Best Practices: Mac computers

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#1

Clearly because Solai won’t do it, I thought I’d start a thread for Mac issues (not that there should be many). I grew up on macs starting with the original 128k and stayed true until 2000. Unfortunately, the last mac I owned was the Power MacIntosh 7200 from the dark days of Apple. Now I’m coming home with the purchase of a MacBook in the next couple of weeks.

Solai had some great advice on how to set up a PC and I wish I had done that years ago. My question is, does this still make sense for a Mac? The reason I ask is will having documents and personal stored predominantly on an external hard drive mess with the Time Machine function in Leopard?

Just curious…

#2

Thread locked, user banned.

Kidding! I kid!.

Short answer, don’t worry about your setup as long as everything is connected most of the time. The filesystem is seen as a whole, for the most part, so as long as it can all be seen on most backups, you’re good.

#3

also a verrrrrrrry longtime macuser, and I’m wracking my brains for something postworthy. coming up empty. maybe Pike’s got something.

#4

I’m struggling here. Extra, or external, HDs are good for projects (or home file systems if you’ve got a desktop.) Backing up is always a good idea. You don’t have to worry about defrags, etc. Ummm…

#5

So just to get an unbiased opinion, do you guys think it’s a good idea to get a mac?

#6

Thats the beauty of a Mac… hard to think of any problems that need solving.

I jumped ship to a Mac a few years back and I will never return to the dark side. To be honest I use to mock Macs, too cute, to controlled, good for kids but I need a real machine.

Then one day I read about OS X, realized it was basically BSD with a GUI on top. Then I stopped by a Apple store, then the guy fired up terminal, then I pulled out my credit card. I’m on my second one now. I have been set free.

#7

Actually, it depends upon what industry you’re in. The default answer is “yes,” of course, but there are clear instances where PC is the way to go. (The sad, lonely, way to go…)

#8

It might depend upon what you use a computer for. If its for gaming I would say maybe not, they have never been known as great for gaming. If you have to share .doc files or excel files I believe you can do that with a Mac but it will cost you (software). I’m sure someone else here can answer that question better than I can.

If on the other hand you don’t need a computer for gaming and you have no need to access /share MS specific file types, then it is a very loud YES get a Mac.

#9

You saw the light. I am not sure why but talking about computers at times sounds like a religious experience. :wink:

#10

I have used Apple computers since the Apple ii. That is the one you did not have to build yourself and just after the start of the use of the floppy disk.

Except for those of you power gamers (the people who probably would not use a PC ether) the Mac can be good in all worlds. If you need PC software it can be used on the Mac as we as the Mac software. You can also get translation software for those who just need to read specific kinds of documents. You can use other more radical kinds of programing for the true rebel as well.

If you are into any kind of media the Mac is for you. Since the Mac comes with most of the software you will need I do not remember prices. To my knowledge you will not need to buy PC software any more than the native PC user does.

#11

The advice Solai gave is general enough, and it’s a good idea for Mac as it is for PCs. Not really as important on Mac as it is on PC, though, if you use Time Machine regularly.

My recommendation for Mac users is, get an external harddrive 1.5x the size of your computer’s harddrive, set it up as Time Machine Volume, and plug it in once a day. You’ll make life so much easier by doing this.

Also, another good thing about Mac is that, inside Users folder, your username gets a folder, and everything, including the Desktop and everything else lives in this folder. No need to back up the registry to preserve user-specific settings, cuz there is none. So, manual backup is easier, since you could just drag this folder into an external volume and that copies every user-specific document.

#12

My husband and I use each other’s computers to back up our stuff. The external hard drives are not very expensive and are easy to use.

Great advise deathbytra, thank you.

