Help using OSX, new mac user

[muldul]

I will hopefully be getting my first mac sometime this week. It will be macbook (Black) and i am very excited. I am currently in secondary school (highschool?) and would like to take my macbook to school with me most days. I have used windows all my life and so i am a little nervous and i don't know what to expect as i have never used a mac for longer than 30 minutes at a time. Could you give me some advice on applications i should invest in, and some tips on how to set it up when i first get it. A few things

1. I heard somewhere that you should create an adminstrator account and make another for you with out the administrator privilages. Why? How much will it restrict my ability to make changes to my mac and download software etc etc.

2. My school uses windows and i heard that there can be problems with compatability between microsoft office for PC and Office for Mac. How bad are these?

3. i would most likly like to run windows on my make to play games, download windows only apps and maybe to run office if the compatibility issues are to much. Which way should i do this, via bootcamp (they way i am leaning now) or by virtualisation? i would love some help from people who have used them.

4. Should i buy applecare right away or should wait untill a few months into my warrenty? what does applecare protect me against?

5. am i chosing correctly in which macbook to get. I am only getting £1000 ($2000) and i have £200 ($400) in my bank. i saw a referb pro for £1159 ($2318), but i would prefer a brand new one macbook. I am mainly going to use it for word processing, net surfing, play the odd game (spore), listening to music and watching movies. Will the macbook meet all of these needs?

Thank you,
Hope you can help me

 

[drewsof07]

I will hopefully be getting my first mac sometime this week. It will be macbook (Black) and i am very excited. I am currently in secondary school (highschool?) and would like to take my macbook to school with me most days. I have used windows all my life and so i am a little nervous and i don't know what to expect as i have never used a mac for longer than 30 minutes at a time. Could you give me some advice on applications i should invest in, and some tips on how to set it up when i first get it. A few things


Thank you,
Hope you can help me

1. You will not be able to install new programs/updates or modify system files or view files linked to the admin account unless they are in the "Shared" directory.
2. Office compatibility problems haven't gotten any better since 08, I have to save word docs as .doc and make them compatible for office 2004 and then have no problems on my schools office 2003. My school is hardcore Windows XP and I have no problem as long as I am prepared. (Rarely use the library though) When in doubt, +P and save as a PDF 😀
3. Games are laggy under virtualization programs, so bootcamp is your best bet, but Parallels is great for running Office Publisher or smaller games. Bootcamp is free though and Parallels $79
4. You can wait until your year is almost up to buy Applecare, it protects against any manufacturer defects for internal components and some external. It does NOT cover accidental damage, and once you have a dent or other significant flaw that may not affect performance, Apple will blame any real problems you have on that, so just take care of it.
5. I would say stick with the Macbook if this is your first Mac, it is more than capable of nearly any tasks that aren't GPU intensive. If in the future you find you need more, just take care of it and sell it to buy an upgrade. My only advice is not to buy a base model anything from Apple because you will find that there are features you wish you had gotten upgraded (Ram, HD, etc.) down the road.
And as a student I think you will appreciate the lighter weight of the Macbook compared to a Pro.

As far as other details, I would rearrange the finder a bit, just make shortcuts to folders you will use often. As far as applications, I would suggest Office 08: Student edition obviously, but the rest will just depend on what kind of things you do. Also I would suggest setting up Mail for use with all your POP accounts (gmail, etc.).

 

[amusiccale]

Re: Applecare. If you have a gold or platinum credit card, and you make your purchase with that, you often will get an extension of the product warranty to 2 years from the original 1 year without purchasing Applecare at all. This second year would be through your credit card rather than Apple. This doesn't apply to refurbs, even from Apple (at least, that's what Mastercard tells me)

 

[vansouza]

http://www.opensourcemac.org/

This site may be useful to you.