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The "I'm about to get a Mac for the first time." thread...(help!)

P

pg22

Platinum Member
Hello,

So it all started when my friend needed a laptop for overseas. She has envied my Dell 700m for a while, and then once you started seeing it in damn near 50% (it seemed) of peoples hands at coffee shops and libraries, she wanted it. Then it disappeared into something else and something more expensive. We were then on the search.

So I randomly started looking at Apple's site. Then we went into the store. Then they told us you get $100 off for being a student, a free 2GB Nano, and a free $99 printer. Then we played around with the laptop. I told her to get it. Then I got jealous!

So I basically don't need convincing to get a MacBook, my first Mac since the LC (it had a dope 2800 baud modem)! I've convinced myself! What I do need is to know about program equivalents, apps that I will now use instead of the ones I've been using on PC. Some I do know: I know there is Office 2004, Photoshop, iDVD, iPhoto (although I do like Picassa), etc.

But what apps will I use on the MacBook to replace these apps that I use on my PC?

Nero
DVD Shrink
Outlook

And while I'm at it, what are some other suggestions you guys have? I am getting the middle of the line MacBook (2GHZ, DVDRW)...would you suggest getting 1GB of RAM? I'm for sure gonna get a Bluetooth mouse. Any favorites?

basically any advice you want to give for a brand new convert would be much appreciated 🙂
 
Originally posted by: pg22
Hello,

So it all started when my friend needed a laptop for overseas. She has envied my Dell 700m for a while, and then once you started seeing it in damn near 50% (it seemed) of peoples hands at coffee shops and libraries, she wanted it. Then it disappeared into something else and something more expensive. We were then on the search.

So I randomly started looking at Apple's site. Then we went into the store. Then they told us you get $100 off for being a student, a free 2GB Nano, and a free $99 printer. Then we played around with the laptop. I told her to get it. Then I got jealous!

So I basically don't need convincing to get a MacBook, my first Mac since the LC (it had a dope 2800 baud modem)! I've convinced myself! What I do need is to know about program equivalents, apps that I will now use instead of the ones I've been using on PC. Some I do know: I know there is Office 2004, Photoshop, iDVD, iPhoto (although I do like Picassa), etc.

But what apps will I use on the MacBook to replace these apps that I use on my PC?

Nero
DVD Shrink
Outlook

And while I'm at it, what are some other suggestions you guys have? I am getting the middle of the line MacBook (2GHZ, DVDRW)...would you suggest getting 1GB of RAM? I'm for sure gonna get a Bluetooth mouse. Any favorites?

basically any advice you want to give for a brand new convert would be much appreciated 🙂
Click to expand...

Just "replace" OSX with XP using boot camp and keep using the same apps as before.


🙂
 
i heard roxio's toast titanium is the "nero equivalent" for mac. for outlook, use mozilla thunderbird or the built in mail (works well i heard) in osx. dvd shrink...eh, ill get back to you on that! 🙂
 
Originally posted by: pg22
Nero
DVD Shrink
Outlook
Click to expand...

These aren't (general) hardware.

Nero -> Toast
Outlook -> Entourage (but if you aren't using Exchange, why use this trash?)

And while I'm at it, what are some other suggestions you guys have? I am getting the middle of the line MacBook (2GHZ, DVDRW)...would you suggest getting 1GB of RAM? I'm for sure gonna get a Bluetooth mouse. Any favorites?
Click to expand...

I like apple's bluetooth mouse.

1GB of ram is basically the minimum you should be running with.
 
OSX has a built in DVD/CD reader/writer software. Mac mail is the equivalent of outlook. So I think all of the stuff you want is already included. 🙂
 
First off, congrats on your decision to purchase a Mac. You'll be happy with the decision. The special promos right now are just amazing.

To answer your question on Mac/OS X equivalents:

Replace Nero with
============
Roxio Toast Titanium

Replace DVD Shrink with
===============
MacTheRipper (http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/mtr.html) to rip the dvd to the harddrive. Then use dvd2onex (http://www.dvd2one.com/) to compress the dvd to <4.3gb to fit on one dvd, and use Roxio Toast (http://www.roxio.com/en/products/toast/index.jhtml) to burn it.

