I am this | | close to buying an Apple laptop, and I'd like the people of ILE to guide me one way or the other.

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I already searched and read through the older Apple threads, but I still have some questions, and it seemas if some of the information may be outdated.

Anyways, I am so fucking fed up with my Dell Inspiron piece of junk that I'm ready to eBay this junk and drop some cash on an Apple laptop. I have a few concerns though.

1. From my past reading, including the threads here, it seems as if it's pretty common for Apple computers to have screen problems. Is this a thing of the past, or is it still very much a problem? If my computer does somehow get a faulty screen after the warranty ends, does Apple do anything, or is it a lost cause?

2. OVERHEATING. This is the main problem with my Inspiron. Using it on a flat surface, my desk, it still overheats like crazy. With certain processor intensive things, such as ripping CD's in iTunes, it usually kills it. If I try to rip a couple CD's consequatively, after the first one or two, the third is sure to kill the computer. If I watch a DVD, half an hour into the movie the computer is hot enough so that it's skipping brutally enough to be unwatchable. So, how would an iBook or Powerbook compare? My friend who is an Apple enthusiast has already told me that his Powerbook is a lot better in the realm of overheating, BUT, are Apple laptops good enough to use on a non-flat surface, ie, couch, bed, lap? Or is that still a terrible idea?

3. COMPATIBILITY. One of the main things I fear most about the Apple is that after buying it, I'll suddenly realize that something absolutely essential to me cannot be done anymore. Well, people who have switched, does that thing exist? I'd hate to suddenly gasp in fer and realize, "Oh my god... ____ doesn't work!" Gmail, Firefox, Openoffice (anybody use openoffice for the Mac? does it work well? please, god, don't tell me I need to pay for Microsoft's office software...), etc. Are there any webpages that simply don't load for you on the Apple? Is there anything you fire up the spare PC for?

4. Okay, so I am going to buy one. It seems pretty likely now. Here's the big question: IBOOK OR POWERBOOK? I can't decide. I don't plan on doing very much processor-intensive stuff. With an iBook will I be able too...
- Use it for hours on end without getting too hot?
- Watch a DVD all the way through without it slowing down?
- Rip many CD's in a row in iTunes (I will have to re-rip my whole collection, after all) without the computer getting too slow?

Or should I buy the Powerbook? Is it worth the extra couple hundred bucks? I'm one of those people who can be obsessive over cosmetic factors. The extra-strong-whatever-material-it-is used for the Powerbook sounds awfully attractive to me. Is it worth it? On the other hand, the Powerbook seems to weigh more (not good) and not last as long on batteries (also not good). What's a new switcher to do?

And lastly.

Will my printer work? Being a college student, this is important to me.

Thank you people of ILE. I owe you my life.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 05:52 (twenty years ago)

hi mickey! i bought a powerbook a couple of years ago and never regretted it (i had used pcs before for at least 15 years... or something... a long time. since i was a kid).

anyway, it sometimes gets warm but no way does it overheat (unlike earlier models... i have a rev b 12").

compatibility-wise, obv it doesn't run as many apps & games as pcs do, but i've been fine for all my needs (word processing, web, web design, photo stuff, video editing etc).

i think you should get an ibook, they're good enough for what you want. and actually they're supposed ot be sturdier than the powerbooks. just fill it up with ram--apparently cheaper at crucial.com than buying from apple directly.

finally, apples are going intel soon, maybe very soon, so that may affect stuff in the long run. but i am not the guy to ask about that.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 20 November 2005 05:59 (twenty years ago)

On the other hand, the Powerbook seems to weigh more (not good)

the weight shouldn't matter that much. you're young and strong, be a man!

seriously, i have a thinkpad (which is supposed to be one of the heaviest laptops on the market) and carrying it around is no problem.

― mimi in st. louis (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 20 November 2005 05:59 (twenty years ago)

By the way, I should mention this: my dad used to be an IBM employee. When I was around 5 years old, we had an old IBM PC with the monochrome screen. Just black and green. I've used PC's my entire life. I can't even remember every one I've ever owned.

This is a really big deal for me.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:01 (twenty years ago)

Jody Beth Rosen, weight isn't a huge problem. Just, well. You know. If I'm going to put it in my backpack with some other textbooks and things, it'd be nice if it wasn't heavy.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:03 (twenty years ago)

i love IBM and its place in 20th century history. it's so brainy and no-nonsense and sexy. fuck thinking "different" (sic), just "THINK"!

the thinkpad is one of the best purchases i've ever made. but i won't dissuade you from getting a powerbook.

(xpost) like i said, a few pounds won't matter either way. i do tend to be wary of electronics that are very lightweight.

― mimi in st. louis (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:07 (twenty years ago)

incidentally from my point of view the powerbook (12") doesn't seem particularly heavier than the ibook. if anything it's lighter!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:09 (twenty years ago)

I had (& loved) a G3 iBook for 4 1/2 years; just upgraded to a new PowerBook this week (and am currently typing with it on my lap; there you go), and I'm digging it even more.

