OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE

hi all

Just bought a macbook pro. was this a good thing todo i dont know. any one got any recommendation to applications i can use or any general info that would be useful to me

Thanks

SP

 

Pay for apple care. It will be the best move you can make. Something always happens to something so nice.

 

Enjoy your new macbook and don't let anybody tell you that you've made a bad decision. If you can afford it, and you like it, it was the right decision.

The trick is to buy an apple care protection plan just before you really need it.

 

To quote jezzer I think you should be taken in front of your family and shot

As a former Mac owner I never really got into it - I just played World of Warcraft on it and that was about it. I can't imagine any everyday useful function for a Mac other than browsing, media or emailing and you can do these things better, for less and with greater variety on the good old Windows platform.

Garage Band looks interesting but the only version I've seen that I would buy is for the iPad 2.

IMO you've just bought a lemon but I'm sure some people may suggest a more approapriate use for it such as door stop or even just as a prop to pick up women.

I'm not saying they do not have a legitimate computing purpose, but you should have thought of the function you need it for before commiting to buy it

If you just wanted to experience a Mac you could have dual booted your PC into a Hackintosh or bought a Mac Mini and saved a considerable amount of money.

 

Wait... what? I'm sorry, but when I saw the thread was called "OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE", I thought you killed someone, or you ran over your neighbors dog or something. :lol:

Anyway, I can't say I'd recommend a macbook, but I suppose it depends. If it does what you need it to, then that's all that really matters. If you end up not liking it, you could always install linux/Windows instead, right?

 

@SneakyPeanut

You´ve made the right decision ;-)

I´ve got a macbook myself and will upgrade next year to the actual 13" MPB if the Ivy Bridge Cpus are available and they use the high-res panel from the macbook air (1440x900).

Can you tell us which model you bought (13" / 15" Core i5 / i7...)

The upside of apple computers are that the notebooks are ultra portable and have a long battery runtime, you can install every os (win, linux, osx), the keyboard is great and the notebooks have an unrivaled touchpad. And the design is great too.

The downside of apple computers are that they are pricey, most of them have production errors, spare parts cost almost as much as the whole computer and almost all apple users are pricks (atleast they are on the german message boards )

 

it took me about 3 months to decide if i wanted to take the plung. after meeting a good friend with one i got used to it and started to like how they worked, being a former advanced linux user in the past only dropping it because there was no suport for what i wanted todo. in the end i was gonna wait for the ivy bridge models but then saw an good deal on the current latest 13" MB Pro with i5 with the intel 3000 graphics so was suckered in and bought the thing (personally i would of liked better specs but i cant argue really one i got it).

Before now i was always put off by people that owned macs becuse they all seemed to be hipsters that didnt know anything so i never really got show how to use it to its full potential. im quite happy that it will suite my needs now as i learnt i will run java perfectly so i can do all my Computer Science course work on the thing. it may even temp me into doing some more music related producing like stuff as i always struggled on windows as them never being greatly optimised for the os.

 

Yes, you can run java on it. But you should note that all java versions are distributed directly by apple. That means, that you will always need the latest os version to get the latest java version. And apple updates osx every 1 1/2 - 2 years.

Btw. if you get used to linux you will always prefer it because you can work faster as with any other os. (i´m working as a software developer (no, not in the game industry ;-)))

 

I was expecting something with a little more punch, killed someone, got drunk and slept with a friend, made a girl pregnant, was naked in a nursery, that sort of thing. Buying a Mac does not really count, unless of course you are thinking "bugger did I really spend all this money when a 150 quid netbook would do everything I wanted to?".

 

1) get rEFIt
2) get sabayon
3) do sudo equo update
4) get 8GB of updated including every wireless linux driver there is
5) ?????
6) PROFIT!

 

Well, he did allegedly say he left Linux for Mac. Once you've been set free, it's hard to go back to jail. :clap:

 

1)Download bootcamp
2)Install Windows 7 onto a partition.
3)???
4)Whatever.

