5 annoying things about OSX and the MacBook

[Cinch]

Rant time

So I recent brought a black MacBook. I used a Mac before (G4 Titanium), but hasn't used a Mac since I lost it two years ago. So I thought about the problems associated with 10.0 or 10.1. I assume they were taken care of. Am I wrong
I use iTunes, Firefox and Microsoft Office 90% of the time and an occasion Preview for viewing pdf files. The black MacBook is stock with 512MB and 80GB harddisk space.

1. The beach ball effect is still alive and well in 10.4!
2. The endless bouncing app. icon..enough already..I get it
3. where is the right click..It is helpful in iTunes when you want to edit songs
4. battery life is not good. I like to use this computer with Airport on and screen brightness at a decent level. I'm asking too much here I suppose.
5. Did I mention that there are oil stains on this thing.

Cinch

 

[Chundles]

512MB RAM is not enough for running Rosetta apps like MS Office, get at least a gig in there. It's OK if you're running just simple Universal Apps but OSX puts a lot of strain on RAM when running a Rosetta app to try and speed up performance, the more RAM you have the more stuff it can do.

Right-click is Control-click or you can just go to the trackpad preferences and turn on trackpad tapping and the two-fingered tap that equates to a right click.

Have you calibrated the battery?

 

[comictimes]

issues 1 and 2 would be solved by dishing out $75 for a gig stick of ram- may sound like a lot, but, hey, you did just spend $1500 or so on a new computer anyways....

as for right clicking listen to Chundles, or get a mouse- they do in fact work on macs as well as PC's.

I don't know what you consider good battery life, but I can watch almost 2 full movies with screen brightness low-ish, and get a minimum of 3 hours working on stuff normally. I'm content with that.

Don't eat oily foods then touch your comp, and no oil stains will appear. Seems pretty simple to me.

 

[Cinch]

512MB RAM is not enough for running Rosetta apps like MS Office, get at least a gig in there. It's OK if you're running just simple Universal Apps but OSX puts a lot of strain on RAM when running a Rosetta app to try and speed up performance, the more RAM you have the more stuff it can do.

Right-click is Control-click.

Have you calibrated the battery?

I didn't know OSX has to run Rosetta underneath Office 2004. Thanks for the info. I guess I can't really complain.

I know the control-click option as well as the two fingers and button option too. Something never change.

I'm getting about 2.5 hours in "normal" mode. I guess it is okay, because I use this computer for things other than data crunching numbers at work.

6th annoying thing about this computer, it is heavy. True I will never buy a Dell or a HP so I won't be able to compare. It feels fragile (in my mind at least).
Perhaps I'm asking way too much of this laptop..

did I mention, it is the best looking laptop out there even compare to the MacBook Pro.. It is absolutely adorable.

Cinch

 

[runninmac]

1. Ah yes. Get more ram. Plain and simple. I have a black macbook with 512 and my sister has a 1.83 with 1 gig of ram and hers absolutly smokes mine.

2. Same as above.

3. 2 finger click.

4. Try calabrating the battery. I get a good 4 hours out of mine.

5. ... did you not expect a black plastic to get oily?

 

[Some_Big_Spoon]

512 RAM isn't even enough on a PPC machine, or any Tiger machine for that matter. I max out all my machines (even getting a 2GB DIMM for thy G5 iMac) because I know I'll use the RAM, even on just iLife apps.

Do yourself a favor, get some paired 512DIMMs on that thing, or be real sure and go with the 2GB, you won't regret it.

 

[Cinch]

Don't eat oily foods then touch your comp, and no oil stains will appear. Seems pretty simple to me.

emailing your family while in the kitchen is well real life use I guess Hey man I want to use this computer. I'm not going to treat like it is a sacred object of desire.

I'm thinking about upgrading the RAM and maxing it out with 2GB.

Cinch

 

[Chundles]

emailing your family while in the kitchen is well real life use I guess Hey man I want to use this computer. I'm not going to treat like it is a sacred object of desire.

I'm thinking about upgrading the RAM and maxing it out with 2GB.

Cinch

That will make a massive, massive difference. Do it.

 

[Cinch]

5. ... did you not expect a black plastic to get oily?

