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Mac OSX Noob thread of OSX noobs
- Thread starter koam
- Start date
UtadaBarkley
Member
No, no, no... Don't run out that door yet. I had a Mac mini, and I had a kb/mouse that I bought for it less than a month ago. Long story short, I sold the mini, and had leftover kb/mouse. Total for that is like $125, so I was wondering if I should just put that towards an Airport Extreme, or a Magic Trackpad, or something. Sorry for the confusion. :lolBboy AJ said:
Dreams-Visions
Member
as opposed to?Phobophile said:
I have an Airport Extreme b/g/n single band and a 1TB Time Capsule and I love them heaps. My experience with routers has generally been rather unsatisfactory - crap hardware, crap software and whatnot.JeffDowns said:
The WAN port on the Extreme screwed up after two years though and the activity light for LAN port 1 doesn't light up, which is pretty shoddy. I just put the ADSL modem into one of the LAN ports instead. It's been a year since that happened, I intend to get it fixed one day...
Chrome, I guess. I've stayed with Firefox and intend to continue using it because I don't want to invest the time in finding replacement extensions for what I've currently got, but it really falling behind Chrome in feeling innovative, fast and efficient.Dreams-Visions said:
UtadaBarkley
Member
Agreed. I can't go back to the Fox anymore. Chrome > Firefox > Opera > Netscape Navigator > AOL > Looking up your information in an encyclopedia > Internet Explorerhirokazu said:
Expendable.
Member
just picked up my very first Apple computer, a 13inch MacBook Pro.
It is a-mazing.
It is a-mazing.
Safari gets ignored around here, i think.
it may not be as fast as Chrome but it's never been a slouch for me and it integrates with the Mac OS so well that it keeps pulling me back in whenever i experiment with another browser. the keychain integration for filling out forms, the text auto correction and system dictionary integration, and the new extensions with 5.0
its all really good and useful.
the biggest thing it would benefit from, imo, is the addition of separate tab processes - something we know the webkit team is working on.
it may not be as fast as Chrome but it's never been a slouch for me and it integrates with the Mac OS so well that it keeps pulling me back in whenever i experiment with another browser. the keychain integration for filling out forms, the text auto correction and system dictionary integration, and the new extensions with 5.0
its all really good and useful.
the biggest thing it would benefit from, imo, is the addition of separate tab processes - something we know the webkit team is working on.
Dreams-Visions
Member
Might be a tough switch for me.JeffDowns said:
I'm using so many of the plug-ins daily. the Web Developer plug-in is necessary. The ability to add additional search engines from Mycroft is a necessity to me.
If I those things are available on Chrome, I'll download it tomorrow and give it a whirl (about to head out). But those things are the reason why I left Safari and went back to Firefox (gave Safari 2 months of exclusive time...it too had memory leak issues).
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
You really don't need Web Developer at all. Everyone at my job has moved to Chrome for web design. It has its own Web Developer toolbar addon too, but it doesn't have all the features of the Firefox one.
LCfiner said:
I used to use Safari until just recently when I tried out a Chrome nightly.
It's really fast and has some nice features. Google Instant is baked into the address bar which is really useful, syncs all your extensions and bookmarks and stuff and there is some nice features like the translating one where it detects another language and you just click a button to translate.
I miss some things from Safari (merging windows into tabs for example, gifs & Flash seem to play better in Safari) but overall I think Chrome has them beat for now.
Doytch said:
Type "Chrom" in the filter part of Activity Monitor's toolbar (might have to customize toolbar and add that):
also Window > Task Manager inside Chrome
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
I'd use Chrome on Mac if I could turn off favicons on the bookmarks bar. Seriously, it looks awful and makes the browser feel childish.
Haha, that's funny, I just bought a Magic Touchpad today and am currently configuring extra gestures (middle click!) with BTT, which has been fantastic with the Magic Mouse. I have been getting sore wrists lately from mice, the Magic Mouse's ergonomics is questionable, so I'm trying to Magic Touchpad to see how it goes in alleviating that.FuturusX said:
When using mice, I end up concentrating movement to my wrists out of habit. :|
I do really like Safari, and it would preferably be my browser of choice above Firefox and Chrome, but it feels too restrictive in terms of customisability, as you'd expect from Apple.LCfiner said:
I was initially excited about Safari getting extensions support, but the offerings so far have been rather lacklustre - often buggy, slow and limited compared to what can be done with extensions on Firefox.
