I'm a Newb, and I LOVE IT

[mandizzle]

Hi there. I am finally escaping the years of exasperation of being a PC owner and getting a Mac.

I fell in love with Apple computers nearly 9 years ago and always asked for one from the family. Instead, I have gotten three PC's that have all been just as expensive as a Macbook or an iBook and have all had epic technical issues. Not that I'm not grateful for these gifts or anything, and I am grateful and thankful to have a loving and giving family, but I think a lot less money and time would have been wasted if I had a Mac at any point during this time period.

Quite literally, all I have ever wanted was a Mac these last few years. I have never desired to own a car, I don't want plastic surgery, I don't salivate at the thought of carrying around a purse that costs as much as apartment rent does, and I don't really take a lot of vacations with the economy the way it is anyway. I have finally decided, after my latest PC epic fail and strictly using Macs my junior and senior year of college when I transfered to a different school, to just get one myself.

I am going out tomorrow to buy myself the white Macbook as an early birthday present. My family and friends are just going to throw me money to help pay for it, but I insist on paying for the majority of it. I'm very excited

Anyway, just wanted to say "hi." I've visited this forum many times before, but didn't feel right joining until I actually decided I was getting a Mac. I will more than likely have tech questions to ask, so if this post doesn't fit into this forum section, feel free to move it

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Congrats. Check out this list.

 

[mandizzle]

oh wow, thanks

 

[MacDawg]

Congratulations and welcome to the world of Mac and to the Forum

Feel free to ask your questions and make yourself at home

Check out the info here on switching

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[*LTD*]

Welcome aboard!

 

[mandizzle]

the big day is here!

 

[rdowns]

Welcome to the cult, Amanda.

 

[ArrowSmith]

Welcome to the cult, Amanda.

Doesn't that say it all.

 

[MacDawg]

Doesn't that say it all.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh
They will hear you

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[mandizzle]

ladies and gentleman, I finally have a Macbook

I got to the P Place Apple Store around 2:30-ish and even though my reservation was at 3, they were more than happy to take care of me earlier. I had looked up everything inside and out about my Mac before coming to the store, but I just wanted to see if there was a free word document-type program in the comp and if it had spell check (which it did - TextEdit). I applied and was approved for the Barclay Card, got the AppleCare plan for the White Macbook (both with the student discount) and brought the little guy home.

I was joking around with the mega-friendly staff that I was going to name the Macbook and I did - Ishmael (a degrees of separation reference from "Moby Dick" - figured the computer is stark white and I've been after it for years, but didn't want to name the computer Ahab LOL)

and yes, I can clearly see why there is a cult following for this product - I have never had such a smooth shopping experience EVER and I'm sure AppleCare will be a great help, as well plus *incoming shallow statement complete with zombie voice* they're pretttty HAHA

I will post pictures and a video later...I love how I treat the computer like a newly adopted child LMAO they found my enthusiasm cute at the Apple store, but I'm just very excited

 

[MacDawg]

Excellent!

Happy for you!!

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[Benito]

Congratulations, I have been a Mac user for just over two years now and have converted my partner to become a Mac user just this Christmas. I would never go back to a PC after these past two years of computing bliss. No more weird unexplained crashes on my computer.

 

[harleygold]

good for you! I too am a first time Apple owner and am very happy with what i got. Actually couldnt be any happier. I been wanting a mac for quite sometime. Lost my job in 07 held me back. Lucky enough now to have a job to back me up on my Mac purchase.

Congrats!

 

[partyBoy]

Once you go Mac you don't go back...that was very original !

 

[KingYaba]

Once you go Mac you don't go back...that was very original !

Funny because I went from Mac to PC not three months ago.

 

[*LTD*]

Amanda:

Nifty tip:

http://www.tipstrs.com/tip/1878/Adding-Recent-Favorite-Items-folder-to-the-Dock-in-Leopard

Nifty tip #2:

http://www.macosxtips.co.uk/index_files/tricks-for-activity-downloads-windows-safari.html

Download embedded media
When a movie or music file is embedded in a page, it is not always easy to download it. If there was a link to the file, you could just hold the Option key and click it, but what do you do if there isn't?

For Quicktime movies and MP3 files, this is easy. Open up the Activity Window and locate the file. it should be a relatively large file with something like a .mov, .mpg or .mp3 file extension. Once you have found it, simply hold Option and double-click on it. Alternatively, pressing Option-Return will download whatever item is selected in the list.

For flash videos, you will want the .flv file. It's not always obvious which file this is. It should be the largest file on the page, and may still be loading. For YouTube videos, it is called get_video and doesn't have the .flv extension. Double-clicking this file will start it downloading. If the file doesn't have the .flv extension, you will have to add it on after the download has finished. To watch these movies you will need either the Perian Quicktime plugin or a player such as VLC.

