1 month

[v-600]

I am a happy windows and android user. Work are in the process of updating and improving our ICT dept and we (the staff) were given the option for dell laptops, Nexus 7's, macbooks or ipads (any combination of tablet and PC).

I have very little experience of apple products, so as a learning experience I picked a macbook and ipad. I'm now out of my comfort zone and currently all the time saving tweaks that work on windows don't work on osx and I don't know the osx tweaks yet (for example middle click anywhere on a browser tab to close, and middle click anywhere on the tab bar to open a new tab). I'm sure similar ones exist and its just a case of learning them, but at present, after 1 day, its a jarring experience. The stickied beginners guide has been helpful so far.

Work now has a 4 week summer holiday. My intention is to leave my own computer and try and use the mac/ipad only for a month both to familiarise myself for work and for the personal experience. I am sure I will keep adding my experience to this thread and probably have loads of questions and thoughts.

I brought the ipad home tonight. My first thoughts are ios and android both have very similar functions in different places. For example quick settings swipe up from the bottom on ios/from the top on android. These are easy enough to get used to and transfer experience between devices.

Things I missed straight away. Ios really needs a better keyboard (swipe words or even long press for numbers on the top row). I know I can still type accurately and get at numbers, its just less convenient. How do apple people cope without a back button. Rarg. Obviously things work fine without one but you never notice the little things like this until you miss them.

Things I noticed. The ipad air has much better speakers than my old Nexus. You can't rearrange icons. You have to pull files into a new app instead of push them from the old one.

 

[TheStu]

What browser are you using in OS X?

On iOS, touch and hold any icon from the homescreen. They'll all start shaking, and then you can move them. If you drag one upon the other, it will create a folder.

 

[v-600]

I managed to work out how to install firefox (click download on the firefox website, clock the icon that downloads and follow the animation - who needs fancy guides for that particular task) and it already has safari installed. I use firefox on Windows and thought it would be easy to sync the two.

I knew about the wiggle apps. The camera has taken place of music in the dock and I've made a folder of things that are less relevant to work. Is there a way to leave a blank space in the grid of icons to add emphasis to groups of icons. Currently on my own tablet I have very little in the middle of my home screen, 3 folders at the top left, a 3 media apps in the top right corner, and a row of common undocked icons along the bottom of the screen. I find it makes it easier for me to group things like thism

 

[TheStu]

I managed to work out how to install firefox (click download on the firefox website, clock the icon that downloads and follow the animation - who needs fancy guides for that particular task) and it already has safari installed. I use firefox on Windows and thought it would be easy to sync the two.

I knew about the wiggle apps. The camera has taken place of music in the dock and I've made a folder of things that are less relevant to work. Is there a way to leave a blank space in the grid of icons to add emphasis to groups of icons. Currently on my own tablet I have very little in the middle of my home screen, 3 folders at the top left, a 3 media apps in the top right corner, and a row of common undocked icons along the bottom of the screen. I find it makes it easier for me to group things like thism

No, no way that I know of to leave an empty space in the grid. Not without jailbreaking at least.

What sort of other things are you missing from Windows?

 

[TuxDave]

My advice for the Macbook, go read up all the multi-touch gestures & force yourself to try them out. You will never go back to the old way of doing things.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

When you get the Mac, you'll want to learn most of these:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343

Also, remember that most web browsers have their own collection of keyboard commands that will do things like closing the current tab.

You might also consider a bluetooth keyboard for the iPad. Believe it or not, a lot of those keyboard shortcuts work.

 

[v-600]

What sort of other things are you missing from Windows?

I've only used the mac for an hour or two. The middle click tab was the only thing I noticed as my own laptop has two discrete buttons that combine to create middle click.

Its also really useful for opening a new program window without resorting to a right click. You can do on osx dock and windows dock with a right click and new window - but I know on windows you can middle click the icon for a new window (e.g. to get a new explorer window rather than focus on the existing one).

Like I said, its the little inconveniences. I was chatting to our ICT guy about what you can do on a osx that you can't do on windows and visa versa. It boiled down to things like Xcode is only on a mac, directX games is only on windows. Both are just computers. On the plus side, screen mirroring is handled much better on the mac than my PC (and as a teacher this could be really useful).

The apple knowledge base appears to be really useful, and there's a wealth of sites with beginners guides.

EDIT: About the bluetooth keyboard. Its not my ipad, I have to give it back at the end. The ICT dept may buy some but not until after our hols.

