# I'm going Mac



## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Well, I've finally been and gone and done it - I've ordered myself a Mac   

Been watching the refurbished MacBooks in the Apple Store. Saw one for just £569 - but by the time I'd um'd and ar'd it had gone  Then spotted a MacBookPro for just £811 - £362 (30%) off and since that is only £105 more than the base MacBook model I just couldn't resist. I really wanted the Pro for the bigger screen too.


Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

15.4-inch widescreen display
2GB memory
160GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD¬±R DL/DVD¬±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
Built-in iSight Camera

Bought it on my credit card but even paying a bit of CC interest - should pay it off in 4 months, 6 at the most - it's still a bargain.


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Congrats - you'll love OS X


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## Guest (Jan 9, 2009)

Me too, got myself an imac last weekend. Need to get to grips with it but does look good


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## JasonRS (Aug 8, 2006)

Some cheap and reasonably easy upgrade are

4GB RAM (takes about 2 minutes)
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=FF1F93F9A5CA7304

320GB 7200RPM drive - (more space and noticeably faster, takes 20 mins to swap the drive, then you just re-image)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?WD-320BEKT


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

excellent - make sure you get on to them ASAP about a free upgrade to iLife '09 that is due to be released in the next 1-2 weeks


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Well done - best choice I made. Did it 6 years ago, after spendign ages umming and ahhing over it - you wont regret it.

As I always have said - people sitch to mac, but dont switch back! Speaks for itself really :thumb:


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

JasonRS said:


> Some cheap and reasonably easy upgrade are
> 
> 4GB RAM (takes about 2 minutes)
> http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=FF1F93F9A5CA7304
> ...


I'm going to see how it goes with 2GB first, but yes I would buy from Crucial :thumb:

Can't see me needing a bigger disk anytime soon - I just never seem to use that much really.



Bigpikle said:


> excellent - make sure you get on to them ASAP about a free upgrade to iLife '09 that is due to be released in the next 1-2 weeks


It's free? I've seen iLife09 on the Apple site but it says it's £69 upgrade 

Edit: Yep, £69 - http://www.apple.com/uk/ilife/


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## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

parish said:


> I'm going to see how it goes with 2GB first, but yes I would buy from Crucial :thumb:
> 
> *Can't see me needing a bigger disk anytime soon - I just never seem to use that much really.
> *
> ...


Maybe not but the 7200rpm is seriously worth it, it makes a huge difference in speed.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Anyone recommend a cheap bluetooth mouse that works with Macs?

The cheapest ones I can find that specifically state the work on Macs are £25-30 but there are some cheaper ones but they either don't list OSes or only list Windows. I would have thought that a bluetooth mouse should work with anything, i.e. not be OS-specific, after all I can use my mobile phone as a mouse on Linux!

Oh, and I really want a full-sized mouse, not one of those mini/notebook ones - got bloody great shovels for hands


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

rmorgan84 said:


> Maybe not but the 7200rpm is seriously worth it, it makes a huge difference in speed.


I'm sure I read somewhere that HDDs are not "user serviceable" items on Macs and that if you change them you invalidate the warranty - or maybe that was just on Mac Minis?


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## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

parish said:


> I'm sure I read somewhere that HDDs are not "user serviceable" items on Macs and that if you change them you invalidate the warranty - or maybe that was just on Mac Minis?


grey area, on the macbook pro's it's not technically a user serviceable part, however they can't just invalidate a warranty without proving you carrying out the upgrade actually caused damage.


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Parish, unless you'll be doing video encoding or editing huge files in PS, the difference between a 5400 and 7200 rpm drive is negligible in reality.
With a good whack of RAM (got for the 4GB) you'll hardly be paging out to or in from virtual memory.
To that end, the money spent (assuming the same for argument's sake) would be better off in RAM alone, rather than 1/2 the RAM AND the HDD upgrade.
If you need more space, external FireWire drive will do the job nicely.

In relation to iLife '09 - Apple have a policy, due to their secretive announcements of new products at the events they attend/host, that buyers of hardware within a 2 week period of the new version of bundled software being available, is given as a free upgrade.
Sometimes, depending on whom you speak with, and how well you present your case of not having held off until then/first timer with Apple products (  ) then the 2 weeks can become 3-4.
As like always, if you don't ask/chance your arm, you won't get.


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## Guest (Jan 9, 2009)

nooooo parish what have you done!?


