Need Mac Advice: Help Scotty to the dark side...

[Desertdude]

I left Entourage and MS Office the moment Mail came out and have not looked back. Works well in sync with Address book and iCal and iChat...

Text Edit will also open .doc files for you and is a quick type app.

 

[dennisuello]

I tried Entourage and didn't like it. The interface is too clunky. I've been using Gmail's web interface for a while, but now switched to Mail 100%. It integrates nicely with Address Book and Address Book integrates with Plaxo.

MS Office is POS and puts tons of support files all over your drive, more than needed. It's written as if for Windows.

NeoOffice handles all of my spreadsheets, docs, presentations and TextWrangler handles plain text docs and php/html files, when I need a quick tweak on a web page and Dreamweaver is not running.

 

[bj70_guy]

I had been using Entourage for mail and the Apple apps for everything else. I finally gave it up and started using Mail - it's all so neatly integrated with everything else that is was silly not to use it.

 

[Scott Brady]

NeoOffice handles all of my spreadsheets, docs, presentations and TextWrangler handles plain text docs and php/html files, when I need a quick tweak on a web page and Dreamweaver is not running.

Thanks for the feedback. The team did try NeoOffice, but it lacked the robust features we need (particularly with database merges, etc.) I have been using Office for 15 years, so it is just a clean and efficient transition more than anything

 

[alvarorb]

Scott,

I gave up on MS apps completely. I'm not an Excel power user. But I do want my spread sheets to look good.
I switched over to iWork 08 and I'm super happy. Pages is a very easy word processor and keynote has all the features that powerpoint lacks. Creating elegant documents with iWork is a snap.

Regards

Alvaro

 

[Scott Brady]

I am having some weird iChat video issues with Pasquale. I can iChat with three other people, but not him. Getting an error 8.

Just checked all router settings and NAT is set correctly.

My big project right now is cleaning up all my PC files and back-ups. I have 15 years of files accumulated...

 

[adventureduo]

Scott, it's probably Pasquales side. Check out this link.

http://www.ralphjohnsuk.dsl.pipex.com/page16a.html

 

[DaveInDenver]

We had iChat issues that looked a lot like the known NAT problems. Who is your ISP and what brand and model firewall are you behind? The problems we had were on Cox Cable Internet and a Netgear wireless router. Never could get it completely solved with the Netgear router, although we had moments where it would work. Going straight into the cable modem and replacing the Netgear with a Linksys router (using the same parameters) both seemed to solve it. This was over Christmas and I think Cox was throttling the up-load side of the connection, which was playing havoc with the connection, too. But never could even get it to connect with the Netgear router.

 

[Scott Brady]

Well, I am fully transitioned to the mac. The Toshiba is clean up and in the box and ready for a life of adventure with Lance (it has been to the Arctic already, so it's pretty experienced )

I spent two full days cleaning up all of my old back-ups, files and hard drives. It was a huge job, but I am glad I did it. I need to get a good drive (around .5TB) and set up time machine. Alvaro has had good success with that. The concept of time machine is another very cool Apple solution. I have tried several other PC based "living" back-up solutions and they never worked correctly, which does not inspire much confidence.

I have Aperture and CS3 installed now, along with DreamWeaver and FireWorks. Full MS Office suite too. So far, not much has been negative, just a few goofy things, like the delete button (doesn't delete moving forward once the backspace deletes finish, like on a PC). Lack of right mouse button a little cumbersome (needing to use the ctrl button all the time).

Overall, these are my initial impressions:

Pro's
1. Beautifully constructed and designed
2. Seamless transition between applications
3. Display
4. Minimal packaging and smartly presented. Apple has the initial impression game nailed.
5. iChat rocks. The whole team can easily communicate now.

Con's
1. Almost twice the price of similar PC performance
2. Need to learn all new shortcuts
3. Case gets a little warm
4. Only TWO USB ports
5. I miss a few mapping programs already, but solutions are on the way
6. Had to re-buy all my web design apps and MS office apps. (could not transfer license... well, my Macromedia licenses allowed for the "upgrade" CS3 and Fireworks price.)

Overall, rockin machine. :rockon:

Next up is some efforts to increase its durability and resilience for outdoor use. Has anyone used one of these covers?
Case-Mate Leather Cover

 

[DaveInDenver]

Good deal, congrats on the new machine, Scott.

3. Case gets a little warm

Next up is some efforts to increase its durability and resilience for outdoor use. Has anyone used one of these covers?
Case-Mate Leather Cover

Not sure these two statements are mutually inclusive. The case is aluminum and it's that way for a reason. The aluminum is part of the machine's heat sink and adding this could be a hindrance to the cooling. I would keep an eye on the temps, the batteries in particular, if you add a jacket.

 

[alvarorb]

Forward Delete key on MacBook Pro
Fn + Delete

Regards

Alvaro

 

[Desertdude]

I invested in a wireless mighty mouse. I use one when I want to power-use... it really makes a workflow difference.

 

[alvarorb]

The case is aluminum and it's that way for a reason. The aluminum is part of the machine's heat sink and adding this could be a hindrance to the cooling

There's an utility to keep an eye on the CPU temp.

Regards

Alvaro

 

[Desertdude]

I use this utility iStat Pro

http://www.islayer.com/

it comes as a widget and will give you most of the stats.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I use this utility iStat Pro

This is the one I have on my Mac. No word on the temp part, my old G4 iMac does not have this ability, but I can second that it's a nice monitoring widget.