… Not really. But I did order a Macbook Pro!
After months of wondering and hinting, I finally bit the bullet.
But now I need your help. Yes, you—all you staunch Mac users out there, even if you have never commented on this site before or have just stumbled on it by accident. You see, this is my very first Mac of my own. And while, on the one hand, I am ridiculously excited about it, on the other hand there is a small part of me that is beginning to have a panic attack because this is where the rubber meets the road.
I’ve been trying to convince myself and my parents and my friends for ages that I want a Mac, that I need a Mac, that I cannot possibly be happy and fulfilled in my computing life without a Mac! So naturally, now that I’ve hit that “Place Order” button and watched all of my money fly out the window, I’m apprehensive; my worst fear is that it will arrive and it will be gorgeous and I will open it up and turn it on and it will be SO PRETTY and then I will go… “Now what?”
So this is where you come in. The Macbook Pro is scheduled to arrive around September 12th, which is, coincidentally, my birthday. Before then, I need to harness your collective Mac wisdom. I need to know what to do and setup and download to feel at home in my new computer. I want to know it inside and out. What are the apps or widgets that you can’t live without? What are some of the most fun and useful features built into OS X that I may not know about? How do you even use OS X, anyway?
I am not a novice computer user, by any means. I am not even completely clueless about Macs, as I have been reading The Unofficial Apple Weblog and other Mac-related blogs for quite some time. But I would really love some tips and instructions to make my transition from Windows to Mac as smooth as possible. 
Thank you in advance!
P.S. Because we qualify for the educational discount from Apple, I was also able to get a free 2 GB iPod Nano with my laptop! That is pretty exciting too, as I have never owned an iPod.
P.P.S. That Macbook Pro graphic up there is Apple’s, not mine. It belongs to Apple. Apple has the rights to it. Therefore Apple would be within its rights to come hunt me down and shoot me for using its graphic on my website. Don’t do it, Apple, it’s free advertising!
September 1st, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Mark my words- You’ll be sorry when Apple comes out with the next version of the Macbook Pro in the next month or two
September 1st, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Wow, thanks for reassurance, Ian! That’s definitely going to help me avoid a panic attack.
In all seriousness, though… I did take that into consideration. And, for various reasons that I don’t feel I need to go into, I decided this was the best route for me at the moment. Sure, I’ll be a little disappointed if they come out with some spectacular new version of the Macbook Pro tomorrow… but the fact is I will still be getting a very nice computer that is suited to everything I need to use it for. And I do not feel a compulsion to have the absolutely brand-spanking-newest thing. So, thanks for the warning, but I think I’ll be fine… besides, this way I get an iPod (which is a big plus in my book 
).
September 1st, 2006 at 1:49 pm
Congrats! Part of me wishes to go back to my days with the Apple. It definitely is a pretty machine! Enjoy it!
September 1st, 2006 at 2:42 pm
As soon as you get it, get on iChat and IM me — yum cheerio — and I’ll videochat you through “moving in” and feeling at home. One of the greatest things about it so far for me has been being able to keep in touch with friends via video chat (since everyone I know got a mac). I can’t wait to show you around/see you through my computer
September 1st, 2006 at 2:47 pm
Matt - Thank you! I’m sure I will.
Glynnis - That sounds fantastic! I forgot that I’ll be able to video chat with people.
Thanks so much, It’ll be fun to talk to you! 
September 1st, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Heh heh… yeah, I’m sure you’ll be just as happy with the current line as with the next one
Myself, I would be severely bent out of shape if I bought one and next week Apple released newer, better ones at the same price 
September 1st, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Apple has a “Special Press Event” scheduled for September 12th in San Francisco. How’s that for an unfortunate coincidence? You might receive your MacBook Pro on the very same day Apple upgrades it to use the new Core 2 Duo chips. D’oh.
September 1st, 2006 at 6:02 pm
Jason - That is quite a coincidence! However, as I mentioned above, it doesn’t really bother me.
Ian - if you end up getting a super-duper new kind of Macbook Pro, we can compare ours and I will be wowed by the fantasticness of yours. But I will still love mine better because it is mine. And I will have an iPod.
But, you know, I think y’all are getting your hopes up too high… bet you anything Apple’s “Special Press Event” is just to celebrate my birthday.
Anyway… I really would like to know what your favorite goodies and features of OS X are, folks! Glynnis’ help will be greatly appreciated, but I’d love links and tips from all of you who use Macs.
September 1st, 2006 at 8:05 pm
If you plan on doing web development, you’ll need a good text editor for your Mac. I recommend TextMate (39.00 Euros from macromates.com).