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

rmorgan84 said:


> Maybe not but the 7200rpm is seriously worth it, it makes a huge difference in speed.





PJS said:


> Parish, unless you'll be doing video encoding or editing huge files in PS, the difference between a 5400 and 7200 rpm drive is negligible in reality.
> With a good whack of RAM (got for the 4GB) you'll hardly be paging out to or in from virtual memory.
> To that end, the money spent (assuming the same for argument's sake) would be better off in RAM alone, rather than 1/2 the RAM AND the HDD upgrade.
> If you need more space, external FireWire drive will do the job nicely.


I understand where you are both coming from and, from many, many years of experience, I'd slam in more RAM first (does OS X have the same limitation as 32-bit Windows in that it can only use ~3.5GB if you fit 4GB?) and only update the HDD if there was a lot of swapping going on.

I suspect that since the heaviest stuff I'll be doing is editing large RAW digital photos that disk I/O will not be a major problem - the fact that a faster disk may mean the file initially loads in 2 seconds rather than 3 does not, to me at least, warrant a faster disk.

Anyway, I'll spend some time finding my way around OS X before I make any upgrade decisions.



PJS said:


> In relation to iLife '09 - Apple have a policy, due to their secretive announcements of new products at the events they attend/host, that buyers of hardware within a 2 week period of the new version of bundled software being available, is given as a free upgrade.
> Sometimes, depending on whom you speak with, and how well you present your case of not having held off until then/first timer with Apple products (  ) then the 2 weeks can become 3-4.
> As like always, if you don't ask/chance your arm, you won't get.


So I give them a call and say "PJS told me that...."? 

I suspect that I might not get it - although being a new Mac convert may carry some weight - as the machine is a refurb and they do say that it comes with what it comes with (which may include extra s/w).

Like you say though, no harm in trying :thumb:



G220 said:


> nooooo parish what have you done!?


Something I should have done ages ago I think 

In case you didn't know, I dumped Windows a couple of years ago and have been using FreeBSD (on which OS X is heavily based) and, more recently, Linux.

Apart from my work laptop that I bring home sometimes, I live in a Microsoft-free environment...hmm, maybe that's why my electricity bills are so high, as there's no Windows in my house?  

*Edit:* Just received an e-mail from Apple to say that it's shipped and should arrive on or before 12 Jan - Monday  Ooh, I'm so excited, like a kid at Christmas


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Leopard (OS X.5) is 64-bit, so you'll be able to access the whole 4GB.
I recall PS3 being limited to 3GB for some reason (own 32-bit limitation?) - and the new PS4 is not 64-bit like on Windows, so that may be bit of a bummer if the RAWs are plentiful, and big size wise.


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## JasonRS (Aug 8, 2006)

Switching to the 7200RPM drive reduced load speed of RAW files in CS3 quite substantially on my MBP even with 4Gb RAM already installed. the disk's 50% faster and it's very noticeable on RAW files.

BTW, I have the same spec Macbook as you, but with those upgrades I mentioned above. 

As for storage, too much is never enough, my lightroom library alone is 60Gb, iTunes is another 50Gb, so it soon adds up!

It'll be CS5 before you see 64Bit for the Mac, CS3 does have a programatic limitation to 3Gb.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

JasonRS said:


> Switching to the 7200RPM drive reduced load speed of RAW files in CS3 quite substantially on my MBP even with 4Gb RAM already installed. the disk's 50% faster and it's very noticeable on RAW files.


I don't disagree but, to me, it takes several seconds to load/save a file but you spend several minutes working on it so as long as there's enough RAM that PS or whatever isn't constantly swapping in and out then the speed advantage from a faster disk is negligible.

Anyway, like I said, I'll take some time to become Mac-savvy before making any decisions - no doubt I'll be back with a load of questions


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## Scotty Pro (Nov 12, 2008)

welcome to the family... I have used and still am using an Apple since Winblows was a twinkle in Billy Boy Gates's eye. (and I'm going back to Winblows 3.0)
If you need any help / info feel free to PM me. Got 3 Macs at home and loads at work.
My motto should be "*I Don't do Windlows*"


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Scotty Pro said:


> welcome to the family... I have used and still am using an Apple since Winblows was a twinkle in Billy Boy Gates's eye. (and I'm going back to Winblows 3.0)
> If you need any help / info feel free to PM me. Got 3 Macs at home and loads at work.
> My motto should be "*I Don't do Windlows*"


Well, I'm a Unix-geek command-line junkie so as long as I can open a shell window and have access to sed, grep, awk - and of course vi - then I'm sure Mac and I will get along just fine :thumb:

OK, first question, can OS X do NFS mounts?


