my new macbook

JamieJelly · 06-01-2006, 02:51 AM

After a lot of deliberation as to which macbook to get, I decided to go with the macbook pro. Then, as the store assistant fetched it, I realised it wouldnt fit in my man bag, took another look at the white macbook and changed my mind. I'm not purely after aesthetics, honest

So now I have a 2Ghz Macbook. Looks lovely, keyboard is really nice and the glossy screen is great for colour saturation.

I have never owned a Mac before, always been a Windows user. I decided to go for a Mac after finding out it had bash terminal, and pretty much an entire web development platform as standard. So I can be sitting on the train testing my latest PHP/MySQL/AJAX apps. Ok I am aware this is possible with Windows but I was never entirely happy with my localhost server config on my Windows pc.

I am still not entirely sure how to manage my web dev projects on the Mac, but I must say, I found textmate for coding and it is simply amazing. Beats DW8 code view hands down.

My only gripes with the Macbook are, it gets very hot on the left hand side, uncomfortable to have on your lap. Also, the memory configuration... this Macbook comes with 2x256Mb modules, meaning one or both will become redundant when I upgrade. I believe you get better performance by having matching modules so it could get pricey. But hey, I didn't choose a Mac on their pricing!

**John Scott** · 06-01-2006, 03:03 AM

Pictures, links?

JamieJelly · 06-01-2006, 03:27 AM

sorry John, here is a link to the Macbook... http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObje...2&nclm=MacBook

And textmate can be found at http://www.macromates.com It is €39 which is an absolute bargain, and I can't begin to tell you how powerful it is.

**John Scott** · 06-01-2006, 03:46 AM

I tried using a Mac before - couldn't figure it out.

Louis · 06-01-2006, 04:20 AM

Macs are great! I've owned Macs since 1994.

Let us us how you like it Jamie.

paranoidandroid · 06-02-2006, 12:31 PM

You wasn't tempted by the black macbook then?

vangogh · 06-02-2006, 08:05 PM

John c'mon someone as bright as you not being able to figure out a Mac. Ok I don't own one either. It's the price thing for me though.

Jamies now that you have a mac does this mean I can call you whenever I need to see how one of my sites look in Safari? Otherwise I'll have to stick to the SafariTest site.

One question for everyone. Why is the white look considered so stylish? I've never cared for it and I'll probably never get an ipod just because of the color. I know one of the selling points of Apple is the style of their products, but wouldn't more choice of colors be better?

**kristeejo** · 06-02-2006, 09:15 PM

Hate Macs but LOVE those new Mac commercials!

JamieJelly · 06-02-2006, 11:28 PM

sure, if anyone needs to know how a site looks in Safari, drop me a PM

I chose the white over the black for a couple of reasons, firstly, you are paying about £120 for the colour, and once the screen is up, the keyboard looks like a laptop from the 90s.

I never cared for macs before, my arguement whenever someone said they wanted one was "everything you can do on a mac you can do on a PC, and where is the right click?!" but I went to the London Javascript Night last week (I know I know, geeky as hell but well worth it) and everyone had a mac. So I thought I must be missing out on something here, did a bit of research and found out that this really is the best platform for development.

My first impressions are, the GUI is tidy, the screen is amazing, the colour saturation really is sublime, partly attributed to the brighter screen, partly to the gloss coating. The only thing I haven't got my head round yet is all the keyboard shortcuts.

I have been using textmate constantly, it really has speeded up my development time massively!

I recommend OS X to everyone.

DarrenC · 06-03-2006, 01:06 AM

I think I'll be "picking a few brains" as I'm looking to get a mac and also a new laptop at the end of the month. My desktop and laptop are sluggish, and a bit outdated now.

Any excuse to upgrade huh

Looks nice!

vangogh · 06-03-2006, 09:25 AM

I'd actually like to get a mac. I just can't afford another laptop at the moment. Now that you can get one with Windows installed as well I can still make use of any software for Windows I absolutely need.

I was just kidding Jamie about having you check my sites. I can survive with the SafariTest site, though I may take you up on the offer one day.

JamieJelly · 06-04-2006, 02:05 PM

one very irritating thing is the lack of the hash symbol (or the pound sign as it is known in the US). Anyone know how I can insert this using a keyboard shortcut?

paranoidandroid · 06-04-2006, 03:16 PM

try alt 3

JamieJelly · 06-04-2006, 03:27 PM

great thanks

paranoidandroid · 06-04-2006, 03:35 PM

If youre stuck for any other symbols you can do the following-

Go to system preferences and click on international

Click on Input Menu

tick Keyboard Viewer also you might want to tick character palette while youre there

At the bottom tick Show input menu in menu bar

This gives you a little flag in the menu bar (at the top of the screen if it wasn't there already)
and from there you can bring a keyboard viewer up, press alt etc to see the symbol shortcuts (including hash).

Louis · 06-04-2006, 05:25 PM

£ or #

paranoidandroid · 06-04-2006, 06:09 PM

Quote:

it's not long before I'm tinkering away, installing this and that -
Firefox, Thunderbird, a couple of code editors... hold on a minute... Where's the bloody hash?

The Apple UK Anti-CSS Conspiracy

JamieJelly · 06-05-2006, 04:09 AM

im slowly getting used to the keyboard shortcuts, however, how do I change window?!

I know i can use apple and tab to switch programs, but what about multiple windows of the same program? i.e msn messenger, switch between conversations

paranoidandroid · 06-05-2006, 01:08 PM

Have you got to grips with Expose?-

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/