I am a Mac newbie...Any good tricks?

jaywowo · Dec 6, 2012

I just picked up my first Mac book Air and so far I love it. Getting used to it after a few days the wife is a different story. A little background, I am a very experienced windows user and wok for a software company as a Tech consultant/DBA so don't be shy.

MBA 11" 128GB/4G Ram mid2012

Any good tricks and tips I shroud know about?

Whats the best disk utility to keep my hard drive running at top performance?

I have a external network drive I would like to keep my iTunes music on and pictures and any Documents to keep space free on the drive.

My wife would like to run Windows as well on the MBA I don't loaded the free trial of Parallels 8, doesn't seem all that bad. Whats the thoughts out there on this? Is VM fusion better?

Also I would like to keep the VM images on my network drive. I moved the image out to the shared drive on the network and I can run it no problem but under wife's ID she gets a failed kernel. What am I missing?

Thanks for the help guys....

simsaladimbamba · Dec 6, 2012

jaywowo said:
Any good tricks and tips I shroud know about?

To learn more about Mac OS X: Helpful Information for Any Mac User
Performance Tips For Mac OS X
by GGJstudios

Whats the best disk utility to keep my hard drive running at top performance?

None is really needed, no need to defrag HDDs with HFS+ as file system.

I have a external network drive I would like to keep my iTunes music on and pictures and any Documents to keep space free on the drive.

Yes, that is possible, though you will be limited to WiFi speeds unless you use the Thunderbolt>Ethernet adapter.

My wife would like to run Windows as well on the MBA I don't loaded the free trial of Parallels 8, doesn't seem all that bad. Whats the thoughts out there on this? Is VM fusion better?

As with all x vs. y topics, one is better than the other while the other is better than the one.
I prefer VMWare Fusion, others do too, but then again, there are also people preferring Parallels.
Booting Windows on the Mac

Also I would like to keep the VM images on my network drive. I moved the image out to the shared drive on the network and I can run it no problem but under wife's ID she gets a failed kernel. What am I missing?

Post the kernel panic report, and how do you connect to the network drive?

psxp · Dec 6, 2012

Here's a tip. install windows with Bootcamp, and then use Parallels to point to the Windows partition. That way you get a pure windows machine when you dual boot, and when in MacOSX you can run the "same" windows under parallels if you need to.

armandxp · Dec 6, 2012

I had a networked drive connected to my AirPort Extreme, and I will never do that again. It is soooo slow. I bought a 2 tb drive usb 3.0 and was amazed at how fast the file transfer speeds were. Later I will get a thunderbolt drive, when the prices come down. Way to expensive right now, when usb 3.0 is fast enough for any of my needs.

I keep my iTunes and Photo library's on the external drive, and have never had any problems. If I again need the mobility of the drive not connected to my Air, I just plug it into the back of the AE.

I can't think of any programs needed to keep your drive, or SSD at optimal performance.

When, it comes to the networked drives, I've always had little problems here and there.

jaywowo · Dec 6, 2012

armandxp said:
I had a networked drive connected to my AirPort Extreme, and I will never do that again. It is soooo slow. I bought a 2 tb drive usb 3.0 and was amazed at how fast the file transfer speeds were. Later I will get a thunderbolt drive, when the prices come down. Way to expensive right now, when usb 3.0 is fast enough for any of my needs.

I keep my iTunes and Photo library's on the external drive, and have never had any problems. If I again need the mobility of the drive not connected to my Air, I just plug it into the back of the AE.

I can't think of any programs needed to keep your drive, or SSD at optimal performance.

When, it comes to the networked drives, I've always had little problems here and there.

I do notice the slow speeds of transfer rate to the network drive. I have a "My book Live" and doesn't have a USB 3.0 only a Ethernet port. Takes about 25 minutes to transfer 2.5G.

armandxp · Dec 6, 2012

jaywowo said:
I do notice the slow speeds of transfer rate to the network drive. I have a "My book Live" and doesn't have a USB 3.0 only a Ethernet port. Takes about 25 minutes to transfer 2.5G.

My WD passport usb 3.0 transfers 2GB, in about 15 - 20 seconds. The difference was amazing! I'll never go back to a network/ethernet drive again. Can't wait to try a thunderbolt drive some day.

wolfpuppies3 · Dec 6, 2012

Recognizing it as a Ford vs Chevie argument, I prefer Parallels. It is easy to use, intuitive, and does not require booting solely into one OS vs the other. It also does not require a fixed size partition which an be worrisome as you instal or delete software on that side of the house.

I had Boot Camp, hated it, removed it, and use Parallels now for a year and a half or so. There is really very little need to use Windows anything on a Mac but there are a few old legacy bits of software available only in Windows format.

Steevie · Dec 6, 2012

hmmm good advice here. still pretty new to mac and trying to figure things out as well

0029937 · Dec 8, 2012

Get BetterTouchTool for your Trackpad.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1501411/

Mrbobb · Dec 8, 2012

Referring the AIR SSD as the "hard drive" makes u sound like noob.

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I am a Mac newbie...Any good tricks?

jaywowo

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psxp

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