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## monzablue16v (Jan 24, 2008)

Funny thread this, went into pc world today to try out a few laptops and found a macbook, started playing as it was unlocked. Got home with an MSDN copy of Windows 7. Installed it hated it very poor Vista service pack really, I started looking at hackintosh and have now installed Leopard on my Laptop so I have a macbook for the price of a proper copy of leopard


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

monzablue16v said:


> Funny thread this, went into pc world today to try out a few laptops and found a macbook, started playing as it was unlocked. Got home with an MSDN copy of Windows 7. Installed it hated it very poor Vista service pack really, I started looking at hackintosh and have now installed Leopard on my Laptop so I have a macbook for the price of a proper copy of leopard


And what is your verdict? You like it?


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## monzablue16v (Jan 24, 2008)

Only just got it going about 5 minutes ago but so far so good :thumb:


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

parish said:


> Well, I'm a Unix-geek command-line junkie so as long as I can open a shell window and have access to sed, grep, awk - and of course vi - then I'm sure Mac and I will get along just fine :thumb:
> 
> OK, first question, can OS X do NFS mounts?


Read but not write, and I believe you meant N*T*FS?


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## JasonRS (Aug 8, 2006)

No, he's probably talking correctly about NFS mounts with his unix background.
Yes you can mount NFS, but it depends on the NFS server configuration.

Have a look here,

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA22243?viewlocale=en_US


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

PJS said:


> Read but not write, and I believe you meant N*T*FS?


Nope, NFS - Network File System. It's a Unix way of exporting directories over a network - equivalent to Windows Sharing.



JasonRS said:


> No, he's probably talking correctly about NFS mounts with his unix background.
> Yes you can mount NFS, but it depends on the NFS server configuration.
> 
> Have a look here,
> ...


Thanks :thumb:

The (temporary) problem I have is that one of the Samba daemons (nmbd) keeps dying on my Linux box so other machines can't see the shares and I can't get to the bottom of it so, until it's fixed, I'll be able to NFS mount it on my Mac. As I was typing that it occurred to me that I could mount the NFS exports on my FreeBSD mailserver and export the mount point as a Samba share on that...hmm, might try that later.


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## barnicles (Aug 11, 2008)

I went mac nearly 3 years now and i dread having to go on to a windows now 

I have less crashes in 3 years than i would have had in a windows given similar abuse in 1 day


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

JasonRS said:


> No, he's probably talking correctly about NFS mounts with his unix background.
> Yes you can mount NFS, but it depends on the NFS server configuration.





parish said:


> Nope, NFS - Network File System. It's a Unix way of exporting directories over a network - equivalent to Windows Sharing.











Of course - brain in automatic fart mode, alas!


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## Scotty Pro (Nov 12, 2008)

Parish
what is OS X like on the PC ??? Is everything working ok, like Bluetooth, Wireless, USB / Firewire ports. 
Just curious because my brother hates Vista, so user unfriendly, but he wouldn't stump up for a Mac. Maybe I could put OS X on his Tosh laptop.


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## Detail My Ride (Apr 19, 2006)

Welcome to the Club. You won't look back :thumb:


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## Janitor (Feb 14, 2006)

Yep, welcome Parish - it's a different world

I've posted here before that I plain old didn't get the whole Apple / i-fascination thing at all - never wanted so much as an iPod - that was up until getting a last of the previous gen MacBook Pro for Audio work three months ago. I too was jumping up and down excitedly the moment it arrived... and that was before even opening the box! You'll know what I mean 

Since then my N95 phone broke - replaced it with an iPhone. Have since got an iPod Nano for another purpose

I'm now also waiting for another delivery from Apple, due on the 12th / 13th like yourself :thumb: I can't wait for a spanking new 24" iMac 3.06GHz to land so I can ditch this knackered PC!

I've never got the PC v Mac debates and have indeed used PCs for the last 12 years or so, but it's taken only 3 months with a Mac to be completely sold. It's different gravy it really is

Oh and yes, seriously think about the 4Gb memory upgrade - it's a cheap mod and soooo easy to do :thumb:

ENJOY!!!


