Finally I made the SWITCH!!! But Needs Some Help with my New MacBookPro and OSX.

[10-Dee-Q]

Finally i made the jump, Selling my "old" troublesome Acer Ferrari 4005WLMi, and get myself, a brand New Apple MacBookPro 2,0Ghz With 2G of RAM.

Well, actually i did'nt intend to upgrade to 2G RAM, but since the shop is having an offer , so I get free upgrade to 2G RAM and free Microsoft Office 2004

Actually this is my second MBP, the first one i have a bad build quality, there's gap between the casing and after using about 2 hours or so, the gap is getting bigger, and also the machine runs very hot. Go back to the store and get it replaced, so far so good, no gap in the casing and it did runs quite cool
after 3hour or so, the MBP is just barelly warm.

Anyway this is my first mac ever, i'vee been wanting to try mac from long time ago, but i afraid if i dun like it , then it will be difficult to sell the machine cause mac is not so popular in my country.
and actually i've been looking at the Acer TM8204 , but since i knw that MBP can runs in WinXP, then I said , why not.
i can always use the MBP to runs on WinXP if i dont like the OSX

Anyway i got few question to ask mac expert here, :
-Do i Need to reformat the MBP ? cause if i buy a WinXP notebook, normally first thing that i would do is reformat, change to NTFS, partition the HD, install anti virus and Zone Alarm, etc. But i have no idea what to do with my MBP. can any Mac expert tell me ?
-What is the essential softwares for mac ?in WinXP, i'll have MS Office,Zone Alarm,Kapersky Anti zvirus,ACDsee,NERO,etc. What will i need in Mac OSX ???
-Whar is the best mac user forums outthere other than of course this great forum

another question is that i want to install XP through bootcamp on my MBP, and i'm wondering what partitions will be best for it .
i'm thinking since i have 100G HDD, i want to partition it like
-20G mac OS
-10G Win XP
-All the rest for data (wil this partition able to be read and write by the 2 operating system?
or is there any betterway to partition it ?
i want my Data to be able to be read and write by both OSes and also In my previous Windows machine , i always seperate the partition for OS and data , cause you know, when windows crash, they can bring the data with them.
I don't know what is the correct way for OSX.

Another thing is there any software for mac that can edit MP3 (cut,minimize,edit) for use in the Handphone, like Nero in windows >?
and is there any software that can edit digital picture easilly like those ACDsee in WIndows ? cause i don;t know how to use advance program like adobe or corell, i just need smple editing such as cutting and resizing, thx .

THX, I'll post some review afterwards and i'll also put the pics of it side byside with my old Ferrari
thx
INSTALLING boot camp right now

anyway i want to be a mac user , please help me here with a little guidance

 

[geese]

Anyway i got few question to ask mac expert here, :
-Do i Need to reformat the MBP ? cause if i buy a WinXP notebook, normally first thing that i would do is reformat, change to NTFS, partition the HD, install anti virus and Zone Alarm, etc. But i have no idea what to do with my MBP. can any Mac expert tell me ?

No. Why do you want to reformat the HD for?

-What is the essential softwares for mac ?in WinXP, i'll have MS Office,Zone Alarm,Kapersky Anti zvirus,ACDsee,NERO,etc. What will i need in Mac OSX ???

You wont need Anti-virus. MAc comes with a Firewall. OS X is read y out of the box. There are loads of 'essential' software threads here. Go and search for them

and is there any software that can edit digital picture easilly like those ACDsee in WIndows ? cause i don;t know how to use advance program like adobe or corell, i just need smple editing such as cutting and resizing, thx .

Graphics Converter. It might come bundled with your MBP. Otherwise search for it on Version Tracker

 

[kretzy]

First off, congrats on the MBP!

There is no need to re-format the HD unless you want to create partitions. However many people choose to reinstall OS X on their Macs, just to make sure everything is nice and clean.

You will not need any kind of anti-virus/spyware apps. Just about everything you need will already be on there. Office for Mac is good to add, Adium for instant messaging, Flip4Mac to play WMV files in Quicktime, and VLC to play just about anything else.

This is the best Mac forum that I have ever come across, I've never had to go anywhere else for advice. There are also lots of friendly people here which make it a happy place.

To edit music, try using GarageBand which will already be installed as part of iLife and as geese suggested, Graphic Converter will do what you need.

I won't give any advice on BootCamp because I haven't had any experience with it. Have a look through the Window on Mac forum here - I'm sure you'll find answers to your questions.

Enjoy your MBP!

 

[Mr Skills]

No need to reformat, no need to install antivirus.

You can burn data discs in Finder and music CDs in iTunes but if you want a more elegant Nero replacement go for Toast - a fantastic program.

If you do FTPing a lot then an FTP client is a good idea - Transmit is great but Cyberduck is free

You've already got Office (but check out the iWork demo on your machine in case your needs are lighter).

As for simple photo editing... your machine comes with iPhoto

Garageband (comes with your machine) might do the MP3 editing.

Two great sites for finding software: VersionTracker and MacUpdate.

Good luck! I'm sure you gonna love it

 

[10-Dee-Q]

thx for the replies
it certainly make my switch easier

got another question though, normally in my previous notebook, i always take out the battery when it connected to AC adapter cause i'm afraid to spoiled the battery, and i use my notebook mostly at home or work, connected to AC a desktop replacement as this is the only computer that i have, but when i tried to connect my MBP to AC without battery, the fan turns up really high, maybe at full speed and the fan noise is very very loud. This only happened if i tale out the battery, if i put back the battery, everything is normal, again, is this normal ?? or my MBP is a faulty ?
and if this is normal, how am i use the MBP >??? just put the battery in there and connect it to AC most of the time ?? cause about 90% of my notebook life is on the desk , connected to AC, the only reason i choose notebook over PC is less cables, and can easilly moved from my home to office, but i seldom use it on the road.


another things is how to partition the HD >>???
i want the data to be able to be read and write by both, OS is it possible ??>

 

[Chundles]

So leave the battery in. Use it every now and then when it's not plugged into the wall and make sure to calibrate the battery about once every 2 months.

As for reformatting the HDD, I don't understand why you would want to do that. When you partition the HDD for XP, if you keep that partition under the limit imposed by FAT32 you will be able to see that partition from OSX. Windows XP however CANNOT read nor write to the Mac OS's HFS+ format without installing something like MacDrive (not free).

You should not reformat the HDD.

Just follow the BootCamp instructions - you'll be fine. Remember, BootCamp is there to allow casual use of Windows. Your primary OS will be OSX so it's best to leave it well alone. Use Windows for your Windows-only apps and Windows-only files, use OSX for everything else. Keep your data in the OSX file system.