macbook some questions

porkrind · 28 Oct 2006 at 08:47

like the look of these wanna run some muiscal apps on a macbook (reason/ableton live) 2 questions

1/ how does the mouse work will just 1 button, as i will probably need to bt to XP and run some appz that need RMB. ( probably dumb question I know but i need to know)

2/Can I use an external DVDRW drive with a macBook?

3/whats the average battery life? is it more running OSX over running XP?

Many thanks !

Matt · 28 Oct 2006 at 11:10

porkrind said:
1/ how does the mouse work will just 1 button, as i will probably need to bt to XP and run some appz that need RMB. ( probably dumb question I know but i need to know)

It has two buttons... Well, one physical button, and you just tap the pad with two fingers for right click

However, when using Bootcamp for XP, it's only one button and you'll need an external mouse.

porkrind said:
2/Can I use an external DVDRW drive with a macBook?

Yes

porkrind said:
3/whats the average battery life? is it more running OSX over running XP?

3-4hrs I think it's more running OSX than XP, but the battery life isn't amazing, just average really.

meghatronic · 28 Oct 2006 at 11:24

Matt said:
you just tap the pad with two fingers for right click

Could you clarify...

Al Vallario · 28 Oct 2006 at 11:48

In OS X you just Ctrl+Click for "right click," or use an external mouse if you can. There is an application for Windows called Apple Mouse Utility which should enable you to use Ctrl+Click in Windows too. Just throw it in your startup folder and it should load up each time you start up Windows.

Matt said:
2/Can I use an external DVDRW drive with a macBook?

Provided it is a Firewire 400 or USB 2.0 (backwards-compatible with USB 1.1 etc.) DVDRW drive, you are good to go. Plug it in and it will be mounted automatically — peripheral handling is a pleasure in OS X.

Matt said:
3-4hrs I think it's more running OSX than XP, but the battery life isn't amazing, just average really.

At the moment, just surfing the Internet off a full charge, the battery is estimated to last about 4 hours. It depends on what you are doing, though — if you're listening to some tunes, chatting to friends on Adium and working on a couple of Word documents at the same time, I'd expect it to slide to about 2:30 - 3:00. That's still mighty impressive though, considering the hardware thrown in there

*av

Edited appropriately, apologies

Matt · 28 Oct 2006 at 12:04

Al Vallario said:
You what? The touchpad has two-fingered scrolling (which is fantastic, by the way), but the mouse button is just one button, I'm afraid, no matter how many fingers you hit it with.

Try fully reading what was posted first please. I've had my MacBook since release so am not totally oblivious to how they work.

cyKey · 28 Oct 2006 at 12:15

Al Vallario said:
You what? The touchpad has two-fingered scrolling (which is fantastic, by the way), but the mouse button is just one button, I'm afraid, no matter how many fingers you hit it with.

Have you tried turning it on?

Many commenters on our Mac OS X 10.4.7 Update post have noticed that two finger right-clicking has been enabled on 15" MacBook Pros.

Well, it looks like Mac OS X 10.4.7 enables the two-fingered right-click on MacBook Pro models, bringing them up to feature-spec with the MacBook. Rock on.

Go into the trackpad preferences inside System Preferences to enable the "tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click" to enable the functionality.

[robg adds: Yes, this is a standard feature that's part of the upgrade. However, the two-finger right-click is so popular on the MacBooks, I figured it couldn't hurt to help spread the word that the MacBook Pros now have it as well.]

http://www.tuaw.com/2006/06/28/10-4-7-enables-two-finger-right-click-on-15-macbook-pros/

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060627210830917

It was first launched on the MacBook and added to the MacBook Pro later on.

Al Vallario · 28 Oct 2006 at 13:07

cyKey said:
Have you tried turning it on?

News to me

Just turned it on and that's really quite nifty. No more Ctrl+Clicking for me!

*av

Big-Mac-Please · 28 Oct 2006 at 16:36

The two finger tap is a great design! I love it on my macbook

WHen I use the work laptops I get anoyed they don't have the feature!!

I would describe the battery as brilliant! Much better than my VAIO

RobH · 29 Oct 2006 at 12:50

Just to add, if you use Bootcamp v1.1 or v1.1.1 you get right click in Windows by using right-apple-key + click to get a right-click. Hopefully by the time Bootcamp comes out of beta there will be proper mouse support like in OSX and also full keyboard support because it doesn't map the UK keyboard correctly.

Also you get fully working iSight and Bluetooth in Windows XP with Bootcamp.