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

This is my first post from my new MacBook Pro    



Scotty Pro said:


> Parish
> what is OS X like on the PC ??? Is everything working ok, like Bluetooth, Wireless, USB / Firewire ports.
> Just curious because my brother hates Vista, so user unfriendly, but he wouldn't stump up for a Mac. Maybe I could put OS X on his Tosh laptop.


'Twas not me who has OS X running on a PC, 'twas monzablue16v



Janitor said:


> Oh and yes, seriously think about the 4Gb memory upgrade - it's a cheap mod and soooo easy to do :thumb:
> 
> ENJOY!!!


No need - according to About This Mac it's already got 4GB   :thumb:

The Part No. on the box, and the website, includes *2x1GB* so I can only assume that was the original spec that Apple have got from the serial number and that the original owner u/g it to 4GB and either forgot to swap it back when Apple swapped the machine out, or had sold the original 2GB

Couple of quick questions for you Mac experts.


Where's the Delete key on the keyboard?
What is the key between the Apple and Home keys to the right of the spacebar - got a symbol like a ^ with a line over it?


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## Scotty Pro (Nov 12, 2008)

1. Delete key is to the right of the return key 2 down from F13
2. Don't know this one so I assume yours is not the slimline ally keyboard. After spacebar on mine its "command" then "alt" then "Control"

Oh and sorry for asking about OS X on a PC, my bad.


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## Scotty Pro (Nov 12, 2008)

Arrrgh ignore my post, didn't see you have a Macbook.
My bad again.


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## stevie_b (Dec 14, 2005)

Delete is fn key + Backspace key together. Not sure about the other one


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## Janitor (Feb 14, 2006)

Yeay - good stuff Mark :thumb:

UPS did well with my spanking new 24" iMac too - it's seriously lush kit! Stunning display and of course effortlessly efficient (and soooo quiet, ssshhhhh...)

The wireless keyboard did take me a little by surprise - it's tiny! The buttons are full size, but buttons are all there is to it. I'll probably miss the number pad the most, but like anything, it'll only take a period of adjustment

I think time taken out to learn all the key functions and shortcuts will really pay dividends - I didn't even know about the fn & backspace delete function! Much to learn, but what a joy it will be


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## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

One little tip is when navigating the menus, watch what happens when you press the Option key - for example, click the Apple menu and you can see 'About this Mac' ... click that and then you have the option for more information which runs up System Profiler. Now click the Apple menu and press the Option key - see the 'About this Mac' turn into System Profiler? Another one is to hold the Option key when you log out and you won't be challenged with that Microsofty "Are you sure?" option box.

For lots more hints, check out http://www.macosxhints.com


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

One thing that's confusing the hell out of me is installing applications - probably because it's a whole lot simpler than I'm trying to make it.

Download Firefox for instance into Downloads. It's a dmg file - Disk Image? Then a window pops up with a large FF icon at the left, a white arrow pointing right in the middle, and a folder icon labelled Applications on the right. Do I just drag the FF icon onto the App Folder icon and that's it, it's installed? I tried that and it seemed to work, but when I double-clicked FF in the Applications folder it came up with a warning about it having been downloaded from the Internet and was I sure that I wanted to run it. I answered Yes, and it ran. Next time I ran it, it didn't ask


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## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

^ Yep ... that's all there is to it. Easy, eh? LOL

If you want to feel like an advanced user, you can pop into the applications folder and right-click (or click and hold) on any application and select "Show Package Contents" from the context-sensitive menu.

Now you see ... that's right, applications are actually whole folders full of stuff presented as a single application through the icon. If you went through the terminal, you'd see the invisible .app extension and notice they are presented as folders.

Mac OSX makes a lot of core technologies and very little of shared libraries. I think that is the key difference between Mac OSX and Windows (or Linux or even UNIX). In many respects, it's more like how Amiga used to do things with "encapsulated" applications.

Here's a stern tip - it is important to put all your applications in the applications folder! The 'Services' read through a strict number of folders for applications and if they're outside of that list when you use the 'Services' function from the menu you might not get all the functionality you would otherwise. Another tip ... you can make an 'Applications' folder in your home folder and notice that it will automagically gain a special icon. You can put applications in that folder, too ... a little like "Install for this user OR all users" on Windows - drag that into your Finder side bar, too.

Ooh! Another cool tip - any application, do a "File ... Open" and drag the scroll bar on the left-hand side down to the bottom. See how you can now insert any picture from iPhoto or song from iTunes into your current application? That's "blue jeans and black turtle neck cool" that is!!!

