New to OSX/SnowLeopard/Macs

[jojo29]

Hello,
I've been interesting in trying out a Mac...im a PC guy at heart, due to gaming, but, this year, i just want to try some new things out...So i have a couple questions:

Before i dive into buying one, i was thinking of having my current PC dual boot into OSX?? Would that be a viable step to get into macs, in order to get the hang of things and try it out before i take the plunge?

Also, im pretty familiar at working the PC and its bugs, i.e when x crashes, taking the necessary steps into figuring out whats going on, be it BSoD, random crashes, vid card update crashes, is this just as easy ( or hard ) on Macs as on PC ? Is it possible to OC the vid card/ram on Macs?

Also, one of the reasons i was interesting in picking up a Mac is due to verizon picking up the iPhone, trying to just stream line a bit, not that important but as i said, this year i just want to try new things. On the subject of the iPhone, like most people on here, i love to tinker, it is inevitable that i will 'jailbreak/hack' my iPhone, so my question is, is a hacked iPhone able to download music on the fly directly to the phone the way the Droids/Android platform can via an app like MP3Downloader? <---that is the only thing keeping me away from the iPhone, as i LOVE the ability to DL a song on the spot via an app like MP3Downloader and not have to go through iTune's sub..

Sorry for the questions and sorry if some these are 'inappropriate', but as i stated, im a PC guy, i know exactly where to go, im not very familiar with Macs at all, but just want to try new things and expand my tech knowledge, shoot, im not even sure if you can Bittorrent things on Macs like or as easy on PC...educate me please!!

 

[TheStu]

Hello,
I've been interesting in trying out a Mac...im a PC guy at heart, due to gaming, but, this year, i just want to try some new things out...So i have a couple questions:

Bring'em on

Before i dive into buying one, i was thinking of having my current PC dual boot into OSX?? Would that be a viable step to get into macs, in order to get the hang of things and try it out before i take the plunge?

While not a terrible idea in principle, you probably won't be able to do it. You can examine the 4,000+ post long thread on Hackintoshing to see why. But the long and short of it is that it requires specific combinations of hardware and is reasonably unforgiving. And is especially so with AMD.

Also, im pretty familiar at working the PC and its bugs, i.e when x crashes, taking the necessary steps into figuring out whats going on, be it BSoD, random crashes, vid card update crashes, is this just as easy (or hard) on Macs as on PC?

Updates are handled through Software Update, the Mac App Store, and a lot of third party programs use another updating scheme. Generally they don't crash that much unless you go mucking around with stuff that you shouldn't, and if they do it is usually pretty easy to isolate.

Is it possible to OC the vid card/ram on Macs?

On an Apple, no. On a Hack, yes.

Also, one of the reasons i was interesting in picking up a Mac is due to verizon picking up the iPhone, trying to just stream line a bit, not that important but as i said, this year i just want to try new things.

Don't get the iPhone on Verizon until June when the iPhone 5 comes out.

On the subject of the iPhone, like most people on here, i love to tinker, it is inevitable that i will 'jailbreak/hack' my iPhone, so my question is, is a hacked iPhone able to download music on the fly directly to the phone the way the Droids/Android platform can via an app like MP3Downloader? <---that is the only thing keeping me away from the iPhone, as i LOVE the ability to DL a song on the spot via an app like MP3Downloader and not have to go through iTune's sub..

I do not have Android so cannot speak to whether or not MP3Downloader is actually you know... legal. However, I am sure there is something on Cydia that will do it for you. Jailbreaking the iPhone essentially puts a bunch of extra apps on the phone (ok, 2-3) that then let you get other apps that would never make it through the App Store process due to their ability to modify the underlying OS.

Sorry for the questions and sorry if some these are 'inappropriate', but as i stated, im a PC guy, i know exactly where to go, im not very familiar with Macs at all, but just want to try new things and expand my tech knowledge, shoot, im not even sure if you can Bittorrent things on Macs like or as easy on PC...educate me please!!

