Mac newbie..

Hallo everybody!

Its Mehul here from Mumbai, India. This is my first post here so maybe my talks will be a little amateurish since i am completely new to the Mac world. just help me out in dat case!

Am currently a student & have been using windows for the past decade almost. Windows as is, the most commonly used OS in my country for a majority of purposes. Be it basic networking, or corporate work to banking or engineering, windows tops the list! People who use Mac include professionals who are into high end graphic work, movies etc which only happen to be a sizeable lot! Now, a phase has come wherein am looking forward to upgrade to a 'better' computer n thats why there are a few queries which i want you to answer as Mac happens to be my top n well only choice since m not keen on upgrading to Vista..Pl help me clear my doubts regd it. Here goes..

1. When i first opened the internet on the Mac, the safari browser couldnt be maximised as like in windows where we can open a program full screen..I suppose Mozilla firefox is available on Mac as an extra application. Can we make it full screen, or even safari for that matter??

2.OH I NEED THS BADLY. Is there any book(for Mac newbies) or video tutorials coz i am a totally new Mac buff & very keen n eager to learn more about it..& apply it to good use.

3. My daily work, well uptil now atleast on windows includes net browsing, transfering files, pic editing on ACDSEE PRO, trying out shareware programs for my cell phone etc etc..When i ll shift to a Mac, certainly some programs n files wont open coz of a platform compatibility issue..Is there a proper & viable solution wherein I can run Windows as well as Mac simultaneously on the Mac??

4.Lastly, should i wait & get the new Mac or wait till OSX leopards out?? i mean will there be any major differences between this product & the one with leopard n which one will be worth the moolah??

Your inputs will be highly appreciated.
Awaiting them eagerly!

cheers
Mehul.

1. http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
Download firefox for OS X free there.

And press the little green circle at the top left of the screen. That should maximise the screen. Well bigger anyways. If you set the screen up full screen manually you can use that little circle to quickly revert to that state.

2. OS X the missing manual.
http://safari.oreilly.com/0596004508

That's supposed to be a great how to use OS X book.

3. You can run VISTA or XP directly in OS X with Parallels.
http://www.parallels.com/landingpage/dskd10/?gclid=CLnNgpXW9Y0CFQcdYwod_V0WMA

But it's not as good as natively booting into it with bootcamp. But for what you want to do with it, it'll be fine. Assuming you are buying an intel mac.

4. You'll only be saving US $129 (I think) if you wait for lepoard to get your mac. I think if you need it now get it. Tiger is perfectly good still.

coolmel said:

1. When i first opened the internet on the Mac, the safari browser couldnt be maximised as like in windows where we can open a program full screen..I suppose Mozilla firefox is available on Mac as an extra application. Can we make it full screen, or even safari for that matter??

Click to expand...

The green button in Mac OS does not work in the same fashion as the maximize button in Windows. Instead of maximizing to take the full screen, it simply maximizes to take up as much room as the application needs to display its window content. You may manually resize that window to any size by clicking and dragging the lower right corner to the needed size.

2.OH I NEED THS BADLY. Is there any book(for Mac newbies) or video tutorials coz i am a totally new Mac buff & very keen n eager to learn more about it..& apply it to good use.

Click to expand...

Try Mac OS X Tiger: The Missing Manual (by David Pogue). It's an excellent book that covers the basics of OS X and the included applications.

3. My daily work, well uptil now atleast on windows includes net browsing, transfering files, pic editing on ACDSEE PRO, trying out shareware programs for my cell phone etc etc..When i ll shift to a Mac, certainly some programs n files wont open coz of a platform compatibility issue..Is there a proper & viable solution wherein I can run Windows as well as Mac simultaneously on the Mac??

Click to expand...

Yes, check out Parallels Desktop for Mac. It runs Windows flawlessly in tandem with Mac OS X.

4.Lastly, should i wait & get the new Mac or wait till OSX leopards out?? i mean will there be any major differences between this product & the one with leopard n which one will be worth the moolah??

Click to expand...

Yes, you should wait at this point. No one knows when the hardware will be updated but Apple. Anyone who suggests otherwise is speculating.

Your inputs will be highly appreciated.
Awaiting them eagerly!

cheers
Mehul.

Click to expand...

Welcome to Mac-Forums.com, enjoy your stay. Be sure to avail yourself of the search feature as there is a wealth of knowledge available to you from those who have switched before and had the same types of questions.

when you hit maxamize on a mac, instead of covering the whole screen, it only covers what is in use by that program. i think there is a way to change it, but i have never needed to... so i'm not sure..

There is a little free app called Megazoomr (I think), which alows you to blow up Cocoa programs to full screen. Works in Mail, Safari, etc, not Photoshop.

which are the best video tutorials available on the net??? which ones r d best to order mates??