Yeah … feeling like a right pratt using this new machine.
Ok, ok, I know it’s only been a day but STILL … this thing makes no sense to me whatsoever!
Mac’s used to be brilliantly simple and easy to understand. THIS one is illogical – nothing really works the way I would expect it to. Dare I say, it’s not intuitive? Wow, it’s slowing me down BIG TIME.
The pune keyboard it came with was the first thing to go. Jeez, how do they expect you to work with that silly little thing? So I got myself a normal, wired Mac keyboard but it’s not ideal. For one thing, it’s totally flat, not sloped and the lettering on the keyboard is odd too – it’s straight up, instead of slanting to the right so I look at it and my mind doesn’t register what the keys are straight away. The”M” – I only see that as an upside-down “W”. Annoying.
Bah.
And what’s with this stupid “Magic Mouse?” My damn fingers keep sticking to the thing – NOT great when you need pixel perfection in your work.
The display? It’s big. That’s about the only good thing I can say. Damn, it’s fuzzy! All this “smooth” shit makes the edges of stuff extremely difficult to see. Again, when your work entails the precise placement of every pixel, this is a big, fat FAIL. I notice it particularly on Photoshop guides – they look 3 times as fat/thick as they should unless you zoom to the max.
So yeah, I don’t have many good things to say about my new iMac. I prefer Windows. It makes sense to me. This thing feels like an expensive toy and not a serious production machine.
If I don’t get used to it FAST, I’m ditching it.
Awe, sorreh Neal!
Yeah – Mac was my intro to computers “back in the day” (I friggin’ HATE that saying BTW) and they were pure awesomeness. I’m not really sure what’s happened but things have gotten a wee bit twisted. Granted, some of the mess is the actual software and not the OS.
WTF happened to Photoshop in CS4? Jeez, even something simple like CMD+A to select all slices in the Save for Web dialog box has just disappeared *poof*
Anyhoo … the good news is that I AM getting used to it and soon you can call me
McNINJA!
I was sad to read this post. Sad sad sad. I’ve been using Macs since I was able to type, and I’ve grown up with their awesomeness. It is a change to be had, so give it a little bit of time.
If I can, I’ll share some tips. Use ’em, or don’t, this is how I operate:
Download a small app called MagicPrefs for your mouse. It helps configure the thing to the extreme. Some of them are really cool, others are just plain silly. Also, you can scroll anywhere on the mouse, and also click and scroll. Play around. They made it to be cool, I promise.
Spaces are crucial for me. I have several apps set to always open in different spaces for productivity. I’ve set hot corners on the monitor for Exposé and also using my middle mouse button (yes, your mouse has a middle mouse button) to do something too. It means quick and easy changes. Also, you can quickly see specific app windows by clicking and holding over an icon in the dock…
Command + tab works well, and when you’re in the little scrolly menu, you can use command + ` to go backwards.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents… Let me know if I can help…
@Chris – i think the “spaces” is just virtual desktops like linux gui has (never used a mac before) . you can setup as many virtual desktops you want and just switch between them and have certain applications on whichever and not have it cluttered like she said.
Ah how crappy that its not the awesome!
😉
I’m looking forward to seeing “spaces”, I think it’s what I have in mind, but I’m not certain – I presume it’s a multi-desktop manager of sorts? Sounds like it, there’s an awesome Windows one, hehe.
How’s the design stuff, I recall your other post a mention about edges not being great?
Heh. So it does … CMD+Tab works, yip. Told you I was a n00b!!!
I quite like this “Spaces” thing though – I’ve got Facebook, Skype and Echofon setup in one space, iTunes and Last.fm and other media stuff in another space and Photoshop and an editor setup in another. It means I can keep things separated, which is cool. The floating apps are a bit disconcerting and my screen felt a bit overcrowded what with being able to see everything at once. Plus, I can keep my “entertainment” off the screen while I’m working. It’s like having a different monitor for everything. Pretty handy.
Doesn’t apple+tab work? I did that on Sir G’s machine?
Ye, those space mice look like tricky gadgets! Ye, exchange server is happening soon, it’ll be worth the wait, that’s for sure – I can’t wait!
Cya tomz
Mmk, I’ve spent a little bit of time playing around. Alt+Tab was sorely missing but I’ve made use of the Mac “Spaces” feature which allows me to easily switch between apps (and environments) with a keyboard shortcut.
Still not sold on this mouse … it’s really tricky to be accurate with it.
I’m going to wait till our Exchange Server is up and running before I worry about setting up email on here – I can’t print anyway, so there’s not much point. I’ve sorted out file sharing and I can connect to the printer but it just doesn’t do anything when I send a doc to print.
And I obviously need to adjust to using all this new software. Hopefully tomorrow I can work a bit faster. Lawd knows I don’t have a minute to waste!
I’m pretty sure it’ll just take time to get used to though..