I have NEVER had a problem with overheating on any Mac I've owned, and I've owned Macs exclusively since 1984.

Screen problems: I've never had one; I think there have to be a certain number of dead pixels before Apple will replace it, though.

Why would you have to re-rip your whole collection? Can't you just burn a bunch of CDRs with the old computer and dump them into iTunes? An MP3's an MP3.

Small Powerbook actually weighs a little less than small iBook these days, I think. They're both pretty light.

― Douglas (Douglas), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:11 (twenty years ago)

Just for perspective maybe - and I'm not knocking Macs at all - I have an ASUS laptop Ive had over 3 years and this bastard gets HOT, but has never crashed on me. Solid as a rock.

Won't play half my games tho :(

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:11 (twenty years ago)

I guess my point being dont label all PCs as bad because of one dud Dell.

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:11 (twenty years ago)

P.S.
Any hints for sales or bargains or stuff would be much appreciated. Although, advice is what I need the most here.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:11 (twenty years ago)

Trayce, oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not labelling all PC's as duds here. I'm just tired of this and well, I want a new toy. Fantasizing about an Apple free of problems, running virus protection software, spyware detection software, etc... it sounds really nice. That's all!

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:13 (twenty years ago)

I guess my point being dont label all PCs as bad because of one dud Dell.

dell computers are the worst. there's a reason they're so cheap.

― mimi in st. louis (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:13 (twenty years ago)

here's my advice. buy it through the "educational" program... at your school's computer store or over the website or over the phone. maybe you can even do that at the apple store. you will get a deep dish discount. when i bought my pb i got at least $300 off it. plus an ipod for $80! (ok this was a special deal... but checkit)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:15 (twenty years ago)

If this thread accomplishes one thing, let it be this: NEVER BUY A FUCKING DELL.

Oh my god. I want to murder some motherfuckers in Pakistan or wherever the last tech guy I spoke with, who insisted that my fan (which works perfectly) needs to be replaced and absolutely nothing else, or wherever he is.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:16 (twenty years ago)

Dells are crap. They feel so plasticky.

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:16 (twenty years ago)

s1ocki, I already checked the educational bargain, and it's not that great. The $999 iBook retails for $950 or so instead. Eh, nice, but not as great as I was hoping for.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:17 (twenty years ago)

well dog my cats.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:17 (twenty years ago)

Do I want the protection plan? $350 is a lot of money.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:18 (twenty years ago)

god i wish my father could read this thread. he was so fucking proud of his new dell laptop and bickered with me for 20 min when i told him dells were shit and he should have gotten a powerbook.

― tres letraj (tehresa), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:19 (twenty years ago)

Tom's PowerBook is already broken beyond repair. He purchased it about 2 years ago, maybe less. Granted, that's possibly because he threw it.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:19 (twenty years ago)

My 12" iBook gets warm playing a DVD or something constant, but no warmer than a 15" Fujitsu I borrowed. And the fans are quiet.

1. Buy AppleCare. Buy AppleCare. Buy AppleCare. Seriously, dude, buy AppleCare. Three years and you're golden if anything breaks. I've heard about people bullying them after the warranty's out (I actually did with a hard-drive that failed on my old desktop), but I wouldn't chance it on something like a screen.

2. Heating depends on the model. I've heard that the 17" Powerbook is freakishly hot and the metal case can make it uncomfortable on your lap. But my 12" iBook - not so bad at all. I've got a weird little clear stand that it sits on when I need to use it at home, that lets air flow to the bottom and help cooling.

I think all high-power laptops kind of suck in this area until the low-power Intel chips and flash hard drives come out.

3. OpenOffice is supposedly a little slow on OS X (or maybe it was the Java version that was slow?), but there are alternatives, even Apple has a Word-type program. Some page incompatibilities exist (Launch!Yahoo videos won't load on a Mac running OS X - you have to boot into classic and run Netscape or some bullshit), but for the most part it's browser dependent. I run Safari normally, but Firefox is on my desktop for some sites (the Gap and Banana Republic are ones I ran into today that will not load in Safari) and IE lurks on my hard drive just in case.

I could probably solve those by switching to Firefox instead of Safari. But nah.

4.
- Use it for hours on end without getting too hot?
Yes. The lower-speed, plastic-shell iBooks are actually better than the Powerbooks on this.

- Watch a DVD all the way through without it slowing down?
- Rip many CD's in a row in iTunes (I will have to re-rip my whole collection, after all) without the computer getting too slow?
Yes to the first and probably to the second.

