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The Buying of my first Apple

R

radhak

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 28, 2003
218
0
NJ, USA
I got my first Apple on Saturday, Sep 27th. (I mentioned this earlier at the Hardware forum, but i thought it worth mentioning again :D )

iMac 1.25GHz, 768MB Ram, AE Card, everything else standard.

I had more problems doing the purchase than with the iMac since! On thursday / friday I did three things : went to get car-insurance for NJ, to the Dentist for an extraction, and tried to buy this iMac, and I am sorry to say that the last was the most painful :(

The internet-order at MacMall goes in fine on Thursday, but i do not see it move from 'Review by Mgr' till lunch friday, so call up, and after being transferred a couple of times, am told that my order is held up because they are waiting for me to send them (i) photostat copies of my credit card (ii) copies of my drivers license and (iii) a letter authorizing them to use my credit card. !!?!! At this point I was half-expecting them to add 'duly notarized' ;)

Why all that? Because I 'had changed my address' recently! Yes, I moved from MN to NJ in June, but nobody else objected ! Anyway, doing all that paper-work was not an option (away from my desk), and I did not like the tone at the other end - what would I get post-sales? So cancelled it, and repeated the order at ClubMac. But whaddya know? They are the same organization! Realized my mistake faster this time, and again, cancelled the order and finally ordered at MacZone at around 6pm, this time by phone. The sales guy was friendly, and when I mentioned that I would have liked to get the machine on saturday, tells me that he will see what he could do, this with a mere $26 two-day-delivery shipping! Reach home to see a msg that my credit card was declined (no wonder, 3 separate orders for an iMac on the same day...;)) Called MBNA, cleared it with them, called MacZone at 9.15pm to ask to move the order. Long story short, received the iMac on Saturday by Noon! (And I checked that Airborne had picked up the pkg in OH at 9.28pm, maybe minutes after I called.) Enuff compensation for what could have been a bad first experience.

So after all that, it was smooth sailing. But for a minor hiccup (detailed here https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39785 ), not a single bump. And the more I use it, the more I love it. Find myself exclaiming at every step, 'Wow, it does ...!' And look forward to go back home so I can do more of that :D

I would be remiss if I did not mention that Macrumors has been my primary motivator in switching to Apple. Way back in March I strayed onto here to check out some link, and got hooked. Macrumors has been my home page for some time now, and I did not even own a Mac! If the last 48 hours are any indication, my long-dormant love for computers has resurfaced! Thanks Arn, and the rest of you.

Just a couple questions :

a. The 17" screen is unconventional, more rectangular than the PC-square. So find myself lifting the mouse time and again to re-adjust, as i keep running of mouse-pad-space. Is that normal?

b. Many more small niggling questions, but I guess I could grab a book off B&Noble to help me out? Anybody hazard an opinion which? Mind you, I am seasoned PC-person, so need something to put me on the track to power-user-dom right off.

edit : found an earlier thread for books : https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33988&book+recommendation
so Pogue seems to guy to trust?
 
Congrats dude. This place has a convincing effect on you, doesn't it? ;)

I've been here since late October 2002 (looking at the newly updated G3 800MHz iBook), and will buy a G4 1GHz 12" PB soon. I only stayed and earned my Avatar (after 500 posts here at MR) because I enjoy the people here as well. :)
 
Originally posted by Abstract
Congrats dude. This place has a convincing effect on you, doesn't it? ;)

I've been here since late October 2002 (looking at the newly updated G3 800MHz iBook), and will buy a G4 1GHz 12" PB soon. I only stayed and earned my Avatar (after 500 posts here at MR) because I enjoy the people here as well. :)
Click to expand...

I feel the same way. People are really helpful and welcoming here. Tho that can be said for most of the Mac community, most are loyal to one or two forums.
 
sorry for dual post but one more comment for radhack-- look into mac addict magazine/cd subscription and or macworld and you will get so so much information on mac and plenty of free demo's.
 
friartuck is on his game, there are some great books outthere but the problem is all this stuff is evolving so fast so as soon as they write a book its allready dated due to new software,updates etc. get a good book but keep current with a good subscription to a monthly mac magazine( MacAddict Magazine) Rik you owe me one.
 
congrats. i second the motion that people only stick to 1 or 2 forums. i only post here and macteens.
here a lot more than macteens;)

and it is normal to lift up te mouse.people do that with square-er displays, like my fruity iMac.
 
if yoru buying a book and planning on getting panther. wait until panther editions of books come out
 
Originally posted by applemacdude
Just wondering but how much was everything?

1.25Ghz iMac
Bluetooth, 160GB HD, 768MB RAM
3 Year AppleCare, Wireless Mouse & Keyboard= $2,300
Click to expand...

Interesting, your sig, applemacdude : all that cost you just $2300? my stuff came for a gross $2082, but a $50 mir is awaited. Nobody but Apple provides BTO, so could not get bluetooth nor the bigger HD :( but i wanted to save on the taxes ;)

edit : that included final-cut express for $99; so my iMac cost me net $1933 including the $26 shipping. Within the 2K i had set myself.
 
Originally posted by radhak
Nobody but Apple provides BTO, so could not get bluetooth nor the bigger HD :(
Click to expand...

Bluetooth is a pretty inexpensive option to add; I bought a PC Bluetooth adapter off eBay for about 30 euros (33 dollars or so), no Mac drivers were required.

BTW, some random (and generally useless) OSX tips:

- To move a window in the background without activating it, hold the Command (Apple) key while clicking and dragging.

- Look in Easy Access inside System Preferences, for the Zoom keystrokes. I don't know if it's useful for anyone, but it looks great! ;)

- The left side of the Dock is for apps, the right side for documents, minimised windows and folders. Right click (or Command click) on the divider to bring up the Dock options.

- Check out macosxhints.com, it's a superb resource. One of my favourites, is to use the "defaults" command to set universal keystrokes, i.e. I've changed the keystroke in (almost) every app to Command-Comma, just with one command.

- If you're interested in automation (or tinkering) or getting started in Mac programming, try reading up on AppleScript, it can be incredibly powerful.

Hope this helps,
Mike.
 
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