You know this better than I, and that is Apple is looking into this issue. I love the black MacBook, it makes the white look childish I think.

Cinch

 

[semaja2]

just to add to the right click issue, i like the one button i actually disable the "tap" click option and well when i use a windows laptop now my hand becomes cramped and feels horrible. so i hope that apple never changes to a two button track pad

 

[Bern]

1. Windows fanboys looking for a reason to justify what they think about Mac users

2. The complete lack of knowledge of what OS X is and how to use it

3. People complaining about things that has nothing to do with Apple or OS X

4. People expecting way too much when they wouldn't expect the same from a pc

5. The fact that it took Apple this long to go Intel in the first place.

 

[slooksterPSV]

1. Windows fanboys looking for a reason to justify what they think about Mac users

2. The complete lack of knowledge of what OS X is and how to use it

3. People complaining about things that has nothing to do with Apple or OS X

4. People expecting way too much when they wouldn't expect the same from a pc

5. The fact that it took Apple this long to go Intel in the first place.

1 - Vista - 512MB minimum, try running apps on that. Memory is a good thing, and Mac OS X handles it better than Windows. If you run out of RAM on OS X, I think it drops apps that have been inactive for a while to the HDD and frees it up for you to use in other apps.

2 - Same as #1, RAM, don't have 25+ programs running. Close down what programs you aren't using. When I had 512, I'd have Firefox (250+MB RAM used with that) iTunes (30+MB) Mail (20+MB) and Adium (10+MB) open and it'd go slowly. Use Safari when possible, Safari uses lots lots less RAM.

3 - Right click, hold CTRL and click, that's right click. I like the one click, Right clicking is a pain when you don't need it. - Gamers use right click. Professionals use CTRL + Click.

4 - Battery this, battery that - Re-callibrate it, turn down brightness, quit programs you don't need (e.g. RAM + HDD issue, if RAM is filled, HDD is in use thus using more power thus running down the battery).

5 - Wash ur hands, don't eat oily foods and use the computer, my gosh, clean the computer. Oil stains? wtf are you guys complaining about. Heck, it just smooths out the computer hehe.

Ok so 1 2 and 4 can be resolved by adding more RAM. There you go. Sorry didn't mean to flame-bait you, but RAM is the key to helping you out for 3/5 of your problems.

 

[gloss]

1. Windows fanboys looking for a reason to justify what they think about Mac users

2. The complete lack of knowledge of what OS X is and how to use it

3. People complaining about things that has nothing to do with Apple or OS X

4. People expecting way too much when they wouldn't expect the same from a pc

5. The fact that it took Apple this long to go Intel in the first place.

"Typical Mac Zealot Douchiness"?

Try answering the guy's questions rather than giving him another thing to add onto his list.

And Cinch, 2GB of RAM will make you happy. My only real complaint with my Macbook thus far is the heat, and I consider that a minor annoyance. I've been using a PC as my main machine for the past six years and I got used to the two-finger click in about two days. I think you'll find that it's actually more ergonomic for one-handed use than having a dedicated right-click button. You can always grab a nice Logitech mouse if you really don't care for it.

 

[Cinch]

"Typical Mac Zealot Douchiness"?

Try answering the guy's questions rather than giving him another thing to add onto his list.

And Cinch, 2GB of RAM will make you happy. My only real complaint with my Macbook thus far is the heat, and I consider that a minor annoyance. I've been using a PC as my main machine for the past six years and I got used to the two-finger click in about two days. I think you'll find that it's actually more ergonomic for one-handed use than having a dedicated right-click button. You can always grab a nice Logitech mouse if you really don't care for it.

Thank you Gloss, I appreciate your kind defense.

Cinch

 

[mkjj]

Yep, 2gb RAM is the way to go, my black MB has it and start up is mega fast!

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

1. RAM RAM RAM

3. Get used to ctrl-clicking or get a Bluetooth mouse and get over it...

4. My MacBook lasts 3.5-4 hrs with typical use (constantly running Firefox, Mail, iTunes with AirTunes, TextWrangler and CyberDuck) AirPort on (of course since I run AirTunes), Bluetooth off and screen at about half the brightness.

5. No issues with staining of the wrist areas on my white one. But I remember how easy it was to get fingermarks on the matte are on my black Pismo, so you might want to get some rubber gloves, or a soft cloth to wipe it every now and then...