The big drawback to iBooks are the hard drives - you get a 4200RPM drive instead of the 5400RPM drives that come in PowerBooks (there is, honestly, a noticeable difference when doing things like ripping and copying) and presumably the next-gen models will be 7200RPMs. But my regular computer is a dual G5 desktop, and the hard drive speed really doesn't bug me. Do spring for the custom-ordered larger hard drive - mine has 30GB (only 22GB free or something after OSX and everything's installed), and my main iTunes library is just over 60GB. I'd be screwed if I needed to rip things to my iBook. (the smart alternative here if you're okay with it is to get a 100GB external firewire drive and use that for your iTunes drive - only copy parts of the main library to your iBook when you need them)

The only iBook worth getting is the 12". It's cheap, well-featured and a much better deal than the comparable PowerBook. I'd be very wary of spending more than the $950 an education-plan 12" iBook costs, honestly. Intel Macs are right around the corner - maybe the first month in January, but definitely in the first half of the year. I can't see spending $2k on a 15" Powerbook to watch an Intel machine drop in three months and kill my resale (and put me on the tail end of a product cycle).

If you need one now, buy the low-end iBook.

If you can wait until February, watch for the first-gen Intel/Apple machines.

Whatever you do, go to www.crucial.com or www.macsales.com and get enough memory to max out whatever machine you buy. It's cheap (~$100 to max out an iBook) and more than worth it, esp. if you'll be running a big iTunes library.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:19 (twenty years ago)

Right before the nano came out, they were giving away iPod minis with the purchase of an iBook. So it was $950 minus whatever you could sell the mini for on Ebay.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:21 (twenty years ago)

Intel ibooks maybe as early as January!

― M. V. (M.V.), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:22 (twenty years ago)

My iBook has survived 2 moves and being hurled all over the concrete floor of the radio station, the hardwood floors at every apartment I've lived in, me kind of throwing it once, and being tossed around campus for a year. Just as a comparison to the (slightly lighter weight) PowerBook. AVOID TEH SILVER DUDER.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:26 (twenty years ago)

We're talking nary a scratch on my laptop versus Tom's has a multi-colored fraction screen pattern these days.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:27 (twenty years ago)

Should I wait for the Intel iBooks? Are they going to be a lot better?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:27 (twenty years ago)

This whole Intel Apple is making things so much more confusing!

I'm still not sure about iBook vs. Powerbook. Some people saying one, others the other...

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:28 (twenty years ago)

Not necessarily - probably no faster. But you'll be able to run Windows natively (no slow translater program) for games and stuff. And they should be cooler if Apple gets the new-gen Intel chips by then, but I don't know. I'm paranoid about being able to sell all of my possessions and move to Mexico if need be, so I'd rather be at the beginning of a product cycle for resale reasons, rather than with something that would be considered outdated for Ebay purposes.

On the other hand, there are usually Revision A bugs in Apple products, where the iBooks basically haven't changed in years.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:31 (twenty years ago)

iBook vs. Powerbook is no contest IMO if you're looking at the 12" machines.

The only difference (from what I remember) is that you get a 5400 RPM drive in the Powerbook. Stock RAM is the same, the screens are basically the same (resolution-wise), the graphics cards are equally crappy, the processors aren't that different. You're paying $400+ for a slightly better hard drive and a fancy titanium case (that, as Ally notes, is crappier than the plastic one).

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:33 (twenty years ago)

My thing about the iBook is that, well, most people don't really need the extra power that is in the PowerBook. If you do, that's great, you should get the PowerBook. BUT most people--let's be honest here--are using their laptops for porn, chat, and MP3s. You don't need a powerhorse for this, right. The casing of the iBook is SO MUCH STRONGER than the casing of the PowerBook. The actual physical components are much more rugged. So, considering laptops get tossed around a lot usually, I'd definitely one up the iBook on the basis of it being way more rugged. If you do, by some chance, need the extra SUPER POWER of the PowerBook (note: you'd have to be doing serious shit beyond basic graphic design, internet stuff, MP3 downloads, etc to notice the difference in speed, in my experience of having both in my house), by all means but you have to be 10x more careful with it than with the iBook.

xpost haha or what Erick said.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:35 (twenty years ago)

Okay, I guess it's decided - iBook it is. Question is now if I want to spend the few extra hundred for the 14 inch instead of the 12.

And Ally, I am serious about my porn. I want to run at least 4 movies at all times for maximum for arousal potential. Two lesbian, one bukkake, and one trance music video.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:38 (twenty years ago)

Most of the advice I could give you has already been laid out upthread. Buy it, you will not regret it. I recently bought a 15" Powerbook with 100GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM. I use it for work, music, everything - and so far it has been wonderful. It's the best purchase I've made in years. As far as Powerbook vs. iBook, what exactly will you be using it for?

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:41 (twenty years ago)

xpost - Get the 12. The 14 and 12 have the same resolution and the 12" is nice and small without being too tiny. (And, of course, it's cheaper.)

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:41 (twenty years ago)

"I am serious about my porn. I want to run at least 4 movies at all times for maximum for arousal potential. Two lesbian, one bukkake, and one trance music video."

