Any Macbook users out there?

I have just found out that I am going to be supplied with a new Macbook within the next few weeks through work. I looked up the specs and was pleasantly surprised - 13.3" widescreen, 2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 1 gig of RAM, CD burner/DVD reader, all weighing in at about 5 pounds. I've very little experience with Macs, and none with the Intel Macs. Anyone have good suggestions for third party (free) software to use on this unit? Anything to watch out for as far as build quality or other quirks? Thanks.

Ken

I saw this on digg a while back

http://bestmacsoftware.org/

looks like useful stuff.

You can install XP/Vista on it too FYI.

And/or Linux.

penquissciguy said:

I have just found out that I am going to be supplied with a new Macbook within the next few weeks through work. I looked up the specs and was pleasantly surprised - 13.3" widescreen, 2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 1 gig of RAM, CD burner/DVD reader, all weighing in at about 5 pounds. I've very little experience with Macs, and none with the Intel Macs. Anyone have good suggestions for third party (free) software to use on this unit? Anything to watch out for as far as build quality or other quirks? Thanks.

Ken

Click to expand...

You can find a good deal of freeware and shareware at www.pure-mac.com. With 1 GB of RAM and a 2 GHz chip you shouldn't have trouble running any PPC applications if you come across any, but that shouldn't matter too much nowadays as most Mac software is now universal binary.

The initial Macbooks last year had reports of overheating, but I haven't read anything negative about the C2D Macbooks.

Scott9027 said:

And/or Linux.

Click to expand...

Yes, that's part of the plan if I can talk my IT director into it.

benbaked said:

You can find a good deal of freeware and shareware at www.pure-mac.com. With 1 GB of RAM and a 2 GHz chip you shouldn't have trouble running any PPC applications if you come across any, but that shouldn't matter too much nowadays as most Mac software is now universal binary.

The initial Macbooks last year had reports of overheating, but I haven't read anything negative about the C2D Macbooks.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. I'll have to check out that site when I get a chance.

JamesXP said:

You can install XP/Vista on it too FYI.

Click to expand...

Well, I don't run the XP that came with my other laptop, so that probably won't be happening. Nice to have the option, though. I'm looking forward to exploring OS X, so I won't probably mess with installing new OSes right away.

Ken

Double post

penquissciguy said:

I have just found out that I am going to be supplied with a new Macbook within the next few weeks through work. I looked up the specs and was pleasantly surprised - 13.3" widescreen, 2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 1 gig of RAM, CD burner/DVD reader, all weighing in at about 5 pounds. I've very little experience with Macs, and none with the Intel Macs. Anyone have good suggestions for third party (free) software to use on this unit? Anything to watch out for as far as build quality or other quirks? Thanks.

Ken

Click to expand...

I work at a college in Boston these days, doing the IT/Helpdesk gig. About half of the students have MacBook Pros. Nice rigs. We just got in some of the newer MBP's with the 2.4 CPU and 8600GS vid card. Once Apple gets the next OS revision out, I've a feeling these laptops are going to start selling like crazy. When Lepoard gets released, it will allow the Parallells application (Windows XP) to see the hardware for what it truly is and be able to use it to it's fullest.

It'll be like having two laptops for the price of one.

I've been very impressed with them..the older MBP's we have with the 2.33 T7600 are really nice but these new 2.4 rigs are just incredible.

B.

I am a macbook user and I love mine. I have the 13.3 version with a Core2Duo 2.16 and 2 gigs of ram. It is really fast and and I cant wait to get leopard and play with that. One app that I really like is quicksilver. It just makes things a lot simpler for me. When you get it just go to quicksilver.blacktree.com/ and download it and install and you will see what I mean. Adium is another program that I like. It is for messaging and has all the popular messengers built in. You will be amazed at how much stuff there is for OSX now since it is becoming so popular. I really think Apple is going somewhere. I hope you enjoy yours.

acompdude said:

I am a macbook user and I love mine. I have the 13.3 version with a Core2Duo 2.16 and 2 gigs of ram. It is really fast and and I cant wait to get leopard and play with that. One app that I really like is quicksilver. It just makes things a lot simpler for me. When you get it just go to quicksilver.blacktree.com/ and download it and install and you will see what I mean. Adium is another program that I like. It is for messaging and has all the popular messengers built in. You will be amazed at how much stuff there is for OSX now since it is becoming so popular. I really think Apple is going somewhere. I hope you enjoy yours.

Click to expand...

I bought an ibook last year, that is my first mac, it is all pleasure to use it, I still remember how easy to set it up when I first pressed the power button on it, compared with my experience on windows and Linux all the years. And I am going to buy a new MacBook with 2.16GHz as yours to replace my ibook which I have given it to a relative, but I can not wait after Oct 26 for a leopard in store. I have heard quicksilver which is free and excellent, but I also heard LaunchBar which is fast and reliable, I don't know which one is better, I have not have a chance to use them, I will try them when I get my new MacBook.

JamesXP said:

You can install XP/Vista on it too FYI.

Click to expand...

Still don't know why you'd want to.

TextWrangler is the best text editor; you must have QuickSilver (why hasn't that been made part of the OS yet?)

Having Fink is nice, too.