2. The endless bouncing app. icon..enough already..I get it

This however is easy: Go into Dock Preferences (right/ctrl-click the divider in the Dock or go to System Preferences -> Dock) and uncheck the "Animate opening applications" option...

 

[plinden]

I'm thinking about upgrading the RAM and maxing it out with 2GB.

Cinch

I have a 17" iMac Core Duo (ie. the 1.83GHz one) with 2GB RAM and my wife has a 1.83GHz MacBook with 1GB RAM. Apart from the RAM (and the gpu, but you're not straining the gpu with what you do) they are fairly comparable. Opening Word, the icon bounces 2-3 times on my iMac and 5-6 times on the MacBook.

 

[Cinch]

4. My MacBook lasts 3.5-4 hrs with typical use (constantly running Firefox, Mail, iTunes with AirTunes, TextWrangler and CyberDuck) AirPort on (of course since I run AirTunes), Bluetooth off and screen at about half the brightness.

I agree and most would too that the major energy demand of a laptop is the LCD display. New technology e.g. OLED may help if it comes at all. If you turn the brightness of the screen up (my level of acceptability) I think it would be a challenge to get 4 hours out of your MacBook with Airport and a few apps. running.

cultural aside:

I tried to "feel" how heavy the MacBook was the other day without the battery, and predictably it felt light! My guess is that the battery weighs about a 1/3 of the overall laptop. We don't live in an ideal world afterall, I suppose . oh well


Overall, I like my black MacBook. It is the best computer I had ever own

 

[uchuff]

To be honest I rarely use the trackpad button, I just single finger tap on the trackpad surface for left click and two finger tap for right click. Not perfect, when in something like Photoshop I'll use the button and key combinations as I feel it gives more control.

I know this has already been covered but once you have 1 or 2 GB of RAM installed the thing will fly

 

[fatties]

hmm my mac book lasts 3 hours with brightness on full + firefox and itunes. i guess that isn't too much though.

i agree with the other posters though, since this is such a 'brighter' screen, you could easily stretched the battery life to 4 hours if you dim it.

nothing wroung with 2 fingers is there? i was using a pc laptop and i didn't understand why it wasn't 2 finger clicking... may be you just need to get used to it!

i love my white one. i think the black ones are too similar to pcs and the glowing white logo is too much brand advertising for me to bear (i can just about ignor the white on white...)

 

[slooksterPSV]

Sorry, like I said Cinch, I didn't mean to flamebait you but every has their complaints and a lot of it is just common knowledge for those of us who are advanced know basically everything computer users (not just Mac or Windows). RAM is the key with most of your problems. I explained in my previous post. I appologize, and everyone else here should (I got flamebaited the one time for a simple question, left the forum for a month), but we all need to be nice to one another and understand everyone else's frustration. Hope your problems gets fixed. oh btw, if you go to... http://www.ramseeker.com/ is it? you get find the cheapest deals on RAM. That's where I got my 512MB stick for my iBook for 35.99

 

[Cinch]

Sorry, like I said Cinch, I didn't mean to flamebait you but every has their complaints and a lot of it is just common knowledge for those of us who are advanced know basically everything computer users (not just Mac or Windows). RAM is the key with most of your problems. I explained in my previous post. I appologize, and everyone else here should (I got flamebaited the one time for a simple question, left the forum for a month), but we all need to be nice to one another and understand everyone else's frustration. Hope your problems gets fixed. oh btw, if you go to... http://www.ramseeker.com/ is it? you get find the cheapest deals on RAM. That's where I got my 512MB stick for my iBook for 35.99

Thank you, I appreciate the concern and understand. True I must admit some of my complaints are trivial. Anyhow, like I said in the first thread, it is just rants.

Cinch

 

[slooksterPSV]

Thank you, I appreciate the concern and understand. True I must admit some of my complaints are trivial. Anyhow, like I said in the first thread, it is just rants.

Cinch

Don't we all go through them lol. I do rants all the time.

 

[Bern]

..... Anyhow, like I said in the first thread, it is just rants.

Cinch

And so was my post just a rant. So I guess if I'm to apologise to those sensitive people for my rant you should for yours as well???