In light parody of the Top Gear 'SAAB Episode', what it really comes down to is "that smile" that Apple people have comes from the simple fact that "IT JUST WORKS". If you want to poke about under the hood, the Mac OSX Hints website is really good.


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## monzablue16v (Jan 24, 2008)

That's the install part done from what I can gather. Bit too much control been taken :lol:


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Orca said:


> ^ Yep ... that's all there is to it. Easy, eh? LOL
> 
> If you want to feel like an advanced user, you can pop into the applications folder and right-click (or click and hold) on any application and select "Show Package Contents" from the context-sensitive menu.
> 
> ...


Thanks. I was wondering if it was something along those lines. So in OS X an app doesn't install by extracting files an putting them in /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib, etc? It's more akin to Java apps running from a .JAR file?

I think that being a Unix geek and a Software Engineer is hampering me getting my head round the Mac way of doing things. I can't help but think of it in terms of the way a disk and the files on it are laid out - i.e. where things really are - and have always disliked abstracted filesystems, but I'm beginning to realize that Apple have done it properly and *completely* abstracted it - unlike the half-baked way Windows does - because even if I open Macintosh HD in Finder I still don't see the raw filesystem. As far as I've found the only way to do that is to open a shell window (Terminal).

Looks like I need to forget everything I know about computers and OSes and start all over again  

No doubt I'll be back with some moe questions shortly


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Also, in addition to the above, the Dock can be added to and removed from, but the icons displayed are only symbolic links (shortcuts to the layman), so you're not actually removing the App when you see the puff of smoke after dragging it out of the Dock.
You can move them around however you feel, and through the likes of Onyx (free) MacPilot, Xupport, ****tail, etc, you can tinker with settings via their GUI display of 'nixy utils, that aren't offered in System Preferences.
The Dock can be repositioned, increased/decreased in size, auto hide/show, and icon magnification varied to how you prefer it.

Similarly for the menubar (along the top) - any icons on the right you don't use/fancy, simply Command + drag, then drop on desktop to remove, or move around to how you prefer them.
A reboot , iirc tends to put them back in their default position or positioned from right to left first as their associated App/daemon launches at start up.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

PJS said:


> In relation to iLife '09 - Apple have a policy, due to their secretive announcements of new products at the events they attend/host, that buyers of hardware within a 2 week period of the new version of bundled software being available, is given as a free upgrade.
> Sometimes, depending on whom you speak with, and how well you present your case of not having held off until then/first timer with Apple products (  ) then the 2 weeks can become 3-4.
> As like always, if you don't ask/chance your arm, you won't get.


Well, it seems I'm entitled to an upgrade for just £7.95 

http://www.apple.com/uk/ilife/uptodate/

If I click on the *Apple Certified Refurbished computer* link then my MacBook is in the list. I tried registering but it said ot couldn't register my Serial No online. I suspect that maybe as they don't have confirmation it's been delivered yet. i'll try again in a few days, else I'll have to do it by post.


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Apps in OS X are almost entirely self contained, with the only exception being ones needing to add a component to the System Library, requiring Admin password.
Similarly if an App is going to be for a single user, or system wide for multiple users.

That's why when you want to delete it, you simply drag it to the Trash, and empty.
Some with an Installer routine (generally with Sys Lib components), can be handled the same way or running the Unistall option, when you double-click the .pkg

As you found above, a lot Apps have a symbolic link shown with the Apps folder icon, in the same window the .dmg opened when run.
Dragging and dropping on it is all it takes for the App to be copied to the Apps folder residing on your drive.


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

parish said:


> Well, it seems I'm entitled to an upgrade for just £7.95
> 
> http://www.apple.com/uk/ilife/uptodate/
> 
> If I click on the *Apple Certified Refurbished computer* link then my MacBook is in the list. I tried registering but it said ot couldn't register my Serial No online. I suspect that maybe as they don't have confirmation it's been delivered yet. i'll try again in a few days, else I'll have to do it by post.


Bugger that, call them (0800 number) and speak to a live person.
Then again, maybe the £8 is for physical disks - you may get a free option via downloading it.
They'll be able to confirm, and do the registration at the same time.
Bear in mind, your 90 days free Support starts the moment you register, which it should have done the first time you booted the machine.
Of course, if no connection was available or you chose to cancel prior to completing, then it won't have been registered yet.

