Ordered my first ever Mac, good deal?

hoogie

hoogie

hoogie

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327
Hey,

I have just ordered my first ever Mac system, and got to say I'm pretty excited :D

It's a refurbished MacBook Pro 13.3" i5 system from early 2011. Couple of questions:

1) Got it for £779, does that seem like a good deal? £220 saving from it's original price.

2) Any advice for a Mac newbie?

Thanks for any advice
 
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1) Sounds like a good price to me, if it is in as-new condition (or near enough) then yes, very good deal!

2)
  • Try other browsers, but you may find Safari to be the most stable and reliable browser out there. Certainly among the fastest, close enough for the difference to be negligable.
  • I'd recommend Steermouse if you will be looking for an external mouse, and want lots of customisability and also don't want any mouse acceleration.
  • If you want to mount network drives at startup, you will want to use AppleScript rather than the Startup Applications in the System Preferences (weird one, I know).
  • If you want FLAC playback, install Fluke and run iTunes in 32 bit mode (and possibly Quicktime too).
  • Apple Mail is better than it looks.
  • Use iCloud if you have an iOS device, rather than using Google services, for example.

Essential apps would have to be Skype, Steam, Handbrake, LibreOffice if you don't have MS Office (built from OpenOffice, which has had some issues due to Oracle), Flip4Mac and Perian (and Fluke as above), The Unarchiver.

Hope this helps a bit!
 
hoogie said:
Hey,

I have just ordered my first ever Mac system, and got to say I'm pretty excited :D

It's a refurbished MacBook Pro 13.3" i5 system from early 2011. Couple of questions:

1) Got it for £779, does that seem like a good deal? £220 saving from it's original price.

2) Any advice for a Mac newbie?

Thanks for any advice
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Funnily enough, I was going to buy that exact Mac but I decided to go and pay full price, £900 with a 10% discount.

Tips for a new user? Hm.

I'd say to do a quick google for something like:

"Top 10 applications for a New Mac User" or something like that, that'd be be quite useful to you.

You'll want to play around with the settings a little bit and make it to your own personal liking, mess around with the wallpaper, dock etc.

You'll want to get some programs such as:

Handbreak, AppZapper, Steam perhaps?, Your preferred browser/mail clients, browse the Appstore and see if there are any apps there that you would like too.

A good place to start would be youtube, there are a ton of guides on there to help newbies get started on their new Macs!
 
Thanks for the responses.

Few more questions based on responses:

Try other browsers, but you may find Safari to be the most stable and reliable browser out there. Certainly among the fastest, close enough for the difference to be negligable.
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Interesting, I have never used Safari before. Do most Mac users tend to stick with it or do people tend to opt for Firefox/Chrome?

Use iCloud if you have an iOS device, rather than using Google services, for example.
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Why is this? Currently I use Gmail (mail and contacts) and Google calendar and I find these work great with my iPhone. Surely they will sync up with the mail, calendar and contacts on the Mac the same as they do on my iPhone?

I noticed a lot of people recommend Handbrake. IS this considered to be the best DVD ripping software on the Mac?

Thanks again for any responses.
 
It does vary. I've ended up using Safari because Chrome didn't seem to want to work on some sites (that auction site, for example, it would refuse to type messages, a bug that still hasn't been fixed), and Firefox had performance issues (intermittent scrolling jitters and freezing). I find Safari is pretty much as fast as all of these, but without the freezes/jittery scrolling issues that I had with the other two. Not saying that Safari is the best, but many find it to be very reliable, and do use it as a result.

I recommend iCloud over Google's services because while Google's services work very well, they don't integrate perfectly with Apple's devices like iCloud does. If you are using Apple devices, you might as well use the service designed specially for them!

Handbrake is considered to be the best. It's free, it is very customisable, it's easy to use, whether you want hassle-free ripping or you want to tweak settings. It's the only complete solution most people can think of.
 
