Apple Mac Tips & Tricks
 

Made the switch to the mac about 6 months ago and all going ok however I sometimes think there are faster or more efficient ways to do things.

Anyone got suggestions on good websites or magazines for tips and tricks..

Desktop or laptop?

I made the switch about 4 days ago... so bump

Make sure to keep regular backups... shortly after I made the switch, mine crashed and entire HD was lost.

I have time machine on it so backups should be ok.

macbook...

however I use a external keyboard, mouse and monitor all day in the office..
Use windows keyboard as am used to layout of natural keyboard..

this is a good one you should check out...

http://www.tuaw.com/

I just switched too.

Quicksilver.

Figure this little app out and you'll be in OSX heaven. Will speed up everything you do.

http://www.blacktree.com/

might make the switch myself

Here is some useful info for you:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343

http://www.pure-mac.com/

mac rules :) Made a switch a lil over a half year ago and so far I LOVE IT!
The best OS I've ever used (and I used a lot)

I have a Mac Mini on the way, ordered. Not making the switch though, I think its best to have both.

my Macbook Pro makes a good Vista PC now, i don't bother anymore with OS x since i spent too much time searching for ways around things that work fine on Windows.

like: no picture viewer like ACDSee, no real equivalent of MS Outlook that also synchronizes with my cellphone and no messenger like Trillian that imports all my logfiles from the past.

now i use Vista only and can finally concentrate on working instead of searching

and all you Mac nerds can now start flaming me - hehe

i dont get the price lag. same pc is twice less $$.

All my Macs run Windows as often as the run in OSX.

http://www.macupdate.com/

http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/


handbrake
mactheripper
unrax
pacifist
vlc
wmv

just a few must have apps.

automator is something i tried for renaming images and from what i understand it's possible to other things as well

OSX is tuned for the hardware. Same as Solaris being tuned for the SUN hardware.

I bookmark those links.

I agree I miss Acdsee, however I have parallels installed.
http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/

So when I need to use quickbooks for windows I can. Can also easily move files between the two also.

The mac is so much faster than any vista machine I have used I would not switch back.

Awesome blog :2 cents:

get the following :

flip4mac
perian
vlc
transmission / utorrent beta
filezilla ( for FTP )
firefox + downloadthemall plugin ( great download manager / accelerator )
skype beta ( amazing new screen sharing )
textwrangler
adium
1password ( the shit, like roboform ++ )
coconutbattery
deeper
OmniFocus + OmniGraffle ( Great GTD + mindmapping )
statsremote beta
the unarchiver
appzapper

if u want ACDsee, closest is probably Picasa for Mac :)

thurbs has set up my mac - me = happy

http://www.macrumors.com/

This is a good site, blog and forum.

Wow, what a giant step backwards...

I use both Mac and PC but because of old habits, I spend more time in bootcamp.

Just ordered a new Imac but need to wait 2 weeks for it to come in :(

Good Mac Tips

https://youtube.com/watch?v=V86S2...e=channel_page

I only use windows to run submiter apps, stat apps and blogging apps. I do everything else in OS X.

FYI I just my iMac die and it was still covered by Apple Care. They replaced the logic board for free. The cost of the parts and labor would have been $1300 (aka a new computer) if I hadn't had the Applecare. Consider it if you already haven't

I recently had some issues with a mac at work and the Apple tech guy I talked to told me to use OnyX which is a 3rd party hardcore mac maintenance utility. It seems pretty dang good. You can also check out AppleJack which is similar but you need to restart in single user which is unusual.

How long did yours take to die? and what exactly was the problem/cause?

Thats a great tip but if I catch my guys not watching porn they are in trouble :thumbsup

It took mine a little over 2.5 years to freak out (its the white duo core intel iMac 2006). Basically I came home and the screen was black and it was unresponsive. When I tried to reboot it the power light would come on but only the fans would spin up. Nothing else. I took it into the apple store and they repaired it in a week. They replaced the Main Logic Board. They fixed it up very nicely.

