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M

mizzi

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 14, 2005
84
0
Orange County, California
hey, what's going on?

my name is Mark, i'm a southern california based photographer who has been on a pc since day one... I decided after much research that Mac is pretty much the industry standard in dealing with huge photo files and web design so that's the route i've chosen.

yesterday i ordered a 15" Powerbook G4 with 2 gigs of memory. i have a 200 gig hard drive waiting to be turned into an external hard drive for the pbook (any suggestions on conversion kits would be greatly appreciated, a 15" sony bright screen lcd/flat screen monitor, icurve, and i got this killer messenger bag/sleeve from mac-cases. i'm going to be set as soon as it arrives.

anyway, as a very recent convert from pc to mac, i was wondering how easy it is to get used to a mac's way of doing things. i've played around on a few and it seems easy enough. where will i notice the biggest differences?

also...any suggestions on some cool widgets?

my apologies if i'm posting this in the wrong forum...

thanks :)

<3Mark
 
mizzi said:
anyway, as a very recent convert from pc to mac, i was wondering how easy it is to get used to a mac's way of doing things. i've played around on a few and it seems easy enough. where will i notice the biggest differences?
Click to expand...
Welcome to MacRumors, mizzi. Most things involved with using a Mac are intuitive and you should feel comfortable using the different OS within a couple of weeks. I find most things more intuitive to use within OS X but the few things that are not intuitive are more difficult to figure out.

The biggest difference for me was window-handling. Don't try to use it like Windows and maximize all the windows. Be open-minded to having several smaller windows opened and overlapping. Expose is your friend and Command-Tab works just like Alt-Tab in Windows. I also could never get used to the one-button mouse thing and the PB has a one-button track pad - get a nice multi-button mouse for when you're not on the go.

Enjoy your new Mac. :)
 
thank you for the warm welcome, that's awesome. i have a 2 button mouse ready to go...now my biggest concern is the pbook's screen? i'm reading the thread about these lines and ugh...i'm quite nervous now.

another question i have is how the filing system works. is it similar to windows...folder inside folder inside folder kind of thing or am i way off?
 
Welcome to MR
Once you get your Mac, you will find many things similar, and many others will quickly become intuitive.

Be sure to visit often and post specific questions!

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
that's the plan! i spend most of my day at work in front of a computer so i'll be stopping by quite often, especially when i get the powerbook in my hands. my mind is still blown at the screen issue with the 15" pbook...i'd hate to just get it and have to turn around and send it back.
 
mizzi said:
thank you for the warm welcome, that's awesome. i have a 2 button mouse ready to go...now my biggest concern is the pbook's screen? i'm reading the thread about these lines and ugh...i'm quite nervous now.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't worry too much. There does seem to be some bad Powerbooks with the latest revision but chances are it is a relatively small number of units affected. If yours has the defect it will probably rear its ugly head soon and Apple seems to be good about replacing the defective Powerbooks based on what I read in other threads. When nasty defects like this arise people are quite vocal, even if it is only 0.25% of the units affected.

mizzi said:
another question i have is how the filing system works. is it similar to windows...folder inside folder inside folder kind of thing or am i way off?
Click to expand...
The file system is based on a nested folder system just like Windows. However, OS X does a much better job of encouraging the use of your profile folder and the various subfolders (Music, Photos, Movies, Documents, etc). You should have no problem working with the file system and Spotlight is amazing for finding files you may have misplaced - it makes the current Windows search feature look like a joke.
 
feakbeak said:
I wouldn't worry too much. There does seem to be some bad Powerbooks with the latest revision but chances are it is a relatively small number of units affected. If yours has the defect it will probably rear its ugly head soon and Apple seems to be good about replacing the defective Powerbooks based on what I read in other threads. When nasty defects like this arise people are quite vocal, even if it is only 0.25% of the units affected.

The file system is based on a nested folder system just like Windows. However, OS X does a much better job of encouraging the use of your profile folder and the various subfolders (Music, Photos, Movies, Documents, etc). You should have no problem working with the file system and Spotlight is amazing for finding files you may have misplaced - it makes the current Windows search feature look like a joke.
Click to expand...

you've been incredibly reassuring, thank you. and as with photography...same deal. something new comes out, something goes wrong for a group of people who speak much louder than those who have perfectly functioning gear...

good to hear i'll have no problem browsing files. how is Spotlight so signifficantly different than the Windows search feature? just curious for now, and perhaps a bit antsy.
 
Welcome to Mac! It sound like you will want to check out Aperture, although how well it'll run on a PowerBook, I'm not sure. It's really made for high-end PowerMacs. But in any case I think you will be very happy doing graphic arts on the Mac. Don't forget to calibrate your screen right away (System Preferences/Displays), as with most laptops Apple tends to run them very blue out of the box.
 
