I finally did it - bought a Mac

[Megatomic]

I just pulled the trigger on a refurbed Blackbook, 2.2GHz C2D with x3100 graphics. It's going to come with 1GB of RAM, but I'll fix it up with 2GB for best performance. I'm VERY excited, I'll have it by Wednesday when I get home from work.

Should I consider buying .Mac service and Office 2008?

Yay me?

edit: I've got the computer now and I'm looking for any tips and tricks you more experienced OS X users care to share. I'm a complete n00b so nothing is too basic.

 

[aphex]

Welcome to the Family!!!

Make sure to let us know when it arrives, i've actually been in the market for a Macbook/Macbook Pro myself and haven't decided if I want to wait a few months to see what else Apple releases (new MBP), or just pick up a refurb Macbook.

Nevertheless, Enjoy!

 

[aphex]

Almost forgot;

Should I consider buying .Mac service and Office 2008?

I've heard mixed things about the .Mac service in the past (primarily reliability), but i've never personally used it myself so I shouldn't be one to comment. One new feature that is highly regarded is the Back to my mac feature, but I "think" that would only be useful if you have multiple mac's.

As for Office 2008, mine should be arriving any day now. I've heard great things about the software, especially since its the first Office for Intel based Mac's. The previous Office 2004 ran in Rosetta, and once it booted it was fine, but nothing Rosetta ever runs as well as native. I tried other free clones such as Neooffice, but none of them ever worked as well for me as Office, so i'm excited about the new version.

 

[erikistired]

.mac was tempting, but i really only wanted a mac.com email address and it's kinda expensive just for that.

if you need an office app, office 08 or iwork 08 are both candidates. i use office (04 for me, i haven't justified the upgrade yet) for school because i need compatibility, but i use iwork when it's personal docs, i like working in it more.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: fisher
.mac was tempting, but i really only wanted a mac.com email address and it's kinda expensive just for that.

if you need an office app, office 08 or iwork 08 are both candidates. i use office (04 for me, i haven't justified the upgrade yet) for school because i need compatibility, but i use iwork when it's personal docs, i like working in it more.

For some reason Pages and me never got along. I always seemed to be fighting it to do what I wanted. Who knows, I think I might just be too ingrained with Office after using it for year after year on my old PC's...

I really do enjoy the templates they provide (they are TONS better than anything Microsoft provides), but I just never got the hang of it.

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: fisher
.mac was tempting, but i really only wanted a mac.com email address and it's kinda expensive just for that.

if you need an office app, office 08 or iwork 08 are both candidates. i use office (04 for me, i haven't justified the upgrade yet) for school because i need compatibility, but i use iwork when it's personal docs, i like working in it more.

For some reason Pages and me never got along. I always seemed to be fighting it to do what I wanted. Who knows, I think I might just be too ingrained with Office after using it for year after year on my old PC's...

I really do enjoy the templates they provide (they are TONS better than anything Microsoft provides), but I just never got the hang of it.

i mainly use numbers, the only time i really write papers is for school, which requires word. i agree tho, the templates are really nice.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: fisher

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: fisher
.mac was tempting, but i really only wanted a mac.com email address and it's kinda expensive just for that.

if you need an office app, office 08 or iwork 08 are both candidates. i use office (04 for me, i haven't justified the upgrade yet) for school because i need compatibility, but i use iwork when it's personal docs, i like working in it more.

For some reason Pages and me never got along. I always seemed to be fighting it to do what I wanted. Who knows, I think I might just be too ingrained with Office after using it for year after year on my old PC's...

I really do enjoy the templates they provide (they are TONS better than anything Microsoft provides), but I just never got the hang of it.

i mainly use numbers, the only time i really write papers is for school, which requires word. i agree tho, the templates are really nice.

Ahhh, I actually haven't had a chance to use Numbers yet, I have iWork '06

 

[randomlinh]

numbers is really neat in organization, but something about it just doesn't sit with me too well. maybe i'm just too used to excel. I'd buy iwork, but i rarely ever write anything, let alone make presentations. numbers works for me since i use excel quite a bit for tracking data, but I get it for dirt cheap through work

.mac is neat in how it integrates w/ all the ilife stuff. If I didn't have flickr... or smugmug... or zenfolio... heh, it might be tempting. the pricetag is just too high to justify IMO.

 

[nervegrind3r]

try out .mac for free for 2 months, u can sign up on apple's website.

If I had to buy one thing for a macbook, it would be applecare

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
numbers is really neat in organization, but something about it just doesn't sit with me too well. maybe i'm just too used to excel. I'd buy iwork, but i rarely ever write anything, let alone make presentations. numbers works for me since i use excel quite a bit for tracking data, but I get it for dirt cheap through work

.mac is neat in how it integrates w/ all the ilife stuff. If I didn't have flickr... or smugmug... or zenfolio... heh, it might be tempting. the pricetag is just too high to justify IMO.

Yea, I would probably give it a second look if it was $39/$49 a year, but $100/year is just expensive.

 

[Megatomic]

At home I don't write alot of papers, either, but I do a lot of resume submittals and word format is pretty necessary in my business. The cost of an Office suite is negligible compared to what a good resume can get you compared to an ok resume...

But I appreciate the advice. How's Open Office in OS X?

