When I ask you guys for advice, I listen!
I’ll be blogging from my shiny new Macbook Pro as soon as I learn how to turn it on. Any software suggestions (especially for mail, and how I can transfer my Thunderbird stuff from PC) are appreciated.
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I’m sure that Thunderbird on the Mac should import your Thunderbird PC just fine. Your two machines should be totally networkable straight out of the box.
oh jesus, I’m sorry. I hope you have better look with yours than I’ve mine. As it stands I curse this thing at least two dozen times a day. Had never had to use the ‘force quit’ function with any other mac, now I’m doing it a few times a day. slow, pausing, crashing, scary. I’m told my permissions may be off, tried to do the manual fix on that, no luck. Going to take in soon before I toss it off the room. I did purchase the bottom of the line book- don’t think it’s the ‘pro’ line. just straight up macbook. I can’t believe I wrote in about computer stuff. Nerdhouse 2000.
mh, that makes me sad. I haven’t even turned it on yet!
But that’s not possible!! Macs NEVER crash! They’re perfect machines that do no wrong. I hear they’re even capable of love.
If you are wanting to transfer a lot of stuff, this article may help: http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/migrate/
And yes Dashiell. My mac loves me. Now you have proof.
no they’re not capable of love… that’s the one element missing from successful breeding with humans.
stereogum, you’ll enjoy the macbookpro. i just got one a few weeks ago, and i love it. and i was strictly a windows guy before. so, with your new apple, does this mean we’ll get even more daily updates? sweet…
Congrats, Macbook Pros are nice machines. Before you go straight to thunderbird try the osx mail app. It’s really good. You should be able to do a straight export/import of your existing messages.
And one word that will make you and your Mac happy. Quicksilver.
congtarulations. welcome to the cult. ditto on OS X Mail.
Apple’s Mail.app is pretty wonderful.
OSX Mail is really great, and with the newest version of OSX (10.5) it’s probably gonna be even better.
I even use it for my gmail.
You’ll love your macbook. Promise.
oh god, just when i thought stereogum couldn’t get any more black rimmed glasses at the local hipster coffee shop…
Correction: Macs don’t crash; their applications do.
“oh god, just when i thought stereogum couldn’t get any more black rimmed glasses at the local hipster coffee shop…”
*reading this on my macbook in a coffee shop, wearing black rimmed glasses.*
definitely give osx mail a chance. I run all five of my email boxes off of it and I’ve never had any issues. and congratulations on your apple switch. once you leap you’ll never go back…..
Aww man, here I was hoping we could play PC games against each other. Imagine fragging Stereogum in Prey?
Seriously, congratulations. Laptops are cool. Try blogging while eating lunch in public; don’t know why, but it’s awesome.
Oh, i get it now: PC’s WORK!
there are a couple good pieces of software that you should download for your new mac. first of all, dowload VLC media player. this software is capable of playing .wmv files and .avi files, which are unsupported by quicktime. second, you should download Handbrake, which will allow you to copy the movie off of a DVD. you can copy it in a couple different formats, as well as tweak the sound and picture. if you wish to copy the entire, DVD, menus and all, download MacTheRipper. another really useful app is Senuti. this allows you, if your or a friend’s ipod is mac-formatted, to copy either your own or their songs onto your computer. yet another useful application is Audio Hijack, which will record audio from applications such as web browsers, DVD players, or media players. in conclusion, just do a google search and you will be able to find the software download (all of them are free). have fun with the new mac!
pffft… john hodgman is way cooler than that slacker guy :-Þ
quicktime plays wmv with flip4mac, and avi’s also supported with the proper codec, both of which you can find on versiontracker.com. versiontracker will be your best friend, it’s an aggregator site full of free mac wares.
mh, try resetting your p-ram? command-option-p-r while you boot.
and jude, i believe the correct adage is once you go mac, you’ll never go back.
to jason-
flip4mac is only for powerPC, and they have not yet released a universal binary for the intel machines.
is the guy on the right in that movie Jeepers Creepers?
My second biggest reality check over the past few weeks is when i realized i was logging on to stereogum and thinking to myself “i wonder if scott bought the mac yet?”
My biggest was when the server was compromised and i was the only person i knew who found this troubling.
I need to go outside more.
I unfortunately don’t know anything remotely PC related, but those Mac commericials. Ugh, the hipster v. businessman stuff is really irritating in the stereotyping and sort of weird way. I dunno, I’m getting sick of those commericials.
BUT ONE CAN NEVER GET SICK OF A MAC COMPUTER BECAUSE THEY CAN KNOCKS ONE’S SOCKS CLEAR ACROSS THE ROOM! THEY’RE GRAND!
Scott:
For software: I’d certainly recommend giving OSX Mail (the built in mail client) a shot, as someone else already mentioned. Another very useful app is something called VLC Player:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html
it plays .avi files as well as some other stuff that the Quicktime player won’t. Finally, check out the program called “Comic Life” which is (or at least should be) bundled with your computer. You can use it to make comic book thingys from your photos. I use it a lot on my own site… very easy to use and a lot of fun.
Thanks for all the software suggestions.
Any advice for encoding video from DVR to Macbook?
I’ve been a mac user for about 5 years. Here’s some programs I consider essential on the mac, you can get them all at versiontracker.com
Acquisition – Music/Movie/Torrent Downloads
Audio Hijack Pro – Hijack Audio from anywhere
Delicious Library – Voted the most beautiful mac application ever. Organizes your DVD/CD collection
Net News Wire – The best RSS Reader
SpamSieve – filters junk mail like no other
Speed Download – Internet Downloading Program
Synergy – iTunes controller using keywords/menu bar
Transmit – a must have FTP program, especially for someone who’s always uploading stuff to a server.
VLC – media player that plays everything
Quicksilver – half application launcher half search tool half anything else you want it to do. hard to explain but it words wonders.
btw Flip4Mac is universal now.
-Taylor Johnston
http://musicforants.com
Sort-of stupid question, but can a Windows-formatted iPod connect to a Mac computer (like the Macbook above) without it deleting the songs, and can it use Senuti also?
Did I say .Mac is a piece of shit?
yes i do it all the time
good luck with the new computer
ahem… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA3NyRr4Eng
I bought the new iMAC last year and it just keeps getting better.
I’ll second the notion about Delicous Library – the perfect way to keep track of DVDs, CD, books and games. Way cool.
Also get CoverFlow – shows off all your artwork to your CDs – works like a jukebox – you can flip through – pick one, double click – it plays.
And Apple’s Pages and Keynotes are a must for publishing.
Have fun!!
please don’t identify yourself with that smarmy douchebag.
Forgot about these:
Enable speech recognition on your MAC – with just voice commands you can get mail, call people, put items in your calendar.
And Awake is a piece of software that will turn on your mac from sleep mode at whatever time you set and play anything from your iTunes. A lifesaver!
I’ve been thinking of switching over from Entourage to Gyazmail for email–it has a widescreen panel and seems to do everything that GMail, MacMail, Entourage can do. Might be worth looking at before transferring to Thunderbird…
http://www.gyazsquare.com/gyazmail/
You can also go widescreen in OSX mail with a bundle called “Letterbox.” google it.
Scott, just be happy your Mac won’t do this:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/07/28/dude_your_dell_just_.html
I stand corrected; jason is correct:
once you go mac you’ll never go back.
Scott,
Congrats. As an avid Mac user and Stereogum.com fan, you made a wise choice.
John
I worked at Motorolla back when they were still making the chips for Macs. When the company making the chips for Macs switches to PCs, that should say something.