The Sunday Post #3
Posted in Observations,Personal,The Sunday Post — by Don on 04/01/07

Alternate title: db bought a mac

Yes, you read that correctly. What, you don’t believe me?

One almost new Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook. Gotta love the refurb shop at the apple store.

There are a bazillion reasons why I actually purchased this. One in particular. 2 of you know why, and the rest will find out soon enough.

So far, I’m diggin’ it. If you poke around the archives here a bit you will find a scathing post about my first experience with a mac. It was an older iBook running OS9 I think. I still think that machine sucked. This one, on the other hand, not so much.

Specs and size-wise it’s almost exactly the same as the Dell. The Mac is a little thinner and lighter, which makes it nicer to carry in my bad, so I will give it that. In fact, most Apple vs. Windows laptop reviews I see pit the MacBook against the Dell Inspiron e1405. I will admit that the screen on the Mac is quite a bit nicer. It’s very bright, clear and shiny. Didn’t think I’d like it, but I was wrong.

This might go long, so what do you think about a jump?

The keyboard is very different from what you get in the Windows world. Took me about an hour to get used to the key spacing. I still love a good WinTel laptop keyboard (the Dell is great, so are IBM’s), but this one is working quite nicely as well. Except there is no forward delete key. Having to press a key and delete is kind of a pain in the ass, but one I’m sure I’ll get used to.

As for cruising around in OSX, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Getting to my applications is a little strange (hey, I’m a start menu guy, what can I say), but I’m getting used to that. The dock is very interesting and I’m quickly figuring it out as well. Of course, the one thing that really confused me from the get go is the menu system for programs. Instead of being at the top of the program, it’s at the top of the screen. A bit of a pain if you don’t have the program you need in focus, but it is also something I’m getting used to.

One thing I used a lot in Windows in the Run Box (Windows Key-R). Opening programs, websites, network shares, whatever. I’m sure that as soon as I figure out the power of Spotlight it will be pretty close to the same thing.

There is one small problem. I still need Windows. There are a few programs that I have that do not have mac equivalents, plus I still have to be able to support a huge pile of Windows users. Not to worry, I have a plan.

By Summer (if not sooner), I’m going to double the memory (to 2gb) and install a larger hard drive (120-160gb), load up bootcamp or parrallels and install WinXP. Best of both worlds, right?

Now, for the list portion of the post. This would be personal wiki stuff, so skip it if you like.

  • Need a code editor. I like MacroMedia Homesite5 and have been using it for ever (since I was coding CF). I’m sure I’ll find something.
  • All of my firefox extensions work, but I need to find the chrome setting for clicking in the address bar and it then highlights the entire address. about:config, and looking for the one that says single click select clickselect and double click clickselectsall.
  • I’ve installed the OSX port of OpenOffice. I’ll play around with that until I can get MS Office
  • Would like to find a way to video chat with Windows users. – Done. Skype and Yahoo work for sure. Still need to test AIM. No love from MSN tho.
  • Need all the stuff to open some Windows things, mostly video. I have that info already, just need to do it. – Done
  • I need to poke around in the System Prefs more.
  • Keyboard shortcuts. I think I’ll just print a list and keep it handy.
  • DVI adapter. Need to order from the apple store (45 comments? C’mon people, we’ve talked about that). Then I can hook up my 20″ wide panel display. – Done
  • Need to find a VPN client. I’m sure that won’t be difficult. – Done
  • Need to grab my VNC stuff from the Dell. VNC works ok (something with a chicken), but I’m sure I can find a better one.
  • Would like to setup a dev environment here (AMP). Maybe I’ll put in a tiny ‘nix partion
  • What’s with all the birds? Twitterific has a bird icon. Adium has a duck. And the FTP program cyberduck that everyone is hot on? I don’t get it.

Oh yea, I will not be a fanboi! Try as you might, this is just another tool for my quiver. So back off!

No related posts.

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(11) comments
  • http://cjupin.com cj

    So, you serious? I mean, it is 4/1…otherwise, congrats!

