Tips on new Powerbook?

[Pablo]

My 17" Powerbook's scheduled to arrive on Friday. This is my first Mac since about 1988.

I've got a few programs to load once I get up and running (Office X, Photoshop, .Mac), but would like some input on what I should do before that.

Any tips on things that should be done immediately after taking it out of the box? Anything I should know before jumping in with both feet?

I've played around with the machines at the local Apple store. More importantly, I've read (a lot of) David Pogue's Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, so I've got a decent idea of what to expect, but know I'll have a pretty good learing curve ahead of me. However, I was hoping to get some real-world input, or any suggestions you would give (essentially) a Mac virgin.

Thanks.

 

[Foucault]

1. buy or make a keyboard cover for your Powerbook. Any leather, or soft cloth will do.

2. Buy iKlean spray. It will help keep your investment clean and shiny, and your fingerprints away. This is an inexpensive solution to assure that your Powerbook will keep its shine and polish.

3. Use macjanitor (get it an www.macupdate.com) periodically to keep your Powerbook innards up and running.

4. Get a decent Powerbook sleeve or bag. This is going to protect you Powerbook in the long rong, so invest in something sturdy in the outside, with something soft in the inside, and with plenty of ventilation.

5. Buy one decent game for the Powerbook. It doesn't matter if you're not going to be playing a lot of games on it. Just by one, it'll help you appreciate your investment much better.

6. On your initial charge, make sure that you drain your battery all the way, then charge it up all the way. This will insure that the performance of your battery will be at its full potential. You only need to do this once.

7. Buy an external optical mouse. Although the mouse pad on the Powerbook is great, you won't be as productive without a mouse.

Congratulations, enjoy your new 'Book

 

[Pablo]

Thanks for the suggestions...

Originally posted by Foucault
1. buy or make a keyboard cover for your Powerbook. Any leather, or soft cloth will do.

I've seen those...but I guess after not needing/using it on my Dell, I'm not too keen on using it. Is it really that important?

2. Buy iKlean spray. It will help keep your investment clean and shiny, and your fingerprints away. This is an inexpensive solution to assure that your Powerbook will keep its shine and polish.

Another thing I haven't used on my Dell (just use damp t-shirt), but the case is plastic and doesn't show fingerprints/etc.

3. Use macjanitor (get it an www.macupdate.com) periodically to keep your Powerbook innards up and running.

I took a look at the description (http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/macjanitor.html). What types of scripts/maintenance tasks does the Powerbook run?

4. Get a decent Powerbook sleeve or bag. This is going to protect you Powerbook in the long rong, so invest in something sturdy in the outside, with something soft in the inside, and with plenty of ventilation.

I've got a Samsonite (p)leather shoulder bag that I've used with my Dell. I measured the case and it looks like I should be able to accomodate the 15.4" width of the Powerbook.

5. Buy one decent game for the Powerbook. It doesn't matter if you're not going to be playing a lot of games on it. Just by one, it'll help you appreciate your investment much better.

I'm not much of a gamer at all...and pretty much the only game I play on my PC (which is very rare) is a Windows version of the dominoes game '42' (like spades).

6. On your initial charge, make sure that you drain your battery all the way, then charge it up all the way. This will insure that the performance of your battery will be at its full potential. You only need to do this once.

So the Powerbook should come charged (I don't need to immediately charge it before using it), and just let the battery drain completely?

7. Buy an external optical mouse. Although the mouse pad on the Powerbook is great, you won't be as productive without a mouse.

I've got a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer that I'll probably use for a while (until Amazon sends me my $200 store credit for my PB purchase). I'm looking very hard at the Kensington 64322 Optical Studio Mouse.

Congratulations, enjoy your new 'Book

Thanks again!

 

[cb911]

just make sure that you read the manual all the way through before you jump in & boot up your PowerBook. i got a TiBook last year and didn't properly read the part about battery conditioning. like you, i post a 'what-to-do' thread here and was, um, made aware about the proper battery conditioning procedure. (luckily my battery is fine anyway)

i just use a sheet of A4 paper in my TiBook to stop the grease/oils from the keyboard getting on the screen. it does the job fine.

and definitely take good care of it. when you get it you'll proably be thinking 'i'll never sell this' but beleive me you'll want to down the track.

 

[Over Achiever]

You don't really need a keyboard cover for your powerbook ... i don't think the oil on the keyboard will transfer to the screen much. But to be on the safe side:

Use the foam sheet that came with your powerbook. If you lose it, then a sheet of paper, letter or legal size, will do the trick. No need for expensive leather sheets (unless you really want to)

Get uControl. It's nice in the fact that it adds scrolling capabilities to your trackpad. This may be a moot point if you intend to use an external mouse most of the time. But check it out (search for it on www.versiontracker.com)

Condition your battery as discussed above...very important.

Take your time getting used to the OS ... i'm still struggling my way around.