Darren Lewis
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2000
- Messages
- 534
After two weeks of waiting, my new iMac 20" 2.4Ghz has finally arrived
It is absolutely gorgeous! The screen is crystal clear, and although highly reflective when off, it causes no problems whatsoever when on (phew!). I wouldn't recommend sitting with your back to a window, but I'm at ninety degrees to one and it's fine. I was forced to smile at the fact Apple includes a cleaning cloth so you can keep the iMac looking spotless.
I'm glad though that I didn't go for the 24" screen - the 20" is perfectly adequate, for my use at least. I'm only sitting a couple of feet from it.
The design of this things is fantastic. It's so neat and compact and takes up so much less desk space than my old windows PC, monitor and separate speakers. Even the power cable is designed so that it fits well into the design at the back with no additional "power warts" trailing on the floor. I'm amazed how they got everything into such a compact unit. And quiet too - I had to listen closely when I first switched it on - I thought I'd forgotten to plug it in!
The new ultra-thin keyboard is going to take a bit of getting used to, but I do like the ultra neatness of it all, and the way the mightymouse plugs into the keyboard so there's only one single cable from the machine with a small "extension" for the mouse.
Now onto Mac OS X. We'll I've only been using it for an hour or so, and I can tell it's going to take me a bit of getting used to, but it does seems slick and fast. A quick browse around and everything seems to be pretty self-explanatory. I even figured out how to enable the right-click on the mightymouse so at least I feel OK about that now. I bought iWorks 08 pre-installed and that's all setup now. Just had to enter the license number from the CD included in the box.
I've just installed FireFox as I'm comfortable using that. I followed the instructions on the FireFox download page and that seemed to go OK. Does seem different to a Windows install. the .dmg "mounted" itself and then some sort of installer ran. I then had to drag an icon to the applications folder and then onto the bar at the bottom (Dock?). I then "unmounted" the FireFox drive? Is that typical of how to install apps on the Mac?
Now, I've got to start using it some more. I'm still in the Windows mindset of thinking that I've got to back up my whole PC now, as when I install something it's got a strong risk of messing up my system and me having to do a restore back!
Having watched the Mac vs PC ads, I can definitely agree with the setting up ad. On this beauty, there was no updating drivers, installing security and uninstalling tons of demoware and ISP ads. It really does work out of the box.
Got to install some more Apps soon though. Adobe agreed to crossgrade my Dreamweaver license to Mac, so I've got the CS3 version of that to play with, and also I managed to get a genuine Photoshop 7 for Mac from eBay (complete with license transfer agreement to send to Adobe), so I'm pretty sorted for now.
Any tips and tricks for the new Mac user to get them used to the switchover?
Is it worth buying one of these "Missing Manual" books or similar, or is it best to just jump in and get my feet wet? I'm a little paranoid about messing something up and having to attempt an OS reload - or is that just my Windows mind talking?
It is absolutely gorgeous! The screen is crystal clear, and although highly reflective when off, it causes no problems whatsoever when on (phew!). I wouldn't recommend sitting with your back to a window, but I'm at ninety degrees to one and it's fine. I was forced to smile at the fact Apple includes a cleaning cloth so you can keep the iMac looking spotless.
I'm glad though that I didn't go for the 24" screen - the 20" is perfectly adequate, for my use at least. I'm only sitting a couple of feet from it.
The design of this things is fantastic. It's so neat and compact and takes up so much less desk space than my old windows PC, monitor and separate speakers. Even the power cable is designed so that it fits well into the design at the back with no additional "power warts" trailing on the floor. I'm amazed how they got everything into such a compact unit. And quiet too - I had to listen closely when I first switched it on - I thought I'd forgotten to plug it in!
The new ultra-thin keyboard is going to take a bit of getting used to, but I do like the ultra neatness of it all, and the way the mightymouse plugs into the keyboard so there's only one single cable from the machine with a small "extension" for the mouse.
Now onto Mac OS X. We'll I've only been using it for an hour or so, and I can tell it's going to take me a bit of getting used to, but it does seems slick and fast. A quick browse around and everything seems to be pretty self-explanatory. I even figured out how to enable the right-click on the mightymouse so at least I feel OK about that now. I bought iWorks 08 pre-installed and that's all setup now. Just had to enter the license number from the CD included in the box.
I've just installed FireFox as I'm comfortable using that. I followed the instructions on the FireFox download page and that seemed to go OK. Does seem different to a Windows install. the .dmg "mounted" itself and then some sort of installer ran. I then had to drag an icon to the applications folder and then onto the bar at the bottom (Dock?). I then "unmounted" the FireFox drive? Is that typical of how to install apps on the Mac?
Now, I've got to start using it some more. I'm still in the Windows mindset of thinking that I've got to back up my whole PC now, as when I install something it's got a strong risk of messing up my system and me having to do a restore back!
Having watched the Mac vs PC ads, I can definitely agree with the setting up ad. On this beauty, there was no updating drivers, installing security and uninstalling tons of demoware and ISP ads. It really does work out of the box.
Got to install some more Apps soon though. Adobe agreed to crossgrade my Dreamweaver license to Mac, so I've got the CS3 version of that to play with, and also I managed to get a genuine Photoshop 7 for Mac from eBay (complete with license transfer agreement to send to Adobe), so I'm pretty sorted for now.
Any tips and tricks for the new Mac user to get them used to the switchover?
Is it worth buying one of these "Missing Manual" books or similar, or is it best to just jump in and get my feet wet? I'm a little paranoid about messing something up and having to attempt an OS reload - or is that just my Windows mind talking?