New Mac users, some questions

[davejonesbkk]

I bought a mac book air 13' at end of July, its a fantastic machine and by far the best laptop Ive ever had and I doubt I will ever go back to a windows one (although still have a desktop which I love)

I have a few questions and problems that Ive run into in the last few weeks:

Maintaining battery life-

the battery life has been amazing on this, I read its 12hrs max but never needed to use anything close to that. I have been using it everyday since I bought it and often for extended periods, mainly for web browsing and regular doc work plus some videos etc. Most times Ive been using it not plugged in and then when the charge drops down to say 20% I would plug it in until fully charged again, is this ok? Ive been thinking perhaps I should keep it plugged in as much as possible though after reading this and what the first answer is:

http://www.quora.com/Will-running-my-MacBook-Air-while-plugged-in-improve-its-battery-life

although there seem to be others who say the opposite and it shouldn't be plugged in all the time.

I've been looking at the system specs and stats and this is what the battery is at now:

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh): 7074

Fully Charged: No

Charging: Yes

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 7146

Health Information:

Cycle Count: 44

Condition: Normal

Battery Installed: Yes

Amperage (mA): 600

Voltage (mV): 8545

I read some threads on other forums where users had their charge cycles at single digit numbers so is my number of 44 too high considering how long I've had this machine?

Hard drive space -

I seem to have filled this up very quickly and not sure where some of these files even are (see pic attached)

Photos - I dont understand why this is so big, I have one folder in Documents where I dump all my pics from my camera and iPhone for when I share/transfer them via iTunes but that is it and I have no idea where all these other GBs of pics are kept.

Movies - I only have a few tv series episodes and short tutorial videos that I download on this machine and no where near 18+ GB and I have no idea where these movie files are

Other - what is this? Seems like a lot...

Apps - this also seems like a lot, do I need all the apps that come pre-installed too? I really only use web browsers, office type apps like pages, numbers, keynote as well as OpenOffice and then a few other regular things like Skype etc.

I really would like to know where all my files are kept and to be able to trim down on the above a lot.

I did try using 'disk inventory x' and have it installed now but its still very confusing and not clear where all this memory us being used up...

Right now those ar my only two major issues really.

edit: attached image

Edited September 13, 2015 by davejonesbkk

[phazey]

For HDD space, move less frequently accesed files like photos and movies/music to an external drive, and when travelling only copy the stuff you'll actually watch/listen to.

I've got away with a 32GB SSD on /System, and a secondary 500GB mounted as /Users - that old workhorse is now 9 years old and still being used...

[phetphet]

You can use Finder (Square smiley icon bootom far left icon) to look for files. Finder > All my files. Alternatively, you can use Spotlight, (magnifying glass icon top right corner of screen), to search. Eg for photos maybe search for .jpg, or .jpeg, or anything else you want to look for.

[wooloomooloo]

CleanMyMac 3 does a decent enough job of housekeeping macs but it's a paid for app.

You might also consider apps like Dropbox for cloud file storage. I have two free accounts that each provide 22.9GB of free space. You have to jump through a few hoops to get the full 22.9GB per account of free space but definitely worth it. There are others that provide more free space but Dropbox is okay for me and i can access my files on my mobile or desktop from anywhere in the world.

As previously stated, a quick fix would be an external drive. In the UK a 1TB WD external hard drive is selling at less than £60. That's good value for what you're getting and comes with good security.

Plenty of choice here:

http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/mac/mac-accessories/storage

If you want to push the boat out:

G-Tech 4TB G-DRIVE USB Hard Drive

[bubba]

You may already know this, Dave, but whatever you do, do NOT install MacKeeper for housekeeping. You have probably already been bombarded with spam popups telling you that you need it, but MacKeeper can do serious damage to your MacBook and is very difficult to get rid of once you have installed it.

