I've gone MAC!

[digitard]

I made this login back in like...2004. I was debating on going to the APPLE side of things back then, but decided at the time against it. Honestly I'm glad I did... cause the newest generation of Macbook Pro's are just obscenely sick.

So... finally I decided that it was time, and I just bought my first Apple Macbook Pro.

Specs:
2.53ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
4gb RAM
512MB 9400+9600 GT
320gb HDD

I was going to get the smaller, but slightly quicker, 250gb HDD but I decided against it since the higher data density of the 320gb would make up a lil bit for the faster RPM's of the 250gb drive.

I'm loving it so far. I have NO experience with OS X so it's definitely a learning curve, but so far so good. A few apps are installing now, and I had no problem getting on the home network, etc. Need to do some tweaking so it can see my Windows share drives on my main PC (I keep all my media on network storage). So other than that... so far so good.

The multi-finger command trackpad is nice... getting used to it, but i like how i can scroll down pages by just dragging two fingers, and so forth.

YAY! Funny part is I went last night and picked it up at the local APPLE store, and I ended up spending so much cash on little things w/ the Macbook it set off my fraud detection on my CC and they called me...lol. Go figure.

Now to start googling the "must have" apps.

D.

 

[Jiten]

Congrats!

 

[HLdan]

Fantastic, it always great to get a cool toy for the xmas holiday. The Xbox, Playstation and Wii have nothing over getting a new Mac!

 

[digitard]

Fantastic, it always great to get a cool toy for the xmas holiday. The Xbox, Playstation and Wii have nothing over getting a new Mac!

I think the seller for me was Bootcamp. Theres a few random apps on the PC that i really use often, and don't really want to give up right now. Once Bootcamp was a viable option i was sold. Then the new MBP spec's came out, and it was very nicely setup, plus i still can keep those random Windows apps. So there was no more excuses... cause I get the MBP goodness + also don't have to give up my PC apps or carry around a 2nd laptop when I know i'll need access to them.

I agree. I had NO idea what I wanted for XMAS and then I ran over to my bosses house to setup something for him on his home network (he was having some NAT issues with XBLive) and I needed him to sign my payroll so he went to his mAC to access his email and print it out, and just kinda seeing the interface in action i asked a few questions and that was it... I knew what to ask the wife for. AMAZINGLY she agreed w/o a 2nd thought. YAY!

I type a lot... if you can't already tell.

 

[johnzoidberg]

Always great to hear a switcher story. Welcome to the fold!

 

[digitard]

Always great to hear a switcher story. Welcome to the fold!

I still plan to use my PC as my primary gaming platform, it's still the logical choice for gaming, but I hope to use my Macbook as my primary "day to day" operations, and start to dabble with the editing capabilities of OSX apps.

Plus it just looks NICE with the aluminum body, and the amazing LED screen. Apple has a great combination with looks, and power with the current MBP series.

 

[diazj3]

congrats! you WILL be blown away... I had the same experience last year with my 1st iMac... being a PC user all my life made the Mac-OSX switch amazing... made me wonder how could I live/work without it for so many years. enjoy!

 

[kentcoleslaw]

Remember when talking about APPLE products that you must ALWAYS refer to them in UPPER CASE lololol

 

[digitard]

Remember when talking about APPLE products that you must ALWAYS refer to them in UPPER CASE lololol

It was either that or make it a huge run on sentence that seemed to keep going and going and refuse to use any punctuation of any sort I determined that my habitual capitalizing was the best option of the two

dot

 

[diazj3]

Here's a list of great freeware apps that are both (IMHO) secure and really useful, just to get you started:

Visit the links to learn more... Try them, and donate if you find them useful:

> * Caffeine - screensaver control

> * Anxiety - iCal compatible to-do list

> * iGTD - iCal compatible advanced to-do management

> * SMC Fan Control - temperature fan control

> * MenuPrefs - preferences directly in menu bar (shareware)

> * AppCleaner - completely erases apps

> * NameChanger - batch file renaming

> * Flip4Mac - windows media compatible QT player plugin

> * LiveQuartz - powerfull image editing

> * SoundSource - sound input/output control in menubar

> * CarbonCopyCloner and/or SuperDuper - Cloning your system for bootable backup, a good complement to time machine. MUST HAVE!

> * Punakea - file tagging

> * Spotlaser - finder plugin for advanced searches

> * SuperDocker and/or DockLibrary - customize your dock

> * LiteIcon - customize your system icons

> * SecureFiles and iDMG - easily create password protected disk images

> * MacOSaiX - make mosaics with your photos or let google search for them.

