Ordered my first mac...
 

Just ordered my very first Mac. A MacBook Pro 13.3" with 2.20ghz intel, 4gb of memory, 250gb hdd.

I'm wicked excited and have already been doing research. Got it for school and I had to splurge on the pro for the built in SD card instead of saving $150 on an identical MacBook.

I'm going to be getting into photography alot more (hence the SD card slot).

Any suggestions of things I need / will want to do with my mac when I get it?

I'm off to do more research and searches on the forum but wanted my own threat just to show off.

Congrats!

Need? I'd get an external hard drive on which to use Time Machine to back everything up, just in case. While I've never had a problem with the stock hard drives in Apple computers, it's better to be safe than sorry... and it also lets you go back in time to retrieve old files, which is a neat trick.

The second thing you should do is go freeware crazy, like me. Start with the essentials, like Firefox/Chrome, Thunderbird, Skype/Adium, Transmission, and NeoOffice. You may also want to get VLC, Flip4Mac and Perian. You may need to reinstall flash, as some copies of Snow Leopard (your operating system) are shipping with an outdated version.

Oh, and GIMP. I've not used it because I have Photoshop, but if you want to save hundreds of $$$ for college, GIMP's a free, lite version.

If you're into games, the 9400m graphics processor is fairly middle of the road, but should be able to handle some games. CoD 4 works well enough (20ish fps) on my friend's 9400m MBP.

If you're looking to get an external monitor or other accessories, I like these:
Acer 22" LCD
Logitech Z-2300 Speakers
Canon Printer
Western Digital External Hard Drive

Let's see... Ah! If, after a lot of use, the MBP is running a bit slower, turn it off, and then turn it back on, holding down option/command/"p"/"r", to zap the PRAM. A lot of non-Mac folks aren't familiar with this, but it does work pretty well to reset some basic settings.

If you've got any questions there are several Mac folks about that would be glad to help, myself included.

What Willravel said (especially the Time Machine bit: consider the Time Capsule, which is an external HD plus wireless router that is automated with Time Machine. You can even hook your printer to it for wireless printing...plus another external HD if you wish....and it's all easy to set up!), plus....

Seriously consider migrating all your personal data effects to the OS X native programs Mail, iCal, and Address Book. They are all cleverly (uncannily even) integrated, and the same data can be synced with the iPod Touch or the iPhone. The whole thing is infinitely handy and works like a charm.

And all of it is quickly searchable: Mail, iCal, Address Book, your drives. It's insane how well designed it is.

Ah, good point, BG. I'm actually teaching my mother how to use iCal and all I keep hearing is "You're kidding!" and "That's great!". Apple is surprisingly good at creating intuitive user interfaces and well-featured freeware.

I forgot to mention one thing: you may want to consider extending AppleCare. Without it, you get 90 days of telephone support and 1 year parts, but with AppleCare you get three years for software, hardware, and phone service. I think it's $249.

I'll probably end up using a KVM with my current 24" monitor. I'm into gaming but it's not my main priority for this notebook. As I'm typing this right now on my gaming machine which has more than enough power atm. I had planned on using GIMP to start.

You suggest thunderbird, is Mail really that bad? I was looking forward to using Mail so it would sync with my iPhone better.

Thanks for the suggestions Will.

Mail's been fine for me but some people prefer Mozilla applications.

If you're using an iPhone, I'd just stick to Mail.

I personally only used Thunderbird to ditch Outlook. :)

I do use Firefox over Safari.

Though I'll say Thunderbird and Safari are good products, but, as Will said, it's a matter of preference.

Firefox is way better than safari. Safari tends to load .pdfs slowly and seems to rainbow out on heavier web pages. Safari doesn't like our chat room either.

As far as the GIMP goes, well, it's free, but it's not as intuitive as Photoshop and it's actually harder to learn and use. So Photoshop is worth the cash. You don't have to spring for CS4, but elements or something lite will be better than GIMP in the long run.

I'll second the Time Capsule recommendation. It's a good thing to have.

Check your applications that you do want to put on there and make sure they are compatible with Snow Leopard. Some apps are still not compatible and some companies (Autodesk -- GRRRR HURRY UP DAMNIT) are being slow about giving support to snow leopard.

I have a 3 year AppleCare full warranty. Trust me. Just spend the money on it. You may never use it.. it may be a waste of money in the end, but if you do have issues, you'll want it and wish you had spent the money now. Macs are nice, but if they do fuck up, you'll spend a nice penny on fixing them.

Office for mac is really quick compact and clean. It runs WAYYYY faster on mac than it could ever dream of running on windows. OpenOffice just doesn't cut it for most users, so check into that if you need Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.

Other than that, when you first get it, don't install anything.. take some time to look around the OS and get used to it. You'll find it's very quick and intuitive, but has some things that are missing and it's own quirks just as any other OS.

Come back here if you have any questions. Good luck and welcome to the Dark Side.

I second this. Office for Mac is great, and there is even an XML conversion tool you can get for opening those pain-in-the-ass Microsoft DOCX documents, which otherwise wouldn't be backwards compatible. Mind you, I'm using 2004, not 2008, so it might not even be an issue.

I've tried using OpenOffice; I've even loaded it on my PC, which doesn't have MS Office, and for a number of reasons, I just don't like using it.

Yes....the Force is strong in this one....

Just stopping in to say "good choice", and bookmarking in case other questions come up.

BG: I'm on Office for Mac 2008, and no, XML is no longer an issue.

MS has to stop using XML anyway since a court found that they stole that technology from a Canadian company who already had the patent. ;)

I dunno, Firefox has been really buggy since I upgraded to SL. Right now I'm putting the early release Chrome through its paces and it's working well, but I've been using Safari for months now and I'm very happy with it.

