Any setup tips for a newbie

E

ed001

Guest
I am picking up my new MBP 2.33 tomorrow and this is my first mac. Yes, I am a windows guy by trade and a closet Linux user.
I am very excited about my purchase even though it was a little bumpy (I'll explain later).
My question is, are there any first steps I should take to make my Mac experience smoother? For example, I vaguely remember Mr. Laporte suggest creating a ghost account on new macs, things like that.

As far as the bumps, I had a somewhat bad experience at the Apple store. I walked in and asked for a MBP 2.33 Glossy. The salesman walked away and came back to assure that I wanted the Glossy and said "yes, the glossy" he returned with the box and I drove 22 miles back to my home. I opened the box to find the non glossy screen. I immediatly called the apple store where I purchased it and they said simply bring it back for a swap. I drove 22 miles back to the store to find that they had no glossy 2.33's in stock and they would call me to let me know when they got one in but they couldn't tell me when that would be. I asked if they could find another store that had one. They found one at another store but stated that the other store would charge me a a 10% restocking fee. After some argument in the middle of the store the manager refunded me the full price of the MBP. I drove another 16 miles to the other mall, arrived at 7:23 pm to find that the mall closes at 7pm (what kind of mall closes at 7pm on a Saturday night???). Anyway, my MBP is on hold at this store so I will have to drive there tomorrow and get there as soon as they open. Wow, what a pain in the butt. Oh well, it will be worth it.

Thanks,
Ed
 

eric


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just switched myself about 6 weeks ago.

search through this forum, there's lots of good advice for windows ex-patriots.

just do a good thorough scan of the system setup to make the experience your own.

most importantly, you can do a "right click" on the track pad (under mouse/trackpad properties).

just play with it, see what works and what seems to be a bit weird and then come back with more specific questions (or search).
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Mac Pro 8x3.0ghz 12gb ram 8800GT , MBP 2.16 2GB Ram 17 inch.
All applications can be found with a quick google search:

Download Quicksilver
Download MenuMeters
Download istat pro widget

Create a fail safe account

rename "Terminal" to "my terminal" or "edsTerminal" so that the main control of your system can not be accesses automatically

search the forums for "a switchers guide" and read it.

Good luck, and Congrats on your purchase.
 
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17 inch iMac / Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 gHz / 1 GB RAM / 250gb hd / Black iPod Nano 2nd gen 8gb
Look in the sticky threads for apps that you must have.

If you're a Linux user, you should most likely get used to the interface fairly quickly. I recommend you go into System preferences and change the right side of your mouse to "Secondary button". This is the equivalent of "right-click" on a windows based machine, but I haven't been able to live without it even since I've made the transfer to Mac.

Have fun with it. I just got my iMac yesterday and I'm having a blast.
 
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MacBook, white 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo
I'm also a new Mac user. PowerBookG4, what do you mean create a "fail safe account"?
 
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Day 5ish for me. My suggestion: Download Stuffit Expander. My iMac listed it as an option for when I downloaded, but it was mere words to fool me into thinking it was there. When I'd download screensavers, etc. - they'd open in an EMAIL! My experience with this has been similar to your hellish purchase/driving day.

IMO - Glossy screen is worth the trouble. :)
 

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