New to Mac, couple of questions.

Hi!

This is my first post. I dont even have mac yet, but I am going to buy one today. I have couple of questions that come to mind after reading the threads here. I hope you can answer my questions.

First of all, I am going to buy MacBook Black (2.4 GHz, 2 GB Ram, 250 GB HD). Anything I need to do first when I get my mac (something like tweaks or anything that one needs to make the system run better)?

I am planning to install Windows Vista using Boot Camp for now. I have read the stickies that Mac doesn't need anti-virus and firewall. But if I install windows and use that, do I need anti-virus and firewall for windows?

What is the preference for running Windows? Is it via Bootcamp or Virtual systems like Parallels or Fusion? If virtual system, which one is better, on apple website, Fusion has better customer ratings. If I use virtual system, then do I need to install anti-virus and firewall or not?

About Time Machine. Is it like Acronis True Image that will create image of the hard drive including operating systems? If yes, will it create image of both
Mac OS and Windows OS or just Mac? If it is both, if I need to reinstall the operating system again (see windows hang-over, just last month I re-installed everything on my desktop), will the time machine just bring the system back to the same time when I create the image, lets say after installing windows? I wouldn't need to get the license key reactivated, right?

Thanks in advance.

I think the only one I can answer for sure is number One. There are lots of software that can make your mac "better". For the next couple days, though, play around with system preferences. Although I do recommend a piece of software called "Mac Scan".

Hope this helps, and congrats on your purchase!

I also can't answer anything but 1, but if you'd like you could upgrade tot 4GB of RAM. Its much much cheaper than buying a laptop with 4GB of RAM in it to start. Probably cost you around 80-100 dollars, very easy to install.

Hmm, well, people usually use boot camp if they need the full power of windows.. like very intensive operations, or playing games. Since you're getting a macbook, I don't really see you playing games. If you just need access to a few non intensive Windows apps, I'd say virtualize it. Para/Fusion can use a boot camp partition to run virtual in OS X, but you won't be able to snapshot it for quicker use.

Also, regarding protection for windows, do you intend to go on the internet with it? That's the big question, and keep in mind you won't need to for most regular apps. If you don't intend to connect up with it, you really don't need any protection

What is the preference for running Windows? Is it via Bootcamp or Virtual systems like Parallels or Fusion? If virtual system, which one is better, on apple website, Fusion has better customer ratings. If I use virtual system, then do I need to install anti-virus and firewall or not?

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I would recommend using a virtual machine to run windows, however if you need to work with lots of 3D rendering or games then bootcamp would be better.

Yes you do need antivirus and firewall software on windows whether its via bootcamp or vmware fusion.

About Time Machine. Is it like Acronis True Image that will create image of the hard drive including operating systems? If yes, will it create image of both
Mac OS and Windows OS or just Mac? If it is both, if I need to reinstall the operating system again (see windows hang-over, just last month I re-installed everything on my desktop), will the time machine just bring the system back to the same time when I create the image, lets say after installing windows? I wouldn't need to get the license key reactivated, right?

Click to expand...

Time Machine doesn't create an Image of your HD, it simply backs up every file on your Mac. I don't think it touches the windows partition (if using bootcamp) and I don't think it will backup the virtual machine image either.

Here is what Apple say about Time Machine on their website:

For the initial backup, Time Machine copies the entire contents of the computer to your backup drive. It copies every file exactly (without compression), skipping caches and other files that aren’t required to restore your Mac to its original state. Following the initial backup, Time Machine makes only incremental backups — copying just the files that have changed since the previous backup. Time Machine creates links to any unchanged files, so when you travel back in time you see the entire contents of your Mac on a given day.

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First of all, I am going to buy MacBook Black (2.4 GHz, 2 GB Ram, 250 GB HD). Anything I need to do first when I get my mac (something like tweaks or anything that one needs to make the system run better)?

Click to expand...

Lol this aint windows so the answer is no. OS X doesn't seem to slow down as much as Windows does. With Windows your required to re-install every 12 months or so because it gets so bogged down and slow; but on OS X you just don't do that, you don't need to. For example I've had my macbook for nearly 2 years and it still takes 35 seconds to load up and it hasn't even slowed down.