ennovy.org

New to the world of the Macintosh

Saturday, June 17, 2006

I got an iMac today! I’m using it right now to make this entry. It’s the first time I’ve used an Apple computer, ever (unless you count me playing with it at the Apple Store)! I got the 17 inch iMac. It looks huge here on my desk.

I’d always considered myself to be a PC user. Last year the first Apple Store in Canada opened in Toronto and when I visited it I fell in love with the look of the Macs. But I never seriously considered getting one. Today’s purchase was mostly on impulse.

There’s a promotion on right now – if you’re a college student and you buy a Mac, you get a “free” iPod nano. You have to purchase it, and then apply for a rebate that covers the cost of the iPod. Since my brother is in university, he took advantage of it (although I paid for it – and anyway he has no interest in Macs). The 2GB iPod nano costs $229 CAD, and the student discount is $24, which takes the price down to $205. And the rebate itself is for $205 – so essentially I only have to pay the tax on it and have to wait a few weeks for the rebate. Wasn’t intending to get an iPod of any kind at all – but I thought, since there is the promotion, I might as well, seeing as it’d be the only time I could see myself getting one other than winning it or something. There’s also a student discount on the iMac itself.

First thoughts on the iMac? It’s so pretty! It’s quiet! And it’s so easy to set up! I had some trouble with getting the wireless encryption setting to work with my existing linksys router. But I got my brother to turn off the encryption, did a search on Google, and found the solution right away (you have to type a $ sign before entering the encryption key). Other than that, I had no other problems, and I didn’t have to look at any advanced network/system settings or anything – I am impressed!

The biggest adjustment I have to make right now is the using the Command key instead of the Control key. They are two keys apart and it’s going to take a while to get used to. For some reason the “end” key on the keyboard doesn’t work. And I miss the right click – although I’m sure that there’s an option to change that, I just have to find it.

Right now it’s downloading and installing updates. I’ll probably be posting more about my experience with the iMac later. Right now I want to look through the manual and so on. It’s my new expensive toy and I’m loving it!

My Computer

04:41pm

Previous Entry Next Entry

Comments & Trackbacks

1. Este said:

on Jun 18 2006 @ 12:35 AM

Good luck with you new Mac. I’m sure you’ll love it. YAY!!!

2. Andreas said:

on Jun 18 2006 @ 04:33 AM

Congratulations to your new Mac! The End-Key has different functionality on a Mac.
Here is a full overview, I think it is very logical and easy to remember.

Navigation text on a Mac:

Moving the cursor…

… to the beginning of the line: Apple Key + Left Arrow
… to the end of the line: Apple + Right Arrow
… to the beginning of the page: Apple + Up Arrow
… to the end of the page: Apple + Down Arrow

… word by word: Option Key + Left/Right Arrow
… paragraph by paragraph: Option Key + Up/Down Arrow
—-

Moving the visible screen area (i.e., scrollbar):
… page by page: Page Up/Down
… to the top: Home-Key
… to the bottom: End-Key

3. Robert Boylin said:

on Jun 18 2006 @ 10:45 AM

You should have the mulit-button mouse with the scroll button. If so, go to the System Preferences panel for the mouse settings. There you can set the mouse to a 2 button mode, the default is a single button mode. Once selected it will be possible to use it like your old one. If you don’t have one, just attach your old 2 button USB PC mouse and it should work as expected.

4. Sami said:

on Jun 18 2006 @ 11:00 AM

Congratulations with your Mac.

The mouse is actually a 4 button mouse. Unlike PC mice, you don’t see the second mouse button, because it’s been made to look like one button, and can be used as a one button mouse. The second mouse button can be activated in system preferences in the Apple menu.

5. Dave said:

on Jun 18 2006 @ 12:42 PM

I hope you took advantage of the free printer offer from apple too!

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/6264003/wo/oZ5iOSoXaK6f319TVpl6RNjc7RY/2.0.0.19.1.0.8.7.3.5.1.4.1.3

6. Tedious said:

on Jun 18 2006 @ 03:40 PM

Visit these websites, in this order:
http://www.opensourcemac.org/
http://www.freemacware.com/
http://www.pure-mac.com/
http://www.versiontracker.com/
http://www.pimpmysafari.com/ (Saft is a MUST HAVE!!)

7. tiiana said:

on Jun 18 2006 @ 06:48 PM

Welcome to the world of Apple. Although I had a little more experience working on Macs than you had (back in 1989 at a law firm I worked at), it is a totally difference experience and I love it. I got my Powerbook (now MacBook Pro) back in November and, once my childrens’ PCs crashed and burned, they got Mac Mini’s.

8. Neil said:

on Jun 19 2006 @ 01:33 AM

As well as being able to set your mouse buttons from System Preferences “Keyboard and Mouse” to enable a right click, you can hold down the control key and left-click to bring up contextual menus.

9. Yvonne said:

on Jun 20 2006 @ 08:50 PM

Thanks for all the tips and links, everyone! They’ve been so very useful.

Live Preview

Comment Author

May 22 2013 @ 02:31 AM