If you follow lots of blogs, you’ll also want a good RSS reader (Safari, the built-in web browser, has RSS support, but I doubt you’ll be happy with it if you’re a heavy RSS user). The popular choice seems to be NetNewsWire ($29.95 from newsgator.com, or free if you use the Lite version), but I prefer NewsFire ($18.99 from newsfirerss.com). It is a bit behind NetNewsWire when it comes to features, but it does everything I need and I think it’s much more elegant.
And don’t forget to try out Spotlight, the built-in search tool in OS X. It took some time for me to change my habits, but I rarely use the Finder now. And Spotlight isn’t just for search. It’s also a handy application launcher. Most apps can be launched with just five or six quick keystrokes.
September 1st, 2006 at 8:07 pm
Thanks for the tips, Jason! Spotlight sounds pretty exciting… I am looking forward to learning how to use it.
September 2nd, 2006 at 12:59 am
Hi Erin
Welcome to the madness of the mac world!!
Apps I can’t live without - firefox (a few banks etc. are still a bit flakey with Safari), skype with video (you have to dig for it on the skype website), keynote is amazing if you have to prepare presentations, spotlight is great for finding anything, macstumbler is useful for finding wi-fi networks, get a book about the ilife suite, the bbc news widget is a must, macjanitor is useful for keeping your hard-drive smooth, vlc for media files that quicktime dosn’t like…….
I could go on! Have a look at versiontracker.com/macosX
Enjoy it, I’m on my 3rd powerbook, sadly a bit old though (1 gig g4 titanium)
September 2nd, 2006 at 2:46 am
Friggin’ awesome, from what I hear: http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/
Talk to Karl to find out what he likes. He switched from Windows to Mac, so he’ll know what you’re going through.
September 2nd, 2006 at 2:48 am
Peter - Thanks for all the tips! I’ll check ‘em out.
James - Oooh, yes, Quicksilver! I had heard of that one. Thank you for reminding me. And I will have to talk to Karl, I didn’t know that he “made the switch,” so to speak.
Also, why are you up so late, young man? (ahem)
September 2nd, 2006 at 7:52 am
I can’t speak from firsthand experience, but Shiira is an open-source mac web browser that looks really nice: http://hmdt-web.net/shiira/en
Also, if you don’t mind a bit of a learning curve on your text editor, I highly recommend vim. http://www.vim.org
September 2nd, 2006 at 10:31 am
That was weird- I tried to post a comment but it didn’t show up.
Anyway…
An alternative web browser that looks really slick is Shiira(http://hmdt-web.net/shiira/en). It’s also open-source.
As far as text editing goes, I use vim(http://www.vim.org) on every platform I work on. It has a bit of a learning curve, but if you’re a keyboard-oriented person it’s by far the most efficient editor out there(in my opinion).
If you use IRC, I highly recommend Colloquy(http://colloquy.info).
September 2nd, 2006 at 11:11 am
Ian - sorry about that. Any comment with two or more links in it gets held for moderation in case it is spam.
September 2nd, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Holy geez, you have one heck of site here! Just found it on Random Shapes, actually, it’s stunning!
September 3rd, 2006 at 1:58 am
[quote]Also, why are you up so late, young man? (ahem)[/quote]
Because my friend and I were pulling our once-a-summer late-nighter.
September 3rd, 2006 at 10:06 am
I’m not sure if I’ve commented here before, but I’ve been reading your blog for a while now, Erin. You’re a talented designer and writer, and I was rather surprised when I found out how young you are.
Anyhow, as for Apps you can’t live without… I can think of a few.
Adium - excellent multi-protocol IM app.
Firefox - I prefer Safari most of the time (superior keyboard shortcuts alone keep me from switching), but Firefox is excellent, and a must-have.
NetNewsWire Lite - at least give it a shot. I love it, and the free version has all the features I need.
Flip4Mac - allows you to play WMV movies in Quicktime.
VLC Player - for all those other, stubborn movie files.
Senuti or Podworks - lets you pull music off of your iPod. I use it all the time if I have put something on mine at work, and want to have it on my Powerbook.
TinkerTool - one of a few different utilities out there that allow you to do some cool stuff with some interfaces of a few major apps. You could do all of that from the command line, but who needs to do that when you’ve got this?
There are surely other apps that I would consider essential, but unless you’re doing audio editing all the time…
Ooh, and if you don’t want to shell out for Photoshop, give GIMP a look. Not a perfect replacement, and you need to make sure you have X11 installed (it’ll be on the system install disc that comes with your Mac). And Gimpshop makes it a little easier for Photoshop users to get used to GIMP.
AS for HTML, dig around and try out different text editors. There are many, and different people prefer different ones. BUT, NVU is an alright WYSIWYG editor, if you don’t need anything too fancy.
Resources for software:
Version Tracker - You can search, and check for older versions too. A ton of apps are on here.
Open Source Mac - A personal favorite. Especially if you’re a fan of open-source software like me.
That looks like a decent list to get you started.