 

[v-600]

Right. Day 1 begins. In an 90 minutes I will be on my way to the airport leaving my windows laptop behind. I downloaded steam (was pleasantly surprised to see 43 games are mac compatable - but its still only a fraction of the total library), downloaded spotify (sadly didn't have time to download any offline playlists so will be at the mercy of airport wifi), copied across a couple of movies and fully charged the battery. Let the mactasticmonth begin.

Also it turns out middle click does work in firefox if you use a mouse with a middle click button. Still not fully understanding the dock though.

 

[TheStu]

Right. Day 1 begins. In an 90 minutes I will be on my way to the airport leaving my windows laptop behind. I downloaded steam (was pleasantly surprised to see 43 games are mac compatable - but its still only a fraction of the total library), downloaded spotify (sadly didn't have time to download any offline playlists so will be at the mercy of airport wifi), copied across a couple of movies and fully charged the battery. Let the mactasticmonth begin.

Also it turns out middle click does work in firefox if you use a mouse with a middle click button. Still not fully understanding the dock though.

You can download something like HyperDock that will make it behave more like Windows Vista/7/8. That's actually what I do, but only for AeroPeek. I've been using Windows 7/8 as my primary for years and I still am not 100% used to how the taskbar operates these days. My biggest beef is if I just want to click on the icon to open the last excel window I was working in, that doesn't work. You have to ctrl+click to do that.

Have you tried 3 finger clicking/tapping? I seem to recall that working, but that may have been an add-on.

 

[Ichinisan]

I've only spent brief moments on Apple computers, but some shortcuts become obvious immediately; like Command+Q to quit an app. Command+T for new tab. Command+Backspace to delete a whole word. Command+ArrowLeft/Right to move the cursor whole words at a time. (please correct me if my memory failed me on any of these). Most shortcuts I would do with Ctrl in Windows are done with Command in OSX.

 

[Ichinisan]

How do apple people cope without a back button. Rarg.

Apps that comply with iOS guidelines allow you to swipe from the left side of the screen to go back.

Anyway, the behavior of the back button in Android was totally inconsistent and unpredictable. Sometimes, it would take you back to another app entirely.

 

[Ichinisan]

I've only used the mac for an hour or two. The middle click tab was the only thing I noticed as my own laptop has two discrete buttons that combine to create middle click.

Its also really useful for opening a new program window without resorting to a right click. You can do on osx dock and windows dock with a right click and new window - but I know on windows you can middle click the icon for a new window (e.g. to get a new explorer window rather than focus on the existing one).

Like I said, its the little inconveniences. I was chatting to our ICT guy about what you can do on a osx that you can't do on windows and visa versa. It boiled down to things like Xcode is only on a mac, directX games is only on windows. Both are just computers. On the plus side, screen mirroring is handled much better on the mac than my PC (and as a teacher this could be really useful).

The apple knowledge base appears to be really useful, and there's a wealth of sites with beginners guides.

EDIT: About the bluetooth keyboard. Its not my ipad, I have to give it back at the end. The ICT dept may buy some but not until after our hols.

I don't have a Mac to experiment with. Keep in mind that you can use two fingers to right-click. Many functions can be performed with Ctrl+Click, Command+Click, or click-and-hold.

 

[v-600]

Apps that comply with iOS guidelines allow you to swipe from the left side of the screen to go back.

Anyway, the behavior of the back button in Android was totally inconsistent and unpredictable. Sometimes, it would take you back to another app entirely.

Thanks for this. I didn't know that, it works in safari, but it's inconsistent with some other apps (especially google who use the left swipe for menu bars).

I also liked the between apps function. If I open something in a new app the back button will swap back to the old app when I'm done. Much like the four finger iOS drag.

 

[Ichinisan]

Thanks for this. I didn't know that, it works in safari, but it's inconsistent with some other apps (especially google who use the left swipe for menu bars).

You'll see more compliance with this as time passes. That UI method was only introduced when iOS 7 was released late last year.

I also liked the between apps function. If I open something in a new app the back button will swap back to the old app when I'm done. Much like the four finger iOS drag.

This guy doesn't like it:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/0...er-have-any-idea-what-the-back-button-will-do

His follow-up article said that particular problem still wasn't fixed:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/0...4-2-edition/#fixes-and-updates-from-last-time

 

[v-600]

Day 3 ish. I didn't get to play with the mac as much as I'd like on the plane (but I did really like Captain America The Winter Soldier) and 41 hours without sleep didn't put me in a very investigative mood.

I did discover it doesn't like .mkv files, but that VLC copes with everything. Very much like Windows (and WMP) in this regard. Hyperdock is great. Its only a 15 day trial at the mo, but looks like it would be worth it.

I've had loads of problems adding my work gmail account, but so have other (more mac savvy) staff so I think this might be a configuration problem with our gmail. The website works fine anyway, so not a huge problem but it does mean I can't use the calendar/contacts either.

