Just got my MacBook! Disappointing as hell! Buyers Remorse! Any Solutions to these issues?

thanks! will go there now.... this thread came up when i googled "how the hell do i use my macbook"
seriously.

 

Think about how long it took to use Windows. Then think about how long it took to be an advanced user in Windows. If you don't give the same amount of time to OS X then you are not being realistic about your capabilities.

 

Umm like 2 minutes.

About 15 minutes I guess...

 

erm... is the Recommended Links and Guides section of the Mac Switcher's Guide for more tutorials on this site?
if so would you be kind enough to post the link for a newbie?
thanks. my macbook may have rendered me braindead for the night.

 

Well aren't you the A+ student. Want a cookie

 

More tutorials on this site and around the web.

This is the link to the Recommended Links and Guides:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2386491&postcount=6

From there you can access official Apple guides, some guides here on NBR, and guides around the web.

 

Another good link. Though it may break, in that case just go to CNET.com and search for Apple.

CNET Mac Resource Guide

 

excellent... thanks again. i will check out the lost manual book too. this thread was both lively and informative

 

No problem, javsmom. Ask whenever you need help .

 

It takes quite a bit longer than 15 minutes to become an advanced user of any OS from scratch - including OSX, Windows, or whatever.

Just consider the time involved to learn all the various scripting languages, Unix, DOS, how the various file systems work, how the OS works etc. Even just learning every single mouse/keyboard gesture/shortcut for maximum efficiency takes considerable time and daily use. Then consider all the time involved to go through and tweak everything in the OS....it takes longer than 15 min in Windows just to go through the series of reboots needed for that, not to mention learning about them.

 

People around here may get it. Of course it's going to take time to get used to a new OS.

The problem is, there are unrealistic expectations for Macs. And these expectations don't come out of thin air. They come straight from Apple. Ever heard the phrase, "It just works"?

 

No kidding.


Switching is hard. While I agree with you that windows is more user friendly in term of setting up preferences but if you think about it, customizing your computer is a one time deal. In the end, you will get things done much faster with OSX. By the way, Vista's Flip 3-D is a joke compared to expose.

But because of the limited choices in Apple's hardware I have recently returned my mbp for Vaio SZ6. I dont think you are enjoying your notebook as much as you are supposed to...just switch back. Make life simple.

 

Switching to the mac was easy. Not sure why it's hard. I think some people expect it go be windows. It's not. It's different, just like Linux is different. You have to learn to adjust to a different environment.
For me, it was VERY fast. I'm still learning, but I learned how to use stuff like Expose to my advantage. Then I got the VirtualDesktop addon, so I had "Spaces" (IE Different desktops to work with).

The single button mouse is probably the biggest hurdle to get over. Now, I LOVE IT. I'd choose to use this trackpad over any other in existince now. The right click is instant and easy to do.

but I'm curious though, why his photo slideshows wouldn't go in order. They go in perfect order for me. I wonder if he didn't have them arranged in iPhoto properly. They do go in order that they are listed in iPhoto, and not chronological order that the pic was taken. At least, thats how I understand it. Which is EXACTLY how any photo slideshow works, windows or not. Unless all the photos have timestamps are the slideshow is set to read those and order by those, but I've never seen Windows slide show viewer behave different than iPhoto.

 

ok maybe 15 min. was a slight exaggeration. You may still not consider me advanced since I don't know all the scripting tricks, built-in command-line utils, and keyboard shortcuts. I guess I was thinking more of stuff I actually need to do, like install and uninstall software and drivers, kill processes, edit a registry key, run a specific command, edit the Start menu, change control panel settings, check for OS updates, etc. So probably more like a half hour... and you'd probably only consider me at intermediate level since I don't know every keyboard shortcut, and the filesystem internals, etc.

 

My MBP is two days old, and I'm loving it! Sure OSX is different from Windows, but that's why I bought the Mac. I've put Fusion/XP Pro/Office on the Windows side, in case I can't stand it, but the fun is in the chase. Learning a new OS is exhilarating, and, yes, sometimes frustrating. New Mac users should heed the advice offered here (and in other forums), and be prepared to do a little homework. After all, when we made the jump from DOS to Windows there was a huge learning curve. I am very impressed with the Apple. - Rawj

 

I mainly wrote the New Mac Owners section and the Recommended Guides & Links section of the Mac Switcher's Guide to target such users. Most of the "problems" new Mac owners list are just minor things that are fixed differently than they would be on Windows.

If you don't want to "re-learn" an OS, stay on Windows. You switch for a reason. If all you want to do is do everything the same way you did on Windows, you haven't really switched, have you?

 

Dang! I hate wading into this mess (my dad always warned me about discussing politics and religion -- and the PC vs. Mac thing is akin to both), but I feel the need to inject a couple of comments.

I use both of the major platforms, 'nix, and a coupla mobile platforms. I prefer XP (Vista is an abomination that no PC users will really claim), but use Panther 10.3.9 on my Powerbook G3 Pismo.

I tried using Macs prior to OS X, but simply could not stand the interface -- OS X has really revolutionized the experience. An "out-of-the-box" Mac would probably satisfy 90% of the general population -- the "it just works" crowd. ( No slam intended) The OS X platform is versatile enough to satisfy the remaining 10%.

Having said that, here are my observations.
Overall, OS X is everything that was advertised. The absence of a right-click for mousing was a deal-breaker for me, but there are enough work-arounds to
render this point moot. Likewise, using Expose has made me relax about not being able to use the "Show Desktop" icon (which I still prefer). There are still things I struggle to do, but they are minor and usually deal with incompatibilities (Rhapsody, drivers that are only packaged as .exe's, etc.)
I am actually considering counseling some of my clients to go the Mac route, primarily because of security/virus concerns.

But .....
I really dislike the whole X11 thing. In order to get some great apps to work, ya gotta install X11, and then figure out how to make your app work from within the X11 environment.

Printing to an XP environment was actually easier than I expected, but not intuitive and I doubt that many "it just works" users would be able to set it up.

iTunes - ugh. I simply cannot get past the proprietary/single-source aspects of this software (but it's cross-platform, too).

These are pretty minor gripes, but I am surprised that X11 is so rarely mentioned in the switcher posts -- would prolly make make the switchers even less likely to switch, I guess.

Use what works for you, but plan on spending some time and effort learning about your chosen platform.

Peace.

 

The responses in this thread are just plain hilarious. The fellow asks a simple question about how to get the slideshow to play in a predictable order, and everyone veers off into discussions about books, features, etc.. There are a huge number of responses to this simple query, but none of them actually answers the question. "I'm pretty sure..."

Yeah, so what is it? How do you invoke this preference? I've been all over the internet, to just about every Mac forum I can find AND NO ONE EVER ANSWERS THE QUESTION. Not even so much as to say you can't do it.

I'm gobsmacked. Is this integral calculus or something?

 

I say "I'm pretty sure", as during that time I did not have my Mac with me, so I couldn't check right away.

Anyways, yes, you can set slideshows to play in order inside iPhoto, but as far as I've seen you can't do that if you just select a bunch of photos in Finder, right-click and select Slideshow.

And in the future, please do not revive old threads. The last post was in September. Thanks .