Friday, April 18, 2008

iSurrender: a new chapter with a Macbook Pro

As posted in the past, I have been seeking refuge from Windows Vista and have been drawn to the autonomous collective known as the Mac community.

Tonight, I have joined them. This is my inaugural post from CtJ HQ on a spiffy new Macbook Pro.  (17 inch, matte display)

So far, so good... The out-of-box experience has actually matched the substantial coin I just put down. Up and running in a few minutes...

To my Mac friends at OCI and throughout St Louis: you are on notice! As Ted Neward once posted, you got me into this and I expect substantial helpdesk support ;-)

M.E.

ps. I haven't had the fun of exploring a new machine and OS in a long time. Like Linux, only more so, this machine takes me back to the true Wonder Years of my youth, when computing was truly fascinating and possibilities seemed endless.
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10 comments:

  1. Alex MillerApril 18, 2008 at 8:46 PM

    At your service....clearing my calendar.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 19, 2008 at 4:33 AM

    Here is a list of all the apps I've installed that I consistently use (starred == daily use):

    *Adium
    *Firefox
    Gimp
    Google Earth
    *Google Notifier
    *iTerm
    *iWork '08
    *MoodBlast
    *NetNewsWire
    OmniGraffle
    *Quicksilver
    *Skype
    *SlimBatteryMonitor
    *TextMate

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michael EasterApril 19, 2008 at 10:24 AM

    Thanks, gents...

    Matt, great idea: all readers are invited to share their favourite Apple programs. Preferably free unless they are essential.

    It has been a mind-bender to realize that some programs will not be available (SharpReader) and others should be fine (jEdit).

    It sounds obvious but it doesn't hit home until one starts setting up an environment.

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  4. R. Mark VolkmannApril 19, 2008 at 1:16 PM

    Congrats Mike! I emailed you some recommendations.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownApril 19, 2008 at 6:39 PM

    Hey, great! Did you see they just released a new model today? LOL

    ReplyDelete
  6. Alex MillerApril 22, 2008 at 9:05 PM

    I blogged my list.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousApril 23, 2008 at 5:51 AM

    Excellent Michael. Enjoy. Here are some apps I use that haven't been mentioned already. They may or may not be useful to you. Some cost $ but I listed them since I consider them worthwhile expenses.

    1Password $
    Adobe Lightroom $
    Cyberduck
    Dockables
    DVDPedia $
    iBank 3 $
    Privoxy
    Saft (for Safari) $
    Skim
    SSHKeychain
    VMware Fusion $

    ReplyDelete
  8. Alex MillerApril 23, 2008 at 7:06 AM

    I used to use Cyberduck for FTP but now I just use the Firefox extension FireFTP which I actually like better.

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  9. dennis SApril 29, 2008 at 6:43 AM

    iCaramba... so suspected you would vault when the chance appeared. I may mac it one day, but totally invested in gentoo servers and M$ workstations at the moment. I look forward to hearing about your experience and trust the input (or is that output).

    To @allOthers thanks for posting your app list, it gives me things to think about too!

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  10. jasonMay 6, 2008 at 2:05 PM

    A few other unmentioned apps:

    iGTD
    Vidalia / TOR
    smcFanControl
    iAlertU
    iStumbler
    Skitch
    Fugu
    OmniDiskSweeper
    VLC

    I must reiterate the suggestion for Quicksilver... Using a Mac without Quicksilver you're missing half the ease of use

    ReplyDelete