> * Onyx - System maintenece

> * CocoPad / Tablet Draw - use with Wacom tablet http://projects.digitalwaters.net/index.php?q=cocopad and http://www.moosoftware.com/tabletdraw.html

> * Perian - audio/video compatibility plugin tool

> * ClamXav - mac antivirus just in case...

> * Wrap - enhance Spaces in Leopard

> * Adium MSN, yahoo, googletalk, facebook, etc all-in-one

> * FireFox... alternate browser

Other SW /HW I recommend:

> * ElGato EyeTV... watch and record TV on your mac
> * Wacom Bamboo Tablet... write/anotate docs or draw

> * DiskWarrior... the BEST disk saving utility. Expensive but worth EVERY cent.


ENJOY!

 

[ChrisN]

Congrats man, thats an awesome present!

ChrisN

 

[digitard]

Congrats man, thats an awesome present!

ChrisN

hehe I think the only reason my wife agreed to it is cause the specs are pretty high so i can use it as a desktop replacement for a lot of things, and she can use my desktop (Core 2 Duo E8500 @ 3.7ghz, 4gigs of memory, ATI HD 4850, 22" LCD, etc) instead of her laptop...lol.

I'll take it though! I just loaded a few games, and they ran suprisingly well! NICE!

Diaz: Thanks for the list. Looking at them now.

 

[macrem]

Here's a list of great freeware apps that are both (IMHO) secure and really useful, just to get you started:[...]

IMO you're into quite a few invasive apps. By invasive, I mean the kind of apps that modify the system (behavior) as opposed to standalone apps (like Adium) which could be just tossed into the garbage without hardly leaving a trace. I have just few of the former kind too, which I tend to avoid recommending off the bat to new users.

 

[macrem]

Welcome! These were my suggestions to another new Mac user a few months ago...

[...]

Try the native OS X software before rushing to download other programs. OS X bundles quite range of really great software. That said, AdiumX is a very nice IM program.

Get an external HD and use TimeMachine.

OS X is pretty secure OOTB but more can be done like setting a firmware password so not just any user can boot into single user mode, enable stealth mode, only give users including yourself standard privileges (sudo an admin account when higher privs are req'd., for which you'll be prompted seemlessly via the GUI).

Go into system prefs and enable hot corners in Exposé. "All Windows" and Spaces are the two I use the most often.

In Spaces, put iTunes in "every space" and put the mini player somewhere convenient, listen to lots of music.

Get familiar with trackpad gestures, probably some need to be enabled via sys prefs.

Become pals with the command line, you won't regret it. I used to recommend a 3rd party terminal app but the Leopard version of Terminal.app blows everything else away IMO.

Try the Dock on the right. IMO there is plenty of horizontal space and nice to free up some vertical space.

Here are some free software recommendations (very nicely written):

If you plan to tinker with a wide range of open source *nix software, then I recommend Macports, others will probably swear by Fink.

Growl is a nice piece of software to install for application notifications.

I recommend trying the latest OpenOffice 3 Aqua build.

Cyberduck is a very nice and free FTP client.

Handbrake is great for ripping DVDs.

The latest Aqua build of GIMP

Poisoned for P2P

sshfs is an excellent and secure alternative to sharing files if you transfer files with other *nix machines. Oh, install Linux on the PC you're retiring and use it as a server.

TextWrangler if TextEdit does not meet all your needs

Transmission for torrents.

The Unarchiver is useful if you get any compressed files that OS X cannot handle natively like SIT files.

I won't claim which browser is best. Safari integrates the best with OS X. Then I'd say Camino does a pretty good job. Opera seems to be a fast, well written standards compliant browser on OS X. Many users cannot cope without their Firefox extensions. I tend to use one for awhile, then another, then another...

VLC is a must have.

VirtualBox for OS virtualization.

Application Update is a very nice Dashboard Widget that checks for non Apple software updates. If you start it searching for new software, then leave the Dashboard while its running and have Growl installed, Growl will let you know the results. iStatPro is also a useful Dashboard Widget.

Skype and Joost do not seem to be the most efficiently written but are handy too.

BatChmod is a decent utility for changing file permissions.

Stay away from Adobe Reader if possible. The built in Preview.app is much better if it meets your needs.

If you use gmail, set up your account to use IMAP, which works great with OS X Mail.

If you use OS X at work, get on Mac aliases or access to Mac wiki, get to know someone from IT who uses a Mac. They may hook you up with really cool stuff like openvpn ;-)

Enjoy!

 

[alphaod]

Congrats.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Congrats and well done. Welcome to the world of Mac, you'll love it, and give yourself time to learn and to enjoy learning. I switched to my MBP last April, and would argue that it is easily the best computer I have ever had.

That is a terrific Christmas present. May you and your MBP live long together and prosper.

Cheers, good luck and Merry Christmas