# I finally bought my new computer..



## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

so please tell me why I made the right choice.
I bought a mac, and frankly, I am not impressed. Yes, the graphics are awesome, there isn't any junk running in the background, and there are no virus problems, (so everyone claims) but there are alot of little things, that seem like they should be run of the mill, that the machine just doesn't have.
Some are stupid, but so.

For example, you can't 'print selection'. (This is a huge annoyance)
The mouse doesn't have a right click.
And it did not come with an instruction manual. Its 40$ extra. Oh, that burns me up!
My daughter has done nothing but complain about all it doesn't do, that our 10 year old PC did do.
I can't think of anything specific this late at night, my brain isn't at full power.

Why did I make the right choice? I am stuck with the thing now...

I thought of something else. I can't watch streaming video online. Every few seconds, the machine stops to download some more before playing a few more seconds worth. It has to be a problem with the machine, as this was not a problem on the 10 year old PC.

We have also run across a number of websites that we can't even look at because they aren't mac compatible.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

lonelyfarmgirl said:


> For example, you can't 'print selection'. (This is a huge annoyance)


Not sure what you mean by it 'doesn't have a print selection.'



> The mouse doesn't have a right click.


You bought that mouse?  Not even hardcore Mac fanboys buy that, usually.



> And it did not come with an instruction manual. Its 40$ extra. Oh, that burns me up!


If I'm not mistaken, it comes with the instruction manual actually *ON* the machine itself. I forget where exactly. It should also be on the installation CD. And what idiot told you a manual would be an extra $40?? He oughta be beaten. 



> I thought of something else. I can't watch streaming video online. Every few seconds, the machine stops to download some more before playing a few more seconds worth. It has to be a problem with the machine, as this was not a problem on the 10 year old PC.


Can you give an example of the slowdown? With all due respect, these are all usually easily fixed problems, and the last one is rather nebulous. It could be any of about 7 different things. I suspect it might be Safari itself.

The answer to that is probably easy - download Firefox or Chrome.

I've got a Mac Mini, and while I don't think they're the be-all, end-all of computers, I would choose it every time over my Windows PC.



> We have also run across a number of websites that we can't even look at because they aren't mac compatible.


Same answer - download Chrome or Firefox.

If you dislike it that much, why not return it - or is there no return policy? I will tell you that when I purchased my Mac at first it drove me nuts...until I realized that it was because I was trying to do things the 'Windows' way. Once I started learning how things were done on a Mac, I found out I usually saved time by doing them there. I.e., to uninstall a program on a Mac, for the most part, you drag it to the trash. 

In other words, you just got the Mac - different computer, different OS, different way of doing things - and you can't realistically expect things to work exactly as they did before. If you can't return it (or if you can, BUT have a few days) I would suggest learning a bit more about how Macs work, some of the advantages/disadvantages/workarounds, and that sort of thing. I'll help you out as I can - there are others here who use them. I'm willing to bet any amount of money that even if you never think they're just the bees' knees, you'll get to the point to where you understand why things are different, and how to work with that. 

They DO have their advantages, though. For example, have you noticed that you didn't immediately run right out and buy or download spyware/malware/antivirus removers? Or have to remove a ton of crapware programs? And no, it's not a 'claim' that they don't get virii. They just don't get them. I've been a tech for 15 years, have owned Macs for 5 (and I was a VERY staunch pro-Windows, anti-Mac guy - now I say they both have their advantages/disadvantages).

Yes, there ARE a few viruses out there. But I LITERALLY mean a few - as in 10 or 15 - whereas Windows has had literally THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS. I deliberately set out once to get a virus on my Mac (ok, to get as close to doing so as I could without actually doing so - I was going to reload it). I had to tell the Mac 3 times "Yes, download this...I know it might be unsafe" and put in my administrator password once. Not exactly 'spyware.'

Additionally, while I won't speak for you, I believe the quality of software that comes for free on the Mac is usually far superior to what is on the Windows PC (iMovie's been around for years, for example - and Windows only got a decent movie editor in the last 2 or 3 years), and the same goes for the paid software. I'll edit or organize photos and movies on a Mac long before I'll consider doing so on a Mac. Plus, all things being equal, they are FAR more reliable. In every category that they participate in (laptops, desktops, monitors and routers) their products are always #1 or #2 as far as reliability/customer satisfaction goes. I've got 2 Mac Minis, have had both for 5 years, and other than a bad hard drive in one (which isn't their fault) both have had zero problems.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

So why did you go Apple?

