Macbook Pro help

Marty_J

gallifreyangirl wrote: »

Thanks for all the help and will let you know how i get on when my mac arrives Tuesday. is there any software you would recommend?

You're going to get some very nice software with it; iTunes is great and iPhoto is wonderful for organising your photos and doing some basic editing. iDVD, iMovie and Garageband are all really nice too.

As for 3rd party software, here's what I find very useful, in no particular order:

Adium - an instant messenger for MSN, Yahoo, AOL, Google Talk, etc.

HandBrake - converts video files to iPod/iTunes compatible formats

Skype - makes chatting with your webcam easy

GIMP - an image manipulation application, like Photoshop

Transmission - a bittorrent client

VLC - a media player that plays just about anything

Perian - adds support for loads of different formats to QuickTime

Flip4Mac - plays WMV files in QuickTime

DropBox - 2 GB of free online storage

Skitch - makes uploading and sharing screenshots really easy

MacTheRipper - for copying DVDs onto your Mac (for backup purposes only of course)

Safari 4 - this is currently in beta (i.e. it's technically not finished yet), but I've been using it for weeks without any problems whatsoever. I much prefer it to Safari 3 (which is what will come on your Mac).

Some web browsers you might want to also check out are Camino, Firefox, Opera and Flock.

iAntiVirus is a free antivirus for the Mac; whether you need it or not is debatable, so I'm just telling you for your own information. It doesn't scan for Windows viruses though, so if you're worried about inadvertently passing one onto your Windows-using friends, you can use ClamXav as well. It's an on demand scanner, so you can have both in installed at once.

I Use This is a great website for keeping track of applications and for finding new ones, and Apple have a nice resource called Switch 101 for people switching from Windows.

Welcome to the club!

Leopard

gallifreyangirl,

Thank you. You are most gracious and I appreciate your indulgence.

You had something of a baptism of fire with this thread, down to me, I'm afraid. But it needed doing.

If yours is indeed a Santa Rosa chipset MacBook Pro (as does seem likely) it was a very good one to buy. They've been a particularly trouble-free model, unlike some that succeeded them, and their predecessor had only a 667 GHz bus - nor could it address more than 3 GB of RAM.

I have two 15" June 2007 Santa Rosa 2.4 GHz MacBooks Pro and my companion has a 15" November 2007 Santa Rosa 2.2 GHz MacBook Pro (do I hear somebody illiterate having an apoplectic fit at such perceived profligacy? ). Neither of them have ever misbehaved nor missed a beat.

You'll find benefit, when funds have recovered, in maxxing its RAM to 4 GB from Crucial, which costs about £45 at the moment. This Mac will find the extra RAM and use it: that means less use of Virtual Memory - so, more speed, less writing to disc - which, in turn, means less heat, so, less use of fan. All of which means longer uptime from every charged battery.

Sooner or later you're going to need the extra RAM anyway, so it makes sense to buy it sooner and get the benefit immediately. Moreover, who knows what RAM is going to cost after Gordon Brown has spent another few months demolishing the value of the £ ?

And then that's it. Although, personally, I always put a new hard drive in Macs that I buy from sellers on eBay, keeping the old one to put back in if I sell it. You never know just what's on it, nor how hard it's been used. Nor even if it was the original drive. But that's just my own preferred policy; I like to start afresh.

However, I suspect that you may have struck lucky with this one: if, as listed, its drive is 200 GB it may well be a 7,200 rpm upgrade. Which would be a nice bonus!

Anything else? Well, I really like these Bluetooth mice. Keep an eye on that seller's site, they often sell them "Open Box" for much less. You don't need the software, that's just for PCs; with a Mac you just put the batteries in and pair them. I bought three from there last month, when they were just $10 !

Unless you'll be using an external monitor with it, you may also want to do your spine a favour and buy one of these. (That, of course, would require a standalone keyboard, too.)

One final word of advice (for now ): read this, about the plug on the Mac end of the charger. It's an ingenious device but it needs to be treated carefully.

Roll on tomorrow, eh? :dance:

Come back here if you need any more help when it arrives.

gallifreyangirl

Leopard

No worries regarding the thread going mad have seen this on various threads on MSE. I think to be honest the best thing i have found is your quick responses and helpful advice. I appreicate that if need any help can post here for advice. Will let you know how i find and get on with it thanks.

gallifreyangirl

Marty_J wrote: »

You're going to get some very nice software with it; iTunes is great and iPhoto is wonderful for organising your photos and doing some basic editing. iDVD, iMovie and Garageband are all really nice too.

As for 3rd party software, here's what I find very useful, in no particular order:

Adium - an instant messenger for MSN, Yahoo, AOL, Google Talk, etc.

HandBrake - converts video files to iPod/iTunes compatible formats

Skype - makes chatting with your webcam easy

GIMP - an image manipulation application, like Photoshop

Transmission - a bittorrent client

VLC - a media player that plays just about anything

Perian - adds support for loads of different formats to QuickTime

Flip4Mac - plays WMV files in QuickTime

DropBox - 2 GB of free online storage

Skitch - makes uploading and sharing screenshots really easy

MacTheRipper - for copying DVDs onto your Mac (for backup purposes only of course)

Safari 4 - this is currently in beta (i.e. it's technically not finished yet), but I've been using it for weeks without any problems whatsoever. I much prefer it to Safari 3 (which is what will come on your Mac).

Some web browsers you might want to also check out are Camino, Firefox, Opera and Flock.

iAntiVirus is a free antivirus for the Mac; whether you need it or not is debatable, so I'm just telling you for your own information. It doesn't scan for Windows viruses though, so if you're worried about inadvertently passing one onto your Windows-using friends, you can use ClamXav as well. It's an on demand scanner, so you can have both in installed at once.

