First macbook (wweeeeee) & system updates...

It's gonna be at least 3 weeks till I make my first move switching!!...wwweeee.. Just called the Apple store in Manchester, UK to comfirm if they give higher education discounts. They DO & its at 14%!!.. woot woot gonna be able to save more than a hundred quid on my MacBook!!.. just cant wait..=p Have been reading switchers guide everyday on what softwares 2 get. Many thanks to many many helpful people in this forum!!

Anyway, was just wondering if Macs do have regular system updates as the Windows? as i have been reading a couple of treads & posts regarding problems faced after installing updates, so dunno whats that all about. Also will the system notify me of any new updates (like windows) or do i have to check it out myself at the Apple website?

What about update for softwares then?

Thanks again guys.

Welcome to Macs! I'm sure you'll enjoy your MacBook. They're terrific laptops. Which one did you get? Did you add anything?

OS X will check for updates and let you know when they're available and ask if you want to install them now or later. This includes OS X updates and software installed on a typical Mac. Most third party software will have a preference setting to check for updates on launch or not.

I've heard some OS X updates have caused some people troubles. I think some people had an iTunes update break things, but I've never heard of one update breaking everywhere.

I trust the OS X software updates since my Mac is fairly standard. If the update is to OS X itself, for instance taking OS X from version 10.4.9 to 10.4.10 I sometimes wait a week and watch the forums, but that's just me being conservative. In fact I'll probably update one of my Macs to Leopard as soon as it arrives, only waiting a week or two for my work computer.

In general though, I trust it all.

Oh, and by they way. Since you're new to Macs and thinking about updates you should probably think about backups too. They're just as important on Macs as on any other computer. You'll find that SuperDuper! (silly name, great program) is widely considered the best choice.

Thanks!

Im gonna get the 2nd range of white Macbooks. Thanks for the information on the system. Well cleared up!

I ve googled SuperDuper & there was a site for downloading & instructions which i reckon is fairly simply. Its just that I consider myself to be computer-illiterate. LOL. Do you mind explaining (in fairly simple & common english w/o too much technical terms..sorryy..=S.. haha) how SuperDuper actually backs up your file?.. do they save a copy of everything & every file you have in your HD to a special folder? will this then take up even more space in my Mac?

thaanks..

There are two things great about SuperDuper; how easy it is, and how thorough it is. It guides you and helps you and lets you know, in plain english, what you're about to do. There's an excellent forum with friendly helpful folks. http://www.shirt-pocket.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5

Normally you'd back up to an external hard drive, and generally speaking there's two ways to back up; a complete system image or just your files. There's also internet based backups. .Mac is one of many. The advantage is if your house burns down your data is still safe.

But seriously, don't worry too much. Enjoy your new Mac. When you start getting data you need to protect, that's the time to start thinking about backups. No need to get bogged down and lose out on the Mac switcher experience.