Newb to macs...awaiting ibook

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Hi all,
Just thought I'd introduce myself, I'm new to the mac world; made the switch with a loaded 14in ibook (768ram,superdrive,bluetooth,80gig hd).

Lots of helpful info on the site! I'm anxiously waiting for my ibook. I've already recieved my applecare and iwork. Anticipation is half the fun I guess :mac: I should be picking up office for mac and some bose headphones as well :headphone

My primary uses for the ibook are gonna be for doing presentations, my own little multimedia/entertainment center (itunes, watching dvds, etc..) and of course surfin the web.

I know I shouldn't expect much as far as games go but can you recommend any games that would work well on the ibook?

I'm really excited!! :)

any other noob essentials I should check out i.e. programs, accesories, books, apps..... (i've already got cocktail on the list)

Thanks
Jason :mac:
 
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Welcome to the forums, and to the Mac world. I'm not much of a gamer when it comes to my Macs (that's what my Xbox is for), so I can't really suggest any games. However, two sites you'll probably want to check out are VersionTracker and MacUpdate. Both have lots of great software that you can download.
 
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For games I'd recommend American McGee's Alice. It's an excellent third-person 'follow' adventure game. It's a little twisted, but amazing. The graphics are gorgeous for its age.
 
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BigBear
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Meyvn
Just curious do you know how big of a difference 768mb ram vs. 1.25gig ram performance wise? say running regular applications (itunes, surfing web,etc..) I ask only because of the setup you currently have listed :yinyang:

thanks
Jason
 
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BigBear said:
Meyvn
Just curious do you know how big of a difference 768mb ram vs. 1.25gig ram performance wise? say running regular applications (itunes, surfing web,etc..) I ask only because of the setup you currently have listed :yinyang:

thanks
Jason

Well, I'm not Meyvn, but I can contribute a bit to your question. Basically, you aren't going to notice much, if any, performance difference unless you are maxing-out your current memory during use. To do this, you'd have to be running a large number of programs, or a few very memory-hungry ones. As as example, I did a small test when I read your question here and had Safari, AOL Instant Messenger, iPhoto, iTunes, iCal, Adobe PhotoShop, Microsoft Word, and AppleWorks all running at the same time. I have 640 MB of RAM on this machine, and that was more or less the point where Activity Monitor (also running) told me that I was out of RAM and relying on the virtual memory. Obviously, I never have that many applications running simultaneously, but I suppose some people might. The additional 128 MB on your machine should mean that you'll have plenty of RAM for pretty heavy everyday use.

Now to go close all those programs...
 
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BigBear
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padawan,
thanks for doing a test! yeah i don't think i'll have that many apps. running at a time, but I was just curious.

AHHHH Apple sent me an email telling me that shipping will be delayed another few days :(

-jason :mac:
 
U

urbandryad

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BigBear said:
I know I shouldn't expect much as far as games go but can you recommend any games that would work well on the ibook?

Heya! :) What sort of games do you generally play? RPG's? FPS? Strategy? http://www.madmacgames.com lists many games for sale. Also you can find some cute freeware games and demos here. http://www.downloadfreemacgames.com/

http://www.macgamefiles.com/ has games and demos to download.

And of course, you can go here to check the latest games news direct from apple. http://www.apple.com/games/

I'm not much into playing computer games, but I play one or two games from time to time. A good Massive Multiplayer Game Is Yohoho Puzzle Pirates! :D http://www.puzzlepirates.com/ they just opened a new free stripped down game server for non-subscribers, and you get a free 7 day trial of the subscriber oceans. ;) If you see me on there, my pirate's name is Tofu. :)

Edit: [NOTE: I'm currently playing YPP on a PC, but the Mac version requires Panther. HOWEVER, the game is Java based, mostly, so you won't need any high gear screen graphics cards or anything. I'm sure an iBook will run it no sweat. ^^; RAM might be a good thing though.]
 
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BigBear
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thanks urban!


AHHHH the devil is messing with me!!! :mad:

ok, so i got the email saying that my ibook has been delayed....problem is I may already be out of town by the time it gets here. SOO.. I go to my local apple store to see what they have in stock. Apparently I can get a 12in powerbook with the things I want (superdrive,768mb ram,bluetooth etc..) for about $250 more than my 14in ibook. What I really like about the powerbook is the scrolling trackpad.

The question I pose is is the powerbook worth an extra $250? This is my first mac, and I really don't NEED a powerbook, the ibook fits my needs just fine.....but...it is a powerbook and there is a cool factor there ;)

Comments??

Thanks again
Jason
 
T

TKEik683

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if it just comes down to the scroll pad, i use sidetrack which basically allows you to do the samething as the new pb.

i havent really played around with a pb so i cant tell yas, but i can say that my ibook is flawless for me

dave
 
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The Powerbook has a 167 Mgz side bus, the iBook 133, a big plus I think. And from using 12's in the local Apple store, no worries on screen size IMO
 
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BigBear
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hmmm...
I don't want to sound impatient, I guess I'm just really anxious to get my ibook! lol

the good thing if i stick with the ibook is that $250 can go to some bose headphones and office for mac.

as a switcher i guess i'll see how it goes with the ibook; but i definatly see a powerbook in my future... :)

ok, I don't know if this is an ok question to ask but, are there any programs for burning dvds (encoded ones) or ripping them to the hard drive? I know idvd won't do that and I don't think roxio's toast does it either....

As far as downloading programs/freeware/shareware off of sites like versiontracker and macupdate; is it safe for the most part? any complications/concerns?

thanks for answering all my noob questions :dive:
Jason
 
R

ryanyogan

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You seem to have a little interest in games, so you may want to get that powerbook as it has a dedicated 64mb nvidia card instead of the 9200 32mb ati card, as well as an audio in, and some other features. Just some food for thaught there...
 
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Their are lots of free programs for DVD ripping. Just type DVD in at Macupdate or Versiontracker. Even Roxio the makers of Toast have brought one out called Popcorn and I've never had or heard of any problems downloading programs from Veriostracker or macupdate, Mac OSX is virus free and spyware free.

Enjoy your new Mac.
 

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