Mac newbie here to ask about the ins and outs of buying and using Mac products

[drewseedot]

Hello, I am a teenager who, thanks to a generous allowance and a low age limit for legally getting a job, is excited to get his first laptop (probably Macbook) for school within the next 18 months. Joy!

(The reason for 18 months is because I will legally surpass the minimum age to get a job in approx. 11 months, and will probably have saved up enough money for a refurbished mac or two and peripherals within 18 months)

I will periodically make posts asking about the overall experience of using a mac and ways to overcome various problems that I think of that might potentially hinder my workflow.

As I am quite familiar with Linux, and Unix in general, I feel like it wouldn't take me very long to adjust to the user-friendliness of the mac UI. I am not, however, looking at replacing all of my devices with apple devices, because unless I want all my devices to be Core 2 Duos, that'd be extremely expensive and impractical.

Anyways, am looking forward to talking with everyone here.

 

[honestone]

Hi, and welcome! You will find a number of folks here who are more than willing to help.

It seems you already have answered the basic question with your future Mac purchase: you will (it seems) be using it for school (university, I suspect). It would be wise to get an idea of what software you will need to use on the laptop, both for school and for keeping the machine "lean, mean, and clean".

There are 3 tasks which you must do on a frequent basis to avoid issues with the machine:

1. Perform disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, from a software perspective. You can actually do quite a lot of disk cleanup on your own, and there are a number of excellent products available.

2. This one is critical: make backups to an external device. A number of folks come here for help, but they have no backup. That is bad! The Mac OS includes Time Machine, which is OK for backups. I myself (and some others) prefer to use software that makes a bootable backup/clone of your system. That's right, I said bootable. It's almost the same as having another machine.

3. Make sure to keep your software updated, especially any third party (ie, non-Apple) ones you will use.

In any event, welcome aboard, and please continue to ask questions. The more prepared/informed you are, the better.

 

[oldscribe]

Hi and welcome from me to.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Hello drewseedot, welcome to the forums