New to the Mac world!

[neoelectronaut]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the world of the Macintosh. I've used Macs before in art classes and school going all the way back to 1992 with the Apple IIGS, but it was not until Wednesday of last week that I officially am the owner of my own Mac. After putting up with PCs my entire life I decided it was time to make the switch. So switch I did. Finally my parents let me purchase my own computer, so instead of having them choose some ****ty PC I chose my own 1Ghz, 512MB ram eMac. So, thus, I am now a Macaddict!

[Dont Hurt Me]

very nice choice, this is the best value no doubt! hope you get a lot out of it. you may want MacAddict magazine to go with it. a great resource but the web site kind of sucks, the magazine has a disc every month with freeware,demo's updates games etc. take care

[themadchemist]

Congrats on your decision! One of my friends has an eMac and is very happy with it. I hope you enjoy it and I'm sure you will.

Speaking of good resources (as Dont Hurt Me was), I think you stumbled on the right site for that. I've owned a Mac for about 14 years, and I must say that most of the magazines have gone down the toilet. Man, Mac User was great, as was MacWorld. Mac User got bought off by MacWorld and MacWorld has not been very good lately, with the exception of the Games column (Chris Breen?) and Andy Inahtko's humorous musings (a carry-over from Mac User). MacAddict is sometimes useful and informative, but a significant portion of that magazine is garbage. MacHome Journal used to be kinda good, but it's not really so good anymore. HOWEVER, MacRumors is definitely very, very good.

Don't get me wrong, you'll often find great information from MacWorld and MacAddict, and might as well get a subscription because they're cheap enough, but I don't think get a steadier stream of help & information for whatever level of computer expertise you have than you will in these forums.

[neoelectronaut]

Thanks for the suggestion!

Anywho, me and a buddy were trying to whip my old Win98 PC into an at least operable state for my parents to use for basic internet and word processing...so far it hasn't been pretty. Drivers here and drivers here. Makes me thankful for my Mac.

[themadchemist]

Originally posted by neoelectronaut
Thanks for the suggestion!

Anywho, me and a buddy were trying to whip my old Win98 PC into an at least operable state for my parents to use for basic internet and word processing...so far it hasn't been pretty. Drivers here and drivers here. Makes me thankful for my Mac.

My dad and I had to reformat the Win 98 PC at home literally hundreds of times over the summer. It was terrible. Most of the time, it wouldn't reformat properly. I mean, I was praying for my computer to reformat properly.

For goodness sakes, with a Mac, I grumble if I EVER have to reformat...I guess I'm just pampered.

[tpjunkie]

Yeah, I'd say mac rumors is the best resource around...the collective mac knowledge here can get you through almost anything that doesn't absolutely require a trip to the repair store.

[themadchemist]

Originally posted by tpjunkie
Yeah, I'd say mac rumors is the best resource around...the collective mac knowledge here can get you through almost anything that doesn't absolutely require a trip to the repair store.

Maybe with a little more bandwidth, members could set up webcams and walk people through repairs themselves.

C'mon, it could happen! No, really...

[Powerbook G5]

A Mac Rumors Genius Bar, that's what we need next.

[eclipse525]

Yeah, I had to do some work on my mothers PC. She has XP working on it and I must say it's a very good operating system and I didn't hate it BUT it sure is not OS X. I'm in the process of building my own PC for the sake of doing so and learning more about the inner workings. It's mostly gonna be a machine to futts with BUT it'll never replace my Mac and NEVER replace the feeling of using one. Am I the only one that actually has fun using my Mac. When I use a PC, it's exactly that, I'm using one BUT I have FUN using my Mac. It's "Functional Fun"....Now, theres' a T-Shirt.




~e

[Nermal]

Originally posted by eclipse525
Am I the only one that actually has fun using my Mac

Definitely not :)

[Apple //e]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by themadchemist
[B]My dad and I had to reformat the Win 98 PC at home literally hundreds of times over the summer. It was terrible. Most of the time, it wouldn't reformat properly. I mean, I was praying for my computer to reformat properly.

yeah right....hundreds of times over the summer.....and you still kept at it instead of checking the hard drive?

[Powerbook G5]

We had problems with our Gateway running ME, it wouldn't boot up well and would be stuck in mid boot if you installed anything that updated a system file (such as using Windows Update). It never formatted correctly, either, so I put my ear up to the case and heard a clicking sound coming from the HD area whenever it experienced a problem. As you can see, it was a HD problem and not a general PC/Windows problem, so a replacement drive would take care of it.

[judith]

Originally posted by Powerbook G5
Gateway running ME,

The thought of this just made me cringe!!!!:eek:

[MattG]

Originally posted by neoelectronaut
Hello everyone, I'm new to the world of the Macintosh. I've used Macs before in art classes and school going all the way back to 1992 with the Apple IIGS, but it was not until Wednesday of last week that I officially am the owner of my own Mac. After putting up with PCs my entire life I decided it was time to make the switch. So switch I did. Finally my parents let me purchase my own computer, so instead of having them choose some ****ty PC I chose my own 1Ghz, 512MB ram eMac. So, thus, I am now a Macaddict! Congrats on your purchase! There's nothing like getting a new Mac :)

[MrMacMan]

Welcome neoelectronaut!

Glad you like the Mac.

MacRumors is here for your problems, solutions and even some friends Ok so most of the people here are evil... ah well....

Good luck with the computer!

--MrMacMan

[eclipse525]

Originally posted by MrMacman
Ok so most of the people here are evil... ah well....

--MrMacMan


Yeah...but EVIL in a good way. :rolleyes:

~e

[themadchemist]

Originally posted by Apple //e
[QUOTE]Originally posted by themadchemist
[B]My dad and I had to reformat the Win 98 PC at home literally hundreds of times over the summer. It was terrible. Most of the time, it wouldn't reformat properly. I mean, I was praying for my computer to reformat properly.

yeah right....hundreds of times over the summer.....and you still kept at it instead of checking the hard drive?

Oh, it definitely wasn't the hard drive. It kept screwing up with Windows protection errors. Totally at random, the computer would fail to restart on startup. The same thing would happen after about 90% of the reinstallation of the system. I should clarify, it wasn't really a problem with the reformat itself, it was a problem with reinstalling Windows 98. But yeah, it's a relatively old IBM and the best guess we (and IBM) could make was that there was something wrong with the restore CD IBM provided. Whatever it was kept creating problems. There were also some intricacies with the installation of drivers that we guessed and tested our way through, but it was mainly a lot of Ctrl-Alt-Del's, blue screens of death, shouting, praying, and weeping, yes a lot of weeping...Not the cathartic kind either, but the plain despondent, depressed, and hurt kind. The end of the process would always be marked, though, with unimaginable joy, tantamount to that which Dante felt when he ascended to the Empyrean and stood face to face with God.

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by eclipse525
Yeah...but EVIL in a good way. :rolleyes:

~e

Um ... yeah... in an ironic way... sure.