[Spiwak]

My new MacBook came in today. Still trying to figure it out.

Let's see though, specs first:

2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo, white
1 gig DDR2 memory
Intel Media Graphics Accelerator 950
60 gig HD (small, I know...should I buy myself an external HD?)
13.3" screen size

So what software is best for OS X? What software is best for music (I was looking at Cog)?

How does the dual-booting thing work?

That's all I got for now as I still have fiddle with the OS itself and whatever.

[Spiwak]

Oh, actually...apparently the video memory is shared with the main memory or something like that. Do I have to configure it to share memory back and forth or whatever?

[kuze]

Well, congratulations! At first, I'd listen to it closely to make sure it doesn't have the "whiny noise syndrome" - if it does, you should be able to get replacement at Apple.
Now, iTunes is really the only music player you'd want - the only disadvantage: it doesn't have free sound enhancement plugins like Winamp. Firefox, Opera, Safari are the three browsers of choice on the Mac, Mail.app should make a decent mail application, although I personally prefer Thunderbird.
Once you have made yourself familiar with the OS, get Quicksilver - the one and only killerapp that does anything you'd ever want except coffee, and it does it efficient and fast.
For Word-type-stuff you have the choice between NeoOffice and Abiword. They both suck more or less equally for different reasons - but unless you want to go hard-geek style with latex+vim or pay - you are stuck with them.
Oh, and for IM I'd use AdiumX - the best IM client out there.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by kuze

For Word-type-stuff you have the choice between NeoOffice and Abiword.

OpenOffice.org? Or am I being thick again?

[kuze]

Originally Posted by RLacey

OpenOffice.org? Or am I being thick again?

NeoOffice is an optimized version of OpenOffice. Optimized as in usable, but not quite.

[RLacey]

Ah, OK. I'll shut up now...

[Spiwak]

No whiny noise that I can detect. But it does get a tad hot towards the back around where the base connects to the monitor (and I don't see any plastic pieces covering vents or anything like that); I really hope stuff doesn't start melting.

[Spiwak]

Hmm...what's the best way to go about transferring stuff from my PC to the laptop? I'm talking many, many gigs (roughly 16), so I think email is out of the question, and at that I don't think I can send folders through gmail so I'd have to compress it all into a big .rar or .zip which would probably take several hours.

Perhaps I can just buy an external hard drive, but then would it be a simple process using the drive from PC to Mac?

Anyone know anything about doing this sort of thing?

Oh and I forgot to say it earlier but thanks to everyone that has any advice or tip to give me. Much appreciated

[tabacco]

AdiumX is an awesome IM client. Very customizable. Also, I recommend OS X' Mail app over Thunderbird just for the unified inbox, which you will become addicted to if you have multiple mail accounts.

Also, for transferring things, you should be able to create a shared folder on your PC and connect to it from your mac assuming you have a network in place. you can browse for the share or do Cmd-K and open smb://yourpcsnetworkname (Cmd/Command is the Apple key, by the way)

Also, helpful hint: From the Print dialogue in any app that allows printing, choose "PDF Options" to output the document as a PDF (in case you ever need to).

[Spiwak]

Ah very nifty! Thanks tabs. I have a network set-up here but even though both computers see the internet from the same modem they can't "talk" to each other for some reason, but I will look into it.

New question: I gotta get a mouse for this thing. Is it worth shoveling out $50 for Mighty Mouse or will I be OK with just a regular $10-20 two-button mouse with a wheel?

[undeaf]

Originally Posted by kuze

Now, iTunes is really the only music player you'd want

What's wrong with Amarok?

Originally Posted by Spiwak

New question: I gotta get a mouse for this thing. Is it worth shoveling out $50 for Mighty Mouse or will I be OK with just a regular $10-20 two-button mouse with a wheel?

I hear the mighty mouse is terrible. What kind of mouse you might want doesn't really have anything to do with macs, IMO you'd be better off starting a seperate thread for it if you're really interested in getting a good mouse or trackball.

[tabacco]

I like the Logitech MX500, which is a corded mouse. Bought it a year ago for $35. I'm not sure if it's still in production, but that probably just makes it cheaper

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by Spiwak

How does the dual-booting thing work?

http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

You'll need a legit copy of XP or whatever OS you decide, naturally.

OS X will handle just about any mouse you throw out it without the need for drivers or software. I have used a range of logictech and microsoft mice with it and never bothered to install the specific software that came with them.

