New user, First macbook pro

Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Chicago
Your Mac's Specs
15" unibody, 2.53ghz, 4gb ram, 250 HDD, Snow+windows 7
So im new to Os x i just got my first macbook pro and im wondering if you guys could give me any tips on how i can make my OSx experience good. Im a very long time windows user i could go back as far as to windows 3.0 so thats almost 20 years of windows lol. so pretty much anything could be helpful. Im runing 10.6.1 if that helps
 
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
3,308
Reaction score
58
Points
48
Location
Whangarei NZ
Your Mac's Specs
27 iMac+Thunderbolt, iMac 21,
Welcome aboard. Lots of info on this forum have a hunt round also have a sticky beak here and there are number of more specific help manuals here
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
1,346
Reaction score
50
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
21" iMac * 2.8 Ghz Intel Core i7 * 16GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 * 1TB HD *AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512 MB
Joined
May 23, 2008
Messages
124
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, OSX 10.6, 1TB Storage
Highlight a file: Pic, video, or document. Press space bar. Wheeeeee!
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
1,346
Reaction score
50
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
21" iMac * 2.8 Ghz Intel Core i7 * 16GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 * 1TB HD *AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512 MB
Yes, the preview function in Finder is incredibly helpful and easier than having to launch an application just to find out what the file is.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
1,186
Reaction score
73
Points
48
Location
New Orleans, LA, USA
Your Mac's Specs
13" Macbook Pro 2.26Ghz Unibody 4G RAM 160G HDD Superdrive
Lots of good links placed here, but if you are wanting a good experience, you will as a long time windows user need to discard the quirky knowledge you've acquired using Windows. Mac OS X is not windows (and is in fact UNIX with a really slick GUI) so you need to 'give in' so to speak to the Mac way of doing things. What you will find that are common for former Windows users are:

There is no 'cut' for files in Finder. This is by design. It is safer to copy files over to where you want them then delete (move to trash) once you know they are safely where you want them.

The Dock is not the Taskbar. You put (in addition to what is already there) what you want and usually use in the Dock and use it to launch common applications that you'll use most, uh, commonly.

The green button that looks similar to the 'maximize' button in app windows does not maximize. It enlarges the app window to the size necessary to display the content, whatever that might be. Mac OS X assumes that you will be multi-tasking, and therefore you will not want anything to take over your desktop completely. This is a difficult thing for people to get coming from Windows for some reason.

That 'just works' thing is mostly true. If you plug in an external drive it just figures out what it is and 'mounts' it to your desktop. You do need to remember to 'eject' it before you unplug it, but otherwise it plays nicely with external media. This applies to CD's, DVD's, jump drives, SD cards, and all that. Just remember to eject them before disconnecting. This applies also to external monitors (with the exception that you can just unplug external monitors without 'ejecting' them; the monitor is either connected or not and Mac OS X acts accordingly depending on what's connected.)

Applications are installed by drag/drop, uninstalled by moving them to the trash. There are few apps that use 'installers'. Some do, but most are all-inclusive packages that, while they look like a single icon really consist of the whole package of things the app needs to run without laying out pieces of itself in other places you might need to clean up later.

Coming from Windows (and to an extent, traditional UNIXes/Linux) things are more 'think simple'. If there is something you ponder about how to do on Mac OS X, chances are it's the simplest way you could possibly think to do it. For example how do you burn a CD? You insert the blank CD and it shows up on your desktop as a blank CD. Drag the files you wish to burn to it. Once your done doing that double click it to open it. There will be a button that says 'Burn'. Click that and it will burn the CD for you. Simple as that. Don't want to burn certain files to that CD/DVD? Drag them to the trash.

I could go on, but I won't. I switched in 2005 and haven't looked back after using Windows/Linux/UNIX for 20+ years. The Mac of today (and note that I say 'today', not previous incarnations of what Apple called a Mac) is the most pleasant, easy to use, and intuitive computers I have ever experienced. And yes it is an experience. Why do you think I hang out in a forum like this for as long as I have? Also I tend to make long posts but that's just me. Follow the rule of 'It's not Windows' and you'll be golden.

Good luck with your quest for pleasant computing.
 
OP
Vienio
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Chicago
Your Mac's Specs
15" unibody, 2.53ghz, 4gb ram, 250 HDD, Snow+windows 7
Thx alot for the reply. you have mentioned the app installs is just drag and drop, its weird haha firefox was the first app i installed and i did not know what to do.....i was totally like what the ****.....i know sorta my way around the Os x a little bit now. But still finding new stuff on it. There are few visual questions i have. Can you have like 2-4 desktops like on a linux? i saw a guy swamping beetwin something like that and it looked really good. Also i saw that he had his dock on the left side, I know how to change that but he has something on the bottom like a long button to something and they wore like lines or something like that....Hard to describe. Also what replaces the quick alt+ctrl+delete from windows to go to the task menager? What about themes? I more of a visual person....
 
