Bye PC, Mac Got Me

Having been a PC user all of my life, one of my biggest concerns in switching from a PC to a Mac was whether I’d be able to learn and navigate OSX. How’s the old adage go???

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

I consider myself pretty tech-savvy, but I was unsure if I’d be able to have any sort of productivity while learning an entirely new operating system. Let’s be honest, can I really make an adjustment from Start Menu at the bottom left, to the Apple logo at the upper left?

To be completely honest, the change thus far has been relatively smooth. I’ve been able to adapt to some of the subtle differences between the two operating systems, but as a whole, the two OS’s are now pretty similar in terms of navigation, functionality and ease of use. As a switcher, the 2 biggest things that I’ve been having a hard time getting used to is the always stationary menu bar (or menubar as I’ve seen it referred to on many other blogs), and the other issue really isn’t an operating system issue, but more of a keyboard shortcut issue. The Apple Command key being located right next to the spacebar is a big difference from the Control key on the PC being at the far left edge. This has made common tasks like Copy/Paste become more hunt and peck.

Stationary Menu Bar
I’m sure that this is probably one of the toughest things to overcome for all users. The fact that the menu bar changes state based on whichever program is open in the foreground has taken me a little time to get used to. Don’t get me wrong, it makes perfect sense, but having been a PC user for the past 10+ years, I have gotten very used to the fact that each program had its own menu bar and set of actions internally and attached to the program itself, whereas on the Mac, the main menu bar acts as the starting location for all actions for all programs.

Command Click vs. Control Click
I’m dealing with it. I don’t necessarily like it, but I’m learning to deal with it. I feel like I need a little nub sixth finger between my thumb and my index finger in order to successfully use the Command button. I’ll have to become an Apple alien.

The Best Features of OSX
This list is based on my limited experience with the OSX operating system this far.

• Expose - this feature is irreplaceable, I don’t know how I’ve lived without this on a PC for so long, maybe because of the fact that windows always keeps a huge listing of all open programs in the taskbar.
• Hot Corners – being able to throw your mouse into any corner of your screen to complete any common action is a very useful feature. I have my computer automatically lock when my screensaver comes on, so prior to leaving my computer, I always just throw my mouse into the corner that activates my screensaver.
• Quick Look – This is a great feature that Windows could/should learn from. Quick Look allows you to open nearly any type of file (at least common file types) by clicking on the space bar.

Features that I have yet to explore, but will most likely become familiar with them sometime in the future:

• Spaces - This sounds like it might be very useful for me since I primarily use my MacBook Pro as a personal computer, but will occassionally use it for work. It sounds like spaces will allow me to setup desktops for each “life”.
• Boot Camp – Dual boot Windows and Mac OSX on my MacBook Pro, this will definitely come in handy.
• Time Machine – I haven’t yet used this as I typically do all of my own backups, however this will most likely be something that I setup for my wifes computer.

written by Brady \\ tags: boot camp, Expose, Hot Corners, menu bar, menubar, operating system, OSX, PC, Quick Look, spaces, start menu, task bar, taskbar, Time Machine

When I purhcased my Mac, I didn’t really even consider what it’d take to get my iTunes library setup on both the PC and the Mac. I currently have a shared drive on my network where all of my music files reside. When I setup iPhoto, I noticed that it copied all of my pictures to my MacBook, but I already have all my pictures on my network drive as well as an external backup disk, so I definitely didn’t want to have copies of all my music files created on my Mac. My solution to this was to navigate to my network server:

Once connected to my home network server, I navigated to the directory that contained all of my music files. Rather than clicking into the directory, I just selected the directory and pressed Cmd + L. Cmd + L is the keyboard shortcut for “Make Alias”. To the best of my knowledge, an “Alias” folder on the Mac, works similarly to how a “Shortcut” works on a PC.

Once you’ve created an Alias for the Music directory on your network drive, you’ll want to open Finder and navigate to your Home directory. From your Home directory, select Music, then select iTunes. Within the iTunes folder, there will be a folder called iTunes Music. We are going to be replacing this iTunes Music folder with our alias folder, so make sure that there is nothing in it. In my case, the folder was empty because I keep all of my music on a networked server, so I just deleted the iTunes Music folder. With the iTunes Music folder deleted, find your Alias folder on your network drive and drag it to your iTunes folder. Select the Alias folder, then click it again to rename it. Rename it to iTunes Music to replace the folder that we deleted earlier.

Now your networked drive is referenced for iTunes to use. Next time you open iTunes, all of your music will be available. I don’t know if there is a better, or more efficient way to share music from a networked PC to a Mac, but I’m very open to suggestions being that I’m still very new to OSX.

So far, this solution seems to have worked for me, if anybody has a different option that might work better, I’d love to hear it – please post it below in the comments.

written by Brady \\ tags: alias, iTunes, MP3, music library, network, share

If you read my previous post Switch to Mac: What will I use this computer for? that outlined the deciding factors in determining the uses and options for my new computer, you’ll understand why I’m only considering MacBooks and not desktop Macs.

