New Macbook, New to OS X

[toydriver00]

I have been a long time Windows user/administrator. I finally made the conversion to Mac. I got a Brand new MacBook 13.3 1.83Ghz two days ago. I was able to get it for $868 shipped Direct from Apple. I made the order, on black Friday and got a corporate discount. I called later that day to change my order to the next MacBook up and the representative said it was too late to change it and so he offered me another $50 off.

I just upgraded the ram to 1Gb and it made a huge difference.
Anything else you think I should need (software).

Thanks


Sean

 

[freebooter]

There are lots of "best/favorite freeware" threads you can zsearch through here. Lots of apps available at "versiontracker.com"
Many like "onyx" as a maintenance tool, for example

 

[toydriver00]

Thanks!

 

[clevin]

congrats~
mac application board has some pinned post about good softwares u might need/want for OSX.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/226403/

 

[ChickenSwartz]

I too am a recent switcher. There is a whole bunch of free software that will make your OS X transition much better and your life much happier.

With that being said why don't you post what you will be doing or what you would like to do with your new Mac and I am sure plenty of people will be happier to give you their $0.02 on what you need.

 

[failsafe1]

Ah the fresh first taste of Mac goodness. Jaded long time mac users are always jealous of the first time users. As far as software goes get one of everything. No really. Just kidding. Explore your iLife really well and find out what they are like. You can go to the software link on Apple's page and explore the catagories you are interested in. Mac software is fun. What kind of stuff do you like to do or what kind of stuff have you seen Mac users do and think I wish I could to that. It is all good. Congrats on your first Mac.

 

[toydriver00]

congrats~
mac application board has some pinned post about good softwares u might need/want for OSX.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/226403/

Thanks for the Link!! I have been trying to find some fun programs to just about do anything.

I got this also so that I could learn Unix/Linux/Solaris. I know enough Unix to be troublesome, but not enough to do a job utilizing a Unix based OS.

 

[failsafe1]

Regarding Linux I have some IT coworkers at the university I work at who are ga-ga over Ubuntu. I am waiting to get my new Macbook Pro next week and will consider loading that up on a partition along with XP and OSX.

 

[toydriver00]

I thought about loading XP on this MacBook, But I fear that I will use it as a crutch and I don't want to fall back on XP. I really love how robust OS X is. It is so fast and once I got used to where everything is, I LOVE IT!!

 

[failsafe1]

I understand about not wanting to go back to Windows. After years of missing certain games I loaded up XP on my work Macbook Pro and game in secret after hours (really!). That is the only reason I do Windows. Well that and Windows Media Player to listen to audio books from the library. Linux may do enough for you without going to a Windows environment or a virtual machine may work. Of course if you don't need any Windows apps then the best solution is to stay away. Far away.

 

[toydriver00]

I am trying to stay away-------FAR AWAY. I have a Windows network at work and I should get enough there. I don't think that there is anything I miss yet!

 

[RadarLove]

I know you said you want software, but I found Pouge's book, Mac OS X Tiger: Missing Manual, very helpful when I switched about a month ago.

On the software front, I installed Flip4Mac, which let's you play WMA files via Quicktime. I also use Parallels, mostly to run XP, but if you are trying to get up-to-speed on Unix, this might be a good way to try the various Linux distros, in addition to OS X.