2 questions about MBA

[jmfel1926]

I have just jumped from windows to OS X so i am not an expert and my question might be silly.

1) how do i check what apps are running. for example when i open safari and after a while close it by pressing the X circle button on top left , i see the dock and i see a blue circle under the safari icon and i figured out that it still runs. i right click on it and then i press close and the blue circle dissapears. is safari(and not only safari) running ? how do i check the apps that are running or how do i close an app permanently ?

2) how could i enhance my macbook air's battery life? when browsing i think that the battery will not last for 5 hours as claimed . is there a way to do that from the system preferences?

 

[GGJstudios]

1) how do i check what apps are running. for example when i open safari and after a while close it by pressing the X circle button on top left , i see the dock and i see a blue circle under the safari icon and i figured out that it still runs. i right click on it and then i press close and the blue circle dissapears. is safari(and not only safari) running ? how do i check the apps that are running or how do i close an app permanently ?

Activity Monitor, in your /Applications/Utilities folder, will show all apps running. To close an app window, click the red button in the corner. For a single-window app, such as Photo Booth or System Preferences, that will also quit the app. For a multi-window app, such as TextEdit, Word, Safari, etc., that will close the window but leave the app running. To quit an app, use Command-Q or select Quit from the app's menu.

2) how could i enhance my macbook air's battery life? when browsing i think that the battery will not last for 5 hours as claimed .

There are many factors that impact your battery life. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link for details, including tips on how to maximize your battery life.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions:

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

Helpful Information for Any Mac User
Portables Fast Start: The New User's Guide to Apple Notebooks

 

[Slivortal]

I have just jumped from windows to OS X so i am not an expert and my question might be silly.

1) how do i check what apps are running. for example when i open safari and after a while close it by pressing the X circle button on top left , i see the dock and i see a blue circle under the safari icon and i figured out that it still runs. i right click on it and then i press close and the blue circle dissapears. is safari(and not only safari) running ? how do i check the apps that are running or how do i close an app permanently ?

2) how could i enhance my macbook air's battery life? when browsing i think that the battery will not last for 5 hours as claimed . is there a way to do that from the system preferences?

1. CMD-OPT-ESC is OSX's CTL-ALT-DEL. To close an app in OSX, you have to exit it via CMD-Q. Closing the window will not usually close the app. To obtain more process information than above, try Activity Manager (search for it via spotlight). Sounds confusing, but you will get used to it in time.

2. OSX naturally is as battery-efficient as it can be (if there was a "longer life" button, wouldn't everyone press it?). Lowering volume and brightness will allow you to get more out of your batteries, though.

 

[Elektrofone]

There are several ways to show which apps are running. Like GGJStudios said above you can use activity monitor to see all apps currently running, including hidden background apps. Another way is to look at the dock. If an app is running it will have a blue glowing circle underneath it. Another way is to use Cmd+Tab, similarly to Windows you can use this to switch between apps, but also if you press Cmd+Q in this window it will quit the app.

 

[pgiguere1]

If there's a blue circle under an app icon in the Dock, it's still running, there is simply no window open. You may want to leave some apps running even if there's no window open so that the window appears faster when you want to open one.

If you want to completely quit the application, most of the time you will need to click Quit or hit Cmd+Q, since unlike in windows the red X button in the corner will only close the window.

All the apps that you have opened will stay in the dock until you actually quit them. There are no running apps that won't be in your dock. You can have some background processes that will only show up in the Activity Monitor (OS X's equivalent of Windows' Task Manager) but usually you don't have to care about those.

 

[GGJstudios]

There are no running apps that won't be in your dock.

It is possible to have apps running that do not appear in the Dock.

 

[pgiguere1]

It is possible to have apps running that do not appear in the Dock.

Hmm, maybe utilities to customize OS X, like stuff accessible from the menubar, prefpanes and background processes, but full apps meant to be used in their own window always show in the Dock as far as I've noticed, unless some apps that I don't use do that.

For example I use TotalFinder, Little Snitch, RightZoom, iStats Menu, Marco Polo and Dropbox which are all running in background without having an icon in the Dock but that's not what I meant by apps.

 

[gnasher729]

I have just jumped from windows to OS X so i am not an expert and my question might be silly.

1) how do i check what apps are running. for example when i open safari and after a while close it by pressing the X circle button on top left , i see the dock and i see a blue circle under the safari icon and i figured out that it still runs. i right click on it and then i press close and the blue circle dissapears. is safari(and not only safari) running ? how do i check the apps that are running or how do i close an app permanently ?

Must apps can be closed by pressing Command-Q.

Apps that only ever show one window quit when you close that window.

If you look at the menubar you see which app is currently running. For example, if Safari is running and you close all the Safari windows, the Safari menubar is still there.

A very quick way to see which apps are running, and to switch quickly to another app, is pressing Command-Tab. It shows all open apps and you can switch between them (pressing Tab again while you hold the Command key down goes to the next app, pressing Shift Tab again goes to the previous app. To switch forth and back between two apps you press Command-Tab for each switch).

But the easiest way is just not to worry about whether an app is open or not. For most apps it doesn't really matter.

2) how could i enhance my macbook air's battery life? when browsing i think that the battery will not last for 5 hours as claimed . is there a way to do that from the system preferences?

The biggest battery eater is websites that use Flash. You can install "ClickToFlash" as a Safari extension; it means that Flash will only be started if you click on it. Apart from that, screen brightness is the biggest factor. Turning the brightness down (F1 key) will make the battery last a lot longer.

 

[asting]

Turn off bluetooth to increase battery life too (that helps assuming you don't need a mouse at that second).

I came from a netbook using a mouse pretty much all the time and feel like OSX and the MBA have a much better trackpad than I'm used to. The only thing a mouse is necessary for is gaming. Even photoshop use isn't bad with the trackpad (it's not as much control as I'm used to, but I thought i would need the mouse 24/7).