Nifty Tip #3:

http://t.ecksdee.org/post/19001860/stacks-overlays

You might really like this:

http://www.evernote.com/

And if you like Gmail:

http://mailplaneapp.com/

To boot into and stay in 64-bit mode (allows you to switch between modes):

http://www.ahatfullofsky.comuv.com/English/Programs/SMS/SMS.html

 

[partyBoy]

Funny because I went from Mac to PC not three months ago.

NEWS FLASH : This is a Mac forum not a pc forum I think your in the wrong website?

 

[Jason Beck]

Grats! I switched like 6 months ago. I even started a website about Apple.
=) You'll love yours. If you ever need a desktop solution, check out the mini,
it rocks!

 

[mandizzle]

haha my friend Krystle today wrote me on Facebook saying "welcome to the dark side" by joining Mac

oh, I have my first somewhat technical question - has anyone here used Computrace (by LoJack) or any other theft recovery device for their MacBook or iBook and has a review about it? it seems worth it to me since they will cover up to $1,000 of your loss (from value at time of purchase).

thanks

 

[mandizzle]

update on my first week with my Macbook -

I <3 this lovely little laptop it's awesome having a machine that shuts down and starts up in less than a minute, doesn't crank and overheat like an old Model T Ford, and looks visually stunning to boot. I brought it to work with me and everyone loves it to the point that my supervisor considered getting one (she actually went to the Apple store to get me something for my birthday, but didn't know what I wanted and said she was too "tempted" to get something for herself LOL)

here are my only complaints so far:

-I'm afraid someone will steal it, so I'm thinking of getting the CompuTrace Lojack theft plan on it, merely for the fact that they will give you a check of up to $1,000 to replace what was stolen if it's not recovered within 30 days

-the touchpad is VERY sensitive. if I scroll too fast, the page will enlarge on it's own and then I have to manually zoom out

-still trying to figure some stuff out and learning how to use stuff like Garageband and I don't have enough time to just sit around with it and learn, but that's more of a life complaint LOL I keep telling people "I just wanna play with my new toy, damnit!"

anyway, here's me. Hi.

 

[-Ryan-]

-the touchpad is VERY sensitive. if I scroll too fast, the page will enlarge on it's own and then I have to manually zoom out

Hello and welcome to the forum!

You're definitely doing something wrong for it to be zooming. Go to System Preferences and then to Trackpad. In there you can make all sorts of adjustments to what the Trackpad can do. It sounds to me like you should be disabling the "Pinch to Zoom" option if it's causing you trouble. Similarly, you might want to turn down the tracking and scrolling speeds.

Enjoy your new Macbook!

 

[mandizzle]

^ thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to fix that

also sorry the picture was so big! dang LOL

 

[*LTD*]

Congrats!

I'm sure most of us can relate.

I remember my Windows days. I still wonder why it took me so long to switch back. Mind you, half of my Windows days were spent running various Linux distros. Got sick and tired of all the tinkering and just plain bad interfaces and switched back to a Mac in April 2006. Never looked back. It was worth every penny, and then some. And the Apple Experience doesn't end when you leave the store.

Excellent choice, Amanda.

 

[mandizzle]

okay, so here's my update after using the Macbook White for a few weeks.

I absolutely love this laptop. almost to an unhealthy level (LOL just kidding!)

one challenge I've loved taking on thus far is finding new programs that are Mac compatible to replace ones I previously used on PC's. it took me all of one day to find programs that would replace DVDvideosoft without having to pay for a program or having to download Mozilla onto my book (I don't know what everyone's opinion is on it, but I really like Safari. doesn't crash at all like Mozilla and Chrome have on me in the past ) I was able to find a YouTube downloader, then I translate with Handbrake, and if I want to sync the MP4 onto my iPod, I just go to Advanced>Create iPod version on iTunes.

I also downloaded Onyx to replace CCleaner and Malware Bytes and it works really well. I have downloaded a few other programs, but haven't had any time yet to play around with them. I've also been using TextEdit quite a bit and though the sales person at the Apple store really tried to get me to buy iWork, all I really needed was a dependable word processor with a spell check, so I saved a good $40 bucks with that move. plus, I popped in a copy of one of my favorite movies ever, THE DARK KNIGHT, and the picture and sound quality were AH-MAY-ZING!

there are still some things I've yet to do that I'm looking forward to this weekend: do a Skype video chat (used the mic to speak to a friend in Japan on Skype, though, and the sound quality was great), make a video in iMovie, start doing remixes on here, and maybe test out iWeb a bit for my fan sites to see how that goes.

thanks for being so welcoming, guys! I loved coming on here before and it's a million times more as useful/awesome now (guess that happens when you don't ONLY have an iPod as your only Apple product anymore)

 

[kval885]

DVD upload to mac

Hello everyone. i have dvd's that i burened on a regular computer and now i want to upload them to my macbook pro. I dont know where and how. Can someone please tell me?

Thanks