New to Mac

[zerolight]

Hiya,

I'm new to Mac and new to this forum. Well that's not entirely true. I had an ibook once (the clamshell kind) for a few weeks. So hello to you all.

I've got a refurb'd G5 Dual 2.7 from the online Apple Store on it's way, should have it by Thursday, and I've ordered a couple of GB of ram for it from Crucial. Looking forward to receiving it immensely.

Just thought I'd say hi, since I'm bound to be on over the next week or so with loads of questions.

For instance..

1. Is it easy to setup a static IP address so I don't get dynamically assigned one from the router?

2. Whats the best browser? Safari or Firefox?

3. What's "essential" software do you recommend I track down.

Cheers.

Zero.

 

[grapes911]

1. Is it easy to setup a static IP address so I don't get dynamically assigned one from the router?

Extremely easy. You'll see it in the network preferences.

2. Whats the best browser? Safari or Firefox?

Some threads to help you:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/182089/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/159312/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/162873/

3. What's "essential" software do you recommend I track down.

Some more threads to get you started:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/143759/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/87565/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/95742/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/58101/

 

[asencif]

Welcome aboard and I must say you bought quite a powerhouse there. I'm thinking of picking up that 2.7 Refurb myself. Looking forward to hear how it's performing for you.

Q/A

1. It is not hard to assign a static IP address at all.
2. I prefer Safari with Firefox a close second. Some sites every now and then don't work well in Safari and FF usually picks up the slack.
3. Essential pertains to what you are mostly going to use this system for...But here are some...

Mac the Ripper - For de-encrypting DVD's to your HDD
Handbrake - For encoding video to Ipod format or .avi/H.264/.mp4
SuperDuper - Run backups and create images of your HDD.
iBakup - Backsup any specific directory you tell it to.
MS Office 04 - Still the standard and the Mac version is better in IMHO then the win one.
Stuffit 10.0 - It's the most common compression format for Mac. ex. .zip
VLC - For playing any Divx movies
DiskWarrior - Create HDD and directory repair tool.

There are more, but can't remember right now. Good Luck with your Mac.

 

[plinkoman]

1. Is it easy to setup a static IP address so I don't get dynamically assigned one from the router?

2. Whats the best browser? Safari or Firefox?

3. What's "essential" software do you recommend I track down.

Cheers.

Zero.

hi, and welcome.

1. yes, this is really easy to do.

2. depends on who you ask. i find that i prefer safari, but overall, i think camino is better. (camino is basically a special mac version of firefox if you were wondering)

3. vlc(video player, much better then quicktime imo), adium(instant message client), and flip4mac(allows you to play wmv files in quicktime) are good for starters.

 

[zerolight]

Thanks guys. VLC for the Mac? Cool, I already use it on the PC. I'll look out for the rest of those apps and check out those threads.

I'll let you know what I think of the 2.7 when it arrives.

 

[plinden]

2. depends on who you ask. i find that i prefer safari, but overall, i think camino is better. (camino is basically a special mac version of firefox if you were wondering)

Although I use Firefox (since that's what I'm used to on Windows and Linux), Camino is also good. What I like to do is skin them to look more like Safari. I have the "Brushed" theme on Firefox and "Safarish" on Camino, but Firefox has the more mature and easier theming method.

 

[zerolight]

ooh. it's out for delivery today. don't you love getting stuff earlier than you expected. excited I am.

 

[zerolight]

hehe. it's arrived. i'm typing on it write now. it came with 1GB of ram instead of the 512mb it was meant to ship with so that's nice. I now have a whopping 3GB of ram!

This thing is just gorgoeus. Shame I have to work.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

2) This one is a tossup for me, but I am using Camino at the moment. FF seems a little clunky on Mac to me, and Safari although the fastest (IMO) doesn't do wmv very well, and Google Videos doesn't work (for me). But I have 4 browsers on my computer, Camino, FF, Safari, and Opera. I haven't really given Opera a chance though.

3) MS Office 2004. Some people might disagree, but Office for Mac is done very well.

EDIT: Welcome to Macintosh.

 

[cb911]

i've got to say about the browsers... i've been a long-time Safari user. but i've just got my PB back from repair, fresh OS X install (no updates though) and Safari has been quitting like no one's business. i've switched to Firefox for the time being.

but on a compeltely updated system - i'm sure Safari would be just find. i do prefer to use it than Firefox.