So...I've used Windows all of my life, and it's not like OSX is difficult to use, but I need good advice on the Mac equivalents of Windows programs I'm so used to. So what do I need to go out and download for pretty much anything? I'll need a movie player, torrent app, video codecs, music tagging program (like Tag and Rename) and anything super useful at all really. Oh and also my external HD is read-only all of a sudden and I can't delete anything off of it or modify stuff, any way to fix this without formatting the whole thing?

Also, I'd like to eventually install Boot Camp and Windows XP on here too so if anyone has experience with that I'd appreciate tips/directions.

When I read the title, the first thing I thought was "Throw some D's on it!"

Boot camp is pretty nice, and fairly easy to use from what I've seen. You can find guides for it plastered all over the net.

I'm thinking of picking up one of the new iMacs when I start working in October. But I'll probably hold off til they become Refurb'd and Leopard comes out (comes standard with the full release version of BootCamp). Other than that, I got nothin'.

So does my copy of XP with SP2 HAVE to be legit or can I pirate it? If I use a legit disc can I pirate the serial #? What happens if I use a serial # that a friend is already using?

As far as I know, Pirated copies of XP SHOULD work (I'm running one on my desktop right now, brother borrowed it to BootCamp on his mac), and it seems to work fine, though don't count specifically on my word. For a Legit disc, if you have the real serial number, you may not need a new one, and Windows may let you use the already used serial number, just acting as a secondary installation.

Give OSX a chance.

I like OSX, there are just programs that I use with Windows that don't have good alternatives on Macs.

For example?

• Get yourself AppZapper, to uninstall programs.
• ---- AppDeleteis an alternative to AppZapper.
• Azureus is the best featured client on OS X. Watch Transmission, as all it needs is encryption to be complete.
• Get yourself AdiumX as your chat program. Do you need use a webcam? if so, skype works, as well as amsn, and ichat . . .sorta.
• Colloquy is a decent gui based irc program.
• Disk Inventory X - see which files take up the most space.
• Fetch is a nice FTP client. Though there is a built in client.
• Flip4mac get it to play .avis in safari.
• VLC for all other video files.
• Serial box is the OS X serial heaven, use Serial Seeker.
• Media Rage - audio file tagging (if you don't use iTunes(sucks))
• OnyX is a nice maintenance utility.
• UnRarX is a nice RAR decompresser.
• Saft is a hack for safari to get movable tabs as well as shortcuts and ad blocking.
• Shakespeer is the DC++ client on OS X.

Isn't the only difference between macs and PCs these days the OS? Aren't they all running on pretty much the same hardware?

Essentially. It's all an OS preference. My preferred: Mac. Which is why I want to get a new iMac. Esp. when Leopard comes out. Because Mac = sex.

Did you get the new Mac?

Macs are PCs, but not all PCs are macs. =-P It's always been like that.

And yeah now hardware is virtually the same.

That's extremely helpful, especially the mp3 tagging program. That was the highest on my need list actually. So that serial box program, can I basically download any pirated mac program and I can use it to get a working serial? Do most torrent sites have a decent amount of mac software?



My old laptop is busted so I picked up a Macbook Pro.

Um . . . sometimes . . . . SerialBox is just a compendium of serials in a .box format

I'd recommend using Serial Seeker to read the box. iSerial Reader 2.0 is okay, but I view it as bloated. try both out.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, get quicksilver.

Give OS X a chance - and get Parallels. You won't need to restart to run all your lovely 'doze programmes.

Most torrent sites do have a decent amount of mac software - thepiratebay, demonoid, and macnbits are excellent. SerialBox is very useful, and for those that require cracking, the latest KCNCrew works wonders - both of which can be found at MSJ, albeit not at the moment. It will be up soon.

Do get used to OS X and, if you like, the unix underpinnings thereof - I leave a terminal shell open all the time, and find it very handy.

PM me if you want anything!

