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Best way to name new iMac in Yosemite

A

Applechunckin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 3, 2012
20
0
I recently purchased a new iMac and I am somewhat confused about naming the computer. I would like to be creative and not name the full name of my computer after my real name. But I also see there is an option to name it as a username. What are the pros and cons of naming the shortname/username as the same as the full name of the computer?

I was thinking for privacy reasons, it would also be better to not have the full name of my computer named after my real full name. Any reasons why not naming it after my real name is not a good idea?

I also have read that full names or usernames should be all lower-case if you plan on using terminal a lot, which I do. Any tips on the pros and cons of lower-case vs. just the first letter capitalized?

Thanks
 
satcomer

satcomer

Suspended
Feb 19, 2008
9,115
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The Finger Lakes Region
Check in the System Preferences->Sharing tab and change the share name of your Mac to a local network.

Plus rename your hard drive on the desktop with a long click.
 
Taz Mangus

Taz Mangus

macrumors 604
Mar 10, 2011
7,815
3,504
Applechunckin said:
I recently purchased a new iMac and I am somewhat confused about naming the computer. I would like to be creative and not name the full name of my computer after my real name. But I also see there is an option to name it as a username. What are the pros and cons of naming the shortname/username as the same as the full name of the computer?

I was thinking for privacy reasons, it would also be better to not have the full name of my computer named after my real full name. Any reasons why not naming it after my real name is not a good idea?

I also have read that full names or usernames should be all lower-case if you plan on using terminal a lot, which I do. Any tips on the pros and cons of lower-case vs. just the first letter capitalized?

Thanks
Click to expand...

What I do is name the computer for what it is. In my case I have 3 Mac computers in the house, a 2009 Mac-Mini, a 2009 MacBook Pro and a 2011 27" iMac. I name the iMac "iMac_27", the Mac-Mini "Mac_Mini" and the MacBook Pro "MacBook_Pro". I also name the hard drive using the name of the computer. For instance, I name the hard drive in the "iMac_27" "iMac_27 HD". The reason I do this is because when I do file sharing from one Mac computer to another Mac I can clearly see what computer hard drive I am using. For example, if I need to access my iMac from my MacBook Pro, when the iMac hard drive gets mounted it shows up has "iMac_27 HD" which does not get confused with the local hard drive "MacBook_Pro HD".

As satcomer mentioned go into System Preferences->Sharing and name the computer there. Also, click on the hard drive, press enter and rename it if you like.
 
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A

Applechunckin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 3, 2012
20
0
Taz Mangus said:
What I do is name the computer for what it is. In my case I have 3 Mac computers in the house, a 2009 Mac-Mini, a 2009 MacBook Pro and a 2011 27" iMac. I name the iMac "iMac_27", the Mac-Mini "Mac_Mini" and the MacBook Pro "MacBook_Pro". I also name the hard drive using the name of the computer. For instance, I name the hard drive in the "iMac_27" "iMac_27 HD". The reason I do this is because when I do file sharing from one Mac computer to another Mac I can clearly see what computer hard drive I am using. For example, if I need to access my iMac from my MacBook Pro, when the iMac hard drive gets mounted it shows up has "iMac_27 HD" which does not get confused with the local hard drive "MacBook_Pro HD".

As satcomer mentioned go into System Preferences->Sharing and name the computer there. Also, click on the hard drive, press enter and rename it if you like.
Click to expand...

What about your computer's home folder which correlates with the "user name" Not the full name? Do you name your home folder/user name the same as the name of the computer? For example, iMac_27 would be the name of the computer, the home folder, and the hard drive? Or do you name the home folder something else? It is my understanding that renaming the home folder is much more complicated and more issue prone then renaming the full name of the computer.

So technically you could have three different names? One for the full name of the computer such as Joe Smith, the name of the home folder such as Joe Blow, and the name of the hard drive as Joe Junior?

What I am trying to find out is whether there are advantages beyond what you pointed out to naming all three different, or naming the home folder separately from the full name of the computer.

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks
 
Taz Mangus

Taz Mangus

macrumors 604
Mar 10, 2011
7,815
3,504
Applechunckin said:
What about your computer's home folder which correlates with the "user name" Not the full name? Do you name your home folder/user name the same as the name of the computer? For example, iMac_27 would be the name of the computer, the home folder, and the hard drive? Or do you name the home folder something else? It is my understanding that renaming the home folder is much more complicated and more issue prone then renaming the full name of the computer.

So technically you could have three different names? One for the full name of the computer such as Joe Smith, the name of the home folder such as Joe Blow, and the name of the hard drive as Joe Junior?

What I am trying to find out is whether there are advantages beyond what you pointed out to naming all three different, or naming the home folder separately from the full name of the computer.

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I only name the computer through System Preferences->Sharing and the computer hard drive. The home folder will be named based on the account name. I can't see any advantage to naming the account home folder something different then the account name. I would not suggest messing around with trying to name it different.
 
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