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My new iMac has arrived! (1 Viewer)

Darren Lewis

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After two weeks of waiting, my new iMac 20" 2.4Ghz has finally arrived
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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?
 

Ronald Epstein

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Darren,

Welcome to the club!

As a new owner we are going to be keeping a close eye on you.
We can't wait until the day you declare that the Mac is superior
to the PC and you'll never go back.

Installing stuff is a breeze! As you discovered, the .dmg is Mac's
answer to .exe. Best of all, all you do is click on the DMG file
and ion most cases just drag the program icon to the APPLICATIONS
folder. From there you drag the icon to the dock.

Uninstalling is just as easy. Just drag the icon to the trash and
the program is uninstalled.
 

Daryl L

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Sep 26, 1999
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Congrats Darren. Your gonna love OS X.I wouldn't buy a manual/guide. Just review the sticky's and jump in and get wet. It's really a simple OS that's much more powerful than it appears (a lotta hidden abilities).
 

DaveF

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Glad to have you as a new "member", Darren. :) If you like "how-to" books, certainly get one. As with all computer stuff, there's a great deal of Mac info on the web. But I subscribe to MacWorld and buy an occaisional MacFormat, since the web doesn't have it all.

As for avoiding messing stuff up: mostly be cautious about deleting applications and support files. In particular, exercise some caution with your Library and Documents folders until you understand what's what. Also in the System folder. And of course, don't go deleting applications and utilities willy-nilly :)

Otherwise, like other modern OSes, OS X is robust so long as you use a some computing common sense.

I strongly suggest going through the Sticky thread on recommended programs. That was a great start for me in finding interesting websites and some handy applications. And dig back through the old threads in this forum; there's some good info and tips buried in older conversations.

But mostly get going, be patient with the re-education process, and have fun :)
 

Darren Lewis

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Jul 17, 2000
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534
Thanks for the warm welcome to "the club".

Daryl, I'll check out Carbon Copy Cloner 3.0 as the sync abilty sounds ideal for backing up my home folder.

I also found the Switch 101 pages on the Apple site which has answered some of my more basic questions, especially their on Windows, I used to... page.
 

Dave Scarpa

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I'm jealous I was eyeing the new Imac's in awe the other day at the Apple Store. I have a Mac Mini but it's aging having a PPC processor, maybe someday I'll upgrade, but I've always had a problem with the once piece design of the Imac, especially since I own a Nice 20:WS Monitor already. But Maybe I'll give that to the wife and Pick one up at Xmas time.
 

Darren Lewis

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Jul 17, 2000
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Dave, I was in two minds whether to go for a Mini and use my existing WS 20" monitor, or go for the iMac.

In the end, the spec on the iMac (graphics and HDD options) persuaded me to go for the iMac. I've still got my "old" monitor, but as you say, it'll make a good Xmas present.
 

Ken Chan

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As a Disk iMaGe, it's really just like when you pop in a (non-music) CD on a Windows machine: it shows you the content. You download a DMG, it shows you the content. Unmounting/ejecting is also the same idea.

The packaging system on Mac OS X is very clever: the icon represents an entire directory that contains everything that comprises the program: the executable and anything else. And the install is like in the old DOS days (if you were around then): you copy the file over, and you can run it -- there is no formal install in most cases.

If you want to keep any app in the Dock, you don't have to manually drag it there. Whenever you run a program, it appears in the Dock (sorta like the Windows Taskbar). If you right-click (or Ctrl-click) you can choose "Keep in Dock" and it will stay there after you quit.
 

Darren Lewis

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Jul 17, 2000
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I thought I'd update this thread now that I've had my iMac for just over three months.

Up until three months ago, I'd never used a Mac and actually knew very little about them. I was in the market for a new desktop and had been very disappointed by my experiences with Vista on a work machine (two minutes to empty the recycle bin on one occasion!). Having talked to a few friends who had Macs, as well as reading all the positive feedback here at HTF, I took the plunge and spent over £1000 of my hard earned cash on a new iMac!

So, do I regret the decision?

Not for a single moment. I can honestly say that the iMac and Mac OS-X (Tiger) is the best computer I've ever had. In the last three months I've been more productive with the computer and actually spent time using it rather than tinkering with driver updates, OS images, security updates, random "end now" dialogue boxes, more driver updates, random blue screens etc. etc.

