Hello, I'm a Mac..... not a PC anymore!

[nav1]

I finally did it. I've placed today my order for a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB memory, 80GB hard drive, white Macbook. Would have preferred the Pro, but I don't have the money for it, plus these specs more than suffice for me and should continue to do so for a lot of time to come.

Now, I'm a total Mac and OSX noob, so I want to ask a couple of questions to experienced Mac users:

*Triple booting. I want to have OSX, XP and Linux on it. I know it can be done (though not how, I'll check about it when I get my Macbook), but how easy is it and what partition sizes would you suggest? I would like to have a shared partition, where all my media and files will be. I'm thinking 10GB for each OS (just in case, though I may need less for linux and XP), and the remaining 50GB.

*Parallels. If I install it, would it use the same XP partition already used in the triple booting?

*Tweakability. Just how tweakable is OS X? I for one use to tweak each setting in XP to fit my needs, such as the amount of items in the taskbar, the folder views in explorer, among others. I wish I could provide better examples, but words escape me at the time. Anyway, can you tell me how it is on OS X?

*Scratching. I hate scratches. How easy is it to scratch the Macbook? And is there any type of invisible shield to protect them? Emphasis on invisible :p

*Upgrades. I know memory can be upgraded, but can I also easily upgrade anything else, say, the hard drive if I ever need to in the future?

*Mice and keyboards. I actually don't like laptop keyboards too much, but I need a laptop so, is it feasible to have keyboard/mouse connected? Can I use any type, or does it have to be apple branded? The mighty mouse looks cool, but I find it to be too expensive for what it is.

*Leopard. When it comes out, if I want it, do I have to pay full price, or is there a way to reduce the cost.

That's all I can think of right now. Don't be fooled by all my inquiries, I'm actually thrilled to be switching to Mac, as I have always wanted to. Just want to know ahead of time.

Thanks in advance.

Edited February 7, 2007 by nav1

[osirisX]

I'm not the biggest Mac expert, so take this as you will.

Triple Booting: The OS X Install DVD has Disk Utility on it. Disk Utility can do partitions so I imagine it could create the three or more partitions that you need.

Parallels: I haven't used it so I wouldn't be able to say. But check out Parallels website.

Tweakability: Certain things are tweakable. You can add and remove as many things as you like in the dock. Most of the menu items on the Menu Bar can be moved around by holding Cmd and dragging them. You can even drag them off. You can have your icons from 16-256 px on the desktop and in folders. You can set if you want extra info like file size to be displayed with your icons. Folders can be in three views: Icons, List and Columns. The icons at the top of most Cocoa and Carbon apps can be moved around and displayed in different ways. You can pick between two different visual styles. There are some 3rd party apps which can do more for OS X.

Upgrades: I'm not sure how accessible anything is on the Macbooks. I assume it's like the iMac where only the RAM is accessible. If anything isn't accessible and you crack it open, you will void your warranty. This goes for ANYTHING Apple (except the Mac Pro).

Mice and Keyboard: You can use any keyboard you like with OS X but an Apple one is probably the best.

Leopard: The only way I know of getting a discount is through student discounts. Apple don't offer an Upgrade edition like MS do for Windows. Each 10.x release is a full edition. But you can do an Archive Install if you want.

[Typhon]

Sorry. You said screw PC's and Windows but yet you want XP on your Mac???

[Nashy]

Sorry. You said screw PC's and Windows but yet you want XP on your Mac???

I was also wondering....

[osirisX]

Sorry. You said screw PC's and Windows but yet you want XP on your Mac???

It's more than like a safety net. Most of us have installed Windows on our Macs and only use it like once a month. If that.

[crazzyyfool]

Triple Booting - Yes you can triple-boot. Use the OSX Install DVD and use Disk Utility to partition up the hard drive, the install each OS. When you boot, hold down the Alt/Option key and you can then select an OS to boot into.

Parallels - Yes you can use the existing partition that contains Windows. You may have to reactivate though, but this needs only be done once.

Tweakability - OSX is fairly tweakable, depends on what you would like to do specifically.

Scratching - If the MacBook casing is anything like the iBook casing then yes, they are prone to scratches. You can however get many cases and protective shields. Try a Google search.