For my work MacBook the professor who was using did something to the touch pad. Apple sent a pre-paid box over night and then repaired it and returned it in 2 days.

I've had macs for ages and this was the first real issue I've ever had. My old PPC 8100/80 is still working as a label printer at my old job. That fucking thing is like 14 years old!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=l4Hd-...eature=channel MORE TIPS! in HD!

one really cool thing I like is the screen shot feature on my mac. i have the macbook pro, but im assuming its on all macs

press apple button + shift + 4 then you will get some cross hairs and you can do screen shots and crop the image right there, its pretty neat

i used Parallels for 6 months but i got sick of switching forth and back all the time

Bump bump!

I guess it comes down to how many windows apps you cannot live without. for me its only quickbooks and quicken so I only use it a couple of times a week.

( they do make mac versions of quickbooks and quicken however you have to make changes to your existing data for it to work, big pain).

not sure why you didn't wait, I hear an Nvidia version of mac mini is in the near future :)

Ok I'm confused, I have a couple win apps I need to run do I just use bootcamp or do I get Parallels?

yep all Macs have this and Command-Shift-3 takes the whole screen.

i remember the first few days i literally told my Mac to tell me wht's the time, close this window, get my mail, log me out :1orglaugh

learntomac.com cool site

depends if you need them all the time or not

Parallels is fine. I prefer VMWare Fusion.

They both boot a Windows VM within OSX.

Bootcamp is basically a Dual boot app. When you're in Windows, it's a full boot up of Windows.

He probably wont need any 3rd party image viewing apps on a mac, OS X has plenty of features in that department...

I for one am glad I dont have to deal with acdsee's freezes and crashes anymore :2 cents:

Never used Mac before. How different is that?

ya, why not use Aperture? From what I see they have pretty much all the same features.

As far as switching to mac...I can't believe given the amount of time we spend on computers people here still think there is this huge learning curve that they can't overcome. If you know how to use a computer, chances are you will learn how to use a mac in no time. Sure there are some different programs to use but seriously it is a better computing experience and worth the time.

You need to know a substitute for a program, just search google. It really can't be much easier.

Agreed.
In my case I've had to go the other way in that I started on a Mac and have in the past year had to use XP. Even though I always had a Win box that I would use for checking sites etc. Until about a yr ago I knew and learned enough to get by, enough that I knew that the Mac was head and shoulders above anything MS has ever produced.
The User interface in Win was designed by a six-year old, its not intuitive at all just for starters.
Whereas the Mac was designed to be productive, is extremely efficient not to mention always works no messing around with viruses, constant defrag etc.

As soon as I find an application that runs native on OSX for this one specific project I can ditch XP. I won't miss it.

best parked address on the webz

Wrong.

It still amazes me people in THIS type of industry can be so naive when it comes to basic computer knowledge.

To make an analogy, it's just like ANYTHING else you can buy. Take a blender for example. You can go browse some 12V 5 Speed Blenders. You shop around, you're going to find various brands and blenders that meet those "base specs" but vary drastically in price.

Let's get into this idea of "base stats" a little bit. That means the end of the line, most basic specification. Like a "dual core 3.0Ghz" CPU. As an example look at Intel
- The Xenon E3110 (Wolfdale Core). Is a Dual Core 3.0 Ghz CPU. It's price = $199.99
- The Xenon 5160 (Woodcrest Core). Is a Dual Core 3.0 Ghz CPU. It's price = $909.99

A $700 price difference?!?! But they're both the same right? They're both Dual Core 3.0 Ghz CPUs!!

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Just because the basic stats of a piece of hardware doesn't mean it's just as good. There are detailed specifications of hardware. However companies that sell shitty computers know 90% of people who buy computers don't know their head from their ass when it comes to the detailed specs.

So, next time you think "same pc, half the price". Take a moment and really think about why that Dell with the same "stats" is only $400 compared to Apple's $1,200. It's the hardware they use, and there is a reason one is more expensive than the other.

:2 cents:

Hopefully this edumacates some of the less informed people out there.