  • http://guapacha.com paul

    yeah, whats with the ducks?? I am jealous though this little mac mini works just fine for the pointless stuff I do at home.

    Looking forward to finding out why you bought it….

  • Pingback: A List of things DB Needs for His New Mac

  • http://www.jwiltshire.org Joshua

    You gots your very own post at jWiltshire.org for this one dogg. Check it out, it’ll answer all your questions.

  • http://www.red-omega.com/blog John W

    Not a fanboi, give it time. Give it time. :)

    YOu may want to check out iWork. way cheaper than M$ office and a better experience. Depends on what you need though. Welcome :)

  • http://cjupin.com cj

    ok, now that you’re “in the club” here are a few tips/apps for you:

    1- Getting the most of your cpu: for laptops (or at least my wife’s ibook), they have power settings for everything- display, batter, and even cpu. Make sure you have it set to a custom setting where the processor performance is set to highest when running with AC adapter..otherwise, it will clock slower. Guess it makes sense when running just on battery, though (see system preferences, energy saver, options- bottom: processor performance)

    2- Get a (free) copy of mac the ripper. Backup…home movies.. Nuff Said.

    3- Great for techies (screen capture): Pressing Command-Shift-3 takes a screenshot of the entire screen, and Command-Shift-4 takes a screenshot of a chosen area of the screen or if you press Space afterwards you can choose a window on the screen to individually screenshot, these are pasted as images on the desktop and if you hold down the control key as well they are copied to the clipboard instead. You can also use Grab to take screenshots.

    4- Gmail notifier for osx is slick

    5- iCal syncs with 30boxes (just be in 30boxes and click the ical share link)

    6- flickr export for iphoto app is a godsend..makes transferring large amounts of pics to your flickr account a cinch (includes tagging and set creation)..will send a link if i can find it.

    7-PandoPando is pretty slick for large file transfers (up to 1gb)

    8- and for pete’s sake, download and use a shed-load of widgets

    ok, sorry for the long comment…yeah, i guess i am a fanboy, but I honestly do think the mac can make some aspects of computing more appealing and fun. Hope this list helps!

  • http://www.aimlesswandering.net radiationman

    I know why he got the Mac – and I’m going to spill the beans!!!!

    He spent all weekend in Vegas with Todd and Gabe and their both big Macheads – they got him really really drunk and then took him to the Apple Store….

    NEVER EVER go to the Apple Store, especially the one in Vegas while drunk!

  • http://www.insnarkville.com Patricia

    No, no, NO —

    I know why he bought the Mac and it has nothing to do with his drunken nights in Vegas and EVERYTHING to do with a GIRL.

    Yup, you see there’s this girl and db wants to “mac” on her….hehehe.

    Oh, nevermind, db’s real reason isn’t really a reason as much as a complete excuse to do what he’s been talking about for months….he’s converting to the ‘dark side’ like the rest of us — it was only a matter of time.

  • http://www.jwiltshire.org Joshua

    Yep, DB’s gonna be a big ole Mac fangirl… I can see it now.

  • db

    Wow! Thanks guys.

    No real use for iCal. google handles all of my email and 30boxes my calendar stuff. I’m always connected, so no real need to have any of that local for the time being.

    To upload pics to flickr, I would need to own a real camera. I’ll stick to uploading from the phone for now.

    I will be going through the system prefs to tweak the power settings. I do that know on all of my WinBooks.

    I WILL be checking out the gmail notifier. would be nice to have with the FF extension.

    I think I’m good with open office for the time being. programs like iWork (or the MS equavelent) scare me just a little. I like to use tables in my wordprocessor docs and macro’s in my spreadsheet. ;)

    Not gonna be a fangirl either Joshua. But thanks for the links and junk! I’ll be checking them out post haste!

    And for Patricia and Raditionman…shhhhhh. I think you might have already said to much ;) .

    And, yes, I really, really, really did get a Mac. This is not some kind of joke (nor did the Earth open up and swallow me whole).

  • http://guapacha.com paul

    Hmm… do I see trips to chicago in db’s future….??

    These are good posts…. helping out my little Mac Mini’s setup too.

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