I run AVG antivirus and haven't had any issues... probably because I use web based email (gmail).

I think of Apple vs. Pc as the same as diesel vs. gas powered vehicles... both'll get you to the same place... one just costs a lot more upfront and takes more to fix it breaks.

My nephew bought a mac notebook last week... asked him why... because they're cool. Well, I reckon that's as good of a reason as any.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

I suppose that it's a matter of opinion, but like you I find Macs to be convoluted. I think Kung has a good suggestion, in that if your frustration level doesn't calm down soon you should exchange it for a Windows machine.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

texican said:


> I think of Apple vs. Pc as the same as diesel vs. gas powered vehicles... both'll get you to the same place... one just costs a lot more upfront and takes more to fix it breaks.


My diesel went 240K with almost no breakdowns; so yeah, when it did break I didn't mind having it fixed.  And in any event, for the most part, when a Mac finally DOES break, the parts are cheap. :shrug:

I assure you that many have reasons other than "It's cool" to buy a Mac. I certainly didn't and don't buy them for that reason. Yes, to many, they're convoluted; that is a matter of opinion, just as my opinions are just that. :shrug:

Texican - re: your virus comment, you strike me as what I'd call a very knowledgable user; suffice to say that the users whose PCs I fix all day long AREN'T.  "Well this thing told me I better buy it or else my computer wouldn't be clean so I figured I'd better do what it said...."


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## Solarmom (Jun 17, 2010)

I love my IMAC!!! I've had it for one year now!! First two weeks was a bit shaky, but now I wish I'd have gotten a MAC years ago!!!


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Solarmom said:


> I love my IMAC!!! I've had it for one year now!! First two weeks was a bit shaky, but now I wish I'd have gotten a MAC years ago!!!


Boy I LOVE my IMAC. Been nearly 2 years now..
BUT I Hated the keyboard and mouse with a passion.
Used it the first day, then went to Best Buy, and for 60 bucks bought a Mac approved Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse~!!!! 
Now I have the Right Click function, YEAH, and a Logitech Keyboard of which I have used before when I had a PC~!!


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

Lol - I did the same. Love their computers but am not a fan of their keyboards or mice. 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

arabian knight said:


> for 60 bucks bought a Mac approved Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse~!!!!


$60 for a keyboard & mouse.. Wow.. I have several spares of both for my PCs, that I've either pulled out of dumpsters or bought at yard sales or thrift stores for a quarter or so.. None of them are wireless, but why on earth would I want to pay perfectly good money to add one more set of potential problems to my computers? I've never understood why everyone wants wireless keyboards & mice.

Nothing wrong with a Mac, if you have nothing better to do with your money.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

backwoodsman7 said:


> I've never understood why everyone wants wireless keyboards & mice.


I agree. After all, I'm sitting right there at the computer. I don't see the benefit.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Nevada said:


> I agree. After all, I'm sitting right there at the computer. I don't see the benefit.


Well then I guess none of you have had to sit in a Lazy-boy with your leg up with ice wrap around your knee after a knee replacement.
You can take your Wireless Mouse and use it on the arm of the chair, while the Keyboard rests on your lap.
And not having wires to worry about or get tangled around things.
i have had wireless keyboards and mice now for the last 8 years and this is just my 2nd set.
One just for the Macs.
I SOLD my older Wireless keyboard and mouse to a friend. They love it.
And I just love to not being "Wired" with things attached to the computer.
And being a IMac wires have to be on top of the desk instead of coming up from the puter itself.
So no wires at all coming around on top then down to the keyboard area.
And I like the idea of wireless. I have had very good luck with Logitech brand. And I can take the keyboard and use the vacuum on it to get the crumbs etc, out. If wired then I would have to disconnect etc. Don't want to do that.
Now many things are becoming wireless, even printers.
My Wii even connects to the net wirelessly, so does my Bluray player.
And so the things use a few batteries. no big deal. Every 6 months new ones. No big deal. As I buy batteries AAA and AA's in huge quantities because I also have 6 Remote controls to put them in. Plus the Wii controller, LOL And many other things I have that take batteries like that. to my programmable thermostat, to even my portable radio for when storms are around.


