My mom is sending the form to transfer money out of my college fund so I can buy a Macbook Pro for when I go to college, so I have about a week and a half till I'll get it assuming Apple ships fast.
Any tips for a new Macbook Pro? I've used OS X on my PC before, but is there must-have software for Apple laptops to save battery, etc?
Any tips would be appreciated.
Only 'must have' to save battery is really OS X. It's pretty damn efficient. Just turn your screen brightness down a bit and you'll be fine. Not much 'must have' software that I can think of off the top of my head. Try picking up any Mac magazine(MacWorld,MacLife,MacHome). They usually have some pretty good software on it. I [i]think[/i] that it was MacLife that had the 20 hidden gems section that listed fantastic utilities that were cheap, but I'm not sure.
Brightness down and backlight off, you'll get surprisingly good battery life that will put you at ease if you forget to bring your charger to a long day of class.
iStat menus 2.0, not much different to 3.0 except that you have to pay for 3.0. Just shows you some system info, such as CPU usage etc.
If you're worried you might need a windows program, make sure you know how to get boot camp working
[QUOTE=jlj1;26449520]If you're worried you might need a windows program, make sure you know how to get boot camp working[/QUOTE]
Boot Camp is easy to setup, I've done it before
Three things to note. Use a screen brightness as low as your eyes can tolerate; turn the backlit keys one above zero (It'll still be useful in 95% of situations) and use GFXCardStatus to force the Intel GPU.
Other than that, there's plenty of apps to get you going. Adium for MSN, Colloquy for IRC, Transmit for FTP (It's absolutely worth purchasing that), Ration for ISP usage (Best for Australian ISP's), iPhone Disk to access your iPhone via USB, Postbox Express for Email (Nicer than Thunderbird if you're used to that) and Blackout for times when you need to use your Macbook during very low light conditions.
That's everything useful I can think of anyway. Oh and yeah, get an AppleCare Protection Plan. If shit goes down in two and a half years time, the $300ish you pay is a lot better than for a $1500 logic board replacement - replacement service parts are marked up by over nine thousand percent.
MacBook pro owner here, is it just me or is there almost no difference in backlit key brightnes at 60%-100%?
[QUOTE=meppers;26466047]MacBook pro owner here, is it just me or is there almost no difference in backlit key brightnes at 60%-100%?[/QUOTE]
Its hardly noticeable with the light off the screen, I have it set very low.
Adium is so much better than WLM simply because of tabbed conversations, the newest Windows version has that but the Mac one doesn't, shame. I set bootcamp up the other day and it works like a charm, can't say I'm too keen on Windows now after being used to OSX but for any games I feel like playing its handy. I need it for Zune Player to sync music, sort it Microsoft.
Buy a case/cover thing for when you are carrying it about, I didn't and have a few scratches on the base.
If you customize the specification of the Macbook Pro it'll take a while given that they make it to order. Mine took 3 weeks for an extra 2GB of RAM.
[QUOTE=SGNinja101;26467354]If you customize the specification of the Macbook Pro it'll take a while given that they make it to order. Mine took 3 weeks for an extra 2GB of RAM.[/QUOTE]
I'm getting the stock 15-inch i7 model with the added high-res screen option.
[QUOTE=advil0;26469227]I'm getting the stock 15-inch i7 model with the added high-res screen option.[/QUOTE]
Shouldn't be a problem, then. That's a pretty common choice.
BETTER TOUCH TOOL
/d
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Why reply?" - cosmic duck))[/highlight]
Better Touch Tool.
It's an OS X application that can let your trackpad do thousands more things than otherwise possible. Basically you can set a shitload of mouse gestures and a bunch of other cool things.
The site doesn't really show how amazing this app is, but it's amazing. [url]http://boastr.net/[/url]
[editline]6th December 2010[/editline]
Sorry I wasn't so clear the first time.
[QUOTE=TehWhale;26534315]Better Touch Tool.
It's an OS X application that can let your trackpad do thousands more things than otherwise possible. Basically you can set a shitload of mouse gestures and a bunch of other cool things.
The site doesn't really show how amazing this app is, but it's amazing. [url]http://boastr.net/[/url]
[editline]6th December 2010[/editline]
Sorry I wasn't so clear the first time.[/QUOTE]
That looks incredibly complicated, but I'll try it out
[QUOTE=advil0;26538124]That looks incredibly complicated, but I'll try it out[/QUOTE]It's not, it's more like "Choose what type of tapping to activate a function for" Lets say you choose "3 finger slide down" then you can tell it "scroll to bottom (similar to END key)"
Except you can set thousands of them. It's really awesome.