Also, you can purchase Applecare any time with the first 12 months, you don't need to buy it at the time of purchase of the hardware, and unless things have changed substantially, I found if you're not pestering the support crew, your 90 days can be 6 months or more, depending on the nature of the call.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Just found another uber-cool feature. In iPhoto, select Events, then move the cursor side-to-side over the thumbnail of the Event folder and it scrolls through all the photos in the event folder without opening it.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

PJS said:


> Bugger that, call them (0800 number) and speak to a live person.
> Then again, maybe the £8 is for physical disks - you may get a free option via downloading it.
> They'll be able to confirm, and do the registration at the same time.
> Bear in mind, your 90 days free Support starts the moment you register, which it should have done the first time you booted the machine.
> Of course, if no connection was available or you chose to cancel prior to completing, then it won't have been registered yet.


Ah, that will be why, I haven't registered it yet. I first fired it up at work and we are not allowed to connect private machines to the LAN so I had to cancel the registration.



PJS said:


> Also, you can purchase Applecare any time with the first 12 months, you don't need to buy it at the time of purchase of the hardware, and unless things have changed substantially, I found if you're not pestering the support crew, your 90 days can be 6 months or more, depending on the nature of the call.


Is it really worth paying for AppleCare? As far as support goes then the 'net will provide all the answers. The only other issue is h/w reliability.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

PJS said:


> As you found above, a lot Apps have a symbolic link shown with the Apps folder icon, in the same window the .dmg opened when run.
> Dragging and dropping on it is all it takes for the App to be copied to the Apps folder residing on your drive.


Ah, so I download say Firefox to the Download folder and it creates a symlink in the Applications folder - or I do manually by drag and dropping the .dmg file? So the app itself - the .dmg file - is still in Downloads so if i delete that I delete the application and the symlink points nowhere (unless OS X cleans up and removes dangling symlinks)?

If that's the case I'll have to be careful


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Okay, Applecare first - on a laptop, most definitely given the cost of replacement screen or logic board (motherboard for Windows folk).
But worry about it towards the tail end of this year, and typically Apple have been generous to a fault, in allowing users to buy AC a month or so after the option passed.

In regards to downloading and installing Apps - the .dmg file you downloaded is there on the drive, in the downloads folder (which you can change in Safari to wherever you prefer instead), and when you run it, it opens a Window.
Depending on the App, you'll either have a .pkg which launches the Installer to install, as I outlined above, or you have the App on its own (nothing else), or more often with an Apps folder icon, and an arrow pointing towards it.
In this case, the Apps folder there, is a symbolic link to the actual Apps folder as part of the OS.
So, rather than having to open a new window, and navigating to the Apps folder, before dragging the new App into it, you simply drag the App onto the Apps folder in its window, and the App is copied to your Apps folder.
Violà, job done.
Simply eject (unmount) the Disk Image (select, then Command E, or the Eject symbol to the side of its icon in a window panel), and delete the .dmg file downloaded.

As part of OS X security, you get the pop-up message that you're running something downloaded from the internet.
That's to protect numpties from themselves, unfortunately.

Lastly, for this post, any file can be launched when highlighted by using Command and the down arrow.
Command and up takes you up a level - e.g Mac HD->User->_username_->Desktop.
If you wanted to go to the Main Library or Apps folder, then Command + up twice will get you to User, and then up takes you to whichever folder you want to traverse to.

A lot of OS X is based around using the keyboard to navigate in the absence of a mouse, but some things are a tad obscure.
I have set within Keyboard/Mouse in Sys Prefs, the Ctl + z combo to focus on the menubar.
From there, you can traverse whatever function you need using the arrow keys, and spacebar or return to select it.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

PJS said:


> a .pkg which launches the Installer to install, as I outlined above, or you have the App on its own (nothing else), or more often with an Apps folder icon, and an arrow pointing towards it.
> In this case, *the Apps folder there, is a symbolic link to the actual Apps folder as part of the OS*.
> So, rather than having to open a new window, and navigating to the Apps folder, before dragging the new App into it, you simply drag the App onto the Apps folder in its window, and the App is copied to your Apps folder.
> Violà, job done.


Ah, I see. I misunderstood you, I read it as a symlink is created in the Apps folder to the .DMG

I'm getting there - easy really, isn't it?


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Yep, that's why Dell would give their right ball**** for being able to distribute OS X on their computers!