Safari on OS X is pretty good, but Chrome is worth a try too. Firefox doesn't integrate very well so i'd leave that. I personally use Chrome because it's faster to start up, but on a more modern Mac like yours that shouldn't be an issue.
 
ng93 said:
Safari on OS X is pretty good, but Chrome is worth a try too. Firefox doesn't integrate very well so i'd leave that. I personally use Chrome because it's faster to start up, but on a more modern Mac like yours that shouldn't be an issue.
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If you want a browser like Firefox that integrates well with Mac OS X, Camino is your friend. Full keychain integration, and a streamlined UI. That said, Chrome also integrates with the keychain.
 
Thanks again for the responses guys.

As far as browsers go I think I may give Safari a go and see how I get on with it, I am trying to stay away from Chrome as I already use so many Google services, it may be a little daft but I am reluctant to use too many services from a single provider.

As for iCloud, I assume that getting the benefit from it would require changing emails to a @me.com account, which I am keen to avoid as I have already changed emails once in the last 3 months. Will have a ook at which aspects of iCloud I can use along side Google services and take it from there.

Cheers
 
hoogie said:
Interesting, I have never used Safari before. Do most Mac users tend to stick with it or do people tend to opt for Firefox/Chrome?

I noticed a lot of people recommend Handbrake. IS this considered to be the best DVD ripping software on the Mac?
Click to expand...

The one tip I'll give you is to try the Apple bundled Apps properly and take of your Windows blinkers.

Safari is fine. I've been using it almost exclusively since I went got an Intel Mac 5+ years ago. There's the very occasional site that does strange things with Safari, so I keep Firefox on just in case. Back in 2006 most sites were written for IE6's quirks on XP. Since web developers woke up and started obeying W3C standards 99.9% of sites are fine on Safari.

A fair few switchers get sniffy about Safari (and iTunes) because the Windows version is a bit rubbish. Both are much better on OS X.

Handbrake is very good and has pre-defined settings for most Apple media devices.
 
hoogie said:
As for iCloud, I assume that getting the benefit from it would require changing emails to a @me.com account, which I am keen to avoid as I have already changed emails once in the last 3 months. Will have a ook at which aspects of iCloud I can use along side Google services and take it from there.
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You don't have to use iCloud for your actual email account. Syncing contacts,, etc is all done using your Apple ID. Whilst the email address might be useful to have, you don't need to use it at all.

Another vote here for Safari. Seems like a solid, generally very reliable browser. I used it for a bit on Windows before I got a Mac and like many things Apple, it seems better in its natural environment. Actually kind of liking iTunes as well. Not really gotten around to playing with iLife apps yet though.
 
Generally, iCloud is easier to manage, works 100% with your devices (anything you do on your iPhone is going to be reflected on your Mac) whereas this cannot be guaranteed with Google, due to minor differences in the way they work - for example, contact fields are slightly different with Apple, as a result they don't work particularly well with Google. Can be an absolute pain at times!

Just had a play with this myself, as I'm doing the same thing as you, hoogie. If you need your contacts synced on both iCloud and on Google, set up a Google Sync account through Google Sync using the server "m.google.com". I'll explain this further if it comes to that!

Now that I know I won't get flamed, I will go as far to say that Safari is the best all round browser on the Mac platform. Which, in a way, is to be expected. Don't have any other browsers installed as I don't feel they are needed at all.
 
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Keep an eye out for Mac software bundles, these crop up from time to time and you can get a load of apps you'd never come across normally.
 
I can't agree that Safari is the best browser on Mac.

The UI is pants (no tabs in titlebar? It's 2012!) Searching history from the location bar isn't a patch on Firefox or Chrome. Rubbish add-on support. Very little customisability. The only benefit I can see is flawless multi-touch integration. For everything else, I prefer Chrome. (Firefox isn't up to much on Mac. It doesn't feel like a native application.)

iTunes, on the other hand, is very good on Mac. Much much better than on Windows. Apple Mail is good as well, as is iPhoto. Handbrake is a great app, on both Mac and Windows.

As a recent switcher myself, the two things which give me the most bother are the Finder, which is really limited compared to Windows Explorer, and the illogical keyboard shortcuts. Both still drive me nuts, though I'm slowly getting there. In spite of that, I'd never go back to a Windows laptop now. The difference in build quality and general feel is massive.
 
