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How long to get used to macos?

G

gochi

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 31, 2011
289
1
just started using mac 2 days ago. played around it for a bit, some very neat futures, really nice.

but they seem useless, and im realizing that maybe its just too much?

how long did it take you to get used to mac os? its very diff. from windows 7.
 
makaveli559m said:
I am still using Windows on my MacBook Pro. Might take a while longer....
Click to expand...

That's why it's taking longer. When I switched to OS X, I refused to install Windows on my Mac, forcing myself to ramp up on using OS X much faster. If you keep going back to Windows, you're less inclined to learn the OS X way of doing things.
 
At first OS X seems counterintuitive to what you're used to (especially file management being centered around My Computer/Windows Explorer), but eventually you get it.

From my experience the best way to learn OS X (10.8) is understanding how to use Finder and Spotlight, OS X's versions of Explorer and Search. If you master the ability to locate and manage your files and manipulate them at the Finder level everything else fell into place for me (as a former Windows user).

Another thing is windows management. OS X is terrible at windows management in comparison (the green button is inherently frustrating as a former Windows user), so get used to using Mission Control often (three-finger swipe up on the trackpad, or set up a hot corner if you like mice) and consider it integral to managing your windows. Alternatively you can get a cheap app like BetterSnapTool which gives your Snap To Windows functionality.

Finally the biggest thing (for me at least) was getting used to knowing keyboard shortcuts for everything. For example a Windows concept that I will probably never give up is closing a window using the X button should equal shutting down the program completely. This is not a valid concept in OS X. You'll hit the red button to close the app's window and...crap, the program is still active in the Menu Bar. To overcome this I now use CMD+Q instead of pointing at the Menu Bar to quit an app. Keyboard shortcuts make everything so much simpler in OS X, from opening new windows (CMD+W or CMD+N) to going full screen on an app (CTRL+CMD+F) to emptying the trash without a dialog(SHFT+OPT+CMD+DEL). Sure there's a Windows equivalent for stuff like this, but Windows is set up as so mouse centric that you'll likely never use keyboard shortcuts as often as you do in OS X. On the other hand in OS X it's as simple as hitting CMD+Space Bar to find anything on the Mac you might be looking for.

In short the faster you learn keyboard shortcuts in OS X, the better you're off in the long run.

The first two Google hits are actually pretty good to bookmark.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343

http://www.danrodney.com/mac/
 
Give it some time but don't exceed the 14 day window. Some folks never "get" OSX and that's not inherently bad but it'd be shame to run windows on your Mac when there's plenty of sexy windows computers for the same money. Folks tend to have an easier time coming to OSX from Linux rather than Windows.
 
There is not much to get used to, IMO. OS X is just like Windows, but not as barebone. The biggest thing is certainly the menu and the behaviour of maximise/zoom button (it used to frustrate me earlier until I realised that its actually a much neater implementation for most applications). They shortcuts are more logical in OS X, the indexing service is very similar to one found in Vista and 7 (just better), and the ability to do quick view (press space on a file in Finder) is my absolute favourite OS X feature and I couldn't live without it. Also, get a book on unix and start learning Terminal commands, its great fun and it will give you control over your system of kinds Windows users can only dream about ;)
 
leman said:
Also, get a book on unix and start learning Terminal commands, its great fun and it will give you control over your system of kinds Windows users can only dream about ;)
Click to expand...

I don't agree with this and I don't intend to turn this in to another Mac v PC debate, but with Windows you have full control out the box. Due to the open nature of Windows, the user can do whatever he/she likes without needing to read books.
 
Also Windows has a command shell too and the power shell.
It is just that no ordinary person ever uses it because it isn't needed. Even among administrators in the Windows space the use is limited.

