Experiences of a Mac Noob
So much of a noob in-fact, that i don’t even know if i am a Mac noob or an OS X noob. I think it probably is the former, seeing as i am not used to this keyboard (command what?!) or the fact that there is no great hulking box sitting under my desk, powering the monitor.
I picked up a 20 inch iMac Intel, last Saturday at the lovely Apple store in Bluewater served by my good friend (and complete mac geek) Ben. I got the package home and set it up in a jiffy, seemed odd booting a computer that i hadn’t actually put together myself. The first few moments that i spent with my new mac can be found in this here flickr set.
So, how is the mac for me, well i shall tell you right… now. It’s great it really is awesome. Everything about it just works. The next part of this post may turn into something that resembles an advert, but trust me i am in no way affiliated with Apple (though if they want to pay me for this good press they are more than welcome!)
Once i was up and running OS X left me to do as i liked. I have been a Windows user all my life, and was a little daunted at the thought of getting to know a new OS heck, i started on Windows 3.1 it is ALL i have ever known. I guess a lot of the logic is the same between systems, opening programs and other simple tasks are pretty much the same. Despite the open ended beginning to my life in OS X (Windows XP like to hold your hand on a fresh install) it was quick and easy to adapt to the style of OS X.
The dock is wonderful, windows equivalent, the task bar/start menu tends to get bunged up with junk, but the dock stays fresh, after a little bit of sorting you can have all or your most used apps right at your fingertips. I find at the moment, OS X is a lot more “layered� than Windows. In Windows i have every single app at full screen, and then use the start bar to flick between them (no alt-tabbing for me) but here on my Mac, i can 3 or 4 windows, side by side, and with expose i can see all my windows with a click of a button (mighty mouse middle is what i have it as) it took a little bit of time to get used to this way of working, but now it just flows.
One thing that did confuse me for a little while was how to install new apps, the first .dmg i downloaded was for Firefox (yup i will still be using Firefox, can’t live without my plugins) the firefox installer does not mention that you need to drag the icon to the application folder. It took me about 5 minutes to actually realise what to do, but now it is amazing, installing apps has never been so smooth!
This post only just scratches the surface of what i like about OS X, to be honest, i can’t be bothered to write down everything as i would be here for way too long. I also picked up a 1GB stick of crucial ram, which you can see me installing over in my mac flickr set.
Ben
June 10th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Woot!!
Carrie
June 10th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
It look even sexier in the flesh than in the pictures! (no darling no you the mac against the pc!) well and you ofcourse, you should flash that hand more often hehehehe!
Ben
June 10th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Damn and for a moment there I thought she was talking to me :P
Hiya Carrie!!
Jason
June 11th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
I picked up a 20” Intel iMac a few months ago, and absolutely love it. It’s just a gorgeous machine, and a joy to use. Now, if I could just convince my bosses to get a couple for the office.
P.S. I’m glad I’m not the only one who posted a bunch of pics of their new toy to Flickr. :)
tripeak
June 12th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Oh wow! Congrats!
I really like the iMac too… but i was thinking of getting the MacBook (black)… any advice/ suggestions?
Andy Pearson
June 13th, 2006 at 8:24 am
@jason - it would be a shame NOT to post pictures on flickr don’t ya think?! I wish i could get an iMac to use at work, right now I’m on a windows 2000 machine, yuck!
@tripeak - would this be your first Apple machine or an upgrade? Either way, i would say go for it, i settled on the iMac, because i wanted a desktop machine, but i am seriously considering buying a Macbook, but am just trying to figure out whether i will use it a lot, or whether it will just gather dust in my room.
Ben
June 13th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
*cough* go for the macbook pro *cough* bigger screens *drool*
Edward
July 1st, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Nice iMac there. I’ve been on various PBs for quite some time and am completely addicted. If you (or anyone) are thinking about getting a MacBook, I’d step up with a few extra hundred $s and scrore the MBP. The MacBook does feel a little like a toy.
In an unrelated question, are you using any custom plug-in to create the different “admin” comments? I’ve been trying to find one that works well and am having a pretty rough time.
Andy Pearson
July 3rd, 2006 at 8:38 am
@Edward - Not a plugin as such, I used this guide to style my comments.
Bryan
August 23rd, 2006 at 5:30 am
Congratulations and welcome to the club!
You should check out an App called “Quicksilver.” It’s incredible. You’ll find it at www.blacktree.com
Andy Pearson
August 23rd, 2006 at 1:23 pm
@Bryan - way ahead of you man, I have been using quicksilver for quite a while and I love it. I’m such a power user, I have even been able to hide the dock!