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## ninny (Dec 12, 2005)

Check out this website for misconceptions about Mac's not needing an Av or getting a virus. It's pretty eye opening.

http://www.techspot.com/search-x.ph...f=FORID:10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=mac+virus&sa=#1266

.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

I've been there, and checked that out, and I still stand by my comments; yes, I said they 'don't get them', and yes, one user getting one virus disproves that comment. However, overall, what I said is correct - they have FAR less. You'll notice a few comments in the story that are very telling:

- Many of the vulnerabilities (170,000 to be exact) exist specifically because they target WINDOWS, which you can load on a Mac. Solution: Don't install Windows. There are only 5,000 targeting Macs, and of the few I've goofed around with, it was OBVIOUS there was something going on.

- Windows is more secure because they've been working proactively on security for many years. Why? Because they've been attacked more.

- Macs have yet to be seriously threatened.

Again, no, they're not the be-all, end-all of computers. However, IMHO, those who say that they're worthless, or a waste of money, etc., are either uninformed or willfully ignorant. :shrug:


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

And that is why just because, I am installed and now using Norton Anti-virus that is new just for Macs~!
And next year ( summer) with a new System coming out. OS 10-- LION. It may even be better yet.
And I know what some think about Norton. 
But I don't care as I have been trusting Norton now for over 14 years at home, and another 5 years at work when I was using older Apples.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

The wireless mouse and keyboard came with the system. that is why I have them. I hate them both.
As far as the instruction manual. Its 40$ for the snow leopard one, and 40$ for the machine one. I talked to 3 diff. mac people on 3 diff. phone calls, and they told me the same thing.

The printing problem. What I mean, is if you want to print something off the internet, you cannot select, say a paragraph, and simply print that. you can only print the entire page. you also cannot tell the printer to print, for example, pages 1, 4, 5, and 7. It only allows from __ to __.

I really dont want to return it, I want to figure out how to like it. I hate that its not user serviceable.
I am very frustrated with it, however.

I have had it for about 3 months, I guess, and I am trying to figure out how to work everything on my own. Its all I can really do. Should I choose foxfire or chrome? Safari does kind of suck compared to internet explorer.

I had AVG on my PC and it was enough to make me want to shove hot pokers through my eyes. That was one of the reasons why I wanted a mac. To get rid of all the junk running in the background that slows everything down.

I had avg on my pc and it was enough to make me want to shove hot pokers through my eyes. That is one of the reasons I wanted a mac. To get rid of all the scanning junk that slows everything down. 

I hate Iphoto, and will never use it. I have not tried Iweb yet, and the other provided software, I could take or leave. 

I do have windows installed, as I have a program that is not Mac compatible that I must have, also, I use microsoft office. Nearly every attachment I receive in any email (a fair amount) are done in word or excel, and windows opens automatically when I look at them. If I did not have windows, I would not be able to look at the attachments at all. and if I email documents in mac office, no one else will be able to open them.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

Unless someone answers these problems specifically I will help out when I get home later tonight. Suffice to say that yes, u can do almost all of what you say u can't (I easily print selections all the time, for example.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

lonelyfarmgirl said:


> The wireless mouse and keyboard came with the system. that is why I have them. I hate them both.
> As far as the instruction manual. Its 40$ for the snow leopard one, and 40$ for the machine one. I talked to 3 diff. mac people on 3 diff. phone calls, and they told me the same thing.


Snow Leopard Manual (I think)

Assuming you have the iMac...iMac Manual

(Apple.com hosts all of this stuff via PDF files.)



> The printing problem. What I mean, is if you want to print something off the internet, you cannot select, say a paragraph, and simply print that. you can only print the entire page. you also cannot tell the printer to print, for example, pages 1, 4, 5, and 7. It only allows from __ to __.


Ah, that. Ok, in that sense, you're correct. In Chrome/Firefox you CAN select text on the page, and then go to File - Print and it should have a 'Selection' function. (Mine does.) In Preview, you can manually hold down Control (or is it the cloverleaf thing - I forget ) and select individual pages, then when you go to print, it'll allow you to print just the selected pages.

However...you're correct, there's not a Print Selection feature natively included, which I agree is dumb. Therefore...

