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Original poster

Calling all MacBook owners!!!

30 replies

Sugarberry · 07/12/2009 18:17

I'm soon to become a proud owner of the new Apple white MacBook 2.26GHz:250GB! I aready love it. Please come and share with me any information and tips. I'm a convert to Mac by the way so i'm a novice.

OP posts:
Original poster
Sugarberry · 08/12/2009 08:19

bump

OP posts:
RockBird · 08/12/2009 08:24

Congratulations and welcome to happy, beautiful computing!

Tip one. Don't get the screen smudgy. It can be easily cleaned but it will never again have that Apple Store gloss

Seriously, just take some time to play around with it. You'll find that everything is more straightforward and intuitive. It does so much that even I don't know about and I'm a long term Mac user.

Enjoy!

ApplesinmyPocket · 08/12/2009 08:26

Will be eagerly watching this. Have bought one for DD for her 21st in January - sh really wanted one as she knows quite a few other students who own one and they are really popular, don't seem to get viruses, don't crash, etc.

I've had a few looks at the little beauty and it seems to be a very Rolls Royce of lappies - everything smooth and lovely - have installed a few things which seemed quite intuitive and with none of the usual hassles you tend to get with Windows. We're total MacNewbies too but soon got the hang of carrying out basic operations.

Hope we get lots of people in here with praise for the Mac and useful tips for us.

And I hope you have lots of fun with yours!

sixfoldwaitingtime · 08/12/2009 08:27

It's really easy - that's the main thing! So once you get used to it - which will take a little bit - it should all be gloriously straightforward.

And tips all depend on what you want to do with it. Are you using it for work? fun? editing films?

But you definitely won't regret it!

RubberDuck · 08/12/2009 08:31

Be prepared for it to take a couple of days to adjust while you try and work out ways/alternative applications to do what you want to do - it can be a bit daunting at first, but the sheer beauty of the interface helps smooth that over!

The Switcher Hangout at the Mac Forums was invaluable for me in the early days - lots and lots of posts and hand-holding for those going from Windows to Mac

I can't go back now. I have a dual boot system with a Windows partition and I never ever use the Windows side now because it's so clunky and ugly in comparison.

MitchyInge · 08/12/2009 08:37

do not drop from a high height

am lucky to be ALIVE after doing this to my daughter's new macbook (so is it, but it was touch and go)

llareggub · 08/12/2009 09:29

Oh yes. Be very careful about letting your toddler stand on it. My screen went and it was not pretty. I do now have a nice new shiny one though.

Seriously, the screen is not tough!

mistletoemulledwinemoodlum · 08/12/2009 09:35

Don't sit with it on your lap idly mumsnetting for ages. They get really really hot underneath, and my advice is pay attention to the frantic whirring sound that is the fan trying to save it from blowing up. I then stand mine open, on its side to cool down. Not terribly technical, but effective and quick...

BlauerEngel · 08/12/2009 09:57

Mistletoe - You're right about the overheating problem. I know a guy who had one of the early models and it melted inside.

I have mine switched on all day and most of the evening for receiving mails, and it keeps cool(ish) thanks to some cheapo plastic device that raises up its bum to allow cool air to circulate and supposedly makes it easier to type on as well.

I've also seen rests for MacBooks with built-in electric cooling devices :0

Apart from that my McBook is beautiful and wonderful and intuitive and I love it dearly (well, as much as you can love a little white rectangular object).

But Word for Mac is a crock of shit, tbh. I still have 2004 because I was told that 2008 is even worse. It's the only thing that ever crashes the whole system. I have to stay with Word, unfortunately, for work purposes, but if you can use another wp programme, do it.

BadgersPaws · 08/12/2009 10:16

I think that a lot of Macs want to cool themselves from underneath, they often have slots in the sides down there as well to help out.

So using one on a lap (unless you're careful and allow lots of to get to the underside), pillow or bed can cause problems.

However they should cut out before the can overheat, though that's not something I'd be too keen to put to the test...

Top Mac tip?

Get to know expose, when you've got lots of Windows open it's a blessing. It's probably the feature that I miss the most when I work on a Windows machine.

RubberDuck · 08/12/2009 10:34

For the overheating issue, get smcFanControl it's free (donation ware) and tells you the current temp of your mac. You can then set fan speeds to make it work a little harder - I aim to keep my iMac's CPU below 60C at all times. Now it's winter, I don't use it so much, but in the summer I pushed the fan right up.

Original poster
Sugarberry · 08/12/2009 14:54

Thanks for all the tips! Please keep them coming..

I am a bit concerned about the overheating though..

What's the cheapo plastic device BlauerEngel?

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BadgersPaws · 08/12/2009 15:48

The overheating thing really shouldn't be an issue.

Be aware of where the vents are on the bottom if you're using it on your lap and don't use it on something soft like a bed or a cushion.

RubberDuck · 08/12/2009 16:24

Macs generally run hot. I had an issue because our study gets v v hot in the summer. The fan control was helpful because of that.

prism · 11/12/2009 12:47

Here's a tip. It applies to all laptops but more so to Macs because they are sooooo easy to use for anything to do with music, video and pictures. If you do use it to fill up your iPod and store the pictures from your camera, you'll fill up the hard drive relatively quickly (although we are talking months here unless you spend the first 3 days filling it with CDs), so keep an eye on how full it is (it will tell you at the bottom of any Finder window how much space is left). What I do with mine us use an external drive for all the pics and music, so the laptop itself never gets too cluttered. It's also really worth using an external drive for backup using Time Machine, which is the coolest piece of backup software ever and comes on all Macs. Laptops, I'm sorry to say, get broken or stolen much more than desktop computers.

BadgersPaws · 11/12/2009 12:50

A good tip for anyone with a big iPod is to enable manual music management for the iPod and once you've copied the music over to delete it from iTunes.

Original poster
Sugarberry · 19/12/2009 22:14

Ok... so what softwares would you recommend i purchase along with my Macbook? That is if i need to at all.

I intend to use it for study so what's most important is something like Microsoft Office.

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whomovedmychocolate · 19/12/2009 22:26

MacOS updates are getting more frequent and demanding

It's almost like being on Windows some days - actually tell a lie, it's worse because I have to do the updates for Windoze at work and the mac ones on my own unpaid time

But it's very lovely apart from that and I don't have to do anything much because it just recognises stuff like networks and printers and all the buggering stuff that makes windoze a complete PITA and does it and then says 'is that okay ducky' (or something similar I just click 'okay')

And no blue screen of death (although there is the bomb)

whomovedmychocolate · 19/12/2009 22:26

Neo-Office is free and v like MS Office. Go google it.

Original poster
Sugarberry · 20/12/2009 08:48

What's the Apple iwork like?

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RockBird · 20/12/2009 08:56

Blimey, I haven't seen the bomb since System 7

BlackYellowRed · 20/12/2009 10:49

we've had Macs in this house since 2000 and got a Macbook Pro this week. It's lovely and fast after upgrading from our Mac Mini that ran 10.4 and was struggling a bit, especially with iPhoto.

Original poster
Sugarberry · 20/12/2009 14:14

So do you use iwork BlackYellowRed?

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BlackYellowRed · 20/12/2009 18:16

no, we don't.

mimsum · 21/12/2009 12:30

I have iwork - it's really easy (just like everything else on my imac - I luurve my imac) - the only thing I've found it can't do is wordart - I've never missed it, but ds needed it for an art project the other day and got a bit agitated!