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Getting the new Macbook tomrrow, any recomendations

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So I got the new lower-end Macbook yesterday. I'm loving it so far.

I'd like to hear your software suggestions though. I'm looking for:

- A good FTP transfer program
- A graphical Subversion client (I really liked TortoiseSVN under Windows)
- A well integrated PHP/HTML/CSS editor
- An application that will install Apache, PHP and MySQL without too much hassle. In other words, something like WampServer under Windows.

Thanks guys.
 
pj325is said:
fedex surprised me and delivered today..

2.4ghz 4gb ram mbp

balls to the wall awesome

I'm already using the multitouch stuff without thinking
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mine is the same, only 2GB RAM, is it worth the upgrade? i'm mainly using my MB for web browsing, watching HD videos, music listening, torrents....the usuall common stuff. I won't edit HD videos or anything, only playback from my Sony HD camera.

should i upgrade, or is it not worth it for me?
 
marwan said:
mine is the same, only 2GB RAM, is it worth the upgrade? i'm mainly using my MB for web browsing, watching HD videos, music listening, torrents....the usuall common stuff. I won't edit HD videos or anything, only playback from my Sony HD camera.

should i upgrade, or is it not worth it for me?
Click to expand...

dont bother...although it would probably be semi cheap after u sell the 2 1gb sticks. how much do you think those would be worth?
 
so my brightness isnt autoadjusting anymore. it used to change all the time, even when i simply move my head in front of the computer. i found that the sensor is near the camera so i cover it with my hand and the brightness goes all the way down.

but now lately, it doesnt seem to change. i put my hand in front and nothing happens...wtf?
 
so_awes said:
does windows xp sp3 work in the new unibody macbook?

i really hate the mac os, but like the hardware.
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you need to figure out the shortcuts and how everything works and you will love the mac os. its really stupid and lame to use at first but then all of a sudden something clicks and its the greatest os youve ever used.
 
so_awes said:
does windows xp sp3 work in the new unibody macbook?

i really hate the mac os, but like the hardware.
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yea in bootcamp. i just updated it yesterday. stupid ass windows update does like 1 thing at a time. ended up restarting at least 4 times before it was done. ridiculous.
 
So apparently adjusting the gamma on the new macbook with an app such as Supercal improves the display, ALOT. ie. change the gamma from 1.8 (default) to 2.2. Almost everyone who has done this has seen a massive improvement. A gamma of 1.8 is just too low contrast/washed out.
 
Slurpy said:
So apparently adjusting the gamma on the new macbook with an app such as Supercal improves the display, ALOT. ie. change the gamma from 1.8 (default) to 2.2. Almost everyone who has done this has seen a massive improvement. A gamma of 1.8 is just too low contrast/washed out.
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The default laptop color settings in general are ASS. Blue washed out SHIT. First thing I always do with a new mac is calibrate the screen.
 
StopMakingSense said:
Ctrl - Option - Command - 8

You will thank me.
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damn. *that* is what was wrong with the macbook I looked at in a store yesterday, didn't know what had happened and I couldn't adjust it back. Thought the screen was screwed..
 
StopMakingSense said:
The default laptop color settings in general are ASS. Blue washed out SHIT. First thing I always do with a new mac is calibrate the screen.
Click to expand...

how do you calibrate the screen?
 
mrklaw said:
damn. *that* is what was wrong with the macbook I looked at in a store yesterday, didn't know what had happened and I couldn't adjust it back. Thought the screen was screwed..
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hahaha this gives me an idea, i should go to the apple store and Ctrl - Option - Command - 8 all their computers :lol
 
marwan said:
hahaha this gives me an idea, i should go to the apple store and Ctrl - Option - Command - 8 all their computers :lol
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if you're a middle schooler, sure that'd be the cool thing to do.

respect other people's jobs, instead of trying to give them a hard time.
 
giga said:
if you're a middle schooler, sure that'd be the cool thing to do.

respect other people's jobs, instead of trying to give them a hard time.
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did you actually take me seriously mr. president? o_O



anyways guys, i need MS office viewer for Mac, what do you guys recommend? i don't care about editing, just a free application that would open Excel, PowerPoint and Word.

thanks,
 
marwan said:
did you actually take me seriously mr. president? o_O



anyways guys, i need MS office viewer for Mac, what do you guys recommend? i don't care about editing, just a free application that would open Excel, PowerPoint and Word.

thanks,
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no, i've just seen many smartasses doing that in apple stores.

openoffice.org
 
giga said:
shiira sucks. use webkit or firefox.
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lol, i guess that sums it up! :lol

btw, i have the latest firefox on my mac and when i go to the themes it says that the themes are only compatible with the PC version or some crap like that, wtf? i hate the gray ff mac looks, i want a bit more colors instead.
 
giga, thanks for helping me out, but is it possible to change the top mac bar, the on that says firefox, file, edit, view, history....an so on. do i c=have control ove it to change it's color?

thanks!
 
