New Owner of MacBook Pro 13" 2.66 GHz

Marrk · Mar 6, 2011

Just purchased yesterday. Formerly on a 17" PowerBook G4.

A few questions:

1) Is it safe to move the laptop when it is in sleep mode? Or better to shut down? Worried about damaging the hard drive. My understanding is that it is safe (altho they said that abt the PB!).

2) The screen is glass, therefore, there are no issues regarding closing the laptop without a pad of some sort between the screen and the keyboard?

3) No Word app.? Am I A PRETTY PURPLE PANDA?

Thanks, all. I'm sure I'll have more questions. Thinking about getting time capsule and airport extreme (or will my 8 yr old Airport base station work with this?)

.

RustProofCorn · Mar 6, 2011

1: around the house yep safe to move in sleep mode. When I travel I shut it down this may be just piece of mind but I have also never had a hdd fail.

2:you are correct no reason for a pad in between. Mine is similar to yours 2009 model and looks like the day I bought it with no ware or keyboard marks.

3: no word app? Seriously there are tons of word apps are u saying this because u might have to pay for a word app? Take a look in the Mac app store or just get office 08. Iworks is nice too. That is if your talking a word processing program.

Marrk · Mar 6, 2011

RustProofCorn said:
1: around the house yep safe to move in sleep mode. When I travel I shut it down this may be just piece of mind but I have also never had a hdd fail.

2:you are correct no reason for a pad in between. Mine is similar to yours 2009 model and looks like the day I bought it with no ware or keyboard marks.

3: no word app? Seriously there are tons of word apps are u saying this because u might have to pay for a word app? Take a look in the Mac app store or just get office 08. Iworks is nice too. That is if your talking a word processing program.

1) I thought that, some time ago, Apple had developed and installed some kind of brake or safety mechanism (sorry, I'm not a techy) to protect HDs when you move yr laptop. This was developed after my PB was produced.

3) There's no Word app. on the OS. I'm shocked. I get effing Garage Band so that I can waste my time like an 11-yr-old, but no Word. Do I have to purchase the app. in the "app. store"? (Sorry, again. Never purchased anything like that online b4.)

ch1ll1man · Mar 6, 2011

you can use vi or emacs from the terminal prompt

It has textedit out of the box which allows you to make RTF documents and even save to PDF.

You could buy iWorks which is pretty cheap or Office 2011 - I use the the former and it's very nice.

If you bought a PC you'd have to pay for Word, wordpad which comes with windows is just like textedit.

RustProofCorn · Mar 6, 2011

Marrk said:
1) I thought that, some time ago, Apple had developed and installed some kind of brake or safety mechanism (sorry, I'm not a techy) to protect HDs when you move yr laptop. This was developed after my PB was produced.

3) There's no Word app. on the OS. I'm shocked. I get effing Garage Band so that I can waste my time like an 11-yr-old, but no Word. Do I have to purchase the app. in the "app. store"? (Sorry, again. Never purchased anything like that online b4.)

Yeah just like on a pc u have to purchase a word processor. I have both Iworks and office 2008. I would take a look at both. One nice thing about iworks is you don't have to puchage the whole package. If u just want a word processor look at pages in the Mac store. Its only 20 bucks. Or u can look into open office. Take a search online.

cwa107 · Mar 6, 2011

Marrk said:
3) There's no Word app. on the OS. I'm shocked. I get effing Garage Band so that I can waste my time like an 11-yr-old, but no Word. Do I have to purchase the app. in the "app. store"? (Sorry, again. Never purchased anything like that online b4.)

Sure there is - it's called TextEdit and it's in your Applications folder.

Word is a specific product bundled with Microsoft Office, which by the way, is not normally included with Windows either.

There are many great free alternatives to Word, including OpenOffice.org, Bean and AbiWord, which are more or less clones.

Marrk · Mar 6, 2011

RustProofCorn said:
Yeah just like on a pc u have to purchase a word processor. I have both Iworks and office 2008. I would take a look at both. One nice thing about iworks is you don't have to puchage the whole package. If u just want a word processor look at pages in the Mac store. Its only 20 bucks. Or u can look into open office. Take a search online.

Sorry to all if my language above was inappropriate.I did not mean to offend or break forum rules.

Thanks for this info, Rust. I am shocked, I guess, because all my other computers have come with a word processing app. as part of the OS.

I will follow your advice and look into iWorks.

Marrk · Mar 6, 2011

cwa107 said:
Sure there is - it's called TextEdit and it's in your Applications folder.

Word is a specific product bundled with Microsoft Office, which by the way, is not normally included with Windows either.

There are many great free alternatives to Word, including OpenOffice.org, Bean and AbiWord, which are more or less clones.