I guess that answers my last question.

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:42 (twenty years ago)

I really want just web browsing, and minimal multimedia stuff - watching DVD's, iTunes, etc. No real productive things. I'm not a productive person. But like I said, I am serious about my porn potential!

Do Apple machines read .wmv files? I never considered this. Will I have to find all new 15 second porn sample webpages?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:43 (twenty years ago)

There's a Windows Media Player for Macs, I think.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:44 (twenty years ago)

Most of the Microsoft applications you need are readily available either through purchase or download. Fear not, you will be able to view your .wmv files with no problem. The MS Office: Mac suite is also handy for work and school since Word, Excel and Powerpoint are pretty much the standard wherever you go.

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:47 (twenty years ago)

I'm thinking right now about the 12" iBook, 1GB ram upgrade, and the service plan. Under the student discount, it ends up being $1,222 (before tax).

I can't wait to go to the Apple store here on Monday and play with one.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:49 (twenty years ago)

Under the student discount, it ends up being $1,222 (before tax).

not bad at all!

― mimi in st. louis (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:53 (twenty years ago)

So nobody runs OpenOffice on their Mac? I'd really like to be able to use that and not go back to Microsoft Office. It's really important to me, though, to be able to produce .doc files, being a college student and everything.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:54 (twenty years ago)

Upping the RAM in your computer is easy, if you want to save a couple of hundred bucks - Apple charges a 300% markup on RAM for some reason.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:56 (twenty years ago)

I'm not sure if it's changed recently, but the upgrade to 1Gb is only a hundred bucks. That seems reasonable?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 20 November 2005 06:59 (twenty years ago)

That's 512MB extra - a 512MB chip costs $49.99 at macsales.com plus five for shipping. So it's not as bad as I thought, but still high.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 20 November 2005 07:01 (twenty years ago)

so can i have your dell?

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Sunday, 20 November 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

I LOVE our powerbook.
My husband spilled a glass of orange juice onto the keyboard and it didn't miss a beat. The keys were a little sticky for a while. The internal cd drive is dead—it was getting crankier and crankier—not recognizing discs until you restarted, until finally someone applied sudden blunt-force to it and physically dented it in. I stuck a kitchen knife in the slot and undented it by rotating the knife. It worked for a little while longer but now it's really dead. We have to use an external drive now.
One suggestion—buy one of those storage thingies that you plug into the usb port. I forget what they're called—the size of a lighter. Move songs that way, rather than burning onto discs. Less waste, easier.
We had about 8000 songs on iTunes, and it was slowing down, so we took some off. You're supposed to be able to have 14,000. Maybe if that's all you're using the computer for.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Sunday, 20 November 2005 15:59 (twenty years ago)

There are trance music videos??

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 20 November 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

animated fractals

― Ed (dali), Sunday, 20 November 2005 18:24 (twenty years ago)

More like endless circling steadycam shots of girls singing on Ibiza cliffs (or in Polish forests if the budget is low)

― Yawn (Wintermute), Sunday, 20 November 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Now I really want to see one of the Polish forest ones.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 20 November 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

"One of the main things I fear most about the Apple is that after buying it, I'll suddenly realize that something absolutely essential to me cannot be done anymore. Well, people who have switched, does that thing exist?"

I've been on a Mac for about 4 years now (currently using the iMac that looks like a large snowball with a screen attached) and I've found most apps, if they're popular, are eventually available for Mac (slsk and Windows Media being good examples).

The one exception that's been a problem for me is Yahoo messenger. It is available for Mac, but they haven't updated it in years and at this point it has some problems (like crashing if I ever try to use it with the iSight cam). Shouldn't be a big deal since iChat is a better app, but I felt like it put me in a weird position having to ask certain friends to register/use a different chat app than they were used to. Basically Yahoo seems to currently have this weird, obstinate attitude when it comes to making their shit compatible with Mac.

― chëshy (chëshy f cat), Sunday, 20 November 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)

Try using Adium or Proteus, which work with Yahoo/MSN/AIM/Jabber all in one.

― stet (stet), Sunday, 20 November 2005 20:09 (twenty years ago)

MICROSOFT ACCESS

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, 20 November 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

macs can't even open .mdb files without a PC emulator running

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, 20 November 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

OH NOES I CANNOT OPEN AN .MDB FILE. MY LIFE IS INCOMPLETE. I MUST HANG MYSELF NOW.

mickey: i bought a 12" powerbook, rather than an iBook, for two reasons:

1) i much prefer the keyboard (and overall look of the thing).
2) the powerbook has a line-in socket, which i need.

little things, but enough to make a difference for me. that said: this was more than a year ago, so all that could have changed now.

either way, i love my powerbook like i would a child :)

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Sunday, 20 November 2005 21:17 (twenty years ago)

um. if you work for a large company or local/state/federal gov't it can be a really big issue.

