Need Help from all you Mac Girls!!

[tcscrapper]

Welcome to the DARK SIDE!!

I have a 15" MacBook Pro and I LOVE IT! I was raised on a Mac and didn't switch to PC until I got married. DH was a PC only type guy and we couldn't afford a Mac.

Last Christmas, DH surprised me with my MAC!! I was SO ecstatic!!!

Now he wants a Mac!!!

Glad to hear you converted and hope you love yours as much as I love mine!!

[tomkat]

Brenda, I'm glad you're excited! I'm having severe buyer's remorse which will probably be remedied within a few hours of playing with my new computer. I do think we'll have a lot of fun figuring it all out together!

And right this minute, I'm having such a hard time w/ this PC, that it's making me a little more ready for this new one to arrive. I can barely get this one to respond to anything.

Cassie, thank you so much for mentioning that info on the One on One. Now that has me kinda excited! How cool will that be? I've wished for something like that before. My husband has already told me to do it, so I think I just will! If I end up w/ CS3 and InDesign, that'll be 2 new programs that I'll love having some help with. Not to mention learning how the Mac works.

tcscrapper, what a nice husband you have! That's super sweet of him. My husband doesn't know enough about computers to do something like that. He just has to "command" me to order one!

Katina

[digigrandma]

Hey, tcscrapper, we Mac girls have to stick together. My dh doesn't know anything much about computers, but, he totally supports me getting macs because he sees how much I use my computer and how trouble free they are.

[JesseEdwards]

So glad you did it!!!

I've had my laptop for 6/7 years and it still works perfectly. I haven't had any problems. In fact I just upgraded my RAM last month to upgrade to leopard. Prior to that I was working with 512 RAM...I've got a speedy machine now! Enjoy playing with your new equipment when you get it!

[BillieBee]

Once you go MAC, you'll never go back I've had my IMAC since last May. Prior to that, I considered myself a PCperson, but never again. You'll love your new mac

Regarding buying RAM from Crucial, I inquired at the MAC store and they said if I put another product in my MAC, it would cancel out my Apple Care. Because of that, I purchased the RAM through MAC, which was expensive, but worth it.

[tracydigigirl]

Originally Posted by BillieBee

Regarding buying RAM from Crucial, I inquired at the MAC store and they said if I put another product in my MAC, it would cancel out my Apple Care. Because of that, I purchased the RAM through MAC, which was expensive, but worth it.

Great info. Thanks for sharing!!!

[teeleedee]

Glad to hear you went with the Mac. You will LOVE IT! It will be a bit of an adjustment from a PC, but I know you will get the hang of it, if you give yourself the time.

[tracydigigirl]

Katina - So glad that you decided to go Mac.

Just a heads up as you receive your box of love...I've had my MBP for almost two months and only now would i say that it fits like a glove. There are alot of Win things you'll have to UN-learn in order to settle in to the Mac environment and time will ease that process. Basic PC commands like Cut, Paste, Undo, etc. are consistent with interchanging the Control with the Command keys. But menu bars and close buttons are going to be slightly relocated. Also, the keys feel different. That was weird at first but I don't even notice it now.

It's human nature to dislike change, even when it's for the better. Just relax and give yourself time to adjust before getting frustrated. Also, there are loads of forums on the web that can teach you more than you'll ever need to know about your MBP.

Give it time and you'll fall head over heels...I promise!

[Island Girl]

Originally Posted by B-Jo

I think you made the perfect choice, Katina! You won't regret it. Just give yourself some time to get used to the changes and you'll be joining in the Mac praise chorus!

Woo Hoo! I'm really excited! You deserve a new computer!!

I echo that! My husband convinced me to switch too and as I read your post I remembered the feeling of dread that I had when we ordered it... I was definitely anti mac! and I was irritated that I wouldn't have Publisher which I knew so well.

It took me a couple of weeks of playing and poking and I have never looked back. As I said in a previous post, I use Pages now for my newsletters and brochures and I LOVE it. After using it a few times I found it quite easy to use... my publications now are a lot more professional looking. I am going to start looking at InDesign as I try to make a decision about upgrading to CS3 or PSE6.0 when it becomes available. Please let us know how you adjust!

[cedarhil]

I can't wait for the post where you describe the moment you hold it in your hands. I have an i mac and I took it from its box, plugged in its one and only plug! no tower btw! and I was ready to go. Beautiful thing.

[tomkat]

Jesse...6/7 years? Wow! I'll be thrilled to get 5 out of one.

Everyone...thanks for your support! I'm definitely more excited about it today than I was yesterday. And so many of you can't be wrong, right? It sounds like I'll be fine w/o Publisher since several of you have gotten over that, too.

I'll certainly let y'all know when I get it! I'm expecting it Wednesday.

Katina

[digigrandma]

I certainly love hearing all the mac testimonials. Nice to know there are so many of us loving Macs.

[chriskent]

Hi All,

First time posting, long time lurker, but I'm also long-time Mac addict and had to add to the all the good Mac vibes flowing here!

I offer a couple suggestions to Katina, our newest Mac recruit

I would start with the following less complicated (and less $$'s) applications first. Being new to the Mac operating system, it may help ease your initial confusion and get you up to speed faster. They may satisfy your needs for the time being and you can always upgrade to the higher end apps if you find yourself "outgrowing" the others.

