So I finally made the leap. My MacBook Pro will be in the mail in a couple weeks! For someone who has been using a PC her whole life, what are some operating system differences I’ll likely be totally thrown by? (I will be running a Mac OS, at least for now). The last time I used a Mac was 4 years ago, and it was just briefly…
Jodi
i am a computer engineer for the DOD, i do design stuff for windows, but my computer is a mac pro at work, my server at home is a mac pro, and both my wife and myself have macbook pro’s.
if you didn’t get .mac its worth it, they just upgraded the storage to 10gigs.
leopard will be out soon!
Windows2000 at work and OS X at home here. I have an iBook that has been doing me good for 3.5 years now. I also have a WinXP and a Linux box at home so I’ve been around the block a bit. The thing about OS X is that it just works. It’s a little difficult to figure out how to install applications or where to get them, but you’ll get the hang of it. I’ll find some more resources for you later tonight. Oh, also don’t let your pets spill spaghetti sauce on your new laptop within a week of getting in like I did. Man, I wish I had the cool headedness to get a picture of that instead of running to the kitchen to get some paper towels.
So funny about the spaghetti sauce! I have only spilled water on mine, but it was not good…
Thanks for the info!
Jodi
I made the switch several years ago, and I can’t think of anything that will really “throw” you. Most of what people like about the Mac OS is that it’s fairly intuitive and easy. Plug something in and it works. Put in a CDROM, drag and drop, and it works. The only thing I had to get used to was the fact that closing a window doesn’t necessarily close the program. In windows, when you hit the “x” in the top corner, it shuts down Word or whatever you’re using. Not so in OSX. You still need to close the application.
Good to know. I would have had a dozen running programs and wondered why the computer was running slow!
Jodi
Just remember, its (nearly) always more simple and easy than you think. That’s the beauty and pitfall of a Mac. I am in the process of setting up 13 new iMacs in the lab where I teach. So far so good.
I have just gone from PC to a macbook (actually I have both, but the mac is new). I bought MS Office for mac (needed excel and word). Smooth sailing. And lots of fun stuff to play with. The only problems I had are with tech support from other vendors , t-mobile trying to get the bluetooth going and linksys for the wireless router. They don’t seem to be much help when it comes to macs. But the macbook itslef has been great. download firefox and you can post pics just like everybody else…kj
I’ve got one. It’s shiny and pretty fast. Be prepared to have your battery replaced if you ever forget to shut down and run it down. Well known design error.
So if I’m going to unplug it I need to run it all the way down? That was the design flaw of my first Dell. After a year my battery lasted 7 seconds!
Thanks for all the advice!
Jodi
Rrr… If you unplug it and don’t shut down letting the battery drain all the way down, then there’s your problem. I think we’re saying the same thing. They may have fixed this in the recent models so hopefully you won’t be affected.
Lot of Mac folks out here and also some neat programs that will work with PowerTap, Polar HR monitors, etc. Holler if you need help…
Interesting article about some Mac utilities you may want to take a look at. Having said that, I use few of them, as the Mac really has just about everything you need.
“22 essential Mac utilities” “Right out of the box, your Mac can do a lot of things. With these utilities, you can make it do nearly everything”
Congrats! I finally made the jump into a MBP as well – I forgot just how snappy an OS should be. I don’t think you have anything to worry about with the battery though…I’ve not seen any reference to that problem nor could I imagine such a problem would still exist. There would be quite an uprising (ie. a recall) if something as ‘simple’ as draining your battery to zero significantly reduced the battery life. Furthermore, I see no mention of avoiding the complete drain on Apple’s battery care page: http://www.apple.com/batteries/notebooks.html.
Also, you have a year to think about it, but you might consider the AppleCare extended warranty (3yrs). Repairs on Apple notebooks can be quite costly, if something should ever take a dump. I didn’t have a single issue with my old Titanium Powerbook for the 6 years I had it, so I haven’t yet decided whether I’ll get AppleCare on the new one. Just a thought. Good luck.
Hi Jodi!
You do know that ST is Mac unfriendly! Make sure you load Firefox right away. ST does not support Safari so you can not post pictures unless you use Firefox.
The biggest difference with Mac/Windows is no more daily security updates. And a Mac boots quicker than Windows. Other than that, not too many differences between the two.
Ok, check out this thread because it has lots of good info in it. Enjoy.
I’m mixing up a bunch of magic stuff
A magic mushroom cloud of care
A potion that’ll rock, the boat will rock
And make a bomb of love and blow it up
I did it
Do you think I’ve gone too far?
I did it
Guilty as charged
I did it
It was me right or wrong
I did it
Yeah
I never did a single thing that did a single thing
To change the ugly ways of the world
I didn’t know it felt so right inside
I didn’t know it all
I opened up the curtains
I heard sirens there, the lights flash and crawl
But I did it justice
I just did it for the buzz, oh
It’s a nickel or a dime for what I’ve done
The truth is that I don’t really care
For such a lovely crime I’ll do the time
You better lock me up I’ll do it again
I did it
Do you think I’ve gone too far?
I did it
Guilty as charged
I did it
It was me right or wrong
I did it
Yeah
I never did a single thing that did a single thing
To change the ugly ways of the world
I didn’t know it felt so right inside
I didn’t know it all
I open up the curtains
I heard sirens there, the lights flash and crawl
But I did it justice
I just did it for us all, you know
All you people are the skewers of our dreams
Like the cat that collared me:
Oh, what I gotta say to you
You got love
Don’t turn it down
Turn it loud
Let it build
We got a long way to go
But you, ya gotta start somewhere
Go door to door
Spread the love you got
You got the love
You get what you want
Does it matter where you get it from?
I for one
Don’t turn my cheek for anyone
Unturn your cheek to give your love
Love to grow
I did it
Do you think I’ve gone too far?
I did it
Guilty as charged
I did it
It was me right or wrong
I did it
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I did it
I told you, I told you I did
I did it
Guilty as charged
I did it
I told you, I told you I did
I did it
Yeah
I never did a single thing that did a single thing
To change the ugly ways of the world
I didn’t know it felt so right inside
I didn’t know it all
I open up the curtains
I heard sirens there, the lights flash and crawl
But I did it justice
I swear I did it for us all, you know
You don’t work for the big A do you ;)? They’ve had a battery recall on for a while now:
https://support.apple.com/macbookpro15/batteryexchange/
That’s the party line. For the unofficial real world experience, all you have to do it Google “macbook pro battery problem” and you’ll have all the trouble stories you can handle. Don’t be fooled, Apple is a marketing company first and foremost. They did do a pretty good job of adapting a Unix operating system, though. Only reason I’m on one is to avoid Vista and because I need OSX to test some things.
As others have said, using the OS really is a breeze. There will be a few minor adjustments you need to make, but none of them are major. If you end up with a single-button mouse, remember that ctrl + click is the mac equivalent of right click.
As for browsers, I primarily use Safari and like it much better than Firefox. The only time I use Firefox is to post pictures or links on slowtwitch, or if a particular web site is set up to work with IE, Firefox will handle it better.
Welcome to the mac. I was a diehard PC user back to the DOS days and I would never think of going back to Windows. It’s not that mac OS does that much more than windows, it simply works like a computer should and stays the hell out of your way.
Dumb question: Is Computrainer supported on a Mac?