Spanking new Mac user here..

[virtuousxlife]

Hello all! Just took a dive from the PC world into the Mac world by purchasing a 2.4/2gig/250gigs hd(Alu unibody) Macbook yesterday. Estimated delivery is sometime by mid/end of this week.. which beckons me to question(Please don't shoot me for asking)- Any advice for someone in my position? I'd really appreciate some tips. Anything useful for someone who's never owned an Apple computer and wisdom from die hard Mac owners/fans alike. Thank you!!!


-Vanessa

 

[dXTC]

"MacRumors has issued a salutation. Cancel or Allow?"
Welcome to MacRumors, and congrats on your new Mac!

First, check out your Macbook's various hardware features for a day or two; make sure everything appears in order. Doing this immediately is important; if you need to send it back for replacement (i.e. defective part), you'll need to send it back within 14 days.

Second, once you have Internet enabled, click on the Apple menu at top left of the screen and select Software Update. Let it get all applicable updates.

Third, after your MacBook checks out OK, you will have already had a few questions come to mind. There are two important sources for answers:

• The Apple support website (www.apple.com/support)
• This forum right here.

Hint: Use the Search function on the Apple website and especially on this forum extensively; chances are, your question has been asked before. The Search Forums button is in the upper right corner of virtually every page in this forum. This will help you look less like a "n00b". But if you can't seem to find your answer in Search, then go ahead and ask. We'll take it easy on you.

Fourth, once you have your various apps all set up, get an external hard drive (500 Gb or larger) the first chance you get and enable Time Machine-- quite possibly the best personal backup system in the world.

 

[HLdan]

Honestly, the best advice anyone can offer is to drop ALL of your Windows-centric thinking. When sitting in front of your new Mac do yourself a big favor and don't think Windows is the "standard" for how a computer should work and anything on the Mac OS is done wrong or works wrong. Regardless of the similarities, they are 2 different systems. You will greatly enjoy your Mac if you look at it as a whole new different machine.

One example. Windows is application based, meaning the entire application resides on the screen so you can fully maximize the screen on every Windows application when pressing the expand button.
Macs are document based, meaning the application runs in the background while the document only resides on the screen so maximizing only expands the window to fit the size of the content.
Also since Macs are PDF based you don't need to install Adobe Reader.

 

[dXTC]

Honestly, the best advice anyone can offer is to drop ALL of your Windows-centric thinking. When sitting in front of your new Mac do yourself a big favor and don't think Windows is the "standard" for how a computer should work and anything on the Mac OS is done wrong or works wrong. Regardless of the similarities, they are 2 different systems.

Excellent advice. Part of that is dropping the "folder maintenance" that is done in Windows. Allow your Mac applications to manage your files for you. That's right, let Mac OS X do the work. Can't find something? Use Spotlight-- it's that magnifying glass icon on your menu bar at the top right, and it's fast and powerful. You can activate Spotlight by holding down the Command button and hitting the Spacebar, too.

 

[GfulDedFan]

I really like this tutorial a lot for new Mac users: Click here for Switch 101

Ooops! Almost forgot.... Congrats!!!

 

[virtuousxlife]

Thank you all so much for the generous support! The only downside to all this is the wait but then again I've been using windows/pc's for well over a decade. what's another 3 days? Lol As far as back-up hard drives go... I was looking into the Western Digital "My Passport" HDD. Anyone here have good experiences with it? I hear their very quiet, and dependable. Again, thanks for the welcoming to MacRumors Forum. Look forward to being a "regular" around here,


p.s. "Spotlight" sounds like an awesome tool.


-Vanessa

 

[dXTC]

... As far as back-up hard drives go... I was looking into the Western Digital "My Passport" HDD. Anyone here have good experiences with it? I hear their very quiet, and dependable.

I use a Western Digital My Book Studio Edition for my Time Machine backups and have not had problems with it. Of course, there are other people on this forum who absolutely detest WD. Seagate makes decent external drives, too.

 

[Consultant]

You want to learn how to multi task with 2 hands, with right hand on mouse, and left hand for keyboard short cuts. This way less time is wasted with clicking.

Additional info:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7012495#2

You can search for apps on macupdate.com or versiontracker.com
Get additional video players such as VLC or video codecs such as Flip4Mac.

Everymac.com for maximum RAM your computer can hold (sometimes more than spec).
barefeat.com for benchmarks

 

[dmiller]

Don't give up on it...a couple things may be frustrating at first when going from Windows to Mac but be patient and give it time and you'll see the light.

It'll take about six months and then you'll realize you made a great decision in switching

Read as much as you can... www.switchingtomac.com is a good start , macrumors guides are pretty good too, and feel free to ask questions here

Congrats!