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, 20 November 2005 21:57 (twenty years ago)

though usually those people will give you a free dell w/ the job if you are in that position. but anyway my bosses bosses @ www.ed.gov give us .mdb and want .mdb back for the yearly accounting and i was in the shitty position of not being able to work from home on my PB on the project.

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, 20 November 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

Well, I decided.

It's almost certaint. I'm getting the iBook 12". Tomorrow I'm going down to the Apple store to play with a little bit before buying it, and unless something goes wrong, I'm buying it.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Monday, 21 November 2005 20:03 (twenty years ago)

what I would pay for quicksilver or sidenote to run on my work PC

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 21 November 2005 20:13 (twenty years ago)

...and I hate to think what would happen if I ever threw my iBook

: /

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 21 November 2005 20:14 (twenty years ago)

I'm thinking about a powerbook or an ibook. i'll probably be using final cut pro for small animation projects, is it a terrible idea to get an ibook?

also switching from pc-mac, using p2p clients is it much harder to find mp3s for more obscure artists/tracks?

― a Side-walkin' Street Wheeler (aaron ef.), Monday, 21 November 2005 21:14 (twenty years ago)

For example?

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Monday, 21 November 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

don't do it :(

― fandango (fandango), Monday, 21 November 2005 23:56 (twenty years ago)

filemaker supports opening mdb i think (tho not sure if it supports writing?)

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 03:47 (twenty years ago)

Slskx (or ssX or whatever it's called now) nets fewer results than the last PC Slsk client I used (18 months ago or so), but that may just be the entire network.

LimeWire netted me a bunch of Entourage episodes quickly and easily, so I assume it works fine. Better than it used to on PC, where all the results were skeevy porn clips.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 03:53 (twenty years ago)

Hello people of ILE!

Guess what?

This is my first post from my new Mac. :D I got the 14" iBook. So good so far, but I have no fucking idea how to use it. So what do I do now?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 05:23 (twenty years ago)

plug in a 2 button mouse

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 08:12 (twenty years ago)

when i switched from a PC to a 12" ibook (best move ever) i bought a book called 'the switcher's guide' by robert standefer (i think that spelling is correct) - taught me the preliminary keyboard shortcuts and fundamental differences between operating systems which made it easier for me to find all the rest myself. might help you.

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 08:14 (twenty years ago)

also you don't really need a two button mouse as long as you don't mind pressing the ctrl key when you click, that is like right click on a two button mouse.

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 08:17 (twenty years ago)

It took me a while to figure out the Ctrl+Click thing. I was scared for a minute there.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 08:20 (twenty years ago)

don't be scared! i predict you'll love it in no time. most of the shortcuts are almost the same, just try combinations of the apple key in place of ctrl on a PC keyboard. you might have to also use the function key to use the f1-12 keys - for some reason it took me ages to work that out, i was lost without shift + f7 till it dawned on me.

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 08:23 (twenty years ago)

youcan set the function key to be the F1-F12 or their other functions in Sytem preferences (the fn ky works as a modifier to get the funtions that they are not set to.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 08:28 (twenty years ago)

see i know buggerall still and i've had mine for well over a year. sometimes it makes me sad to think of all the things i don't know about what i could set it to do in system prefs or whathaveyou. one day when i have time i'll do a course or something.

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 08:30 (twenty years ago)

Okay, I just found one stupid little thing I want to do that I can't figure out yet.

Whenever I get quick information I need to jot down, I usually do it in a text file on the desktop. Somebody's address, phone number, etc. I can't figure out how to make a simple little text file with Mac OS X. Anybody help me out?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

Go into your hard drive, applications, and there will be an app called TextEdit. It's the equivalent of the Windows notebook.

I'm not sure how to make it come up with a right-click (ala Windows).

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

Thank you!

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

For years I have used a wonderful freeware app called "Notes" that's like this, but more organized, and you never have to save! I think it may actually run on magic. - http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/9605

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

Any app you use a lot, drag its icon into the Dock - or if the app's already running, move the icon somewhere else in the Dock -- and there it'll always be

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

For years I have used a wonderful freeware app called "Notes" that's like this, but more organized, and you never have to save!

I used an app called Smultron which is similar but has some other cool stuff thrown in.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

get one Sidenote
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/productivity_tools/sidenote.html

― stet (stet), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

sidenote >>>>>>>>>>>> jorge luis borges

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

I just think all apps should work like Notes - i.e. no saving, ever, except if you need to take a snapshot of whatever you're working on, I guess

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

i was lost without shift + f7 till it dawned on me.

what does shift + f7 do? I just tried it and nothing happened. I think the only function keys I use are the ones that turn contrast up and down and f5 for refresh.

Teach more more handy function key uses!

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

yeah, there's no saving in sidenote either, TH

x-post

what OS are you running alba?

do you have exposé?

