MBP on FedEx Truck

[LifeCerealRocks]

Alright guys, my MBP is in the city of Houston on a Fed Ex truck (meaning it's bound to be here any minute) what should I do the first time (i.e. calibrate battery, and what not) I boot up? Also (I've asked this before, but I can't find the thread) any [free] sweet apps I should d/l? Thanks guys, I can hardly contain my excitement :D

[scott85213]

First thing I did was re-install and removed all the languages and other crap I didn't need/want.

[mixmacface]

firefox.
first thing. do it!

[mynameisshawn]

First thing, plug in the AC ;)

Here's a list of free stuff I use:
iStat Pro - a helpful dashboard widget.
coconutBattery - is a great battery app.
Seashore - a lesser Photoshop better MSPaint program
Sentui - gets songs from iPods to you MBP
MacTheRipper - rips DVDs
iSquit - the free version of VirtualHub, it converts files so your iPod could read it
Transmission - Bittorrent client

[NotFound]

First things first I would be looking over the exterior looking for imperfections and then when turning on looking for bad pixels on the screen. Second I would be removing language packets from the install. Pop your OS X disc in and reinstall it. Congratulations on your purchase.

[mrwizardno2]

firefox.
first thing. do it!

Ewww no! Firefox on Windoze only. I'm a Safari purist. :D

[Cadium]

What I did when I first got my MacBook Pro was make sure everything was working (all of the hardware features, etc) under the default system software installation, and then laid down a new Mac OS X 10.5 installation using erase and install, making sure to uncheck the printer drivers and translations that I did not need.

[LifeCerealRocks]

First thing, plug in the AC ;)

Here's a list of free stuff I use:
iStat Pro - a helpful dashboard widget.
coconutBattery - is a great battery app.
Seashore - a lesser Photoshop better MSPaint program
Sentui - gets songs from iPods to you MBP
MacTheRipper - rips DVDs
iSquit - the free version of VirtualHub, it converts files so your iPod could read it
Transmission - Bittorrent client

Sweet, all of those were really awesome. Thanks.

[tmelvin]

I agree with the apps. Not sure I think it's necessary to wipe/reinstall on a brand new system. I guess I can some some small advantages of not having the additional drivers and language files, but I doubt it's going to make your system run any faster, or that you'll yield significant disk space from not having them on...MHO...

[pinktank]

quicksilver and onyx are free apps that you shouldnt be without

[LifeCerealRocks]

I've got a software question,

I was wondering if there's a mac version of powerIso (or something similar) and are there any free video file converters out there? Thanks

[bobmacgolf]

For video watching, Flip4Mac and Perian comes to mind. Also Office suite (NeoOffice).

Have fun...

[LifeCerealRocks]

Alright, so I've noticed one minute defect. Near where the current charge of the battery there's a slight light blue smudge, is this normal? I mean I don't really care, but I was wondering if this could possibly lead to something more severe? Thanks guys, all of you have been really helpful.

[BornToMac]

Reinstall leopard and remove the extra languages and printer drivers (not necessary but it will save about 8 gigs of space on your hd). It is better to do this before you get your mac setup how you want. Then check this thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=417741

and this one:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=571489

and one more:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=470127

Congrats, and enjoy!

[Bobioden]

There is a free program called Monolingual which removes all the languages without having to reinstall.

http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/


Spend the day enjoying your new toy. You are going to love it. Congrats.

[Jabberwocky246]

If you don't want to reinstall OSX, download and install Monolingual (http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/), a small application that deletes unused language packs. It won't help with getting rid of unnecessary printer drivers, but it does free up TONS of space and you won't need to reinstall the operating system.

[Bobioden]

Hey Jabberwockey246, great minds think alike. Just like the Olympics, I bet you by seconds :)

[LifeCerealRocks]

Hey guys is there anything equivalent to spyware/adware for Macs? I just noticed that a good portion of my memory is being used up but I'm only running firefox...seems kind of odd.

[jetlife2]

I just noticed that a good portion of my memory is being used up but I'm only running firefox...seems kind of odd.

Could it be Spotlight indexing? This is a one time thing on a new install. Click on the spotlight icon and see if it says "indexing". Or open Activity Monitor and sort by CPU usage. I think the Spotlight process is named 'mds". Anyway you will be able to identify the culprit that way.

BTW nobody mentioned the migration process...on a clean system that utility is extremely helpful to move apps and stuff from another unit.

[taylorwilsdon]

Sweet, all of those were really awesome. Thanks.

Skip Mactheripper, its 3 years out of date. We use Handbrake now.

Enjoy the computer. They sure are great.

[Insulin Junkie]

Perian and Flip4Mac are useful apps to have, too.
Vidalia (tor) is something you may want, too.

[Bobioden]

Skip Mactheripper, its 3 years out of date. We use Handbrake now.

Enjoy the computer. They sure are great.

Actually Mactheripper 3.0 R14m is the best ripping program out there. For me I can never get a consistent rip using Handbrake.

[taylorwilsdon]

Actually Mactheripper 3.0 R14m is the best ripping program out there. For me I can never get a consistent rip using Handbrake.

I was not even aware there was a version 3. According to their site, they haven't updated since 2006.

[jjahshik32]

I'd say send it back!! And wait for the new mbp without the nvidia gpu. :D

[Next Tuesday]

I'd say send it back!! And wait for the new mbp without the nvidia gpu. :D

First thing u should do is send it back beofre your NVIDIA card messes up your laptop. lol Apple needs to fix that crap.

[alphaod]

I'd say send it back!! And wait for the new mbp without the nvidia gpu. :D

First thing u should do is send it back beofre your NVIDIA card messes up your laptop. lol Apple needs to fix that crap.

You guys need not cause more alarm than needed.

[areusche]

I think the time between knowing it's on the Fedex truck and waiting for it to actually be delivered is the worst. I almost had to stop sitting on my porch when I was waiting for it to arrive.

[dchen720]

this thread is like a week old.
i guess u must have got ur mbp already from that fedex truck????

let us know how things go.

[James17]

You guys need not cause more alarm than needed.

I agree, the NVIDIA issue for the MacBook Pro is being blown completely out of proportion. There will be one's that fail but I got mines in June and the graphics card is working 100%, not everyone has it.

[jjahshik32]

I agree, the NVIDIA issue for the MacBook Pro is being blown completely out of proportion. There will be one's that fail but I got mines in June and the graphics card is working 100%, not everyone has it.

Lol, of course it works fine there's no problems with that. Its just that one day it'll stop working and just die within 1-3 years and maybe a little over 3 years which is even worse due to heat cycling.

Depends totally on the amount you push your card basically. Also it wont show any signs of problems because usually that is due to overheating which the defective cards arnt really doing but just dieing completely without any warning.

[James17]

Lol, of course it works fine there's no problems with that. Its just that one day it'll stop working and just die within 1-3 years and maybe a little over 3 years which is even worse due to heat cycling.

Depends totally on the amount you push your card basically. Also it wont show any signs of problems because usually that is due to overheating which the defective cards arnt really doing but just dieing completely without any warning.

Mines is pushed "highly". I do alot of gaming in bootcamp and the temperatures for the "GPU Diode" is above average. I don't believe that it will die now or in a year and I'm in "constant" contact with Executive Relations at Apple who correspond with the Engineering Team. I see it as a "minority issue".

[orangeillini14]

I removed a lot of unnecessary languages and got about 400 MB back.