Got my first Mac last week

[4ycr]

Well after trying to help friends out with their macs and getting more requests for help, I decided to bite the bullet and get a mac. I got a Mac mini 2012 i5 2.4Ghz with 4GB of RAM.

Going to upgrading it in time but for now I will make it my main machine for at least one day a week so I can get used to it and apart from the annoying difference in keyboard layout, it is going okay so far.

Now to google and find some apps/programs that I can use and which are good as a tech.

 

[phaZed]

Congrats! Once you get used to the UI and what I like to call "the duh" parts, it's not bad. Now you get to decide how you want to dual boot or parallels or whatnot.

 

[4ycr]

@phaZed Not going to dual boot as my main computer is sitting below the Mac just now, who knows in the future though

 

[Mike McCall]

I've been using a Mac Mini since late '09 as my main machine. I too had a bit of an adjustment to make, but it wasn't bad. After I did I liked the fact that it just worked. iFixit has a good writeup on repairing them.

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Mac_Mini_Late_2012
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Mac_Mini_Late_2012
Have fun!

 

[Markverhyden]

Some of the software I have installed on my Retina.

Audit Explorer - http://www.netsq.com/tools/auditexplorer/
ClamXav - http://www.clamxav.com/
Data Rescue - http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
Disk Warrior - http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
HexMiner - app store
Inkscape - https://inkscape.org/en/download/mac-os/
InSSider - http://files.metageek.net/downloads/inSSIDer4-installer.dmg
ipscanner - app store
SleuthkitAutopsy - http://www.sleuthkit.org/index.php
testdisk - http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download
WiFiperf - app store
Wireshark - https://www.wireshark.org/download.html
XCode - app store

And remember that because OS X is really just a *nix, BSD derivative to be exact, there is a whole universe of CLI stuff under the hood.

 

[altrenda]

My most used mac tools are Disk Warrior and Techtools, but here are some free options that are pretty cool.
http://www.paragon-software.com/free/

 

[ChrisTech]

Well after trying to help friends out with their macs and getting more requests for help, I decided to bite the bullet and get a mac. I got a Mac mini 2012 i5 2.4Ghz with 4GB of RAM.

I can see why you went for a 2012 model - the 2014 model is harder to get into and the memory chips are soldered on, so bang goes some upgradeability.

I keep being tempted to have a Mac Mini (I have Mavericks running in VMWare at the moment), but Apple just seem to be closing down as much third party revenue as possible, so I wonder if it's worth the expense (apart from the usual Tech's compulsion to play around with stuff!)

 

[NJW]

And remember that because OS X is really just a *nix, BSD derivative to be exact, there is a whole universe of CLI stuff under the hood.

I have been pleasantly surprised at how much of my Linux experience has seen me through a lot of Mac support stuff.

 

[ChrisTech]

I have been pleasantly surprised at how much of my Linux experience has seen me through a lot of Mac support stuff.

I agree - Apple helped themselves big time by basing it on Unix. (I was a forum moderator for Mandrake Linux - happy times )

 

[4ycr]

@markverhyden thanks for the list of software, I seen a tutorial on Udemy about some cli stuff but going to try youtube first before paying for the course.
@altrenda I have used that site before to upgrade an 2006 Mac mini, it is very useful

 

[callthatgirl]

I bought a mac in 2008 just to get to know it, I'm a past user from the 90's...just needed some tuning up. Was good to go after 6 months too. Get to know the software basics, Microsoft Office is a bit different.

 

[gunslinger]

I have the same mini, in fact its what I'm using to type this. I just ordered a 240GB SSD and 16GB RAM for it.

 

[FremontPC]

If you're a fan of Ccleaner, it's also available for OSX.

 

[gunslinger]

If you're a fan of Ccleaner, it's also available for OSX.

Yep. It also allows you repair disk permissions in OS X without disk utility.

