Would connecting it to my T.V work?

[southpawace024]

Yes, depending on the cable/wired connection adapters that you might need to purchase to from HDMI to the Mac Mini it would work perfectly. I, myself have hooked up a Mac mini to my home LCD and it looks and works awesome. Mac Mini's do not come with a keyboard or mouse, but i highly recommend the wireless Apple mouse and keyboard, as they effortlessly connect and are made for the mini.

[kenneth]

does the mac mind I have a VGA connection? If so just buy a cable and hook it up? I don't have any expeience with mac bit this is how you do it with a pc.

[southpawace024]

Also, if you ever need help in a quick pinch you can call your local apple store and press the "speak to an operator" number (5 usually) to get in contact with a Concierge person who can quickly find a Genius "Not all heros wear capes" (if available) to answer your questions.

[southpawace024]

Yes it does have a DVI/VGA port...and you would just have to make sure you got the right cable to plug into your television, which i believe is a HDMI cable.

Found here: http://store.apple.com/us/product/TR843LL/A?mco=MTIxODk3Mw

[kenneth]

wow I completely forgot about HDMI! That's a damn shame since that's what I'm using. By the way don't east your money on an expensive cable just go with a JVC or something similiar.

[southpawace024]

I just figured he would be much more comfortable with a product straight off the Apple website and trust it a lil more. But he is right there is a much cheaper cable to buy.

[Witness]

wow, thanks a lot guys, one last question.
When do the new MacBook pros come out?just to know if apple will lower the price on the mini.
You guys have been a great help.

[Witness]

Can I just buy the HDMI cable and connect it to my macbook pro and connect a mac keyboard and mouse to my Macbook?

Thanks , I'm not sure if I want to waste 600 bucks right now.

Thanks

[kenneth]

are you trying to get your macbook pro to hook up to your tv or do you have a mac mini that you want hooked up? You should just be able to hook either up with the right cable.

[Witness]

are you trying to get your macbook pro to hook up to your tv or do you have a mac mini that you want hooked up? You should just be able to hook either up with the right cable.

Im trying to find out if I can hook up my macbook pro to my T.V, I want to buy a separate keyboard so I can use it from my sofa. Would that work?

[kenneth]

it should just buy a keyboard that connects via USB also see if the MacBook pro and your tv have hdmi connections. It should be fairly easy to make that work. I don't really know about macs but you can get several types of keyboards.

[Witness]

it should just buy a keyboard that connects via USB also see if the MacBook pro and your tv have hdmi connections. It should be fairly easy to make that work. I don't really know about macs but you can get several types of keyboards.

Alright thanks , I think that this is better than wasting 600 bucks on another computer.

[Witness]

Wait , I was thinking , if I were to connect the DVI to HDMI cable from my computer to my T.V , would my T.V speakers play the sound from my comp , or would the computer play the sound normally? what cable would I need for this?

[kenneth]

uh I dunno. I do know that HDMI is a video only format. So I'm guessing you would have to do something for audio. Maybe the apple AV setup is the way to go but if your on a large HD tv the av setup won't look as good.

[Witness]

What is an apple AV setup?

[kenneth]

AV is analog but now that I thought about it that doesn't sound very plausible. I don't think your computer will have the AV connections (yellow, red, and white). Does your mac have an optical output? That would be great if it did. None of the 3 laptops I have do. Your mac has some type of audio out so just find out which one it is and buy the audio cable.

[Witness]

These are the things my computer has

http://blog.800hightech.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/mac-book-pro-left-side-notebook.jpg

Are any of those what you are talking about?

[kenneth]

yes the optical digital. You need to make sure your tv has the same input.

[Witness]

yes the optical digital. You need to make sure your tv has the same input.

So if I buy this optical digital cable , I wont need the DVI to HDMi cable?
will it have the same resoulution as the HDMI cable?

[kenneth]

your HDMI and DVI are purely for video. They don't play any sound whatsoever. You have to have another cable for audio. What type of TV do you have? I'm sure if you googled "how to connect MacBook to TV" you will find some better anwers. I wish somebody else would chime in because pike I have said I have NO experience using a MAC.

[Witness]

your HDMI and DVI are purely for video. They don't play any sound whatsoever. You have to have another cable for audio. What type of TV do you have? I'm sure if you googled "how to connect MacBook to TV" you will find some better anwers. I wish somebody else would chime in because pike I have said I have NO experience using a MAC.

Alright , thanks , at least you have guided me in the right direction.