New rMBP 13" 2015 and new to Macs

[djmalone]

HI all,

Been trawling through the posts here for ages whilst deciding whether to try to make the leap from Windows to OS X and in the end I ordered the new rMBP (2.9/16gb/512gb).

It arrived last night and I'm really impressed with it, despite the fact that OS X is fairly alien to me and some of the buttons re in the 'wrong' place

First of all, I haven't noticed any issues with the screen juddering, although I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for, but everything seems super smooth.

Secondly, I've looked through a lot of posts and threads on noobs to Macs, but I wanted to know if there are any killer apps that people really thing will help with the transition from Win to OS X.

Thirdly, even though I've only had a couple hours playing with it I'm loving the fact that it integrates with my iphone and ipad. It really feels like they are now all part of the same thing and I'm looking forward to how this is going to work as I learn how to do more and more things in OS X.

Lastly, When I download and install programs, there doesnt seem to be an option to dump them into a folder like in windows and I'm just concerned I'm doing the Windows equivalent of installing everything onto the desktop and then creating one almighty mess for myself later. Is this the case or is a mac different in this regard?

PS- Oh and it's saying I have 17h battery left!!

 

[GGJstudios]

Secondly, I've looked through a lot of posts and threads on noobs to Macs, but I wanted to know if there are any killer apps that people really thing will help with the transition from Win to OS X.

Which apps you will find useful depends entirely on what you plan to do with your Mac. An app may be extremely useful to some people, but not to you, because your computing needs are different. Start by deciding what you want to do, then look for an already installed Apple app that does that. If you don't find one that meets your needs, then look for a 3rd party app to accomplish what you want.

Lastly, When I download and install programs, there doesnt seem to be an option to dump them into a folder like in windows and I'm just concerned I'm doing the Windows equivalent of installing everything onto the desktop and then creating one almighty mess for myself later. Is this the case or is a mac different in this regard?

Yes, installing and uninstalling apps is different on OS X than in Windows.
Installing Applications in Mac OS X

PS- Oh and it's saying I have 17h battery left!!

The time remaining indicator is based on the minute-to-minute power demands of your Mac and will change as your settings and workload changes. It is not a reliable indicator. There are many factors that impact your battery life. See the BATTERY LIFE FROM A CHARGE section of the following link for details, including tips on how to maximize your battery life.

​

The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.

Apple Notebook Battery FAQ​

 

[Samuelsan2001]

A few apps I like

Skim: for all your PDF reading needs. It really is a good little app.

VLC for playing videos. Not the best but certainly plays the most formats with little issue.

Rowmote Pro: this is an iphone and ipad app that lets you use their screens as a touchpad and keyboard and remote control. Fantastic for use with controling your laptop when connected to a TV for visoe playback.

Transmission: for all your "legal" torrenting needs.

 

[nj-mac-user]

Lastly, When I download and install programs, there doesnt seem to be an option to dump them into a folder like in windows and I'm just concerned I'm doing the Windows equivalent of installing everything onto the desktop and then creating one almighty mess for myself later. Is this the case or is a mac different in this regard?

If I understand you correctly, you're saying that when you download an application from a website (not Mac App Store) it immediately downloads everything (Downloads folder by default) without giving you the option to choose a destination folder? If so, that's simply a browser option you can change.

 

[flur]

Welcome to the Apple side of things!

I came from PCs also and totally get what you're saying about the strange app installation process. The stuff that's on your desktop is usually the disk images for the apps (the files that install the apps) as opposed to the apps themselves. You can just drag those into the trash after you're done installing the apps. The file that you'll want to save is the one in the download folder, as you'll need that to reinstall later should you have any problems (I only keep the ones for apps that I paid for).

When you install them, the actual app files go into the application folder, which you can see in the finder.

Coming from Windows, one of my favorite things about OSX is the mission control. It lets you see all the apps, and additional desktops that you can access via a swipe on the trackpad, and generally makes sure you can find all the stuff you've got buried under other stuff on your desktop. I'd recommend getting familiar with that function first, as it makes everything else easier.

 

[djmalone]

Thanks for all this info.

One thing I am keen to find us a good email client. I live the Outlook iPhone app and hate the Windows desktop version. From the very little I've played with the Mail app that comes with osx it doesn't look great either.

 

[GGJstudios]

Thanks for all this info.

One thing I am keen to find us a good email client. I live the Outlook iPhone app and hate the Windows desktop version. From the very little I've played with the Mail app that comes with osx it doesn't look great either.

The Mail app works great for me and many others. What do you need that it doesn't provide?

 

[scaredpoet]

Thanks for all this info.

One thing I am keen to find us a good email client. I live the Outlook iPhone app and hate the Windows desktop version. From the very little I've played with the Mail app that comes with osx it doesn't look great either.

If you absolutely don't like the Mail App, you can try AirMail which is pretty decent.

 

[flur]

If you absolutely don't like the Mail App, you can try AirMail which is pretty decent.

I'm looking to replace Sparrow (which I LOVE, but stupid Google pulled it from the appstore so I can't install it on my new MBP), and I've heard Airmail is the way to go, but the appstore reviews are terrible. It's been a good experience for you?

 

[scaredpoet]

I'm looking to replace Sparrow (which I LOVE, but stupid Google pulled it from the appstore so I can't install it on my new MBP), and I've heard Airmail is the way to go, but the appstore reviews are terrible. It's been a good experience for you?

I too, really wanted to keep using Sparrow, but yeah, Google killed it.

So yeah, Airmail. My experience has been... mixed. And I say that because I have a 2015 MacBook Pro with an SSD (a 2013 MBA before that), and a late 2013 Haswell iMac with a regular spinning-rust hard drive (I just wanted something basic for home). On the SSD-based Macs, Airmail is pretty responsive. On a regular old hard drive, it's dog-slow and sometimes doesn't launch even after letting it sit for 10 minutes.

My guess is, the app does a LOT of disk thrashing. This clearly isn't so big a performance issue on SSD, but it basically kills the experience on a traditional drive.

That said, if you're on an MBPr, especially the new ones with the super-fast SSDs, you probably won't have this problem and Airmail will be great for you. If you're on a Mac with a traditional hard disk, beware.

The other issue: the app developer did the forced-pay-to-upgrade trick: When switching from version 1 to version 2, they pulled the old app from the app store, and made the new app a separate submission. So if you bought Airmail 1, even the day before, you had to pay again to get Airmail 2. That annoyed a lot of people.