Why would you get a Mac to run windows? Like wasting memory?

You should probably work on your reading comprehension skills.

OS X can't write to NTFS drives. There is a fix though . . .

Read this:
How To Read and Write NTFS Windows partitions on OS X
Then get these:
NTFS-3g
macFUSE

Just about every program I'm using in my engineering classes. I either have to go to a computer lab every time I want to work on something, which sucks because I chip away at assignments slowly, not in one sitting, or I have to borrow my roommates laptop all the time which again, isn't very ideal. Other than that your list has been really helpful. I'm loving OSX.

I'll look into that hard drive thing though, thanks. It says it's still sort of experimental though, I'm a bit worried about losing all the data on my HD and I don't have enough space to back it up (otherwise I would've just formatted the external and transferred it back). Also I still haven't really heard any confirmation on Boot Camp working with pirated XP discs, anyone know for sure?

Named?

And Why would a pirated XP not work?

MMlogic is one, I also need some programs that can be used for circuit design/drawing. MATLAB hasn't been a problem because I can run it remotely using X11. And a lot of games don't have Mac support, especially older ones.

I'm not sure why a pirated XP wouldn't work but here it specifies "genuine" XP disc. Might need to register the copy of XP with MS in order to get it to work with Boot Camp, or something.

If you didn't get that for free/loaned, you wasted so much fucking money.

Bullshit. That's a complete lie. An exceptional product is a waste of money?

You pay for what you get, and unlike some cheap idiots I'm actually willing to pay the money ($1600 isn't even that much) if it means getting one of the best laptops on the market. This will last me for years and is powerful enough to handle just about anything I throw at it. Hell, I'm not really using it for much gaming but I can even run Crysis on it if I want to, which is supposed to be only for "the latest, most beastly PCs".

Now buying the step above this one, the 17 inch, that I would agree could potentially be considered a waste of money.

Well the Pro has been out of date for awhile, even back in August when you bought it. Updates are expected soon.

I too just got a Mac, the 2.2ghz Macbook. I upgraded the hard drive to a 200gb 7200rpm as the stock was only 5400rpm, and I put in 4gb of RAM. It's very fast so far, but then again I don't really do any PC gaming (gotta install windows eventually though).

Santa Rosa chipset and LED backlit screen say hi? I'm pretty sure those were spring updates, unless that's "awhile". There were probably some other minor touch-ups around then as well, those were the major ones IIRC.

Those were November...unless I'm misunderstanding you, it isn't spring yet?

Anyways, macrumors.com seems to think it isn't a good time to buy the Pro (and it hasn't been for awhile now), the word is that a new Pro, more than just an incremental update will come out within a month or so, possibly to coincide with OS X 10.5.2.

I'm saying those updates happened last spring...Spring 2007. I bought my Macbook Pro in August and it has the Santa Rosa chipset for sure.

Of course it's not a good idea to buy the Pro now, I never said that. It's been 5 months since I got mine. And I'm not the type of person that's going to wait 6-7 months based on speculation of a new update, otherwise I would never buy anything out of fear that something a little better is right around the corner. That, and my old laptop broke so I had to buy one in August. I had no choice.

Oh I was just looking at their site, didn't really pay attention to what was updated

" On November 1st, Apple added a 2.6 GHz processor option and 250 GB Hard Drive BTO options, but the remainder of the MacBook Pro line remained the same. This seems unlikely to represent a true update, but may push off a true revision a few months."

So yea, nothing too major, certainly not something I would have waited for.


And I was in the same situation, except I decided to wait until Macworld to see if a new Macbook came out, and while the Air is cool it isn't really a good replacement for a desktop (and to be honest I hate the way the Pro looks).

Really? I love it. Are you more of a regular Macbook fan?

Yea I like the clean white look of the Macbook. Also apparently the aluminum casing can have negative affects on wireless signals and it gets dented easily.