 

[ceezy3000]

heres what u need t do when you get that bad boy
1. turn on your built in firewall by System Preferences>security>firewall>set to allow essential services only>then click advanced and enable stealth mode and press OK, i know there are no viruses for amc but better safe than sorry

2. get yourself a case

3.calibrate screen

4.enjoy it!

 

[bworthey]

Hello all! Just took a dive from the PC world into the Mac world by purchasing a 2.4/2gig/250gigs hd(Alu unibody) Macbook yesterday.

-Vanessa

Vanessa -

I too just bought my first Mac. I got the MacBook 2.0/4gig/250 gig hd...and I'm in the same boat as you are, WAITING. Ordered it yesterday, saying that it will be delivered sometime between the 19th and 25th.

I was looking for just this topic too...what to know sort of thing? Everyone I've talked to that has "made the switch" have said they'd never go back! I hope I'm as enthusiastic when it finally gets here!

B-Worthey

 

[virtuousxlife]

Vanessa -

I too just bought my first Mac. I got the MacBook 2.0/4gig/250 gig hd...and I'm in the same boat as you are, WAITING. Ordered it yesterday, saying that it will be delivered sometime between the 19th and 25th.

I was looking for just this topic too...what to know sort of thing? Everyone I've talked to that has "made the switch" have said they'd never go back! I hope I'm as enthusiastic when it finally gets here!

B-Worthey

Hey B-Worthey,

Awesome! Congrats on the purchase! I'm impatiently awaiting my Macbook. Luckily enough, I should be receiving it tomorrow(At work nonetheless lol). Unfortunately, I won't be able to unbox it until I get home later on tomorrow night after a night class. Yeah, everyone I've spoken to has nothing but great things to say about Macs. I have a cousin who has an IMac and my God... what a lovely piece of equipment. I bet the new IMac's will be just as amazing; if not more.


- Vanessa

 

[alphaod]

Congratulations! Welcome to the club.

 

[jceealmighty]

Congrats to us vanessa! I'm kinda mac newbie too, bought an macbook alum 2.0ghz last december. I never had a mac before and I was very surprised how much I am missing! Finding files are very effective and super fast compared to windows. It has a very nice looking interface and I love how expose and spaces works. I guess the saying "once you go mac, you'll never go back" is true.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/

 

[bworthey]

Hey B-Worthey,

Awesome! Congrats on the purchase! I'm impatiently awaiting my Macbook.

I understand! I'm sitting at work now and mine was just delivered! Oh, well I'll be good when I get home, sometime around 6 tonight! That stinks that you gotta sit through class first! ugh!


B-Worthey

 

[virtuousxlife]

I understand! I'm sitting at work now and mine was just delivered! Oh, well I'll be good when I get home, sometime around 6 tonight! That stinks that you gotta sit through class first! ugh!


B-Worthey

I am typing this on my Mac, and I gotta say... LOVE IT. I had forgotten that I had a half day at work(Wednesday) and it was delivered on that same day... Apple was amazing with the whole shipping process(Kudos to Fed-Ex as well). Anyway, I unboxed it right after work and was able to use it in class later on that day. Nothing but a great experience so far! I can't wait to test out Time Machine; just gotta go get a Hard drive... Possibly go with the 500gigs version of Western Digital My passport. The red one sure looks nice. Lol. Anyway, a big thanks to everyone's support! I now know why there's such a supportive fan-base behind Mac's; THEY'RE AMAZING!

 

[Topher15]

You might want to check out www.myfirstmac.com

 

[ScutMonkey]

I can appreciate the move to Mac. I bought my first one two months ago (a 24" iMac) and loved it so much I bought a Macbook alu 2.4 last night! I don't know how I ever used Windows in the first place--I have a very high end Dell XPS M2010 (the one from Iron Man) and Vista has completely made it unusable. I've had no significant grief with my Macs thus far and couldn't be happier!

As for the WD external drives, I have a 1 TB My Book that works beautifully with my iMac. I'd highly recommend it.

 

[Skeletal-dæmon]

Congratulations on your purchase and Welcome to Macintosh.

It'll take about a week or so to get entirely used to the new OS. Some useful things to remember are that you use the Command key where you used to use Control for document shortcuts like save, print, boldface and so on, Control Alt Delete is now Command Option Escape, and in most applications pressing the red X (or Cmd+W) just closes the open document, without quitting the application (Cmd+Q) itself.

I hope you enjoy your new computer, and if you have any questions or problems a majority of us here will be able to help you.

 

[SecondDealer]

I use a Western Digital My Book Studio Edition for my Time Machine backups and have not had problems with it. Of course, there are other people on this forum who absolutely detest WD. Seagate makes decent external drives, too.

I also own a Western Digital My Book 1TB External, I got it for a great price off amazon and I'm happy with its quality and performance.

 

[brad.c]

I can't believe that I'm the first to voice disappointment in the misleading title.

Congrats, tho.