OP
Vienio
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Chicago
Your Mac's Specs
15" unibody, 2.53ghz, 4gb ram, 250 HDD, Snow+windows 7
Oh btw is there way to get RAM or a better CPU for a 15in 2009 MBP? I wanted 8gb baddly but when i saw the price with is like what? 1.3k for 4gb of ram....THATS freaking ridiculous....I brought ram for my other PC, and i paid only 100 for 8gb....What about the GPU, can i change it too? I know i know im thinking all PC, i love customizing PC's.....i got 3 custom built desktops at my house with all are almost maxed out...I would love to max my MBP if thats possible....
 
Joined
Mar 24, 2008
Messages
480
Reaction score
21
Points
18
The RAM is upgradeable but the cost will still be prohibitive. Laptop DDR3 over 4GB gets crazy on price fast.

Other than the hard drive, nothing else in a MacBook Pro is upgradeable. Like many PC notebooks, not much can really be swapped out.
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
Messages
2,073
Reaction score
68
Points
48
Location
Ithaca NY
Your Mac's Specs
13 inch alMacBook 2GHz C2D 4G DDR3, 1.25GHz G4 eMac
Thx alot for the reply. you have mentioned the app installs is just drag and drop, its weird haha firefox was the first app i installed and i did not know what to do.....i was totally like what the ****.....i know sorta my way around the Os x a little bit now. But still finding new stuff on it. There are few visual questions i have. Can you have like 2-4 desktops like on a linux? i saw a guy swamping beetwin something like that and it looked really good. Also i saw that he had his dock on the left side, I know how to change that but he has something on the bottom like a long button to something and they wore like lines or something like that....Hard to describe. Also what replaces the quick alt+ctrl+delete from windows to go to the task menager? What about themes? I more of a visual person....

Spaces... enable spaces in the system preferences under "exposé and spaces." You can have up to 8 I think, and lock certain apps to certain spaces. To switch between them, the default set up is control + arrow keys, or control + 1, 2, 3, 4, etc depending on which space you want to switch to.

There is no task manager in OS X. You don't need one. If an app is locking up, you have several options. You can right click on the icon in the dock and tell it to force quite, or you can hit option command escape which will bring up the force quit menu, in which you would select the misbehaving app and tell it to force quit.

Now, to right click you can do a couple of things... you can click and hold control, you can set up a special place on your track pad to push down and click, ooooor (this is what I do because I find with the giant multi-touch track pad, why would anybody want to actually push the thing down to click?) turn on tap to click... to do that, you go to system preferences> track pad> and select "Tap to click." and then you can turn on (under 2 fingers) secondary tap. then you just tap with 2 fingers to right click. Soooo convenient. Plus that way you're not making tons of noise, you can just lightly touch your trackpad to click and right click.

As for GUI changes, you... CAN... change some things, via a program called Magnifique (or if you're really brave, you can do it by messing with system files and .rsrc packages), but I would recommend against both of those things. Especially for the first few months of snow leopard being out. Let other people work out the bugs. If you're really interested and can't keep yourself away though, check out this board... MacThemes.

Oh btw is there way to get RAM or a better CPU for a 15in 2009 MBP? I wanted 8gb baddly but when i saw the price with is like what? 1.3k for 4gb of ram....THATS freaking ridiculous....I brought ram for my other PC, and i paid only 100 for 8gb....What about the GPU, can i change it too? I know i know im thinking all PC, i love customizing PC's.....i got 3 custom built desktops at my house with all are almost maxed out...I would love to max my MBP if thats possible....

You can buy more RAM later from a 3rd party. You'll never get 2x4GB dimms for 100 bucks. First, it's really fast RAM (1066MHz DDR3), and second it has to be in 4GB sticks, which are EXPENSIVE at the moment. In the future you can upgrade it at a cheaper cost. The GPU you're stuck with, same with the processor. Until maybe years from now when you have another machine and want to experiment with this one.

PS - please stop disgracing your new MBP by putting that pile of **** Windows on it. :p
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2008
Messages
311
Reaction score
19
Points
18
Location
Shakopee, MN
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, late 2012 model, 21"
or you can hit control command escape which will bring up the force quit menu, in which you would select the misbehaving app and tell it to force quit.

