XP to Mac OS

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I'm planning on purchasing a MacBook Pro. I currently have a PC desktop and a PC notebook which both run XP. As this is the Switcher Hangout, I'd like to get feedback on those of you that have made the switch or know of those that have made the switch from XP to Mac OS.

I played with a MBP at the Apple Store yesterday and everything seemed pretty intuitive. The only things that puzzled me were the following:

When I opened a program or application and subsequently X'ed it, the program was not technically closed. I had to click on the status bar at the top and Exit the application.

I'm used to having a Start/Programs Menu on XP. There doesn't seem to be one on the Mac OS. Is this what the Objectdock is for? Similarly, I suppose the Objectdock also takes the palce of the Quick Launch utility on XP.

Otherwise, everything else is pretty straightforward.
 
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VanillaEps said:
When I opened a program or application and subsequently X'ed it, the program was not technically closed. I had to click on the status bar at the top and Exit the application.
Yes, this is how it always it. Command-Q also is the keyboard short cut for close.


VanillaEps said:
I'm used to having a Start/Programs Menu on XP. There doesn't seem to be one on the Mac OS. Is this what the Objectdock is for? Similarly, I suppose the Objectdock also takes the palce of the Quick Launch utility on XP.
It's actually just called the Dock. Objectdock is a software for Windows that emulates Apple's Dock. There is an apps folder in Finder, and ther is a hack to turn the Apple logo into a start menu similar to Windows, but generally, yes use the Dock.
 
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Even though you are used to the Start icon on the PC, doesn't mean that you are giving up anything. You can still acces your whole computer on your Mac with one icon (which is much easier by the way).

The ways are:
1.Click on the Finder on the dock (it always stays on there) it is the smiley face with two shades of blue.
2.Click on the Macintosh HD icon in the top right corner (a picture of your Hard Drive, and it always stays there as well) this opens the same window as the Finder, it is just a different way of getting there.

Here are pictures:

Screenshot_1.jpg

Screenshot_2.jpg

Screenshot_4.jpg
 
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The reason an application doesn't close when you "X it" is because you are closing the window. In my experience, you don't always quit an app when you are finished with the last window/document. You may feel like you must quit the app but you can leave it in the background with no windows open or you can hide it (command+H) and it won't take up many resources (unless it's something of a big app like photoshop etc). If you really want to quite an app them command+Q is nice and quick (also, command+W will close the current window that is active, thats just like "X'ing" it). Many of my day to day apps stay open all the time.

About the dock etc. As you can see in dimagex20 post above, one of the pics shows a typical finder window, in the left pane is a shortbut right to your apps folder. This folder holds all your apps (when you install you typically drag the .app you just downloaded into the apps folder, you *can* put it elsewhere if you want, but it makes sense to keep them all in the same place). If you want to launch an app then you can go here and find it.

If however you find there are some apps that you are forever launching, but are too power hungry to keep open all the time, then you may want to give it its own permanent place in the dock (normally programs leave the dock when you quit them if you have not actually added the app to the dock). Some people have lots of apps on thier dock, some hardly any, its personal preference. The dock can act as a task switcher also.

There are other ways of launching apps that IMO are better however. You can get helper programs that when invoked with a keyboard shortcut, popup a little window. You can them type the name of the app you want (or just part of the name), eg, type "ps" for photoshop, press enter and the program launches. This is much quicker :)
 
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Looking for a start-menu-like setup? Simple...

picture12gy.png
 
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I do the exact same thing....

I even went a step further and put aliases of certain apps in separate folders in the dock. I have things like "Internet Apps", Graphics Apps", "Sound Apps" and so on. It makes it easier to find specific apps and to group things together that would be used together.
 
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I just realize and accept that they are two different operating systems. Personally, it seems kinda silly to try and make Windows more like Mac and vice versa.
Part of using an alternate OS is getting used to it and learning how to use it as it is. If you do that, it makes learning the OS much, much easier.
When you try to make it more like what you are used to, then you could very well miss out on some great features of the new OS.
My suggestion would be to stop trying to "windowize" your Mac and get used to the new OS.
Good luck and congrats on the new Mac!