Interestingly, both of my sisters have switched to using Safari rather than Firefox by their own accord. I haven't installed Chrome on their machines.
Mecha_Infantry
Banned
Safari for me all day.
I do use firefox and chrome on PC though. But I love the integration of safari and the OS.
I do use firefox and chrome on PC though. But I love the integration of safari and the OS.
I have had my Mac Mini since spring and has been using it for movies, music and photos - like a media center. I don't know what answer I'm looking for but are there any interesting things i can do with such a Mac? It's my first one mind you, so I don't know a whole lot of this scene yet. I'm thinking alongside Cydia on the iOS devices, are there any cool apps out there? Any Mac app websites?
Mr. Wonderful
Member
Which is my case exactly. Plus the fact that Firefox has always taken so much longer to start up, and, at least in benchmarks, has always been slower.LCfiner said:
Not to mention that Firefox and Chrome on Mac seem to get treated as a second-tier platform by developers. Has it gotten any better lately?
Alright, switching to Chrome for a while to really check it out. I've always had it installed on my computers but never really used it... Syncing across my Macbook and a W7 PC.
The one thing that I was scared about was whether or not D4Danger made a version of his GAF Live Thread extension for Chrome. :lol
And thanks guys for helping me sort out the shared memory mumbo-jumbo of the Activity Monitor!
I kinda wish I could selectively sync extensions though. I don't need a Gmail checker on my Macbook, but I do want one on my W7 PC.
The one thing that I was scared about was whether or not D4Danger made a version of his GAF Live Thread extension for Chrome. :lol
And thanks guys for helping me sort out the shared memory mumbo-jumbo of the Activity Monitor!
I kinda wish I could selectively sync extensions though. I don't need a Gmail checker on my Macbook, but I do want one on my W7 PC.
50 eesential apps for OS X usersAnastacio said:
70 essential apps for advanced OS X users
there is no equivalent to the Cydia store on the mac (Cydia derives its system from linux). The closest you'll get is a mix of the macupdate app and iusethis.com
I can't leave Firefox for any other browser without both Tree style tabs and Hyperwords but Safari's cleaner youtube extension (and other prettifying websites extensions) is pretty impressive as well as the hoverzoom extension (also available for Google Chrome which I can't stand)
Saren is Bad
Member
I go to a University where, in the dorm rooms, there is no wireless. Instead we all get an ethernet port, have to plug it into our computer, go to a gateway website to log in, and then we are on the Internet.
Basically, for Xbox Live and my iPad, I have been connecting to the Internet via the ethernet to my Macbook and putting off a Wifi called "Macbook" and Internet Sharing with a static IP. This works great for everything, the only downside is that the computer has to be plugged in and pretty much not in use.
My question: is it possible to set up a wireless router that automatically logs in or at least tricks the University's Restech system into thinking that it's connected so that I can actually use wireless ON my computer, rather than using that computer as a wireless hotspot?
Basically, for Xbox Live and my iPad, I have been connecting to the Internet via the ethernet to my Macbook and putting off a Wifi called "Macbook" and Internet Sharing with a static IP. This works great for everything, the only downside is that the computer has to be plugged in and pretty much not in use.
My question: is it possible to set up a wireless router that automatically logs in or at least tricks the University's Restech system into thinking that it's connected so that I can actually use wireless ON my computer, rather than using that computer as a wireless hotspot?
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Charred Greyface said:
I stopped reading the first list when it said the mac version of office was better than the windows version. And they suggest Adobe reader for pdfs....