 

[TechLady]

I was given a Macbook Air last summer and I love it to death. I don't think I'll ever convert over completely, but it's a breath of fresh air after fighting Winblows all day

 

[sapphirescales]

I can't stand Mac OS. I'm just unproductive as heck in it. If all you do is fiddle with Facebook all day I suppose it's okay. But I have hundreds of tabs/windows open at a time and it's just a nightmare on Mac OS. Now with 4 corner snap in Windows 10 and a 4k display, Mac OS just seems so outdated. Not to mention the sucky program library. If I wanted to screw around on apps all day, I'd use a phone. But I sit down at a computer to get work done and Mac OS doesn't help me do that at all.

I tried buying a Macbook Air and running Windows 8 on it, but my 5 hour battery turned into a 2 hour battery when I did that. If I wanted a 2 hour battery, I'd still be using my Pentium 4 Dell from 2004. Now I run a Dell Latitude E7440 with Windows 8, an mSATA SSD, and 16GB of RAM and it's worlds better. I get about 6 hours on the battery, and the battery is actually replaceable when I need to get a new one.

Apple computers look nice, but they're pretty useless to me without all the productivity features of Windows. I thought about buying a Mac Mini, but I built myself an aluminum mITX tower instead with tempered glass sides. It's much better and faster than a Mac Mini and cost less money. Not to mention the 3-5 warranty included with all the parts. Even if you spend $4,000+ on a Mac, they STILL make you pay extra for more than a 1 year warranty. No thanks.

 

[gunslinger]

I spend almost all of my personal time on OSX these days. The only time I'm on Windows is when I'm working on a customers machine or updating my flash drives/external HDDs. For everything else the Mac has proven itself much better in every way.

I was given a Macbook Air last summer and I love it to death. I don't think I'll ever convert over completely, but it's a breath of fresh air after fighting Winblows all day

This ^^^^^^^

they're pretty useless to me without all the productivity features of Windows.

Just curious, what are these "productivity features" you speak of?

 

[Markverhyden]

Just curious, what are these "productivity features" you speak of?

Viri, root kits, BSD's, registry corruption, licensing problems. You know, all of the things that M$ provides the EU's so us technician's can stay very busy.....

 

[gunslinger]

Viri, root kits, BSD's, registry corruption, licensing problems. You know, all of the things that M$ provides the EU's so us technician's can stay very busy.....

*giggle*

 

[PCX]

I can't stand Mac OS. I'm just unproductive as heck in it. If all you do is fiddle with Facebook all day I suppose it's okay. But I have hundreds of tabs/windows open at a time and it's just a nightmare on Mac OS. Now with 4 corner snap in Windows 10 and a 4k display, Mac OS just seems so outdated. Not to mention the sucky program library. If I wanted to screw around on apps all day, I'd use a phone. But I sit down at a computer to get work done and Mac OS doesn't help me do that at all.

I tried buying a Macbook Air and running Windows 8 on it, but my 5 hour battery turned into a 2 hour battery when I did that. If I wanted a 2 hour battery, I'd still be using my Pentium 4 Dell from 2004. Now I run a Dell Latitude E7440 with Windows 8, an mSATA SSD, and 16GB of RAM and it's worlds better. I get about 6 hours on the battery, and the battery is actually replaceable when I need to get a new one.

Apple computers look nice, but they're pretty useless to me without all the productivity features of Windows. I thought about buying a Mac Mini, but I built myself an aluminum mITX tower instead with tempered glass sides. It's much better and faster than a Mac Mini and cost less money. Not to mention the 3-5 warranty included with all the parts. Even if you spend $4,000+ on a Mac, they STILL make you pay extra for more than a 1 year warranty. No thanks.

When I switched to Mac my biggest gripe was the lack of windows snap feature. But I quickly realized that there are very cheap apps you can get that will provide many of the same features as Windows. In fact I have been doing this four corner windows snap you speak of on a Mac for over a year now.

Better Snap Tool

Here are some other apps you would probably be interested in

Hyper Dock

Boom Volume Booster