:black:
 
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Thanks for all the help guys! You are all absolutely right. I should stop looking for Windowisms in the Mac OS. It's going to take some time to get used to but I'm really looking forward to learning the new OS and getting the most out of it. I just love the Dashboard. I was playing with it at the Apple store and there are so many useful widgets! I noticed that someone was running something akin to AIM on their Mac. What is that?
 
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That would be iChat in my picture, it's pretty smooth for an aim client. A lot of people like Adium as well. iChat comes with Mac OS so are set if all you need is iChat.
 
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ezhangin said:
That would be iChat in my picture, it's pretty smooth for an aim client. A lot of people like Adium as well. iChat comes with Mac OS so are set if all you need is iChat.

What Mac do you use? Your screen capture looks so clear! Is that a MBP?
 
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That's actually a PowerBook G4 (I wish it was a MBP, sorta), and i'm using OS X's built in screen capture. Command + Shift + 3 captures the whole screen and Command + Shift + 4 and then spacebar does individual windows. Command + Shift + 4 without spacebar let's you drag over what you want a picture of. When you get your mac you should search the forum for a keyboard shortcuts thread. Real useful stuff.
 
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ezhangin said:
That's actually a PowerBook G4 (I wish it was a MBP, sorta), and i'm using OS X's built in screen capture. Command + 3 captures the whole screen and Command + 4 and then spacebar does individual windows. Command + 4 without spacebar let's you drag over what you want a picture of. When you get your mac you should search the forum for a keyboard shortcuts thread. Real useful stuff.

Isn't that Command - Shift - 3??

That's how it works for me..
 
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My bad, you are right. Corrected.
 
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Command+Shift+4 with a Spacebar does what he said it will do, you forgot the Shift.
 
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Well, either way, the resolution is flawless. That's a lot of shorcuts....and that's just screen captures!
 
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Medlin

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VanillaEps,
You are right on the money. Once you "de-windows" the Mac is real easy to use. Lucky for me, my girfriend bought a MBP. So, it got her 8 month old PowerBook G4. I had never used a Mac before. But, found that after banging around on it for a couple of days, I can get around and do things faster. Not to mention, I don't have to worry about all the "features" of the windows os. I really don't miss my windows machine. I'm sure you'll enjoy the new computer.
 
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Medlin said:
VanillaEps,
You are right on the money. Once you "de-windows" the Mac is real easy to use. Lucky for me, my girfriend bought a MBP. So, it got her 8 month old PowerBook G4. I had never used a Mac before. But, found that after banging around on it for a couple of days, I can get around and do things faster. Not to mention, I don't have to worry about all the "features" of the windows os. I really don't miss my windows machine. I'm sure you'll enjoy the new computer.

Most people praise the Mac OS. But, one of the hangups that people mention is the lack of software available for the Mac OS. Has anyone encountered any limitations on the software they can download/purchase for their Mac? I know that Office Mac is available, so that's fine for me. But I'd like to get an idea as to what others have encountered??
 
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With the exceptions of games, no. I have yet to encounter anything that I want to do with my Mac that can't be done. Mac software, both quantity and quality wise, has gotten significantly better since the advent of OSX.

Wait, there is one thing. There are some video files (usually AVIs) that won't open on a Mac because there are no Mac compatible video codecs for them.
 
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There is a widget that you can get called Screenshot Plus. What's a little differentis that you don't need to do any shortcuts. There are four icons.

1. Does a Full screen picture
2. Drag a picture
3. Does a Window picture
4. Does a timed picture, wait 10 seconds and it will take a picture of the whole desktop when you are ready. After you take the picture you can zoom in and inspect the picture better than with Preview. You can then choose to move the picture to the Desktop, iPhoto (or any folder you want), Redo the picture, or delete it.

Plus you can take the picture in any of these formats:

1.PNG
2.TIFF
3.JPG
4.JP2
5.PDF
6.GIF
7.BMP
8.PICT


Here are some pictures. Both of the Full screen ones were done by the timer, the other one is a picture of the Widget.

Fullscreen_1.jpg

Screenshot_1.jpg

Fullscreen_3.jpg
 
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MJGUK

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Hey, ezhangin....

What program or function do you use to get that menu bar of apps on your menu bar?

Cheers,
 

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