Beginners guide to Apps e.g. photoshop, garage band etc

Hi All,

Recently got my 2011 MBP, and at the minute I only really use it for web browsing, iTunes, email and creating word documents. It seems a bit of a shame to waste such a capable machine on just doing these things, as I could have just get a cheap netbook to do those.

I'm therefore wondering if there are any beginners guides to using other good Apps to joke the most of the MBPs capabilities? I'm talking properly fool proof. At this stage I'm not even at the level where I want to do things but don't know how to do them, I don't even know what I COULD possibly be doing. I'm more interested in the photo shop side of things, strictly as a hobby to keep me amused, nothing professional or anything like that. Not too bothered about garage band, I'm not very musical, but if I'm really missing out then where should I begin? Any other great Apps I should be looking at?

And how expensive is it to get into these things? I know I already have garage band, but how much is good photo editing software? And I mean good for my level, not for your pro photographers etc.

Thanks in advance,
Ed

The Apple website is a good place to start. Take a look at Aperture on the Apple website Link - there are a lot of good videos that will give you an idea of what you can do.

Apple - Find Out How - Mac Basics was the site I always recommended to new users. For more advanced training in software, consider checking out Lynda.com. It's a monthly subscription service, but has video tutorials for just about anything you want.