Just got my MBP, TY!

Hello there!

I just got my new shining 15-inch MBP .

I just wanted to say this -

Thank you fellow NBR's for introducing me to the most awesome laptop i have ever laid my eyes upon.

Oh, and I have some questions.

Why is the safari using only half the display? How can i get it to maximize?

And I've got a couple friends coming over to check out the laptop. I'm sure they'll be dazzled by the stunning design, classic finish, brilliant iSight and the magnificent ( imho the best) os of all time.

But is there any flashy piece of software/graphics (like compiz for linux and aero for w7) to sweep them off their feet and make them go "whoohoo"

And once again,
Thank you all.

 

Hi! Firstly, welcome aboard the group. Next, all applications will come resized because os x wants you to use the remaining space on screen to open other applications and use then at the same time.

May be you could try the special effects of the photo booth to dazzl your friends. I also use parallels to run windows at the same time and prove to them that my mac is also a pc. so they can't argue. i windows 7 on bootcamp to stun them and the sweet spot is that i can run crysis!!!!i also show them the games!!!!!

welcome again to the nbr apple core. feel free to use any signature to express your belonging to the group. this laptop will last you a long time and it will still have a high resale value!!!

 

Hmm ok

And i think the palm rest is kinda different. It doesn't get decolorized or something right?

Oh and in my dell , i used to double tap on the trackpad to click, is that possible here? I know about the whole trackpad being clickable of course, but pressing hard is such a chore

Is there a mac alternative to windows media center?

What is the exact use of spaces and expose??

How do i turn of the backlight on the keyboard?

Is there any way to hide the dock? so that i can use safari fullscreen?
Sorry for so many questions..

 

Congrats on your new laptop. I'll try to answer some of your questions.

Windows media center. Try http://www.plexapp.com/

Spaces is virtual desktops. You can have multiple desktops with windows in them and switch between work spaces really easy.

Spaces and Exposé are very clearly described here:
http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/

You can turn off the keyboard backlight in two ways:

1) Click on the Apple menu symbol (top left of screen) > System Preferences. Choose Keyboard & Mouse and in the Keyboard tab you have a check box that reads: illuminate keyboard in low light conditions.

2) You can do it straight from your keyboard. Press F5 to dim and F6 brighten the backlight. Depending on your preferences you might have to press the Fn key in combination with these, so fn+F5 and fn+F6.

edit: Window resizes in Mac OS X work differently than Windows OS. When you click on the green (maximize) button, the window does not actually maximize on the whole screen, but it resizes to whatever content is inside that window. This is especially on Safari.

To fully maximize safari you first need to auto-hide the Dock. Do this by clicking the Apple menu symbol (top left of screen) > Dock > Turn Hiding On. Now your Dock is auto-hid and you can still access it by moving your mouse all the way to the bottom of the screen.

Now all you need to do is grab the little bottom-right corner of Safari and drag it all the way across your screen, and you're set.

About tapping on the trackpad. Click Apple menu > System Preferences and choose Trackpad. The cool thing they did with Leopard is it actually shows every single little check box what it does in the right side of the dialogue - with a video.

Hover your mouse over an option and wait a second, it'll show you what it does. Maybe you'll find your preference there. But there's no double-tap for a click. Only single tap. Double tap = double click...

Do check out the videos on Apple's website.
Cheers!

 

Thanks

Is plex better than front row?

 

Front Row is great if you have the remote.

I really do actually prefer Front Row against Plex. I find Plex to be a little too buggy. But Front Row can't play other video formats than iTunes can play.

So if you have your HD .MKVs, you can only play them with Plex.

 

Oh yeah .. Quicktime is not able to play my xvid files.. Where do i download the codecs from? or do i just use vlc?

 

download flip4mac ...it's a codec pack for quicktime.

 

You can use Perian to play xvid files on Quicktime, or get VLC or MPlayer OS X Extended. You can find more info on the Mac Switcher's Guide ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4999416#post4999466)

 

THanks for the replies!

Whats the difference between expose and spaces?

 

Expose is the hotkeyed "view management" thing. It makes the windows scatter off the desktop or "tile" for easy picking. Not only is this mapped to keys but on the desktop four fingers up or down will do Expose stuff.

Spaces is Apple's implementation of multiple desktops. It allows the user to have several different "work areas" they can have apps sitting in, and the user can flip among them. It's sort of like having multiple monitors with one monitor.

 

Is there any way to hide the dock like i can hide the windows taskbar?

 

Right click on the dock separator, select Turn Hiding On.

 

Seems you didn't quite read my reply...

 

Sorry for the multiple posts, didn't see your edit.

I was calibrating my battery yday but then i had to go out towards the end , so i had to shut it down at around 25% of battery life, should i just continue with the calibration or do it from the beginning?

Thanks.

 

Grats on your MBP! I just got a new MBP 15" as well and have to say I love it! I had a lot of those SAME questions that you did but ended up figuring most of it out via Google. The only thing I never understood was why Safari only takes up 2/3's of the screen. According to numerous websites that I stumbled across it's simply because most websites are simply coded to only run at 2/3's the size of your screen. This is also useful for multitasking in the background (just for instance you could be doing online banking and have the calculator open at the side and not have to minimize EVERY TIME you do something in the other window). I know it's a little hard to get use to but I've grown quite fond of Safari (when compared to IE, or even my old time favorite Firefox). Anyways enough of me rambling! Congrats again!

 

Congratulations on your new MBP, I hope you like it.
You will find the benefit of not full screen using safari as time goes on. At first I complained like you: Why does it not maximize when I open safari, then I start using it and I realize the benefit.

You just need a window to display the content, not a window to occupy all your screen.