In short, I’m only considering MacBooks because I’m trying to replace my old PC laptop that blew up. I’m not considering another PC laptop because I like the features and functionality that the Mac OSX operating system offers, plus, with the addition of the Intel-based Mac, and BootCamp, I’ll be running a dual-boot Mac laptop that will allow me to not only have OSX, but also Windows Vista Ultimate.

Though I really like the MacBook Air, that computer just didn’t make sense for me because it didn’t offer the processing power that I’d like to have. The MacBook Air is the computer that actually got me interested in Macs in the first place, but even as much as I trust Apple and their products, I could not justify purchasing a first generation MacBook Air. I feel that the MacBook Air may have some problems that need to be worked out, and I’m really curious as to its durability.

With the MacBook Air out of the question, I next started to consider the standard MacBook. I liked the size and weight of the standard MacBook, but after talking to a few “Apple Genius” geeks, as well as some friends who use Macs, I decided that a MacBook wouldn’t be optimal for handling and running some of the graphics and video editing programs that I will probably be using.

With all of the above out of the way, that left my only option as the MacBook Pro. 15 inch or 17 inch. Stupid question. 17 inch all the way. I’ve heard a lot of people say that the 17 inch defeats the purpose of having a laptop because its so big, but keep in mind that this is replacing my 17 inch HP PC, which was about the same height and width, but the 1 inch depth of the MacBook was more than doubled on HP, and the weight difference was remarkable. My MacBook Pro weighs about half of what my old HP laptop wieghed.

If you’re worried about size, MacBook Pros are probably not the best option for you, however if it is performance that you are after, MacBook Pros are your only option. If you’re in the market for ultimate portability, I’d have to recommend the MacBook Air, even though I haven’t had the chance to fully test one yet.

written by Brady \\ tags: BootCamp, dual boot, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro

	Command/Apple key (like Control on a PC)
	Control Key (Control + Click = Right Click)
	Option Key (alt / option)

Most Used Keyboard Shortcuts:

• Cut: Cmd + X (Same as Ctrl + X on the PC)
• Copy: Cmd + C (Same as Ctrl + C on the PC)
• Paste: Cmd + V (Same as Ctrl + V on the PC)
• Window Switching: Cmd + Tab (Cmd + Shift + Tab to scroll the opposite direction)
• Force Quit: Cmd + Option + Esc (Similar to Ctrl + Alt + Del on the PC)
• Right Mouse Click: Ctrl + Click (Unless you have a 2 button mouse plugged in)

written by Brady \\ tags: keyboard, shortcuts

For a majority of us, purchasing a new laptop isn’t an everyday thing, and it’s also not typically a small purchase that we just run out and rush into. That’s why it’s important to ask yourself a number of questions prior to purchasing a new computer. In this post, I’ll be helping you answer the question, What will I use this computer for?

I’m a web developer, and I do about 95% of all of my programming and development using Microsoft technologies, on a desktop PC, at my office. The use of my laptop has, and probably will always be more for personal use – pictures, music, videos, responding to emergency situations while out of the office, for checking email while on vacation. Over the years, I never really used my PC laptop to do any real development work. Most often, the only “real work” that I’d do on it was write quotes and proposals for clients. And Mac OSX offers the Microsoft Office Suite which would allow me to create quotes and proposals just as I did with my PC.

Prior to deciding the type of computer that I was going to buy, I put together a list of things that I’d like to use my new laptop for. Your list will probably look different, but this will give you an idea and a starting point of things to consider prior to making your next computer purchase.

• Image editing
• Video editing
• Music management
• Writing quotes and proposals
• Browsing the web
• Email – Personal, work, and other (I’ve got like 500 email addresses)
• Watching movies
• Blogging
• Basic HTML editing
• FTP access
• Remote server access – for my work servers

The above list covers about 90% of my day to day activities that I’d be using my new laptop for. Next, I had to ask myself, what software/features do I need, and how much power do I need to accomplish all of these tasks. Mac OSX comes with iLife and iTunes which takes care of a large portion of the above list, but for advanced photo editing and video editing, I’ll be using Adobe products such as Photoshop, After Effects and Premier. These programs typically require strong processors, and a large amount of RAM. I was never really worried about storage space because I typically will store all of my music, pictures and videos on my home PC server and/or on an external hard drive. The only time videos, music and images will take up space on my laptop hard drive is when I am working on them directly.

My minimal storage space needs, made just about any laptop a perfect fit for me. However, due to the amount of work that I anticipate on doing with digital media (music, pictures and videos), my mind was pretty much set on going with Apple and the OSX operating system, due to all of the easy to use tools that it comes with. My need for a fast processor took the MacBook and MacBook Air out of the equation, thus leaving me with MacBook Pro as my final option. So, now there was only one question left – 15 inch or 17 inch. And I think we all know the answer to that one!

written by Brady \\ tags: email, FTP, image editing, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, video editing