Switcher - Buying a MacBook - iPhone 3G

patrickj · 03-21-2008, 05:37 AM

My Dell laptop has been nearing its end for a while now, and this week it's really on its way out.
I am giving in to temptation and buying a MacBook tomorrow - funds will not quite stretch to a MBP.
Last time I used a Mac was *a lot* of years ago - so I'm excited but also not totally looking forward to being a rookie again.
So ... any great words of wisdom or things to do / not do, gratefully received ...

aggieman · 03-21-2008, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickj

My Dell laptop has been nearing its end for a while now, and this week it's really on its way out.
I am giving in to temptation and buying a MacBook tomorrow - funds will not quite stretch to a MBP.
Last time I used a Mac was *a lot* of years ago - so I'm excited but also not totally looking forward to being a rookie again.
So ... any great words of wisdom or things to do / not do, gratefully received ...

I was wanting a MBP, but paying for a wedding and all I "settled" for a MacBook and am glad I did. I don't do alot of gaming or graphics intense stuff, just use Photoshop Elements occasionally, so it has been perfect for me as I don't need the better graphics card.

Theres alot to learn going from windows to Mac, most I've learned on the fly. Two things that are different than Windows that I keep having to remind myself of...If you click the little red dot, kinda like the X on windows, it doesn't completely close the program. You have to close it from the menu, or there may be a command that does it. And I have to get used to using the command key, and not the control key, such as control +v for paste, it's command + v

patrickj · 03-21-2008, 02:27 PM

Thanks Aggie. And yeah, I'm fully expecting to get stumped by some things at first, but still looking forward to it ...

danipoak · 03-21-2008, 04:40 PM

Back in the day I used windows and it just disgusted me so I switched over to linux for a number of years. Now I am on OSX and I love it, the switch over seriously took maybe a day. The whole closing programs things took me a little bit though but its fine now, and I actually kind of like it. I vowed I'd never go back to windows after the linux switch, now I wonder if I'll ever go back to linux.

acosmichippo · 03-21-2008, 04:42 PM

yeah... I switched about a month ago, and it's mostly been a large collection of little things like aggie mentioned. if you get a MacBook, be prepared to live without a delete button.

probably the biggest thing for me to get used to was the way apps are "installed". in most cases there's no "setup" executable or anything like that... you just drag the .app icon to the applications folder... coming from windows, it's pretty counterintuitive.

patrickj · 03-21-2008, 05:12 PM

Thanks guys - have the little beauty sat on my table / desk now - next to (and making rude gestures at) my Dell.
Have one question that I haven't quickly seen an FAQ answer to - will the built-in mail client and / or Thunderbird import an Outlook .pst file?

acosmichippo · 03-21-2008, 05:16 PM

I tried with thunderbird once, and wasn't able to do it... doesn't mean it's not possible, though. Not sure about mail... I doubt it, but I'll try it out.

I just transferred my contacts through my iphone.

patrickj · 03-21-2008, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acosmichippo

I tried with thunderbird one, and wasn't able to do it... doesn't mean it's not possible, though. Not sure about mail... I doubt it, but I'll try it out.

I just transferred my contacts through my iphone.

Thanks mate. I'll try both pretty soon here - right now I've got Mac mail client pulling in my Gmail account.
One other frighteningly stupid question - how do I make Safari maximize all the way? Other apps - Evernote for example are using the whole screen, but Safari is using around 2/3 of the width of the screen ...

acosmichippo · 03-21-2008, 05:24 PM

well, i found this info... it's dated, but it does say that the .pst format is proprietary, so i don't think you can directly transfer it to Mail.

Quote:

Convert Windows Outlook mail to Mail.app
Thu, Oct 3 '02 at 09:13AM • from: stephen.bates Converting the corporate Windows user who has all their old email in .pst files for years back? Help them on their way by getting their mail out of the proprietary .pst format and into standards based mbox format. The process sucks a little bit, but it does work if you have both machines on the same network.

On your current Windows machine:

1. Start on a Windows box with Outlook and .pst files (Personal Folders)
2. Download Netscape 4.7X for Windows
3. Launch Netscape, launch Netscape Mail
4. Select File -> Import, choose Outlook 97/98 (regardless if you have Outlook 2000/XP), select Outlook profile (if you have one)
5. Ensure all your .pst files and mboxes are selected (Personal Folders)
6. Wait for the Import to finish, Quit Outlook and Netscape

On your Mac running Jaguar:

1. Launch Mail.app
2. From the Finder, Connect to Server and connect to your Windows Machine
3. Navigate to the Windows machine - C: -> Program Files -> Netscape -> Users -> YourUsername -> Mail -> Outlook Mail.sbd
4. Copy the Personal Folders from the Windows machine to somewhere in your Home Directory (I chose my Documents folder)
5. From Mail.app, choose File -> Import Mailboxes ... select standard mbox files
6. Point towards the directory where you copied the Personal Folders from the Windows machine
7. Ensure all the mailboxes are checked

When it's done, look in the Import Folder in the "On My Mac" folder, and ensure all your imported mail is there. This method should should keep the dates and attachments intact. If you find you have TNEFs, use TNEF's Enough to extract them.

acosmichippo · 03-21-2008, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrickj

Thanks mate. I'll try both pretty soon here - right now I've got Mac mail client pulling in my Gmail account.
One other frighteningly stupid question - how do I make Safari maximize all the way? Other apps - Evernote for example are using the whole screen, but Safari is using around 2/3 of the width of the screen ...

yeah... if you figure that one out, let me know.

honestly, though, i went with it, and now i've gotten used to it. most sites (this one, for instance) aren't wide enough to necessitate the full screen anyway. of course, you have a smaller screen than i do, so i could understand your irritation.