So, again, my macbook refused to read a DVD. It's making a horrible noise. I bought it on the 15th, so I"m still within 14 days. Instead of doing warranty work on the SuperDrive, I'm thinking up upgrading to the Pro. Screen issues - although I've been happy with the MacBook screen - I'm the kind of person that can't stop thinking about having a better one. I wanted a 13", but I"m realizing that I don't really travel with it much, and I can always use the extra graphics power, and express card port. What I want to know is if the Apple store is going to charge me the 10% restocking fee. Since I'm upselling - I'd hope that doesn't even come up.
 
Ordered my Macbook Pro and will receive it Monday or Tuesday :D :D :D Embrace me, fellow Mac users !!!

Of course, I'm from Canada, so I dunno if you guys from the US get a better deal. In my local Apple reseller, they offer a $200 educational rebate, which is better than Apple's own $100 rebate. iLife suite is included as well. This is awesome.
 
anyone knows what the refreshed Mac Air would be like when it arrives in November/December, the mac rep at the store told me it's coming in out in Nov/Dec 2009... that's about a month from now.
 
marwan said:
giga, thanks for helping me out, but is it possible to change the top mac bar, the on that says firefox, file, edit, view, history....an so on. do i c=have control ove it to change it's color?

thanks!
Click to expand...
no.

marwan said:
anyone knows what the refreshed Mac Air would be like when it arrives in November/December, the mac rep at the store told me it's coming in out in Nov/Dec 2009... that's about a month from now.
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it is the year 2008.
 
Jel0man said:
Since I can't do you know what I'll post this here. Tomorrow you can download Codeweavers' products (Crossover mac, games and linux) for free. I can't wait to try it. I soooo hope crossover games will be compatible with Red Alert 3, but yeah I'm not sure... Anyway, just give this a go tomorrow:).

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/27/codeweavers-says-cheap-gas-free-software-tomorrow/
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how is crossover mac? I have a 30GB parallels partition which I pretty much only use for newsleecher and mkv2vob. if those two worked would I really not need to boot up windows?

that'd free up some space for a bootcamp install maybe.
 
crossover mac is based on [dar]wine. it's pretty good for the supported software, but don't expect it to be bug/crash-free though.

i'll download it tomorrow and see how office 2007 runs on it compared to shitcakes 2008.
 
Olivier said:
So I got the new lower-end Macbook yesterday. I'm loving it so far.

I'd like to hear your software suggestions though. I'm looking for:

- A good FTP transfer program
- A graphical Subversion client (I really liked TortoiseSVN under Windows)
- A well integrated PHP/HTML/CSS editor
- An application that will install Apache, PHP and MySQL without too much hassle. In other words, something like WampServer under Windows.

Thanks guys.
Click to expand...
In Order of what you wrote (Not sure if anyone responded to it):
1) Transit is very good (though you have to pay for it)
2) There is one called zigversion and another called Versions (which looks pretty good)
3) Textmate is really good (though I use eclipse which works across most OSes so same environment when working from home on a PC.
4) MAMP
 
since I'm a firs time mac user, I'm embarrassed to to ask such newbie question, but seriously, how do i uninstall application? do i just drag it's icon from the APPLICATION folder to the Trash? some other sites state i have to do it through the finder...I'm confused!

*please don't shoot me* x_x
 
marwan said:
since I'm a firs time mac user, I'm embarrassed to to ask such newbie question, but seriously, how do i uninstall application? do i just drag it's icon from the APPLICATION folder to the Trash? some other sites state i have to do it through the finder...I'm confused!

*please don't shoot me* x_x
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Your instinct was correct.

