New to OSX but I'm loving my new 15" MBP.

In 86, I used to work at Kinkos and grew to love Macs. They were super easy to learn and fun too. Then I went on to sell Macs back in the late 80s and early 90s and they were always out of my price range.

Since then, I've been a windows user because that's what we had at work and it's really all I was interested in due to my love of gaming. But I also love technology and these new MBPs are simply amazing machines.

In about 3 weeks, I've decided to totally move over to my mac and just let the windows computers sit for awhile....and I'm not finding any problems with this. I don't even feel the need to get boot camp going and I'm having more fun than I ever expected.

Apple sure has done some amazing things with these machines. So....any other mac users out there? Any suggestions on software?

I use Mac's for personal stuff...stuck with Widows at work though. OS-X is such a joy to use that I don't think I'll ever buy another PC. I haven't found a single thing that my Mac does that a Windows box does better (other than gaming...but that's what my XB360 is for anyway).

As far as apps go, there are a ton of quality free apps...just depends on what you need. I use these on a regular basis:

Adium (IM Chat)
VLC Media Player (better than Quicktime)
Handbrake (DVD Ripping and Encoding)
Flip4Mac (for playing windows media video)
Transmission (Bit Torrent client)
Google Notifier (tells you when you get email in GMail)
Growl (trust me...you need it Growl (http://growl.info/))
UnRarX (for RAR files)
Busy Sync (syncs iCal and Google Calendar)
Connect 360 (stream media to my xbox 360)

I've been on Macs since about 2002. Have no interest in owning another Windows box.

Macs are fine if you don't run any Windows only software.

Macs are fine if you don't run any Windows only software.

Macs can run Windows. Full spped, no emulation, since the hardware is the same. Just load up Boot Camp and install windows. Then you can switch back and forth between environments.

There are others that can do the same thing, but last I checked Boot Camp came with the Mac.

Macs are fine if you don't run any Windows only software.

I can't think of one single windows program that I need to run anymore...so it's a non issue :)

Macs can run Windows. Full spped, no emulation, since the hardware is the same. Just load up Boot Camp and install windows. Then you can switch back and forth between environments.

There are others that can do the same thing, but last I checked Boot Camp came with the Mac.
I know they can but if I need Windows anyway, then why pay more for the same thing? I really wanted to get an Intel MacBook when they came out because of this but the Apple premium just wasn't worth the extra $800 (at that time) over a loaded PC laptop. I know the price differences aren't as great now as they were at that time so when it comes time to replace my laptop, I may consider it. I need to occasionally run Revit on it but most everything else I could do on a Mac, but I also don't know Macs very well and what little I have messed with them, they seem backwards to me. Too many years of Unix Shell and DOS/Windows environments I guess.

I also can't even get in the neighborhood of performance with an Apple desktop for a price that I can build a PC for. When getting into rendering horsepower there isn't a comparable Apple product to a RenderBOXX node or workstation. I would like to have one for Final Cut Pro and a few other video/audio products but that is well down the line for me. Granted, my use is a bit more of a specialty, for average home use they are fine.


I can't think of one single windows program that I need to run anymore...so it's a non issue :)
Lucky for you, the Autodesk products that I run (Revit, Autocad, 3DSMax) are Windows only.

Lucky for you, the Autodesk products that I run (Revit, Autocad, 3DSMax) are Windows only.

That's what VMWare (or Bootcamp if necessary) is for :)

Try Twistedmac.com they have 350+ that are free. For a Video player VLC plays almost anything. Image editors GIMP is complex but photoshop like, Seahorse is great and easier to use. Safari is good and with Glims and Inquisitor is even better. Audacity is a excellent audio app. Onyx is a good system utility program and Mac Helpmate Compliments it well. smcFanControl and CoolBook keep your MacBook nice and Cool. If you need to run Windows programs Crossover (not free) is very good, however VirtualBox is free. With Monolingual you can clean out all the languages you don't need, This free's up a lot of memory. Be sure and go to SnowLeopard.wikidot.com to check 10.6 compatibility with the apps you choose, since there are some issues with Snow Leopard updated apps .

I ended up getting a Sony Vaio on closeout for under $700, I just couldn't bring myself to spend $1,600 again on a laptop. It will do what I need it to with Revit, my desktop is just much faster for the money and what I will do production work with.

I love my MBP. Especially since they finally gave them a decent video card. I have had great luck gaming on mine.

Beware, it will get really HOT though. :) Laps beware.

computers are tools. I have a mac I use for media production and pcs I use for other stuff. I've been a mac user non-stop since 1988 but I like the PC as well. My little netbook is about as useful a tool as I've ever had. It does what it does really well.

I'll have to give my wholehearted thumbs up to VLC player. It does play everything--on macs and pc and Linux.

I like carbon copy cloner as a must have utility. In my mac pro whatever--the big silver tower--I run a smaller drive for the system and apps and have a tbt drive for my files. I keep a partian the same size as the main drive on it and CCC is set to back it up and keep it backed up. If my main drive goes out, the backup automatically replaces it with no downtime.

It works a bit differently from time machine or whatever the mac utility is called.

Too many years of Unix Shell and DOS/Windows environments I guess.

\


If you know Unix then you will feel right at home on an apple...it is running a
*nix core.

Most people tend to forget that MS doesn't sell computers they sell software and it is up to the hardware people to make their systems work with windows software. This is the main reason you get BSOD. Windows 7 seems to be a nice OS and so far had been pretty stable.

Apple sells hardware and builds their hardware to run their software. That is the main reason people have fewer issuse with their Mac's

I have a couple of apples that have been running for years with no problems. I have a bunch of Windows boxes from XP, Vista, Server 2003 and all have had some issues..

Having said that..I have a Linux server that has been running since the late 90's and it hasn't been touched.


Back to the original post...MBP is an awesome laptop. Depending on your needs you can run most linux apps. So there is a ton of freeware!

One other thing....If you drag an app to the trash can it is gone. Make sure that you don't do this. I have to deal with end users all the time and one thing people moving from widows to OSX don't know is you don't have to uninstall...you can just delete and sometimes moving and app to the trash can delets it...Just look to see if it is a link or not.

Wow....there's some great advice in this thread. Thanks to everyone that posted.

Keep the suggestions coming!

I'm loving the MBP. I can't remember when I've enjoyed working with a computer as much as this one. When I bought it, I picked up Aperture 2 and Final Cut Express but I haven't really used them much. However, now that I've got other things in my life sorted out, I'm certainly going to be using them.

I noticed that Aperture 3 was released today but I haven't seen many technical details yet. Would it be worth the upgrade fee? What are some of the new features that you guys are excited about?

Any suggestions for a good backup system?

Here are my current ideas in no particular order:

Time Capsule - but I've heard a lot of people are having trouble with it
Western Digital USB or FireWire portable drive
Build a Ubuntu box with raid array - not sure about this one because I'd have to upgrade a lot of my hardware.


Now of the 3, the Time Capsule sounds like a great idea but it doesn't sound like it's ready for prime time yet.

Anyways....do you guys have any suggestions? What are you using for backups?