Print Selection hack



> I have had it for about 3 months, I guess, and I am trying to figure out how to work everything on my own. Its all I can really do. Should I choose foxfire or chrome? Safari does kind of suck compared to internet explorer.


Honestly, either will work just fine. FF is usually my default, but Chrome is just a skosh faster, though not *quite* as configurable as FF is.

As far as an antivirus program goes, if you want one (I do run one, though it's never found anything yet) you can use something like iAntivirus (made by PCTools) or ClamXav (it's been around for years.



> I hate Iphoto, and will never use it. I have not tried Iweb yet, and the other provided software, I could take or leave.


Funny, I utilize iPhoto all the time. Sure a lot of other programs do the same thing...but to be blunt, iPhoto's been doing it since before most of them were invented. But if you don't like it, hey, don't use it. I like the fact that you can do basic tweaking, it'll upload to Facebook natively (I believe) and there's an easy hack if it won't, etc.



> Nearly every attachment I receive in any email (a fair amount) are done in word or excel, and windows opens automatically when I look at them. If I did not have windows, I would not be able to look at the attachments at all. and if I email documents in mac office, no one else will be able to open them.


Why not? I use Office for Mac, and it works fine. True, there are some niggling differences, but unless you're a true power user and use functions that most don't use, there's not an absolutely huge difference.

Of course, if you already HAD a copy of Windows, and Office for Windows, yeah, why reinvent the wheel? I loaded Windows for the same reason.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

thanks for the links. I looked through them. I think I am going to download firefox and see how it works for me.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

Like I said, if you have questions, hit us up here. Some are avid Mac fanboys; some avoid them at all costs. I do my utmost to remain as strictly objective as I can, and go by stats and such.


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## mikellmikell (Nov 9, 2005)

Reminds me of a guy at work . His wife wanted a new notebook ans said they could both buy new ones and get rid of the old desktops. OK then she call him at work the next day she bought a 2600$ Mac something or other and it would be OK if he spent as much on WHATEVER HE WANTED!! So he picked up a 499$ windows notebook and a projector with a 12 foot screen. She so far hasn't gotten the heck of her Mac and notebookwants a Windows notebook.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

It's all about the need. I quite like the Mac Minis I have; but no way would I buy a Mac laptop. I have Mac desktops and have no desire to run out and get a Windows laptop; that doesn't mean they suck. :shrug: Just means that I prefer my Mac Mini.

For a laptop, however, for ME, it's too much 'form' and not enough function.


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## jefferson (Nov 11, 2004)

To each his/her own. I like Fords, but am driving a Chev. Macs are for kids who game all the time. Pcs are for working people. Yoouu got to do what you got to do.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Wow I guess somebody ought to know that many many Movies are made with the use of Macs and have been for years.
And I just went wireless with this IMac I have pulled the networking cable out and not one less cable YEAH.
And for years when I worked in AZ at a electronic manufacturer all we had were Apples and Macs. Now if that isn't *working* keeping everything from payrolls to inventory on a computer I don't know what is.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Kung said:


> My diesel went 240K with almost no breakdowns; so yeah, when it did break I didn't mind having it fixed.  And in any event, for the most part, when a Mac finally DOES break, the parts are cheap. :shrug:
> 
> I assure you that many have reasons other than "It's cool" to buy a Mac. I certainly didn't and don't buy them for that reason. Yes, to many, they're convoluted; that is a matter of opinion, just as my opinions are just that. :shrug:
> 
> Texican - re: your virus comment, you strike me as what I'd call a very knowledgable user; suffice to say that the users whose PCs I fix all day long AREN'T.  "Well this thing told me I better buy it or else my computer wouldn't be clean so I figured I'd better do what it said...."


I like fixing my own problems, and I've had a few in the past... learned real early about 'backing up', virus, and other problems... don't have to hit me over the head but once and I "remember". My sisters continually get hit with every evil that comes along... I've set their machines to auto-update, but somehow or other, they keep messin' em up. They probably 'should' go Mac's... as they have no allegiance to windows boxes in the first place... and their 'social engineering problems' would disappear. [and they (their machine) would stop trying to convince me to open their cute email... (it all goes directly into the delete bin, online, never downloaded]


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

been using firefox for a bit now. seems one in the same as safari. I think the printing issue isn't a browser thing, unless I am missing something.


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