View Full Version : Girlfriend's new computer
DMBand0026
2004-07-29, 13:35
My girlfriend is running an old Gateway that by all logic should have been dead years ago, however, it has kept chugging against all odds. So she figures the time has come to get a new computer. She looked at a bunch of Dells because she wanted a black computer with a flat panel display.
I suggested that she check out notebooks because she's in college, and it would be better for her to have a computer that she could take home when she went home on weekends. So she checked out a few Dell notebooks and asked my advice on what she should get (the blessing/curse of being the resident computer geek in my family, and now hers as well)
I looked at the things in her price range (think: iBook) and was extremely unimpressed by Dell's offerings. So I took the plunge and suggested a Mac (which she had already sworn off). She didn't seem too keen on the idea right away, but than I showed her some of the iBook offerings and she seemed to like them. More importantly, she likes the white look.
I let her mess around with my PowerBook a few times, and she's obviously new at the Mac thing, but she picks things up quickly. Not only that, but the fact that MS Word is available, Safari blocks pop ups, Mail has a junk filter, and iPhoto (she loved iPhoto). All those things convinced her more.
Point is, she's still a little iffy. Any killer features of OS X I should show her, any cool apps that I might not have? The real point of all this, what configuration should I recommend to her? She doesn't care much about screen size, she won't need too much RAM, she wants a big HD (she's gonna go with the 60gig).
Actually, now that I think about it, this post has no point except to say, I might have another switcher on my hands. :D
Think about getting a wireless internet setup. Then remind her that A) the iBook will get excellent reception, and B) most lower-end PC notebooks require an external card with that thing sticking out. The iBook is a sleek, one-piece solution that gets better wireless reception than just about any PC notebook around.
And you already know this, but make sure she has enough RAM from the start. Like, order the RAM and a screwdriver to install it ahead of time, so you can install it before she even boots up the iBook. Using it with 256 MB of RAM will turn her sour towards it.
I've found that gratuitously showing off Exposé works wonders… demonstrating iChatAV might work pretty well too. People are generally very impressed with things like instant wake from sleep (even though technically you can actually convince Windows to do this, apparently).
Beyond that… well, it depends what she's interested in, I 'spose. It's difficult to think of "must-show" third party apps because most of what a normal user would want (apart from an Office suite) is already there.
Oh: and demonstrating PithHelmet might work well too. :)
Think about getting a wireless internet setup. Then remind her that A) the iBook will get excellent reception, and B) most lower-end PC notebooks require an external card with that thing sticking out. The iBook is a sleek, one-piece solution that gets better wireless reception than just about any PC notebook around.
Demonstrating the ease of joining a public network would help this along as well, I imagine.
onlyafterdark
2004-07-29, 13:57
Ya Exposé and iChat video chats do a very good job. I like showing how every Apple app works with eachother (ie: mail and address book, and the iLife apps). The iLife package is also very important IMO. Showing how easy it is to work with iPhoto and iMovie usually does it for me. Then there is always the hidden card: GarageBand.
I cant think of anything else.
One of my friends vowed to get a Mac as his next computer after I showed him Expose and fast user switching. He just couldn't believe a computer was capable of doing something that elegant and efficient.
Too bad he's dirt poor, in a ton of debt, and a bit of an idiot. :lol:
One of my friends vowed to get a Mac as his next computer after I showed him Expose and fast user switching. He just couldn't believe a computer was capable of doing something that elegant and efficient.
Too bad he's dirt poor, in a ton of debt, and a bit of an idiot. :lol:
Sounds like me. ;)
People seem to have a visceral reaction to the polish on the GUI… it goes beyond rationality into a kind-of "OMFG, that looks so very f**king cool, this must be a good computer!". I hear lots of users saying "It just feels better!", and not very many saying "It was cool! App A could do all this cool functionality!" (unless they're hard-core geeks, in which case little I could say would change their minds anyway).
I show those things too... but the quick waking from sleep thing does almost as much good. Most PC users are floored by that.
Demo LaunchBar. That's the app I miss terribly when I have to use windows.
99.7% virus free
no weekly security updates
plug in a printer and It. Just. Works. (tm)
Does she have a iSync-compatible mobile (phone)?
The Omnigroup's set of software (particularly OmniGraffle, for me) is something you really can't find a Windows counterpart to in style and features.