Woo, ordered it an hour ago with the 2-3 day shipping option :D
[QUOTE=advil0;26550447]Woo, ordered it an hour ago with the 2-3 day shipping option :D[/QUOTE]
I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did with mine.
In the end, did you go for the basic i7 + AG screen?
[QUOTE=M23;26551011]In the end, did you go for the basic i7 + AG screen?[/QUOTE]
I got the stock i7 model + the hi-res glossy screen and the VGA adapter.
[editline]7th December 2010[/editline]
[img]http://imgur.com/ClSr7.png[/img]
That's what I got
Pretty much what I would have gotten. My glossy screen has grown on me a lot. Only thing I would have changed was getting a faster hard drive. I have a feeling you'll enjoy your new computer.
Here's a tip: Go buy a cheap 320gb or something external hdd (or a bigger one if you're feeling fancy) and run timeachine. Just do it. It's the easiest and best backup mechanism on the planet and you should be using it.
Edit: Grats on the buy :]
[QUOTE=Euphoracle;26559228]Here's a tip: Go buy a cheap 320gb or something external hdd (or a bigger one if you're feeling fancy) and run timeachine. Just do it. It's the easiest and best backup mechanism on the planet and you should be using it.
Edit: Grats on the buy :][/QUOTE]
[b]
GOOD
GOD
YES[/b]
I have a three year old 500gb MyBook. I have lost my data on this machine twice, and it was backed up to the exact state it was about an hour or less before the failure. I fucking love time machine. It's also easy if you accidentally delete some gigantic file (Wine bottle containing STEAM) and empty the trash without thinking. Just fire up time machine. It is by far my favorite feature of Leopard/Snow Leopard. It is just so brilliant. Both my parents have also used it. I've used it to clone my old MacBook over to my current one. I just fucking LOVE time machine.
[QUOTE=MacTrekkie;26559701][b]
GOOD
GOD
YES[/b]
I have a three year old 500gb MyBook. I have lost my data on this machine twice, and it was backed up to the exact state it was about an hour or less before the failure. I fucking love time machine. It's also easy if you accidentally delete some gigantic file (Wine bottle containing STEAM) and empty the trash without thinking. Just fire up time machine. It is by far my favorite feature of Leopard/Snow Leopard. It is just so brilliant. Both my parents have also used it. I've used it to clone my old MacBook over to my current one. I just fucking LOVE time machine.[/QUOTE]
I know right? Why doesn't windows have something like this? It's the fastest, easiest and most brilliant way to do backup/"shadow copies".
Hahaha, based on those recommendations I'll definitely backup using time machine
[QUOTE=Euphoracle;26560219]I know right? Why doesn't windows have something like this? It's the fastest, easiest and most brilliant way to do backup/"shadow copies".[/QUOTE]
And it's sexy. Sometimes I just turn it on and flip through folders to watch it.
[QUOTE=MisterM;26467313]Its hardly noticeable with the light off the screen, I have it set very low.
Adium is so much better than WLM simply because of tabbed conversations, the newest Windows version has that but the Mac one doesn't, shame. I set bootcamp up the other day and it works like a charm, can't say I'm too keen on Windows now after being used to OSX but for any games I feel like playing its handy. I need it for Zune Player to sync music, sort it Microsoft.
Buy a case/cover thing for when you are carrying it about, I didn't and have a few scratches on the base.[/QUOTE]
Tabs are a horrible fad that needs to die. WLM actually did get tabs in the last update, and I hate it. I disabled it ASAP but it still causes problems in some cases. >:(
Speaking of tabs, do beware, between tabs, multiple windows and multiple desktops safari has the highest capacity for multitasking of any browser I've ever seen. You'll be fucking drowning in tabs in no time. And I really mean this it's a stormy ocean of websites.
Now I play the waiting game, they still haven't shipped out the laptop :(
[QUOTE=Euphoracle;26560219]I know right? Why doesn't windows have something like this? It's the fastest, easiest and most brilliant way to do backup/"shadow copies".[/QUOTE]
I think it does have something along those lines. But disabled in the client versions of the OS for some reason. I think it comes activated by default in the Enterprise and Server editions. I believe it is just a service, which a monkey could toggle on.
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