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

No, I'm still on 10.2.8

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:38 (twenty years ago)

wow F7 turns on carrot browsing in firefox!!

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:39 (twenty years ago)

Well, I like the saving, because I'm lazy and leave information in little textfiles like doctor.txt with phone number, address, etc, on the desktop and never put it anywhere better.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

You can save out from Sidenote, Mickey. Also much-desired by Windows people is Quicksilver. Hunt it down: http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

― stet (stet), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

haha I forgot the standard 'show sidenote' shortcut and now I can't get it to work

: /

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

Mickey, this is one of Quicksilver's killer tricks:
http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/04/quicksilver-append-to-a-text-file-from-anywhere/

― stet (stet), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 19:26 (twenty years ago)

It's almost certaint ....

oops.

― feq[fic,apq, Wednesday, 23 November 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

what does shift + f7 do?

in word it takes you to thesaurus. i'm a policy writer so it helps me make my bureaucratese slightly less repetitive

― gem (trisk), Thursday, 24 November 2005 01:01 (twenty years ago)

Nobody mentioned Stickies yet? For jotting down little bits of information (and exporting to text files later, if I could be arsed) it's one of the very few things I liked unreservedly on Mac.

textedit annoyed me no end by behaving too-clever-by-far at all sorts of things (unlike Notepad which is delightfully, usefully plain purpose).

All this talk is making me think of unpacking my iBook and giving it a third(?) chance... or putting some flavor of Linux on the fucker instead of selling it for a windoze machine.

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 24 November 2005 01:08 (twenty years ago)

(apropos of nothing) something I found useful on mac was to set a (better) keyboard shortcut to start at the Apple menu, you can then move across horizontally to other drop down menus quicker (for me) than attempting to recall all the individual moves for them.

Of course in Windows menus it's just ALT + E for Edit, V for View, etcetera & plainly visible in the OS (unless turned off, which it is, by dumb default).

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 24 November 2005 01:20 (twenty years ago)

that's a good idea actually. though i have the applications i use most often open on the dock pretty much all the time, so alt + tab does the trick. i did have to set a fair few shortcuts for word though, for inserting tables and other formatting stuff. i don't know where i'd be without shortcuts.

― gem (trisk), Thursday, 24 November 2005 01:25 (twenty years ago)

God damn I love this iBook. Now I see why Apple people are so fanatical about their Macs, it makes perfect sense now. I love this computer. I'm visiting my dad for the holiday, and I just got done giving him a half hour or so tour of it and enumerating all the finer changes in my new switch.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 02:40 (twenty years ago)

*bites tongue very, very hard*

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 24 November 2005 03:02 (twenty years ago)

er. what?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 03:36 (twenty years ago)

I was about to launch into a fulsome rant about many things I found out (eventually, after a sort of honeymoon perios) I absolutely detested on a Mac. But I'd much rather you enjoyed yours without such troubles & frustrations. So, tongue biting. Don't mind me.

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 24 November 2005 11:03 (twenty years ago)

Biting your tongue is a rather extreme way of stopping oneself from speaking out, I always think. I tend to bite my lip instead.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 24 November 2005 11:38 (twenty years ago)

bite your gums

― cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 24 November 2005 11:42 (twenty years ago)

the Apple menu

fandango: what OS were you using? i'm just interested 'cos the "apple menu" hasn't really been a big part of the design since OS 9, and if you haven't used 10.3 or above then ... well, you should.

but if you are talking about X and you hate it, then: fair enough. horses for courses.

i installed quicksilver last night. christ, it's awesome.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 24 November 2005 14:09 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I've been using OSX (panther). Hourses for courses indeed.

TBH I should give *cough*download cracked copy*cough* Tiger a try & see if they've possibly fixed any of the half-bug/half-feature/half-assed things that drove me into a rage (way beyond the equivalent Windoze flakiness) about it, but I'm not sure they will have :\

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 24 November 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

ugh, i downloaded quicksilver & already it's done something so annoying i doubt i'll end up using it at all...

when i launched the app for the first time it presented me with a very nice-looking little introduction/setup window that seemed to explain everything. also popped up a window asking me if i wanted to dl the latest version as mine was out of date. i did, it dled & installed the new version and then relaunched--w/o the setup window! so now i have an app that i have no idea what to do with or how to setup. pretty poor.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 24 November 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

quicksilver ROOLZ

hang-in there slocki!!

― cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 24 November 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

Well, fandango. When I first got my Dell, I liked it. It wasn't the infatuation I have with this laptop, but I did like it. It wasn't until six months into it that it turned into a piece of junk and my little crush seemed more like a cheap whore. So, spill it. Where's my love affair here going?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

don't listen to fandango!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 24 November 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

ditto -- s1ocki

I'm probably a freak. Enjoy your mac, please! :-O

― fandango (fandango), Thursday, 24 November 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

I feel like the guy whose girlfriend is unfaithful and none of the bros will tell him.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

Mickey, your Mac will make your eyes roll up in your head and your toes curl with pleasure. I switched to Apple in 1991 and it still does that for me.

