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My mom just got the Retina Display, what is some stuff she must do?

G

GKDAIR

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 4, 2011
230
4
Shes a first time Mac Owner.


I recently became a mac owner by purchasing an Air last year, I love it. Can never go back to Windows because of it. I love apple, call me a fanboy if you will. I'll be getting an Ipad 3 in a few days, completing my apple ecosystem.

Anyway, I was trying to think of some stuff she should do to make her Mac experience even better.

1) First off, what are some things that really show off the retina display, wallpapers, movies, videos, etc.

2) What are some things she can do to make finding files and information easier, I know the macs automatically hide the library, which is annoying. Shes been a windows user all of her life (not by choice)

3) What are some apps she must have? Shes going to gell Pages, Numbers, and Keynotes for sure.

Shes an officer manager at a dental office and will be taking 12 hours at university. Plus she has a ton of CDs she would like to burn over, and wants to put all of her music on Itunes.
 
You can un-hide the Library by running the terminal command "chflags nohidden /Users/<Username>/Library". As for the other questions, what does she plan on doing with the machine? I know you said that she's an office manager but what does that entail and what does her university require of her?
 
Mostly she will use it for typical college stuff, writing papers, etc.

She will obviously put her music on it and photos, other then that just basic stuff, checking email, watching netflix, facebooking, etc.

She will probably do some work stuff on it, but nothing really demanding.
 
What a waste of money. Some Intel ULV notebook would have done fine. Or an MBA.

For finding stuff I suggest Alfred.
Set it to overwrite spotlight.
Find usually everything as fast as one can type.

For university I personally would never get by without MS Office mostly because it is just annoying. It depends on the amount of teamwork required. Pages will do for some I guess. Office for Mac sucks but it is still Office.

Wallpapers just find a nice old holiday pictures. Don't think it mattes.

CDs find some computer with a DVD drive or two and rip them to mp3 256kB/s. That works everywhere and any program can do it. A Windows PC will do fine. If you need to save space you can also use acc but I think unless space is an issue mp3 is best because you can put it anywhere, read it anywhere, any stereo eats it, any program.
I would use ogg or mp3.
FLAC for the freaks but you need the necessary audio equipment.
 
GKDAIR said:
1) First off, what are some things that really show off the retina display, wallpapers, movies, videos, etc.
Click to expand...
I don't have one but played with one in the store. Photos are the most impressive. Also you can change the resolution to pack an amazing amount of information on the display -- it's as good as the old 17" MacBook Pros. The display is also IPS so looks good viewed at an angle.

2) What are some things she can do to make finding files and information easier, I know the macs automatically hide the library, which is annoying. Shes been a windows user all of her life (not by choice)
Click to expand...
I've always found Spotlight to be better than anything I had in Windows.

3) What are some apps she must have? Shes going to gell Pages, Numbers, and Keynotes for sure.
Click to expand...

Which I use all the time, but also have Microsoft Office when I have to collaborate. Circus Ponies Notebook for note taking. I don't think there is really anything that is "must have" for everyone.

But there is a "must do" and that is have a plan in place for performing backups on a regular basis. And if the computer has any personal information on it, enable FileVault.

Plus she has a ton of CDs she would like to burn over, and wants to put all of her music on Itunes.
Click to expand...
Well, you have to attach an external CD drive, but other than that iTunes will do it.
 
I kinda agree, waste of money. A $2,000+ computer just for the retina display is a waste.

I understand she will need it for her might use it throughout the day at her university, but a MBA would have been a better choice. It's titled MacBook "Pro" for a reason.
 
I agree with OP.

Who are you to judge if it's a waste of money? You don't need to be a geek to enjoy a good display. If she had the money and think it's worth it to pay more to have a great display, then that's her choice.

Elitist behaviours like that are just annoying. That's like saying you need to know car mechanics well to justify buying an expensive sports/luxury car. One can enjoy luxury even if he doesn't need it. That's the whole point of luxury.
 
GKDAIR said:
Shes a first time Mac Owner.


I recently became a mac owner by purchasing an Air last year, I love it. Can never go back to Windows because of it. I love apple, call me a fanboy if you will. I'll be getting an Ipad 3 in a few days, completing my apple ecosystem.

Anyway, I was trying to think of some stuff she should do to make her Mac experience even better.

1) First off, what are some things that really show off the retina display, wallpapers, movies, videos, etc.

2) What are some things she can do to make finding files and information easier, I know the macs automatically hide the library, which is annoying. Shes been a windows user all of her life (not by choice)

3) What are some apps she must have? Shes going to gell Pages, Numbers, and Keynotes for sure.