September 3rd, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Ian - Thank you very much for your comment! I’m always excited to “meet” the people who read my blog. And that is certainly a very thorough and useful list of resources that you’ve provided for me! I really appreciate that you took the time to write that all out. I’m sure many of those will come in handy when I get my computer.
September 3rd, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Hi again
Some mac websites to keep an eye upon:
www.macintouch.com - the best for news
www.macrumors.com - best for summries of all the other rumor sites
www.joyoftech.com - good cartoons
www.crazyapplerumors.com - once you come to know the apple world, this site will crack you up.
Best
Pete
September 4th, 2006 at 6:20 am
For your photoshop predicament, I say uninstall it from your Windows Desktop and then get a pirate version for your Mac. You already have a Photoshop licence, and you are only using it one computer.
Sorted.
September 4th, 2006 at 7:31 am
congrats on your soon-to-be mac! i’m jealous sitting here working on my old old G4 tower with my broken titanium powerbook sitting on the floor beside me. sigh.
anyway, here are my tips:
1) http://justuse.it/
it’s a site created by the guy who maintains www.styleboost.com and it suggests the best software for the job for both mac and PC platforms.
also, if you’re planning to use firefox, i’d suggest you look into camino, which is based on mozilla (aka, firefox) but a little better bc it’s built especially for mac. http://www.caminobrowser.org/ . i find firefox to be a little slow for me. (safari is unarguably the fastest browser on the mac, but it’s still a little discriminated against out there in the world of big corporate websites.)
after you download camino, you’ll “want” to go to http://www.pimpmycamino.com for all your extras.
there’s another noteworthy browser called flock that’s great for the whole web 2.0 generation. (http://www.flock.com/). it incorporates photo sharing, blogging, tagging and all those fun “sharing” conventions that web 2.0 is all about. i haven’t used it myself, but it looks cool.
for your ftp client, i recommend transmit (http://www.panic.com/transmit/)
for music/file sharing: acquisition (http://www.acquisitionx.com/)
for font management: linotype font explorer x (http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX)
if you get tired of flickr, galerie is a great photo site creator that works directly with iPhoto. (http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/galerie.htm)
also, assuming you have a billion or so photos on your computer, i recommend iPhoto library manager to help with iPhoto. it’s great if you have lots of libraries going at once. (http://homepage.mac.com/bwebster/iphotolibrarymanager.html)
for keeping things running smoothly, i recommend cocktail (http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.html). great all-purpose utility for keeping things orderly.
also superduper for backup and system recovery. i hate to say we all need it, but we do. (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html)
i think that’s about it. or at least, that’s all i can think of now.
have fun!!
September 4th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Congrats with your new Mac! As Laurie mentioned above (thanks!) Justuse.it is a very valuable resource. Actually, I’m the guy that provides the Mac recommendations there. And I have a even more detailed list of recommended software over at my place.
And btw; your site and photography looks terrific!
September 6th, 2006 at 2:05 am
Hiya Erin!
…nice to meet you.
It’ll be a whole different world now that you’ll be using a Mac, and I believe that it suits the creative types much more than pc’s. I highly recommend these programs (most are free, others for a very small price):
iSquint - great for converting videos for your new shiny ipod! (This one is my no. 1 recommendation!)
VLC - you can play every region DVD without changing your mac’s settings, and it will play just about every type of video that Quicktime won’t.
SuperDuper - awesome data backup program.
iPod Rip- great program for getting music off other people’s iPods (even if they’re Windows formatted.)
Mac Janitor - helps keep your mac running smoothly if you’re the type who shuts down your computer often.
Adobe Photoshop CS - WOW! if you’re not using this already, it is a must!
flip4mac - a Quicktime plugin that allows you to play all WMVs in Quicktime.
VersionTracker - helps keep you updated on the latest versions of third party software you may have.
That’s my list, I hope it’s useful.
PS. I really enjoy your blog and flickr stream, it’s a breath of fresh air and a nice break from daily life in Baghdad!
September 6th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
Never commented here before but I like your photography and I’m excited you are getting a MBP! I love mine, I think you’ll be thrilled.
TextMate is the best text editor for OSX, hands down.
NewsFire - My choice for a RSS reader, I like it’s simplicity over NetNewsWire, YMMV.
Firefox.
Yojimbo - Great app for keeping all of your notes and bits together, it can store webarchives so you can save a webpage exactly as you viewed it, forever. Very Useful.
AppZapper - For easily deleting the little pesky bits and pieces various apps leave lying around.
Pathfinder - This Finder replacement kicks ass, I would go with using the finder at first but when your looking for more flexibility try pathfinder.
Since I know you are photographer:
CaptureOne LE - My RAW converter of choice
iViewMedia Pro - My image cataloging and management platform of choice, iPhoto just can’t handle the needs of a high volume DSLR shooter.