What's best $ deal for Mac help/tutoring?

[Greenone]

My phone support ran out after 3 months or so and I'm afraid I'll drive you guys nuts with all the questions I have about how to use this computer (Powerbook G4 15" that came out last Fall).

I think I once heard someone at our local Mac store (at the mall) say that for a certain amt. of money I could come in and learn about any aspect I needed to. Anyone know how much that costs, for how much time, etc., or any other good values?

Thank You

 

[karichelle]

I don't know how much that costs, but I wanted to recommend that you consider buying AppleCare for your PowerBook, as that will get you three years of phone support and free repairs, so if something should go wrong, you can just take it down to the Apple store.

Also, does your Apple store do free workshops? I'm pretty sure almost all (if not all) of them do, and there are schedules on their individual web sites, which one of the specialists there can give you the URL to.

 

[rjgonzales]

I think I once heard someone at our local Mac store (at the mall) say that for a certain amt. of money I could come in and learn about any aspect I needed to. Anyone know how much that costs, for how much time, etc., or any other good values?

Thank You

ProCare maybe?

 

[.Andy]

You won't drive us nuts Greenone - this the kind of thing Macrumors is for (and excels at)! We all learn from others asking questions.

Failing that you could always just work your way through PMing a member in the .

 

[Greenone]

Thanks everyone, very much!

Rjgonzalez - yes it was procare that I was talking about. I'm not sure I want to spend a hundred bucks but between each of your responses I see that I have plenty of options, thank you. I've also saved the info for free workshops at our local store which should be pretty helpful. One of my problems is that it's hard for me to schedule things in advance or even leave the house sometimes, cause I'm pregnant with twins and am getting to that point where it could happen any day (after which, I fear, I'll never get to play on my laptop ever ever again!!)

Karichelle - I do want to sign up for AppleCare but (as usual) it's a lot of money right now. It's funny how I have such a top of the line laptop but pretty much only know how to use Word, send emails, and a couple of other very basic tasks! I can download pictures from my camera but then can't figure out how to properly organize them or send them at a reasonable size, to friends and family. Ugh!

My 1 year warantee runs out in the Fall, so I plan on finding a way to afford AppleCare before that runs out. But my question is this: Will I get only 2 years of AppleCare if I've already used a year of the warantee (if that makes sense)?

Thanks again!

 

[karichelle]

Well, AppleCare is technically only a two-year extension of warranty anyway. It brings everything up to 3 years total, not 3 years added onto the factory one year. So yes, basically you will get 2 years off of AppleCare, but that's the same amount you would get if you bought it at the same time you bought the computer as well. You do have to buy AppleCare before the factory warranty runs out though, and make sure that you have your AppleCare registered before the warranty runs out. (You can do that by calling or sending in the card that's in the box.)

And...to organize your photos in iPhoto...go to File->New Album to create a new album, and type in the name you want it to have. Then you just drag pictures from your library over to the album you want to put them into.

To e-mail photos at a smaller size (this is in iLife '04 but it should be similar if not the same in newer versions), while in the library or looking at an album, highlight the pictures you want to send...if it's just one, click on it...if it's more than one, click each one while holding down the Apple key. Then release the Apple key and click on E-mail (which is in the Organize section), the size can be selected in the dropdown box...Medium should be good. If they're wanting to print them, they will need Full Size. Titles and comments tend to not carry over well to Windows or other mail programs (in my experience) so if they don't have a Mac I would uncheck those options. Then just hit compose and you're done.

 

[LastLine]

Try ringing Apple and telling them you're very interested in Apple Care but can't afford to buy it at the moment. They may offer a discount, or a way to spread the cost. A lot of companies will as such things are often $$$ to them whichever way they get them.

Just a thought. No idea how Apple are on such things.

 

[DaveP924]

Well, I just picked up a new MacBook Pro and I love it. As it was explained to me, the 3yr Applecare (which I purchased) includes 3 years of phone support. With the ed disc., it was still a very healthy $230+ cost. Based on what I read here (thank you to all of you who helped), it seemed like a good idea.

The Procare program sounded reasonable to me. The Apple store is right here. Anyone have any experience? I didn't buy it, but if I start to run into issues, I may. This machine is VERY diffrent from my XP machine. Expect a lot of questions down the road.

 

[katie ta achoo]

I think the thing about coming in and being taught something was ProCare.

But, depending on where you are, you can probably find someone to meet at starbucks and get OS X lessons from.. I did it for a guy and only wanted to be paid in coffee

MacRumors is for asking questions about your Mac. You aren't bugging anyone by asking questions, you're only helping mad jew raise his post count.

 

[rdowns]

Have you checked out the Apple videos?

http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/index.html

 

[disconap]

You won't drive us nuts Greenone - this the kind of thing Macrumors is for (and excels at)! We all learn from others asking questions.

Plus most of us like the challenge. I come on here about 10% of the time to get help with something, 15% of the time to just chat about randomness, and 75% of the time to see if I can help. And there are a ton of people far more knowledgable than I (indeed, some even spell "knowledgeable" correctly) who feel the same. It's fun for us, as we've been through a lot of the stuff that you're going through and we got through it either through trial and error or by getting help from places like this.

We're geeks. But unlike Windows geeks (most of whom are, let's face it, *******s) and Linux geeks (who are cool, once you've completely embraced their world), we like to share and help both newbies and people of our level of knowledge and above. So ask away!