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Cool Mac Things

Les Kern

Les Kern

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 26, 2002
3,063
76
Alabama
I am in the process of making a help page for my district HERE (it's early!) and I want to include some Mac-specific info like "why we use Macs", etc. I'd like to add a pop-up link called "Ten coolest things you can do with your Mac". I was wondering if anyone would like to list their favorites. (Mine, for instance, is adding a ".zip" to the end of a file or folder to compress, discarding the original, or using "make archive" from the file menu) So what's your favorite Mac feature that's COOL? It really should be something Windows doesn't do or does way wrong) When it's up in a few weeks I'll come back and announce the "grand opening".
Thanks in advance folks.
 
expose is a great one...
burning from the finder...
the zip file one is great...
the eject button on the keyboard...
one button mouse...

thats all i can think of right now
 
expose is the biggest wow factor. i show that to very PC users and they just do a double take and go "wow"

deleting programs by dragging the icon to the trash! what an idea! haha
the drag and drop properties of the dock
 
earthtoandy said:
expose is the biggest wow factor. i show that to very PC users and they just do a double take and go "wow"

deleting programs by dragging the icon to the trash! what an idea! haha
the drag and drop properties of the dock
Click to expand...

if you hold shift or some such while pressing any of the expose key combos, you can see it in slow motion...i think the same goes for the dock animations...you might want to add that as an item
 
Just plug it in and off you go....

One great thing about the Macintosh is connectivity. You can just plug things into them (printers, cameras and scanners etc) and it just WORKS!! Worrying about drivers for your hardware is a thing of the past. Just plug and play dude. :D

aussie_geek
 
There are lots. Exposé is one. Not having a menu bar for each application window is another. iLife is one huge reason also but the features that will rule my world soon will be:

(in order of relevance)
- Spotlight
- Automator
- Dashboard

I think the three will revolutionize the way I use my mac.
 
I'd mention how Microsoft Office works better on Macs and maybe even mention VPC7. Love it or hate it, the thought of Office being available makes the idea of 'switching' a lot more palatable to a lot of Mac ignorant people.

And perhaps the biggest of them all, no spyware, viruses, trojans to worry about. This has got to be the biggest pet peeve in the PC world.

Then talk about iLife, and show all the cool things you can do with the iApps and how they all work seamlessly together. Not quite a top ten list but you get the idea! :p
 
I think the flexibility of the finder is pretty cool- dragging and dropping folders into the side bar, or option dragging apps into the top bar, column view, etc.

I also think the way OS X deal with memory mangement is nice.
 
How about the Safari print button? Type "javascript:window.print()" in the URL box, drag it to the menu bar, rename it PRINT. (Also works on web pages you design!) I ususally use Apple-P, but on my TiBook the Apple key is missing from where my hand is trained to get it!
 
Les Kern said:
Mine, for instance, is adding a ".zip" to the end of a file or folder to compress, discarding the original, ...
Click to expand...

How does this actually compress the file?

It just changes the icon to the zip-icon (on some standard file types, on others it doesn't even do that), but stays the same size on my machine...

And if I try to unzip a file, that I "zipped" by just adding .zip to the name, by double-clicking it, I get an error message saying "unable to unarchive..."

Is there some setting I havn't changed...?
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
How does this actually compress the file?

It just changes the icon to the zip-icon (on some standard file types, on others it doesn't even do that), but stays the same size on my machine...

And if I try to unzip a file, that I "zipped" by just adding .zip to the name, by double-clicking it, I get an error message saying "unable to unarchive..."

Is there some setting I havn't changed...?
Click to expand...
It's not your fault, Mitthrawnuruodo. You're not doing anything wrong. The reason it works for Les Kern, and not for you (or for me) is that Les Kern has StuffIt Deluxe and we don't.
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
It's not your fault, Mitthrawnuruodo. You're not doing anything wrong. The reason it works for Les Kern, and not for you (or for me) is that Les Kern has StuffIt Deluxe and we don't.
Click to expand...

Hmmm.... my users all have it. Sorry.
 
I love how there are so few files (that are visable). When you open an application you are really clicking on a special folder that has all of its support files hiding within it. Its just something that is nice because it keeps clutter down and prevents idiots from deleting core files by "accident". Anyway, its just something you take for granted but is still very useful.
 
stepbasin said:
I love how there are so few files (that are visable). When you open an application you are really clicking on a special folder that has all of its support files hiding within it. Its just something that is nice because it keeps clutter down and prevents idiots from deleting core files by "accident". Anyway, its just something you take for granted but is still very useful.
Click to expand...
You're referring to Application (.app) Packages, aren't you? Those are nice - I too find them a useful concept. However, here's something you probably didn't know: the application package idea can also be used on Windows (or any other platform). You can even combine multiple platforms into one application package - all that is needed is an additional folder for each platform inside of the package. If you look inside of a package, you'll see a folder called Contents, and inside that is a folder called MacOS - in there is the actual executable. To add a Windows executable to this package, just add a folder called Windows inside the Contents folder, and dump the .exe in there. Of course, Windows doesn't give packages special treatment like Mac OS X does, but it's still possible to use the concept on other platforms.
 
