Hardware Will be new to Mac soon.

emmanu888 · Jan 9, 2014

Like literally, my only experience with Mac and Mac OS were with a, Macintosh Performa 5215CD and a Powermac G3 (Blue and White) Also used it on my PC but well, its got an AMD CPU so its kind of hard to keep it up to date. I plan to get a Mac Mini this summer (Because i want to be sure i have the new one if they reveal a new generation of Mac Mini this year.) Is there anything i should know ? I'll keep my PC around because well, its my gaming PC. But what programs and apps should i get when i buy a Mac Mini ? Because i'll have to relearn the UI and all, but long story short. Best apps and programs i can get for a Mac.

Flame · Jan 9, 2014

~~I think you did a big mistake getting a apple product. but that for another thread.~~

what types of software are you looking for? i.e. IM, image editor, email clinet?

for web browser use chrome or Firefox.

Ive heard alot about Quicksilver too.

spotanjo3 · Jan 9, 2014

Flame said:
I think you did a big mistake getting a apple product. but that for another thread.

what types of software are you looking for? i.e. IM, image editor, email clinet?

for web browser use chrome or Firefox.

Ive heard alot about Quicksilver too.

I would like to share with you if you do not mind ? I think that it is his decision to made. If he ask for Windows or Apple but he didnt. For me, I do not bash any like Windows or Apple. Since he has Windows PC and thats wise things to do. Those depends on people's preference and what they are looking for. I have Windows and I am going to keep it too but I am going to get Apple laptop or Apple desktop for other reasons. Just saying.

Celice · Jan 9, 2014

emmanu888 said:
Like literally, my only experience with Mac and Mac OS were with a, Macintosh Performa 5215CD and a Powermac G3 (Blue and White) Also used it on my PC but well, its got an AMD CPU so its kind of hard to keep it up to date. I plan to get a Mac Mini this summer (Because i want to be sure i have the new one if they reveal a new generation of Mac Mini this year.) Is there anything i should know ? I'll keep my PC around because well, its my gaming PC. But what programs and apps should i get when i buy a Mac Mini ? Because i'll have to relearn the UI and all, but long story short. Best apps and programs i can get for a Mac.

There are ways around the Mac UI if you are cautious about relearning it. Recently, it has become very easy to install a copy of Windows on some mac machines, and this is one possibility for you. But next to that, there a couple different ways to use custom skins on various OS, and this might also be of help to you.

Just some options if you are more dreading the relearning process than looking forward to it.

cearp · Jan 9, 2014

same thing what i did, used some macs a little, but maybe once every year, and then impulsively bought a macbook air when i needed a new laptop etc, very happy.
would use windows nearly happily for lots of programs that are windows only, but wouldn't want to have windows as my main os.
virtualizing windows (or linux etc) works very well if you need it, not as resource hungry as you might think. can have 'mac' on one screen, then swap over with the mouse track pad to the windows desktop, full screen, would never know it's running in mac.
as for programs to run... nothing special... there are enough cracked/patched programs if you are into that etc...

i recommend chocolat for a text editor. firefox and safari for web browsing. safari seems faster, and is more native, but firefox has some plugins that i like to use.

Frederica Bernkastel · Jan 9, 2014

"Best apps and programs" is a little vague, don't you think? What are you looking for in particular?

As far as buying a Mac Mini goes (nice choice, by the way; I'm looking to pick up one to replace as a fileserver/NAS/whatever) I would recommend keeping track of this page on MacRumors.com as it advises when bestto buy new Apple hardware.

cearp · Jan 9, 2014

also, macupdate.com is a great website for seeing what program are good/recently updated, and alternatives, reviews on them

snikerz · Jan 9, 2014

Flame said:
Ive heard alot about Quicksilver too.

Quicksilver was cool in 2007

emmanu888 · Jan 9, 2014

Fredrica Bernkastel said:
"Best apps and programs" is a little vague, don't you think? What are you looking for in particular?

As far as buying a Mac Mini goes (nice choice, by the way; I'm looking to pick up one to replace as a fileserver/NAS/whatever) I would recommend keeping track of this page on MacRumors.com as it advises when bestto buy new Apple hardware.

Well best apps and programs. Something that i will like, i don't really plan on gaming with the Mini since well, its not really meant for playing games (And i heard Steam is junk on the Mac, unless they integrate streaming on Mac.) Well i have a graphic tablet that i use on my PC that i'd like to use on the Mini as well, any good programs for coloring drawings ? As for apps, something that i have on my PC is, i shut it down and it comes right back on at 6:30 AM. Any apps that can do this on a Mac ?

FAST6191 · Jan 9, 2014

Best apps and programs is pretty broad (or pretty vague) is what people were getting at, we can probably get a discussion going on certain types of things but that will tend to warrant looking for people with skills in a field rather than skills in computers or an OS in general (I do OK in most things computer but I would not call for me to find software something like bioinformatics regardless of the OS). Granted you have now started to narrow it down by saying colouring and even if it is a bit of legacy thought nowadays macs have been noted as working well for graphics stuff for a while. For graphics I do not know if colouring drawings is actually a specialist field within graphics (I know it is in comics but that is different) so I get to ask is there any reason photoshop or GIMP would not do for this? Or are we talking in spritework (though most of the big boy stuff seems to be for windows only) or something more specific?

Turning a machine on at a given point in time is usually a function of the BIOS (many will have an alarm type thing) or maybe the OS (wake from sleep, set a task to do the deed at a certain time), Macs notably do not use BIOS and I can not say I have done it at the OS level for a mac (though it is old the token search brings up http://support.apple.com/kb/PH3954 ).

spinal_cord · Jan 9, 2014

I was an MSDOS/Windows PC user most of my life until a year or so ago. At first, not knowing my way around the file system bugged the hell out of me, the icons tidying to the right instead of the left bugged me, the dock still bugs me quite a bit. But I have come to learn that for what I need it for, a computer is a computer is a computer (although I still can't stand linux).

The only thing that bugs me still about OSX and Apple in general, is that users just accept the Apple way of doing things without much question. Me, I like to customise my desktop a little, I would like a vista style sidebar, or a real 'start' application menu. It seems I might be one of the only mac users who thinks these are useful things to have on a desktop.

The mouse though, just wow. If your mac doesn't come with a magic mouse then go out and buy one. Sure there are weird issues with it dropping out now and then, but its the best damn mouse I ever used in my 20+ years of computing. All mouses should have a multitouch surface on them, they should make it law!

cearp · Jan 9, 2014

the mac system theme/appearance hacking is not as big as the windows side, apple make it quite tricky it seems, there were a few things out byt some clever people, but a nice program that is quite new is called 'flavours', which lets you change how the menu bar etc etc etc looks, quite nice, although you need to pay, but you can try out the trial.
http://flavours.interacto.net

Hardware Will be new to Mac soon.

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