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 24 November 2005 18:16 (twenty years ago)

ok i'm rockin' out with quicksilver and sidenote. i'm on my way to becoming canadian cozen!

(i'm just not sure what to do with quicksilver, really... YET)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 24 November 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

launch apps, mostly.

and play iTunes without using iTunes.

Add stuff to text files.

er...

― stet (stet), Thursday, 24 November 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

Also: Adium is a seriously good IM chat client. It supports all the services, and you can put some v. good themes on it that make it look like iChat but prettier.

― stet (stet), Thursday, 24 November 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

I'm downloading OpenOffice for Mac now. Gulp. I hope this works well.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

Haven't got Windows Media Player yet either. Man, I really wish QuickTime supported .WMV's. I like QT so much more than WMP. God how I'd love to abandon Microsoft completely.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

Mickey, this does that:
http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv.htm

― stet (stet), Thursday, 24 November 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Er, okay. I can't really figure out how to install OpenOffice. Can you Mac people help me? There's the .dmg file, after I unpack that it makes an "OpenOffice.org 2" folder (I think it's a folder?)

When I open that, there's an icon called "Open Office 2.0"

I click on that, and apparently nothing happens. What the hell am I doing wrong here?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 20:01 (twenty years ago)

is there a shareware/freeware flip4mac type of thing out there?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 24 November 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

No, but Acquisition/Limewire can help you out

― stet (stet), Thursday, 24 November 2005 20:17 (twenty years ago)

I click on that, and apparently nothing happens. What the hell am I doing wrong here?

When you unpack a dmg file, don't run the program it contains straight from there. Instead, drag the program's icon to your Applications folder. You can then drag the dmg drive thing to the Trash (this ejects it).

Then run the program from Applications (and once it's running ctrl-click its icon in the Dock and choose 'Keep in Dock' if you're likely to use it often).

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 24 November 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

Well I just figured out what X11 is. Damn, I hate that. So Macs are slightly more complicated than I thought.

xpost
thanks for the advice, Alba. After some googling, it seems I need more than my Mac has right now to run it anyways, so screw it. I'm getting NeoOffice, the less advanced port made for idiots like me that integrates into Mac OS X better.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 20:40 (twenty years ago)

There are far better office-type things for the Mac than Open Office, by the way. Even AppleWorks is better (and should be installed already). Unless oyu have lots of OO files you need to open, they're worth investigating. So is Pages (part of iWork).

― stet (stet), Thursday, 24 November 2005 20:45 (twenty years ago)

I haven't looked at AppleWorks at all. Does it support .doc files? It's really important for me to do that, since all professors require that.

What's the best program with .doc support that you recommend?

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 20:55 (twenty years ago)

Pages can read .doc pretty well, and I think it saves them. RTF files will open in Word, and it definitely saves them. You get a 30-day trial, so it's worth an explore (and serial numbers are everywhere on Limewire).

― stet (stet), Thursday, 24 November 2005 21:08 (twenty years ago)

Oh aye, some people love Mellel, and it definitely exports .doc

― stet (stet), Thursday, 24 November 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

Well, the big advantage OpenOffice (or NeoOffice in this case) has over that, stet, is the fact that it's free. That's important to me.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 22:55 (twenty years ago)

Only if you value your time as worthless. You dropped $600 on hardware, what's $40 more for an app you'll use every day? Nisus Writer Express, btw, also does .doc files, and costs about that.

(You could always make a "deferred purchasing decision" and swipe a serial number.)

― stet (stet), Thursday, 24 November 2005 23:05 (twenty years ago)

Well, $40 is one thing. The $300 or whatever that Microsoft Office costs is another.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeh, I wouldn't buy that. It's crap. But try the demos of Pages, Nisus and Mellel (in that order) and see if any of them work for you. All three will be better than OO, which really clunks on the mac.

Another thing that surprises a lot of switchers is the amount of shareware on the Mac. There are a ton of wee things that lots of people pay $10 or $20 for because the software's so good -- whereas on Windows they either nick it or use some godawful free alternative.

― stet (stet), Thursday, 24 November 2005 23:19 (twenty years ago)

The Mellel and Nisus webpages don't impress to me too much. Judging from their online presentations, I think I prefer NeoOffice.

Er, who makes Pages? It's kind of hard to Google for.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 23:22 (twenty years ago)

Oh, part of iWork. Gotcha.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Thursday, 24 November 2005 23:26 (twenty years ago)

grrr... quicksilver is so great but it bogs my machine too much to use cozza the huge ram requirements so i don't run it like i wish i could. the developer's made clear that ram hogging is not an issue with him too.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 25 November 2005 07:13 (twenty years ago)

Stet, just wanted to drop you a little thanks for the iWorks recommendation. Using it almost all day for my school work, and although it took me a bit of time to find the options I need, it's easy now. And at $50, the price isn't bad at all either. High5, bro!