HiRez said:
Welcome to Mac! It sound like you will want to check out Aperture, although how well it'll run on a PowerBook, I'm not sure. It's really made for high-end PowerMacs. But in any case I think you will be very happy doing graphic arts on the Mac. Don't forget to calibrate your screen right away (System Preferences/Displays), as with most laptops Apple tends to run them very blue out of the box.
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice, i'm thinking about buying some calibration software when i get it. assuming i can see through the pixelated horizontal lines haha...ugh...:)

and i have 2 gigs of memory in the thing, i hope i can run aperture, it looks like an incredible program.
 
You'll absolutely love OSX and you'll probably never want to go back to Windows ever. Most things are way more intuitive and the file system doesn't have a registry like Windows so no broken installs/uninstalls because of registry problems.

Spotlight is incredible. It's absolutely amazing how fast it can locate things on my powerbook. It really does make the windows search look like a dinosaur.

You'll also learn a bunch of really interesting little things about your powerbook as you use it. The excellent screen, the WAY better construction compared to PC laptops, the screen hinge, easy hookup to other displays and plenty of power for most games available on mac today (My 1.33ghz, 1GB RAM 15" PBook plays Halo as though it were an Xbox!) It's a great machine with lots of power, you'll enjoy it immensely!

Welcome to Mac! :)
 
Welcome to the wonderful world of Mac! I, too, am a recent switcher and also a photographer. I LOVE my Macs! (I started out with the iMac and then not even two weeks later went out and ordered me a 15" PB, too. My Windoze machines are collecting dust....)

I had seen various comments about the way iPhoto handles photographic files so when i transferred all my images from my old computer's "My Documents/My Pictures" folders, I did NOT put them into iPhoto, but instead simply placed them in to the folder called "Pictures." That way my original organization of the images remains. From what I understand, iPhoto does things chronologically and that is not the way I wanted to handle my images. I'm definitely eager for Aperture to become available, as I think that will be the answer as far as organizing/cataloging my images.

One thing which I've found disconcerting is that unlike "My Documents/My Pictures," when you have images in the "Pictures" section of your Mac the thumbnails are not displayed. It's a bit annoying. I've been able to get around that by going into the Bridge part of Photoshop CS2, but of course that option is only available if one has that software. Anyway, when I'm in Bridge, then I can open up a given folder and see all the thumbnails.

I LOVELOVELOVE my Macs and am so happy that I made the switch. Everything just "works," as they say, and it is quite intuitive for the most part, too, so that there is not a huge learning curve after all. At least there was not for me.

Looking forward to seeing more from you once your new PB arrives and you're really in the Mac world at last....

OTB
 
Welcome to MacRumors, and congrats on the purchase. Here's a couple of things you might want to do to get up to speed w/ your new laptop. You may want to buy a book that outlines all of the features of OSX/Tiger. A lot of the stuff that makes Macs such a joy to use are the millions of small features that many people never even realize are there.

Another thing to check out is a series of very-well written articles about the Mac from a hard-core PC guy here: http://www.anandtech.com/mac/ . Just start at the bottom and work your way up (they're pretty long, but if you're in the mood to kill some time), I've been a Mac user my whole life and to be honest, I still learn new things all the time. You were asking about the file structure of OSX, and yes it is a heirarchy of files/folders similar to Windows. One neat/unique feature of Tiger is the ability to create smart folders-- these are basically live-updating saved searches, so for example, you could create a smart folder that will show all of the documents that have been created in the past week that contain .jpg or .pict and label it recent pics. If you add a new jpeg to your user directory or to the desktop (or anywhere for that matter), it'll also be automatically added to this smart folder as well (instantly).

Another thing that may be weird for you is that the button that is the equivalent for "maximize" in Windows is more of an "Optimize" in OSX. Basically, it won't blow up the whole window to fit the screen, but make the window the perfect size to hold the content you're currently viewing (this usually throws people for a loop/makes them angry at first). Another common issue for switchers it that in most cases when you close the last window in an app, the app remains open (but don't worry, it's not using much cpu/memory if it's not doing anything).

As far as gaming goes... I'd be a little weary of GPU/CPU intensive First-Person Shooters like Halo. They may run, and maybe not too bad, but I wouldn't expect it to be mind-blowing or anything. There are many great shareware apps and low-level kinda stuff that can be fun, but most of the big-name commercial titles come out significantly later (like a year+) and often are not nearly as stable because the companies that port them over don't have the time/money/resources to optimize for the PPC/OSX/Open GL etc.

Anyways, once again welcome, and you really should look into getting a good book on Tiger, especially since you're going to be using this as a way to make a living.
 
