Just an introduction..

[alex.vm]

Well I've lurking around for a while, posted a few times, but haven't introduced myself.

My name is Alex, and reside in a Chicago burb, will be going to Carthage College in Kenosha, WI in the fall.

I love photography, in a way, it kinda led me to consider Apple for my laptop purchase. And so about six weeks ago I bought a 2.33 C2D 15in MBP. Loved it until June 5th, when the new models came out. I rushed to the store for an exchange and they were surprisingly ok with it and kinda looked like they expected me to. I walked out with a 2.4 15in glossy, and ipod and a printer. It has been perfect so far (knock on wood); I love the LED screen.

So far Im learning to use Aperture (good student discount deal ) and Im pretty proficient with Photoshop, both of which run amazing on it.

It goes without saying but I was a Windows user, this is my first Mac, so I wanted to ask, what would be the first apps you would load your new Mac with? what do you recommend?

(already have iAlertU-and it rocks) Other than that I've downloaded a few widgets like iStat.

Here is my flickr page, nothing proffessional or anything, just a hobby. All shot with a Sony Alpha A100.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexvm/

 

[aaronw1986]

I just want to say you are very lucky to have gotten away with that exchange. There are many threads already on the topic of apps and such, check out the beginner guide, or do some searching.

 

[squeeks]

firefox...safari is a piece of junk...dont load too many dashboard apps cause some use just as many resources as regular apps, and they are always running...istat is excellent ive always used that aperture is a lovely program...other than that it just depends on your likes or whatnot

 

[MACDRIVE]

firefox...safari is a piece of junk...

What?

 

[squeeks]

it dosent have a home button, it dosent get much worse than that

one other thing, apple.com has a great download section with all kinda stuff you can get

http://www.apple.com/downloads/

some freeware, some demos, and some shareware

 

[Gandhi]

it dosent have a home button, it dosent get much worse than that

Clearly you have not used Safari then

 

[squeeks]

ive used safari plenty, i just cant seem to find the home button, if you could point it out id be very appriciative

what i need is IE for mac...oh well thats what parrallels is for

 

[Gandhi]

ive used safari plenty, i just cant seem to find the home button, if you could point it out id be very appriciative

what i need is IE for mac...oh well thats what parrallels is for

View -> Customize Toolbar.

If you want to use IE and open the door to viruses on your Windows partition, more power to ya

 

[pianoman]

for squeeks

 

[squeeks]

ah, sweet thanks

 

[joepunk]

hmm…

never had a need for a home button. nice to know anyway.

 

[PlaceofDis]

firefox...safari is a piece of junk...dont load too many dashboard apps cause some use just as many resources as regular apps, and they are always running...istat is excellent ive always used that aperture is a lovely program...other than that it just depends on your likes or whatnot

and firefox is rubbish compared to Camino

also, dashboard widgets don't use any processes when you're out of the dashboard, they do hold a small amount of info in your RAM though so if you don't have enough there could be issues.

and i think quicksilver is one of the best 'apps' out there. period. its amazing.

 

[alex.vm]

and firefox is rubbish compared to Camino

also, dashboard widgets don't use any processes when you're out of the dashboard, they do hold a small amount of info in your RAM though so if you don't have enough there could be issues.

and i think quicksilver is one of the best 'apps' out there. period. its amazing.

As a former Windows user, Firefox was my browser of choice, since I downloaded it though, it has been the only app to crash. Multiple times actually. I uninstalled and reinstalled it but it didn't solve the problem

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[kolax]

I've used FireFox since day 1 of my Mac life and I love it.

Never crashed (well rarely), suits my needs.

 

[PimpDaddy]

I found that Firefox made my fans go up instantly and used alot of resources(RAM and CPU). I used v.2 but don't know if the v.1.5 is better on mac, as on PC.

What's worked best for me was/is Camino!

 

[brutusvimes]

Camino. Safari 3 is surprisingly good. Firefox has become bloated.

 

[Edandlindz28]

hmm…

never had a need for a home button. nice to know anyway.

Until now, I never noticed Safari didn't have a homepage button.

 

[Gymnut]

Yeah, really wish that home button was there by default. It's not difficult to put it up there but not many people realize it can be customized and the home button can be dragged there.

 

[Benedictus-x]

camino. made by mozilla and is identical to FF except its develeoped with mac GUI APIs so it blends in with os x even better than safari

or use opera..I like it

 

[JasonMac]

welcome to the mac world, I use firefox mainly, but sometimes safari as well.

 

[Alloye]

firefox...safari is a piece of junk...

Firefox is fine, but in no way is Safari a piece of junk.

 

[Vuzie]

Hrm... Going "home" isn't that big a deal. Try the keyboard shortcut for Safari: Shift-open-H

 

[masse]

I've been using firefox for 5 years so I tend to stick to it. VLC player has been a lifesaver and timesaver. Quicksilver is a great tool.

 

[alex.vm]

I've been using firefox for 5 years so I tend to stick to it. VLC player has been a lifesaver and timesaver. Quicksilver is a great tool.

Can you guys tell me about quicksilver? I downloaded it on the first 2.33 MBP before it was exchanged but it confused me haha, I dont know how or what to use it for

 

[rhagen]

Can you guys tell me about quicksilver? I downloaded it on the first 2.33 MBP before it was exchanged but it confused me haha, I dont know how or what to use it for

It is only the greatest application ever created. Go to youtube.com and watch some tutorial videos on quicksilver. Too hard to explain what it does... because it does everything.

Also go to Podcast! on itunes and search for MacBreak. Merlin Mann does a great beginner guide on quicksilver.