New to the Forum and Mac!

[AirunJae]

I remember playing on Macs some in elementary school, and then a bit in my High School graphic arts class, and of course I've had some iPods... but I finally ordered one! I order a MacBook Pro this past Friday. Any helpful tips for getting started/cool widgets would be greatly appreciated. Also, I'm considering trying to paint/get mine painted... Matte Black probably, advice there would be great too.

cheers!

 

[Shabbis]

Check out colorware if you want to get your MBP painted. I personally prefer the standard aluminum color.

 

[AirunJae]

yeah... I'm only considering a paint job, just kicking it around in my head. Might be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[ricpac]

smcFanControl and iStatPro for a widget.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

download quicksilver and you will never regret it. (it takes a little getting used to)

Merlin mann, of 43folders.com and themerlinshow.com, is a great help for finding the true power of quicksilver.

quicksilver is available here: http://blacktree.com/

 

[secretpact]

I'd recommend checking out Firefox 3 Beta 5. I've been running beta 5 since the day of release. It's way faster than Firefox 2, and I prefer it over Safari because of the extensions/I'm used to it.

Link:
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all-beta.html

 

[Jiddick ExRex]

I'd recommend checking out Firefox 3 Beta 5. I've been running beta 5 since the day of release. It's way faster than Firefox 2, and I prefer it over Safari because of the extensions/I'm used to it.

Link:
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all-beta.html

Sorry to say this, but recommending a theoretically unstable beta version of a browser to a mac newbie is a terrible move. 😡


Stick with Safari and take it from there. If you need more user configurability, go with Firefox 2.

 

[AirunJae]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions everyone!

 

[clevin]

you can get mac app update from www.macupdate.com or www.versiontracker.com

you can get cool wallpeprs from www.interfacelift.com

Skype is best for video chat with your friends across different platforms

Don't forget to calibrate your battery when you get it.

You can take screenshot of full desktop by press shift+cmd(apple key)+3, or you can select part of desktop by pressing shift+cmd+4

Reset PRAM is pressing cmd+option+P+R when computer boot

You can reassign F* keys to behave as F8 rather than function keys if you need from system preferences

You might want to check preferences and enable expose active corners.

You can get much cheaper RAMs in case you want to update from www.newegg.com

and yes, I also recommend firefox 3 beta 5, unless firefox 3 RC1 will be out before you receive your MBP, as a beta, its more stable than firefox 2 for many users. Its more optimized for mac and you should try it out for sure.

Finally. Search google for your questions.

 

[alphaod]

I'd recommend checking out Firefox 3 Beta 5. I've been running beta 5 since the day of release. It's way faster than Firefox 2, and I prefer it over Safari because of the extensions/I'm used to it.

Link:
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all-beta.html

Why bother with beta, just go get Minefield and/or Webkit (Nightly builds for Firefox and Safari, respectively).

LINKS:
http://www.mozilla.org/developer/#builds
http://nightly.webkit.org/

 

[FJ218700]

Sorry to say this, but recommending a theoretically unstable beta version of a browser to a mac newbie is a terrible move. 😡


Stick with Safari and take it from there. If you need more user configurability, go with Firefox 2.

beta 5 is fine

 

[clevin]

Why bother with beta, just go get Minefield and/or Webkit (Nightly builds for Firefox and Safari, respectively).

LINKS:
http://www.mozilla.org/developer/#builds
http://nightly.webkit.org/

Now thats a little bit different, nightly can be quirky sometimes, as I have been following them most of the time. But if OP is ready for bleeding (indeed) edge. It doesn't hurt to try.

 

[Neil321]

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