SkyDivinRyan 0 #1 April 4, 2008 Just bought a Macbook pro 2.4GHZ 4gb ram... this is my first mac and i was just wanted to hear you thoughts on some of the features and if you have ne tips for mac newbsfire away. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingbunky 3 #2 April 4, 2008 i have one, but it isn't quite the beast yours is. the only tip i can think of off hand is that if you play world of warcraft (or anything that pushes the system hard), you'll want to get a stand or something that will let air get to the underside. that sucker gets seriously hot!"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart." MB4252 TDS699 killing threads since 2001 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HSPScott 0 #3 April 4, 2008 What are you going to be using it for, video editing an everyday computer??? It is a powerful machine, and ther are a lot of great programs that can do just about anything you want. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shepp 0 #4 April 4, 2008 Ryan, I made the switch from PC to Mac back in January. I am very pleased, and that is coming from an IT guy who was a MicroZombie his whole life. I will never own a PC as my personal machine again. Here are a few rec's for you: 1. I recommend you pick up a Speck SeeThru case for it. The aluminum skin on the MBPro is very susceptible to scratching, even if you are careful I got the clear SeeThru for mine and it is super. It offers protection from scratches and dings, but adds only minimal weight and bulk. There is a SeeThru available for the 13, 15, and 17 inch models. SeeThru 2. The MBPro can get frighteningly hot when you are doing intense computing (i.e. watching videos or ripping DVDs) - don't worry too much about it. Just don't block the vents on the bottom of the screen hinge. 3. Take a look at this Apple site here - it has a lot of valuable information for folks making the switch. Switch 101 4. If after you make the switch, you decide there are some Windows apps you just can't live without, take a look at Parallels or Boot Camp. I personally use Parallels, and I can boot into WinXP in about 9 seconds on my MBPro 2.6Ghz model. Parallels 5. I have found FireFox to be much more feature-rich than Safari, and I use Safari only for its 'Private Browsing' feature when doing online banking. Mozilla FireFox 6. Get a .Mac account if you can spare the $99 a year. The email is fantastic, plus you get iDisk (online storage), photo/video/web hosting, and more. Highly recommended. The .Mac email gives you an address that ends in @mac.com and integrates fully with OS X's mail application. .Mac I think you will be very happy with your new computer. Feel free to PM me about any questions or whatever. /Shepp Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward. Accidents don't just happen. They must be carelessly planned. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #5 April 4, 2008 Quote 1. I recommend you pick up a Speck SeeThru case for it. The aluminum skin on the MBPro is very susceptible to scratching, even if you are careful I got the clear SeeThru for mine and it is super. It offers protection from scratches and dings, but adds only minimal weight and bulk. There is a SeeThru available for the 13, 15, and 17 inch models. SeeThru 2. The MBPro can get frighteningly hot when you are doing intense computing (i.e. watching videos or ripping DVDs) - don't worry too much about it. Just don't block the vents on the bottom of the screen hinge. Ya know . . . there's a reason it's made out of aluminum; radiation. No, not the kinda radiation that requires you to wear lead over your nutsack while the dentist gives you an x-ray, but HEAT radiation. Aluminum is extremely effective at soaking it up from one side and radiating it out the other. Covering the device with any sort of plastic shield, especially on the bottom of it, just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. As for just how much heat . . . yeah, I've actually cooked my legs a bit. First degree burns, maybe not quite as intense as a sunburn, but you learn very, VERY, quickly to put something between it and you if it's going to be on your actual lap for very long. Make certain that whatever that is still allows for ventilation; a couch cushion, for instance, isn't a great idea.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shepp 0 #6 April 4, 2008 Good point, Paul. I thought the same thing when I was initially looking at a protective case. I decided to pick up the SeeThru and see what kind of effect it had on my operating temps. (And I got my SeeThru for $10 at CompUSA at their going-out-of-business sale, so I was kind of thinking "eh, what the hell, why not?"). Having the SeeThru on, the core temps only ran about 2 degrees F hotter (101F vs 99F) at near-zero loading and only about 4 degrees F hotter (163F vs 159F) at 100% loading. I made the 100% measurements after 5 minutes. Looking at mine now, there are actually a whole series of vents in the plastic on the bottom side where the heat pipes run through the case. Maybe that has something to do with it?Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward. Accidents don't just happen. They must be carelessly planned. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jcd11235 0 #7 April 4, 2008 Demeter is far and away the best internet browser available for the Mac. It has far more features than Safari (fewer than Opera), and is a native Cocoa application, so it doesn't feel like a port like Firefox and Opera do, and supports System Services like Safari does (which Firefox and Opera do not). I've found Demeter to be faster than any of the other three, as well as slightly faster than Camino (Mozilla's fast Mac only browser). I also have found XShelf to be indispensable. If you have AVI video files, I recommend downloading Perian, which allows those files to be played in Quicktime, as well as in Quicklook. For Windows Media files, Flip4Mac allows playback in Quicktime. If you get an external drive (highly recommended) for extra storage and/or Time Machine, make sure you get one with a FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b) port. (USB 2.0 is simply too slow; it's the slowest wired connection on your MBP.) eSATA is even faster than FW 800, but will require a eSATA card for your ExpressCard slot. A drive case utilizing an Oxford chipset is highly recommended. Any external drive will need to be formated in HFS+ (called Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in Disk Utility) with GUID partition table scheme to be used with Time Machine. An external drive formatted this way can be bootable (with a FireWire or USB connection, I haven't had the opportunity to test eSATA), if you install OS X onto it. This is also highly recommended. One last note on external drives, I've read that Time Machine needs a drive with at least twice the capacity of the boot drive. I can't verify this, since my TM drive is 2.5x the capacity of my internal drive.Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jcd11235 0 #8 April 4, 2008 QuoteIf after you make the switch, you decide there are some Windows apps you just can't live without, take a look at Parallels or Boot Camp. I personally use Parallels, and I can boot into WinXP in about 9 seconds on my MBPro 2.6Ghz model. Parallels It's probably worth mentioning VMWare's Fusion also allows this. I've never found any need to run Windows on my Mac, so I don't have an opinion which is better, but they both have a lot of user support.Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ryoder 1,400 #9 April 4, 2008 Quote Ya know . . . there's a reason it's made out of aluminum; radiation. No, not the kinda radiation that requires you to wear lead over your nutsack while the dentist gives you an x-ray, but HEAT radiation. Aluminum is extremely effective at soaking it up from one side and radiating it out the other. Covering the device with any sort of plastic shield, especially on the bottom of it, just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. As for just how much heat . . . yeah, I've actually cooked my legs a bit. First degree burns, maybe not quite as intense as a sunburn, but you learn very, VERY, quickly to put something between it and you if it's going to be on your actual lap for very long. Make certain that whatever that is still allows for ventilation; a couch cushion, for instance, isn't a great idea. Even bettter: http://www.chillpak.com/chillpak/ BTW Click on the "Inventor" link at the top of the page."There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingbunky 3 #10 April 4, 2008 i got a gelaskin for mine. looks stylin', protects the top, leaves the bottom open and removes cleanly. got a matching one for my touch as well. "Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart." MB4252 TDS699 killing threads since 2001 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RandomLemming 0 #11 April 4, 2008 QuoteJust bought a Macbook pro 2.4GHZ 4gb ram... this is my first mac and i was just wanted to hear you thoughts on some of the features and if you have ne tips for mac newbsfire away. Make sure you get an external harddriver ASAP and set it up in Time Machine. By doing this, all you need to do to make backups is ensure that the external disk is plugged in and switched on. I know of 6 hard disk failures on friends and family MBPs in the last 3 months, so backups are important to me :) Besides, there are only two types of people - those who have lost data and those who are still to lose data. Or think of it like this - you wouldn't skydive without a reserve, would you ? :D Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #12 April 4, 2008 Quotehttp://www.chillpak.com/chillpak/ BTW Click on the "Inventor" link at the top of the page. There are forces at work here, forces of the universe that you just don't understand. This "gel" was found at the Roswell site and reverse engineered by the big oil companies. Every time you use your computer, heat that normally would have simply dissipated into the atmosphere gets absorbed by this "gel" and when you recharge it in your freezer, more and more energy is being taken off the grid and making them billions. Further, whatever you do, don't let it leak. This "gel" can get under your skin and can take over your brain.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
murrays 0 #13 April 4, 2008 QuoteQuoteIf after you make the switch, you decide there are some Windows apps you just can't live without, take a look at Parallels or Boot Camp. I personally use Parallels, and I can boot into WinXP in about 9 seconds on my MBPro 2.6Ghz model. Parallels It's probably worth mentioning VMWare's Fusion also allows this. I've never found any need to run Windows on my Mac, so I don't have an opinion which is better, but they both have a lot of user support. I have both Parallels and Fusion on my iMac at work. I installed Fusion after a Windows tax program I am completely dependent on started messing up after a Parallels update. The Fusion install went great and it did something automatically that took me a long time to set up in Parallels.....it automatically setup my User Folder to be accessible from the Windows side of things. For me this is crucial as I backup my tax data daily and it is so much easier to have it in my home user folder in OS X. If you read around you'll see claims of one or the other being better at certain things. All I know is that Fusion saved me having to get a Windows machine for my tax program. Fusion is written and supported by VMWare who have been doing the virtualization thing for a very long time.-- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkyDivinRyan 0 #14 April 5, 2008 thanks for the help guys it shows up on the 11th i can;t wait Im glad im joining the 7% minority haha. oh by the way can ne explain what the diff is between the 08 version and the feb 28 08 version cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