I've been using Pages to create newsletters and do word processing. It's newest version is much improved and worthy of seriously checking out. A free Trial Version will come already loaded on your new MacBook Pro, (At $79, part of 3 programs in the iWork package, its a pretty good deal).

I would also try the new Photoshop Elements 6.0 for Mac when it's released (very soon) .
There are some nice basic tutorials on the Apple site for all the iLife and iWork applications, and also some specifically for Windows users switching to Macs.

And, of course, you've got all these wonderful Mac users here to help you too!!

Hope this helps,

Chriz

[tomkat]

Thanks, Chriz! I'll definitely check out that Pages since there will be a trial on my computer. I didn't know that.

I'm leaning toward InDesign because the company I design newsletters for really likes it. And from what I understand, the printers prefer it, too.

But, I am curious, can documents created w/ Pages be opened on PC computers?

Oh, and I will definitely be checking out tutorials!

Katina

[Chris]

I picked up "The Missing Manual" by David Pogue. It's really helping me me with the transition from Windows to the Mac operating system. The book was so heavy that I very carefully sliced it in three and bound the edges with white paper tape. I'm glad I did because the sections are now much easier to sit on my lap and read.

[tomkat]

That's the 2nd recommendation I've had for The Missing Manual book! I'll have to look that up on Amazon.

Btw, Merrilee...anytime my husband sees your avatar as I'm browsing the forum or gallery, he says, "There's my friend." He such a nut! So it's not just the guy at the Apple store. You apparently make friends very easy! You don't even have to "meet" them to make friends with them!

Katina

[Island Girl]

Originally Posted by TomKat

But, I am curious, can documents created w/ Pages be opened on PC computers?



Katina

You can export to a Word Document but I find that since Pages is a much richer graphics program than Word, some of the formatting gets wonky, so what I do is save it as a PDF (it gives you that option right in Pages) which then can be opened by anyone with Acrobat Reader. HTH

[trudem]

Okay so seems like everybody pretty much covered everything, but just had to add (as a Mac convert myself, just over 2 years now) a few things:

1) One of the main selling points for me was: virtually NO SPYWARE, VIRUSES, OR ADWARE! My old laptop was killing me on that, no matter how many times I tried to wipe it or use expensive antivirus equipment.
2) Pretty much everything you need is built in. I know many programs are pretty cheap with PCs, but having something like iMovie and iDVD built in already is super cool (and made me the cool kid on the block).
3) Adding RAM is pretty easy and inexpensive - especially if you don't go through the Apple store to do it. My BF's dad used a local computer company to do it, and he added 2GB for only $80 (plus install time) since the price of silicon has come down so much.

And definitely get the AppleCare plan! SO worth it!

[tracydigigirl]

Originally Posted by BillieBee

Regarding buying RAM from Crucial, I inquired at the MAC store and they said if I put another product in my MAC, it would cancel out my Apple Care. Because of that, I purchased the RAM through MAC, which was expensive, but worth it.

Still curious about this, I googled it and found this. Not saying one source is more reliable than another but it does suggest further research is in order. If the rumor is false, it means a huge $$$ savings. That's worth a little research to me!

[B-Jo]

Tracy, I'm curious too. I've already bought and installed mine, and I bought the Apple Care Plan. I guess if I had to, I could always put the old Ram back in long enough for service. If worse came to worst.

[BillieBee]

Originally Posted by tracy.digigirl

Still curious about this, I googled it and found this. Not saying one source is more reliable than another but it does suggest further research is in order. If the rumor is false, it means a huge $$$ savings. That's worth a little research to me!

Wow! That's great info, Tracy. In my case, it was the guy at the Mac Genius bar who told me that as long as I install mac product, the Apple Care would hold. Maybe I should have investigated more? Maybe there are ways around this, like, for example, if you go to a Mac approved computer shop. Sorry to all if my info isn't accurate -- he could have been an overzealous salesman!

[Britgirl]

Love my mac, it s a gleaming imac and its soooooooo bright, kind {yes really; user friendly} and prefect. I second {third?} the missing manual. IMO you have to get it. I worked my way thro the whole book in front of my mac and learnt a BILLION shortcuts and silly little tips that make everything feel so personalisedl. I did everything the book showed me, even if I thought I would never use it. and now of course I use it all the time. I open safari by cmd-space-saf{type saf}- enter. much faster than opening safari by clicking on it!LOL! my folders open with different colours of pictures behind all the internal folders, so I can see instantly whats open, my highlight colour is now my favourite shade of green , my hard drive wind down speed is to my personal setting, my smart mailboxes are all organised and well... I could go on!!
I did give myself a break tho and had PSE4 (what i used before) purchased with the mac. thought one learning curve at a time was enough!
oh and get the .mac address and delight in all the extra little bits that come with buying a .mac address.

[AmyPunky]

Congrats for the Mac, Katina!!!

[tomkat]

britgirl...you sold me on the book! Sounds fun.

I've been trying for 2 days now, though, to go to Amazon.com, and it just won't open. Has anyone heard what's going on there? I almost always buy my books there, but the site must be down.

Thanks for the congrats, Emilie! It's supposed to arrive today!

Katina