[downingp]

Well I finally did it. I made the switch over to Apple. I should be getting my new iMac 20" on Monday; the weekend cant go by fast enough! What can I expect from my new Apple since I have been a PC guy for so long? Any advice on the OS or what I can expect from my apple?

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by downingp Well I finally did it. I made the switch over to Apple. I should be getting my new iMac 20" on Monday; the weekend cant go by fast enough! What can I expect from my new Apple since I have been a PC guy for so long? Any advice on the OS or what I can expect from my apple?

You'll need to install Windows.
Haha, cheesiest comment I've said in a while.

 

[DJ e]

Oh, nice!
I've had my eye on a MacBook Pro for a few months now, but my financial situation hasn't allowed me to purchase one yet.

 

[AlanY]

Great choice

You'll love it. They're nice machines, and iLife is solid and polished. Some other applications to explore/download when you get the machine:
...for chat: AdiumX http://www.adiumx.com/
...if you're a news junkie: NetNewsWire http://www.newsgator.com/NGOLProduct...ID=NetNewsWire
...as an alternative web browser (Firefox engine, Mac interface): http://www.caminobrowser.org/
......be sure to get CamiTools to customize it
...for taking notes:
...... OmniOutliner http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/
...... also check out Aquaminds Notetaker and Circus Ponies Notebook
...... (if you're into gathering information for research, also check out Yojimbo, DevonThink, Hog Bay Mori, among others)
...for drawing diagrams: OmniGraffle http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnigraffle/
...for concept exploring, brainstorming, notes, and projects: Curio http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/
...for lightweight project management: Process http://www.jumsoft.com/process/
...if you're into GTD-style task lists: Kinkless GTD http://kinkless.com/

There is really a lot of Mac software being developed these days, some of it with no real equivalents on Windows (e.g. OmniOutliner, Curio). Have fun exploring!

 

[tjkurita]

Nice resources, AlanY. And congratulations downing! I'm going to be switching to Mac too. Just gotta find the time to hit the Apple store with my credit card... The place is open 24/7 and is only about 15 minutes from my apt. I don't know what is taking me so long.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjkurita Nice resources, AlanY. And congratulations downing! I'm going to be switching to Mac too. Just gotta find the time to hit the Apple store with my credit card... The place is open 24/7 and is only about 15 minutes from my apt. I don't know what is taking me so long.

Hehe, I got to switch this summer too..

.

 

[majid]

The transition may take some time, as you will realize there are apps you depend on that don't have direct equivalents. One way to lessen the pain is to run Windows in a virtualized environment. There are rumors that Mac OS X will offer this feature out of the box, but otherwise you can try the beta version of Parallels Workstation, which runs Windows (or any other PC OS) in a Window, with minimal performance degradation:
http://www.parallels.com/
Much more convenient than booting back and forth using BootCamp.

If you need an office suite, try the free NeoOffice/J instead of shelling out big bucks for Microsoft Office/Mac.

 

[MN Ham Phones]

You can expect a more stable OS.
You can expect consistent shortcuts from app to app.
You can expect an OS that doesn't get in the way (with nags/reminders/dialogs nearly as often.
You can expect much tighter control of compatibility between software and hardware.
You can expect much greater freedom from security risks.
You can expect to rebuild and defrag it much less often.
You can expect to pay more for it, but use it longer than a PC and thus it becomes a better deal.
You can expect plenty of software for everyday tasks.
You can expect less of the specialized software such as circuit designers, PC layout software, etc.
You can expect less gaming software.
You can expect your PC friends to give you hell for finally seeing the light.

Enjoy!

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MN Ham Phones You can expect a more stable OS. You can expect consistent shortcuts from app to app. You can expect an OS that doesn't get in the way (with nags/reminders/dialogs nearly as often. You can expect much tighter control of compatibility between software and hardware. You can expect much greater freedom from security risks. You can expect to rebuild and defrag it much less often. You can expect to pay more for it, but use it longer than a PC and thus it becomes a better deal. You can expect plenty of software for everyday tasks. You can expect less of the specialized software such as circuit designers, PC layout software, etc. You can expect less gaming software. You can expect your PC friends to give you hell for finally seeing the light. Enjoy!

In the future you will give your PC friends hell for not seeing the light.

