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First Mac baby!

Y

Yizi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 22, 2008
134
0
UK
Hello,

Got my frist Mac and i got iMac, it is simply amazing, i wish i was using mac way before. I'm fairly new to the Mac system and i'm a designer so i would appericiate if people could give me some tips with programs.

My systems spec is:

24" 3.06 dual core 2
4GB RAM
500GB HD

Thanks,
Yizi
 
Yizi said:
Hello,

Got my frist Mac and i got iMac, it is simply amazing, i wish i was using mac way before. I'm fairly new to the Mac system and i'm a designer so i would appericiate if people could give me some tips with programs.

My systems spec is:

24" 3.06 dual core 2
4GB RAM
500GB HD

Thanks,
Yizi
Click to expand...

Adium for your instant message goodness.
Perian for your codec goodness.
Neo Office for your Office goodness.

All free BTW :)
 
Sweet Machine, sounds like you got my Christmas present.:rolleyes:
These are the Mac programs I'm using, (I like) on my BMB.

FIREFOX 3, Love the tabs!
HEAR, awesome sound program for music, Hear what you have been missing
1PASSWORD, remembers those secure passwords instantly
CHECKBOOK PRO,puts your check book on your PC where it belongs.
SANDVOX, Website/blog creator
MAC JOURNAL, keeps all your stuff, notes etc, in one place
NOTEBOOK, more advanced version of Mac Journal
MISU, copies music from one iPod to another
APP FRESH, Keeps everything updated, not just apps:cool:
OFFICE 2008 for MAC,not cus I want to, believe me, need it for business
CLAMXAV, antivirus app, cus it makes this old XP Boy (me), feel better!

Enjoy using my Christmas present, lucky bastage!:D:D:D:D:D:apple::apple::apple::apple:
 
My lists for you:

Apps you need: (All Free)

XQuartz - required for apps like Gimp, Inkscape
Neo Office (or Open Office for Mac) - Free MS Office clones
SMC Fan Control - For controlling fan speed
ClamXav - Antivirus
Perian - codecs so you can watch .wmv files

Optional, but highly recommended :p:D: (All Free)

Gimp - Photoshop clone (sort of; Gimp is a raster editor)
Azureus (otherwise known as Vuze) - Torrent client, tons of features
Inkscape - Illustrator clone (sort of; Inkscape is a vector editor)
Mac the Ripper - Rips DVDs
Handbrake - Turns ripped DVDs into movies you can watch on ipods, iphones, :apple:tvs, etc.
Wallsaver - Uses screensavers as your desktop background.
Candybar - Allows you to apply skins

Wii apps: (Once again, Free)

DarwiinRemote - Lets you control the mouse with a wii remote. Can also use sensor bars!
Wiisaber - Name says it all

You really do need everything on the top list. Don't forget to repair permissions about once a month. Welcome to the (mac) club! :cool::D:apple:
 
wow guys the stuff was amazing!
tested all and i must say they pretty good!

Thanks very much! :apple:
 
Congrats!

VLC Media Player to play almost all kind of video files.
Google GMail Notifier
Simplify Media to stream your library to your iPhone or to others' computers and vice versa.
iScrobbler for your Last.fm page
 
Cheffy Dave said:
Sweet Machine, sounds like you got my Christmas present.:rolleyes:
These are the Mac programs I'm using, (I like) on my BMB.

FIREFOX 3, Love the tabs!
HEAR, awesome sound program for music, Hear what you have been missing
1PASSWORD, remembers those secure passwords instantly
CHECKBOOK PRO,puts your check book on your PC where it belongs.
SANDVOX, Website/blog creator
MAC JOURNAL, keeps all your stuff, notes etc, in one place
NOTEBOOK, more advanced version of Mac Journal
MISU, copies music from one iPod to another
APP FRESH, Keeps everything updated, not just apps:cool:
OFFICE 2008 for MAC,not cus I want to, believe me, need it for business
CLAMXAV, antivirus app, cus it makes this old XP Boy (me), feel better!

Enjoy using my Christmas present, lucky bastage!:D:D:D:D:D:apple::apple::apple::apple:
Click to expand...


this is pretty much what i run on my mac
 
I'm glad I found this thread. I just bought the 20" with standard features but with 320 gig hard drive.

This is great info!
 
Yizi said:
Hello,

Got my frist Mac and i got iMac, it is simply amazing, i wish i was using mac way before. I'm fairly new to the Mac system and i'm a designer so i would appericiate if people could give me some tips with programs.

My systems spec is:

24" 3.06 dual core 2
4GB RAM
500GB HD

Thanks,
Yizi
Click to expand...

Congratulations. You'll never go back.
 
welcome to the mac world my friend! this site is a great resource! i suggest just playing with everything! i always learn by experience.
 
If you do graphics i would highly recommend you to calibrate your monitor under system prefs, display... you should aim for 6500K and 2.2 gamma is very common (sRGB)... good calibration software for doing it "by hand" is "SuperCal" http://bergdesign.com/supercal/

On default apple uses gamma 1.8 and it was at least in my opinion very washed out and not life like at all. Huge improvements after calibration :cool:


Oh, another good program is the "istat pro" widget and istat menu. These shows you all kinda good technical info about your Mac :) Install them both at http://www.islayer.com/
 
johto said:
If you do graphics i would highly recommend you to calibrate your monitor under system prefs, display... you should aim for 6500K and 2.2 gamma is very common (sRGB)... good calibration software for doing it "by hand" is "SuperCal" http://bergdesign.com/supercal/

On default apple uses gamma 1.8 and it was at least in my opinion very washed out and not life like at all. Huge improvements after calibration :cool:
Click to expand...

I use 1.8 Gamma 6500K AppleRGB and it is fine too.
 
Aranince said:
May I ask why you recommend Opera?
Click to expand...

Give me a few minutes and I'll dig up an old thread with Clevin and I. I had a huge post with pictures and everything detailing many reasons why I recommend Opera, including:

Faster,
More stable in my experience,
better looking,
Works better out of the box, with more features and such, but still has a lot of add-on capabilities like Firefox,
More innovative than other browser, including:

-First mainstream browser to implement tabbed browsing,
-First browser, and one of two that has implemented mouse gestures effectively,
-First to implement widgets, and effectively,

Et cetera.

The list goes on, you could try to find the thread. Might've been the Opera 9.5 release thread or something.
 
johto said:
No way man, Safari all the way!
Click to expand...

As I've said before, superiority isn't for everyone.

Aranince said:
I just downloaded Opera 9.5 onto my Windows computer(no mac yet :() It does seem faster than FireFox 3. I like the way it scrolls.
Click to expand...

And yes. My only complaint with Opera is that the Mac version is way behind the Windows version...fortunately, it still beats everything else, so it's okay :D
 
chainprayer said:
welcome to the mac world my friend! this site is a great resource! i suggest just playing with everything! i always learn by experience.
Click to expand...

id completely agree. i made the switch a few weeks ago, and i found that playing around with apps and free trials and such really helps out and gets you familiar. as for a designer however, adobe illustrator is a great app, that im sure youve heard of, that works great on a mac. and with that 24" screen, and 4gb of ram, it should look beautiful and operate with great speed.

congrats and enjoy!
 
Once again thanks guys, i sometimes use Firefox because of its firebug which i use for the coding, other then that i just use Safari!

Thanks,
Yizi
 
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