The .dmg, like .zip, is merely a transportation format for packaging Apps/files in.
Once unpacked and extracted, you can dispense with it, but only after you've ejected the mounted disk image, otherwise you'll get the "Look at who's being a numpty!" sound.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

PJS said:


> Bugger that, call them (0800 number) and speak to a live person.
> Then again, maybe the £8 is for physical disks - you may get a free option via downloading it.


Yeah, just read all the T&Cs - the £7.95 is shipping and it makes no mention of a download option.

Anyway, I got a free 2GB RAM u/g so i'm not grumbling about £8


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## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

parish said:


> Just found another uber-cool feature. In iPhoto, select Events, then move the cursor side-to-side over the thumbnail of the Event folder and it scrolls through all the photos in the event folder without opening it.


... and if you press space on a preview of a picture that you like, it sets it as the thumbnail for that Event :thumb: On the Apple website there are loads of little videos attached showing off all sorts of little nuggets that make life on a Mac a lot of fun.


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## Janitor (Feb 14, 2006)

It's all about the user experience isn't it..?

For sure, PC's have the upper hand in the hardware v cost battle, but beyond that, its just a different world using a Mac and once you've got the kit that does the job you need it to, it's ALL about the user experience :thumb:


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## Janitor (Feb 14, 2006)

parish said:


> Yeah, just read all the T&Cs - the £7.95 is shipping and it makes no mention of a download option.
> 
> Anyway, I got a free 2GB RAM u/g so i'm not grumbling about £8


Just done that :thumb:

Great RAM result btw!


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

JasonRS said:


> No, he's probably talking correctly about NFS mounts with his unix background.
> Yes you can mount NFS, but it depends on the NFS server configuration.
> 
> Have a look here,
> ...


Jason, followed the instructions there but I get

*could not connect to the server because the name or password is not correct*

Tried it the good ole Unix way - in the Terminal:


```
braeburn:~ parish$ sudo mount -v -r -t nfs 10.10.1.35:/home/mark /mnt
mount_nfs: /mnt: Operation not permitted
braeburn:~ parish$
```
And yes, I created /mnt as root:wheel 755

The directory is exported correctly as I can mount it on my other FreeBSD box using the above commandline

Any idea?


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## philworrall (Nov 17, 2006)

Hi Janitor,

I think that you may be wrong there.

If you compare like with like, the Mac is about the same cost as a Windows machine.

Apple do not do cheap or economy versions. I cant remember the Steve Jobs quote though.


Phil


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

philworrall said:


> Hi Janitor,
> 
> I think that you may be wrong there.
> 
> ...


Indeed. If you compare Macs against Business Dells - Latitude/Precision/M60 - then the price gap isn't all that great. That is a fairer comparison than with the Home Dells as Macs are, from what I see, primarily aimed at the business market.

In fact, we bought the daughter a Dell Inspiron 1525, which, on the face of it, was a similar spec to my MacBook Pro. Cost £400 but has no Bluetooth - a laptop without BT? WTF  - and only 10/100 LAN and Firewire400, whereas MacBooks have BT, Gigabit, and FW800 as well.


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

parish said:


> Jason, followed the instructions there but I get
> 
> *could not connect to the server because the name or password is not correct*
> 
> ...


Have you tried using Command K with Finder foremost?
Those instructions linked above are probably outdated by the looks of it.
I imagine the routine has changed with the later versions of OS X.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

PJS said:


> Have you tried using Command K with Finder foremost?
> Those instructions linked above are probably outdated by the looks of it.
> I imagine the routine has changed with the later versions of OS X.


Command K brings up the same dialogue.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

PJS and others, thanks for all your help :thumb: I'm still not out of the woods yet though 

Now I've managed to delete/uninstall Thunderbird. It doesn't show in Applications anymore (since I shutdown last night).

The DMG file is still in Downloads and when I double-click it I get this:









However, when I drag the T-bird icon to the Apps folder icon, nothing happens. I tried dragging and dropping the DMG from Downloads to Applications in Finder but it *moved* the file - it disappeared from Downloads and appeared (as Thunderbird.dmg, not Thunderbird) in Applications.


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## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

Drag the Thunderbird icon into your 'Applications' folder - it might be on the LHS of your Finder window, if not open a second window or drag onto your harddrive icon on the desktop and allow the folder to spring open which will reveal the root level of the drive with the 'Applications' folder.