Plus I don't really need anything that powerful as I don't play PC games.

trendfagbook pro

$2000
2.2ghz dual core
8600M with 128 MB dedicated (1440 by 900 max res)
2GB RAM
120GB HD
15 inch screen


or

Gateway P-171X FX $2000
2.4 ghz dual core
3GB RAM
8800GT 512 MB dedicated (1920 x 1200 res)
250GB HD
17 inch screen

Looks a lot better spec while and visually, imo. Enjoy getting ripped off my trendy faggotry and successful advertising. Also, NO GAEMS and on the apple site, to upgrade:

ROFL enjoy

you're such a douchebag, I love it. Isn't there something else better for you to spend your time doing than attempting to make people regret purchases that they like?

First of all, how is a Macbook Pro trendy if Apple only has like a 10-15% marketshare with computers you dumbass? I thought people got over the whole "hey I'm so cool because I hate something that's popular" thing anyway.

Second of all, I got my Macbook Pro with slightly better specs than that for like $1700. Ever heard of a student discount? No one buys Apple computers for full price.

Also, didn't Gateway have to close down all of its stores nationwide? Have fun with customer service when your computer has issues.

Oh, and if I wanted a gaming PC I'd buy a desktop. It would be cheaper and way more powerful than that pile of junk you just suggested, and might not even weigh as much! How much battery life do you get with that? I want a laptop that's portable and actually lasts longer than half an hour.

No games huh? I can have XP and Vista on my laptop, can you have OSX on that thing?

The last thing is the best, because only a dumbass like you would buy RAM from Apple. Everyone knows it's overpriced buying it straight from them. Go on newegg and pick up a stick to put in from there.

Yea seriously I put 4gb RAM in my Macbook for like $60 something.


AND I CAN PLAY STARCRAFT, DIABLO II, AND EVEN AGE OF EMPIRES II!!!!

I do kind of want to install Windows though, just for a few games

Why don't you? Leopard has native Boot Camp support now, it's a pretty easy process.

I will eventually, but I have to decide on either buying or pirating, and then whether to put it on my internal or external hard drive. I'm leaning towards external, that way I can have one that is devoted entirely to Vista.

ew running an os from an external drive.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/66149-appl...ll?source=yahoo

I love how quickly Auron ran away from this topic, I wish I had had this link a week ago.

Yea. I recently switched to a Macbook Pro for my main computer and I am not regretting it. It runs great and everything I want to do it'll do out of the box. Just a few apps here and there that I need. Much better than a Windows PC where there's a bunch of trial software that I don't need. Keep in mind I was going to switch computers anyway, it was just which one was I going to use.

Note: I don't game on computers anyway. 36" HDTV ftw. Plus, if I want to watch shows on my TV, because of my lack of cable and waning interest in most TV shows, I'll just download the show and connect it to said TV with DVI out.

You have a PS3 right? What I do with my 360 is just use a thumb drive with any shows on it and plug it in to the 360 for the xvid playback. PS3 should work the same.

Ok I finally broke down and installed windows xp on a 60gb partition, time to see what sort of gaming power I can get from my integrated graphics

Good luck with that. I'll get too it eventually. But most animes are in .avi format. So it won't even play. Most anyway. The odd anime is encoded in .mp4, which is perfect for the PS3. One Peice HD ftw.

Really? Every .avi I've thrown at the 360 has played (mostly tv shows like Lost and such).

PS3 for me. Not 360. Maybe in the future.

I really wish I could afford buying a new Macbook since I wont be living in the dorms at all anymore, and my old iBook is getting old.

Not to mention, free iPod touch.

Yes, Macs just cost twice as much for less and aren't as cheaply customized. My Dell XPS laptop cost me a full $1000 less than the same customizations on a Mac. Applied the student discount in both cases.



I have a gaming-quality laptop and I get a good 5 hours of battery life on it when running at full strength.




Yes, and I don't have to download a PC emulator to play games.