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
At home I don't write alot of papers, either, but I do a lot of resume submittals and word format is pretty necessary in my business. The cost of an Office suite is negligible compared to what a good resume can get you compared to an ok resume...

But I appreciate the advice. How's Open Office in OS X?

Open Office in OSX is Neo Office (that I described earlier). Considering the price, is excellent. But compared to a refined package like Office, I personally stick with the real deal.

EDIT: To clarify more. Neo Office gets the job done, but part of the appeal to OSX is the finesse in which it and the software on it gets things done. Neo Office just lacks that appeal IMO.

 

[Megatomic]

Yeah, I'm pretty much in agreement. It won't take long for me to pony up for it I'm sure.

 

[alfa147x]

congratulations

 

[Dean]

I'm running Office 2004, it's performance is still great IMO even on my Intel Based MBP. As for 2008, I never seen it yet, but if it looks anything like office 2007 for windows I would rather shoot myself than to use it. The only thing useful in Office 2007 is the countifs command in Excel.

 

[EGGO]

Anandtech actually has a review on Office 2008 in the Apple section. As for .mac, it depends on what you'd use it for.

You and I are the newest recruits here it seems.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
I just pulled the trigger on a refurbed Blackbook, 2.2GHz C2D with x3100 graphics. It's going to come with 1GB of RAM, but I'll fix it up with 2GB for best performance. I'm VERY excited, I'll have it by Wednesday when I get home from work.

Should I consider buying .Mac service and Office 2008?

Yay me?

Office 2008 is very good; if you don't care for NeoOffice then I'd definitely recommend it. I actually switched to Office 2008 and like it a lot.

I don't really recommend Dot Mac. It has a lot of nice services, but the personal website is slow as mud. My wife uses it, mainly for the @mac.com email address. I would suggest going with Gmail instead. For $99 a year, you can get a basic cPanel account and have your own personalized whateveryouwant.com Website and Email. Or get a backup account with Mozy. If you are very non-technical or just don't want the hassle of setting up the separate features, then it's a good way to go. My wife loves it, but then she doesn't like to geek out on stuff like this like I do. Here are some alternatives:

Web Gallery = Personal cPanel website hosting
Web Hosting = Personal cPanel website hosting
IMAP Mail = Gmail or Personal cPanel website hosting (IMAP or POP)
Back to My Mac = VNC (built into Leopard!)
Sync = ChronoSync or MySync
iDisk = Personal cPanel website hosting (FTP) or Box.net
Groups = Yahoo Groups or Google Groups
Backup = Mozy
10GB Storage = Personal cPanel website hosting (FTP)

For $5 a month you can get an unlimited disk storage plan at IXWebHosting, which is what i use:

http://www.ixwebhosting.com/in...2/pages.planExpertplan

That will let you setup your Web Gallery, Web Hosting (iWeb works great for quick websites), IMAP Mail, and even a basic iDisk. Combine that with the unlimited MozyHome backup plan for $5 a month:

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://mozy.com/home"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://mozy.com/home"><a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://mozy.com/home">https://mozy.com/home</a></a></a>

Voila, your setup is tons faster and infinitely more powerful than the Dot Mac. But it requires more setup. So it depends on how technical you are.

 

[Pabster]

.Mac ... meh. If you do decide to get it, grab it on Amazon. It's a little cheaper.

One nice thing is your .Mac account integrates with Time Machine. But I'm not sure that is worth the premium. It's up to you.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: EGGO
Anandtech actually has a review on Office 2008 in the Apple section. As for .mac, it depends on what you'd use it for.

Thanks, I'll look for it after breakfast.

You and I are the newest recruits here it seems.

Awesome. Do you have your Mac yet? If so, what do you think so far?

And thanks Kaido and Pabster. I'll check into those alternatives as I wait for my Mac to arrive.

 

[randomlinh]

Kaido, have you use mozy extensively? any problems w/ restoring?

 

[Kmax82]

The one problem with MySync is that it's not Leopard compatible yet, however, the only point to having this software is to sync to another computer.

 

[bearxor]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
Kaido, have you use mozy extensively? any problems w/ restoring?

This guy used it and has an experience.

http://www.joshclark.com/blog/?p=244

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: bearxor

Originally posted by: randomlinh
Kaido, have you use mozy extensively? any problems w/ restoring?

This guy used it and has an experience.

http://www.joshclark.com/blog/?p=244

good to finally hear some more mac opinions. I've read a bit on mozy being iffy, even though it's a beta. I was not too concerned about memory leaks and crashing programs (it is beta.. and those problems i did not experience), but of the corrupted restores. I've done a few small test restores w/o issue (not too happy the web restore gave me a DMG) but trying to see if any other mac users were out there. It's hard enough finding windows feedback, heh.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
Kaido, have you use mozy extensively? any problems w/ restoring?

My biggest problem was on my wife's Mac...she has gigs and gigs of photos from her shoots and it takes foreeeeeeeeeeeever to back up to Mozy. I mean, that's a given - your upload speed is only so fast. But in the beginning it just never finished. If you have a lot of data, be prepared to spend days (literally) uploading.

It may be more worthwhile to do manual backups to a $5 FTP server like IXWebhosting (unlimited disk space). I actually upload encryped zips of some of my more important projects just for safe-keeping that way

 

[Pabster]

Mozy seems to be a good choice, although I much prefer Carbonite. Unfortunately, their Mac version won't be ready until Summer.