Funny, it's the little things that we take for granted that takes a Windows to jump up and down about for us to notice.
Screed
SilentEchoes
2004-07-30, 01:02
Oh man Exposé is a killer for me. I don't know how I used to get by with out it now. Exposé alone breathes new life into an old computer. That is, after all, the biggest reason I use a Mac. I can work soooo much more efficiently than I can on a PC.
Then there is these key features:
•When there is an update, Its generally painless. If its a security update I know that when I restart my computer Its going to boot up and feel like nothing has change. Perfect. (I say generally because I have heard of some people having some pretty bad problems on various updates, even though I myself have not had any.)
•Drag and drop install of most apps. I LOVE IT. And the ones are not drag and drop usually don't require a restart anymore anyways. Boom. I'm sold.
•Last but not least, the beauty of design combined with ease of upgradeability. Its actually easier to install the upgrade than it is to find an upgrade to install. BUT when I do find one, Its nice to just pop open the side of my computer and slap it in and thats it with out wires and shit all over. I know some PCs are sexy on the inside too, Just none of the ones I have ever worked on..
thedustin
2004-07-30, 02:15
Tell her to find ANY digital camera and plug it into a Mac, and watch her eyes light up when iPhoto opens up and sees the camera w/o any drivers. And the network ease as well.
_thedustin
thedustin
2004-07-30, 02:18
If she really wants black and has extra cash tryColorwarepc.com (http://www.colorwarepc.com/products/customize.aspx?configid=486)
_thedustin
DMBand0026
2004-07-30, 18:58
Thanks for all the tips guys. She's pretty much all ready to pull the trigger on the iBook now. :) Not only that, but she picked up my 4G iPod in my car the other day and quickly decided that it was "the coolest thing [she'd] ever seen." So she's gonna take advantage of the iPod rebate too.
One last question. Remember the old Gateway I told y'all about? It's running Windows 98 (yeah I know...be nice). It has ethernet, so I was thinking that there was a way to transfer some of her old files from that thing to her new iBook. Can it be done or is Windows 98 just too old? Thanks again guys :)
Thanks for all the tips guys. She's pretty much all ready to pull the trigger on the iBook now. :) Not only that, but she picked up my 4G iPod in my car the other day and quickly decided that it was "the coolest thing [she'd] ever seen." So she's gonna take advantage of the iPod rebate too.
One last question. Remember the old Gateway I told y'all about? It's running Windows 98 (yeah I know...be nice). It has ethernet, so I was thinking that there was a way to transfer some of her old files from that thing to her new iBook. Can it be done or is Windows 98 just too old? Thanks again guys :)
I've had problems with Apple's Samba (under 10.2) and Win98… I don't know if their upgrade to Samba 3 helped, because by the time 10.3 rolled around I'd moved that computer to XP.
FTP might be a better option… I'm using the nice GUI-fied version of PureFTPD (http://jeanmatthieu.free.fr/pureftpd/) (an sftp server). You can probably get by with the built-in one.
DMBand0026
2004-07-31, 01:46
Thanks :) She was over at my place tonight to check out the PB some more, I think she's sold. I'm probably gonna buy Murbot's RAM for her too, haha.
If you install the Win98 personal web server, sticking ".." in the URL moves you up a directory. For example, on my win 98 machine at IP 192.168.11.4 http://192.168.11.4/..../ took you to C:\. Useful for moving single files (I used it to copy the Quake 3 pak files fro PC to Mac, as I didn't have a Mac installer), but probably not as good as Samaba/FTP for multiple files.
she wanted a black computer with a flat panel display.
Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh? :)
•Last but not least, the beauty of design combined with ease of upgradeability. Its actually easier to install the upgrade than it is to find an upgrade to install. BUT when I do find one, Its nice to just pop open the side of my computer and slap it in and thats it with out wires and shit all over. I know some PCs are sexy on the inside too, Just none of the ones I have ever worked on..
Holy crap...for a second there I thought you were talking about software. :lol:
If you install the Win98 personal web server, sticking ".." in the URL moves you up a directory. For example, on my win 98 machine at IP 192.168.11.4 http://192.168.11.4/..../ took you to C:\. Useful for moving single files (I used it to copy the Quake 3 pak files fro PC to Mac, as I didn't have a Mac installer), but probably not as good as Samaba/FTP for multiple files.
Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh? :)
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