Apple Help?

G

Gairdner

Guest
I know a number of you good fellows out there are of the Mac persuasion and having just made my first foray into owning my own wee slice of Apple (base model MacBook Pro with extra memory and storage), I am looking for advice from experienced users.

I first used a Mac back in the late 80s at High School when PCs were a black or green screen with DOS and Apple introduced their mind-blowing WIMP environment. How things have moved on since then!

I love the build of the MacBook Pro and the Magsafe power connector, the smaller size and weight being a huge bonus too. It seems really quick compared to my nearly dead Dell but although I can navigate with reasonable ease, I am yet to totally bend the machine to my will and expect a learning curve process to yield better progress.

So what programs do you chaps use? Or should I say apps? I used Chrome on the PC laptop but could Safari be better? It seems pretty good but how do I import my bookmarks from Chrome? I got fed up using Windows Mail and even Mozilla Thunderbird for use with email but Apple Mail seems far better, indeed, I am happier within its environs than the gmail web portal I had eventually opted to use on the old Dell.

I download via torrent quite a bit so would appreciate app suggestions there too - utorrent was my favoured option on the PC.

Other programs I used were free, downloaded software to convert music and video files, media players, a great one called Freemake which let you burn DVDs from the desktop with the greatest of ease.

I am sure the supplied apps like Pages will answer my basic word-processing and spreadsheet needs.

Any other tips and suggestions for this first timer? Do I need anti-virus, etc?

Huge thanks in advance, gents.

Graeme :D
 
Anti-virus isn't necessary on the mac but I would advise a maintenance app like onyx or similar. Transmission is a pretty good torrent app, I've used it a fair bit but haven't torrented much lately so I'm not sure what the current flavour of the month is. Handbrake for video conversion, also Video Monkey. iMovie and the standard iLife apps are pretty good and get the job done.

All of the above are free by the way.
 
They are still called programs G, even for a laptop.
Your Chrome settings should be transferred when you sign into your Chrome account irrespective of the platform, never really liked Safari but try it and see.
I haven't ever bothered with an antivirus on a Mac.
Apple Mail good.
VLC for video

Enjoy
 
Aye, that'll do me, AD. VLC downloaded as well which is much neater than its PC variant. Chrome winning over Safari due to my familiarity with it and the fact all my bookmarks are intact. Apple Mail is good too.
 
Count of Undolpho said:
Yes and I know many people who run PCs without anti-virus and without being hit by anything. I don't go around advising people not to bother though.
Click to expand...

Difficulty is anti virus programmes on mac only look for windows viruses. I would recommend it if you share files with windows users frequently.
 
^^It's the inbuilt mail client, go to spotlight and type in mail (top right looking glass logo) or it should be in your dock with a stamp logo.
 
That's the fella, AD. Set itself up, so it did. Easier than pie or should that be pii?

Hmm, I'm just not getting the hang of this and am starting to wish I paid half the money for something I could understand and operate better. It's beautifully made and I love the magsafe power thingy but I'm getting very frustrated with its operation.
 
Gairdner said:
That's the fella, AD. Set itself up, so it did. Easier than pie or should that be pii?

Hmm, I'm just not getting the hang of this and am starting to wish I paid half the money for something I could understand and operate better. It's beautifully made and I love the magsafe power thingy but I'm getting very frustrated with its operation.
Click to expand...


Graeme.

The best thing to do is stop trying to use it as a windows computer. Look through the videos or go back to the store and pay £79 and get the one to one service. Unlimited personal tuition sessions all year.
 
Have fiddled around with the trackpad settings and that has made things easier but I still miss the right mouse button for deleting things and other stuff. It fairly flies along compared to the old Dell. I'll muddle through. I don't deal well with pressure at all but I am uncommon stubborn git so I'll get there even if just to say to Faither, "There, I told you so."

Thanks chaps.

The Unworthy Beard Growing Gairdner

P.S. the beard at two and a half weeks old looks like that of a scruffy, ne-er do well teenager.
 
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