Correction: You hit Command + Option + Esc. to bring up the Force Quite App window.
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
Messages
2,073
Reaction score
68
Points
48
Location
Ithaca NY
Your Mac's Specs
13 inch alMacBook 2GHz C2D 4G DDR3, 1.25GHz G4 eMac
woops. My fingers knew that. My brain just didn't articulate it correctly.
 
OP
Vienio
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Chicago
Your Mac's Specs
15" unibody, 2.53ghz, 4gb ram, 250 HDD, Snow+windows 7
DarkestRival, Thank you for the info i will be very usefull to me. And also you can say windows xp, vista is a total crap coz it is and i hate them. But windows 7 is better than you think it is. Its the best windows OS ever created finally microsoft has done something right. I was gonna ditch windows long time ago after they came up with vista but i sticked with XP untill now. But ehh im on OSX now lol But seriously if you havent tried windows 7, Please dont say crap about it :) Its 2x faster than the old XP and 4x-5x faster than vista. I know that because my gf has a 1.8ghz dual core toshiba from 2 years ago and i have put XP on it and vista and when i put windows 7 on it i was totally blown away. Especially on the MBP its a blast my friend. And yes it is supported, all you need is Bootcamp 3.0....
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
Messages
2,073
Reaction score
68
Points
48
Location
Ithaca NY
Your Mac's Specs
13 inch alMacBook 2GHz C2D 4G DDR3, 1.25GHz G4 eMac
No, I've seen Windows 7 and it looks much sharper than past versions of windows, but it is what it is... a corporate attempt to take over everything and force the PC industry to use their codex (direct X, etc). Also, I'm not sure, but your MBP can't be working to its full capacity while running windows 7 because I'm fairly sure the track pad doesn't work to its full capacity, and all those other nice features. Plus your keyboard is set up for use with OS X. Just all sorts of little things. :)
 
OP
Vienio
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Chicago
Your Mac's Specs
15" unibody, 2.53ghz, 4gb ram, 250 HDD, Snow+windows 7
No, I've seen Windows 7 and it looks much sharper than past versions of windows, but it is what it is... a corporate attempt to take over everything and force the PC industry to use their codex (direct X, etc). Also, I'm not sure, but your MBP can't be working to its full capacity while running windows 7 because I'm fairly sure the track pad doesn't work to its full capacity, and all those other nice features. Plus your keyboard is set up for use with OS X. Just all sorts of little things. :)

Actually you are very wrong. MBP can handle windows 7 better than a PC can. Im runing windows 7 right now and everything works as if i was running OSX, thats means the keyboard works, Multitouch trackpad works, sleep mode, everything. The bootcamp from apple only supports windows xp however someone has made bootcamp 3.0 with enables the MBP to run windows 7 with out a problem.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
1,346
Reaction score
50
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
21" iMac * 2.8 Ghz Intel Core i7 * 16GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 * 1TB HD *AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512 MB
Boot Camp has been able to run Windows 7 for awhile, the only difference is for some reason, you also need your OS X installation disk.

Using Boot Camp to install Windows 7 on your Mac: The Complete Walkthrough - Simple Help

There aren't too many different Mac themes, but you can use LiteIcon to customize your system icon and Dockswitcher to gussy up your dock. You can change individual app icons too, which takes some explaining. You can find a lot of neat icons at interfacelift.com.

I'm interested in seeing how different Windows 7 is and will probably get it, but no matter how many cool features they put in it, it's still based on the same shaky foundation as all previous versions of Windows, which is where the problem lies.
 
OP
Vienio
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Chicago
Your Mac's Specs
15" unibody, 2.53ghz, 4gb ram, 250 HDD, Snow+windows 7
Boot Camp has been able to run Windows 7 for awhile, the only difference is for some reason, you also need your OS X installation disk.

Using Boot Camp to install Windows 7 on your Mac: The Complete Walkthrough - Simple Help

There aren't too many different Mac themes, but you can use LiteIcon to customize your system icon and Dockswitcher to gussy up your dock. You can change individual app icons too, which takes some explaining. You can find a lot of neat icons at interfacelift.com.

I'm interested in seeing how different Windows 7 is and will probably get it, but no matter how many cool features they put in it, it's still based on the same shaky foundation as all previous versions of Windows, which is where the problem lies.

If you are planing on testing windows 7, get the RTM 7600 and above version. And thx gonna check those out
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
Messages
2,073
Reaction score
68
Points
48
Location
Ithaca NY
Your Mac's Specs
13 inch alMacBook 2GHz C2D 4G DDR3, 1.25GHz G4 eMac
That's sweet. I thought I had read about some issues involving the track pad. Or maybe I was making them up in my brain. Either way, I don't see why you'd want to run a wannabe OS X on a machine that can run OS X :)

...also... opensource codecs ftw!
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top