I recently got a black MacBook.

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Hello,
I recently got a black macbook and mighty mouse. This is my first mac and I love it. Its been the greatest computer i've ever had. I have been using this computer for browsing the web and listening to music. I currently have a nice set of speakers I have it hooked up to!

Now i have a few questions. How can I maximize my use on the macbook. What are some cool things that i'm am clueless i can do on it. What are the greatest features. Which widgets should I download?

Another thing. On the corner of my macbook. the corner to the left of the trackpad. on the left side there are two screws. If i push a little in between the screws it goes in a little and macs a little noise. Its not big deal at all i was just wondering if anyone else has noticed it and if it can be corrected by possibly tightening those screws up.

Well thanks!
 
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Mine moved a little between those screws, but it doesn't make a noise and I hadn't noticed it until you mentioned it and I had a go!

You can do just about anything you want with a mac, so it's kinda hard to answer that one!
 
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My Macbook was the same with the screws. Saw a few demo models in stores and they all did the same thing so I never worried about it. Tried tightening up the screws a bit but it didn't fix the problem. I wouldn't worry about it, Mine did it from bran new and I used it for over a year and a half without any problems.
 
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Some programs I use: Firefox (some people dislike it, I like it), Microsoft Office Suite (i think its the best word processor, powerpoint, etc. out there). Other than that, just search around the net. Versiontracker.com is a great website for programs.

Number 1 rule: BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVE. theres a 99.9% chance (slight overexaggeration) your hard drive will fail. Back it up daily or weekly with time machine.
 
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I have a blackbook also Mine makes a tiny noise on the same side yours does. I
guess you could tighten the screws. Or take it to Apple.
 
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I'm pretty sure those screws hold the top case on, I remember doing something with them when I had to get into my macbook. Personally I'd leave them alone.
 

Xer


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First of all, cangrats on your purchase! :D

Secondly, it depends on what you do with your computer.
But the software I recommend anyone to have are:

Transmission: a freeware bittorent downloader, I like it the most, http://www.transmissionbt.com

Mozilla Firefox of course (I like Safari but having a 2nd browser is always good).

If you use multiple instant messaging services, I would totally recommend Adium X http://www.adiumx.com

Of course, the Microsoft Office 2008 Student, I use it, it's great for me.

And the most important, get an external HD to backup all your data as mentioned in the replies above me.


Have fun mate ;D
 
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First of all, cangrats on your purchase! :D

Secondly, it depends on what you do with your computer.
But the software I recommend anyone to have are:

Transmission: a freeware bittorent downloader, I like it the most, http://www.transmissionbt.com

Mozilla Firefox of course (I like Safari but having a 2nd browser is always good).

If you use multiple instant messaging services, I would totally recommend Adium X http://www.adiumx.com

Of course, the Microsoft Office 2008 Student, I use it, it's great for me.

And the most important, get an external HD to backup all your data as mentioned in the replies above me.


Have fun mate ;D

Thanks for the help everyone.
I have Iwork which works great for school and everything. I will get an external HD. I use Ichat for aim. I downloaded Firefox works great, I like it better then safari. I downloaded transmission. It looks really cool from what i read on the website. I'm just not sure how to use it. I downloaded it. Now how do I use it to download things. And what can I use it to download? Movies possibly? Let me know! Thanks!
 
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MacBook 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo | 1GB RAM | OS X 10.6.3 | 250GB External HD | 8GB iPod Touch 1st Gen 3.1.3
Get iStat Menus for you laptop, if you like to see how your laptop performs doing various things.

a widget for your dashboard thats the same thing:

iStat Pro

theres a widget called Fans, and it animates how fast your fans are running. like if theyre at 1800rpm, it will spin slow. and if at 5000rpm, than it will spin very fast. neat little thing.

If you want a picture on your dashboard, I personally like "ModernMoments." Easy to use; just drag and drop your picture onto it, and you can resize the frame.

Here are the links to what i gave mentioned:

iStat Menus
http://www.islayer.com/index.php?op=item&id=28

iStat Pro
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/istatpro.html

Fans
http://buschfeuer.com/fans/

ModernMoments
http://www.dashboardwidgets.com/showcase/details.php?wid=1054

Hope you find them useful ;)

and congrats on your purchase!
 
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Blackbook88,

There are a lot of goodies out there, but here's a page for a daily Mac tip: http://tips4mac.blogspot.com/

Note, go down the page and on the left, Archives, you will see the older tips which started in January, 2007. You can read them first and learn a lot that way...

Congrats on your new Blackbook, Blackbook...

Noel
 
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yehh i love my black book as well got it at the beg of this month with my education discount so i got the itouch and a free printer.

heres what id get: External HD (for backing up w/ time machine) , and also a bigger monitor if you like watching movies or just like have more of a workspace as i do because of college work

once i got my blackbook it was constant downloading and installing apps to truly customize my mac.. heres what i have:

Firefox 3 -- (great browser, new features, and looks amazing)
Adium -- (use it for my Aim messenger)
Skype -- (video chat)
VLC -- (video player to play divx movies, and many other video files with different and hard to find codecs and compressions)
google earth -- (take a look at satellite imagery of anything in the world it really is a beautifully rendered app. Get directions and what not go sight seeing or whatever you want)
Office Suite -- (work stuff)
CoverStream -- (if youre really into music like i am, youlll love this app. it controls your itunes without itunes open.. and beautifully displays current songs playing and album art)
Photoshop CS3 -- (if youre into photography or graphic design)
transmission -- torrent client for downloading torrent files
Stuffit -- (compresser/decompresser of .rar files and other file types)

Cool Widgets and other stuff:
iStat pro -- displays all crucial info about your macbook. i use this all the time making sure everythings running smoothly
coconut battery -- shows info about your battery: charge, how many cycles youve used, etc.. istat pro also has this displayed

by other stuff i meant apps you already have but may not be obvious. I use 'stickies' which is great for writing down quick notes
ical - which is your typical calender.. i have it in my 3rd spaces so i can quickly check events and stuff

thas most of the stuff i have downloaded.. im pretty much set with all this stuff. use Spaces, its great for having things organized. mess around with system preferences to customize things the way you want them especially with your login section so you can have some apps to run immediately when you power on your mac. You can also have different apps open in which spaces you want when you mess with the pref in spaces and in system pref>>account>>login
 
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I can't believe no one has mentioned quicksilver. If you get started using it when you start on macs, I guarantee it will become invaluable really fast. I find myself trying to use it all the time on other computers that don't have it, by far the best mac productivity app.
 

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