01-22-2011, 02:51 PM

I was the one looking at justifying a MBP vs a PC and ended up buying a pc laptop, big screen TV, surround sound system and EVO phone. Well I had a great deal just fall into my lap and bought a used MBP13.

I have given it a fresh OS X Snow Leopard install and have installed Firefox and Open Office. Any other software titles that are a must have?

I am using a new username as I was banned under my original username for trolling????? Not sure why as I was serious about getting a Mac.

Look forward to your suggestions.

01-22-2011, 03:05 PM

It really depends on what your doing with the computer. I have Microsoft Office on mine. Final Cut Express 4 . Apps you can download from the app store ect.

01-22-2011, 03:08 PM

Does it have all of the iLife programs? If not, thats where I would start.

01-22-2011, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by TurboMacBoy

I was the one looking at justifying a MBP vs a PC and ended up buying a pc laptop, big screen TV, surround sound system and EVO phone. Well I had a great deal just fall into my lap and bought a used MBP13.

I have given it a fresh OS X Snow Leopard install and have installed Firefox and Open Office. Any other software titles that are a must have?

Hey there "buckeye" (I think that was part of your former user-name)...congrats on the MBP purchase.

So does this mean that your now using a Windows laptop & Mac laptop? How are you separating your computer time between them...for example what are you using the Windows laptop for & the Mac laptop for (when either one would probably get the job done)? Just curious.

As far as Mac applications...I mean it just depends on what you want or need to do. If you're just internet surfing & doing e-mail...then you already have everything you need. There are a bunch of utility programs out there...but they're the sort of thing you only need to use on the rare occasion.

Also...what model MBP did you get...and what sort of terrific deal did you get on it? Again...just curious.

- Nick

01-22-2011, 05:09 PM

Congrats on the purchase. I'm sorry that you were mistaken for a troll, because I never got that impression of you from any of your posts. You were simply looking for the most logical course of action IMO. I think that your original account should be reinstated as well.

So, do tell us what the specs are on your new machine. That will enable us to get a better idea of what it can handle. That said, I'm willing to bet that as you get more and more familiar with OS X, you'll veer away from the Windows machine and it shall be your wife's laptop on a permanent basis.

First off: Take your time in looking around the forums here. Look at the stickies in each forum category for very useful info.

The ever important New users/switchers forum

The keyboard shortcut sticky


You, more than anybody else knows what you want to get out of your new computer. When I first started out, I was looking for ways to maintain the level of efficiency that I was used to with Linux or Windows, and fought OS X a bit but later learned that it was just better to look for alternative but native ways in which to do what I was doing.

For example:

With Windows, the way you switch open applications (windows) is different from how you do it on OS X because they both handle windows in general, differently. In Win, all you have to do is Alt+tab your way to the icon and the one you release it on, will be brought to the forefront.

In OS X however, although you can CMD+tab your way to an application, it won't necessarily bring that window to your attention. It might still be lingering in the background. The app you've chosen WILL have its menu bar visible on top, but since it's possible to have two different windows open for the same application, it doesn't necessarily bring one of those windows up.
(I'm sure there's a better way to explain it, so please do a bit of research in this area, as it encompasses a good deal of how things work in general)

Hope I didn't give the impression that there's no way to call up a specific window, because there are actually a few ways. The first and easiest is via the dock. If you click on an open app from the dock, it will call up that app/window where ever it is. Or rather, it will bring you TO that app. Whereas in Windows when you click on the program icon, (unless this has changed) it will attempt to open a second instance of said program.

The second way to call up an app is via the regular cmd+tab function as was explained before, but with a twist. Tab to desired app, and while keeping your (assumed) thumb/finger on the cmd key, release tab then roll off of CMD and on to the option (alt) key.

Third way: This method works in conjunction with spaces and the exposé features and is actually the same as method two, but without having to use the alt key. You can actually just Alt+CMD and release on the icon. It requires the user to assign specific spaces to certain applications. I personally do this anyway, because I like having things like photo editors on different spaces (Photoshop on space 4 and Lightroom on space 5) as well as things like my browsers in one space, instant messaging clients in another, Media player and video stuff in another and work related (word processor etc) in yet another. I set up 8 spaces in total.

Fourth method (then I'll leave you to figure out others) Just use the trackpad ! Four fingers on either the MBP or Magic Trackpad and a little smidgen of a swipe will call up the icons, then simply tap on the app (one finger) you want and voila !

So, it's little things like this (and there are plenty of little things) that have made my OS X experience so much more of a pleasure to use vs Windows. Yes, it's small beans and only a tiny example but there's so much more to explore...

Have fun!

Doug

01-22-2011, 06:55 PM

MBP 13
OS X Snow Leopard
Intel Core 2 Duo" 2.26
2G Ram
160 G hard drive
13.3" widescreen TFT active-matrix "glossy" display

Something about the operating system was all screwed up as it was not functioning properly so the guy sold it to me for $300. He had a plastic shell on it so the actual MBP was super clean after I removed it. Did a fresh reload – totally wiped the hard drive first and now it's running perfectly.

Just looking for good software I can download for free. Not sure what is available for the Mac.

Yes - got the latest version of the iLife software.