I'm getting more used to the home screen, menu placement etc.

The red close button also doesn't seem to actually close a program which seems weird to me. I installed flash and the installer wouldn't complete until I actually went with Command-Q to quit the program.

I'm really impressed by the hardware (not a huge fan of the glowing apple on the back but I rarely see it) and screen quality.

 

[Ichinisan]

Day 3 ish. I didn't get to play with the mac as much as I'd like on the plane (but I did really like Captain America The Winter Soldier) and 41 hours without sleep didn't put me in a very investigative mood.

I did discover it doesn't like .mkv files, but that VLC copes with everything. Very much like Windows (and WMP) in this regard. Hyperdock is great. Its only a 15 day trial at the mo, but looks like it would be worth it.

I've had loads of problems adding my work gmail account, but so have other (more mac savvy) staff so I think this might be a configuration problem with our gmail. The website works fine anyway, so not a huge problem but it does mean I can't use the calendar/contacts either.

I'm getting more used to the home screen, menu placement etc.

The red close button also doesn't seem to actually close a program which seems weird to me. I installed flash and the installer wouldn't complete until I actually went with Command-Q to quit the program.

I'm really impressed by the hardware (not a huge fan of the glowing apple on the back but I rarely see it) and screen quality.

Go into the email settings when you're signed in through the gmail site. Click the category "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" and make sure IMAP is enabled there.

Some Google-hosted domains have IMAP access disabled by default for each user account. There's no good reason for it to be disabled.

 

[v-600]

Go into the email settings when you're signed in through the gmail site. Click the category "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" and make sure IMAP is enabled there.

Some Google-hosted domains have IMAP access disabled by default for each user account. There's no good reason for it to be disabled.

I'm sure its set up ok for that as I added it fine to my own phone and remember making sure it was turned on to use the general email app rather than the Gmail app. The IMAP side is fine.

I can check emails, but can't send them using the Mail application. I think there is an error with the SMTP server settings.

EDIT: The investigation is solved http://support.createhosting.co.nz/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=24 it was SMTP port issues.

 

[Ichinisan]

Ah. Authentication and SSL encryption are required for Google hosted mail. I've had better luck using port 465 than port 587.

Make sure "SPA" (secure password authentication) is not enabled. I've never seen a mail server that supported it.

 

[v-600]

Rapid fire reply and edit crossover. Oops

 

[v-600]

New discovery. Playing games at native resolution is a massive no-no. At half resolution things are much more smooth, but I think the macbook is not a games machine. Discrete graphics would be better than Intel's Iris I think (switchable to limit the battery hit).

 

[TheStu]

New discovery. Playing games at native resolution is a massive no-no. At half resolution things are much more smooth, but I think the macbook is not a games machine. Discrete graphics would be better than Intel's Iris I think (switchable to limit the battery hit).

Which MacBook did you get? If it has Iris, then I guess you got the 13" Pro, in which case yea... you'll want to run it at less than full res in games. It's a 2560*1600 panel.

If it's the MacBook Air, then I'm surprised that it can't run at full res (depending on the game).

 

[weevilone]

Regardless of which machine it is, I wouldn't be gaming from battery anyways. You may also have a power profile that's running the machine at slower settings while on battery.

 

[v-600]

Week 1 complete. I've just been away with friends and took the ipad and macbook.

I've grown more accustomed to osx, there's no longer the shock when first turning it on. Spotlight is a lot like GnomeDO, and a lot like just hitting the windows key (press, start typing and then enter and things just work). Everything runs very smoothly including Civ5, I've had no issues with the hardware at all. I also took a new lytro camera with me and the combination of mac and lytro is brilliant.

Things like zoom and scroll gestures seem to be coming more intuitively but they aren't always consistent between apps. Firefox works well, email is up and running, steam is OK. I still get caught out trying to delete things with delete instead of command-delete, but less so.

Niggles that I've found that annoy me are iphoto and importing pictures from an SD card into a library, rather than as files in Finder. I can understand this with the Lytro as there is a lot of extra processing that can be done and they aren't saved as jpeg, but with a standard camera its just annoying. Resizing thumbnails is also a chore, but a rare occurrence.

Didn't spend a lot of time with the ipad. It still annoys me and it was just as easy to do everything I did on the mac.

 

[weevilone]

iPhoto is going away, as is Aperture. It'll be interesting to see what rises from this, though I'm sure ease of use and iCloud will be central.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Yeah, I've never been a big fan of iPhoto either. But you can nix it and use other programs (or none) as it suits you, so that's what I do.