I Use This is a great website for keeping track of applications and for finding new ones, and Apple have a nice resource called Switch 101 for people switching from Windows.

Welcome to the club!

Thanks Marty I will do lots of information for me to take on board. :beer:

Bob63

Nice list - I use most of those myself, plus the following free apps:

Seashore is much better than GIMP (on which it is based).

Evernote (which works on other platforms too) is a great way to take notes and keep them synchronise - or get web access when you are away from your computer

Dropbox for syncing files between multiple machines - or getting web access to when you are away from your computer.

VirtualBox - great for when you just can't let go of those one or two Windows Apps. Runs Linux really well too.

ffmpegx for converting video files of different formats

Burn for burning CDs & DVDs.

gallifreyangirl

I have received the mac however i have water damage in the right hand side of the screen and subsequently have sent back to the buyer for a refund on ebay. In the mean time i have brought and paid for another macbook pro 17" 2.5ghz of ebay.

Moneymaker

Marty_J wrote: »

iAntiVirus is a free antivirus for the Mac; whether you need it or not is debatable, so I'm just telling you for your own information. It doesn't scan for Windows viruses though

Bearing in mind that there aren't any MacOSX viruses, precisely what does it do? (A purely rhetorical question since the answer is obviously "nothing".) :rolleyes:

May I recommend:
Adobe Reader 8 - handy for opening some PDFs that "Preview" can't handle.
AllBookmarks.app - puts your browser bookmarks in a drop-down menu.
Anagrams 2.3 - amusing to play with.
Audacity - for audio manipulation.
Audiocorder - for audio recording (with vox).
Avenir Storymill - for would-be authors.
BBEdit Lite 6.1 - for handling text, HTML etc.
Carbon Copy Cloner - make backups.
CDFinder 5.5 - automatically index all your discs.
Chicken of the VNC - control your Mac remotely.
ChronoSync - automate backups and intelligent copying.
DVDxDV - Convert DVD to QuickTime.
DATA RESCUE II - not cheap but one day you'll thank me!
Default Folder X - makes saving files easier.
DockTimer - Goodness, is it that time already?
Drive Genius - not cheap, but nice.
DropIcon 3.0.2 ƒ - creates file icons.
Easyfind - When you get fed up with Spotlight, try this.
Fetch -FTP file uploader.
ffmpegX_0.0.9s - I forget ... something to do with movies.
FileXaminer - have you got permission?
Fission - audio file splitter.
GIF Builder - create moving GIF images.
Google Earth - you shouldn't need to ask.
Google SketchUp 6 - 3d drawing.
GraphicConverter - image manipulator.
InVisibles 1.5 - make those files visible.
KompoZer - make web pages for free.
MacSpeech - expensive speech-to-text.
Mellel - word processor.
Meteorologist - nice weather.
More Photos Lib - more iPhoto libraries.
MPEG streamclip 1.2.d - umm.. something to do with audio.
Nisus Thesaurus - free and indispes .. indisepe .. indispensable.
Noise - it makes a noise!
NotLight - not Spotlight.
Oculus.3.1X - web cam software.
OnyX - erm, it does things.
OpenOffice.org 2.4 - requires x11.
PageSucker - sucks web pages.
PDF compress - makes PDF files smaller.
PhoneValet - turn your Mac into a telephone exchange.
Pixelmator - PhotoShop on steroids.
RAGE Google Sitemap Automater - if you do web design.
[URL="file:///Applications/Region%20DVD/Region%20X%20-%20How%20to%20change%20dvd%20region%20in%20Apple%20DVD%20player%20without%20limiting%20the%20changes%20left%20OS%20X%20Tutorialon%20Space%20Software%20Mac%20OS%20X..webarchive"]Region DVD[/URL] - reset region count to zero. Get it while you can.
Renamer4Mac - wot it ses.
Reunion 9 - Genealogy software - the best.
SubEthaEdit - if you write PHP or collaborate programming.
Unison - usenet newsreader.
vlc-0.8.1 - better than Quicktime.
VueScan - universal scanner software with OCR.
WakeUp 1.3 - wake your Mac remotely.
WebSiteCleaner - reduce web page file size.
WebCam Monitor - wot it ses.
WireTap Studio - just brilliant!
WordSword - mmm, I think it's free.

Marty_J

Moneymaker wrote: »

Bearing in mind that there aren't any MacOSX viruses, precisely what does it do? (A purely rhetorical question since the answer is obviously "nothing".) :rolleyes:

There most certainly are security threats that can affect Mac users, as everyone who downloaded a pirated copy of iLife '09 discovered.

If you're interested, here's its threat database:

http://www.iantivirus.com/threats/

almillar

Some great suggestions there. Just to point out that if you have a PPC (G3, G4 or G5) Mac, you're stuck with the clunky OpenOffice.org 2.4, but Intel Mac users can now have version 3.0, which runs natively, not needing X11, and is much prettier. I've still had a few annoyances though.

Bob63

almillar wrote: »

Some great suggestions there. Just to point out that if you have a PPC (G3, G4 or G5) Mac, you're stuck with the clunky OpenOffice.org 2.4, but Intel Mac users can now have version 3.0, which runs natively, not needing X11, and is much prettier. I've still had a few annoyances though.

If you want French (or some other languages) then you can get OO 3.0.1 for PPC. Otherwise consider early access verson of NeoOffice 3.0 - https://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/earlyaccessdownload.php#download