The Lifelong Learner
:: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are -Roosevelt ::
The Lifelong Learner
:: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are -Roosevelt ::
I just bought a MacBook Pro and I started using it for the 1-st time yesterday. First impressions? I like it. It has great looks and so far it’s fairly easy to use. It’s fast!
But it’s different! I am used to Windows and I’ll have to adjust and find ways to do some more complicated things.
Wireless It has a Wireless N Wi-Fi receiver. It’s much faster and can reach X-times as wide as G. It’s the next generation Wi-Fi — but it takes forever to actually get approved by IEEE. I also liked it when it discovered my home network right when I was configuring the machine for first time. I was on the network in no time. No technical expertise required.
Keyboard It’s just beautiful. I love typing using it. The backlight is something really special.
Installing Applications Seems to simple to be true. I’m a big confused on how things work. I was able to install Skype and Firefox with no issues but I’ll have to get more comfortable with the process.
Files – Hard Disk I’m a bit confused where everything is located. Do I need to know? Not for now. 
I’ll figure it out.
Users I setup two accounts on the computer. However, when I logoff, it seems that I have to shut down all applications. It can’t be true. I want my wife to login, do her stuff, etc, but I don’t want to close my open apps. It must be something I’m doing wrong.
Second OS I heard and have seen how you can run another operating system in parallel. I would love to use XP and Linux. Boot Camp allows you do that, but I think I might have to buy VMare to do that effectively. Will have to investigate about this.
Overall, it’s a thing of beauty. Great looks, elegant design. It’s a Mac!
Hey Stanley, its been a while! So I’ve been using a MacBook Pro for almost 2 years now. Love it! You’ll get used to it in no time and realize in many ways its more user-friendly than windows.
- Installing Applications: most times you just need to throw the .app file in your Applications folder and that’s it! The .app file is a compressed file that you can open and that is where all the junk is. You should never really need to do that though. Some apps will then make some prefs folders in you Library. To uninstall, you can just delete the .app file but that won’t get rid of prefs files if they exist. I bought a program called AppZapper for like $12. Does it proper.
- Files – Hard Disk: don’t even sweat getting crazy with directories and all that. You have your general drive and your user folder. Just throw stuff in those spots depending on if you want it to be user-related or general. Look at a program called Quicksilver or use Spotlight. You can pull up files in seconds without even opening the directories. It’ll change the way you do things.
- Second OS: I use BootCamp to run both OS X and XP but you cannot toggle back and forth without restarting. To be honest, I haven’t started XP in about 6 months. I do everything on OS X and finding programs was not a big deal (as its made to be). May cost as few bucks but the programs will actually work!
Anyhow, if you have any other questions give me a shout via email. I hope all is well with you and the family!
Michael M
Mike,
Good to hear from you!
Thanks for the tips. After a few days of using it, I’ve already discovered some things. Still trying to get the hang of it, but it’s fun!