I haven't upgraded to SL yet, so I only know Leopard. :shrug: On leopard, Safari was slow as hell..

Ah, yeah I remember that. Safari 4 on SL runs a lot faster.

Thanks for all the tips guys, this is a great read. I'm enjoying all of the info and will definately take Guccilvr's suggestion not to install anything RIGHT away, not sure how long that'll last.

I've been using Firefox for years, back before Firefox was in public release and Mozilla was the big thing. I have looked at Chrome and Opera, never really liked Opera but have decided that I will probably give Chrome a go on the mac, I've seen a lot more improvements since I tried it last.

Is the Time Capsule something that is super special in some way? I have a terabyte external hdd that is connected directly to this PC that I could backup my mac through the network, that's what I had planned to do.

Next question: Migration. Is there any easy way to migrate everything to the mac? For example, Windows 7 / Vista have the Easy Transfer Wizard now. I have 15gb+ of music and another 5gb+ pictures that I want to move over and don't want to just drag and drop. Can I force iTunes or something else in SL to just go and fetch / copy them?

Thanks! Keep the info comin!

well the good thing about Time Capsule is that it's all automated. It's like a mini-router and once you set it up you don't have to worry about it anymore. That's kinda nice.

As far as migration..well.. I dunno..I've never done a pc-mac migration..

FYI, everything I listed above save for GIMP is running perfectly on my Mac running Snow Leopard.

Regarding migration, check out this link.

I recommend putting Windows 7 on it.

You can do that, or Ubuntu, but Mac OS X works just fine, in fact it tests better on everything but gaming when compared to Windows 7.

I only have one copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 that I run on my desktop, so I will probably be putting either Vista or Windows XP on the mac for situations where I HAVE to have windows.

The betas of Firefox 3.6 run much better on the Mac than 3.5 does. I've been using the nightlies for a couple of months now, and they recently turned a stability corner.

Woot, just got the e-mail that my macbook is OTW! WOOOO!

It's going to be awesomesauce.

Shipped.... FROM SHANGHAI CHINA!?!?!?!?! The company is in California! WTF!

Designed in California. Built in China with parts from all over.

Welcome to the 21st century.

The Chinese are typically hardworking. It should be all right.

It's GOING TO BE FULL OF LEAD...and solder! =)

I'm literally dying from waiting....

:lol:

I'm surprised it's taking this long. When I ordered my last MBP (15", 250gb 4g ram etc) I got it in 2 days...

If it comes from China, it's going to be full of polluted water and pieces from when the great wall came down.

The only thing I have issue with in this thread is this. I have Office for Mac 2008 on my MBP and it is slow as molasses. I have Word 2007 on my desktop PC (gaming rig) and it is super snappy. Maybe my install is corrupt or something on the Mac I dunno.

Other than that, I pretty much agree with everything everyone has said. When Chrome comes out for Mac I'd get that, I love that browser. Enjoy your new computer!

it's your install.. Office runs fast as hell on my MBP.

:shrug:

I am looking to buy a Mac for the house. I am leaning towards a MacBook Pro but am also thinking about getting an iMac instead. The main reason I am leaning towards the laptop is portability. I can use it anywhere in the house and it can be put away (yes the iMac looks nice but it's like having another TV...).

The one bone of contention that has come up is my son wants to play computer games. I don't really play them so I am not sure what's required, I just know the old saying that if you want to run games, get a PC. Is this still true today? Are they making games Mac compatible? Can I just use Boot Camp and run the games using a Windows? What's the best set up for this?

I need to find a good low profile backpack with room for 3 ring notebooks and and other supplies. Anyone have any suggestions?

I was looking at these... Anyone know anything about them?

EDIT: This is now at the top....
Targus - League Laptop Backpack - Black/Navy - TSB07501US

and

FRYS.comomg|omgLOGITECH (939-000033)

and

http://www.luggage.com/Ogio-711113.03-VK1363.html#tab5

Any other suggestions are great!

There are a lot more games that can run on Mac today then ever before, but really it's still a Windows world when it comes to PC gaming. The nice thing is that now Macs are shipping with better graphics cards, so really all you need is bootcamp and an old copy of XP and you'll be fine, especially if you get an iMac with tons of hard drive space for a nice partition.

I love both the iMac and the MacBook Pro, but realize that you're paying a sizable premium for portability with the MBP. The getting similar specs on an iMac that you get on a fully upgraded MBP saves you like $1600 (3.06GHz, 4gb ram, 500GB HD). Not only that, but the new iMacs have insanely great screens (IPS), worth nearly as much as the computer itself.

It just arrived! SO EXCITED!

Don't forget to breathe!

The only improvement I made to Safari was to install PithHelmet.

Though I think I will be getting my first 'real' mac early next year. I want them to imrove a few things on the MacBok Air, but it is close.

I love Click to Flash, because Flash is a scourge.

Running Snow Leopard, I also like Safari more than Firefox as the java engine is so much faster now. Zooming in and out of google maps no longer feels like dial-up.

And for those with slow MS Office on their macs, make sure your software is up to date. There was one over the fall that made my giant excel spreadsheets actually usable...

Have you reached the all too common point of remorse yet? ie Why, oh why, did I not switch to Mac sooner? I spent a year beating myself over the head for that after I switched (5 years ago)

Then I started replacing all my family members' PCs with Macs because I didn't want to keep wasting my saturday mornings doing PC support down the phone.

Now I am nearly in PC-free heaven, with only one more PC (Dad's) to eradicate......