chasdrury Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Right. I never thought I would say this, but I think I want a Mac! My PC died the other day . . . What I want is a decent system with a nice monitor that is capable of running XP too. But I really want to try Mac OS etc etc Where is the best place to buy and what do I want to be looking at? Cheers Chaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamD Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Do it, you know it makes sense. Best place to buy is probably on line at Apple to be honest. If you want a desktop system the 20" iMac is lovely, if you want a laptop the MacBook (top of range white one) is lovely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHA Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 I would wait a month or so until the new OSX is out. 10.5 or Leopard. There are likely to be some new faster chips released around the same time too. Browse the apple store from the www.apple.com to have a look and configure but I would personally wait for a short bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamD Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 [ QUOTE ] I would wait a month or so until the new OSX is out. 10.5 or Leopard. There are likely to be some new faster chips released around the same time too. Browse the apple store from the www.apple.com to have a look and configure but I would personally wait for a short bit. [/ QUOTE ] That makes a lot of sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritey Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Yup wait, but if you can afford it, they've just released the 8 core pro. Immense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 I would either wait and get it from John Lewis, you get a 2 year warranty from them as standard, or get one from the apple store refurb section, some real bargins on there, and you can haggle for some freebies too! I would seriously consider a Macbook Pro, a desktop you can carry round with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasdrury Posted April 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Thanks for the comments guys. I am not too bothered about the laptop aspect of it. I would prefer a desktop, I have several laptops already!! I think the iMac it will be. Am in London this weekend, so will try and pop into an apple store and have a browse. Is it easy enough to get xp running on t hem too now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritey Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 Yeah, Parrallels is a recommened virtual machine piece of software I use, it even has a coherence mode that will let you run as if your in the OS X but have XP windows come up and full XP functionality without having to reboot the machine, tis great Or you can go the boot camp root and boot from one to tother which I haven't done but have heard is good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianFD3S Posted April 5, 2007 Report Share Posted April 5, 2007 I haven't tried parallel but I know bootcamp definitely works. Only thing is, once you get into using Mac OS, you will suddenly realise your computer has a rather useless windows partition on it waiting to be deleted. I would recommend waiting until Leopard is released as there will likely be a new line of Macs released with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark88 Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Once you go mac, you'll never go back iMac is by far the best value computer in Apple's line up. I'm waiting for Leopard before I buy my next Mac. Everyone is expecting it in June. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 [ QUOTE ] Once you go mac, you'll never go back [/ QUOTE ] That's what I tell all the girls in the Walkabout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHA Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Once you go mac, you'll never go back [/ QUOTE ] That's what I tell all the girls in the Walkabout [/ QUOTE ] I really can see you doing that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Is it only me that's reading that phrase as 'once you've experienced it once then you wouldn't go back for seconds?' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasdrury Posted April 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 Ok, so I went a bought a 20" iMac toady. Lovely thing. Is thre a dummy guide to Mac OSX anywhere? I have never used it before and I just want to know how to do simple things in Mac OSX at the moment. Also, is there any way of getting me to connect to Exchange server on this machine? Cheers Chaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHA Posted April 7, 2007 Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 Ok goto mac help and there is an option called "switching from windows" all the stuff you will need is in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasdrury Posted April 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 Cool! Just one question that you guys might be able to answer for me. I downloaded MSN messenger for MAC. It was DWG file that installed and ran. Now on the Dock I have MSN messenger running, and on the desktop I have an Microsoft Messenger Drive mounted, that says I cannot unmount it.. If I exit MSN it can be unmounted but reappears when I load MSN again. Is this alwasy going to be here? Cheers Chaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted April 7, 2007 Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 Look in the package when it is unlounted on your desktop, then drag the app to you applications folder. Really is that simple. If you want it in the dock then drag it from the apps folder to the dock to create a shortcut. When you want to delete an app, just drag it to the trash. It takes a while to get used to as you presume everthing is as complicated as windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasdrury Posted April 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 Thanks for that Gizze. I am kind of getting to grips with it now! What about connecting to Exchange Server? Is that Entourage? And, finally - for today anyway, how do I make a shortcut to, for example, Network Diagnostics on the Desktop, or is that what the Dock is for really? Cheers Chaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHA Posted April 7, 2007 Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 The dock is the desktop area really. All I have on my desktop are my HDD, two folders (one named desktop items) and the other for some work documents. All the program icons are on the dock. Some helpful hints for you too. When you download a new program, after it unpacks itself and you have the window open with the program icon drag and drop that to the applications folder then you can dismount the drive from the desktop. When you update your OSX and other software always run disk utility (repair disk permissions) afterwards. Applications> Utilities> Disk Utility> Repair disk permissions. This keeps your HDD in good check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianFD3S Posted April 7, 2007 Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 Friendly Tip : Use Adium (adiumx.com) instead of MSN messenger. It is fully customiseable and supports multiclient IMing eg yahoo iChat and Gmail Also, Spotlight (the magnifying glass icon at top right) basically renders complicated file archiving completely useless. It can find the file you want instantaneously, rather than the 5 minute wait you're used to on windoze... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHA Posted April 7, 2007 Report Share Posted April 7, 2007 I have setup iChat using a jabber server to import all my MSN contacts into it. Works quite well once setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark88 Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Agreed, don't use MSN, use adium! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHA Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 Just downloaded adium and its what iChat should be!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianFD3S Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 yeah you can spend ages customising it... eg my dock icon is now Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes. don't forget to check out http://www.adiumxtras.com/ also, to the new mac user, here are some useful apps: Handbrake= DVD to iPod ripper iSquint= Convert most video formats to iPod compatible .mp4 The Gimp= Freeware equivelant of Adobe Photoshop, requires that you install X11 from the Mac OS X optional installs (On Disc 1) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark88 Posted April 9, 2007 Report Share Posted April 9, 2007 my fav site for mac shareware is www.iusethis.com It's great for keeping track of what software you use, and if you ever need to reinstall everything you can download all your apps from 1 remote profile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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