Posted by larrywright
I’ve owned the Macbook Pro for a little while now, and am getting comfortable with OS X. I think it’s time to dig a little deeper though, so I’m going to buy a book or two.
I’m a long time computer user, and have a lot of *NIX experience, so I’m not looking for something too basic. I’d like something that will teach me the ins and outs of the whole operating system, and let me go from being “comfortable” to “power user”. I’m leaning towards Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual, but I thought I would ask here if anyone else has any other recommendations.
Posted by larrywright
So I’ve had the MacBook Pro for a full week now. Here’s my assessment.
- I don’t at all regret the decision to get the refurbished model. I saved $400 and the unit appears to be flawless. That said, the Wireless Mighty Mouse I bought with it was D.O.A.
- This thing is really, really fast.
- Apple customer service is awesome. So the Mighty Mouse was dead. I called Apple’s tech support and explained the situation. The lady I spoked with didn’t ask any questions, she just immediately shipped a new one. No annoying “have you tried changing the batteries” type of questions – just an apology for the inconvenience and a new mouse on it’s way. This is what customer service should be like.
- Leopard is really nice. Visually it’s beautiful, and functionally there’s a lot to love. This is my first experience with OS X so I can’t compare it to the previous versions.
- I like the 3-D Dock. This has been panned by a lot of bloggers, but I think it looks really good. That said…
- I hid the dock after the first day. With Spotlight, I don’t really need it. Because….
- Spotlight is really, really fast and makes a very good application launcher. Hit Command-Space, and type the first few letters of the app you want to launch, e.g. ‘ter’ to launch Terminal, ‘adi’ to launch Adium, etc. See the image below for an example of what I’m talking about
All in all, I’m extremely happy with it.
Posted by larrywright
As a follow on to last week’s post, I ended up buying a 17” MacBook Pro this week. I went with a refurbished model (which saved me $400), and skipped the high resolution display. It should be here on Wednesday.
It’s my first Mac, and I’ve wanted one for ages, so I’m excited to get it.
Posted by larrywright
So I think I’m about to buy a Macbook Pro
– the 17” model specifically. Before I do, I have a couple of questions that I’m hoping someone can help me answer:
- Is the High Resolution (1920-by-1200) display worth the extra money vs the 1680-by-1050 display?
- I’m going to buy a Refurbished model from Apple, due to the substantial cost savings. Does anyone know of any reason not to? A quick google search doesn’t seem to reveal people having issues, but I thought I’d ask.
Bonus question:
- What are your “must have” apps for OSX?