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Mattus said:
The UI is pants (no tabs in titlebar? It's 2012!)
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The only thing I have a problem with personally in its handling of tabs is the lack of a new tab option to click on without going through the menu bar. Or using keyboard shortcuts. But its something I got used to and is not a deal breaker.

Best browser? Dunno as I have not bothered to try any others but it is good enough that I do not feel a compelling need to do so. The fact that I am quickly becoming addicted to multitouch is probably partly to blame.

As a recent switcher myself, the two things which give me the most bother are the Finder, which is really limited compared to Windows Explorer, and the illogical keyboard shortcuts. Both still drive me nuts, though I'm slowly getting there. In spite of that, I'd never go back to a Windows laptop now. The difference in build quality and general feel is massive.
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I agree, Finder does seem a little clunkier than Explorer, although I don't think there is a lot in it. And relearning keyboard shortcuts is certainly a pain but I have not encountered many I would personally consider illogical. Biggest issue for me is that I keep trying to press ALT instead of CTRL when I go back to Windows as the CMD key is in the same location.

But going back and forth with Windows is a must for me and in many respects I don't mind. Its just that some things feel horribly clunky after using a Mac. That would be that multitouch thing again that is to blame for much of that perception. Like swiping between websites, for example, it just feels so natural. And I'm definitely coming to appreciate this Spaces thing and the gestures to switch between them (and apps in general) just works so well.

Oh, and whilst it has its limitations I also rather like this Magic Mouse thingy in comparison to just about every regular mouse I have used with Windows. Extra buttons would be nice at times and the low profile takes some getting used to but scrolling with it is much nicer for one thing.
 
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DangerMoose said:
I agree, Finder does seem a little clunkier than Explorer, although I don't think there is a lot in it. And relearning keyboard shortcuts is certainly a pain but I have not encountered many I would personally consider illogical. Biggest issue for me is that I keep trying to press ALT instead of CTRL when I go back to Windows as the CMD key is in the same location.

But going back and forth with Windows is a must for me and in many respects I don't mind. Its just that some things feel horribly clunky after using a Mac. That would be that multitouch thing again that is to blame for much of that perception. Like swiping between websites, for example, it just feels so natural. And I'm definitely coming to appreciate this Spaces thing and the gestures to switch between them (and apps in general) just works so well.

Oh, and whilst it has its limitations I also rather like this Magic Mouse thingy in comparison to just about every regular mouse I have used with Windows. Extra buttons would be nice at times and the low profile takes some getting used to but scrolling with it is much nicer for one thing.
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I'd agree with that, especially the finder way of working with photos and preview. Extra steps that aren't needed in windows. The RAW integrsatin is excellent though (although you can download stuff easily to do that on windows too). I've found it both ways so far (used it for about 3 weeks), some is refreshingly easy on OSX but some stuff is just far more complex and awkward on it. Swings and roundabouts as usual.

The overall UI still reminds me of a cross between WIndows 95 and older versions of Linux however! Although I have been given a program that should allow you to maximise (like windows) windows when pressing the + button, rather than having to fullscreen programs.

JackRegan said:
Open Safari - View - Customize Toolbar...

Drag the "New Tab" icon to your toolbar

Jack
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That drove me nuts until I found that. I also have chrome installed but after realising you could add the tabs button the gesture support really won me over, being able to swipe left and right for back and forwards is excellent (on a macbook).
 
Amp34 said:
...the gesture support really won me over, being able to swipe left and right for back and forwards is excellent (on a macbook).
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I find it works pretty well with the Magic Mouse as well, even though the gestures are more simplistic and limited overall on it. But I think my MBP is the first laptop I have encountered where I actually enjoy using the touchpad, which is largely due to gestures although I feel it even handles stuff like right-click better than a Windows touchpad, despite the stick that Macs occasionally still get for their single button approach. General user interaction is definitely one area that my Windows PCs compare quite poorly to my new toy.

Only minor complain here is that there are a few inconsistencies in where gestures are supported throughout the OS and the built in apps. Like how swiping back and forwards does not seem to work in the Mac App Store, yet does in the iTunes Store for example.
 
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