First Things to do on New MacBook

[AppleAlfred]

Hi guys,

My brand new Macbook air is coming in tomorrow (hopefully), and I'm just wondering what you guys would recommend doing in order to get it fully set up and ready to go?

Also, I am going to buy office for mac, unless anyone can provide me with a cheaper, preferably free and compatible alternative. I need it to be compatible with microsoft word and such though.

 

[GGJstudios]

My brand new Macbook air is coming in tomorrow (hopefully), and I'm just wondering what you guys would recommend doing in order to get it fully set up and ready to go?

Turn it on.

This may be useful:

Helpful Information for Any Mac User
Portables Fast Start: The New User's Guide to Apple Notebooks

Also, I am going to buy office for mac, unless anyone can provide me with a cheaper, preferably free and compatible alternative. I need it to be compatible with microsoft word and such though.

I prefer MS Office for Mac, for maximum compatibility with Windows users. If you don't want MS Office for some reason, there are many alternatives, such as iWork, NeoOffice, LibreOffice, OpenOffice, Google Docs, etc. Searching the forum will reveal dozens of threads discussing these various alternatives and the pros and cons of each, such as this small sampling:

MS Office 2011 and Retina Display
Microsoft Office 2011 on Retina Macbook Pro
Microsoft office on retinaMountain Lion & MS Office 2011
Microsoft Confirms Office 2011 and 2008 Compatibility with OS X Mountain Lion
Microsoft office 2011 compatable with mountain lion?
Poll: iWork vs Office vs something else
Office or iWorks?
iWork (09?) VS Office 2011 for Mac
Office 2011 Mac vs iWorks?
iWork 09 vs Office 2011 on MBA
Poll: MS Office for Mac 2011 vs iWork
Poll: Office or iWork?
iWork vs MS Office 2011 for the basic user​

 

[EthanNixon]

Hi guys,

My brand new Macbook air is coming in tomorrow (hopefully), and I'm just wondering what you guys would recommend doing in order to get it fully set up and ready to go?

Also, I am going to buy office for mac, unless anyone can provide me with a cheaper, preferably free and compatible alternative. I need it to be compatible with microsoft word and such though.

Here's what I did:

Power On
Fill out the owner information
Use it like any other computer that has existed for the past xx years, since it's nothing special and it can do anything that you can do on another computer...

 

[Agent-P]

Hi guys,

My brand new Macbook air is coming in tomorrow (hopefully), and I'm just wondering what you guys would recommend doing in order to get it fully set up and ready to go?

Also, I am going to buy office for mac, unless anyone can provide me with a cheaper, preferably free and compatible alternative. I need it to be compatible with microsoft word and such though.

While there are free and paid alternatives to MS Office (as GGJstudios was kind enough to list), I prefer having MS Office for the best compatibility when working on group projects.

As for your other question about setup, have you gotten a system together to move your files over from your old computer? If you previously had a Mac, then you can use Time Machine to set up your new Mac exactly the way the old one was. If you previously had a Windows computer, Migration Assistant can help you move your files over in an organised manner.