Made a $6.5K switch...kinda nervous

J

justSwitched

Guest
Keep in mind we got extra memory, dual 2Ghz, and the 23" monitor (partner convinced we had to have the best we could afford).

I have a couple questions, if someone could answer, would be appreciated.

1) I never considered myself a computer guru (I couldn't even tell you what Ghz UNIX motherboard et. were). But even though the G5 hasn't been delivered yet, I'm so pumped about finally learning about computing. I've never felt this excited before! I really want to find out what my computer is capable of doing. A friend of mine said to me today, "You buying that much of a computer is like someone buying a Ferrari that doesnt know how to drive." I want to change that! Can anyone direct me to books/websites that can help me start understanding mac. (Plus I would LOVE to know something about computers before my partner)

2) Any suggestions on smoothly transferring my documents (MP3s, Word docs, .jpgs et.) I bought Office for Mac but not sure exactly where to start once I plug the unit in.

3) Any sites that can help make my transition to mac a pleasant one (though I'm sure it will be)

Any help would be great!

Ps Wanted to let you all know the reason for our switch to mac was not how horrible our PC is (ours worked fine for us) but a PC lover friend (who we have called our IT guy for 5 years now) bought an Ipod...fell in love...went to an Apple Store...got the a G4 Powerbook....and is now telling all his friends how great a mac is. So yes the idea of "Get them on an ipod and they just might come to mac", seems to be working. And all you mac users already seem like a great family!

I'm ready for this new mac adventure!
 
Joined
Jul 22, 2003
Messages
6,999
Reaction score
187
Points
63
Location
Hamilton College
Your Mac's Specs
20" iMac C2D 2.16ghz, 13" MacBook 2.0ghz, 60gb iPod vid, 1gb nano
Joined
Mar 9, 2004
Messages
2,860
Reaction score
21
Points
38
Location
Miami FL
Your Mac's Specs
G4 1Ghz OS X 10.4.7
Nice choice! for starters!:
repair permissions. After every software update, and about every 2 weeks: close all apps and log totally off. Log on, go in Finder, Applications. Utilities, Disk Utility. After the message -getting disk information- select volume (below the hard drive name -upper left corner). Just highlight it. Now look to the lower two things are there near the middle, verify permissions, repair permissions. Click repair permissions. Also make sure you run cron tasks Finder, Applications. Utilities Terminal type (switching to root - superuser) sudo sh /etc/daily > this needs to be done /weekly (instead of daily) and monthly. again with all apps closed. and web sites: http://www.boblevitus.com/ and : http://www.macfixit.com/
:)
 
Joined
Jun 11, 2003
Messages
4,915
Reaction score
68
Points
48
Location
Mount Vernon, WA
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro 2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo 4GB RAM OS 10.5.2
Sheesh whiteshark.. that would scare me off! :) I only repair permissions after an update and even then it really wouldnt be too necessary, but I have a lot of *nix stuff that I have installed, web server, etc etc that I need to make sure my permissions are correct for X.

That book referred to above is a good one, and of course if you have any specific questions we will definitely try to answer them :)

Welcome to the family! :)
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2003
Messages
1,185
Reaction score
16
Points
38
Location
Coruscant, Galactic Republic
Your Mac's Specs
14" iBook G3 900/640/40 _ _ Power Macintosh G3 All-In-One 315/768/20 _ _ 20 GB iPod
Murlyn said:
Sheesh whiteshark.. that would scare me off! :)

witeshark LOVES that stuff. :D

justSwitched - Don't think that Mac maintenance is difficult or overwhelming. In fact, there are many free programs available that make it completely easy and painless, even for new switchers. I use a program called OnyX, and it basically automates all of the necessary tasks. I also used to use MacJanitor, which was even simpler. You can find either of them, and many other programs, at either http://VersionTracker.com or http://MacUpdate.com.
 
OP
S

Seeker

Guest
Hey,

I just switched a while back too. And I love my Mac =) Try Mac OS X for Dummies. Lots of cool tips and a pretty fun read...

Have a wonderful time!
 
OP
S

sirlan

Guest
For transferring files, I just bought a 512 MB jump drive (you can get larger or smaller sizes). Plug it into the PC USB port, copy files to it from hard drive, plug it into the Mac USB port, copy files to hard drive. And it fits on a keychain.
Enjoy your new Mac. A dual 2GHz will probably be my next purchase -- in a future far, far away...
 
OP
S

StarManta

Guest
As far as music goes, if you still have the original music CD's, I would rip those to your Mac rather than transferring them from your other computer, mainly because AAC (which iTunes rips to, by default) has better quality than MP3. Plus, it will fill in all the metadata for you (title, artist etc)
 
OP
W

WilliS

Guest
hehe yes, a farrari without knowing how to drive would be a good comparison ;)

the 23inch monitor is friggin amazing, for lack of any other words to describe it... i would almost die to have one :p

learning computer terminology isnt hard, as long as you start slowly, and build a good foundation...you can almost look anywhere on the web to find it out, but it does help to be looking at the stuff.... go find a 10 year old computer in someones basement and rip it open.. then find out what each part it.. find out what they do, and stuff like that...its actually quite interesting.

motherboard = the big green board attached to the case
Ghz = measurement of speed (like mph) but its gigahertz (hertz is a measurement of the speed of a wave).. like in a lightbulb.. 60 hertz... stuff like that... so naturally the faster your hertz, the faster the processing.. aka 2.0 ghz = 2.0 gigahertz giga = 10^9 i think = 9 zeros

just check it out online :) you will catch on easy
 
Joined
Mar 9, 2004
Messages
2,860
Reaction score
21
Points
38
Location
Miami FL
Your Mac's Specs
G4 1Ghz OS X 10.4.7
Yeah coming over from doz I thought the crons and repair permissions would be a bit of a memory challenge, but I got on with it quickly and I like to do manually and have total control :) :D
 

rman


Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
12,637
Reaction score
168
Points
63
Location
Los Angeles, California
Your Mac's Specs
14in MacBook Pro M1 Max 32GB 2TB
DualG5Lova said:
ix? that supposed to be "is" ? its annoying ;) fix it

He maybe saying,

Monopoly 9 or should it be Monopoly IX.
 
Joined
Jun 11, 2003
Messages
4,915
Reaction score
68
Points
48
Location
Mount Vernon, WA
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro 2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo 4GB RAM OS 10.5.2
Joined
Mar 9, 2004
Messages
2,860
Reaction score
21
Points
38
Location
Miami FL
Your Mac's Specs
G4 1Ghz OS X 10.4.7
rman said:
He maybe saying,

Monopoly 9 or should it be Monopoly IX.
Yup! That's it plus a ref to xpee :D :)
 
Joined
Mar 9, 2004
Messages
2,860
Reaction score
21
Points
38
Location
Miami FL
Your Mac's Specs
G4 1Ghz OS X 10.4.7
DualG5Lova said:
monopoly 9?

i didnt know they made monopoly 2-8 ?

please fill me in? lol
Heh, it's just a play on any monopoly and xpee ;)
 
OP
J

justSwitched

Guest
Thank You

Thank you for all your help and advice! And thank you for assuring me that switching to mac was the best thing I could do!
 
Joined
Mar 9, 2004
Messages
2,860
Reaction score
21
Points
38
Location
Miami FL
Your Mac's Specs
G4 1Ghz OS X 10.4.7
Welcome to Mac and the forum! Anytime! The Mac experience a a word apart from any form of PC! :) :D
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top