Im new to Macs! Advice much appreciated!

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Hi



Ive pre ordered the macbook pro. Never touched a Mac in my life (except for checking my email in the apple stores) and current lap and desktop are Sony Vaios.



Anyways, im making the jump for now to see what its like.



I just hope i dont run into software incompatibilites..! (media players, office, adobe, photoshops, messenger etcetc)



Am planning to get a few airport express and hook them up to the varius sound systems around my place so can control the music via my laptop (and hook my nano up too)



Also planning to sign up to T mobile wireless network thing so can use my laptop in starbucks.. is that the best option? From what i can see, throughout London and most of America, its a pretty widespread network... i think you can buy one hour options or prepaid at the stores anyways..?



Well, any advice on what else i can do to optimise the laptop? Anymust have software for everyday use?



Thanks
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    Welcome to Mac. A nice way to start, it seems to me!



    Can't comment on the new books any better than what has been printed or said about them, but about software incompaitibilities, the files produced are generally cross-platform, but the actual programs will need to be Mac versions unless they are run using VPC from Microsoft. Intel Mac versions of programs are rolling out thjis year and beyond... You may want to read up on universal binaries if you haven't already.



    Anout the wireless thing, I've heard others like it, but that is seems expensive. Maybe that's improved, though...?
  • Reply 2 of 24
    If you like the keyboard for input, LaunchBar should be looked at. It is part of my everyday usage. How it works on a new MacIntel, I cannot say, but I am going to find out.
  • Reply 3 of 24
    Not necesarily for everyday use, but I like Roxio Toast and Jam for cd burning, etc and Delicious Library to keep track of media...



    EDIT: Oh, and there are other threads about this kind of thing if you search...
  • Reply 4 of 24
    hi thanks for replies.



    Ive been browsgin around from what i gather:



    MSN messenger is available to macOs as a free dl

    Office is avail (2004 version)

    IDvd comes with the mac for burning Dvds

    Itunes for music

    safari as an internet browser, comes with mac

    ive got an HP ipac PDA that comes with outlook, not sure whether that outlook is mac compatible? but u can get outlook for Mac.

    Comes with Quicktime which should cover most multimedia stuff

    and Safari reads pdf files..



    photo editors?



    Those are the more common stuff i use. I like to keep things simple, so the fewer the programmes, the better.
  • Reply 5 of 24
    mrsinmrsin Posts: 163member
    Guile99, I'm so envious of you , ordering the Macbook Pro, that is way cool 8)! Kudos and Congrats! While I'm here, I thought I would share my current favorite application program list with you .



    Adium Instant Messenger - Adium

    Camino (Internet Browser) - Camino

    Ecto - desktop blogging client - Ecto

    EMACS (Text Editor) - Aquamacs EMACS

    FinderPop - FinderPop

    iClip Lite - iClip Lite

    LaunchBar 4 - LaunchBar 4

    MacJournal, Write & Calc - Mariner Software

    Mail App - Apple Mail App

    Mail Appetizer - Mail Appetizer

    Menu Meters - MenuMeters

    Smultron (Text Editor) - Smultron

    SubEthaEdit (Text Editor) - SubEthaEdit

    VLC Media Player - VLC





    I'm also anxious to hear how things work out with your Macbook Pro!
  • Reply 6 of 24
    Interestingly, ive also gone a Vaio Laptop. The motherboard went for some unknown reason which is why i thought id make the jump to apple, only to find out Sony has agreed to replace my motherboard for free...



    so now, ill have both laptops running together so a side to side comparison will be interesting!
  • Reply 7 of 24
    sammicksammick Posts: 416member
    I don't think I'd jump into Office for the Mac just yet--since you have the Vaio--Office for the Mac is not native to the new machine--YET
  • Reply 8 of 24
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    play WMV and ASF files in Quicktime. Now FREE version available (used to be shareware, MS bought the company or something if i am not wrong...) http://www.flip4mac.com
  • Reply 9 of 24
    kcmackcmac Posts: 1,051member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sammick

    I don't think I'd jump into Office for the Mac just yet--since you have the Vaio--Office for the Mac is not native to the new machine--YET



    The updater will be free. That's what Roz Ho said at MacWorld.
  • Reply 10 of 24
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    personally i think given the computational power of the core duo, and the sophistication of rosetta, that using office for mac (powerpc rosetta) on an intel core duo, right now, would work out alright. office for mac on intel may not be as "snappy" as office for windows on intel, but certainly i would advise, give it a shot, office for mac is much more pleasurable to use than office for windows. why delay your happiness?