#13

Ooof. That does indeed depend on your needs.
For example, I’m a Mac guy who decided I needed a PC because of a Mac shortcoming. I wanted to draw directly on my screen and couldn’t justify the expense of a Wacom Cintique tablet, so I picked up a tablet PC instead. It’s fine for running the software I need, but if something ever happens to it system-wise, I’m screwed. If only Apple made a tablet PC… (sigh)

-It used to be that if you worked in the graphic arts (except for 3D graphics), you’d want a Mac. With Opentype, that has changed somewhat, though color management still seems a little wonky on a PC.
-If all you want to do is surf the web, send emails, and organize your finances, you can get by a lot cheaper with a PC.
-If you need to interact with one platform predominantly, work or school for example, there can still be major issues with working cross-platform, and if you already own one platform and are thinking of switching, having to re-buy all your commercial software usually just isn’t worth it.

My usual advise is stick with what you have, because both platforms can do most of what you’ll want.
If you’re starting from scratch, well, I just like the Mac user experience better. The Mac OS just seems to get out of my way.
If I was a programmer/hacker, I’d probably say the opposite though. And with the advent of some really great Open Source programs like OpenOffice, Gimp, Inkscape, Blender 3D, CeltX, Audacity etc, (which can all run on a Mac too BTW) the cost of entry can be so low with a bargain PC that it’s hard to ignore.

Yeah, I know. This hardly clears anything up.
Welcome to the digital age. Sorry.

#14

Question… I’ve hooked up my macbook pro to my tv and I’m having a difficult time finding a resolution such that the entire desktop is visible on the tv. The very top of the desktop is what I can’t see which is a bit annoying since that means I can’t see any toolbars. The only resolution that allows me to see the toolbar is 800x600 and that gets pretty funky.

FYI its macbook pro and a sony bravia 40" lcd hdtv. I’m connecting with a dvi to hdmi cable.

Any suggestions? Anyone been down this road?

#15

Is it a CRT (tube) TV? The menu bar may be hidden by the frame. You should be able to adjust the picture to bring it into view.

#16

No its lcd. I suppose I could mess around with the horizontal/vertical settings but then I would think I would be distorting things and I do use this to watch hulu etc. But that might be the easiest solution.

#17

Are you running it as a dual monitor setup? Because the menu bar will only be on the primary monitor. Set the TV as primary, and you should get the menu bar.

#18

No I am mirror mode. I did try both and dragged the menu bar to the “tv” desktop but no luck.

The menu bar is there, I simply can’t see it because the picture is not fitting properly. I can move my mouse and get to it, I can see about 2/3 of each drop down menu. Its there, its functioning, but menu selections are a best guess since I can’t see what I am doing.

The bottom is also cut off which is where I have my dock. But enough is visible so that I can still easily use it.

The horizontal is fine, there are resolutions that give me the full width of the desktop. But aside from 800x600 I can’t seem to find one that provides proper vertical resolution. Although while typing this post I had a thought, tonight after work I will play around with some of the other picture settings on the tv, make sure it isn’t doing something “funny” like zoom mode. I didn’t think to check that out until just now.

And thanks for helping me out, I appreciate it :slight_smile: This has been a bit frustrating.

#19

ah found it, tv setting needs to be full pixel. my menu bar is visible in all its glory.

thanks for the help

#20

Well i love and hate apple.

first off the the OS was mana from heaven when i switched over, thats not to say for the first week i wasn’t fighting the urge to throw my mac book to wall. but once i got over the fact the there was no right click. and some other crazy crap. but once you get the basics down. well, going back to windows isn’t really an option.

installing apps on a mac, compaired to windows… at first i didn’t believe it was that easy, it didn’t even occur to me it could be so easy

that being said.i find the switching or not depends mostly on your general usage of the computer. if your a gamer no stay with PC mac’s are pretty much useless. if your a computer expert well you know much more than i do. i use the computer for very general things here. lots of photography, internet and word prossesing. so i just need basic computer apps.

I will say the closed nature of mac computers does to some degree rope you into alot of there own prducts, and services. which like the computers itself cost you more.

Still Steve jobs is a freak no matter how many events he makes or how high the stock prices go; he creeps me out a little more each time.

add to that if apple makes a multi touch tablet, i’ll be lining up like a sheep-le cause with all the failings of mac the things just work about six times better than the alternative.

boomer trying hard to not be mac fanboy. so i’m some what biased, just not blinded