Powerbook Upgrade? Is it possible?

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cool, thanks Dek. I've been meaning to check out keynote as well so i should pick it up at some point. i still, however, haven't upgraded to Jaguar yet *collective gasp*

zer, check out booq for some cool but expensive bags, i've got one of their sleeves for my iBook (that my roomate got with the bag for his pbook and didn't need) and it's really nice.

chris

Deker and Fig, thanks for the links. I really like the SF Bags, those are pretty clean. Booqbags are really slick as well. I found one site that goes pretty in depth about Pages and Keynote (something I'm picking up from Fig) and I guess they go together in iWorks?

So I'm looking all that up as well. Is Jaguar the new OS or something? I think I have that, not sure, but I think I have 10.4.3, I'll have to check. Man, all this is new to me and I'm still wondering what I can do with what I have on their. I'm trying to look around but I'm not finding much to work with. So far I've understood the dashboard thing and changing some settings.

Pretty exciting stuff going on here, but thanks to you guys things seem a bit more easier, well a bit complicated on my end, but I understand more or less how things go. I'm just the type that likes to get a bird's eye view of a concept and then go in to do the hands on stuff. Lots of explanation ahead of time helps me out alot.

So thanks you guys for all the info...I'll be checking things out again adn hopefully I'll know where I'm at in a couple of weeks when I get the apps installed, because I want to get things going.

Cheers!

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Alright, I get it. Hopefully Fig was just joking man...cuz that must be old. I'm going to look into iWork to see what all the jazz is about, and maybe get things going. Aside from graphics I do alot of writing so I need something good where I can write in.

I'm sure I'll be back with more questions soon :D

Cheers!

Okay man, what gives? I'm getting a bit frustrated here with this thing now. I've only heard of mac's reputation, but man, I'm having a difficult time downloading things and getting things to work and understanding it. I'm sure it's just me though.

I downloaded Firefox to use as my browser. Can someone tell me why it's on my desktop as a hard drive looking thing, and why it has an eject button on my Finder? Also when I open it from my dock, it goes to some little diagram that shows the icon, with a little black angle triangle and then a faded out Applications icon and then I have to click from there to get to it. Why? And then there's a Firefox 1.5 dmg file on my desktop which won't allow Firefox to close if I send this thing to the trash.

Also, in regards to clicking icons, why do you I have to click them like about 20 times before the thing opens? Is there like a little hotspot on there where I have to specifically click.

Lastly, why is the screen dark, well darker than my pc and why do my fonts look fuzzy in a way, and why do I have to keep tilting the screen to get a better look?

Honestly I'm considering selling this back and getting the higher resolution Powerbook which is brighter, but I'd have to look at it first. Now I don't want to get into PC vs. Mac, but what am I really getting here. I mean I've heard about macs and how good they are, but considering it's my second day really digging into this, I'm just wondering.

Convince me guys, convince me please! I like this, but I want this to be sharper and a bit brighter. Am I just complaining? Is this what happens to new people using macs in the transition? Is this something I need to get used to? What gives?

One last thing. Apparently the guy who sold me this never registered his applecare, and I haven't registered it yet. So can I buy a new machine and then hook up the applecare to the new one, or is it on record that the applecare goes with this machine alone? Help!

Cheers!

ok, so i actually haven't upgraded to Tiger yet, but now it doesn't sound that bad, does it? ;)

lots of q's...mostly just stuff that works a bit differently. the DMG (drive looking thing) is a drive image, that's the file you actually install from. double-click and follow the directions, then trash those two files (actually you're ejecting the DMG) and you'll be good to go. not following the dock problem you're having.

as far as icons, you mean in folders or on the dock? you should be able to just double-click the icon or program name and have it open right up.

the display shouldnt be that dark, play with the brightness (f3 and f4 i think) and that should help. the angle thing is simply a laptop/lcd issue, nothing mac-specific there. not sure on the fuzzy fonts, can you post an example?

hope that helps...

chris

Chris, as far as clicking the icons go, it happens on the desktop and in the "finder" where I double click, and nothing happens, I move the arrow, double click and nothing.....it happens until I hit some little spot somewhere that it opens, or it must just finally give after about 10 sets of double clicking. I'm not sure why that happens.

From the dock they open up with one click, really fast. It's the folders and icons on the desktop that don't open right away, I'm better off with CNTRL click and "open" but I wish they would open up with just a double click. I hope there's nothing wrong with this.

The font issue isn't anything too major. I think it goes to the lcd/laptop issue you mentioned. One thing I did notice is that when I use the laptop in a well lit area it does look cleaner and more focused. As far as brightness, I have it cranked up all the way, I think..

I still don't understand the drive looking thing with Firefox and the eject stuff. You're saying just trash them both, the dmg file and the drive icon? Cuz I figured it was downloaded, but when I launch from the dock it gives me that little display I was talking about.

Either way I'm going to check out the new ones, but I figured I might as well just wait until next year to get the newer ones. Dek made a good point earlier on saying I should just get used to this and wait for major upgrades, because really, all I'll be getting is more resolution and brighter display, the speed is the same and I have a gig of memory on it. So I'm just going to play it safe and be content with what I have.

It's my first mac, so everything is new to me, and I'm getting frustrated now that I'm trying to make things work. The only thing that has me worried is the double click on the icons, and why they don't open up right away.

Any more info would be great.

Cheers!

When you download things on Macs they come in DMGs, drive image files, (just like Chris said) when you open those the Mac mounts it like a virtual drive. There are typically installers or applications in here, either can be run off the virtual drive and when you are done you eject the virtual drive. But what you want to do is take the Firefox application from the virtual drive and copy it into your Applications folder. Once copied into your Applications folder, you can eject the virtual drive, making that disappear and then trash the original DMG file. Firefox is now on your computer and you can now treat it as any other application, put it on the dock, etc.

If you need any other/further help, you obviously know where to come.

If you still don't get it, I can throw together and little screen grab quick tut.

msz, thanks for your response. I'm going to try your route a little later on today when I have time to mess with the laptop. So my guess is that little window that opens showing the firefox logo with an arrow pointing to the "applications" icon, although faded, is asking me to do something?

I mean I can drag it to the 'applications' icon but nothing happens. I managed to get Yahoo Messenger going, and I'm wondering how to get msn messenger going, as I had it working but it seems to be running off of the installer and not as an application.

So it pretty much goes:
1. Download to desktop
2. Open and install (I think)
3. I have no clue how it's all set up
4. Don't know where things are going and what can be trashed

Yesterday when I was trying to install Yahoo Messenger, it kept saying "Quicktime cannot read the file" and I had not clue, until I found another site an it downloaded it automatically and installed it right. So then I just trash teh installer and the app is there in my Applications area. But as for the rest, who knows...

But I'll give that method you posted a shot and see if I can get through it and understand what is going on...and I'll keep you guys posted for further information. Thanks again man, I really, really appreciate the help.

Cheers!