Ableton Forum

Ok. So I splurged big time and bought the newest Macbook Pro today....and I've never even used a Mac. I know, I know....that is probably a stupid thing to do without feeling it out first. However, it is done, so what are some things to keep in mind when I've only used a PC my whole life. All I know is that there is no right click....that's about it.

What are the hardest things to get used to? This will be my ableton machine, so what are some default things do I need to first to maximize my experience?

Go into the system preferences,,
just click on the little blue apple at the top left hand corner
of the screen,,
Click on the mouse track pad option and there are a whole bunch of ways to get
the right click option,, i use the two fingers on the track pad option,,
Other than that,,
OS X is way more straight forward that XP or even Vista,,

But then again,, it's all horses for courses really,,

Dont be frightened.
I had no idea how osx worked, but I worked it out real quick, and im rubbish with computers.
Just fool around with it untill you get it to do what you want.
Plus there is a TON of support/tips on the internet.

I did the same thing.

Biggest annoyance for me is that closing the last window of an application doesn't actually close it. You have to command+q (amonst other ways).

Pretty counterintuative for a windows user.

Look, if I can get used to windows, and figure things out etc. and I've used a windows PC about 20 hours tops, then you can get used to OSX.

Basically, the concepts are all similar, just in different locations, and OSX really is easier in general IMO.

Thanks. Can't wait to get this thing in the mail tomorrow. My g/f says I'm glowing. I'm also gettin an external hdd....which until now I have never used as well. Is is standard to place the Ableton app on local disk and everything else on the hdd?

remember most programs install from a disk image. the program will open up just as another drive (or a CD) would, and then you drag the program from the "cd" to your Applications folder.

weird, but it makes some simple sense.

nbr0118 wrote:Thanks. Can't wait to get this thing in the mail tomorrow. My g/f says I'm glowing. I'm also gettin an external hdd....which until now I have never used as well. Is is standard to place the Ableton app on local disk and everything else on the hdd?

You'll need to install live onto the system drive,, just insert the install disk or use the down load from the ab's site,, it's very straight forward,,
once you have live all loaded and authorized you'll be able o have it see the external drive and it will then read and write your audio to it,, you will also be able to direct live to store all of your projects there,,
Don't worry to much more about this right now,,
When you get the computer open it and turn it on,, it will take you through setting it up,, after that get back to us here with any other problems and one of us old Mac users will take you through any problems you might encounter,,,
My advice to any one coming to OS X from an XP/Windows back ground is,, don't over think it,, Mac OS has always been written with the assumption that it's users have got better things to do other than worry about their computers,,
Most things are click and wait operations with the occasional need to brows to a folder or directory,,,

oh, and u shud split your hd into 2. (say 40 gigs for programes) the rest for wotever.

jesso wrote:oh, and u shud split your hd into 2. (say 40 gigs for programes) the rest for wotever.

Umm,,
Why?

The only reason to do this is organization. It's holdover logic from the days of 3200rpm HDs etc. The idea being that the HD will work less, but it's simply not the case anymore.

My #1 advice: LEARN THE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS!!!

Pressing command+key is a LOT faster than using the trackpad and hunting for icons. It also makes you look like a super-hacker. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

I just got that link by doing the following:
cmd+tab (opened new tab)
cmd+k (google seaerched "list of osx keyboard shortcuts")
cmd+l (to get the URL)
cmd+w (close the tab)
cmd+v (pasted the URL)

Quick as hell. Learn your shortcuts!

nbr0118 wrote:Ok. So I splurged big time and bought the newest Macbook Pro today....and I've never even used a Mac. I know, I know....that is probably a stupid thing to do without feeling it out first. However, it is done, so what are some things to keep in mind when I've only used a PC my whole life. All I know is that there is no right click....that's about it.

What are the hardest things to get used to? This will be my ableton machine, so what are some default things do I need to first to maximize my experience?

there is a right click, and always has been.

enjoy, welcome to the future.

jesso wrote:oh, and u shud split your hd into 2. (say 40 gigs for programes) the rest for wotever.

why?

it's one physical hard drive, it it dies you just lose both partitions.
you will get no speed increase from partitioning it, it doesn't magically
enable new platter arms to read/write on the second partition at the
same time..

Ok Ill eat humble pie...
When I got my first mac an engineer who I know insisted that I partician my hard drive. Suppose it dosnt make much difference any more.