Shes an officer manager at a dental office and will be taking 12 hours at university. Plus she has a ton of CDs she would like to burn over, and wants to put all of her music on Itunes.
Click to expand...

who gives a crap that it hides the user library folder. you seriously think your mom is going to need access to that area at all? especially if all she's doing on the RMBP is just extremely basic level computer stuff?

also i have no idea which model of RMBP she got, but if its the base version, it only has 256gb of space. i doubt putting all of her music on it would be a good idea.
 
pgiguere1 said:
I agree with OP.

Who are you to judge if it's a waste of money? You don't need to be a geek to enjoy a good display. If she had the money and think it's worth it to pay more to have a great display, then that's her choice.

Elitist behaviours like that are just annoying. That's like saying you need to know car mechanics well to justify buying an expensive sports/luxury car. One can enjoy luxury even if he doesn't need it. That's the whole point of luxury.
Click to expand...
Everyone is free to spend his or her money anyway they want. Unless one has unlimited funds though there is a difference between a smart purchase and a rather odd one.

The use cases suggest that there is really nothing about the retina MBP that is actually needed.
No actual use for the retina resolution. No more than a nice to have. Fine who cares. That is the same for most people.
but
No need for a dGPU, no need for a Quad Core with that use.
A heavy 15" for a women who needs it for classes. The vast majority of women prefer to carry around stuff that is light and generally 13".
A rMBP adds no value it is even counter productive for the use case.
That does sort of make it a waste of money.
Unless it had to be 15" and had to be a Mac that is a waste of money. In which case it would only be a fanboyish waste of money which really is just like buying an expensive watch.

It was a bad advice in my opinion. Given that immature response I suppose I struck a nerve and he wanted his mom to buy one more for himself than for her and not be reminded of that. He probably should take the rMBP and give his mom the Air. That way the little kid has his/her toy and the mom what she probably should have bought in the first place.
 
I'm so confused with threads like this.

"Hey guys, just bought a computer! How do I use it?"

Thread title is worded weird also. Some stuff she must do? Turn it on?
 
Seems to me it's insulting the OP's mother to say that she wasted money and should have gotten a MBA. And who's going to put up with their mother being insulted?

The OP never asked for an opinion about the purchase cost. And frankly, who's business is it anyway? My father at age 88 bought a top-of-the-line iMac. He didn't need it, but he could afford it, so why not?
 
pgiguere1 said:
I agree with OP.

Who are you to judge if it's a waste of money? You don't need to be a geek to enjoy a good display. If she had the money and think it's worth it to pay more to have a great display, then that's her choice.

Elitist behaviours like that are just annoying. That's like saying you need to know car mechanics well to justify buying an expensive sports/luxury car. One can enjoy luxury even if he doesn't need it. That's the whole point of luxury.
Click to expand...

Although she will never use the hardware to its full potential, I can definitely see the benefit of the retina screen for her work. I'm a legal translator and go through hundreds of pages worth of documents on a daily basis. I did not buy my rMBP for the fast hardware but rather for the screen. The pixel doubling on my rMBP makes text clearer and easier on the eyes for me which is a big plus for someone like me who looks at the screen all day.
 
Instead of pages,keynote, and numbers I'd get Microsoft office. Easier to email papers to your professors without worrying if they can open it up.
 
But the powerful CPU and GPU are needed to drive that much pixels. And she can notice the high pixel density of the rMBP even if she only uses her computer for basic stuff.

Does she need the Retina Display? No, that's just a luxury, but that doesn't mean she can't enjoy this luxury. A MacBook Air would have been enough, but the whole concept of luxury is to have something that is more than the essential.

For any luxury product you could say "you could have gotten this which is cheaper and enough for your needs" but like I said the concept of luxury itself is to go beyond your needs so that something is more enjoyable. If she thinks the rMBP is more enjoyable to use and worth the premium then good for her, as long as she's satisfied and think it was worth her money in the end that's what matters.
 
GKDAIR said:
Shes a first time Mac Owner.


I recently became a mac owner by purchasing an Air last year, I love it. Can never go back to Windows because of it. I love apple, call me a fanboy if you will. I'll be getting an Ipad 3 in a few days, completing my apple ecosystem.

Anyway, I was trying to think of some stuff she should do to make her Mac experience even better.

1) First off, what are some things that really show off the retina display, wallpapers, movies, videos, etc.

2) What are some things she can do to make finding files and information easier, I know the macs automatically hide the library, which is annoying. Shes been a windows user all of her life (not by choice)

3) What are some apps she must have? Shes going to gell Pages, Numbers, and Keynotes for sure.

Shes an officer manager at a dental office and will be taking 12 hours at university. Plus she has a ton of CDs she would like to burn over, and wants to put all of her music on Itunes.
Click to expand...