In OSX you just need terminal for simple things like wanting to see hidden files in finder. Personally I prefer pathfinder as the standard OSX finder is just too barebones for me.
I also don't think one should get used to Spotlight and finder. Ignore finder use pathfinder. Ignore spotlight use Alfred just like you'd use the hit Windows Key typ stuff you are looking for feature in Windows. There is really no difference just that Alfred learns quicker and has a nicer GUI with lots of powerful extras one can use more and more as one learns.
Nobody needs to learn unix or the command line but one should be able to find the terminal and know how to type in stuff for problem solving. Doesn't mean one has to understand what one is doing. Just be able to follow the instructions which in Windows would be different and revolve around klick on this now on this, now uncheck this, hit okay.
Terminal is faster but scary for non tech savy people. Especially due to the counterintuitive way of responding to success. It doesn't say anything when something worked while most people would expect a "Yay did it, worked, 100% done".
 
It took me about half a day to know my way around just fine, and a few weeks to delve deeper into the details.
 
I had never owned an Apple product at all until last April when I got my first iPhone. Soon after I had an iPad and a 27in iMac.


Having never touched OSX before I got my iMac the first thing I did was try to modify my desktop as much as I could to look like windows and I tried to do everything like I did in Win7. It did not work, I did not like it.


After a few days I reinstalled OSX to undo all the modifications I had made and I started again. This time around I forced myself to learn Apples way modifying as few things I could. After a week I was loving it and I now find Windows cumbersome.
 
Steve121178 said:
I don't agree with this and I don't intend to turn this in to another Mac v PC debate, but with Windows you have full control out the box. Due to the open nature of Windows, the user can do whatever he/she likes without needing to read books.
Click to expand...

OS X has Automator, launchd and AppleScript. Windows 7 is very nice as well, but is not nearly as configurable. Of course, you can change lots of stuff via third-party mods, but that is not what we are talking about here.

----------
dusk007 said:
Ignore spotlight use Alfred just like you'd use the hit Windows Key typ stuff you are looking for feature in Windows. There is really no difference just that Alfred learns quicker and has a nicer GUI with lots of powerful extras one can use more and more as one learns.
Click to expand...

Alfred is a spotlight GUI with additional features ;)
 
I bought a 13" MBP with retina last night, and was stuck on the registration screen for 20 minutes (the page that asks your country). I couldn't enter United States, and finally realized that the track pad has to be pushed down until it clicks....LOL! I spent that 20 minutes mumbling to my wife about how much OSX is going to be a mistake, and then she told me she knew about the track pad click. Oh we'll... Used my son's student ID and got $100 gift card and $100 off the price of the computer.
 
To get initially proficient on OS X, you need to know two things ...

1) System Preferences. Instead of hunting and searching in Control Panel, all the settings a beginner/Intermediate level use needs are found in System Preferences.

2) Finding the applications. Open finder, on the left hand side look in the Applications folder.

From there, everything else is gravy. My mother has been using OS X for four years now, and she still has not grasped these two simple ideas. The in-laws have been using OS X for three years and have not grasped these two simple concepts. So maybe my advice is a little skewed ;)
 
leman said:
Alfred is a spotlight GUI with additional features ;)
Click to expand...
It is quite a few additional features but also just with its most basic functionality as a GUI it beats spotlight. Spotlight always structures stuff the same way, while alfred tends to always know what you want it to do. Alfred has the nice big visible box that is prominent when it should be but disappears quickly. It is so fast I use it for switching apps.
Just as a GUI Alfred is just nicer than Spotlight. Pathfinder is also just a finder with additional features but a lot better than finder. You can tell it to show hidden files, tell it how to put folders on top in a list, change the font size, make stuff bold if it has some attribute, terminal built in, it can cut CMD+X, you can decide yourself that Enter ain't great for renaming, better keyboard folder navigatoin, much better get info pane, tons more.
But at the end it is really just a different GUI which uses the same cover flow implementation etc. ... ;).
 
gochi said:
how long did it take you to get used to mac os? its very diff. from windows 7.
Click to expand...

