The Macbook / iMac pro tips thread

[pylon]

There is a ton of threads dedicated to iOS devices in this forum, and I have learned so many cool tips, and shortcuts as a result. Hats off to all you Apple nerds, now I am starting to be a goto guy around my workplace for iPhones and iPads as a result of all the great info I have learned. My awesome experience with my iOS stuff, lead to taking the plunge into a MacBook Air, and I will eventually be buying an iMac as my home machine soon.

However, my experience thus far with Lion/Safari, hasn't been as easy as it is rumoured to be. I got so use to Windows machines, that I find I keep going to those machines as a crutch or when I hit a roadblock. I figured it would be cool to have a thread dedicated to the Lion/Safari/All things Mac computers. Plus before I drop $3000 on a maxed out iMac, I really want to really know what I am doing.

The first thing that is bugging me is about Safari, is it seems kinda have a mind of its own with tiled browsing. I get the command T thing, but sometimes it tiles, then sometimes I end up with another untiled session under the page I am viewing, then you click a link, and instead of tiling, it opens another session. At one point I counted 6 open sessions, and 34 pages opened. What is the most streamlined way to manage it so it stays in tiled browsing all the time? Also, spell check in safari using my trackpad. How? I am use to the firefox right click way, not this gesturey, black magic, sorcery Apple way.

Show me/us iMac/MacBook noobs what you got.

Plus I want this thread to kinda just organically evolve on its own. Got a tip you think is valuable, don't wait for someone to ask, just throw it out there.

Thanks!

[ma-skis.com]

The red yellow and green buttons drove me nuts till i figured it out,

Red closes the window, but keeps the application running so it opens faster
yellow minimizes the window into your dock
and green is random depending on the app, supposedly it's designed to resize your window to the appropriate size to see everything that you're doing to make the most of your desktop. so if you are browsing, the window should resize to the appropriate width of the site you are on. that's why it's kind of random.

anyways some shortcuts
apple w for red
apple m for minimize yellow
apple h for hiding the window, but keeping the window active, like minimizing but keeps it out of the dock
apple q to quit

don't shame me because i thought this was amazing to me.

[MarchHare]

Here are some other really useful keyboard shortcuts everyone probably knows about already, but if not...

Apple + C = Copy
Apple + X = Cut
Apple + V = Paste
Apple + Right Arrow = move cursor to end of line (same as End key in Windows)
Apple + Left Arrow = move cursor to start of line (same as Home key in Windows)
Apple + Alt + Esc = opens a menu to force quit a non-responsive app (like Ctrl+Alt+Del in Windows)
Fn + Delete = Delete (as opposed to Backspace, which the Delete key does normally)
Apple + Tab = Cycle through open apps (like Alt+Tab in Windows)
Apple + Shift + Control + 3 = capture a screenshot to the clipboard (like Print Screen in Windows)

[kermitology]

Cmd is the apple button

Cmd + Shift + Eject will sleep your display, like locking with ctrl-alt-del on a windows machine.

Cmd + del deletes the entire line (I'm a developer, so I use this a lot)

Cmd + left/right will get you to the start/end of a line.

Option + left/right will scroll left or right by word.

Get yourself Alfred to get a more powerful keyboard shortcut tool. I use quicksilver still myself, but I mean to switch to Alfred soon.

To install an app from a dmg. Drag the application into your application folder. Note that all the required data is inside the .app file, but you can explore it if you want.

If you have a MacBook, get Better touch tool. It's amazing.

I also recommend buying iStats. Helps identify apps going crazy so you can shut them down. It also gives you every single kind of probe info, data transfer, memory usage, fan speed etc..

That's all I can think of right now.

[opendoor]

If you don't like Safari, you can use any browser you want. The only time I've ever used Safari on the 3 Macs I've owned is long enough to download one of Firefox/Opera/Chrome the first time I set them up.

[simmonjam1]

Holding SHIFT at power up will boot you into safe mode.

[MickMcGeough]

Holding the "3" and "2" keys during boot will boot OSX into 32-bit kernel mode.

This is exceptionally useful for the kernel panics a lot of the 2011 MBPs often get with USB iPhone tethering (which is hilarious, btw).

One of the cool things about OSX is that 64-bit apps can still run in 64-bit mode when the kernel is in 32-bit mode.

[sclitheroe]

command-shift-4 is kickass for screenshots

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by kermitology

Cmd is the apple button

Cmd + Shift + Eject will sleep your display, like locking with ctrl-alt-del on a windows machine.

Control-shift-Eject, actually.


Also, for people coming from Windows, the seeming inability to cut and paste (move) files is maddening. In Lion, you can copy with command-c, then use command-option-v to do a move, otherwise the only menu options available via right clicking are to copy.

[sclitheroe]

For your Safari question, I think what you want is to look at Preferences -> Tabs, and ensure "Open Pages In tabs instead of windows" is set to Automatic or Always. One of those two options should help you control window sprawl and keep everything tabbed.

[ma-skis.com]

any thoughts on a fast easy to use equivalent of Paint for mac, pretty much I want something that opens immediately

photoshop is great for big stuff, but sometimes, i just need to make that hilarious chop in 30seconds or less

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by ma-skis.com

any thoughts on a fast easy to use equivalent of Paint for mac, pretty much I want something that opens immediately

photoshop is great for big stuff, but sometimes, i just need to make that hilarious chop in 30seconds or less

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/pixel...07963104?mt=12

[pylon]

^^ nm, answered!

[simmonjam1]

Originally Posted by ma-skis.com

any thoughts on a fast easy to use equivalent of Paint for mac, pretty much I want something that opens immediately

photoshop is great for big stuff, but sometimes, i just need to make that hilarious chop in 30seconds or less

http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/

This one is free!

[PeteLFan]

I'm going to getting a new MacBook. Just trying to decide if ivwant high res glossy screen or anti glare and the difference?

[PeteLFan]

I also want to transfer over all my files from my current Mac to the new one what's the best way? I also don't want too lose my music from my iPod and my iPhone backups so I can restore all my stuff.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by PeteLFan

I also want to transfer over all my files from my current Mac to the new one what's the best way? I also don't want too lose my music from my iPod and my iPhone backups so I can restore all my stuff.

Mac to Mac, the best thing to use is migration assistant - the new Mac will offer to launch this on initial setup, and its primary purpose is to pull over all of your apps, data, settings, preferences, etc. It works quite well.

[PeteLFan]

So if I plug in my phone or iPod it will just be like normal?

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by PeteLFan

So if I plug in my phone or iPod it will just be like normal?

The migration assistant will find your old Mac on the network and ask what you want to migrate (apps, docs, other files, etc). As I recall I migrated apps and documents and that included my iPhone backups from iTunes. Just make sure they're imported to the new mac before getting rid of the old one.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by PeteLFan

I'm going to getting a new MacBook. Just trying to decide if ivwant high res glossy screen or anti glare and the difference?

I've had glossy screen Macs before. I switched to matte screens a few years back, and I've never regretted it. Every time I use someone else's mac now (with a glossy screen), the reflections drive me nuts.