I'm either going to love it or want to smash it against a wall

[fishpatrol]

I once told myself that I would never succumb to the lure of Apple products. But alas, I just threw away a chunk of my savings on a Macbook and an iPod Touch. I was very, very close to buying a Lenovo ThinkPad, but Apple's customer service won out. If something breaks, I'd at least be able to get it assessed in person and not have it shipped off to God knows where. I plan to buy a large monitor so that I won't have to squint at the 13" screen at home. Apparently, you can run Windows on one screen and Mac OS on the other -- that sounds pretty awesome.

Mac experts on my flist: is it very taxing on the processor to run both Windows XP and Mac OS simultaneously? Also, what do you guys use to burn data CDs and DVDs? I'm currently using Nero SmartStart (with a registration code I found illicitly XD) -- I don't believe it's available for Mac? And what anti-virus and anti-spyware programs do you guys use? Or are Macs completely immune from viruses and spyware?

I can't wait to get my iPod Touch because my Meizu Mini busted itself again (I was trying to fix a problem by updating the firmware and then it just died). Thankfully my mother has agreed to loan me her teeny tiny Creative Zen player until my iPod arrives. Maybe I should keep a stock of those cheap little $10-$20 mp3 players as back-ups...

I had "DON'T PANIC" engraved on the back of my iPod, because yay, geeky sci-fi references. And also, I do have need of that constant reminder since I've been on the edge of a panic attack for months.

Comments

[fishpatrol]

what exactly are the extra features?

More processing power, more hard drive space, more RAM -- the usual. As long as it can run something like Photoshop, Word, and Firefox at the same time without lagging, then I'm good. Also, I don't like the touchpad without the clicky-key (you know what I'm talking about XD) on the Pro.

I only have SPSS for Windows and I don't want to purchase it for the Mac. XD I'm going to go through all the programs I have right now to double check if there are Mac equivalents.

Thanks for the info<3! I'll probably bug you for more Macbook-related stuff later on. ;)

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

lol I love love love the touchpad on the pro! :P but then I've never had a laptop before, so it's very intuitive and natural to me - it's like using a mouse that's a touchpad! XP

You know what I'm really excited about in Snow Leopard that's coming out in September? The ability to just write Chinese on the touchpad. ;o;o;o; I was already pretty much going ;o;, but that feature sold me. XD And it's really cheap, only $39!

What's SPSS? :P idk what programmes you have, but you can probably run some by me. I've had to do a bunch of it myself, so yeah. XD I'm sure your macbook will be able to run ps (I recommend you snag creative suit 4 for the mac, it is so awesome ;o;), word (use openoffice for this! :P no use shelling out $$$$ for similar programmes), and ff at the same time without lagging - I can usually run all three simultaneously without lagging and tend to run about like five more at the same time. XD;;;;; (I am so bad for computers lol :P Also, can you tell I love opensource/freeware? :P)

And you are totally welcome! I totally bothered my mac friends at the beginning, so I'm happy to help! Feel free to bug me whenever! I'll try my best to help! ♥

[fishpatrol]

What else does Snow Leopard offer? I think I can get an upgrade for $10 or so when it comes out, but I'm not sure if I'll need it.

SPSS is a statistical analysis software that everyone in the behavioural sciences (at least at UofT) uses. I think my dad has Photoshop CS3 and iWork somewhere around his office, so I'll snag them from him. What's creative suit? I love freeware too -- what's the point of shelling out hundreds of dollars when you can find a free equivalent? ;)

Oh yeah, do you use any anti-virus programs on your Mac? I have to have a functioning anti-virus program in order to use the wireless on campus and the school offers a really bulky and gross version of Norton which I ended up uninstalling on my current computer and replacing it with AVG (which isn't available for Macs D:).

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

An OS that takes up less hard drive space for better power, which is the main attractive feature. :P And $10? Lucky ;_;_;_;

lolll creative suite = CS. Apparently there's a mac version of SPSS?

I don't use any...and there's a chance your school won't be able to detect your not having any on a Mac/not caring since it's a Mac. There was a while when OSU forced us to use this keypass thing, but it only monitored anti-virus on Windows. descants's mac totally escaped the whole bullshit deal. So yeah. I honestly think that noscript + adblock + firefox = enough. :P As long as you don't d/l viruses from your e-mail, you're pretty much protected.

[fishpatrol]

Oh, haha, I never knew what CS stood for. ;;; My dad has CS3 and it looks remarkably like PS 7. Hopefully it has more features than PS 7! X3 Can one find CS4 for Mac illicitly online? :D

There is a Mac version of SPSS, but I'd have to pay, idk, 100 bucks for it. I'll see what I can get through the school.

Hmm, okay, that sounds good. I'm hoping that my iPod Touch will be able to get through undetected because installing an anti-virus program on that little thing sounds insane.

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

XDDD Yes, one can. :P CS4 makes me so happy. I used PS7 before then, too, and then upgraded to CS2 for Windows, and it made me so happy. ;o;

DDDDDDD: Windows and its monopoly! *shakes fist* Maybe we should have invested in Linux...XD;

Yeah, wtf? :P That would be ridic.

[fishpatrol]

I tried installing CS3 after I got my hard drive replaced, but my disc isn't working or I'm doing something wrong. :( And then I remembered you mentioning CS4 -- where can one obtain CS4? :>:>

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

You can find lots of torrents for it. :P I seriously just went to a torrent search engine and looked for it.