[IMHO]

In regards to battery life, the main culprits in my experience are:

1. Screen brightness - lowering this has a big impact

2. Wifi signal strength - if your in a fringe area, it seems to eat up battery fast

3. Video - video playback really eats up battery.

[lujanit]

You may already know this, Dave, but whatever you do, do NOT install MacKeeper for housekeeping. You have probably already been bombarded with spam popups telling you that you need it, but MacKeeper can do serious damage to your MacBook and is very difficult to get rid of once you have installed it.

Very true. A free and very useful utility is OnyX. Just make sure you get the version that is compatible with the OS you are running.

[samuijimmy]

Mac info says best to let the battery run down and recharge, rather being always charged up .... I think that is the same with any rechargable equipment...

[AlexRRR]

Mac info says best to let the battery run down and recharge, rather being always charged up .... I think that is the same with any rechargable equipment...

laptop and iPad run down to 5 to 9% then plug in

[DMC1]

Mac info says best to let the battery run down and recharge, rather being always charged up .... I think that is the same with any rechargable equipment...

laptop and iPad run down to 5 to 9% then plug in

Yes, use the battery. My mistake on my early 2011 Mb pro was to plug it in all the time. After 2 years the battery health was way down. Got a free battery replacement as I had Apple Care but they told me to make sure I used the battery from now on. Since then, no issues. No idea why I used to plug it in as the battery lasts a normal working day anyway. Edited September 28, 2015 by DMC1

[davejonesbkk]

Sorry guys I forgot about this thread, thanks for all the answers.

Ive read many conflicting opinions on having the battery plugged in all the time or not but will go with running it down to 20% or so for now I think.

Im still very confused on the issue of hard drive space and exactly where all these files are, I know I can get an external drive but I want to know how file allocation works on this device and where everything is and how I can directly access the files and not just through an app or program, for example:

Movies - 'About this Mac' is telling me I have 18GB of movies on my machine, I know that I have about 3GB of them in my Downloads folder and thats it, so what are these other 15GB that its telling me about and where are they? Ive looked through my Documents folder (which has hardly anything in it btw) and other places and can't find them anywhere, even Disk inventory X hasn't helped to locate them.

Photos - Disk Inventory X tells me I have 14GB images in my photo library but how do I find that actual folder and delete all the images? Where are all these photos located and how can I access that folder so I can delete some?

'Other' is 35GB! - what the heck is this then? If its not photos or movies and its not my apps as 'about this mac' says apps are 22GB and I've checked that out in Disk Inventory X and it adds up then what on earth is other and why is it taking up more space than everything else on my drive? Or is that the amount of space the OS takes up?

[villagefarang]

Just use your Spotlight Search function in the upper right hand corner or in Finder. Some of those movie files will be found in iMovie as demos, I believe. You can also turn on hidden files but I wouldn't recommend that unless you really know what you are doing. If you right click your iPhoto Library and select Show Package Contents all will be revealed.

Edited October 2, 2015 by villagefarang

[davejonesbkk]

Just use your Spotlight Search function in the upper right hand corner or in Finder. Some of those movie files will be found in iMovie as demos, I believe. You can also turn on hidden files but I wouldn't recommend that unless you really know what you are doing. If you right click your iPhoto Library and select Show Package Contents all will be revealed.

ok so I search for 'movies' in spotlight and it just brings up the apps iMovie and iMovie theater both of which have less than 1mb in them....

a search for 'photos' does bring up one folder with 47 images in which is in my Documents but I was already aware of this and able to access it, it doesn't however give me an option to access the 14gb of images in 'photos'

[davejonesbkk]

it seems also that all the support articles and threads I read how people describe Finder and how it looks in their screenshots my Finder looks NOTHING like that e.g.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4284636?tstart=0

All I have down the left side in Finder is:

All my files

iCloud Drive

Airdrop

Applications

Desktop

Documents

Downloads

the only places that seem to hold files that I can access and delete etc are Documents and Downloads and they dont have that much in them at all, so how do I find this 'iPhoto Library' then? Also how come when I navigate to this place in command line it shows up more folders than above?

