Questions from a soon to be new Mac owner

[samo1215]

I am going to be purchasing a new macbook pro in the very near future using my student discount (as well as picking up a 32gb touch). Before I do so I had a few questions:

1) I want to buy the 15" 2.5ghz model but want the 7200RPM hard drive. Would the Apple store be able to switch hard drives or do I have order mine online.

2) I'm somewhat new to macs so I was wondering how detailed a manual does the computer come with? I am pretty good with computers but am I going to need to purchase a book to really understand the ins and outs of my machine and Leopard?

3) Assuming I do buy it in the store, they will let me inspect it for dead pixels, right? Anything else I need to look out for prior to making the purchase?

4) Aside from a case, any other accessories to by or things I need to know?

 

[liketom]

some apple stores stock upgraded HDD Mac's phone ahead and ask -
manuals ? well apart from the normal 10.5 booklet and Apple Stickers that's it

i would think if there was one, that is it would go

step 1 : locate power button
step 2: press it

Enjoy

Dead Pixies as i call them - you have a 14 day return windows - if you do have some dead ens ( apple screens are the best btw )

external firewire HDD , mouse , Apple 30" Display also goes down a treat

i'm sure you'll love it

 

[pdxflint]

I'd say just jump in and start using it... but try to forget all you knew about Windows and come in with a clean slate. It'll all make perfect sense and you'll start discovering things as you go along that you would have never thought of. At first there will be a little uncertainty about the finder or window behaviors, or one button on the trackpad (not a problem, believe me...!) and other little nigglies. The larger trackpad on the MBP is a delight. It's very responsive, yet natural feeling. Check your settings for the trackpad (I forgot what was defaulted) and set the trackpad for two-finger scrolling up/down and right/left and zoom, and two finger-click for right click. It becomes so intuitive after awhile that you'll wonder how you lived without it. I was going to get a mouse at first after moving from a Thinkpad with the eraserhead, which I preferred, to the MBP. I hated trackpads, until the MBP. Apple just seems to do things right, especially the interface between human-being and machine.

The help system is pretty decent, and there are books out there on OSX Leopard, but you really won't need them. If you already are fairly computer savvy, figuring out the Mac will be easy. Somethings will be different, and you'll adjust. No countless folders in a C drive that are scary to look at, complete with zillions of .dll files and other crap, so it's much 'cleaner.'

Jump right in, the water's fine.

 

[felixkunze]

The advice I've always given to novice users or to people who are considering a switch is this:
"Once you get used to the way the finder and windows behave, 90 pct of issues or questions can be resolved by asking yourself 'how should this work, how should this setting be able to be changed, how would this be intuitively addressed by the operating system?'. The answer usually is the solution to your problem.

IE, less poking around trying to find out how something works and more 'Its really natural that it behaves this way'.

 

[alphaod]

1) I want to buy the 15" 2.5ghz model but want the 7200RPM hard drive. Would the Apple store be able to switch hard drives or do I have order mine online.

You have order online if you want it to come stock; the Apple store does not do HDD upgrades, but they will recommend a local authorized center like Microcenter or TekServe.

2) I'm somewhat new to macs so I was wondering how detailed a manual does the computer come with? I am pretty good with computers but am I going to need to purchase a book to really understand the ins and outs of my machine and Leopard?

The manual is very basic; Apple offers an extensive amount of tutorials and KB online.

3) Assuming I do buy it in the store, they will let me inspect it for dead pixels, right? Anything else I need to look out for prior to making the purchase?

After you buy it yes; if it's bad, you can probably get it swapped at the store.

4) Aside from a case, any other accessories to by or things I need to know?

Not really; I would be AppleCare, maybe Trackpad Film too. I also have an invisibleSHIElD and I highly recommend it.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Incase Hardshell could be one of the smartest accessories and maybe the iSkin keyboard cover to keep particles and hair out from your beautiful keyboard