Some DMGs actually have an alias (a shortcut) of the 'Applications' folder so it is just a case of drag the app onto the alias in the DMG folder.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

That seems to have worked...

double-clicked on the DMG in downloads, the window I posted above appeared and I dragged the T-bird icon from that window into Applications in Finder and a progress window appeared as it copied. Now T-bird is in Applications and double-clicking that fires it up :thumb:

However, when i double-clicked the DMG in downloads it also created a T-bird icon on the desktop and double-clicking that just brought the window in my previous post back up. I Quit T-bird, right-clicked on the desktop icon and selected Eject Thunderbird and it disappeared - and didn't re-appear when I restarted T-bird again (from Finder->Applications). What's that all about?


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## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

When you open any kind of archive file (DMGs, ISOs, etc) then they mount as if they were a disk - you know, loop mounting ISOs under Linux? Same thing, but in a GUI. The one on the desktop was probably the large icon version of what you were seeing mounted in the LHS of your Finder window.

Have you got NFS mounts sorted yet? There's an application I tried recently that background mounted NFS and SMB shares - ideal when I ran FreeNAS and presented volumes to the network. I can't remember what it was called, but there are a few NFS utilities here: http://www.macupdate.com/search.php?keywords=nfs - Mac Update is pretty much the ********** resource for applications and utilities.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Orca said:


> When you open any kind of archive file (DMGs, ISOs, etc) then they mount as if they were a disk - you know, loop mounting ISOs under Linux? Same thing, but in a GUI. The one on the desktop was probably the large icon version of what you were seeing mounted in the LHS of your Finder window.


Thanks - I'll get my head round it soon 



Orca said:


> Have you got NFS mounts sorted yet? There's an application I tried recently that background mounted NFS and SMB shares - ideal when I ran FreeNAS and presented volumes to the network. I can't remember what it was called, but there are a few NFS utilities here: http://www.macupdate.com/search.php?keywords=nfs - Mac Update is pretty much the ********** resource for applications and utilities.


Hmm, it came up no matches for nfs when I followed that link - also popped up an error -

*Caught exception attempting to insert into #scored_results: TypeError: Null value*



Not having much luck


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## Orca (Apr 16, 2007)

parish said:


> Hmm, it came up no matches for nfs when I followed that link - also popped up an error -
> 
> *Caught exception attempting to insert into #scored_results: TypeError: Null value*
> 
> ...


Oops! I trimmed the end of the URL off:
http://www.macupdate.com/search.php?keywords=nfs&starget=google


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

No worries - I've solved it 

I needed to set the 'insecure' option on the export on the Linux box to allow connections from ports above 1024 as OS X doesn't use reserved ports for NFS

http://sial.org/howto/osx/automount/


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## PJS (Aug 18, 2007)

Speaking of moving/copying files - hold Command key when dragging a file you want to move to another location off the main drive.
D&D alone makes a copy - full, not symbolic (shortcut) link to the original.
If you want to make an alias, use Ctrl key, and select from the contextual menu (or right click if using a mouse) the highlighted file, or Command L.


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## Janitor (Feb 14, 2006)

philworrall said:


> Hi Janitor,
> 
> I think that you may be wrong there.
> 
> ...


Hi Phil

You could be right - I guess I've heard a lot of PC users running out the cost line so many times that perhaps I've started to believe them!

Thinking back just over three years ago, I bought an HP Media Center 3GHz P4 with 250Gb Drive, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb Graphics, 19" Monitor, HP All-in-One printer - £1500 or something all in

The 24" iMac, 3.06GHz Core2Duo, 500Gb, 512Mb Graphics along with 4Gb RAM from Crucial and a new HP All-In-One - £1400ish

I do believe that I could have indeed got a similar 'numbers-wise' spec PC these days for a good bit less than the Mac, but it would still not be a patch on the overall product and user experience. Pays yer money and all that... :thumb:

Clive


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## wyliss (Feb 9, 2007)

parish said:


> Well, I've finally been and gone and done it - I've ordered myself a Mac
> 
> Been watching the refurbished MacBooks in the Apple Store. Saw one for just £569 - but by the time I'd um'd and ar'd it had gone  Then spotted a MacBookPro for just £811 - £362 (30%) off and since that is only £105 more than the base MacBook model I just couldn't resist. I really wanted the Pro for the bigger screen too.
> 
> ...


Another convert !, welcome to the family !. You wont look back. It takes a bit of getting used to but once there you'll wonder why you never did it years ago. :thumb::thumb:


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