Upgrades - The memory and hard drive are easily replaceable in the MacBook and it will not void your warranty as these are deemed by Apple as user-servicable. Have a look at the Apple site, there is plenty of info on the MacBook there.

Mice and keyboards - The keyboards on Apple computers are some of the best on the market especially the MacBook, and the Pro keyboard. You can however, use any USB keyboard you like. I would recommend either an Apple or Logitech keyboard. In terms of mice. Again, any mouse will work. But I would stick with either Apple, Logitech or Microsoft as they have specific drivers available which can allow you to use the extras buttons available on a lot of mice. The Mighty Mouse is not bad but it takes some getting used too. If you want to go wireless. How about a wireless Apple Pro keyboard and Mighty Mouse?

Leopard - Either wait until Leopard actually ships then your in effect getting it for free, or use an education discount if you qualify. Or maybe somewhere like Amazon who might offer it at a discounted price on launch.

:D

[Quillz]

From what I've read, you might want to skip Boot Camp entirely and just use Parallels, which lets you run two OS simultaneously. I don't use a Mac, but I imagine that being able to literally just open up Parallels and have WinXP running would be far more convenient than rebooting into Boot Camp all the time.

[Pajter]

From what I've read, you might want to skip Boot Camp entirely and just use Parallels, which lets you run two OS simultaneously. I don't use a Mac, but I imagine that being able to literally just open up Parallels and have WinXP running would be far more convenient than rebooting into Boot Camp all the time.

I've heard that Parallels takes a whole lot of power (RAM) to use. Since OSX hogs up a lot of RAM, and XP only takes what it needs, OSX > XP.

[BigKush]

Bad, bad boy.

[Adam_Brown]

I've heard that Parallels takes a whole lot of power (RAM) to use. Since OSX hogs up a lot of RAM, and XP only takes what it needs, OSX > XP.

How does OS X hog RAM? Iv'e had not problems with my iBook, apart from a slight battery issue, but thats got fat all to do with RAM.

[Pajter]

How does OS X hog RAM? Iv'e had not problems with my iBook, apart from a slight battery issue, but thats got fat all to do with RAM.

Don't ask me how it does it, I'm no expert on that. I just read about it a lot of times, even here on Neowin. A friend of mine has a new iMac and he also says Parallels runs poorly, because he doesn't have nearly enough (1GB) of RAM. (<- his words)

Please correct me if/when I'm wrong. :)

[craybox]

yes you need 2gb of ram 1 for each OS.

[crazzyyfool]

1GB RAM is nowhere near enough if you want to run Parallels. 2GB is a must-have minimum.

[DarkGashX]

Just replying to say.. love the title lol.

[nav1]

Thanks for all the replies

Sorry. You said screw PC's and Windows but yet you want XP on your Mac???

I was also wondering....

It's more than like a safety net. Most of us have installed Windows on our Macs and only use it like once a month. If that.

Yeah, now that I think of it, it does sound weird. However, as osirisX said, it's a safety net. There are certain work applications that may require Windows, but hopefully I won't have to use it.

Scratching - If the MacBook casing is anything like the iBook casing then yes, they are prone to scratches. You can however get many cases and protective shields. Try a Google search.

Upgrades - The memory and hard drive are easily replaceable in the MacBook and it will not void your warranty as these are deemed by Apple as user-serviceable. Have a look at the Apple site, there is plenty of info on the MacBook there.

Well, I wanted to know if any of you had experience with protective shields, as to provide any recommendations. But that's ok I'll look it up. As far as the upgrades, I didn't knew it was on the Apple site, all I found was the product overview and such. But come to think of it, I haven't checked the more technical information, going to do so now. Parallels would be the ideal, but as you guys had indicated I may not be able to use with a decent performance. But if there's any sort of trial, I'll see how it performs when I get my Macbook.

Anyway, thanks for the replies. I'd still like to know about the partition sizes, and the reason I'm asking this is because I have no idea how OSX handles the disk, or how much space it uses. Would I need a swap partition for OSX? Since it's UNIX based.

[Southern Patriot]

I'd still like to know about the partition sizes, and the reason I'm asking this is because I have no idea how OSX handles the disk, or how much space it uses. Would I need a swap partition for OSX? Since it's UNIX based.