 

always remember you can zoom.. some people like that to show off, I dunno why....

can set zoom options of how it works in preferences, but everything by default is hold down ctrl, then use two fingers to scroll up on the track pad to zoom in.. and two fingers down to scroll zoom back out... by default it follows the mouse around, but i change my preferences to make zoom only move when i touch the side of the screen. i find it quite useful actually and use it a lot.

 

Cant i just pinch the trackpad to zoom? That's much cooler

 

in applications that support it.. sure.. thats not the type of zoom I'm talking about. Talking about full screen zoom in

 

Okay ..

Is there are a mac apps thread here ? Could you guys tell me any good applications to download?

 

a little too broad... what kind of application are you looking for? No idea what you even do with your machine or what kind of stuff you like.

 

I'm not talking about windows alternative softwares. I just got my mac, so im just toying around with it.

Is there some must have must have mac apps recommended by you people from NBR community that i might be missing?

Oh and vlc doesnt seem to read subtitles file pretty well, is there vobsub for mac or an alternative to it?

 

Quicksilver is a must have app. Use MPlayer OS X Extended if you're having trouble playing subtitles. Links are in the stickied guide.

 

VLC is horrible for subtitles. Ugghh. MPlayer is a better choice.

 

I have another question.

Why isn't leopard deleting, editing the files in my external HDD ?

 

Your external HD must be NTFS or of some other file type. If it is NTFS, you will need to get NTFS 3G or something.

 

Yeah it is NTFS. Now, what do i do?

EDIT : Got it working thanks budding! Rep

Oh and is time machine really necessary? as in , it needs to format my hard drive and i dont want that. Also will i be able to use it as an external HDD and as time capsule simultaneously ?

 

Time Machine is not necessary at all. It is the backup feature of OS X, where it will use an external HD to write any chances you make to your main OS X HD. If you partition your external disk, you will be able to use it as a Time Machine backup as well as your own personal storage.

 

The external HDD is NTFS format. Will that work with the time machine ?

 

A partition in the HFS+ file format will work with Time Machine. Although there are ways to get other file systems to work with Time Machine.

 

Okay thanks !

And what are the programs you have pinned on the dock?

 

In addition to the usual things (Mail, Finder, iTunes, Safari/Firefox, etc.), I've got TextMate (not free), VMWare (not free), uTorrent, Adium, Flash (not free), Photoshop (not free), Word (not free), MPlayer.

Although with Quicksilver I don't always have the apps I use most on the dock.

 

There is only an outdated version of mplayer available. Is that the one everyone is using ?

 

Just got my 17" Pro a few days ago and I'm literally in love with it, everything is so damn easier, Bootcamp was so simple to set up!

Just wanted to quickly say been using MPlayer and been working perfectly for me so far.

To install it you have to drag the .DMG file over to your Applications on your Mac HDD.

 

What kind of temps are you getting on your 17" , do the fans run constantly are they noisy, I have the same one on order.

Thanks.

 

Well I'm using all usb ports, my ethernet as well and its plugged in charging. Running itunes, lastfm, firefox and quicksilver I have 50-55C

My fans are spinning at 2000RPM and theres basically no heat off the Mac, I can really only feel heat when it goes 60C+ when I'm running A LOT of stuff but I just use SMC Fan Control to increase the fan speed and lower the temperature.
So far I've been very very happy with everything on the Macbook Pro and the temps have been great, machine hasn't buckled to anything!

EDIT: Sorry Tinderbox, meant to say my fan are not at all noisy when @ 2000 RPM, 2500+ they become slightly noisy and 3500+ very noticeable, but I've only ran it above 2500 once, because I was install Logic Studio, on firefox and watching a movie

EDIT @ sathyaterry, this is the mplayer i am using:

http://mplayerosx.sttz.ch/#downloads

Its revision 11.

 

Check the link to MPlayer in the Switcher's guide. The full name of the application you're looking for is MPlayer OS X Extended. MPlayer original started as a video player for the Linux environment, and was ported to OS X several years back, before recently having its name changed. The one you've found is probably the version before the name change.

 

Thanks for the link

Oh and did you download any codec for it or something ? or just run it after "installing" it ?

And will i be able to switch between multiple subtitles?

And how do i get the sensor near the iSight working? I havent noticed my keyboard lighting or the display brightness increasing or decreasing.

 

Its ok the one I linked is extended

EDIT: Just installed it sathyaterry, I actually didn't see the codec link underneath, I will have a look at that now! But everything has ran perfect with just the normal installation!

 

Do you not think we should have a list of free software for the Mac like the do for the PC.

 

Yes Yes I totally agree !!

I've got some useful links if anyone's upto it.

Or maybe should i just do it?

 

Can't help you with the iSight

As for subtitles if you have Mplayer selected in the finder, you should see a tab called 'Movie' at the top, in that you will see 'Subtitle', you can change them there

EDIT: http://www.opensourcemac.org/

That site has a list of free Mac applications.

 

No no , i have a .sub file which has 10 different languages. So how do i toggle between them ?

 

If the file is loaded you should be able to toggle between them there? Subtitles aren't my strong point, hehe always had trouble with them on my PC

 

Make sure your softsub file has the same name as the movie it's associated to. Launch the movie in MPlayer, and all subtitles should be available in the location irishhenshin described.

 

I have been wondering how does the uMac cool itself down as there are no air intake holes on the bottom , the fans on the back are sucking hot air out i suppose, but were is the cool air coming from the speakers/keyboard?

 

Yeah. Which is why Macbooks will go to sleep whenever the lid is closed.

 

Oh yeah thats what it is, the same name, i'd completely forgotten about that!

 

the air intakes work in such a way that they suck air on both sides and the push them on the middle vents.