The Hardware
The iMac itself is a gorgeous beast. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close. I love the glossy screen and have had no problems with reflections (which was one of my biggest concerns before buying). The machine is very quiet and it responds well. The new ultra-thin keyboard took a bit of getting used to, but now I'm typing away with no worries. It did take me while (and a Google search) to find the # key (it's alt-3 incase you're wondering) and the "Print Screen" key (Shift-Cmd-3 and it saves a screenshot to your desktop).

There are a couple of minor issues with the hardware design, but I'm being quite picky here. There's no built-in card reader for cameras. Given the size of card readers and the fact that they're pretty much ubiquitous on all new PCs, I think this is something of an oversite on Apple's part. I wouldn't have thought it would be that big a deal to have a discrete card reader slot(s) below the DVDRW slot, or even on the other side?

The other minor thing is that you only get three USB ports. Given that one USB slot is taken by the keyboard/mouse, it only leaves two for the printer/scanner/cardreader/iPod/flash drive/ext hard drive etc. Sure, I can add a hub, but an extra couple of ports on the back wouldn't go amiss. Not all hardware seems to like being plugged into USB hubs.

Everything else about the hardware is spot on though. I actually didn't realise the iMac had built in speakers when I bought it
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The Software

Mac OS-X
Having used Windows for well over ten years, it did take a little while to get used to using Mac OS-X. From the outset, I didn't want to install Windows XP onto the new Mac (even in a virtual setup) as I wanted to make a complete break. After a couple of days, possible a week at most, I began to feel at home though. Having used Linux in the past, Mac OS-X obviously has a lot in common with it, although is much easier to use. I'm still amazed at how much you actually get with the base OS. You really don't need lots of little utility apps for this and that (eg PDF viewing) like you tend to do with WinXP.

I haven't yet felt the urge to upgrade to Leopard yet, and from reading some of the comments here and elsewhere I'm going to wait a while for some further updates.

Drivers
No problems at all. My HP OfficeJet 6210 has drivers available at HP.com so it installed easily and works fine (I love the fact that the printer icon is actually my printer model, not just a generic graphic). Haven't had to install any other drivers yet, although I haven't had chance to hook up my Nikon Slide Scanner yet - Nikon does have drivers for Tiger though.

Big Apps
Adobe were very helpful and I was able to crossgrade Dreamweaver MX for Windows to CS3 for Mac for the upgrade price. Similarly I was able to get a legit copy of Photoshop 7 on eBay, get the license transferred, and then upgrade to CS3 (total cost about 50% of buying PS CS3 from scratch). I'd only used Elements on the PC, and an old version at that. There didn't seem to be a particularly good mid-range photo editing package for the Mac at that time, and I'd always wanted to get Photoshop at some stage.

I decided to give iWork 08 a try when I got the Mac, and I've got mixed feelings about it to be honest. I do need to share files with Office users on Windows and it's a bit of a pain having to import into iWork and then export back out, rather than being able to work on the original file directly. I'll probably end up taking a closer look at Office 2008 for Mac later. As a suite though, iWork 08 is good value and if you don't need to work with Office users regularly it's probably fine.

Other Apps
I do quite a bit of Web Development work and both Zend Studio and SmartSVN come in Mac versions at no extra cost to switch over.

Skype has a Mac version so it's ideal for webcam chats with family (who are using PCs). MSN for Mac doesn't have webcam support :frowning:

The two Mac-specific apps I've bought so far (apart from the two Adobe big ones) are Transmit (S/FTP client) and SuperDuper (backups), both based on recommendations here, and both very good.

For photography work, I'm currently trying iPhoto, but I might get Apple's Aperture or Adobe Lightroom as I do a lot RAW photography and tend to be quite obsessive about my workflow (I do miss Breeze DownloaderPro and Browser from the PC, but I think Aperture or Lightroom will be a good option). Another thread...

And that's all the apps I've really needed so far. Everything else seems to be built into Mac OS-X itself. Although I had Nero on the PC, I never used even half of its features other than burning a few data CD/DVDs.

I don't play games so I haven't missed that since moving to the Mac, although it's encouraging to see a selection of Mac games starting to appear.


The Future
As you can probably tell, I'm converted to Mac! I can't see myself going back to a Windows based PC for my main PC. I do still have a PC laptop (running XP) as finances won't permit a Mac laptop at the moment. My old PC has now been relegated to the corner for me play with Linux on.

I don't think I've become a Mac Zealot though. I only scored 37% on the How Addicted to Apple Are You? test.
 

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