Entertainment For Lively Minds
I've Just Bought an iMac
Posted by Leedsboy on 27 April 2010 - 1:40pm.
Any tips?
How should I go about getting my stuff off the pc and onto the Mac?
Do I need to buy iWork?
What other software should I investigate?
Best websites for tips?
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Depends what you do.
I bought Office Mac 2008, just for the familiarity of Word and Excel. Other than that, get Firefox. Beyond that, the iLife suite (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband etc) will keep you cheerily sorted for a good long while.
As for getting your files off the PC, an external hard drive would be your best bet. Sort it all out into folders, then do a straight copy across. Just make sure your external drive is FAT formatted, because if I remember right, Mac OSX can't read NTFS (i.e. specifically Windows-formatted) drives.
NTFS.
Macs can read NTFS formatted drives, but can't write to them.
Once you no longer need to read the drive on a PC you'd be better off reformatting it as HFS+, the Mac native format.
Snow Leopard
(10.6) will read and write NTFS. Even if that's a problem the MacFUSE NTFS 3g driver will work ok. Either way a drive caddy for existing PC disks (fairly cheap) will let you either hook the original disk up, or copy everything across then use it for Time Machine. V useful
Welcome to the cult
There's some good info on this site:
http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-convert-from-pc-to-mac
I have Office for Mac, but rarely use it. I also have iWork and use that only slightly more. Google Docs is quickly taking over. OpenOffice is a free alternative to the lot. It might be worth trying out before opting to purchase Office or iWork.
I just bought an iPad
..I think it fell off the back of a factory. So this is my first post from the beast.
Oooh
get you ;-)
thangew..
..for the up.
It's crippled by Apple's insistence on content only being deliverable via the iTunes store, Bluetooth does not work between MacBook Pro or iMac and the iPad and it has no USB port but it is a thing of beauty, so fast, and I am already in love with it.
Recommended app for iPad: iSSH - get the stuff you want on the thing.
Recommended app for your main mac: Calibre - convert all your ebooks to epub format.
Now, when can I get VLC player working?
OpenOffice has ported to the Mac and is very good indeed.
It looks and feels like traditional Word, Exel, PowerPoint documents so if you know the Microsoft versions, using them will be very intuitive.
http://www.openoffice.org/
I've Just Bought an iMac. Any tips?
You need to cultivate an air of general superiority
Already had one
that's why I bought the iMac.
First up, welcome.
And isn't it just a gorgeous experience?
That tiny keyboard, the wonderous Magic Mouse, the acres of screenage, the speed it does everything, the silence, the beautiful interface, the (that's enuff fanboi stuff -Ed)
Progs I couldn't live without: VLC, Handbrake, Transmission and Klondike Forever. All of 'em free, a quick Google will get you what you need.
I also use FreeHand & CS4 but that's for what I do as a living.
Had a dabble with iMovie the other week and it's a doddle for a novice to edit movies, don't have much use for any of the other bundled iPackages but ye never know.
how big is yours BTW?
Just the 21.5 inches if you will
but I went for the 1 gig HD and better processor. I bought it duty free on my way out of Heathrow yesterday so won't actually have my mitts on it until Friday. And I have promised to sort out the study and piles of books etc. before I get it out of the box.
Just indeed!
you have more than enough screen real estate and it won't be long before you're sitting watching movies on it. All I can say, as a long time user of Macs (1985) my love affair began all over again with this iMac. Everything about it is so right, I can't think of anything it doesn't do for me. They really are worth the extra dosh and if this beast is anything like my old G4, it'll serve me well for 9+ years.
I'm real interested to hear how you get on with it and if you ever want a 'live video' link up, I'll send you the e-mail address I use for iChat.
I'm really looking forward to it
I am slightly worried I'm letting the hype get to me and I'll be disappointed. Decision to move was largely because of my pc being taken over as part of a botnet and the ensuing faff about having my broadband reconnected. It made me aware of the amount of stuff you have to load onto a pc just to do stuff and I'm hoping that the closed environment will allow me a simpler life.
