Just ordered my first mac :D

ubersonic

ubersonic

ubersonic

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Just got order confirmation for my new system :)

I have ordered a refurbished (from Apple store) 27" iMac with the 3.1GHz i5, 4GB ram, 1GB 6970M and a 1TB HDD. It also comes with an apple wireless keyboard and magic mouse but those will be going straight on ebay lol, the ram will be changed to 8GB when it arrives as I have a mac compatible crucial kit I ordered from OCUK currently sitting in an Alienware M11x I use for Lanpartys (that will be getting the iMacs 4GB ofc).

The first thing im planning on doing is setting it up to duel boot Windows and OSX that way I can get the system im used to back asap (making my gaming PC redundant so I can sell it and get back some of the money spent on the iMac lol) and also have the ability to learn how the mac works and stuff. The only experience I have with macs is of a B&W mac classic in an English class in school and the iMacs (2000 ish) in the Graphics department in college so If anybody can suggest some of the things you should do/learn/download/etc when getting your first mac please advise :)
 
Congrats!

I would recommend the following:
  • If you have any other Apple devices, use iCloud.
  • Don't eliminate the Apple apps right away. Get used to them, and you'll more than likely find that they are a joy to use.
  • Essential programs to download would be Handbrake; Gruml (if you use Google Reader); LibreOffice for light office work, and Pages if you will be using it for more heavy text work; The Unarchiver (set it to be used for all your uncompressions); Transmission, Flash, Perian, Flip4Mac, Fluke (and set iTunes to 32 bit).

All of that should cover the basics. Another tip, don't always rely on the App Store; many of the apps there are available for free downloads on the makers' websites, though it is always nice to pay if you appreciate their work!

Sorry for such a short and simple post!
 
Tell us how you like it Uber, Im considering going mbp(when the new ones are out) and imac down the line as i dont game anymore on my pc and well, they look super sexy!
 
Snap uber. i have just bought my first imac as well. Only had it since wednesday so still getting to grips but loving it all so far.

Enjoy the new toy.
 
One app I can definitely recommend for a new Mac user is Skitch. I've loved it ever since coming to the Mac side since early last year :)
 
Marky said:
One app I can definitely recommend for a new Mac user is Skitch. I've loved it ever since coming to the Mac side since early last year :)
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Skitch is fantastic for basic annotations and screenshots. What I cannot stand about it is how you cannot drag multiple pictures in, not even with layers, just multiple objects. I have to use Pages to create the layout (if I want to create a diagram, for example) then take a screenshot of that! Great app otherwise though.
 
Bat said:
Maybe try Windows virtualised as an alternative to Bootcamp. Virtualbox is free!
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I'd agree about virtualisation but I would go for Parallels. I bought Parallels after trying VB and found the paid for product to be far superior in every way. I would also go for Office for Mac 2011 as this is a very good product indeed, well worth the money. Mac Mail as email client with gmail as the provider works a treat too. Only fly in the ointment for me is the screen size i.e. 27". I've never regretted having the 21.5 inch model as I found the 27" just to large.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, the iMac arrived on Friday (so delivery within 24hrs of ordering :)) sadly just as I was going away for the weekend lol.


Kobi said:
Tell us how you like it Uber, Im considering going mbp(when the new ones are out) and imac down the line as i dont game anymore on my pc and well, they look super sexy!
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Ironically gaming was a concern of mine when I selected this iMac, not cutting edge gaming but stuff like WoW, UT2004, TF2, etc. With a 27" screen the iMac should be great for watching films (no TV in my room and despite owning the 42" plasma downstairs I never get to use it lol) and for work/play.

from what I have read the 6970m is quite capable for a mobile chip-set, and one of the cool things about a 2560x1440 screen is not only do they look stunning but their exactly double the resolution of 1280x720 which means if I run into something that is unplayable at native res I can drop to 1280x720 and whack up the AA and other settings and because it will be using a square of 4 pixels to represent 1 pixel it won't end up getting that vomit inducing blurr you normally get when a LCD panel is displaying something below native res.
 
Whack Windows in a Virtualised environment. The combination of OSX and Apple hardware is a joy to behold but if may take some getting used to if have been used to Windows for a long time.

I love my 27" iMac
 
lamboman said:
Skitch is fantastic for basic annotations and screenshots. What I cannot stand about it is how you cannot drag multiple pictures in, not even with layers, just multiple objects. I have to use Pages to create the layout (if I want to create a diagram, for example) then take a screenshot of that! Great app otherwise though.
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I agree - It's really due an update. Don't think its had one since its merge with Evernote :(
 
Faustus said:
I'd agree about virtualisation but I would go for Parallels. I bought Parallels after trying VB and found the paid for product to be far superior in every way. I would also go for Office for Mac 2011 as this is a very good product indeed, well worth the money. Mac Mail as email client with gmail as the provider works a treat too. Only fly in the ointment for me is the screen size i.e. 27". I've never regretted having the 21.5 inch model as I found the 27" just to large.
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VMWare Fusion is my preference, but VB is pretty good for free and lets you have a play and see if it's something that works well for you.
 