Even if you don't like OSX the hardware isn't half bad. I just would hate to have the local Apple zealots (whatever percentage they may be) congratulate me on my choice of hardware being "superior".

 

I just got my first macbook pro after having an old macbook for so long, though I got the older aluminum type, non-unibody. I don't think you've made a mistake, It can do everything you've been able to do in the past on regular pc's and if you ever decide to sell it, macs hold they're value better than most other pc's.

Also, if you ever met me, the last thing to come to mind would be "hipster" :fresh:

 

Macs only "hold" their "value" because people pay for the brand, not the hardware. We all know they're severely overpriced for what you get, and that's my main issue with them.

Besides, couldn't he always use bootcamp and use Windows if he really needed to? I wouldn't ever buy an apple product, so I wouldn't know, just a personal preference really.

 

Use it for everything you'd use any other computer for.

Once upon a time Macs couldn't do as much as MS machines could.

That's now a myth. There is an equivalent or better for pretty much everything.

Anyhoo here's a list of what I run on mine so you can see if anything suits.

iLife - iPhoto is great for photos and iMovie is good for throwing together video clips and uploading them to YouTube. iWeb is now redundant and iDVD is pointless. Garageband is awesome but if you don't play an instrument already you'll need the jam packs to take full advantage of it. Oddly Apple ditched support for them and discontinued them. They fetch a pretty penny on eBay and they're really hard to find so just torrent those bad boys.

iWork - Keynote and numbers are decent alternatives to PowerPoint and Excel but I've never gotten along with Pages, although I find formatting easier than in word.

Audacity - Audio editing tool, identical to the MS version.

Gimp - great alternative to Photoshop.

Handbrake - excellent video conversion software.

Liquid CD - good CD/DVD burner.

Paintbrush - MS Paint equivalent.

Steam.

UnrarX - for Rar

uTorrent - go with the beta versions as they're more stable believe it or not.

VLC.

Popclip - adds iOS style copy and paste. Kinda handy when you get used to it.

Adobe CS5 suite.

Xcode - Mac/iOS development tool. Well worth a look into.

PCSX-R is a great PSOne emulator and Kega Fusion is good for Sega stuff. There's playable DC/Saturn Emu's out there too. ZSNES is probably the best SNES emu.

If you're serious about photos switch from iPhoto to Aperture.

For music, iTunes. On Mac it's so much better than the MS version.

If you're running Lion (which is worth the upgrade if you haven't already) then I'd stick to Safari as your browser as Firefox and chrome don't support fullscreen which when you get used to it is fantastic, likewise for Mail.

Also check out the Mac Appstore. There's some good games in there as well as lots of other useful bits and pieces.
Whatever chat service you've used to talk to me in the past is compatible with iChat so you might wanna consider using it but something like Trillian might be better.

Last but not least, go into settings and watch the brief animations on touchpad gestures as mastering them all can make the OSX experience all the better. If you feel like handing over more obscene amounts of cash to Apple then grab a Magic Mouse. Weird as fuck to use for the first few days but then when you get used to them they're a great companion.

Enjoy.

 

^^

im using chrome, it does now have full screen suport. ilife came with it which was pretty epic. im currently using open office while i save some money for buying applications.

also 1 thing im amazed about mac has amazing sound quality from the headphone jack. probably the only laptop ive used where the sound is crystal clear...

 

But they still hold their value... regardless of the reason. Im not saying I agree that they should, and I'm not saying I didnt wish they were less expensive (I bought an older model myself)

And yes, Thats why I said macs can do anything any other pc's can...

(waits for a smartass to come and contradict that last statement and tell me how much of a moron I am )

 

Best decision of your life son . If you so worried about compatibility set up a duel boot.

 

iPhoto and iTunes are huge piles of inferior horseshit. Everything else is good, enjoy.

 

Bootcamp Windows 7.