Am I a dickhead? Prove it; Mac me away!

Life Technology
#1

I recently bought a Macbook, ostensibly as a work beast for times I head away. My home PC died recently leaving me solely with the Macbook. For work stuff I prefer XP and run that through Parallels, as all office machine is XP and all the office shared files are Windows based. I also connect to the office machine via VPN, which seems to work better via XP.

Anyhow, I have played with the Mac stuff, but can;t be arsed re;earning how to use a bloody computer. So basically now I have an Apple machine but only use Windows guff. Question is, am I a dickhead? Is there some stunning world of Macdom I’m completely missing? Can you prove it?

Suggestions and criticisms warmly welcomed.

HG

#2

While i was in Morocco, I saw an old timer driving his donkey. It was pulling the local equivalent of the ever-present Taiwanese blue truck.

I laughed, but thought he was kind of cool… so I won’t call you a dickhead.

#3

More seriously, you’ve had this machine for a few months now. How many times has it crashed? Have you had to reinstall Windows? That was what pushed me out of the dark and into the light.

The thing with the Macs is you don’t really have to relearn it… just play. But it’s more fun when you’ve got a hobby and find just the right Mac only program. I’m a bibliophile, and love Delicious Library. Play around.

#4

[quote=“Jaboney”]More seriously, you’ve had this machine for a few months now. How many times has it crashed? Have you had to reinstall Windows? That was what pushed me out of the dark and into the light.

The thing with the Macs is you don’t really have to relearn it… just play. But it’s more fun when you’ve got a hobby and find just the right Mac only program. I’m a bibliophile, and love Delicious Library. Play around.[/quote]\

Hmm, I’m using a 3 year old dell laptop and it has not crashed and I have not had to re-install windows. I just hate when fanboys need to justify the use of whatever they are fans of. Just say you really like it and get over that people use other stuff.

In any case. Use the windows stuff for work and play around with the mac stuff until you get the hang of the different OS. Try it out and see if you like it. Not sure if you are running with Intel chip and can use bootcamp…

On another note, I’m getting a macbookpro to replace this laptop in a few years. Using bootcamp of course. :slight_smile:

#5

Cheers on both fronts Jaboney.

Good point on the no crashing, that’s been a very pleasant plus, and of course that’s why I bought the damned thing. Sadly over the period since I bought the macbook my desktop died. Only a software issue but I don’t want to believe, as appears to be the case, tha my only option is to wipe it and reload everything. That’s happened to me three times in as many years with PCs.

Based on your solid observations, I am a dickhead. :laughing:

HG

#6

I’ll not comment about the dickhead bit… :smiley:

Computers are computers…It will take a while to get used to the difference in key commands - and buy a real two button mouse.

I had to give my thinkpad a colonic every 6 months or so and do a clean install. :fume: Must have been the pr0n. But my surfing habits haven’t changed and now I don’t need to do that

I’ve got 3 mac’s linked on wireless to my TV & stereo and it took me 5min. Those little wmv files look great on a 42" plasma and surround sound. :smiley:

#7

I’m all ears. Is that via Airport? I have Airport extreme, what else do I need to hook up wireless sound and movies? Wireless speakers? I heard Apple TV is crap.

HG.

#8

Macs use wmv?

#9

Mine can.

To sharpen my query, let me add these ideas, generated as they are by a mind free of tech quotient.

I’d love to have a home sound system that had as it’s main storage and player this computer, as most of my music is on a computer. I want that to be linked via wireless to speakers that I can switch to in three rooms and a balcony.

I’m thinking it would be nice to have a seperate keyboard and monitor - is there anyway to use my existing monitor from my desktop? Via wireless?

Is there anyway to harness my existing desktop PC (once I reload friggin’ Windows, grrrr!*) and incoporate that into a happy config involving a sound system, this Macbook, my sounds, my vids, Skype, et al, and all via wireless?

Cheers for the thoughts!

HG

  • What happened to my desktop is that it failed to load several times which then prompted me to attempt to return the system to an earlier refig. When that stalled I impatiently rebooted and now it just won’t boot. A mate’s coming over tomorrow to sort that.
#10

[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Mine can.

To sharpen my query, let me add these ideas, generated as they are by a mind free of tech quotient.

I’d love to have a home sound system that had as it’s main storage and player this computer, as most of my music is on a computer. I want that to be linked via wireless to speakers that I can switch to in three rooms and a balcony.

I’m thinking it would be nice to have a separate keyboard and monitor - is there anyway to use my existing monitor from my desktop? Via wireless?

Is there anyway to harness my existing desktop PC (once I reload friggin’ Windows, grrrr!*) and incoporate that into a happy config involving a sound system, this Macbook, my sounds, my vids, Skype, et al, and all via wireless?