Can you go to the Resnet office and register a Mac address for 'dumb' devices? If so I dont see why you can't give them the router/hotspot mac and do it that way. Although I suspect that you might not even have to do that, this was the same way my university had resnet set up my senior year, and they disallowed all routers but mine still worked perfectly, just plugged it in.Saren is Bad said:
(any weblog browser > firefox)
Hahaha, At times I had to go to the computer lab to print out a PDF, and i'd open the file, and see the damn adobe splash screen and kick myself for forgetting that they have reader set as default, then I'd drag the file to preview, it open instantly and I'd wait for reader to finish opening so that I could quit it and get in with my work.Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
It's kind of sad that apple can write a better PDF viewer than adobe.
UtadaBarkley
Member
Well, went ahead and opted for Apple's Airport instead of the Magic Touch Pad, and I have to say I'm extremely impressed.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
It is pretty sweet. I wish it had an internal admin webpage rather than an application, but it hasn't given me even one fussy moment in 3 years. I had the original WRT54G before that which was sweet as hell too, but I wanted 5 GHz wireless N.JeffDowns said:
DefectiveReject
Banned
I have a late 2009 imac. Upped to 8gb.
I have CS5, cinema 4d, textmate, coda, transit, Parallels, handbrake the lot running at once, no issues at all.
Yet Safari...... 1gb-1.3gb of memory in use ...... seriously
I have CS5, cinema 4d, textmate, coda, transit, Parallels, handbrake the lot running at once, no issues at all.
Yet Safari...... 1gb-1.3gb of memory in use ...... seriously
DefectiveReject said:
yeah, I have safari open for weeks at a time and sometimes itll grow to almost 2 GB in memory usage. I have 8 GB in my imac.
but it doesnt feel slow and more importantly, my page outs to the hard drive virtual memory is now at around 2.3 MB. I havent rebooted in around 3 weeks.
essentially, safari will release the memory as needed for other apps. and it will only use the extra memory if its available. it never used more than 1 GB for me when I had 4 GB in my system.
Charred Greyface said:
if the page outs are still super low then why does it matter?
Im gonna go to the apple store and start opening up 20-30 tabs in safari (and Chrome too) on a 2GB MBA and check total memory usage and page outs. :lol
see how slow they get on constrained machines
I swear more people here check memory used than the actual speed of the app theyre using.
but, then again, were nerds.
Dreams-Visions
Member
If Safari let me add additional search engines, I'd strongly consider using it. But it doesn't, and the Bing/Yahoo/Google setup doesn't work for me in 2010. Right now, my Firefox search bar has 19 search engines, most of which I use regularly. It's unacceptable for me to go back to having to go to Amazon or eBay or Dictionary.com THEN search for what I want when Firefox allows me to simply switch search engines right in the browser then search for whatever I want.Mecha_Infantry said:
It's a backwards step to me.
also, the second reason I switched away from safari is that it too was using gratuitous amounts of memory. 1GB+ as well. I'll try Chrome today and see what my options are with that browser. If all goes well, you guy will be the first to know. Thanks.
UtadaBarkley
Member
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
Yep it is. I too wish it had more features, but for someone adopting Apple minimalism, I'm not going to complain. I like the fact that it only has one light on the router as well. :lol
I've never had a wireless N router, so the difference is pretty amazing to me. It's crazy fast.
I compared downloads between wireless and wired, and they were exactly the same. This has allowed me to undo the tangled mess behind my desk. I was able to get rid of three separate devices, and no telling how many ethernet cables because of this single device. Very nice.
Dreams-Visions
Member
both Firefox and Safari begin acting weird and laggy when their memory footprint exceeds 1GB. stuttering page scrolling, for example. you *know* something is wrong.LCfiner said:
Dreams-Visions said:
not for me it doesnt. not even when its using over 1.5 GB. talking about Safari here.
if it did, I would be restarting it every day or using another browser.
anyway, going back to browsers for a second, Chrome is still top notch and if it were not for the OS X text correction added in 10.6, Id probably be using Chrome daily.
actually, if Chrome were to be updated to use the system keychain and system text tools instead of rolling their own for multiplatform purposes, Id switch to Chrome for the tab process isolation and unified search bar.