OS X by itself uses 2-5GB of space, depending on the options you have installed. Add another 1-6GB if you install some or all of the iLife applications (trust me, you will want to, although I usually don't install GarageBand as it is a major space hog, and I don't use it anyway). That puts OS X with iLife at anywhere between 3 and 11GB, depending on what you install. I'd recommend 20GB as a good size for your OS X partition because you will certainly want other stuff on there as well. OS X does not use a swap partition. As for a shared partition for all of your operating systems, you can probably get by with a 5 or 10GB FAT32 partition, depending on how big of files you intend to move around.

[Glassed Silver]

*Triple booting. http://refit.sourceforge.net/ they also tell you how to setup a tripple boot w/o rEFIt, thought rEFIt makes things easier... maybe... ;)

Just go to the questions sections or something. Depending on what you want to do (no games and HD-videos) in linux/win you could also try to run both in parallels (works smooth).

Instead of a shared partition I'd just have the OS X one, www.macdrive.com will make it accesible from within Win XP/Vita for example, don't know of a *nix solution atm though, might be built-in into some distros. Partion for XP/Vista? mmmh... depends, if you want to install SOME games: 30GB will do it (40 in vista); if you want to install a lot of games (might wanna check whether there are mac versions for your games) i'd day 50GB should be enough... but this depends on your needs... no games? try to think of what your apps will need and add the usual WIN size to it plus some GB (just to be safe).

Oh just remembered that you don't have a that large HDD... well in that case... devide it by 2 or something. :)

*Parallels. If I install it, would it use the same XP partition already used in the triple booting? -> yea, but you'll never wanna pause emulation, in that case it might damage your Win system!

you just need to select your Win system then and install Parallels tools in the win system. (You need to read the info provided with every new release you install as since it will help you ensure avoid loss of data/damage your system/...

*Tweakability. Just how tweakable is OS X? It's somewhat tweakable!!! preference panel really offers a lot of preferences, some settings can be done in the terminal, and there are also tools to change the skin of OS X/icons of OS X...

it's really awesome!

*Scratching. idk, as since i dont own ones, but it shouldnt be a big prob if at all.

*Upgrades. [...], say, the hard drive if I ever need to in the future? -> YES.

*Mice and keyboards. I actually don't like laptop keyboards too much, but I need a laptop so, is it feasible to have keyboard/mouse connected? Can I use any type, or does it have to be apple branded? The mighty mouse looks cool, but I find it to be too expensive for what it is. -> quite a lot works... pretty much everything can be connected but if you want to be more than 100% sure (lol) watch out for the mac logo on the packaging (applies to many other hardware products), but key/b,mouse compatibility is pretty well, i wouldnt care that much about it. I just say plug&play :) especially microsoft mice and keyboards have a very very good compatibility to Apple Computers.

*Leopard. As an adult student/teacher you will get a discount.

You can also purchase it on eBay for a little less/use froogle.com for price comparison/and of cause you may discuss about the price with your Apple Store/retailer. Some are friendly and give you some %%%. I don't know about Upgrades, might be available, but I didnt see an upgrade version of OS X in my entire life, might be just me.

If you have any further question or wish to chat about OS X/Macs/Running other systems/... just contact me (see profile or info pane beneth this post for details).

I will open up a Website soon, i hope at least and will give free support and advice, will feature downloads, etc...

oh and btw: there's a LOVELY range of really SWEET apps for OS X, and it's cool to see that most apps are available as Universal apps (or run very well in rosetta in case of PPC apps, apart from games that might run miserabely(not thaaat well) in rosetta (like true crime:Streets of LA)!

there's a huge amount of apps that integrate really seamlessly in the system :D

hope this might help you a bit, and really: don't hesitate to contact me, its fun for me to answer OS X releated questions!

-fm

Edited February 6, 2007 by Glassed Silver

[Southern Patriot]

Glassed Silver, would you PLEASE go back and edit that post to add quote tags to the stuff from the original poster? The way you posted it makes it a pain in the ass to read.

[the evn show]

Upgrades: I'm not sure how accessible anything is on the Macbooks. I assume it's like the iMac where only the RAM is accessible. If anything isn't accessible and you crack it open, you will void your warranty. This goes for ANYTHING Apple (except the Mac Pro).