I understand somehow your reaction, parents are a holy walled-garden. In some cultures, one can get in serious troubles if he mentions someone's mother...

Anyway, congratulation to your mom :). I guess you influenced her somehow into purchasing the retina because you wanted to get hands on it more than her... :D

What are her laptop specs? Depending on how many CDs, DVDs,... she wants to rip, she'll probably need at least 500GB of internal and/or external storage disk...

Regarding your questions:

1) Check out deviantART website... 26 wallpapers (70MB!!) for retina (Not sure if they already come with the rMBP...)

2)
* Spotlight, the one that come by default in Mac OS X. To perform a search, just hit the cmd and spacebar buttons or click on the magnifying glass on the top right of your desktop...
* Alfred App
* Quicksilver
* Leap

3) There are tons of free and paid apps: Just browse Apple AppStore and MacUpdate to check them out... They are organized by categories and popularity...

Last but not least advice: Don't become a fanboi and keep away from them...
 
pgiguere1 said:
I agree with OP.

Who are you to judge if it's a waste of money? You don't need to be a geek to enjoy a good display. If she had the money and think it's worth it to pay more to have a great display, then that's her choice.

Elitist behaviours like that are just annoying. That's like saying you need to know car mechanics well to justify buying an expensive sports/luxury car. One can enjoy luxury even if he doesn't need it. That's the whole point of luxury.
Click to expand...

Yes, and the required rMBP bash in every post just because you can't upgrade the RAM/storage. Besides the RAM and the hard drive/SSD/whatever, what could you upgrade (relatively easily) by yourself in previous Macs? A laptop is never supposed to be easily upgradeable anyway. For maximum upgradeability just assemble a desktop tower.

Some people even said that RAM fails frequently, what RAM are they using? I've never had any RAM died in my computers (whether it's self-assembled, notebooks, and the Apple computers) for over 15 years.

/rant

p.s. I bought an iPad 3 (4G ver) to my dad as his birthday gift and he couldn't be happier. He doesn't even lug around his computer anymore now. To him the computer is no more than a sync'ing station and the only advantage it has is to type relatively easier than the iPad.
 
haruhiko said:
Yes, and the required rMBP bash in every post just because you can't upgrade the RAM/storage. Besides the RAM and the hard drive/SSD/whatever, what could you upgrade (relatively easily) by yourself in previous Macs? A laptop is never supposed to be easily upgradeable anyway. For maximum upgradeability just assemble a desktop tower.

Some people even said that RAM fails frequently, what RAM are they using? I've never had any RAM died in my computers (whether it's self-assembled, notebooks, and the Apple computers) for over 15 years.

/rant

p.s. I bought an iPad 3 (4G ver) to my dad as his birthday gift and he couldn't be happier. He doesn't even lug around his computer anymore now. To him the computer is no more than a sync'ing station and the only advantage it has is to type relatively easier than the iPad.
Click to expand...

Lol... Off topic... :D
 
pgiguere1 said:
I agree with OP.

Who are you to judge if it's a waste of money? You don't need to be a geek to enjoy a good display. If she had the money and think it's worth it to pay more to have a great display, then that's her choice.
Click to expand...

Completely agree, this is of no concern to anyone here, it`s simply an attempt at being elitist, rude at best, possibly "sour grapes". If you are going to spend a significant amount of time researching, studying papers the Retina display is highly beneficial for obvious reasons. Some are buying Retina`s to game, yet you don't hear the howls of sacrilege from the "chosen few"

Retina is just a computer, you don't need special sanction from Tim Cook to own one, nor do you need to be an "expert" or a "Pro" some very much need to get over themselves...
 
Last edited:
sofianito said:
Lol... Off topic... :D
Click to expand...

Sorry for that. For the OP's questions:

1) First off, what are some things that really show off the retina display, wallpapers, movies, videos, etc.
Click to expand...

The stock wallpapers in System Preferences are really great. Or you can go to some websites like http://interfacelift.com/ or Wikimedia Commons to find high quality images.

2) What are some things she can do to make finding files and information easier, I know the macs automatically hide the library, which is annoying. Shes been a windows user all of her life (not by choice)
Click to expand...

library can be easily made visible by a small tweak. If you are afraid of terminal commands you can also download some apps like Mountain Tweak

3) What are some apps she must have? Shes going to gell Pages, Numbers, and Keynotes for sure.
Click to expand...

This really depends on what she wants to do with the computer.
 
I think you should encourage her to take up video editing, photography, and hardcore gaming just to silence all the haters who are saying the rMBP is beyond what she needs. Jeez. Sour grapes make for some pretty awful whine.
 
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