Well ive finally managed to get a full days use out of it after getting home and getting everything set up on Wednesday. So what do think so far?

First Impressions: Well first of all Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!, if you order one of these off the net having only seen the 21" model in comet it will appear monolithic, but I like that, another thing is thats its designed for a table not a desk, if you have a keyboard/mouse draw then the screen will be too high unless your a bean stalk. Ok things that confuzzled me coming from a Windows environment, well first of all no Ctrl+Alt+Del so when the WoW installer crashed I had to Google how to kill a Mac window lol. Also the mouse wheel scrolls in the opposite direction to Windows/Linux which takes a bit of getting used to. One annoying this thats reared its head so far is the is no option apparently available in OSX to alter the DPI/PPI of the GUI which is a tad annoying as it means I have to lean forwards when viewing a web page unless I zoom it.

The Machine: The wireless keyboard that comes with it is nice but some keys are in odd places and it has no numpad or anything to the right of the return key really so gonna be picking an Apple usb keyboard (full sized) up form comet on the way home to replace it. The magic mouse, lasted 1-2 hours then the trusty Intellimouse explorer went in (works fine in OSX) the magic mouse is cool and swiping to the dashboard/etc is cool but its more for people who just want email/internet really, its too small and feels like a toy plus you can only click left or right buttons individually it would seem.

The screen on the iMac is very good, 27"/2560x1440 but its not great, all the people raving about how iMac screens are the second coming are probably comparing them too 21" Acer jobs, Its a very good screen but a Dell IPS 27" with the same res is better (and matte). One thing I love is that its so quiet, generates a lot of heat but I never hear the fans eve when playing WoW in a full raid, the noisiest thing is the HDD lol.

Important thing: Don't buy one of these without testing one unless you know for sure your not susceptible to LED sickness, my friend cannot watch me using my iMac for long without getting nausea or eye strain. This isn't really a Mac problem its a problem with LED back lighting tech, unlike a CRT or Plasma or the fluorescent tube behind a non LED LCD panel which can all dim to lower brightness LED's are either on or off, brightness is lowered by rapidly turning them on/off so the strobe effect gives the illusion of sustained lower light output, this problem apparently effects quite a few people.

The software:I'm liking what I have seen of OSX so far, in fact much more than I like Windows 7 (Im still using Vista on my MS box as I prefer the GUI) but like my Ubuntu box I see it as something different to Windows not better/worse its doing the job asked of it fine so far :) I installed Chrome as I know from Windows that I prefer it to Safari, I have also installed Perian for Quicktime, Ventrilo, Transmission and World of Warcraft which runs much better than expected. At 1440p you don't need AA which means I was able to set the game to ultra then turn AF down to 8x and shadows down to low (don't like them) and it looks good in OGL mode. It will be interesting to see how performance/quality compares in D3D11 mode oonce I get Windows 7 installed with Boot camp.


Tonight I plan to Install Windows 7 with boot camp then Install Steam on both OS's (Windows only things in windows and OSX compatible stuff in OSX).
 
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You can make it scroll the other way if needs be, press the apple on the top left, go to system preferences, tack pad, scroll direction and untick the natural button (I think that corrects it for a normal mouse too)

To make things bigger on Safari press cmd and scroll up and down on the mouse too ;) (most things in the os are individual so you can make them bigger in their own preferences, like the dock can be made bigger with dock preferences and so on)

Enjoy
 
ubersonic said:
well first of all no Ctrl+Alt+Del so when the WoW installer crashed I had to Google how to kill a Mac window lol.
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Hahaha I can remember the first time something crashed for me on a Mac. First thing I did was Google how to kill it :p It gets better :p

ubersonic said:
Also the mouse wheel scrolls in the opposite direction to Windows/Linux which takes a bit of getting used to.
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This is an annoying feature they introduced in OSX Lion. You can change it back to how a normal scrollbar works in the settings.

ubersonic said:
One annoying this thats reared its head so far is the is no option apparently available in OSX to alter the DPI/PPI of the GUI which is a tad annoying as it means I have to lean forwards when viewing a web page unless I zoom it.
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Hmm can't help you with that I'm afraid, everything looks lovely and close on my 15" Macbook Pro :p I'm sure someone will be here soon to help :)

ubersonic said:
Its a very good screen but a Dell IPS 27" with the same res is better (and matte).
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I wish they would give the option of a Matte screen type for iMacs also :(

ubersonic said:
It will be interesting to see how performance/quality compares in D3D11 mode oonce I get Windows 7 installed with Boot camp.
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Hopefully it's a smooth experience. I always have Boot Camp installed just incase there is a Windows game I want to try. It usually works flawlessly :)
 
pingwing said:
You can make it scroll the other way if needs be, press the apple on the top left, go to system preferences, tack pad, scroll direction and untick the natural button (I think that corrects it for a normal mouse too)

To make things bigger on Safari press cmd and scroll up and down on the mouse too ;) (most things in the os are individual so you can make them bigger in their own preferences, like the dock can be made bigger with dock preferences and so on)

Enjoy
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Thanks for the info on the scroll wheel and safari :) I have made the dock and the desktop icons bigger :)



Marky said:
I wish they would give the option of a Matte screen type for iMacs also :(
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From what I have read they actually have a matte screen, its just the is a sheet of glass in front of it with a gloss finish. Some people on the net have actually just removed the glass and used the system without, im guessing it would void the warranty but like they would be able to tell. Only problem though is its not very aesthetic and the is the issue f dust getting in.