Pick up the phone, call 1-800-my-apple and ask about hardware upgrades. Apple's warranty doesn't cover damages you cause during the course of an upgrade, but it doesn't cover you from any other kind of damage you cause either. User serviceable parts may be replaced with compatible replacement parts at any time: Apple provides directions for common replacement procedures.

For example: How to replace the hard drive on your 13" macbook. You can also have an authorized service center perform upgrades.

The replacement parts policy is exactly the same for all Apple products: from the iPod through to the Mac Pro.

[Xero]

Welcome to the team, and most if not all Intel Mac owners have Windows installed, just incase we need it, most don't use it though.

As for tweakability most of Mac is tweakable, maybe not as much as Windows is, but its got enough to satisfy you. For Leopard there isn't a way to cut the cost unless they bring back student discounts, but 130 bucks isn't that much compared to a 300+ Vista.

Nonetheless, welcome to the team and I think you will enjoy it, I'll leave the more complicated questions to the more technical people.

[Glassed Silver]

Glassed Silver, would you PLEASE go back and edit that post to add quote tags to the stuff from the original poster? The way you posted it makes it a pain in the ass to read.

done ;)

used bold print for everything he wrote.

further:

you can also have riskless upgrades installed by a "certified apple partner".

they want less money for the same service.

if they damage something, I guess you will not lose warranty... :)

but im not thaat sure :)

maybe some1 can validate this

-fm

[guruparan]

We can buy 2 Vista Aero enabled PC in lieu of purchasing a MAC book!

I had done it!!....i will let you know the configurations & price tommorrow!!

And also Windows is compatible with lot of softwares & than Mac does!!

[dL]

What made you join the RDF?

dL

[Glassed Silver]

We can buy 2 Vista Aero enabled PC in lieu of purchasing a MAC book!

I had done it!!....i will let you know the configurations & price tommorrow!!

And also Windows is compatible with lot of softwares & than Mac does!!

oh really...

i bet he totally didn't know that... :/ :p

no honestly, you can run Windows on a mac, so why bother.

IMO the iMac was the best purchase I've ever made.

I don't regret ANYTHING.

every1 has his/her own reasons for buying a Mac instead of a normal beige box, so I guess this advice doesn't really fit in here, as since he very much seems like his decision is made.

Though, there are threads where people are unsure, maybe you want to see those threads and give this advice to them, instead to one, who seems pretty much sure about purchasing a mac is the right decision for him? ;)

no offense, though it might sound like it. :)

btw: hardware compatibility is really neat for macs nowadays.

further: i was able to at least REPLACE all of my win apps with pendants for mac os successfully and i don't miss features...

for those rare cases when I ever should need a win app I can either run it in Darwine (wine for OS X), Crossover, Parallels or use bootcampe and boot into Win.

compatibility is something i was worried about at first, but I see myself using mac os VERY MOST of the time and I don't feel uncomfortable.

everything i need is right there.

-fm

[nav1]

@Glassed Silver

Thanks, really apreciate that. Will have you in mind if I encounter any issues or have further questions

@the evn show

Thanks for the link, was trying to find it, but no luck. Blame it on the work consuming my brain :p

We can buy 2 Vista Aero enabled PC in lieu of purchasing a MAC book!

I had done it!!....i will let you know the configurations & price tomorrow!!

And also Windows is compatible with lot of softwares & than Mac does!!

Yes, for the same price you can get a better (hardware-feature-wise) PC laptop. I actually was going to to that first. But then HP came and bend me over just to charge my credit card, which I hated, and I wanted a Mac anyway, so I say to hell, I much rather have a Mac, if anything, for OS X, iLife, more reliable hardware, MagSafe, better design, and many other reasons. Plus, even though for a PC laptop you get more bang for the buck, I found that majority of that bang I do not need, unless I preferred Vista, which I don't. I don't game on computers, for that I have my Wii, which more than suffices. I don't want to reboot just cause I installed, say, Java or something. I want a reliable system, made with intuitiveness, productivity (in terms of getting things done faster and more efficiently) and ease of use in mind, without having a resource-hugging anti virus running, or (in case I don't run it) being constantly worried about whether one of the svchost.exe process running is really a system process or something sending out my personal information to someone.

Sorry about the rant, just want to be clear that I want and need a Mac :D

EDIT: Oh, and my late new year resolution is to never hear again the words registry, DLL, malware, virus, and fragmentation :p