Took me 2 days to understand the basics, including formats, encryption, Time Machine; I come from Windows 7 as well. Will probably take me a couple of months to understand everything. Been using my MBA for 2 weeks and everytime I grab a PC, I either start using the mouse as the Apple Trackpad (3 fingers, pinch, swipe to go back, etc), or move the scrollwheel up to move the page up which neither of those work on Windows. My fingers definitely love Apple, since I now do everything backwards on Windows, and it has been only 2 weeks!! Haha.
 
Many things on the mac I am still not used to and I have been using a mac for a long time. It's like you learned on one thing and just have some things stuck in your head...I just can't get past them. Window focus is one, closing apps don't actually close and they keep the window focus requiring another, un needed click to actually start working again. Maximize doesn't.

Shortcut keys took a while to recall.
 
FrankB1191 said:
I bought a 13" MBP with retina last night, and was stuck on the registration screen for 20 minutes (the page that asks your country). I couldn't enter United States, and finally realized that the track pad has to be pushed down until it clicks....
Click to expand...

I got stuck when it asked if I have a US or Australian keyboard, when I live in neither country. After some searching online using another machine, I found there is a US and an International keyboard option and I appear to have the US keyboard, so I choose that one.

Then when I entered my apple id, it asked me for my phone number and then refused to accept an international number.

To the thread starter, perhaps take a look here if you haven't already...
https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/new_user/

The section on Multi Touch gestures was very useful when I first got my machine a few weeks ago
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4721

Other than that, what the others said... Finder, Spotlight, System Preferences and a few of the keyboard shortcuts.
 
FrankB1191 said:
I bought a 13" MBP with retina last night, and was stuck on the registration screen for 20 minutes (the page that asks your country). I couldn't enter United States, and finally realized that the track pad has to be pushed down until it clicks....LOL! I spent that 20 minutes mumbling to my wife about how much OSX is going to be a mistake, and then she told me she knew about the track pad click. Oh we'll... Used my son's student ID and got $100 gift card and $100 off the price of the computer.
Click to expand...

You don't have to press it till it clicks but it is that way by default. You can go into system preferences and change the trackpad preferences to however you like. Then if you really want power install a program called better touch tool which can make your trackpad do basically anything at all using gestures and can be set up for each individual app. Better give yourself some time to get used to the OS before going that far though
 
Rightzoom to Maximize

swerve147 said:
Another thing is windows management. OS X is terrible at windows management in comparison (the green button is inherently frustrating as a former Windows user), so get used to using Mission Control often (three-finger swipe up on the trackpad, or set up a hot corner if you like mice) and consider it integral to managing your windows. Alternatively you can get a cheap app like BetterSnapTool which gives your Snap To Windows functionality.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your useful tips, I use the app "Rightzoom" to Maximize windows in Mac OS X in the same way Windows OS does
 
leman said:
Also, get a book on unix and start learning Terminal commands, its great fun and it will give you control over your system of kinds Windows users can only dream about ;)
Click to expand...

Shudder..terminal gives inexperienced users a huge opportunity to make a terrible mess. Anyone who doesn't really know what they are doing shouldn't mess with terminal.
-------------

Get David Pogue's Switching to the Mac book and you will be fine.

I worked with Multics long before I had an x86 PC (running DOS), then x86 pcs with DOS, Windows (numerous versions), Solaris, and I can't remember how many other *NIX systems with window shells. Picking up OSx in 2005 was no big deal. Pogue's Switching Book covered the differences I needed to pick up between windows/osx.
-----------------
 
moataz83 said:
Thanks for your useful tips, I use the app "Rightzoom" to Maximize windows in Mac OS X in the same way Windows OS does
Click to expand...

I don't understand the windows way of maximizing everything, apart from wasting screen space it does nothing.

If a webpage is 900 pixels wide, it doesn't need a browser window that is any wider, you're just adding blank, useless spaces on either side of it.

I make windows as big as they need to be to see what I need to see, any bigger is wasted and could be used for another app.
 
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