You can torrent all the linux ISOs (since that is the most prevalent LEGAL thing out there that uses bittorrent) using Transmission or uTorrent, but I recommend Transmission.

There is also a sticky written by yours truly that talks about a bunch of stuff on OS X. It is woefully out of date since I wrote back when Tiger was still kicking, but the basic stuff is there.

 

[speg]

You're still acting like a Mac is some alien device from another planet. After you sit down and use one in your home for a few days you'll quickly realize it's just another computer. And since you're on AT forums I'm going to assume you're pretty adept at tech and will have no major problems. It's a bit like leaning a new language, minor adjustments in syntax and you're on your way.

And often enough on the journey with OS X something funny happens, and the intangibles of the Apple experience sink their hooks into you and next thing you know you're "one of them"..

Welcome to the darkside

 

[Paperlantern]

Ive had a MacBook Air for all of a week, and i kid you not, im not sure i would ever want to go back to a regular "PC" laptop again. I'm a huge advocate of Linux, and still love it to death, will run it on many devices for a long time, its a great OS for many things. As is Windows. But for mobile computing devices... Apple just has it figured out. The feel, the functionality... spot on, and youll never want to use another track pad again mind you.

As far as the OS itself, it is smooth and looks pretty, but like Speg said, it's still just a PC. I dont even think it could be likened to something as difficult as learning another language. If your native language (PC) could be likened to American English, then I would say Macs would be likened to British English, or even Australian... Still english, with a few terms thrown in you might not be familiar with... and it sounds cool.

Seriously, you are walking a line that once crossed, you wont want to go back. No joke.

 

[sourceninja]

When it comes to mac performance, overclocking is not going to be worth your time. Your not going to be doing any hard core gaming on your mac and honestly I can't tell the difference in day to day speed from my late 2008 macbook pro and my brand new i7 top of the line 2010 macbook pro.

 

[mrsentraser]

I went the Hackintosh route and I like my system. It was to become more familiar with them since they're invading the workplace. HP printer setup is okay so far, but multi-tray printers seem to have difficulties in OSX. Internet/Office applications work the same as in Windows. I ditched Safari and went with Firefox because I was having small issues with pages being incorrectly rendered in Safari... I don't miss it. I also don't use iTunes (songbird instead) for all my music needs. I should note my Hackintosh was about $500 after everything was all finished. I modified a mac pro case, Gigabyte EP35-DS3R, 5 Gb DDR2, and a 9800GTX. SATA HD and DVD drive.

 

[MrX8503]

One thing to remember is that Macs cannot write to NTFS formatted harddrives. This still pisses me off to this day.

 

[sourceninja]

One thing to remember is that Macs cannot write to NTFS formatted harddrives. This still pisses me off to this day.

They can't write NTFS by default.

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090913140023382

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/

 

[Paperlantern]

They can't write NTFS by default.

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090913140023382

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/

Most linux distros can. Heh.

 

[sourceninja]

Most linux distros can. Heh.

Not sure what that gives to the conversation...

Most windows computers can read and write ntfs as well.

 

[Aikouka]

Don't get the iPhone on Verizon until June when the iPhone 5 comes out.

I'm doing the same with my 3GS. My 2-year contract is up in February, but why get an Android phone or an iPhone 4 when I could wait a couple more months and compare the iPhone 5 with the newest crop of Android phones. iPhones only come out every year, so within 6 months of a new release, it may be better to wait!

I do not have Android so cannot speak to whether or not MP3Downloader is actually you know... legal. However, I am sure there is something on Cydia that will do it for you. Jailbreaking the iPhone essentially puts a bunch of extra apps on the phone (ok, 2-3) that then let you get other apps that would never make it through the App Store process due to their ability to modify the underlying OS.

In regard to MP3s, I do not believe another application can put the songs on the iPod/iPhone for you, but iTunes can be configured to allow you to drag and drop music onto the device without having to add it to your library. I forget exactly where the option is, but it's called referred to as manually managing the audio or something like that.