My 1.42 has arrived!

By way of an update - my 1.42 dual arrived earlier today. I have it set-up at home now and it's just fantastic! Not the quietest computer ever made, but not significantly louder than my old Compaq athlon pc. Programs seems to open instantaneously. My chime to final desktop takes an average of 46 seconds.

This is actually my first new mac ever. My first mac was a IIsi that I bought back in '91 as a refurbished model (folks will remember how expensive Macs were then - yikes!). I've purchased a book by David Pouge ("The Missing Manual") and already I'm discovering really neat features. Adobe acrobat being "built-in" to the programs is elegant and will be OH SO USEFUL! To current PC users - get one of these books just to see the features in OS X - every page kept me saying "wow", "you're kidding!", etc. The aqua interface is so pretty and, well, crisp! No rough edged icons or text, very pretty indeed.

I got the stock machine with 512 megs of ram. As I noted, is skips along at a good rate, but I still plan to install more in the near future.

Again - more praise for iJon's shop - As I noted in a prior post they unpacked the machine and went over it prior to shipping it to me on Monday, but they also followed up with me, even calling me tonight and answering my first setup questions and to make sure my cable connection to the web was working fine. That shop is highly recommended for the extrodinary service alone!

Thanks to all who helped me switch back!

LG

Originally posted by pepeleuepe
When did you order your Dual 1.42? Also, can I have it?

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I ordered it from iJon's family mac shop on Monday morning (this week) and had it sent 2 day fed-ex to Washington, DC. I saved a good amount on sales tax alone.

Originally posted by synthetickittie
ah I hate you! lol just playin with ya... can ya I tell Im a little hyper about getting my first mac? and about that book you bought.. do you think it is that good for someone that knows windows Id say realy good and used it my hole life and never had a mac? Basically Id love a book that is set up for someone like me that knows how to do everything in windows and explains pretty much if you do this in windows then on mac its this... and all tips of keyboard shortcuts that I wouldnt know of

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I bought it at Barns and Noble in their computer section. It's current through 10.2. Yes - I think it would be just the thing for a windows person (which I had become over the last six years). There is a section at the end that lists windows functions and tells you where to find them on the Mac - very useful. The book starts a bit general and gets more technical, but never starts at the totally new user level. It was $30.00. I also saw the mac bible, which looked more like an on-the-shelf reference (as opposed to something to read through). They were near one another at the B&N, so it was easy to compare and get a feel for what I thought would be most useful.

screen

Originally posted by MacFan25
Congratulations on buying your first new mac! What size screen are you using with it?

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To exercise some fiscal restraint, I'm using my "old" monitor. It is a 19" Trinitron FD (flat screen) that I bought a little over a year ago, a multiscan G400. I'll note that the OS immediately recognized my display and listed the recommended resolutions - something my PC did not do. I love a bright, flat CRT, so I'm not pining too much for a flat LCD yet, but what I would like is the 16:9 aspect.

If you ever read audio publications like stereophile magazine, there is a common line - something along the lines of: "this new player made my cd collection brand new. So much detail!" This Sony CRT with the Mac is a like looking at a new display - it makes the most of the fine dot pitch.

Re: Nice!

Originally posted by macphisto
Congrats! I am way excited for you. In fact, we did the same recently. We (my wife) got a new iMac, our first baby. Very nice, very elegant, very sexy.

So what are you going to do with your machine mostly? Are you into video or animation?

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Excellent! Well, I wanted the power to work with large database files and make the most of some on-line fee-for-use information services. My hobbies have been photography - but in film mostly, and I've experimented with dig. video, but it seems like it was very cumbersome on the PC, so that was a real point with me. I have a good deal of DV to edit and I wanted a machine that would finally let me do that. I haven't had a chance to put FW to camera and start yet, but I'd read numerous articles and step-by-steps on the net and the Mac apps look like they won't drive one away muttering.

Macphisto, what are you doing with your mac?

Sound tip

I've put the case on a small oriental rug (1.5' x2.5') and the it seems to be dampening the higher frequency vibrations that were using the wood floors for a sounding board. One of those "nap time" carpet samples would probably also work well. This machine likes to be on a carpet.