Apple Newb - Macbook Arriving Tomorrow

[dmw16]

I have always used PC's. I never liked Macs because my only experiences were with the ones that pretty much every school in America had for a long while. You know, the self contained deals, the bright colored ones. They were terrible.

Anyway, in recent years (since OSX) I've used a few friend's macs every now and again. And now that I can run Windows (if I have to) and I am going back to school it seemed like the perfect excuse to buy a macbook.

So I got the basic white macbook and a 4GB nano. Apple is running a promo where I got a free nano w/ the laptop and the laptop was only $999. So with tax and everything $1059.

I am really looking forward to learning to really use OSX.

Any comments on how to get started? I am going to avoid using Windows at home for the next few months to get comfortable in OSX.

 

[Injury]

Step 1: Use safari to download firefox.

Step 2: Play around. Play with all of your settings, get comfortable... now is the time where if you mess something up it won't hurt to reformat. The thing about macs is that while they have software for everything, they are very basic. You can't really customize them to hell like you can with windows.

Step 3: Check out some mac sites and find some cool software to mess with.

 

[TheStu]

Well the first thing i was going to recommend was to try to avoid running Windows on it until you've gotten used to OS X, but it appears that already plan to do that.

Put together a list of your commonly used programs on Windows (beyond stuff like browsing, media player, word processing) and post it here. You can almost always find a replacement for your favorite Windows apps, and sometimes you might find that you like the OS X option better. After you post the list, I and others can take a look at it and give you suggestions.

Very first thing you will want to do though will be to go to System Properties (Click the 'Mighty Blue Apple' in the upper left) and then get to the mouse/keyboard section. Turn on 2 finger right clicking, tap-clicking, and make sure that you can scroll. Trust me, once you start usign 2 finger scrolling you will pretty much hate every windows laptop out there since they won't have it.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Injury
Step 1: Use safari to download firefox.

Step 2: Play around. Play with all of your settings, get comfortable... now is the time where if you mess something up it won't hurt to reformat. The thing about macs is that while they have software for everything, they are very basic. You can't really customize them to hell like you can with windows.

Step 3: Check out some mac sites and find some cool software to mess with.

You know, I am personally not over the moon about Firefox on OS X. It was never very stable for me, and since I never got into using many extensions, it isn't a necessity for me. Safari 3 is much more stable for me, and integrates much better into the OS (obviously). The biggest problem that I have run into with Safari 3 is that if I am streaming a .wmv, switch to another tab, and then switch back the video reloads.

 

[bearxor]

Yeah Firefox on the Mac isn't really that great. Camino does a much better job. I still prefer Safari though.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: bearxor
Yeah Firefox on the Mac isn't really that great. Camino does a much better job. I still prefer Safari though.

Camino is a little better, but it is still Firefox based... my basic opinion of Firefox on OS X is that they took Firefox for Linux and windows and then did the bare minimum of work required to get it to work on OS X. I understand that they cannot start from scratch to optimize the browser for every OS and Camino seems to be a step in the right direction, but ultimately I greatly prefer Safari 3 since it is built for OS X (just take a look at Safari on Windows... not exactly made for it) especially the way that it handles multiple tabs, the inline search, downloading files and many other things.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

Safari is better then firefox on Mac. If you want firefox get Camino.

 

[timswim78]

I just generally hate browsing on my Mac. None of the browsers really cut it for me.

I would use Safari if there was a drop-down arrow next to the address bar. The lack of that drives me insane!
Firefox often crashes on my Dual G5.
Camino is OK, but like Safari, there is no drop-down arrow. WTF!
IE - it's OK if you want to browse Web sites designed five years ago.
Opera - just can't get used to the UI.

 

[TheStu]

Why does the drop down arrow matter?

 

[Kadarin]

Zero issues with Firefox here. Camino just looks like FF with the brushed metal interface look.

 

[rhagen21]

Download a program called Quicksilver. It will change the way you use do everyday tasks.