Outlook
======
you can use Apple's Mail. Be sure to check out Outlook2Mac (http://www.littlemachines.com/)

Hope this helps
 
Originally posted by: SuperFreaky
Originally posted by: d3lt4
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: d3lt4
OSX has a built in DVD/CD reader/writer software.
Click to expand...

Does OS X burn cd/dvd images now?
Click to expand...

yup, it's in the utilities somewhere.
Click to expand...

.dmg and .cdr files
Click to expand...

You can burn all sorts of disk images (iso, dmg, img et cetera) using Disk Utility. Also, programs come in DMGs, usually, which are disk images. Mount them and copy the .app to the applications folder.
 
I hear Macs are great because they come in one box and apparently they work with 'digital cameras' and 'digital video cameras'. I wish my PC did that...
 
Originally posted by: amac4me
First off, congrats on your decision to purchase a Mac. You'll be happy with the decision. The special promos right now are just amazing.

To answer your question on Mac/OS X equivalents:

Replace Nero with
============
Roxio Toast Titanium

Replace DVD Shrink with
===============
MacTheRipper (http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/mtr.html) to rip the dvd to the harddrive. Then use dvd2onex (http://www.dvd2one.com/) to compress the dvd to <4.3gb to fit on one dvd, and use Roxio Toast (http://www.roxio.com/en/products/toast/index.jhtml) to burn it.

Outlook
======
you can use Apple's Mail. Be sure to check out Outlook2Mac (http://www.littlemachines.com/)

Hope this helps
Click to expand...

QFT
 
Again, thanks for all the comments and tips about the apps. I'm moving from LA to SF tomorrow so I think Saturday I will walk into the Apple store and make the.... switch 😛

As I mentioned before, you guys have already convinced me of upgrading RAM. Now is just how much. I know it comes w/ 512, so at first I was gonna just add another 512. but then one of you guys linked me to Macsales.com and they sell a 512 chip for half of Apple ($49.99):

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/5300DDR2S512/

They also have a 1GB chip for the price of Apple's 512 chip. So my question to you guys is, should I get the 1GB ship for a total of 1.5GB of RAM or just stay at 1GB? The reason I ask is because I know on the PC side we often need to have the chips running in paralell (so to speak). ie: two 512's or two 1GB's but not a 512 and a 1GB together.

What do you guys think?
 
yup. OS X is even more RAM hungry then windows. the more RAM the better it will perform. 1GB is really the minimum. My friend's dad has a power mac dual 2Ghz G5 with 2GB of RAM and a 30in apple cinema display. it cost a pretty penny but it runs so fast. boots up in seconds. i don't think there is any problem in having a 512 and a 1024 stick running together. and don't use Office 2004 for mac unless you want to wait forever for Rosseta to translate it. either use BootCamp and install windows and a PC version of Office or wait for the universal binary version of Office for Mac.
 
I called apple and they told me that if you don't match pairs, it will really slow down performance...
 
The macbook comes with 2x256mb RAM so if you replace one with a 1gb stick then you will only have 1.25gb of RAM. I ran with the 512mb RAM for about one week and I was noticing some heavy slowdown when multitasking between word, itunes, safari and ichat, so I would definitely recommend getting at least 1gb also. I just installed a corsair 1gb stick for a total of 1.25gb and I dont notice any performance slow down, all I experience now is smooth and speedy multitasking.

I believe the loss in performance from not running matched pairs is negated by having more RAM in general, you avoid the nasty hard drive swapping that really kills the cpu speed. Eventually I was planning to get another 1gb stick but I am so impressed by the performance now I think I can hold off for awhile.
 
You will want to buy the bare minimum ram from Apple, and swap it out for 2 GB 2x1gb sticks.

Prior suggestions of Toast, Mac the Ripper, and Apple Mail are all dead on. If you'd prefer something you can also use under Windows, Thunderbird is fine for mail.
 
I've actually just moved from a powerful PC to a MacBook because i just dont game anymore. Definitely go for 1gb of RAM. I have the 1.83mhz Macbook with 1 gb of RAM and it is rapid. Multitasking doesnt slow me down, it boots up in seconds, and power hungry apps, such as Logic, work a fine.

I was worried I was making a brash decision but I haven't looked back since switching. If you don't game, but are creative, then definitely go for it. But definitely get more than 512mb of RAM!
 
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