Looking at New Macbook Pro But!

I've been with Windows for 6 yrs. I decided to give a MacBook Pro a look at ComUSA the other day. Disapointed right off of go, as I tried to type on it my palms contacted the large, high touch pad and screwed up the typing? What's with that design???? Next I got one of the sales persons to help me figure out why the font was so small in the email "windows", We both tried a number of things, changing screen resolution, etc. When the print got bigger it got fuzzy. All I've learned so far is that ComUSA salespeople know very little about Macs. And, for me it seems something as simple as changing text size, which is 2 clicks with Windows alludes me and salespeople with Apple OS?????

I must be missing something here, or no one would own one of these???

If I were you I would go to the apple store to give it a test if you are truly willing to give a macbook pro a shot. The sales people there are very knowledgeable and they know macs, unlike the sales people at compusa who are mainly windows people and don't really know much about macs.

I do not have a problem with the mac touch pad on my 17inch. I did with my 15 inch so I had to set it up in the preferences to ignore accidental input which made it a little less responsive, ,but nobody who used it said anything bad about it.

Changing the font in mail really is quite simple, when you go to the apple store if you ask the sales person to show you that kind of stuff, they will do it no problem.

180pilot said:

All I've learned so far is that ComUSA salespeople know very little about Macs

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I don't think they really know much about computers in general. If they did, they'd be making more than minimum wage in a sales position.

However, to illustrate how little they know about Macs, I was talking to one of the sales people in their Apple section and he was telling me about how Macs don't very well support wireless networks.

I asked him if he'd ever heard of an Airport Card. Obviously he did not, so I said, "yeah it's the name that Apple gave to the 802.11b device that they invented, which everyone else is now using."

Don't go to CompUSA for anything other than blank CDs unless you already know what you're looking for.

Amen about CompUSA --- they are a train wreck unless you need to buy some CD or something!

I know what you mean about CompUSA, not much different then any other retailer these days. The 20 something help just try to ignore customers if they can, and don't spend much time learning about anything they sell.

The nearest Mac Store to me is a 300 mile round trip, so that will have to wait. I had to travel 3 hrs. round trip to the CompUSA. I'm not a city boy. Seems everything with OS's is in a state of flux as is the Web editing software I've been using. I think I'll have to wait until Leopard appears and check it out again, with someone who knows how to operate it. As it is with the 15", I would have to disable the touchpad, which I do anyway, as I use a trackball most of the time unless on the road.

Ditto on CompUSA. The one near us has designated "Apple salesmen," who are only around a few hours per day on the weekend. The rest of the time, you are 100% on your own.

Ditto on the Apple Store. They might not be as knowledgeable as the collective intelligence we call Mac-Forums.com, but they can definitely show you why the MBP is becoming such a popular choice among notebook users.

Changing the fonts in Mail is extremely easy. If you get your MBP at the Apple Store, they'll help you right then & there. If not, you'll come to M-F.com and get an answer in a matter of hours (or minutes, depending on who's online). With Mail running, it's three button clicks to the dialog box; then you just choose your font.

I have a 15" MBP and haven't noticed any problems with the touchpad. I do have mine set up to "ignore accidental trackpad input" (this takes exactly four button presses to accomplish).

Best advice is to hit the local Apple Store and spend half an hour playing around with a MBP yourself.

Your CompUSA sounds better than the one near me. Last time I was there, the powerbook wasn't even a fully working computer. The screens usually have problems, and you can tell no one in the store knows anything about them.

Yes it's true that for a time Apple had employees at CompUSA sotres manning the Apple Section. Not sure if that is still happening as I doubt it was much of a success.

If you need somebody to operate a cash register CompUSA is as good a place as any. If you have a question about almost anything (especially Macs) your in deep trouble.

180pilot said:

I know what you mean about CompUSA, not much different then any other retailer these days. The 20 something help just try to ignore customers if they can, and don't spend much time learning about anything they sell.

The nearest Mac Store to me is a 300 mile round trip, so that will have to wait. I had to travel 3 hrs. round trip to the CompUSA. I'm not a city boy. Seems everything with OS's is in a state of flux as is the Web editing software I've been using. I think I'll have to wait until Leopard appears and check it out again, with someone who knows how to operate it. As it is with the 15", I would have to disable the touchpad, which I do anyway, as I use a trackball most of the time unless on the road.

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I could never imagine being that far away from stuff. The apple store is literally 4 miles from my house and comp usa is like 15 in the other direction. I hope you never have to go to the apple store comp usa often as thats probably a killer on gas and very expensive.

Here's another satisfied MBP user that suffers from accidental input on most any other trackpads, but I use the accidental input detection as well.

to increase text size in mail: key combo: command + + that is command with the plus key

i believe that works with text all across the board as well


re: trackpad. remember proper typing technique is tought so that your palms and wrists are lifted off of any surface, so hitting anything shouldnt be a problem
-chris