On the Brink said:
I had seen various comments about the way iPhoto handles photographic files so when i transferred all my images from my old computer's "My Documents/My Pictures" folders, I did NOT put them into iPhoto, but instead simply placed them in to the folder called "Pictures." That way my original organization of the images remains. From what I understand, iPhoto does things chronologically and that is not the way I wanted to handle my images. I'm definitely eager for Aperture to become available, as I think that will be the answer as far as organizing/cataloging my images. OTB
Click to expand...

thank you very much for the welcome and ideas as well. i will be using PS CS2 and hoooopefuly be getting aperture. we'll see...but thank you very much! :)
 
GorillaPaws said:
Another thing to check out is a series of very-well written articles about the Mac from a hard-core PC guy here: http://www.anandtech.com/mac/ . Just start at the bottom and work your way up (they're pretty long, but if you're in the mood to kill some time)
Click to expand...
AnandTech is a great site. I'm glad they've started writing Mac articles. The site is a great resource for hardware reviews/information. They also put together great hardware (x86) buying guides every couple of months.

I think AnandTech has some of the most objective and in-depth reviews on the net. The articles discussing Macs and OS X seem very well reasoned and not biased on way or another. I happen to agree with him about a great many items when it comes to the pros/cons of Windows and OS X.
 
GorillaPaws said:
As far as gaming goes... I'd be a little weary of GPU/CPU intensive First-Person Shooters like Halo. They may run, and maybe not too bad, but I wouldn't expect it to be mind-blowing or anything. Anyways, once again welcome, and you really should look into getting a good book on Tiger, especially since you're going to be using this as a way to make a living.
Click to expand...


thank you for the welcome and luckily, i'm not much of a gamer at all. i've just played halo several times on a friend's xbox and the idea was kind of neat. i will definitely check out the articles at work tomorrow when i will obviously have the most time to kill hehe. thanks again.
 
Welcome mizzi. As you can see in my sig, I switched last year, after using Windows for 10 years. I never been happier with a computer. I'm a developer and these machines just do what I want.

Have a look at my post in another thread that I made the other day:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/160937/
It was for a power user who was disappointed because things were really different to Windows, but I think you'll find it helpful. There's other great tips in that thread too.

Another tip (that I didn't mention there) is to put your Applications folder in the dock next to the trash (don't drag it onto the trash, but next to it (between the vertical separator and the trash icon). The dock will expand when you drag it there. If you right-click (ctrl-click if you don't have a multi-button mouse) on the icon, it will come up like the "All Programs" part of the the Start Menu. I find it very useful.

Edit: just remembered another thing, you can right-click on a dock icon for a running program (which have a triangle under the icon) to get the list of windows that are open, much like how groups work on the task bar in Windows.
 
Hi Howdy mizzi!

Your new PowerBook comes loaded with about 4.7+ GB's of
language translators, printer drivers, demo installers, GarageBand demo songs and iDVD themes.

I usually advise new notebook owners to verify everything is working O.K.
completely "AS SHIPPED" then before adding anything or transferring your old data, whip out your OS disc and run a clean erase install deselecting all that
extra junk to free up your hard drive.

If you already have an Adobe CS2 Windows license, Adobe should send you the OSX version free plus cost of shipping.

The horizontal line issue is looking more and more like a firmware glitch
between the GPU default settings and the screen, but I would talk to the store manager and make him/her aware of your concerns and try to get a commitment that if your purchase has this issue that they will exchange it without any delay or hassle.

Buy a good Logitech 2 button mouse or the Mighty Mouse.

You can buy your extra RAM 3rd party at Datamem with 1 GB single DIMMs
running about $100 each. Just make sure you match the specs exactly.

Enjoy your new machine and welcome! :D
 
hopejr said:
Have a look at my post in another thread that I made the other day:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/160937/
It was for a power user who was disappointed because things were really different to Windows, but I think you'll find it helpful. There's other great tips in that thread too.
Click to expand...

thank you very much for the advice, i'm going to head over to that thread right now and have a look around. thanks for the welcome and for the great suggestions :)
 
FFTT said:
Hi Howdy mizzi!

The horizontal line issue is looking more and more like a firmware glitch
between the GPU default settings and the screen, but I would talk to the store manager and make him/her aware of your concerns and try to get a commitment that if your purchase has this issue that they will exchange it without any delay or hassle.
Click to expand...

thanks for the welcome...i hope you're right, i would love for this to be an easy fix since it seems pretty common all accross the board. i'm still farily nervous. i guess it isnt even scheduled to ship until the 17th, so i will have to continue to be patient...far easier said than done.

i ordered it with 2 gigs of memory and i already have an excellent logitech mouse. i'm thinking of going wireless unless anyone can convince me it's a bad idea hah.

thanks again!
 
On the Brink said:
One thing which I've found disconcerting is that unlike "My Documents/My Pictures," when you have images in the "Pictures" section of your Mac the thumbnails are not displayed.
Click to expand...

Huh? Click anywhere in Finder then press Command-J (or select View->Show View Options from menu). Now click the box that says Show Icon Preview.
 
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