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MacClueless

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 21, 2006
429
319
I'm about to buy a 17" Pro. As a PC user and IT consultant the first thing I do when getting a new PC is wipe it and install a clean OS without all the trial ware and other stuff I don't really want. I think most of the tech guys out there do that too but I don't know if I need to with a Mac... or even if I can?
 
Of course you can, just pop your OSX install DVD into the drive, and just follow the instructions and do a fresh install, the first thing I usually do is delete all the printer drivers I don't need, and all the languages besides English. BTW, congratulations on your mac, I'm jealous!:D
 
But for the record, it's not necessary to do this.

There's 3rd party apps (monolingual) that you can use to strip out the languages that you don't use, saving you a couple of gigs.

But for the most part, there's nothing wrong with a Mac & OS X out of the box. There's not nearly as much extraneous junk that you get with a PC.
 
yellow said:
But for the record, it's not necessary to do this.

There's 3rd party apps (monolingual) that you can use to strip out the languages that you don't use, saving you a couple of gigs.

But for the most part, there's nothing wrong with a Mac & OS X out of the box. There's not nearly as much extraneous junk that you get with a PC.

What about "classic mode"? Seems like a good thing to remove?
 
From your other thread, it looks to me like you will be using this mostly for business. You can gain about 3GB by removing GarageBand and its Library components, and another 2GB or so by removing iDVD and iMovie.
 
plinden said:
That's not present on the Intel Macs.

It's not present on PowerPC Macs either, it's an optional install.

It's certainly possible to reinstall everything when you first get a new Mac, and some people make it a point to do that. FWIW, I see no reason to do that. If you're short on hard drive space, it might be nice to get rid of printer drivers and languages that you don't need, but you can do that without reinstalling. Macs don't come with loads of crappy trialware. The bundled software (with the exception of MS Office Test Drive and iWork Trial) is full versions. You can very easily remove Office Test Drive as it includes an uninstaller. You should be able to just drag the iWork trial folder to the trash.
 
mduser63 said:
It's not present on PowerPC Macs either, it's an optional install.

Are you sure? I bought my my mom an iBook last year and it had it from the factory.

FYI my issue is *not* disk space. The 17" comes with a hefty drive and I'll have a firewire drive too. I'm guess I'm just trying to apply what I know about PC setup ("a clean install is best") to the Mac world.
 
MacClueless said:
I'm about to buy a 17" Pro. As a PC user and IT consultant the first thing I do when getting a new PC is wipe it and install a clean OS without all the trial ware and other stuff I don't really want. I think most of the tech guys out there do that too but I don't know if I need to with a Mac... or even if I can?

You can, but don't need to.
 
MacClueless said:
Are you sure? I bought my my mom an iBook last year and it had it from the factory.

It changed from a preinstall to an optional install some time last year.
 
What's nice about the mac is lots of little things. Like you don't need to run defrag, on the Mac its automatic (for larger sized files).

On topic, I see no reason to clean install. A clean install will not make anything run faster or better.
 
Download bootcamp
burn a disc of mac hardware drivers for xp

follow the instructions.

when they ask you where you want to install xp, delete all the partitions and make it into 1 big one for xp alone, then use the disc to install all the drivers

since you are an it guy, xp will run faster than osx on a mac

*Stop the denial guys, we all know its true
 
I did it, because:
1) I am monolingual; my comp should be too
2) My macbook doesn't have a DVD burner, and no iDVD saves about 2.7 GB
3) I never plan on paying for .mac, and no iWeb saves about .65 GB
4) I don't remeber what else got cut. It was a lot.

All in all, I saved around 7 GB.

In my mind, it just makes sense. You may eventually need that space, and you have it all ready to go.
 
ssj300 said:
Download bootcamp
burn a disc of mac hardware drivers for xp

follow the instructions.

when they ask you where you want to install xp, delete all the partitions and make it into 1 big one for xp alone, then use the disc to install all the drivers

since you are an it guy, xp will run faster than osx on a mac

*Stop the denial guys, we all know its true

So it only runs faster if you are an IT guy?
 
Your kidding right?

ssj300 said:
Download bootcamp
burn a disc of mac hardware drivers for xp

follow the instructions.

when they ask you where you want to install xp, delete all the partitions and make it into 1 big one for xp alone, then use the disc to install all the drivers

since you are an it guy, xp will run faster than osx on a mac

*Stop the denial guys, we all know its true
You have got to be kidding? I've used bootcamp. OS X runs better than XP. I've also run Windows on a top of the line workstation and it still hicups and takes a while to just to boot up. With OS X everything is very smooth even in the rare cases that you find yourself waiting for something to load or render. Now I'm not one of those people who thinks everything Apple does is brilliant. I had no love for OS 9 and earlier. You had to allocate ram. Man was Apple in the dark ages only a short while ago. Now everything is smooth and seemless. I still need Windows for .NET programming and XSI, but I prefer OS X. I guess it's just a matter of taste and what you are comfortable with.
oh, and I made "the switch" only a couple of weeks ago. I put up with windows for over a decade.
 
There isn't really any trial software, other than Office test drive OR Apple Pages test drive... both of which can easily be deleted by dragging to the trash (doesn't need a full format)...

ssj300 said:
Download bootcamp
burn a disc of mac hardware drivers for xp

follow the instructions.

when they ask you where you want to install xp, delete all the partitions and make it into 1 big one for xp alone, then use the disc to install all the drivers

since you are an it guy, xp will run faster than osx on a mac

*Stop the denial guys, we all know its true

wtf??? :confused:
 
ssj300 said:
when they ask you where you want to install xp, delete all the partitions and make it into 1 big one for xp alone, then use the disc to install all the drivers

Then you'll have no OS X and therefore will have thrown away the main reason for buying Apple hardware :confused:
 
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