murrays 0 #15 April 5, 2008 Welcome to the club! You should also know about a few Mac oriented websites to help you stay abreast of new programs, products, rumours, etc.... The Unofficial Apple Weblog Versiontracker - for Software Fake Steve Jobs - Humour and Satire Macrumors.com These are my most visited sites. There are many more in the Mac blogosphere.-- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Broke 0 #16 April 5, 2008 The head of the IT department at work sent me this site to buy ram from http://eshop.macsales.com/Divot your source for all things Hillbilly. Anvil Brother 84 SCR 14192 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DSE 3 #17 April 5, 2008 Quote [r Ya know . . . there's a reason it's made out of aluminum; radiation. No, not the kinda radiation that requires you to wear lead over your nutsack while the dentist gives you an x-ray, but HEAT radiation. Aluminum is extremely effective at soaking it up from one side and radiating it out the other. Covering the device with any sort of plastic shield, especially on the bottom of it, just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. As for just how much heat . . . yeah, I've actually cooked my legs a bit. First degree burns, maybe not quite as intense as a sunburn, but you learn very, VERY, quickly to put something between it and you if it's going to be on your actual lap for very long. Make certain that whatever that is still allows for ventilation; a couch cushion, for instance, isn't a great idea. Wow. First person other than myself I've ever heard make this comment. Our guys all like looking o-so-cool with their red or piano black MBP's. As if carrying an MBP isn't cool enough Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Miami 0 #18 April 5, 2008 Get Apple care. I'm posting right now from the new MBP I just picked up last night as a replacement for my old one. I preordered a MBP when the were first announced and after two years it died on me (last week). Took it in the the apple store, they couldn't get it to work and gave me a brand new one, just like that. If I hadn't had Applecare I would have been SOL.Miami Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Miami 0 #19 April 5, 2008 Quote Quote 1. I recommend you pick up a Speck SeeThru case for it. The aluminum skin on the MBPro is very susceptible to scratching, even if you are careful I got the clear SeeThru for mine and it is super. It offers protection from scratches and dings, but adds only minimal weight and bulk. There is a SeeThru available for the 13, 15, and 17 inch models. SeeThru 2. The MBPro can get frighteningly hot when you are doing intense computing (i.e. watching videos or ripping DVDs) - don't worry too much about it. Just don't block the vents on the bottom of the screen hinge. Ya know . . . there's a reason it's made out of aluminum; radiation. No, not the kinda radiation that requires you to wear lead over your nutsack while the dentist gives you an x-ray, but HEAT radiation. Aluminum is extremely effective at soaking it up from one side and radiating it out the other. Covering the device with any sort of plastic shield, especially on the bottom of it, just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. As for just how much heat . . . yeah, I've actually cooked my legs a bit. First degree burns, maybe not quite as intense as a sunburn, but you learn very, VERY, quickly to put something between it and you if it's going to be on your actual lap for very long. Make certain that whatever that is still allows for ventilation; a couch cushion, for instance, isn't a great idea. Download fan control to deal with the heat...kicks up the fans rpms a touch and keeps the heat WAY down.Miami Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
denete 2 #20 April 5, 2008 QuoteThe head of the IT department at work sent me this site to buy ram from http://eshop.macsales.com/ I highly endorse the guys at OtherWorldComputing. I've had great dealings with them since they were an infant company.SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflydrew 0 #21 April 6, 2008 QuoteQuoteThe head of the IT department at work sent me this site to buy ram from http://eshop.macsales.com/ I highly endorse the guys at OtherWorldComputing. I've had great dealings with them since they were an infant company. I completely agree. I order from them once a month and have clients and students who order from them every week. Suer good customer service, located in the midwest so shipping is quick to everywhere and the pricing and warranty is awesome. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jcd11235 0 #22 April 6, 2008 I've also had positive experiences with my OWC purchases.Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
murrays 0 #23 April 6, 2008 Canadians might like to try Canadaram.com Fast service and these guys are extremely helpful.-- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shepp 0 #24 April 7, 2008 QuoteDownload fan control to deal with the heat...kicks up the fans rpms a touch and keeps the heat WAY down. I have used a similar product and found that I can kick the fans up to about 4000rpm before the noise gets really obnoxious. When just surfing or whathaveyou, it really does keep the MBP pretty cool and comfy. I have noticed though that when I'm doing something like video encoding, even cranking the fans up to 6000rpm (max) will only keep the cores just below nuclear meltdown temps.Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward. Accidents don't just happen. They must be carelessly planned. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrewwhyte 1 #25 April 7, 2008 QuoteDemeter is far and away the best internet browser available for the Mac. It has far more features than Safari (fewer than Opera), and is a native Cocoa application, so it doesn't feel like a port like Firefox and Opera do, and supports System Services like Safari does (which Firefox and Opera do not). So I went and downloaded Demeter and I really like it except it doesn't play with Yahoo mail beta. Too bad. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
