Macbook options for newly Windows convert

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psychrn

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Topic # 29875 22-Jan-2009 00:46

Im looking at migrating to a Macbook in the next few days.
Ive had Windows PC up till now.
We will still have a Winows PC Desktop which we recently bought
Any pointers

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Reply # 191194 22-Jan-2009 07:07

What sort of info are you after? I assume from the query you're not considering the Macbook Pro option? What sort of activities would you do on your Macbook?

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chiefie

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Reply # 191209 22-Jan-2009 08:48

Just so happen, on Apple Online Store, the White Macbook has been updated with Unibody's Nvidia 9400m chipset but kept with DDR2 instead of DDR3. So probably more worthwhile and highly recommended to get from Apple Online Store directly to get the newer specs.

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Ragnor

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Reply # 191272 22-Jan-2009 12:38

I know a lot of people who own Macbooks for the quality of construction and style.. then they have set it up using Apple Boot Camp to dual boot MacOS and Windows. Best of both worlds imo.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html

dpw

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Reply # 191274 22-Jan-2009 12:47

Bootcamp is the dual-boot solution that comes free, as you probably already know, but I use Parallels Desktop to run both Vista and Leopard at the same time. Turning off Aero and styling makes it run quite well indeed!

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gehenna

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Reply # 191283 22-Jan-2009 13:06

If you don't get any answers here, MacTalk Au is a great resource as well - www.mactalk.com.au.

First things first - be patient. There is a learning curve to deal with.

Biggest thing to know first off is how to install and uninstall apps. You will typically find that an app downloads as a .DMG file. This is the Apple disk image filetype. You would run this like an ISO and it mounts to the desktop by double clicking on it. IT also shows in the Finder which is the apple file management tool. Most apps are friendly and when the image mounts they show you what to do, but in generall you want to drag and drop the App from the mounted image, into your Applications folder. This installs the app.

To uninstall, find the App in your Applications folder and drag to the Trash. Simple as that. This will leave some references behind in your library folders (you don't want to go in there very often) so if hard drive space is important to you, get an app called AppZapper and use it to uninstall apps instead. Just drag from Applications into the AppZapper window. This will delete the app, plus all its associated files.

Took me a day or two several years ago to wrap my head around the dmg thing as I was running apps from within the mounted images :)

Next is going into your System Preferences app and configuring your mac how you want it to work. Get used to things like Expose and Spaces as they are a big help. Try setting up hot corners for Expose - I use top right to show all windows, top left to show desktop, and bottom right to bring up the dashboard - the dashboard is a place for widgets to go like the Vista Sidebar. Play with your display/mouse/keyboard settings. Set up your networks and show things in your menu-bar like Airport and Bluetooth if you use them regularly.

Last thing you want to do is get used to the menu-bar. It will be the same (more or less) with every app you use. Click on the app name in the menubar and you'll get a drop down menu. Choose Preferences - again, this is the same with almost all apps you'll use. This is where you configure each application - similar to the usual Tools\Options screens in Windows.

Get used to your Finder. It's not overly featured, but it's customisable enough. For things you access regularly you can drag them to the sidebar to keep links of them there. Check the View - options screen in Finder as well to customise how you want things displayed in the finder. ALso, if you click on the desktop, then click on View - Options, you can customise desktop properties like icon size/spacing/text size/spacing/alignment etc etc.

That should get you going.

psychrn

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Reply # 191442 23-Jan-2009 08:01

Thanks guys for your helpful comments.Looking at Bootcamp and Parralel in next few days.My current issue is finding the isight widget.Looking at the apple video tutorials they mention it but I dont have that widget view either

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chiefie

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Reply # 191443 23-Jan-2009 08:06

Go for VMWare Fusion 2 as it seems to be a better product of the two commercial products. or Sun VirtualBox as it is free and just as good as Parallel and Fusion and it is FREE!

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dpw

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Reply # 191444 23-Jan-2009 08:15

I'm curious about your choice of Fusion - what made you choose that one? Personally I can't quite put my finger on it but Parallels just feels more comfortable. The fact that I can't quite put my finger on it is what bothers me

I haven't looked at VirtualBox closely - does it have a Unity/Coherence feature?

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psychrn

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Reply # 191448 23-Jan-2009 08:24

Thanks for the heads up on that Chiefie

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gehenna

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Reply # 191457 23-Jan-2009 09:27

+1 for VMware Fusion. I used Parallels for about 18 months, from the time it entered the market until they released their "v3" product. I moved to VMware Fusion for fun just to see how it compared and I haven't looked back. To me, Fusion seems to make much better use of the virtual environment, which of course hinges on the capability of the host hardware. Using Mac apps and Windows apps side by side feels much faster and more responsive. The networking is more stable between VM and Host, and the Unity features are great. It also runs a lot better when you have multiple VMs running at the same time.

It's one of those timeless debates though, each app offers a slightly different version of the same feature set. The clincher for me is the overall performance of VMware compared to Parallels. I don't use a lot of "bells and whistles" features in apps. I just want them to work and work well. VMware Fusion does that for me where Parallels does not.

ahmad

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Reply # 191475 23-Jan-2009 10:12

I really can't understand why, when a Windows user is about to convert to Mac, time and time again Boot Camp is proposed as something that should be installed from the outset.

Sure, if someone is going to ditch their Windows PC and switch to Mac exclusively, and has software he must run that does not work on OSX, then yes, Boot Camp/Parallels by all means.

But pyschrn has still go a Windows PC that he will use.

psychrn my advice to you if you don't have Windows exclusive applications that you MUST run on this MacBook, is to just leave it alone and just play and explore. Forget Windows on the MacBook - you've got the rest of its life to install that should you choose.

Explore and enjoy OSX. If you don't like it, then just delete it and run Windows on it. Or if you find that there are Windows apps that you really do have to have/use, then at that point install Windows to run alongside OSX.

That's what I did, and to this day I haven't dual-booted any of my machines (I have access to and use both OSs).

psychrn

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Reply # 191478 23-Jan-2009 10:30

Fair enough Ahmad,I There will not be much windows stuff I want to use on the macbook-at this stage at least.
Prob stick with windows PC to do my video stuff.Yes I will just explore mainly for the moment and see how I go.You guys have been real helpful though in this discussion

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Fossie

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Reply # 191506 23-Jan-2009 11:45

You should get a previous generation macbook pro. Unless you want the smaller screen etc.

ahmad

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Reply # 191509 23-Jan-2009 11:50

Fossie: You should get a previous generation macbook pro. Unless you want the smaller screen etc.

Why do you say this? Firewire?

Fossie

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Reply # 191510 23-Jan-2009 11:54

Bigger screen, matte, express 34 slot, firewire 800 & 400, full sized dvi, backlit keyboard (unless getting the more expensive macbook), LOOKS BETTER.

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