UtadaBarkley
Member
What is text correction?LCfiner said:
DefectiveReject
Banned
Nope no flash sites. Purely web apps i'm working on, wamp server usually a GAF page and twitter. Sometimes maybe codrops or smashing magazine.ivedoneyourmom said:
I know from my tests that nothing I'm developing is doing anything. Could be same as another user. In that I shut down once week
JeffDowns said:
when I type in ahve the system automatically corrects it to have. same with teh and the basically it uses the built in dictionary to automatically replace text. you can add your own custom replacements as well
I just have to check correct spelling automatically option under the spelling and grammar menu item in edit on the menu bar.
its the type of feature thats used in MS Office but its systemwide for any OS X app that uses the default text boxes. apps that dont use system default text boxes -like chrome or firefox - cant use it.
UtadaBarkley
Member
Ah, I was looking for something like this. Does this work in Pages? Doesn't seem so to me. SOmetimes I'll capitalize the first two letters in a word by accident, and Word will auto correct the mistake. Just like I did in the last sentence with the word "Sometimes."LCfiner said:
JeffDowns said:
a couple things.
one. SOmetimes is not a spelling error. you can fix that in your browser by right clicking on it and picking transformations and then selecting Capitilize or lowercase. this would also work in textedit
two. Pages has its own text correction/ text transformation engine (youll note that the edit menu under textedit and pages have way different options) and you can check it out by choosing pages preferences and selecting the option for auto capitalization and adding your own options for auto text correction.
Tried this in the Back to the Mac thread and didn't get any responses, so I'll ask here: I'm looking to get a new laptop and I think I have my sights set pretty firmly on making the jump from PC to Mac. I'm looking at either picking up the 13" or 15" MBP (leaning towards 13" because I like smaller laptops and I don't really think I need the Core i5 and dedicated graphics card; I don't play computer games nor do I do any photoshop/heavy video editing, so I think a Core 2 Duo should suffice) sometime around either my birthday (Nov 21) or during Xmas. My question is, is it worth waiting to see if they release refreshed MBPs soon? I saw on Mac Rumors' Buyers Guide that it says "Buy only if need - approaching end of cycle," but if that "end of cycle" isn't until April, I don't think I'm willing to wait that long. Wondering if I shouldn't wait until at least the Macworld event (though I'm not sure they even traditionally reveal MBP updates/refreshes at Macworld).
tl;dr - Looking to get a 13" MBP end of this year, is it worth waiting to see if a refresh is around the corner?
tl;dr - Looking to get a 13" MBP end of this year, is it worth waiting to see if a refresh is around the corner?
Bowser said:
Apple doesnt attend Macworld anymore so dont worry about that. theyll update laptops without much warning at all.
The Macbook Pro might get some small speed bump or similar in the next couple months as the last update was April. they typically update a couple times each year.
However, if youre not going to do anything super intensive, you may want to seriously consider the brand new 13 Air. better screen that the current 13 Macbook Pro model, similar price (bit more expensive) but half the weight and faster in many cases due to the SSD. see the macworld or anandtech reviews online.
edit: The 13 is in a different situation than the 15 since its stuck with the C2D as its the only CPU they can package with a decent graphics chip in the smaller form factor. which means that the 13 update is more dependant on the schedule of Sandy Bridge Intel CPus that have OpenCL capable integrated graphics chips.
so the wait for a 13 spec bump update may actually be longer than the wait for a 15 spec bump update
UtadaBarkley
Member
Bowser said:
Probably not, because of what you just said. You don't do gaming, graphics, etc. So what could they release besides a faster machine that would be worth waiting for?
UtadaBarkley
Member
LCfiner said:
I concur.
LCfiner said:
There's a couple of little minor annoyances that I have with the Air that pushes me towards the MBP (no built-in ethernet port, no backlit keyboard, no dvd-drive which is big for me cause I like to watch dvds on my laptop); but, I am starting to warm up a bit to it. Definitely am going to play around with one at the Apple store, I'm just worried, mainly, about the lack of a dvd drive (I don't want to waste space ripping my DVDs onto a 128GB hard drive; though I suppose I could rip them to my portable external HD and watch off of that?). Also, I plan on installing Windows on my Mac and running either bootcamp or virtualization so I'm not sure how the Air would handle that either.