Just got my first Mac :)

I got a black MacBook for college and I am loving it. I just got finished with installing and updating several programs (Garageband, iCal, etc) which took a few hours, but I am now ready to use my Mac. What a fun little computer with lots of fun and neat features. I do, however, have a few questions.

1.) Is Senuti a good program to use when transferring my music off of my iPod onto iTunes?

2.) What is a good bit torrent client for Mac? I used BitComet on my Windows machine. But what works well on a Mac? I've heard Transmission is easy to use and has an elegant interface, but it's slow? I want a reliable, FAST, bit torrent client. Any suggestions? Is Transmission fine?

3.) What are some essential programs, drivers, plug ins, etc to install for video playback? I will soon be transferring some avi and mpg and also wmv files from an external hard drive onto my MacBook. I think VLC is a no brainer, but what is flip for mac?

4.) Also, what is the default video player for Mac? Quicktime, right? Then how come there isn't a Quicktime icon in the dock?

5.) And how does this Expose thing work? Everyone says it is an incredible tool, but I don't understand what it does or how it works. On my MB, it is on the f3 key. If I press it while having some kind of program open (say Safari, iTunes, etc) it just makes the back ground behind the program window fade...What makes that so special? If I have all windows "minimized," and I press it, nothing happens...How do I use Expose?

6.) Do you guys recommend any other essential programs for my Mac?

Thanks for all the help! I love Mac!

-Oni

I'm also having another problem changing my default picture for my user account.

I saved an image from my Facebook account into iPhoto. I then went to system preferences, went into user accounts, and tried to change my picture. I clicked on my current profile pic and then clicked "edit picture..." I then chose my user name, pictures, and the iPhoto.

But when I clicked on iPhoto, it only shows this sample picture of a palm tree. I can't actually go into the photos I have saved on iPhoto (which is only the FB one at this point) and make one of them my default pic for my user account.

Help?

Hi I just got a macbook to

1. Never tested I had my songs on windows so just copied on a portable harddisk I got for free with my macbook
2. Azureus is pleasant
3. VLC for sure, played a HD movie without any problems yesterday
4.I don't know I think because Quicktime is already related to iTunes and that is in the dock, but you can always place it in the dock
5. Click f3 and then the window you want to be placed in front of the screen, this is for all not minimized programs, I personally don't like to minimize programs because it makes to dock so big
6. Well if you use usenet Unison is nice, but I only got macbook one day so Don't know that yet myself either

Thanks for the reply Hit. I managed to solve my user account photo problem. Just drag and drop ^_^

Yeah, I read a lot about Azureus versus Transmission...I still can't pick one.

congrats on your new mac! :]

1. there are a whole lot of apps to transfer music from your ipod to itunes. i used senuti when i first got my mac and i thought it worked pretty well.
2. i personally use transmission. i don't think it's slow at all but if you don't like it, you could find a lot of alternates. ie. azureus, etc.
3. vlc ftw! haha. i actually don't use flip4mac since i usually just convert all my media to quicktime format or watch through vlc.
4. i don't remember if qt was in my dock when i first got my mac. you can put it on your dock yourself though, if you'd like.
5. expose is pretty cool. allows you to view all windows, view all app windows, hide the windows or show desktop. you can even turn on active screen corners.. found in your system preferences => dashboard & expose.
6. i'd check out this article or this one for some essential mac apps. ;] you could also always find a lot of handy apps on macupdate.com or just by looking through the forums.

anyway, congrats again! enjoyyy.

I found that the latest Senuti was a little buggy, so I use the old version, but there are probably a dozen other apps that will do similar things...google for 'em.

Dunno about torrent...think I once used BitTorrent.

You can drag any app's icon into the dock. If you want to do that for Quicktime, sure, go ahead....I rarely access QT that way. It just launches when I open a video file....which actually ties to your other question about plug ins. Flip4Mac is the best for viewing WMV video. You can also convert to different formats, but that requires a upgraded paid version. Perian is handy for other compatibility issues with video, too. http://perian.org/

Expose basically has 3 modes that will let you look at the open windows in different ways. F11 moves all windows to the side so you can see the desktop. F10 tiles all the windows you have open from one app, and F9 tiles all windows from any app you have open.

ok...that's all for now...gotta run...good luck with your new Mac

i too switched from windows to mac, one thing i noticed is you must forget everything you know about computers cause mac is not windows. i bought the 20" imac, with the upgrades in momery and cpu. i found my self loving it so much, that i bought the 24" imac, again with all the upgrades momery, cpu, hd, yeah i spend alittle more but im glad i did. now every one in my house wants a new mac,(thanks alot mac). but i figured since they are all going to school college and high-school. that i would get them note books, anyideas? i dont want the latest notebook out, cause number 1 its gonna have bugs like all new toys, but whats a good notebook for someone that never had a notebook before? need some thing simple for high school kid and need 2 notebooks for college kids. ya ya im a nice step father to thiese kids and just want to get them some good stuff to learn and do home work, since their real father isnt gonna help out, and i know its not my responibility but since i cant blame them that their dad is a a hole. these kids are cool, polite and responsible with their stuff.so any help to me to help them will be greatly APP..

Thanks for all the tips.

Mr-Imacdaddy, your situation is interesting to me only because I (being a kind of step son off to college) am in a similar situation. You sound like a really admirable and inspirational guy to your step children.

Anyway, the MacBook is Apple's recommended notebook for students in high school and college. Perhaps you should get the baseline MacBook for your HS kid and then the more high end black MacBook for your college kids. With a discount, you're paying $1400 for a high end MacBook with a faster processor and greater hard drive versus the $1000 for the baseline MacBook. I just recently got the black MacBook because I wanted a bigger hard drive for my college stuff and the faster processor. And what an amazing computer is.

So yeah, I think you should do...

HS student-Baseline MacBook (white)
College student-higher end MacBook (black)

http://store.apple.com/1-800-780-50...7/wo/sj3uGCmCCgyC2CyMK88XDkPzO7V/2.0.26.9.5.7

That shows all the MacBook models.

onilawliet, I had the same thing happen to me with Transmission. Finally, after completely hating all of the Vuze updates with Azureus (that and it taking up a lot of resources), I was determined to get better speeds with Transmission.

Go looking around online, I found a great tutorial that helped me configure the ports on my router to open it up for Transmission. I would give you the link but I'm booted into Windows right now for some work-related stuff. More than likely, the reason you are receiving lower speeds is because your router isn't port-forwarded. Check under the Transmission preferences (I believe it's the last tab) and see if you have a red dot. I did and it said it was in "stealth" which isn't good. Set the port on your router to being open to your specific IP address and that light will turn green. Then you should be good to go. I was able to download the free NIN album off of their website last night at 600 KB/S!

Also, it always helps to make sure you have tons of seeders!

EDIT: Found it! This will help you at home, but I doubt you'll be able to set this up using your school's routers.

http://www.corewerkz.com/2008/03/15/torrents-a-complete-mac-tutorial-featuring-transmission/

2. utorrent with VMware or bootcamp

I personally recommend Transmission, been using it for awhile now and i find it to be the best.