An iChat sounds good - I presume it's easier to use than skype/MSN? Found them both to be a little of a faff and so I rarely use them despite the travelling I seem to be doing lots more of. If iChat is easy for the family at home to use then that will be and added bonus.
Welcome
You probably have most of what you need built in, but as mentioned above, you may want an "office" suite - MS Office 2008 gives the best compatibility, but OpenOffice is good enough for most.
Other than that, if you want to convert video (e.g DVD's) and play back various video formats then get Handbrake (for converting) and VLC (for playback). One tip if you want the 64 bit version of Handbrake (as I presume it being a new iMac its running Snow Leopard) then make sure you get the older 64 bit version 1.02 of VLC - the latest version of VLC didn't have 64bit (you need VLC to rip DVD's with Handbrake). This advice may now be out of date and they have released the 64bit version - not checked for a while
If you need a good instant messaging program get Adium (free). Another useful free software is XLD which will convert most music formats. I use to convert FLAC to Apple Lossless so they will work in iTunes (and being lossless you don't lose anything in the conversion).
On the paid side - WireTap Studio is good if you need to "record" streaming audio (not that you would ever want to record Spotify......)
Software
I use regularly include iPlayer downloader [or iPlayergrabber] both free, both do what you would expect them to. Airfoil for streaming music to other parts of the house [Spotify etc] Audiohijack pro for recording any audio passing through the Mac [Spotify, Safari etc] NeoOffice [free] which is an open source Office app. Doubletwist which is an iTunes like app for uploading/downloading content to your phone. Toast for burning discs etc. Disc Cover for all your disc printing needs. Cover Scout for getting album artwork for iTunes. You Control Tunes [free] which is a controller for iTunes which sits in the finder menu bar. Magicprefs which lets you customise your magic mouse.
It would be interesting to know how you get on with it after a few months.
'Once you go Mac you never go back' - but will it be true for you?
Enjoy.
What's wrong with you?
Don't you know real men use PCs?
:-)
Well
I can be a man at work and, ahem, something else at home.
Good on you.
I'm Mac-ed up at home & suffer the other stuff at work.
Enjoy it.
see above
and did you enjoy Wake, you never said :(
Sorry JB
Remiss of me.
I did enjoy it muchly ta. It was great to experience all that dry ice and drama again.
Many, many thanks!
itunes library
When I went Mac I simply downloaded Senuti (Itunes backwards). It allows you to transfer the contents of an ipod straight to your new itunes library artwork play counts an all.
I synced my 30Gig ipod with my whole library on my PC and bunged it straight on my mac in one click.
itunes play counts etc
just make sure you copy the itunes xml file as well as the actual music, and all your metadata should be carried over as well.
LEEdsboy -
(Hope this doesn't sound too creepy)
When I joined this site, you were one of the first posters I liked - by that I mean I found myself in agreement with most of what you said whether about music, football, the NHS ... then, after a while you revealed yourself as a PC user at home, and - well, LB, - I felt betrayed. I know, I know, it's not you, it's me, but that's how I felt.
Everything's cool again - Leeds are ahead of Millwall, they've wiped out the goal difference deficit and you've gone Mac.
Now - if the one year old will just go to sleep without the hour of screaming, choking and puking, it's gonna be a lovely night.
I am deeply touched
I'd forgotten the football situation was on the up - to be honest, post January, I've been avoiding thinking too much about Leeds. But I am allowing a faint glimmer of confidence to grow. But not too much, I know what will happen if I do.
And I have the excitement of an impending mac.
And good luck with the one year old. The waking up bit stops soon - our twins are 2 and a bit. But it is replaced (with ours at least) with a sense of adventure which sees them climbing out of cots, looking for escape routes at every opportunity, seeing running off (in different directions) in Waitrose as fun and a love of electronic buttons and lights which means they will be locked out of the study for at least another 2 years.
alternatives to M/S
If you're not a huge fan of Microsoft products, you can download Lotus Symphony for free (has similar functionality to Office):
http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/home
My iMac is criminally underused...
since I basically only use it to surf the internet and store photos and music, but some of the stuff mentioned above sounds like it might help me get a little more out of it!