I switched! finally

[steph85]

just went out yesterday and got my very own 15' macbook, 1 gig ram, 80 gig hard drive, core duo 2ghz processor. i love it!

buttttttttt....
where do i go from here?
what do you guys do to the system when you get a new mac?
must have software? tweaks? mods? n e thing?

i keep cleaning it so the shiny little white doesn't get dirty! lol is that normal?

 

[yogi]

Congrats! Just explore your beatiful new Mac and you will find it already has so many cool features. Fool around with iLife.

Then see: http://pixelspread.com/site/journal/56/apps-that-make-switching-easy for some apps you might find useful.

 

[papercut]

Congratulations on the new Mac. You'll love it. Here are two additional sites for you to check.

http://flernk.blogspot.com/2006/07/guide-to-os-x-software-for-switchers.html

http://www.opensourcemac.org/

Have fun.

 

[djames42]

Fantastic links, thanks. I'm a long-time Mac user and hadn't heard of several of these that I'm going to try out!

As mentioned there, Adium is definitely a must. Some of the others that I use:

• Radio365 - A great source for Internet radio beyond what iTunes gives you (free, although it's $5/month if you want to skip the commercials and listen to the premium content)
• Gimp - A great alternative to Photoshop (free; you have to first install X11 from your OSX DVD)
• Parallels - Unfortunately I have to run a few Windows apps at the office, and this lets me run them side-by-side with my Mac stuff ($80, plus a licensed copy of Windows)
• iWork - I have no use for Keynote having never run a presentation in my life, but I find Pages to be a fantastic word processor that meets 90% of my needs. ($80 from Apple)
• Also check out OpenOffice or NeoOffice (a more Mac-like port of OpenOffice) as free alternatives to Microsoft Office. MS Office for Mac is superior to the Windows version in nearly every way, but it's expensive and a bit slow on Intel Macs. The screenshots I've seen of Office 2007 for Mac look impressive though!
• divx and flip4mac - Codecs to allow QuickTime to play DivX and WMV encoded video files (although the previously mentioned VLC will play loads of formats too) - (both are free, DivX charges about $20 or so for the encoder if you want to create content)

 

[Angelojoseph17]

switching

i switched to mac a few months ago. its one of the best moves i ever made. no viruses, no crashing and much more faster than windows.

 

[Ninjab3ar]

just went out yesterday and got my very own 15' macbook...

Wow, Macbooks come in 15 FEET?!

 

[mac57]

Welcome to your new Mac! For critical apps, have a look at my "Linux to Mac Switcher's Guide". I realize the title says "Linux", but don't worry - just scroll on down to the "Some Critical Software to Get" section. It applies to all Mac switchers. You can see the guide at:

http://www.campbell-tx.net/MacOSX/Linux2Mac/linux2mac.html

There is other interesting stuff in there, such as the "Care and Feeding of Your New Mac" section.

Enjoy your new Mac!!

 

[steph85]

thank u guyz! for all ur replies
why didn't i "mac" the switch years ago!?

and yes its 15 inch, not feet! sowwie

 

[surfwax95]

Wow, that "mac" joke was very corny. You'll fit in perfectly here!