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First macbook.. what should I do?

N

Namrak

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 21, 2013
13
0
Hey everyone, I just bought my first macbook! It's a 15" rmbp. I waa wondering what your recommendations are as to specific settings, must have apps, etc.

Any specific quality assurance tests I should be doing, since I bought the rmbp off the refurb store?

Also, I was wondering what temps I should be getting in idle as well as light usage (internet+word)

All comments appreciated!!
 
Hi,

Congrats on your new laptop!

My Girlfriend bought an MBA 13" last week and the firewall was not running per default on her machine, hence be sure your firewall is active:
1. Open System Preferences > Security
2. Choose Firewall tab
3. Check that Firewall is running, if not activate it
4. in Firewall options, "Automatically allow signed software to receive incoming connections" should be ticked by default. You might want to "Enable stealth mode" as well. Those are the settings I use, there might be better ones.

The Firewall blocks incoming connections, you can check Little Snitch to control outgoing connections as well. (optional)
http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

An application I could not live without (but that's just me) is Pathfinder:
http://www.cocoatech.com/pathfinder/

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of these software vendors nor do I get any reward from them. I just happen to use their software on a daily basis.

I'm an old fart who grew up with Unix, hence I use the command line (terminal) a lot. It's a powerful way to control your mac! If you come from the Windows world, the command line and scripting capabilities of OS X are miles above that of Windows. You might want to look into that although there is a learning curve involved if you're new to it. You can use your mac without this, though.

Hope this helps,

Etienne
 
etn said:
Hi,

Congrats on your new laptop!

My Girlfriend bought an MBA 13" last week and the firewall was not running per default on her machine, hence be sure your firewall is active:
1. Open System Preferences > Security
2. Choose Firewall tab
3. Check that Firewall is running, if not activate it
4. in Firewall options, "Automatically allow signed software to receive incoming connections" should be ticked by default. You might want to "Enable stealth mode" as well. Those are the settings I use, there might be better ones.

The Firewall blocks incoming connections, you can check Little Snitch to control outgoing connections as well. (optional)
http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

An application I could not live without (but that's just me) is Pathfinder:
http://www.cocoatech.com/pathfinder/

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of these software vendors nor do I get any reward from them. I just happen to use their software on a daily basis.

I'm an old fart who grew up with Unix, hence I use the command line (terminal) a lot. It's a powerful way to control your mac! If you come from the Windows world, the command line and scripting capabilities of OS X are miles above that of Windows. You might want to look into that although there is a learning curve involved if you're new to it. You can use your mac without this, though.

Hope this helps,

Etienne
Click to expand...

Thanks! That app looks interesting, I'll have to give it a whirl. Thanks for the heads up, my firewall was off as well.
 
Namrak said:
I waa wondering what your recommendations are as to specific settings, must have apps, etc.
Click to expand...
There's really no such thing. What are you looking to do with it? Find solutions to fit your needs versus going about it backwards.
 
Set up an external drive for time machine backups and use it regularly.

Apps depend on what you wantto do with it. For photo work I like iPhoto or Aperture. I use iTunes to manage music, books, and video on my idevices. I prefer Firefox as I've used it for many years. MS Office is useful if you have to be compatible with windows users.

What you don't need are anti-virus or cleanup apps. Leave those on windows machines.
 
Also look into VMWare or Parallel which allows you to run other OS in a virtual window. like Win7.
I also use a program call MiniLyrics which will pull in the words for your Itunes songs.
Evernotes is a good cross platform app for sharing notes.
Chrome browser is very popular if you have a Google phone.
Kindle Book reader is very useful.
A Bible app if you study the Bible I love Olive Tree Bible.

Best thing to do is as stated above, get secure password user names. login to Icloud and turn on find my phone then pop into the app store and get what yo need.

enjoy
 
Last edited:
The bottom plate of the rmbp flexes inwards and makes a clicking/popping noise when I pick it up/press on the part where it says "macbook" on the bottom. Is this normal or should I get it checked out?
 
Last edited:
The bottom plate of the rmbp flexes inwards and makes a clicking/popping noise when I pick it up/press on the part where it says "macbook" on the bottom. Is this normal or should I get it checked out?
 
etn said:
Hi,

Congrats on your new laptop!

My Girlfriend bought an MBA 13" last week and the firewall was not running per default on her machine, hence be sure your firewall is active:
1. Open System Preferences > Security
2. Choose Firewall tab
3. Check that Firewall is running, if not activate it
4. in Firewall options, "Automatically allow signed software to receive incoming connections" should be ticked by default. You might want to "Enable stealth mode" as well. Those are the settings I use, there might be better ones.
Click to expand...

wow, it always used to be on be default right? Turns out I've been chugging along a good few months with it off.. thanks for the tip!
 
etn said:
Hi,

Congrats on your new laptop!

