Newbie question

[FLAShipwrecked]

Im making the switch in a week when I get my Macbook for my birthday, what im concerned with is what software comes installed on it. Do they give a free trial thing or is it all or nothing. iwork, ilife, etc

 

[eric]

ilife is full and yours to keep.
i think you get a trial of iwork (i know i removed mine).

you can get a decent free alternative to iwork/office called neooffice.

there's a lot of other good stuff you can find as freeware or shareware. just let us know what you need and someone will point you in the right direction.


welcome aboard and good luck with your macbook!

 

[MacHeadCase]

Welcome to the Mac and Mac-Forums, FLAShipwrecked!

Have a look on this page, MacBook Tech Specs. It lists all the software that comes with your new Mac.

Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger (includes Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat AV, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Xcode Developer Tools)

iLife ’06 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand), Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive, iWork (30-day trial), Big Bang Board Games, Comic Life, OmniOutliner, and Apple Hardware Test

Front Row

 

[fiveightandten]

Im making the switch in a week when I get my Macbook for my birthday, what im concerned with is what software comes installed on it. Do they give a free trial thing or is it all or nothing. iwork, ilife, etc

As mentioned above, and on the Apple site...iLife is loaded on it, and there for keeps.

iLife will let you:
-Import, organize and listen to music. Convert music files to and from different formats, sync with an iPod, organize video files, ect. Burn audio and/or data CD's.

-Do video editing, making home movies, compressing to different formats, ect. Make and Burn DVD's.

-Record and mix music on your computer. Garage Band is actually a decent sound recording program.

-Import, organize, and edit photos.

-Design web pages. ...and probably a lot more that i'm missing.

It's a fantastic software suite. When I booted my Mac up for the first time, I was really surprised at how much it could do out of the box. My windows machine had all sorts of trial software, and it still didn't do as much as the Mac...which has everything for keeps, and with regular updates.

-Nick

 

[FLAShipwrecked]

Thanx everybody, one more thing, im afraid to ask but do most streamline printer brands(HP in this case) work on macs or do you have to get a mac printer?

 

[bryphotoguy]

Almost all printers are designed for Macs and PCs. It'd be kind of dumb to exclude half the market. I've seen new HP printers at work (very high end photo printers) so I assume all of their will line will work on Mac.
I just picked up a Canon printer for $20 new and it has OS drivers on it.
You should be good. If you have an HP, try their website for a drivers download.
Bryan

You will love the new mac and WELCOME!!

 

[bobtomay]

Depends on the model. Check on the HP site to see if they have Mac drivers or not. Even if not, there are other open source drivers which will enable a lot of printers for whom the manufacturer didn't see fit to create Mac drivers.

I did replace mine when I bought my Mac, but had already gone through much headaches trying to get my last one to work with Linux and decided to bite the bullit and get one that specifically supported both MS and Mac. Got one that has networking built in, which I think is great, as now I can connect it to the router and everyone has access to it whether my main system is up or not.

 

[MacHeadCase]

From what I've seen in M-F, the only problem you will come across with a printer that claims it is Mac and Windows compatible is when you try to use it on some type of network involving both Windows and a Mac. I think it has to do with lack of SMB support more than Mac support.

I'm not too sure about the SMB thing, but I do know there is a grey zone where the printer manufacturer compatibility claims fall short on their promise. Do a search in M-F, you'll see what I mean: I know this lack of support has been brought up on a few occasions.