[ Mac] New Users

[wakka]

Nah, the late 2008 revision is awesome. The button's still there in the exact same place, it's just not visible any more. The unibody case is much better built than the old MBP cases - I had a lot of problems with the plastic cracking and the metal warping above the ports on my launch machine, but the unibody I've had since Christmas is a thousand times better. Although doubtless your 2008 MBP is way better than my overheating 2006 early adopter bitch slap.

[Ginger Tosser]

Also as important, is the multi-touch pad which is amazing, and really does make surfing the internet a better experience.

I forgot the touch pad(which is great), as for better made I've seen too many unibody laptops with crooked function keys. Sure the case is fine, however I get an electric shock/buzz with using Alu laptops (Air, old Pro and new unibody). Or certainly the ones I tried in the Apple store.

Certainly the plastic does crack, but on MacRumors you do get posts about the Aluminium denting, which I guess is a possibility. At least there's the option of both

[JamesS]

Cheers. I'm not sure I'd ever really use the touchpad anyway as I can't stand the things, so I'm probably going to go with the white one. Go and have a look at them in the Apple shop tomorrow and see what I think of them.

[Lyris]

Nah, the late 2008 revision is awesome. The button's still there in the exact same place, it's just not visible any more.

But since the whole track pad is the button, clicking will cause the cursor to get repositioned. Granted you can still enable the 'tap' action but a proper button is much easier to use.

I agree that the case is better, though. The early 2008 version I have can get insanely hot at times, I imagine the aluminum version doesn't as much.

Cheers. I'm not sure I'd ever really use the touchpad anyway as I can't stand the things, so I'm probably going to go with the white one. Go and have a look at them in the Apple shop tomorrow and see what I think of them.

Not to sound like a dribbling Apple zealot, but I said the same thing before I got my Macbook Pro: I imagined I'd be plugging in a mouse all the time, but was shocked at how usable the system is on its own.

[wakka]

Cheers. I'm not sure I'd ever really use the touchpad anyway as I can't stand the things, so I'm probably going to go with the white one. Go and have a look at them in the Apple shop tomorrow and see what I think of them.

You'll be amazed. Mac trackpads and the support for them in OS X is fantastic, I prefer using mine to a mouse. I bought a Mighty Mouse with my original MBP and I've only ever used it in Windows and to do stuff in Photoshop.

[Lyris]

If you're used to Windows like I am, you might actually PREFER the Mac trackpad to how OS X handles a mouse.

[Ginger Tosser]

Not to sound like a dribbling Apple zealot, but I said the same thing before I got my Macbook Pro: I imagined I'd be plugging in a mouse all the time, but was shocked at how usable the system is on its own.

To back up what Lyris said, the Mac trackpads are usable because the are big. The new glass one's are more so, with gestures (like the iPhone ones). Mind you I used to like the nipple mouse control on my old hp laptop.

[Resonance]

The way the Mac handles mouse acceleration is horrible!

This article explains why so http://db.tidbits.com/article/8893 but the short of it is that the acceleration is some weird shaped graph meaning that as you increase mouse velocity, acceleration suddenly kicks in heavily, causing your mouse to overshoot.

When I first started using Macs, I would have to endlessly tweak because it would either feel way too slow or too fast. iMouseFix helps with this a bit, but I have just learned to adapt without it.

[Brad]

The hardware / driver combo of the Mac trackpad rocks. Better than a mouse for me in fact. Using the trackpad under bootcamp is crap though. I wish Apple would do a new driver for Windows.

[dc-arena]

There is a mod for the new Firefox beta which allows some even more impressive trackpad gestures over how they work in Safari.

One finger - move cursor
Two fingers - scroll down
Three fingers Down - Go to bottom of page
Three fingers Up - Go to top of page
Twist Two fingers - Switch between tabs (so handy)

There are more too. VERY impressive.

[Lyris]

To back up what Lyris said, the Mac trackpads are usable because the are big. The new glass one's are more so, with gestures (like the iPhone ones). Mind you I used to like the nipple mouse control on my old hp laptop.

Not just for those reasons - but they also seem really good at distinguishing genuine input from mistakes (like the edges of your fingernails hitting the pad). I assume it's heat-sensitive as well as touch-sensitive, or something.

[JamesS]

Cheers. I'm not sure I'd ever really use the touchpad anyway as I can't stand the things, so I'm probably going to go with the white one. Go and have a look at them in the Apple shop tomorrow and see what I think of them.

Bloody Apple Store. I only went in to look at them, and ended up coming out with a Macbook

Got the white one in the end. Couldn't really justify the extra money for what you get.

[dc-arena]

Congrats, you wont regret it, the Macbooks (which ever model you choose) are fantastic computers.

[Herbalizer]

Has anyone here got Cod4 on the Mac? I'm looking to pick it up on payday. Just wondered what the community was like.

[JP]

I have some sports DVDs that a mate has recorded from Sky for me as I can't get it where I live. I'm looking to start ripping these to my Mac, probably as QuickTime files.

Other software has been mentioned on here for people to rip bought DVDs and it all sounded a bit too fiddly for DVDs which aren't copyrighted in any way. What do people recommend for doing this? I've got all the standard software that comes with the Mac as well as Toast 9 but I only really use that for burning CDs so I'm not sure if that's the best thing to use.

Also, as I'm going to be doing it to quite a few DVDs, is there something which will allow me to catalogue video files in a similar way to iPhoto does with photos?

Cheers.

EDIT:
I may want to access the video files via using my PS3 to watch them on the TV, they're on the same network and I'm able to access photos & music that is on my Mac already. Will I be able to do the same with QuickTime files or should I rip them as something else?