Cheers for the thoughts!

HG

  • What happened to my desktop is that it failed to load several times which then prompted me to attempt to return the system to an earlier refig. When that stalled I impatiently rebooted and now it just won’t boot. A mate’s coming over tomorrow to sort that.[/quote]

You just need to add some hardware to your current unused PC if you want it to be an HTPC. Oh yeah and you need the right software as well. If you are going to reload OS anyways try and get Windows XP Media Center edition. Then add a TV tuner card and a Video card that can connect to TV and a TV that can accept. If you are doing HD you may need a new card. Some card like this: engadget.com/2006/01/24/how- … ical-htpc/
avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdis … forumid=26

It might be a bit technical if you don’t have experience with PC hardware/software and A/V hardware.

If you want to do it with mac I think you can wirelessly connect AppleTV and your mac.
apple.com/appletv/

  • Apple TV is cool but… unless you have alot of ITunes available video/music you will need to hack/mod it to be able to make it compatible with all video formats. Not that hard but it is annoying.

Hmm, that’s all I can think about now.

#11

I’m lazy so I got a KEF Kit200 home theater in a box and got a logitech universal remote. 100% of my music and about 50% of my video comes from one of the 3 macs in the house linked by an airport extreme & an Apple TV (which hooks to the stereo). The hardest thing was laying the cable for the satellites. The rest took at least 10min.

3rd party software (hacks?)for mac are generally a) very well put together b) take about 10min to install c) relatively cheap.

isquint covers my ripping needs for video
senuti covers moving my files around once I have them
audiohijack allows me to encode any audio signal for your ipod/iTunes (like internet radio)

Try a bunch until you find one you like.

The bluetooth keyboards work well, you don’t need to buy the apple ones but they look nice.

I never bought quicktime. Get VLS to get around all that region BS.

#12

I’ve talked to HGC about my mac very briefly when he purchased his.

I’m now a very not happy person about Apple.

  1. PB bought in 2005. 2 years later, (2-3 months ago), the MB had a complete failure. No explanation, no drops, no spills, but also no warranty.

  2. Ipod. the recharge life is a lot shorter than I would expect and compares unfavorably with much cheaper no name brands in battery life.

  3. Support services. They’re total dickheads. Sales are evangelists. Once you’re in, like a cult, they screw you, and abuse you.

That’s my 2 cents, and while Windoze has its problems, and I’ve little time to learn Linux, I’ve gone back to PCs.

Now am a very happy owner of Thinkpad. although vista… that’s another story.

#13

Ha ha, Jack, it’s like all other areas of the no-service sector in HK, you just have to scream loud and long enough.

HG

#14

I agree with Jack. When Apple are bad, they are very bad. But then again, IBM screwed me as well with an OOB failure. :idunno: Basically tech companies are dicks

#15

I agree that’s why I’ve been building my own systems since I’ve figured out how to read the manuals. :laughing:

#16

I need to get the Mac meeting going again.

#17

(OT:) I favor PCs myself, having used them since the DOS days, but both my high school and college are almost completely Mac-run. My biggest aggravation against Apple is 1) those stupid one-button mice, and 2)right-click menu.

But you can open a mouse menu by holding down option or something now.

Having used both kinds of computers since I was little (my best friend was a complete Mac junkie (then she got a Dell for college and loves it)), I honestly haven’t experienced a significant difference in crash rates, technical difficulties, customer service quality, etc, between the two.

Anyway, unless you want help using some specific graphic design programs in Mac, I probably can’t help you out. Good luck!

#18

I agree that’s why I’ve been building my own systems since I’ve figured out how to read the manuals. :laughing:[/quote]

The only problem with that is there is no on else to blame if something goes wrong.

#19

Huang Guang Chen,

You can patch together a quick and dirty “home entertainment system” by simply using a wireless network and iTunes. If you don’t have a wireless router/network at home, get one. It’s worth the trouble.

For example, if your PC has all your music, all you need to do is configure iTunes to share your music library. You can then access all your music using your laptop. Hook up your laptop to your home stereo, and presto, music streams in from your PC.

For video, same thing. Hook up your macbook to your TV, and run the sound to your home stereo. I second the VLC recommendation – it’s free and it works pretty well for streaming video.

Sorry if all of this seems so obvious, but in my experience, this has been easier than buying a a lot of third-party devices and softwares to manage things – I prefer not to spend hours futzing around (I already spend enough time with computers!) – no mess no fuss.

#20

I not only like your Forumosan name but your thinking too! Welcome for-a-samosa!

I’m going to out myself as a complete idiot here, and not for the first time, but I have Airport Extreme, that’s basically a router thingee, wireless thingamajig, no? I use it now as a wireless internet connection thingeee, but UI suppose it has more functions.

Cheers.

HG