New to Macs, any tips?

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Hi everyone, just bought a Macbook (not Pro) earlier today and was wondering if anyone had any tips for a Mac newbie? I have been a pc technician for 4 years now but only rarely used a Mac.


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Tom
 
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I recently purchased a MacBook Pro & iMac and the best tip I can give is keep reading this site. My biggest concern was being able to do all the things on my Mac's that I did on the PC's such as photo editing, converting video to make DVD's or MP4's for my iPhone, ripping DVD's, etc.. I have found a program/app to do every single thing I need just by reading this site (and asking a few?'s of course). I am now 100% free of my PC's and my aggravation with computers is gone!
 
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I got a Macbook just the other day too! Just enjoy!! It is great.
 
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I recently purchased a MacBook Pro & iMac and the best tip I can give is keep reading this site. My biggest concern was being able to do all the things on my Mac's that I did on the PC's such as photo editing, converting video to make DVD's or MP4's for my iPhone, ripping DVD's, etc.. I have found a program/app to do every single thing I need just by reading this site (and asking a few?'s of course). I am now 100% free of my PC's and my aggravation with computers is gone!

I agree completely. This site--and the Switcher Hangout forum in particular--is great for "newbs" such as yourself ;). And I've also found that the main problem among people experienced enough with computers is working out how to use different applications/methods to do what they were previously doing. Surprisingly, it's a lot of fun.

You'll love the Mac.
 
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I am learning alot by asking questions here (and trying their patience I am sure haha), and just playing around with OS X.
 
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Thanks for the replys. I can't wait to get hold of my Mac now! should have it tuesday hopefully.

I was thinking of upgrading it to snow leopard 10.6 straight away or is it best to stick with 10.5 for a while first off?

Cheers
Tom
 
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External Hard drives

Whatever new external hard drive you get, make sure you format it as FAT32 so you can use it on both mac and windows. You never know when you need it

Recently i had to use my hard drive to backup my playstation 3, thank god i made it FAT32

Touch Pad

As soon as i got my mac, i went to preferences and enabled one finger tapping, two finger secondary click etc..it's so much better!

i remember when i first got my mac i never knew about it and was constantly holding down CTRL and clicking!

Spaces

I don't know how many people use Spaces, but i really love it. Soon as got my mac, i set up spaces allocating my emails to a different desktop, my microsoft word to another, safari to another one and so forth..made my life more efficient and easier. No more clouding of windows and minimising mania


Regarding Snow leopard- i would suggest upgrading straight away, even through there aren't any drastic changes from first glance, it's better to get used to snow leopard...more efficient and faster, certain subtle things like the new stash is much better

If you purchased your macbook from apple, it should come with snow leopard installed anyway, right?
 
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I highly recommend picking up a book about macs and OS X. They contain a lot if useful information and it will help you out a lot as you learn your way around OS X.
 

CrimsonRequiem


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When you are in the learning process...keep telling yourself it's not Windows over and over so you won't get frustrated...>_<"
 
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Thanks again people, spot on information! will see about getting a guide for it too.

Tom
 
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congrats on the mac book!

Apple provided a one-to-one tuition/coaching service for a whole bunch of apple services, including help form switchers, how to use a mac, ilife, etc etc..i had a VERY bad expereince with it on my first session, but that was down to the muppet the store had emplyed ( they have fired the person after several complaints from other customers)

the apple staff are very knowledgable and know the answers to almost everything.
 
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First tip: You may need to go to your System Preferences and activate your right (secondary) mouse click. Apple has been shipping configured for a one button mouse.

Second tip: You need to download/install Flip4Mac which allows your Mac to play Windows Movie files which are everywhere on the web.
 
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congrats on the mac book!

Apple provided a one-to-one tuition/coaching service for a whole bunch of apple services, including help form switchers, how to use a mac, ilife, etc etc..i had a VERY bad expereince with it on my first session, but that was down to the muppet the store had emplyed ( they have fired the person after several complaints from other customers)

the apple staff are very knowledgable and know the answers to almost everything.

Thanks :). Are these lessons expensive? I have an apple shop in the next city so could be do able if the price is right.

First tip: You may need to go to your System Preferences and activate your right (secondary) mouse click. Apple has been shipping configured for a one button mouse.

Second tip: You need to download/install Flip4Mac which allows your Mac to play Windows Movie files which are everywhere on the web.

Great stuff, All noted down lol.

Tom
 
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woohoo!

mac newb, first post

i just got mine yesterday - basic imac - i'm loving it!

thanks for the tip on the mouse right click
 
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Just have fun with it. Basically, it's just a computer - though admittedly a pretty cool one.
 
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And have a peek here - some good info for when it 'starts to get deep'
 
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Hey guys. Just bought myself a macbook for christmas from a friend who upgraded to to an iMac. I got it primarily as the core of my home studio but I'm finding I like doing everything better on my Mac.

Quick question, how do I get my friends name changed over to mine? Like instead of it being "Daves Macbook" it says "Dylans Macbook." Thanks guys.
 
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Hey guys. Just bought myself a macbook for christmas from a friend who upgraded to to an iMac. I got it primarily as the core of my home studio but I'm finding I like doing everything better on my Mac.

Quick question, how do I get my friends name changed over to mine? Like instead of it being "Daves Macbook" it says "Dylans Macbook." Thanks guys.

You can change that in Sys Prefs/Sharing but before you do why not go into Accounts and click the + in left pane and add a New Account for you with Admin rights and then enable fast user switching in Log in options. Then you can switch to your new account and delete Daves which gets rid of/Saves all his User Folder. Apps are still there as before but now it is all yours.
 
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awesome, thanks collin :D
 
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External Hard drives

Whatever new external hard drive you get, make sure you format it as FAT32 so you can use it on both mac and windows. You never know when you need it

Recently i had to use my hard drive to backup my playstation 3, thank god i made it FAT32

Touch Pad

As soon as i got my mac, i went to preferences and enabled one finger tapping, two finger secondary click etc..it's so much better!

i remember when i first got my mac i never knew about it and was constantly holding down CTRL and clicking!

Spaces

I don't know how many people use Spaces, but i really love it. Soon as got my mac, i set up spaces allocating my emails to a different desktop, my microsoft word to another, safari to another one and so forth..made my life more efficient and easier. No more clouding of windows and minimising mania


Regarding Snow leopard- i would suggest upgrading straight away, even through there aren't any drastic changes from first glance, it's better to get used to snow leopard...more efficient and faster, certain subtle things like the new stash is much better

If you purchased your macbook from apple, it should come with snow leopard installed anyway, right?

Could you elaborate on the Spaces thing? Or point me to a topic that does?
 

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