You are correct, sir. I have TextEdit. I just don't know if I am going to need Word in order to be completely compatible w/ the rest of the universe.

BrianLachoreVPI · Mar 6, 2011

Marrk said:
3) No Word app.? Am I A PRETTY PURPLE PANDA?

LOL! Love the edit.

BrianLachoreVPI · Mar 6, 2011

Marrk said:
You are correct, sir. I have TextEdit. I just don't know if I am going to need Word in order to be completely compatible w/ the rest of the universe.

You may depending on your universe. As Office doesn't come bundled with Windows either - you may have to shell out for a copy of Office for Mac. Office for Mac : Simplify Your Work | Office For Mac That's what I did.

TattooedMac · Mar 6, 2011

ch1ll1man said:
you can use emacs from the terminal prompt

Oh yea i forgot about that one

Nice

BrianLachoreVPI · Mar 6, 2011

Marrk said:
1) I thought that, some time ago, Apple had developed and installed some kind of brake or safety mechanism (sorry, I'm not a techy) to protect HDs when you move yr laptop. This was developed after my PB was produced.

It's the sudden motion sensor - read more here. Apple Portables: About the Sudden Motion Sensor

I'll wait for the more informed here to state otherwise - but I basically shut the lid on my MBP (which sleeps it) and move from point A to point B with no concerns at all. I rarely shutdown.

Marrk · Mar 6, 2011

BrianLachoreVPI said:
It's the sudden motion sensor - read more here. Apple Portables: About the Sudden Motion Sensor

I'll wait for the more informed here to state otherwise - but I basically shut the lid on my MBP (which sleeps it) and move from point A to point B with no concerns at all. I rarely shutdown.

Yes. Sudden Motion Sensor.

So, you travel with yr MBP in sleep mode, too?

BrianLachoreVPI · Mar 6, 2011

Marrk said:
Yes. Sudden Motion Sensor.

So, you travel with yr MBP in sleep mode, too?

I do. Just came back from a weeks vacation involving air travel - with the MBP sleeping soundly.

Marrk · Mar 6, 2011

ch1ll1man said:
you can use vi or emacs from the terminal prompt

Regrettably, I am dumb. I do not know what "vi" or "emacs" is . . . altho I think I saw the Terminal icon around here somewhere . . . .

cwa107 · Mar 6, 2011

Marrk said:
You are correct, sir. I have TextEdit. I just don't know if I am going to need Word in order to be completely compatible w/ the rest of the universe.

TextEdit can open and save Word files. It's very basic, but is roughly akin to WordPad on Windows. The others I've mentioned (like OpenOffice.org, AbiWord and Bean) are more fully featured, and again, are able to open and save Word documents.

In my opinion, 95% of users don't need MS Office. They like the warm fuzzy feeling of having the suite that they're accustomed to, but in actuality, there are many fine alternatives that do just about everything that most people need an Office suite for.

TattooedMac · Mar 6, 2011

Marrk said:
Regrettably, I am dumb. I do not know what "vi" or "emacs" is . . . altho I think I saw the Terminal icon around here somewhere . . . .

Dont play with Terminal unless you really know what your are doing. You could end up doing a reinstall of the OS before you know it

Just a warning

Cheers

Marrk · Mar 6, 2011

RustProofCorn said:
Yeah just like on a pc u have to purchase a word processor. I have both Iworks and office 2008. I would take a look at both. One nice thing about iworks is you don't have to puchage the whole package. If u just want a word processor look at pages in the Mac store. Its only 20 bucks. Or u can look into open office. Take a search online.

Rust,

I can't seem to find Word as a stand-alone purchase. The Apple Store has iWorks as a complete package.

Could you provide a link or more info?

Thanks.

Marrk

RustProofCorn · Mar 6, 2011

On your desktop down at the bottom next to finder is "app store" its like the iTunes app store but for mac. Type in there iworks and you will see pages for like 20 bucks.

cwa107 · Mar 7, 2011

Marrk said:
Rust,

I can't seem to find Word as a stand-alone purchase. The Apple Store has iWorks as a complete package.

Could you provide a link or more info?

Thanks.

Marrk

Point of clarification:

"Word" is the brand name of Microsoft's word processor. iWork does *not* come with "Word", but it does come with another word processor called "Pages".

If you want Microsoft Word, you'll have to buy Microsoft Office, but that's not available on the Mac App Store (currently).

But before you even spend so much as a dime, I would strongly urge you to check some free alternatives:

1. OpenOffice.org
2. Bean
3. AbiWord

All three of which are quite capable and fully compatible with Microsoft Word. This is the last I'll say on the subject as you seem hellbent on buying something, when it's very likely that you don't need to.

Best of luck.