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Mac Newbie Help?

T

TechBoy

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 1, 2006
Messages
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Greetings,

Thank you everyone for taking time to look at my post. I have just purchased a Macbook pro and I have had to previous experience using a Mac at all. I would like to ask all of the Mac users out there do you have any advice for a complete newbie like me? Also is there anything software or hardware worth buying for my Macbook pro?
 
for the software part it depends on what you plan on doing with your mac...

Photoshop, MS office etc are kinda nice to have.....

My advice to a newb... STAY OUT OF TERMINAL!!!!! LOL its the command prompt of mac so you can really screw it up if your messing in it.

maybe setup boot camp..... to run windows in mac.... its convenient to have....
 
O geez I forgot that mac didnt have native support for many video formats. Thanks for the reminder.
 
6foot4geek said:
My advice to a newb... STAY OUT OF TERMINAL!!!!! LOL its the command prompt of mac so you can really screw it up if your messing in it.
Click to expand...

You can only foul things up using the command prompt if you're logged in as root. Otherwise you don't have permission to change anything substantial. I highly doubt apple would allow their users to have root access just by opening the terminal.

IMO it's a good learning experience because once you get a few commands under your belt, you can do almost anything at the command prompt.

Just my two cents.
 
http://www.getdropbox.com/

It's in beta currently but works like a star, will sync 2GB for free. Syncing is real time and there is a corresponding client for Windows.

So you can access your documents/files from either your laptop, PC, or web browser. I have found this g/d useful for working with a laptop, desktop and travel.

Also http://www.inquisitorx.com/ for safari

http://www.embraceware.com/software/awaken/ awaken

http://www.pcheese.net/software/soundstream/ very cool a :)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ialertu/ alarm your laptop!
 
using

SAGE for a CAS
neooffice for word/spreadsheet/presentation application
VLC for videos
growl for a cool event OSD
using "active screen corners" is also very useful for quickly switching between windows and desktop
stuffit expander is also a useful extraction utility
an encrypted disk image for "secret" files

and you'll be good.
 
Thanks alot guys. I will be getting those software ready for when I get my macbook pro in the mail. I also got the clear cover case and the keyboard cover.
 
Bar-none the free software I've found to be the most useful on a Mac are as follows:
Quicksilver: It's everything that spotlight should have been. There are some great videos on youtube showing the power of this application... especially for the hardcore productivity types.
Adium: It's better than Miranda and Trillian ever were.
iStat Pro: The best monitoring widget I've ever seen.
Firefox: Sure everyone on almost any platform uses it, but between all of the great extensions (tab mix plus, Tab Scope, and many others) it makes browsing a pleasure and significantly faster.

Lastly I highly recommend you spend the time to learn as many Mac hotkeys as possible. By doing this you'll really save time in the longrun. Especially on a laptop. I generally try to keep my hand off of the trackpad as much as possible.
 
TechBoy said:
Big question, Whats the hotkey for the expose feature.
Click to expand...

You can set any key or corner of the screen for the three expose functions. On the MBP it is set to a specific function key (I forget which one), but on my full size keyboard I have F16-18 set to the different expose functions, along with F15 for Spaces and F19 for Dashboard. That said, you can make them whatever you like in System Preferences.

I also have the lower left (all windows) and lower right (desktop) corners set for expose on my MBP. DO THIS. It is like gesturing for expose functions and is awesome.
 
TechBoy said:
Big question, Whats the hotkey for the expose feature.
Click to expand...

fn + F9 shows all open windows (pressing F3 alone does this as well)
fn + F10 shows currently active window
fn + F11 moves all windows and shows the desktop
fn + F12 shows the dashboard. (F4 alone does this as well)

You could also use hotcorners... I'm not a fan personally though because I like to move my cursor into a corner during typing and other stuff. I currently only use a single corner for screensaver. I prefer to use hotkeys for everything else.
 
Also another question do any regular memory module work with the Macbook pro? I intend to upgrade the 2gb on my new MBP to 4gb and I dont know what type to buy.
 
Yeah, any RAM should work, I bought an OCZ 4GB kit and it works fine with my MacBook. You should be good.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
fn + F9 shows all open windows (pressing F3 alone does this as well)
fn + F10 shows currently active window (control + F3)
fn + F11 moves all windows and shows the desktop (command + F3)
fn + F12 shows the dashboard. (F4 alone does this as well)
Click to expand...

You can actually operate all of the expose functions using different key combinations of F3, control and command. I modified your quoted text to include the 2 extras. Also, if you hold down shift when you do any of these it does the animation in slow motion. Kinda cool at first, but then mostly annoying... :rolleyes:
 
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