I think that is a pretty common question for people who switch. I didn't know how to install or uninstall apps at first. And Expose was discovered by a mistake. I am sure there is a great online tutorial but if you don't want to do that usually the people at the Apple store are willing to show you some need tricks (well they used to be before the stores became too crowded).
 
Is there something like multiclutch for vista? not having the trackpad tricks is a bitch.

Also why the shit does it run so much hotter in windows? Like 20C+ hotter
 
what do you guys of Transmission torrent client in comparison to BitTorrent?

Transmission is doing the job, but it's very plain, but then again that's a good thing since it's simple, but i just had a quick looks at BitTorrent and it reminds me of torrent clients on Windows:

http://www.bittorrent.com/

which is better? or are both of them the same shit?(as in good).
 
marwan said:
what do you guys of Transmission torrent client in comparison to BitTorrent?

Transmission is doing the job, but it's very plain, but then again that's a good thing since it's simple, but i just had a quick looks at BitTorrent and it reminds me of torrent clients on Windows:

http://www.bittorrent.com/

which is better? or are both of them the same shit?(as in good).
Click to expand...

transmission works well. another simple client is tomato torrent.

azereus is the more full featured version but i don't need the power and i'm not a fan of the UI.

and, if you want searching built into the torrent client, there's Xtorrent. but it costs money. probably not worth it.

oh yeah, the utorrent client that is part of bittorrent.com is coming to the mac soon. till then, i say you'll be fine with transmission, though.
 
GuessWho said:
how easy and well does the macbook run windows? Few glitches? or completely normal?
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It's native Windows just like you bought a Dell or any other Windows box. There's nothing different. You hold the Alt key at boot up and it loads Windows instead of OSX. Remember, Mac hardware is just generic Intel/PC hardware instead of the PowerPC Mac hardware from the '90s.

If you run it as a virtual machine in OSX using Parallels or VMWare, it's slow and a little glitchy (like dragged window graphics being delayed), but 99% fine.

marwan said:
what do you guys of Transmission torrent client in comparison to BitTorrent?

Transmission is doing the job, but it's very plain, but then again that's a good thing since it's simple, but i just had a quick looks at BitTorrent and it reminds me of torrent clients on Windows:

http://www.bittorrent.com/

which is better? or are both of them the same shit?(as in good).
Click to expand...
What do you think is missing in Transmission compared to your old Windows clients? It looks simple, but I don't see any major missing features compared to uTorrent.
 
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
I.

What do you think is missing in Transmission compared to your old Windows clients? It looks simple, but I don't see any major missing features compared to uTorrent.
Click to expand...


well i meant for example on Azureus PC, you get the previews and short movie thumbnails, but from what i saw, that's missing from Azureus mac.

Transmission is perfectly fine, i just want more eye candy from my torrent :) not a biggy.


edit: i downloaded tons of widgets from the Apple site for the Dashboard, but can't see them in the bottom row when i want to add them. i scrolled both sides and still nothing.
am i missing something?
 
eek, one more thing, someone told me that the application that comes with iLife(which is already pre-installed on my MB) is a waste of resources and space. Honestly i don't use any of it besides iPhoto(which plain sucks from the 5 minutes i spent playing with it anyways). To uninstall iLife, should uninstall each application individually or is there a way to remove the entire thing?
 
marwan said:
well i meant for example on Azureus PC, you get the previews and short movie thumbnails, but from what i saw, that's missing from Azureus mac.

Transmission is perfectly fine, i just want more eye candy from my torrent :) not a biggy.


edit: i downloaded tons of widgets from the Apple site for the Dashboard, but can't see them in the bottom row when i want to add them. i scrolled both sides and still nothing.
am i missing something?
Click to expand...
Installing them.

How do you put on your pants every morning by yourself?

marwan said:
eek, one more thing, someone told me that the application that comes with iLife(which is already pre-installed on my MB) is a waste of resources and space. Honestly i don't use any of it besides iPhoto(which plain sucks from the 5 minutes i spent playing with it anyways). To uninstall iLife, should uninstall each application individually or is there a way to remove the entire thing?
Click to expand...
How would unused apps take up resources by sitting on your hard drive?
 
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
Installing them.

How do you put on your pants every morning by yourself?
Click to expand...


technically? since i just came out of an operation and my foot is in cast, the wife does it for me!

lol, i just didnt realize all the uninstalled widgets were on my desktop since i had the web browser on full screen....sorry that as a silly question! :(
 
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