 

[AlanY]

By the way, if you're at all technically inclined or curious, you can do some really neat things to automate your machine. OS X comes with a program called "Automator" which is basically a visual way of writing mini scripts to control programs and make them do repetitive tasks. Automator is easy enough for anyone to use (though being easy, it's also limited in power, though there's a program that adds variables to it, making it possible to use it for more powerful tasks). You can then associate those scripts with folders on your computer, making certain tasks occur whenever something gets dropped in the folder. If you want to go deeper, most major apps support a uniform scripting syntax called AppleScript that lets you do more complicated things (this is also accessible from the Python and Perl programming languages). Then if you want to go even deeper, Apple's Xcode (which comes with your computer), includes something called AppleScript Studio, which gives you access to basically all of the underlying system (Cocoa, Core Data, etc.) and allows you do write almost commercial-level programs. Then there's traditional Unix scripting, with all the various shells as well as Python and Perl built in, if you like that sort of thing.

I got started by building simple Automator actions and then decided to start learning AppleScript. It's really neat. One of the things I do, for instance, is have an Automator action that reads my web browser's bookmarks file every night and downloads new versions of all my bookmarked files to a special directory on my hard drive. This gives me full-text search abilities via Spotlight to all my bookmarked pages, which makes it easy to find stuff (much better than searching just bookmark names). In that same vein, there are good bookmark tagging apps (Cocoalicious and WebnoteHappy) if you like tagging your bookmarks with keywords or use the online del.icio.us service.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanY By the way, if you're at all technically inclined or curious, you can do some really neat things to automate your machine. OS X comes with a program called "Automator" which is basically a visual way of writing mini scripts to control programs and make them do repetitive tasks. Automator is easy enough for anyone to use (though being easy, it's also limited in power, though there's a program that adds variables to it, making it possible to use it for more powerful tasks). You can then associate those scripts with folders on your computer, making certain tasks occur whenever something gets dropped in the folder. If you want to go deeper, most major apps support a uniform scripting syntax called AppleScript that lets you do more complicated things (this is also accessible from the Python and Perl programming languages). Then if you want to go even deeper, Apple's Xcode (which comes with your computer), includes something called AppleScript Studio, which gives you access to basically all of the underlying system (Cocoa, Core Data, etc.) and allows you do write almost commercial-level programs. Then there's traditional Unix scripting, with all the various shells as well as Python and Perl built in, if you like that sort of thing. I got started by building simple Automator actions and then decided to start learning AppleScript. It's really neat. One of the things I do, for instance, is have an Automator action that reads my web browser's bookmarks file every night and downloads new versions of all my bookmarked files to a special directory on my hard drive. This gives me full-text search abilities via Spotlight to all my bookmarked pages, which makes it easy to find stuff (much better than searching just bookmark names). In that same vein, there are good bookmark tagging apps (Cocoalicious and WebnoteHappy) if you like tagging your bookmarks with keywords or use the online del.icio.us service.

Cool, sounsd like IRC scripting or something of that sort

. I love low level scripting, not too complex.

 

[roastpuff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MN Ham Phones You can expect a more stable OS. You can expect consistent shortcuts from app to app. You can expect an OS that doesn't get in the way (with nags/reminders/dialogs nearly as often. You can expect much tighter control of compatibility between software and hardware. You can expect much greater freedom from security risks. You can expect to rebuild and defrag it much less often. You can expect to pay more for it, but use it longer than a PC and thus it becomes a better deal. You can expect plenty of software for everyday tasks. You can expect less of the specialized software such as circuit designers, PC layout software, etc. You can expect less gaming software. You can expect your PC friends to give you hell for finally seeing the light. Enjoy!

QFT. Nothing more to add to that list of what to expect.

Oh, one thing, actually: Expect to become frustrated with Windows-toting cousins/relatives/friends who want you to fix their PC's.

 

[Lando]

Two more essential applications:

Butler, an excellent application launcher.
Windows Media Components for Quicktime, which allow Quicktime to play most videos that have been foolishly encoded in windows media format.

If you need anything else, look here first.

 

[downingp]

Thanks everyone for your input. I haven't read any negative comments so it seems as though I have made a good decision.

 

[downingp]

What is the best program to use to backup to an external drive?