I took the Mac plunge

[RoJoHen]

Howdy all! I am posting to you now from my brand new MacBook!

It is taking me forever to type anything because all the keys are spaced just slightly different from my old computer, so I keep hitting the question mark when I want to be hitting Shift. And when I go to delete the question mark, I keep hitting the damn = button!

But...I can scroll with two fingers on the trackpad. Oooh, aaahhh!

Anyway, I now begin the most annoying part of buying a new computer: transferring everything from the old computer! There's not a lot I need to transfer, mostly just pictures. I'm probably going to rip all my CDs onto the Mac instead of trying to transfer those files from my old computer. I need to reorganize my CD case anyway, so this will force me to do that.

Anyway, that will be my project for the next couple days. That and re-learning how to use this damn thing! I haven't been a Mac user since the 90s.

 

[TGTheodore]

Welcome back to the light side of The Force.

--Ted

 

[urbandk]

i would buy a powermac. i kid you not. they are beautiful and functional and fast. i also love mac-osx. however, i would almost certainly make it a triple boot, with a basic windows installation for games and an opensolaris installation for work. i have no desire to use ctrl key workarounds for the lack of multiple buttons. the day mac adds a second button on its trackpad is the day i buy a powermac.

 

[FlyingLemons]

Congratulations!

Of course, good luck in trying to find the hash key combination. That always eludes me when typing on mine...

 

[RoJoHen]

With the new MacBooks, you can actually program the trackpad to act like it has a "right click" button. You just click in the bottom right corner of the trackpad, and it works exactly the same as having a second button.

They've actually put forth a lot of effort to make it easy to switchover from PC.

 

[RoJoHen]

Congratulations!

Of course, good luck in trying to find the hash key combination. That always eludes me when typing on mine...

The thing that is bugging me (probably more than it should) is that there is only one Delete Key (compared to both a Delete and a Backspace key). I'm used to being able to remove text, no matter what side of the text the cursor is on.

 

[urbandk]

With the new MacBooks, you can actually program the trackpad to act like it has a "right click" button. You just click in the bottom right corner of the trackpad, and it works exactly the same as having a second button.

They've actually put forth a lot of effort to make it easy to switchover from PC.

thanks for the info! i'll give them a call and see how it works. if it's bios-level, it might work.

 

[sportzkid]

i would buy a powermac. i kid you not. they are beautiful and functional and fast. i also love mac-osx. however, i would almost certainly make it a triple boot, with a basic windows installation for games and an opensolaris installation for work. i have no desire to use ctrl key workarounds for the lack of multiple buttons. the day mac adds a second button on its trackpad is the day i buy a powermac.

I have a logitech mouse that gives you a second button, so it really is not a problem.

 

[Bloodwhiner]

The thing that is bugging me (probably more than it should) is that there is only one Delete Key (compared to both a Delete and a Backspace key). I'm used to being able to remove text, no matter what side of the text the cursor is on.

you can forward delete by fn + delete

here is a list of numerous keyboard commands, many you won't care about others are useful.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343


One thing I love is putting your cursor on any misspelled word and hitting ctrl/click it will give you the correct spelling choices.

 

[TheBrew]

Once you get all the shortcuts down, you'll be zooming around the OS. I usually have multiple windows of programs open and I can switch between tasks very easily.

 

[Small White Car]

With the new MacBooks, you can actually program the trackpad to act like it has a "right click" button. You just click in the bottom right corner of the trackpad, and it works exactly the same as having a second button.

They've actually put forth a lot of effort to make it easy to switchover from PC.

You can also (and this is the way I like it) make it so a one finger click is a left click and a 2 finger click is a right click.

Super fast that way.

Also, learn Command-H. You should never ever ever click the yellow 'minimize' button on a window. You're wasting a huge amount of time if you do that.

Also, use Command-tab often too.

 

[Lindley]

Congratulations!

Of course, good luck in trying to find the hash key combination. That always eludes me when typing on mine...

The thing that is bugging me (probably more than it should) is that there is only one Delete Key (compared to both a Delete and a Backspace key). I'm used to being able to remove text, no matter what side of the text the cursor is on.

That's just the result of a laptop-sized keyboard. A full-size Mac keyboard would have both.

 

[RoJoHen]

Congratulations!

Of course, good luck in trying to find the hash key combination. That always eludes me when typing on mine...

The thing that is bugging me (probably more than it should) is that there is only one Delete Key (compared to both a Delete and a Backspace key). I'm used to being able to remove text, no matter what side of the text the cursor is on.

That's just the result of a laptop-sized keyboard. A full-size Mac keyboard would have both.

Well, this is what I'm saying. My old computer is a laptop, and it still has both.

 

[John Picard]

Told you that you'd love a Mac. I love my Mini and am still barely scratching the surface as to what all it can do. I hope to be able to get a Macbook in my future.

 

[RoJoHen]

I actually wouldn't mind getting a desktop computer, but I have nowhere to put it right now. My laptop pretty much lives on my coffee table.

 

[rramarr]

Once you go Mac you never go back! - except maybe under duress.

 

[Candlelight]

I use bootcamp and vmware so I'm still in the Windows world.

Mac is a damn sight easier when trying to sort a wireless connection however.

 

[TheBrew]

I actually wouldn't mind getting a desktop computer, but I have nowhere to put it right now. My laptop pretty much lives on my coffee table.

Just do what I did: get a 22" monitor and wireless keyboard/mouse and plug it in. Works great.

 

[RoJoHen]

I actually wouldn't mind getting a desktop computer, but I have nowhere to put it right now. My laptop pretty much lives on my coffee table.

Just do what I did: get a 22" monitor and wireless keyboard/mouse and plug it in. Works great.

Still wouldn't have a place to put it. I don't want a big monitor just sitting in the middle of the room.

Plus, I just, ya know, bought the MacBook today. I think I'm good for a while.

 

[TheBrew]

I actually wouldn't mind getting a desktop computer, but I have nowhere to put it right now. My laptop pretty much lives on my coffee table.

Just do what I did: get a 22" monitor and wireless keyboard/mouse and plug it in. Works great.

Still wouldn't have a place to put it. I don't want a big monitor just sitting in the middle of the room.

Plus, I just, ya know, bought the MacBook today. I think I'm good for a while.

Well, I meant in the future when you want a desktop solution. I love my laptop, but sometimes I like being able to sit in my comfy desk chair.