Marky said:
Hopefully it's a smooth experience. I always have Boot Camp installed just incase there is a Windows game I want to try. It usually works flawlessly :)
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Cool, im planning on just using W7 for a fall-back and running OSX as the main O/S.
 
Ok quick update on this for anybody that may be following (if not im sure my experience can help a future Apple convert :P)

I have now installed Windows 7 Home Premium in Bootcamp, it works great, well no it doesn't because its Windows 7 lol, but its working as normal. It is however a tad annoying that Lion only lets you use 7 as I would much have preferred Vista, but its only going to be for playing games that OSX can't so /meh ^^

Overall I am loving OSX ,I like the multitasking and the ability to create additional desktops on an as needed basis. Since my last post I have purchased an Apple wired keyboard from Comet (£40) and I much prefer it to the one that came with the iMac (small wireless one) It has two USB ports and is a solid piece of kit.

Its kind of surreal using OSX because on one side you have an interface which arguably looks slicker and more modern than Windows 7 (although Ubuntu can currently boast that) however on the other side the application library reminds me somewhat of the late 90's/early 2000's PC era with Windows 98. To clarify, today on Windows if u want a program, it exists, and most likely the are losts of them and probably an open source or freeware option, but on OSX it probably exists and if it does the won't be that many and the may not even be a cost free option.

Okay here's some problems I have that hopefully somebody may be able to tell me solutions to:

One problem that I have found is that the is no Windows Live Messenger for OSX only Microsoft messenger for mac which I cannot even get to connect, I have been using Adium instead and really like it however its inability to receive pictures from WLM users (aka all my chat contacts) is a bit of a deal breaker, so much so that until I find a work around im using WLM on my M11x next to the iMac.

Another problem is that OSX does not appear to adhere to the disk>directory>file methodology that Dos/Windows/Ubuntu use and it insists that when I organise a folder by name it mixes with sub-folders with the files, I have not managed to Google anything for this but if anyone can help It would be appreciated. Basically I want folders at the top then files below.

Another problem is that without noticing it I seem to have started referring to directory's as folders.

Another problem is that whenever I open a folder (im just gonna stick with it, its less to type) the shape is never quite right, I can press the green + that would be maximize on Windows to grow the window to the contents size but I would much prefer to stretch the finder window to a set size and then have it stay that size and just arrange the icons with a vertical scrollbar if they don't all fit.

Also, Is the any way to run Quicktime in full screen but now zoom the video to fit? I prefer my videos to fill ~2/3-3/4 of the iMacs screen which it can do but I would prefer not to be able to see the rest of the screen around the outside.

Well that's all for now :)
 
ubersonic said:
One problem that I have found is that the is no Windows Live Messenger for OSX only Microsoft messenger for mac which I cannot even get to connect, I have been using Adium instead and really like it however its inability to receive pictures from WLM users (aka all my chat contacts) is a bit of a deal breaker, so much so that until I find a work around im using WLM on my M11x next to the iMac.
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Ooo that sucks... I don't have much experience with IM apps on Mac so not sure I'm going to be much help. I would go to the Adium forums and ask for advice. It seems strange if this isn't a feature they've included...

ubersonic said:
Another problem is that OSX does not appear to adhere to the disk>directory>file methodology that Dos/Windows/Ubuntu use and it insists that when I organise a folder by name it mixes with sub-folders with the files, I have not managed to Google anything for this but if anyone can help It would be appreciated. Basically I want folders at the top then files below.
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Again something I'm not 100% familiar on, however I find that Finder does have its flaws, and have heard that an app called "Total Finder" is an 'essential' utility that brings extra features to Finder. I haven't tried it yet myself, it's on my to-do list :p

ubersonic said:
Another problem is that whenever I open a folder (im just gonna stick with it, its less to type) the shape is never quite right, I can press the green + that would be maximize on Windows to grow the window to the contents size but I would much prefer to stretch the finder window to a set size and then have it stay that size and just arrange the icons with a vertical scrollbar if they don't all fit.
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The absolute worst thing about OSX in my opinion is its window management. It never seems to be right for me :p You can set it to arrange like you say you'd like it, but it's like it only saves it for that folder... I'm hoping that Total Finder will fix this, but if not there are plenty of windows management apps that may help out a bit.
 
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