What about iLife?

And REAL dragging/dropping between applications: grabbing an object and running it across windows and the dock until you find another app that will accept it - this is what I like most about my Mac compared with Windows; OS-X actually does what you think it should do, and if it doesn't there is usually a pretty logical reason.
 
Les Kern said:
How about the Safari print button? Type "javascript:window.print()" in the URL box, drag it to the menu bar, rename it PRINT. (Also works on web pages you design!) I ususally use Apple-P, but on my TiBook the Apple key is missing from where my hand is trained to get it!
Click to expand...

Did you mean the Bookmarks bar?
Works for me there (very nice) but not the menu bar at the top of the screen.
 
Macro & Micro Items...

From a macro perspective, the best thing about Macs/Apple is the "intuitiveness" of the whole package. Things just work - the machine, OS & apps make sense and it's easy to get started as well as learn new tasks. The computer doesn't "get in the way" - it lets one do what one needs to do, whether it's writing a paper, creating a business presentation, or handling one's home videos & music! One can focus on the task - not the computer. And this statement's coming from a 1+ month switcher who's been using PCs for 20+ years.

From a micro perspective, the coolest feature is the "fast user switching". Not only can I allow different folks to use my machine while managing their rights, but the graphical representation of the switching is really cool!

Pure elegance!

Thx,
Frank
 
this was mentioned earlier.... but NO VIRUSES. That alone make the difference for me. same with spyware. Computing just seems so much safer on a mac.
 
Ten coolest things you can do with your Mac (in no particular order):

1. Never, ever, hit the print button (or save, or close) in the toolbar in the wrong program again.

2. See exactly what's running at any given time simply by recognizing its icon, instead of trying to read [size=-2]tiny little boxes with truncated text[/size].

3. Plug in a CD burner so ancient it's got its own power brick and have iTunes recognize it instantly, and use it properly (did this one this week! I sooo expected to have to search for the driver on the internet!)

4. Take your Mac out of the box and hook it to the Internet without having to first install firewall, anti-virus, spyware blocker, adware blocker, and pop-up blocker programs.

5. Use and understand your system settings without a single Wizard.

6. Achieve your daily tasks without feeling like your computer is the enemy, or is making you feel like an idiot; so that you actually look forward to using your computer.

7. Close the lid of your PowerBook or iBook knowing that it'll be ready to go in mere seconds after you open it again.

8. Learn Unix and put it on your resume (still haven't gotten to this one, sadly, though it's one of the reasons I bought my Mac!)

9. Play with Expose.

10. Talk about it with cool people like the MacRumors forum members. :D
 
- Exposé
- Print to PDF from any application
- Ability to install apps by drag & drop (not too common in win world)
- Software Update made easy (not having to use the web page windows update does)
- I don't have to restart on every little update. I also can install multiple restart-needing updates simultaneously so that I restart only once.

There's probably tons of these nice little things, and then added to those comes the reliability (I've had my computer running for almost 10 days now and I've done graphics, video, web, watched movies etc. etc.) and such things. Oh and I have to mention the look of macs and OSX appeals to me.
 
The Cliché...
  • Virus-free
  • Easy to use
  • Non-Intrusive
  • Supersweet-Looking

The Not-So-Cliché
  • Fast-User Switching works amazingly well.
  • iLife apps are so simple and fun to use
  • Macs always have the newest hardware (concerning FW, USB2.0, BT, Etc.)
  • Unix geekiness only if wanted
  • Driver-Free
  • Makes ur PC look like sux0rs :cool:
 
They work! :eek: What a concept!

No viruses
Looks cool
Can be learned in a few seconds
Few crashes
USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 standard on everything!
Safari is so much better than IE for a built in browser
Macs are customizable
Thousands of free (or dirt cheap) Mac apps that allow you to do so much great stuff. Look at the threads we have here on the "essential" free apps and such. On a Windows computer there are 10 times that many apps but they all suck, have viruses, or don't do the thing they promised.
 
iTunes make working on a Mac so pleasant to the ear. Quicktime makes it so pleasant to the eye.
 
Frank (Atlanta) said:
And this statement's coming from a 1+ month switcher who's been using PCs for 20+ years.
Click to expand...

Similar history - I first started using a mac (after I bought it) in March, after 20 odd (!) years using PC/MS DOS and MS Windows.

I agree with previous posts, especially, with "ruyeet" - plug and play; just use it; no worries.
 
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