As far as software, let me state the obvious just in case. Any piece of software you're looking for - always favour a 'universal binary' or 'intel' version. These will run on your mac much better than PPC software which will also run on your mac, but is doing so through a layer of emulation (Rosetta).

I still feel video playback is a weakspot in os X out of the box.

One of the most commonly used video players on macs (and other operating systems) is VLC. I also love MpegStreamclip which also supports a great number of codecs and lets my mac hook up to my digital PVR. Not to mention basic cut/paste editing and encoding.

The mac version of Realplayer works a treat, Windows Media Player less so. But they're both required if you want to run those formats.

You should probably also get yourself the divx codec lest you run into an avi using it embedded in a webpage somewhere.

[kuze]

Originally Posted by undeaf

What's wrong with Amarok?

It's based upon the KDE framework - you wouldn't want that on a Mac.

[undeaf]

Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk

One of the most commonly used video players on macs (and other operating systems) is VLC.
...
The mac version of Realplayer works a treat, Windows Media Player less so. But they're both required if you want to run those formats.

What about mplayer? I think that runs everything that VLC and most thing that WMP can, and probably has a few native front ends(and GTK frontends, I don't think there's platform issues with that).

Originally Posted by kuze

It's based upon the KDE framework - you wouldn't want that on a Mac.

Okay, I know there are some issues with X11 on macs that prevent things like wine/cedega from working well, but I don't see why that would be an issue with something like a music player. Is it that having kde librairies load in addition to everything else eats up resources, and that there are no precompiled minimal librairies with just the stuff required by the more useful apps?

[Catbert]

Spray gasoline on said Mac. Ignite a match. Throw the match against the Mac. Rejoice.

[undeaf]

Originally Posted by Spiwak

How does the dual-booting thing work?

What exactly would you want to dual boot for with just an intel graphics card?

[kuze]

Originally Posted by undeaf

What about mplayer? I think that runs everything that VLC and most thing that WMP can, and probably has a few native front ends(and GTK frontends, I don't think there's platform issues with that).

mplayer is awesome, I think Spiwak would have to compile it from scratch to be able to run it on Intel natively though - and mplayer chokes on wmv just like VLC does - with FLIP4MAC at least Quicktime will be able to play windows media.

Originally Posted by undeaf

Okay, I know there are some issues with X11 on macs that prevent things like wine/cedega from working well, but I don't see why that would be an issue with something like a music player. Is it that having kde librairies load in addition to everything else eats up resources, and that there are no precompiled minimal librairies with just the stuff required by the more useful apps?

Yes, that is the case. AFAIK only minimal efforts have been made to port the KDE libs to Mac, and they will hog the ressources significantly. Thats what the devs say about kdelibs on darwin:

They may not work. They may not even install. They may make your monitor explode in a shower of glass. EVEN LCDs, WHICH DON'T CONTAIN ANY GLASS! (ed. I've now been told LCDs are not plastic, but do, in fact contain glass, but the point remains!) They may make your children grow horns, and cause the people in your neighborhood to explode spontaneously while doing the Macarena. They will rip out your eyeballs, and eat your soul with a really dull spoon, laughing and cackling while forcing Cheerios up your nose. They will make your intestines explode in a rain of confetti, while evil clowns bite your feet.

I honestly haven't tried it on my 900MHz iBook - but still, even on a MacBook every single free MB of RAM is precious. And although Amarok is great, iTunes is way more integrated and still a good player.

[Spiwak]

Originally Posted by Catbert

Spray gasoline on said Mac. Ignite a match. Throw the match against the Mac. Rejoice.

Funny...

Originally Posted by undeaf

What exactly would you want to dual boot for with just an intel graphics card?

I imagine the card can handle Fallout and Baldur's Gate, as well as SCUMM adventure games. I don't plan on playing the latest and greatest, obviously.

[undeaf]

Originally Posted by Spiwak

I imagine the card can handle Fallout and Baldur's Gate, as well as SCUMM adventure games. I don't plan on playing the latest and greatest, obviously.

There's mac versions of all those, wouldn't you rather pay $20 each to interplay and bioware instead of $200 to microsoft? Oh yeah, they're all powerpc versions.

Of course, you could dual boot linux and try to run those with wine(baldur's gate should work, don't know about fallout), if those two games are your only reason to dual boot.