[villagefarang]

All my files should show you everything on your computer. I find that one annoying so I turn it off. Once you are in Finder, I would go to the upper left corner and find Finder Preferences and see what you have selected there. Also try using the search function in Finder. I am no computer expert but have always found Apple so intuitive that I can't figure out why you are having problems. Sorry.

[phetphet]

You could try typing .m4v or .mp4 into Spotlight as they should show any iTunes movies. .m4v is the suffix for most iTunes bought movies. Or whatever films you have downloaded yourself from other sources. .mkv etc.

These might also help: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/basics-of-the-os-x-folder-structure.html https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18762?locale=en_US

Lots of info on Google.

[bubba]

it seems also that all the support articles and threads I read how people describe Finder and how it looks in their screenshots my Finder looks NOTHING like that e.g.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4284636?tstart=0

All I have down the left side in Finder is:

All my files

iCloud Drive

Airdrop

Applications

Desktop

Documents

Downloads

the only places that seem to hold files that I can access and delete etc are Documents and Downloads and they dont have that much in them at all, so how do I find this 'iPhoto Library' then? Also how come when I navigate to this place in command line it shows up more folders than above?

Try this:

- Open a new Finder window.

- Open Preferences (from the drop down menu under Finder)

- Select the Sidebar pane

- Now tick the boxes for the items you want to appear in the sidebar

Edited October 3, 2015 by bubba

[bubba]

Gotta hand it to you, Bill. You really put some work into that post!

[Bill3173]

Gotta hand it to you, Bill. You really put some work into that post!

Thanks bubba. Actually not that much work, just took some screenshots and annotated them in preview. I also learnt something today, previously I would setup "Finder" by dragging and dropping. I didn't realise about preferences, then I saw yours and villagefarang posts, much easier. So thanks for that.

[villagefarang]

Gotta hand it to you, Bill. You really put some work into that post!

Thanks bubba. Actually not that much work, just took some screenshots and annotated them in preview. I also learnt something today, previously I would setup "Finder" by dragging and dropping. I didn't realise about preferences, then I saw yours and villagefarang posts, much easier. So thanks for that.

You do realize your name is showing on your home drive in your lower screenshots.

[Bill3173]

Gotta hand it to you, Bill. You really put some work into that post!

Thanks bubba. Actually not that much work, just took some screenshots and annotated them in preview. I also learnt something today, previously I would setup "Finder" by dragging and dropping. I didn't realise about preferences, then I saw yours and villagefarang posts, much easier. So thanks for that.

You do realize your name is showing on your home drive in your lower screenshots.

I realised after I posted it.

[Crossy]

Gotta hand it to you, Bill. You really put some work into that post!

Thanks bubba. Actually not that much work, just took some screenshots and annotated them in preview. I also learnt something today, previously I would setup "Finder" by dragging and dropping. I didn't realise about preferences, then I saw yours and villagefarang posts, much easier. So thanks for that.

You do realize your name is showing on your home drive in your lower screenshots.

I realised after I posted it.

Bill, I've hidden that post, please edit your screenshots and re-post.

Thanks for putting in the time to assist our OP.

[jonwilly]

I resided in Chiang Mai.

The other month my Macbook Pro was playing up.

I went to a local 'Expert' who on making a quick check stated, You are always connected to mains.

Correct 95% I am connected.

He changed my battery B2,000 and advised that at least once /month I run down my battery to 20%.

Good advise IMHO.

john

[Bill3173]

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you Crossy for fixing that up. The op has asked me if I could post the diagrams (edited) again on how I set up "Finder" for myself. I think it makes it a lot easier to navigate/edit etc. So below is take 2, I hope it helps

[Somtamnication]

Never knew I could do that. LOL.

[davejonesbkk]

Thanks for this Bill will give it a go later.

Im still confused over the battery issue though. If Im not supposed to leave it plugged in all the time then if Im using it or an extended period of time at what remaining % should I plug it in and charge it back up?