My Girlfriend bought an MBA 13" last week and the firewall was not running per default on her machine, hence be sure your firewall is active:
1. Open System Preferences > Security
2. Choose Firewall tab
3. Check that Firewall is running, if not activate it
4. in Firewall options, "Automatically allow signed software to receive incoming connections" should be ticked by default. You might want to "Enable stealth mode" as well. Those are the settings I use, there might be better ones.

The Firewall blocks incoming connections, you can check Little Snitch to control outgoing connections as well. (optional)
http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

An application I could not live without (but that's just me) is Pathfinder:
http://www.cocoatech.com/pathfinder/

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of these software vendors nor do I get any reward from them. I just happen to use their software on a daily basis.

I'm an old fart who grew up with Unix, hence I use the command line (terminal) a lot. It's a powerful way to control your mac! If you come from the Windows world, the command line and scripting capabilities of OS X are miles above that of Windows. You might want to look into that although there is a learning curve involved if you're new to it. You can use your mac without this, though.

Hope this helps,

Etienne
Click to expand...

most likely you will be using some sort of router , router firewalls are far more superior than software ones.

Firewalls on mac and pc systems screw up sharing an other apps , there rarely worth having enabled.
 
Namrak said:
The bottom plate of the rmbp flexes inwards and makes a clicking/popping noise when I pick it up/press on the part where it says "macbook" on the bottom. Is this normal or should I get it checked out?
Click to expand...

Get it looked at asap.
 
Namrak said:
Hey everyone, I just bought my first macbook! It's a 15" rmbp. I waa wondering what your recommendations are as to specific settings, must have apps, etc.

Any specific quality assurance tests I should be doing, since I bought the rmbp off the refurb store?

Also, I was wondering what temps I should be getting in idle as well as light usage (internet+word)

All comments appreciated!!
Click to expand...

Apps... well CoconutBattery and smcFanControl are a must. Great apps to know the condition of your battery and temps of your Mac.
 
I also have a 15-inch retina MacBook Pro and it is sweet. As for apps, I would recommend the following:

1. Parallels, for running Windows inside OS X (I tend to prefer it over VMWare Fusion, which is another option).

2. Google Chrome (and perhaps Firefox too) as an alternate web browser.

3. Evernote is good for taking notes (and it's free). You may also want to take a look at OmniOutliner and Circus Ponies Notebook, which are more expensive software, but very robust for creating outlines and taking notes.

4. For office apps, you may use Apple iWork (cheaper and more integrated into the Mac environment) or Microsoft Office (which has more features), or even LibreOffice (free and open source). You may also want to use Microsoft Office for Windows running on Parallels, which would be a better choice for office productivity than all the others.

5. If you want only a word processor, you may opt for Mellel or Nisus Writer Pro, two very powerful apps, and which are available only for Mac. Or, if you may want to try something different, simpler but with a more elegant approach, you can give Ulysses or Scrivener a try.

6. Cloudplay, for playing songs from YouTube videos.

7. Reflector, for viewing your iPhone on your Mac screen (I prefer it over AirServer, which is another option).

8. TextExpander, if you are a lazy typist.

9. Kindle, if you like reading ebooks.

10. Wunderlist, which syncs with your iPhone or Android device and your Windows PC, if you want to-do-lists (there are also plenty of other options).

11. Skype and Dropbox, the usual suspects.

12. Divvy, for splitting the screen like in Windows (you may also try BetterSnapTool, Cinch or Moom).

But then, it will depend on what you want to do. There are lots of software which you may want to use.
 
Namrak said:
Hey everyone, I just bought my first macbook! It's a 15" rmbp. I waa wondering what your recommendations are as to specific settings, must have apps, etc.

Any specific quality assurance tests I should be doing, since I bought the rmbp off the refurb store?

Also, I was wondering what temps I should be getting in idle as well as light usage (internet+word)

All comments appreciated!!
Click to expand...

1.Get a backup program (Superduper, carboncopy cloner)with an external HDD

2.Get a backup program (Superduper, carboncopy cloner)with an external HDD

3. Install adBlock and maybe clea.nr plugins if you hate ads

4. Find a cool screen saver and back ground, get your dock set up how you like, learn how iCloud, Airplay, system preferences, file management work so you can get what you want out of it and the minor annoyances are gone. Most people never do this. Spend a weekend just goofing around, opening menus, changing options. Get iphoto, mail etc set up with little goodies few people use. As you explore you will find them: signatures so your emails are always standardized, smart mailboxes and playlists to reduce sorting, etc etc. I presume you are new to mac since you don't know what you should to do. Don't mean to offend if you are not.

5. Get an office suite; I like iWork, but since I have to share documents I have office. Office 365 is a subscription I think, so I would avoid it. The previous version is fine.

6. Although iCloud keychain is coming out to store passwords, I use 1password and really like it. I also like Clear and Fantastical. I recommend Papers as it is like iTunes for documents and powerpoints; very useful if you plan on doing research and writing papers, or having lots of articles and PDFs
 
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