Tufo got a macbook. Question...

[Tufo]

Hey guys,

I have been researching macbooks for a long time and I had been anxiously awaiting last week's press conference that announced the new aluminum sold-body macbooks.

Long story short, I finally got mine today! I love it. I love the solid body-seamless construction, and it just feels sturdy. I also love the reliability and stability of mac OS. The shutdown/startup/sleep/wakeup times on this thing are absolutely insane. I can't believe I ever dealt with windows (or Linux for that matter, this thing steamrolls the linux startup time.. at least Ubuntu.) The 2,3,and 4 finger gesturing on this new trackpad is great.

I haven't gotten around to taking pics of it yet (too busy playing on it), but I have some questions for the fellow mac users out there since this is the first mac I can call my own:

1) Are there any programs that are must-haves for a mac user?

2) Do you have any advice for a new mac user like myself?

3) Do you know of any great note-taking programs for class? (I am a graduate student and need to take quite a bit of notes. I used OneNote on my windows laptop and I need a replacement. I don't want to take notes on just a word processing program, and I need it to be freeware if possible.)

4) Is there a free way to share media from my macbook to my 360?

[Andrew]

I can answer questions 1,2 and 3.

Microsoft Office 2008 works with the Mac, so you will be able to install Microosft Word 2008 onto your Mac and it will work fine. There is also a program called "Pages" that you can buy which is the Mac equivalent of Word.

My advice would be to just play around with it and get used to it. It took me a few days to get used to the differences between the Mac and the PC. But once I got it, I was fine.

In terms of "must-have" programs, most of the "must-have" programs come with the Mac such as GarageBand, iMovie, iTunes, iPhoto and the Safari web browser. I would suggest downloading Firefox again though. It is better than Safari.

Don't forget that you can run Windows on your Mac via the program "Boot-camp".

Congrats on your new purchase. Glad to hear that you love it as much as I did when I got my Mac.

[Tufo]

Thanks bro! Yea, I got Firefox, just b/c I like Firefox and all, lol. Appreciate you answering some of these man.

[Gaz]

1) Are there any programs that are must-haves for a mac user?

2) Do you have any advice for a new mac user like myself?

3) Do you know of any great note-taking programs for class? (I am a graduate student and need to take quite a bit of notes. I used OneNote on my windows laptop and I need a replacement. I don't want to take notes on just a word processing program, and I need it to be freeware if possible.)

4) Is there a free way to share media from my macbook to my 360?[/B]

1.

• Adium - Fantastic chat client that has about 10 different protocols including msn

• AppZapper or CleanApp - for deleting programs the easy way

• Aurora - Good alarm clock that can use your iTunes library and playlists

• Cocktail - For customizing some of the hidden features in OS X

• LiteIcon or Candybar - Change icons the easy way

• Speed Download - Download Manager

• Toast - Fantastic for burning DVD's

2.
Just play around, you can't do much wrong but look at some mac forums and you can always catch up some sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet stuff from them.

3.
There are plenty of applications that could handle this, from pages to text edit with word stuffed in the middle, it really depends what you want form the application.

4.
There is a way, but i forgot what the application is called. let me think on it.

[pparks1]

[B]Long story short, I finally got mine today! I love it.

Glad to see that you got it and are happy with it. I've considered getting one myself for numerous years just more or less to learn more about them....I just still cannot justify the cost...so I've yet to purchase one.

I can't believe I ever dealt with windows (or Linux for that matter, this thing steamrolls the linux startup time.. at least Ubuntu.)

Of course, to be fair, this new machine is probably the fastest machine spec wise that you have used which would have an impact. And from the Ubuntu Linux perspective, there are some services which can be disabled at startup to speed up boot times. Of course, Linux purists will tell you boot times are a moot point since they never have to reboot

[Butcher]

Commiserations

Putting that aside, get round to taking some pictures, i want to see what it actually looks like.

[Tufo]

1.

• Adium - Fantastic chat client that has about 10 different protocols including msn

• AppZapper or CleanApp - for deleting programs the easy way

• Aurora - Good alarm clock that can use your iTunes library and playlists

• Cocktail - For customizing some of the hidden features in OS X

• LiteIcon or Candybar - Change icons the easy way

• Speed Download - Download Manager

• Toast - Fantastic for burning DVD's

2.
Just play around, you can't do much wrong but look at some mac forums and you can always catch up some sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet stuff from them.

3.
There are plenty of applications that could handle this, from pages to text edit with word stuffed in the middle, it really depends what you want form the application.

4.
There is a way, but i forgot what the application is called. let me think on it.

Very helpful post! +rep from me! Thank you so much! I had Adium but none of the others!

Glad to see that you got it and are happy with it. I've considered getting one myself for numerous years just more or less to learn more about them....I just still cannot justify the cost...so I've yet to purchase one.

Of course, to be fair, this new machine is probably the fastest machine spec wise that you have used which would have an impact. And from the Ubuntu Linux perspective, there are some services which can be disabled at startup to speed up boot times. Of course, Linux purists will tell you boot times are a moot point since they never have to reboot

Hehe, I had you in mind when I wrote the linux stuff, papa parks. The biggest problem I had with Ubuntu was the fact that I couldn't sleep it or hibernate it with my HP laptop (which is only a year old, and has high specs.) I think it was some sort of motherboard incompatibility thing. Regardless, my office is a backpack and I am also in grad school, so mobility is key. Beyond that, I like that the macbooks are very solid hardware when compared to other laptops that we have owned. Very reliable and durable. Also, going from VIsta to Mac OS is an OBVIOUS upgrade in OS stability!

I have been a mac fan for a while, this was a long time coming. I just wanted to wait until the new gen of macbooks came out, and I'm so glad I did. The LED backlight and the Nvidia (versus Intel integrated!) graphics make this macbook incredible! That's not to mention the 4 finger gesturing on the 4x3 trackpad! No buttons on the trackpad either. I love it.

Apple is right in their press conferences when they say, "it just works." Couldn't explain it better myself. And I'm a first time mac owner.

Commiserations

Putting that aside, get round to taking some pictures, i want to see what it actually looks like.

I am gonna take some today! Come back to this thread!

[Andrew]

You should also get a program called "Flip4Mac". It is a program that will allow you to watch .wmv video files on your Mac.

[Tufo]

Thanks + rep!

Reps to anyone else else who gives good mac advice!

EDIT: Added pics to OP. Not sure why photobucket shrunk the photos so much. ?

[Andrew]

That looks awesome! I love the black keys!