    side notes:

    make sure you bring office for mac 2004 up to the latest version (11.2 or something like that)... also if you get "compile error in autoexec module" its very easy to fix (just google it)



    warnings:

    you will have to play around to see how for the office documents, fonts, layout etc, are preserved, and to what extent, between your vaio and your macbook pro



    recommendation:

    put Powerpoint in the trash and use Keynote3 Universal Binary 8) ... also, maybe put Word in the trash and use Pages 2 Universal Binary ... finally, consider OpenOffice 2+ on your PC.
  • Reply 11 of 24
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Originally posted by guile99

    ..... I like to keep things simple, so the fewer the programmes, the better.....






    this is definitely the best strategy when using windows. when using mac though, you'll see... you won't be as scared to install and try out different applications, set different settings and all that
  • Reply 12 of 24
    recommendation:

    put Powerpoint in the trash and use Keynote3 Universal Binary 8) ... also, maybe put Word in the trash and use Pages 2 Universal Binary ... finally, consider OpenOffice 2+ on your PC.





    You are funny, but maybe serious, too.
  • Reply 13 of 24
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    heh. well, outside of the office (pun intended) and business environment, my parents and i have been able to just work (pun intended again, hey, i'm on a roll ) with Pages1, Keynote2 and OpenOffice 2+ ... not everyone can be completely free of MSOffice, but if you can and you like it, well, good on ya i say



    edit: honestly though i still love Excel on the mac. no alternative there. Yet!
  • Reply 14 of 24
    mrsinmrsin Posts: 163member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sunilraman

    edit: honestly though i still love Excel on the mac. no alternative there. Yet!



    I'm just curious, have you looked at Mariner Calc by Mariner software?



    Mariner Calc
  • Reply 15 of 24
    My opinion is you get office for your Mac. Despite its flaws, it's fairly powerful and very handy in terms of compatiblity.
  • Reply 16 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MrSin

    I'm just curious, have you looked at Mariner Calc by Mariner software?



    Mariner Calc






    hey... actually, not really... i'll check it out
  • Reply 17 of 24
    Congrats on your new Mac. I hope you enjoy it.



    While the file browser (the Finder) is pretty good at browsing your file system. It is missing a lot of power user features. For a really nice alternative Mac OS X file browser check out...



    Path Finder (version 4 was just released)

    http://www.cocoatech.com



    It has a lot of features and is pretty powerful.



    -----------------



    Also here's another nice little tip.



    On Mac OS X, if you select a file and choose File > Get Info from the Finder, you will be presented with a properties dialog for your file. At the top of this dialog is a box called "Spotlight Comments". You can type whatever you want inside this box (description of the file, keywords, etc.).



    Then you can use Spotlight (OS X's built-in search technology) to search your files for text you have entered in these comment boxes.



    For example, I download a lot of PDF articles everyday. Sometimes I can't read them all in one day. So what I do is type "Status: Not Read" in the Spotlight Comments' field to flag these PDFs as files I haven't read. Then later I just type "Status: Not Read" into Spotlight's search box and all the PDF's I have tagged appear. It's pretty useful.
  • Reply 18 of 24
    ok thanks everyone.



    Ive been using windows all my life so never had issues with compatibility etcetc so im still completely clueless about this whole rosetta business. i just hope i can install office 2004 and it'll work!



    Reading about all this tech jargon, i suddenly feel maybe i should cancel my macbbok pro and stick to my newly fixed vaio! haha
  • Reply 19 of 24
    sammicksammick Posts: 416member
    The Mac is really intuitive--it is much smarter than all the people here giving you advice--



    Just plug it in and go-------and have fun.
  • Reply 20 of 24
    mrsinmrsin Posts: 163member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by guile99

    ok thanks everyone.

    Reading about all this tech jargon, i suddenly feel maybe i should cancel my macbbok pro and stick to my newly fixed vaio! haha




    Guile99, I'm a computer technician - worked for Sperry Univac starting in 1978 - then Unisys Corp. I'm no longer in the computer industry but, for 23 years I was DOS and Windows all the way. On September 4, 2005 I bought my very first Apple and Laptop / notebook computer, I'm here to tell you - Please, give it a go! My super go daddy 2.4 GHz Windows XP Pro desktop PC now sits idle waiting for the grandkids to visit for it to even get powered on, I kid you not! In closing, I bad mouthed Apples and Macs for YEARS, now I am so sorry for missing out on really great computing during those years. In my opinion, and for what it's worth, you 'owe' it to yourself to experience a platform that "simply works!"
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