Probably use both the Mac and Windows. Wife and I are using the laptop and my main pc is now running Win 7 too. I updated it last week. The desktop has my hardcore software on it. My main email, Office, Visio, QuickBooks Pro, Graphics software, etc. and I think it will stay that way as I am not going to repurchase all that software for the Mac.

Using the Mac in my man cave for browsing and some email plus just getting to know it better. In regards to OS X vs Win 7, there exactly the same, there just totally different. :-)

01-22-2011, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by TurboMacBoy

Something about the operating system was all screwed up as it was not functioning properly so the guy sold it to me for $300.

WOW...you were right...that was one heck of a deal!!! I think that after last weeks "spending spree"...you said you had $400 left over. After spending $300 on the MBP...do you need any ideas on how to spend the final $100?

Congrats again on that MBP purchase...probably one of the best deals I've seen/heard in a while!

- Nick

p.s. Was this a Craig's List find?

01-22-2011, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by pigoo3

WOW...you were right...that was one heck of a deal!!! I think that after last weeks "spending spree"...you said you had $400 left over. After spending $300 on the MBP...do you need any ideas on how to spend the final $100?

Congrats again on that MBP purchase...probably one of the best deals I've seen/heard in a while!

- Nick

p.s. Was this a Craig's List find?

Lottery Tickets?

Some guy through work. He was frustrated with the computer and needed some money fast. I stepped in and saved him. I'm so nice!

01-22-2011, 07:33 PM

Get an external hard drive with the 100.00 and activate Time Machine lots of people wish they had .

01-22-2011, 07:52 PM

Super great deal!
+1 for the external HD and using time machine

01-22-2011, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by osxx

Get an external hard drive with the 100.00 and activate Time Machine lots of people wish they had .

Yes...VERY good suggestion!

- Nick

01-22-2011, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by osxx

Get an external hard drive with the 100.00 and activate Time Machine lots of people wish they had .

Great idea on the external HD. I personally find Time Machine to be a bit redundant for my uses, but many others have valid reasons for using it. I've never heard a really compelling reason to use Time Machine, because I keep all of my truly important files on an external HD. Exclusively. Music, photos and whatever important video documentation I have is all external, and redundantly so.

I also figure that if something is that screwed up, to the point of where fixing permissions isn't going to fix it, that must mean something is utterly corrupted and Time Machine is only a temporary fix, and a waiting game until the next thing gets messed up. But hey, that's just me and my logic.


Let's move onward. You want free software. Ok, for what? What do you want or need to do? Free is great, but not always the best solution.

I personally do not use iTunes. Never liked it one bit. I don't like iTunes, iPhoto and not too sure about Aperture 3 at this point, but giving it a whirl (again) for professional reasons, though I'll never give up Lightroom.

For a media player, I love Songbird Though you won't find iPod or iPhone support for it. This is Apple's doing, not the SB dev's. Apple doesn't like to share, apparently, and this is one reason I can't fully support Apple's overall motives in the industry.

Though I have no personal reason to use another piece of photo editing/viewing software beyond OS X's Preview app or Adobe's Lightroom 3, I can see where others might. So I always recommend Google Picasa over iPhoto. I don't like iPhoto for the simple reason that it creates redundant files (the end result is a huge iPhoto library file taking up HD space) without the users permission. It's unnecessary to me, but is something I don't see Apple changing about iPhoto. Just a hog of a database structure IMO.

There's a thread in the forum somewhere that was recently created, dealing with good free Apple software. Let's see if we can't find it, rather than creating another thread like it here. So that's it for now.

Oh, and as for the other $100.. I have another suggestion. How about a nice gift for your wife? Would probably go a long way, after spending all that money.

Doug

01-22-2011, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by Doug b

... I keep all of my truly important files on an external HD. Exclusively. Music, photos and whatever important video documentation I have is all external, and redundantly so.

I kind of feel the same way. I know where all of my important files are located (music, MS Office, videos, photos, installers for free apps., etc.)...so I just copy them manually every so often to an external HD. I don't really need to backup my "paid for" applications (I have the original discs if I need to reinstall)...or backup my OS (I can reinstall that as well if there's a problem).

This is probably due to my "backing up" habits from the "old days" when backup programs were a bit more "clunky". This method saves some space on the external drive as well.

But I can see the benefits of Time Machine...it just makes things easy...the way Apple likes to do things for the user. So if that encourages more folks to perform backups...I guess that's a good thing!

- Nick

01-22-2011, 08:42 PM

Whoa, whoa... Was he banned again? Mods.. what the heck guys?

Doug

01-22-2011, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by TurboMacBoy

Just looking for good software I can download for free. Not sure what is available for the Mac.

If you need an office suite and cannot afford MS Office, I highly recommend NeoOffice. It is a open source office suite that is fairly compatible with MS Office. Admittedly it is not as smooth and pretty as the commercial product, but it has worked well for me.

Another good program is Gimp. It is a open source Photoshop clone if you need that sort of thing. I've used it in the past as was blown away with the level of sophistication and power it has.

Finally, if you want to work with music files, you really need Audacity. I have been slowly converting my record and tape collection over to MP3 and have found this an extremely useful program. It allows me to record the audio, filter out unwanted noise, and save it in MP3 or MP4 file formats. It certainly can do more than what I use it for, so you may find more uses for it than I.

Let us know what type of program(s) you want/need and I'm sure that someone here can suggest something to help you out.