CMD + Tab switches between applications CMD + `/~ (just above Tab) switches between open windows in an application. Personally, I prefer how OS X handles windows; maximizing a window wastes space, and I need to be able to access my Desktop frequently. A program/application is not a window. Learn this; get this ingrained into you. Mac OS X does not have to launch a new instance of an application each time it launches a new window. That's why you can have 100 open. Just for good measure, a program/application is not a window. Because we were first? On the whole, keyboard commands on the Mac are much simpler; they're almost all done with CMD + Button. If you feel there should be a button for that command, it's probably done with the FN button. And if you still feel you should have a keyboard command, you can make one yourself in System Preferences > Keynoard While I don't recommend your IBM mod, I know why you installed it. I feel the same annoyance every time I use Windows, but I get used to it after about 2 minutes. I would recommend just leaving it as it came; it'll make it much easier to go to other Macs. You have a small, laptop keyboard. Rather than making the keys smaller (aside from the arrow keys) or the spacing different than a full-sized keyboard, certain unnecessary keys were eliminated. Remember your Function key. FN + DEL = Delete Right FN + Up/Down on your Keyboard. CMD + Up/Down or Left/Right = Home/End It is one of those things that kinda drives me nuts. I've been using the same Mac since 2003, and I'm still using a Logitech USB mouse. It hasn't let me down yet, so I'm not buying a Magic Mouse any time soon. I've gotten used to Google Maps though; I just use the manual zoom-in/zoom-out buttons. Someone actually uses the **** mouse? I'm a Firefox guy. Microsoft will be bringing Outlook in their next version of Office. That said, I do not use Office and would recommend Apple Mail and iWork. Snow Leopard Mail is just about as powerful as Outlook when combined with iCal and Address Book (and they all combine pretty freakin' well) but comes on your computer. Entourage/Outlook's only big advantage is the ability to connect to Exchange 2004 (Mail connects to 2007 out of the box). I do all my other docs in iWork. Pages is, by far, superior to Word. Word has a few nifty features (like the automatically generation Works Cited pages), but the ability to actually lay out a document in Pages is fantastic. I'm not using VB Macros or Pivot Tables, so I have no need for Excel to do my spreadsheets (Yes, Excel > Numbers). Keynote is ridiculous. It's just freaking incredible. MS has some serious work to do if they want to make something that good. Yes, you CAN save iWork documents as their Office equivalents. This is not always the best solution, however. In a Spanish class (I'm a UH student) the other day, I presented something using a Keynote presentation. Had I made it a PowerPoint, it would have been dumbed down to something PowerPoint can understand. Rather, I made it a QuickTime movie. It still advanced on-click, and I set it to play at 40 FPS. I loaded that thing on one of our Dells hooked up to a projector and used that. My Spanish prof. said, "I don't know how you did that, but that was awesome." Anyway, I save everything in the native, iWork format. When I need to do something, I just use the Share menu. If I'm emailing it, I can go to Share > Send via Mail (see why I love Mail?) > Pages/PDF/Word to automatically generate a copy of my document in that format to sent to someone. If I'm uploading a copy, I use Share > Export and save a copy of it to my HD in whatever format I need. Man, can I get paid for that? I don't go to work for another 3 hours. =D If you're ever in Houston (any of you) and go to the Houston Galleria Apple Store, I'm the one with 2 lanyards.
5000 charge cycles. Every other company on the market uses the same battery. Apple did until early last year. The new battery gets over 5000 charge cycles rather than the 300 in other batteries. This means your battery lasts 5+ years rather than 2 - 2 1/2. Keep in mind that the battery gets a 7-hour charge rather than 3 1/2 - 4. Building a removable battery takes a TON of space; there's a good reason they got rid of it. For the record, if you ever DO need a new battery, make a Genius Bar appointment a the Apple Store. It doesn't cost any more to have them replace your internal battery than it does to buy a new, swappable one. Ack. I should've just edited the above to add this in. Oh well.
once you get used to the commands you'll really start streamlining through tasks. I use protools a lot so Everything I do always involves commands.
Thanks very much blathersby - very helpful. I would buy you a beer, but it's a little far from Europe and I haven't been in Houston in several years...but if and when our Rockets go on their title run in the playoffs next year, I'll be there!
I have an old school G4 powerbook and I love it. But when it comes time to upgrade this fall....the price tag delta is becoming a larger and larger issue.
I wouldn't say that. The prices for Macbook Pros have dropped significantly. It's still expensive but compared to the previous models it's a lot more affordable.
I don't think its much about the actual prices lowering, but rather Apple has been putting more power in lately in recent years.
Everyone I know at work either forwards their email to their gmail account or uses pine or thunderbird.
Holy crap, people still use Pine? I haven't used a text-based email client in years, and even then I switched to Mutt, which is far superior. Seriously, since every server in the world these days seems to supports IMAP over SSL, why not use a graphical client?
Outlook isn't as big for home users, and yeah I'm sure that there are workplaces that use other options, but in the corporate environment it's just about the biggest thing out there. Considering how may places use a Microsoft server environment and Exchange, it isn't surprising.