― Mickey (modestmickey), Friday, 25 November 2005 07:17 (twenty years ago)

http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv.htm

That's for exporting to WMV, mainly from FCP timelines. To playback WMV, www.videolan.org vlc player is what you need or indeed media player from microsoft, but VideoLan is much better.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 25 November 2005 08:30 (twenty years ago)

Neooffice have just released Neooffice 1.2 Alpha. This is a Java-based OS X-native port of OpenOffice (which means no X11). It's not yet based on the OO 2.0 code base—so it's a bit clunkier, but is still very good software. One advantage of Neooffice is that it seems to use the font anti-aliasing from the operating system.

I have been writing on Neooffice for months and often using the inbuilt export-to-PDF for printing. I have received lots of compliments on the appearance of the documents.

― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Friday, 25 November 2005 23:28 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

OK, I'm looking at iMacs instead of laptops, but I still want a bit of advice. The iMac I currently have is from 2002, with 768 MB of RAM and a 700 MHz PowerPC G4 processor. As you might expect, it runs fairly slow at times. Any more than two or three applications open at the same time give it fits, and lots of streaming Internet content is all but inaccessible (YouTube is a joke, for instance).

So I want an upgrade. But the question is, do I invest in a machine with 1GB of memory or 2GB? I get the impression that anything I buy right now is going to have a much higher processing speed than what I have, but I don't know if that's enough or whether I should substantially increase the memory as well. At most I would want to be able to download a file on Firefox, watch a video on YouTube, upload music to iTunes, and have a couple of other applications (Word, Limewire, GarageBand) open simultaneously, without any noticeable strain. Any ideas?

― jaymc, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:08 (seventeen years ago)

OS X really starts to zip along when you have 2GB, would definitely recommend that, maybe not more though for what you want to do. It is cheaper to buy RAM from not apple and fit it yourself though, even if you end up throwing away a stick. check prices with crucial, OCZ, techrestore etc.

― Ed, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:11 (seventeen years ago)

buy it w/1gb then get the second chip from a third party for cheap - i have 4gb but i run real applications over here

― ice crӕm, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:13 (seventeen years ago)

I have 3 and 4 gigs at work and home respectively. 1 gigabyte isn't enough for you.

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:16 (seventeen years ago)

That sounds like good advice. I've never bought memory before, though -- is it fairly easy to install?

― jaymc, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:18 (seventeen years ago)

yah super easy

― ice crӕm, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:19 (seventeen years ago)

How to:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1760

― Ed, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:20 (seventeen years ago)

just make sure that when you buy it w/1gb its not two 500mb chips cause you only have two slots

― ice crӕm, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:20 (seventeen years ago)

I believe that Ed is correct and it comes with BOTH SLOTS FULL so you have a spare.

― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:29 (seventeen years ago)

Just upped my MB from 2 -> 4G. It was fine on 2G, but if I had Photoshop and Illustrator, e.g., open, I got some serious pageouts.

― libcrypt, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 20:04 (seventeen years ago)

Went and bought the 1G iMac. It's a little faster, but I'm definitely going to upgrade.

In the process of switching computers, however, something happened to my external hard drive (which had pretty much all my mp3s), and so now I'm scrambling to transfer those files onto my new machine. It's taking forever, though. Not sure what to do. 2/3 of the files are on my iPod, so it's not as bad as it could be, but still.

― jaymc, Thursday, 21 August 2008 05:29 (seventeen years ago)

do any of you have any idea how much it might cost to repair the power inlet on a powerbook? I had a horrible scene this morning where my pbook slid oh-so-slowly off my bed, power supply side down, and dropped gently to the carpet before I could grab it. a 1.5ft-ish drop left the power cord bent and useless, so I imagine the internal bits of the power supply in the actual computer are a bit of a mess. there's a small-ish dent where the cord bent so I don't think I can just buy a new adapter and go.

I'm shitting myself thinking about how much this is going to cost to fix. going to giant Apple store down the street on break to inquire but kind of need reassuring in the meantime. y'know, everything'll be okay, your pbook will be just fine, you'll just be broke after the fact, etc.

― salsa shark, Friday, 22 August 2008 09:37 (seventeen years ago)

We yanked up our iMac at home from 512 to 2gig RAM the other month, it's super. I'd totally recommend it. iPhoto is basically mush with anything less than 2 if you have anymore than about 500 pics.

― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 22 August 2008 09:40 (seventeen years ago)

RAM is cheap as shit currently though, you'll get 2gig of RAM online for like £25 or something.

― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 22 August 2008 09:40 (seventeen years ago)

ha I was so close to buying more ram for mine and then I effing dropped it and needless to say paying for new ram is no longer a priority

― salsa shark, Friday, 22 August 2008 09:45 (seventeen years ago)

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