# MacBook

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by Miss Gorgeous (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Saturday, 11-Dec-2010 15:25:30

Hello, I'm planning to buy myself a MacBook for Christmas. But I'm not sure whether to buy it or not. Would you buy it?
I have lots of documents from Microsoft word, would I be able to open it on a MacBook or do I have to download a software that will convert the file format? And last but not the least, whats the difference between MacBook and MacBook Pro?

## Post 2 by Marissapc2010 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Saturday, 11-Dec-2010 15:54:28

I just got a macbook pro and love it. its quite a learning experience though. good luck on what you choose to do.

## Post 3 by synthesizer101 (I just keep on posting!) on Saturday, 11-Dec-2010 17:19:56

I think you need IWork to read doc files. The macbook has a plastic (though a very nice) case, while the mac book pro has an aluminum case. I believe the mac book pro comes with more ram by default, but don't quote me there. Also, ram can be upgraded.

## Post 4 by synthesizer101 (I just keep on posting!) on Saturday, 11-Dec-2010 17:21:25

And I'm planning to get one as soon as possible.

## Post 5 by Miss Gorgeous (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Saturday, 11-Dec-2010 17:53:58

I saw the prices. The MackBook Pro is more expensive than the MacBook. I heard that both of those are really durable and it lasts longer than a Del, HP or some other laptops out there. If it comes in different colors?

## Post 6 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Saturday, 11-Dec-2010 18:29:13

And you can certainly open Word documents on it using Pages or Open Office.
My flotilla commander uses a Mac and you would never know it from Windows when .doc or .docs files are sent to us. Gone are the days of the filetype anomalies.

## Post 7 by synthesizer101 (I just keep on posting!) on Saturday, 11-Dec-2010 21:11:34

Pages is part of IWork. I forgot about open office. Probably since the server keeps rejecting me when I try downloading. I believe the mac book comes only in white. The pro is (obviously) only in silver since aluminum is a metal, and most metals are silver colored.

## Post 8 by Miss Gorgeous (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Sunday, 12-Dec-2010 1:38:07

Does I work come with the package when you buy the laptop or do you have to pay for it before they include it in your laptop?

## Post 9 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Sunday, 12-Dec-2010 1:59:39

nope. i work is not included with the package when you buy the laptop.

## Post 10 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Sunday, 12-Dec-2010 2:28:28

i recommend open office. it's free!

## Post 11 by synthesizer101 (I just keep on posting!) on Sunday, 12-Dec-2010 11:33:02

Yes. I like the interface better than pages anyway. But I can't get the file anywhere.

## Post 12 by Miss Gorgeous (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Sunday, 12-Dec-2010 13:27:40

Just wandering, what other softwares are included with the package? Did you have to buy other softwares other than i works?
Thanks for answering all my questions.

## Post 13 by rat (star trek rules!) on Sunday, 12-Dec-2010 13:28:08

i had the file at one point but lost it.

## Post 14 by synthesizer101 (I just keep on posting!) on Sunday, 12-Dec-2010 16:02:17

ILife comes with it. This includes garage band, itunes, etc. You also get text edit, time machine, and there are a llot of free apps anyway.

## Post 15 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Sunday, 12-Dec-2010 23:01:35

If you decide to buy this, look for the refurbished computers (in the Apple store). I think we got a MacBook Pro, 13 inch for around $800 by buying it refurbished from Apple, all warrantees are valid.
You have to buy Office or the iWorks package, think the iWorks is around $50 ot $60 and office is twoce that.
I was disappointed with accessibility of Pages, if you need to edit or create tables, to read the format of fonts, to skip by heading or some other stuff, you are SOL, at this point. The accessibility was definitely inferior to Word with NVDA or System Access on a Windows machine.
If you need Excel type possibilities this is just absolutely awful, almost non existent on iWorks (under Calc I think), VoiceOver is very hard to deal with when moving to cells, does not recognize formulas, comments or objects, so basically you cannot use it.
I am a fan of the iPhone by now but I wouldnot buy an Apple laptop or desktop at the moment. I would wait for the next version and the touch screen interfaces (after all the Apple conference with possible new machine announcements is in January).
So, for my 50-cent worth, I wouldnot buy one this Christmas but to hold on and see what comes next.
Apple is hard at work with some accessibility engineers hired recently, so I do belive something good could be about to come out.
Best thing to say about Apple, if you got issues (keyboard breaks, computer overheats etc), you take it to the Apple store and they fix it for you, no questions asked, very often no price charged.
Try that with Linovo and you are made to wait for an hour on the phone and then told they do not do it, or it cost $300.
I had to replace my keyboard and ended up ordering it myself for $70, BestBuy replaced these things for $40, but it took weeks to get it sorted out.
Apart from this I love my ThinkPad X200, it is a good little machine.
So, I do sound negative, but I want Apple to be superior and I expect big things from them, but, in my experience, for work , they are not very good, for play/browsing etc, they are better but not perfect.
Their chat software (adium) is way inferior to using MSN with Jaws or NVDA or any of those things.
Cheers
-B

## Post 16 by synthesizer101 (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 13-Dec-2010 15:11:00

Adium is not a product of apple. Office comes from microsoft, but open office is a free, java-based office system. I don't like IWork iether.

## Post 17 by ddenne92 (Veteran Zoner) on Monday, 13-Dec-2010 16:32:48

Coming from an accessibility stand point I recommend you to go with open office. It is free and it is better as far as voice-over interaction. Any questions I welcome you to ask me. I worked for apple for technical support and I'm one of the engineers they recently highered for accessibility. I hope you are happy with your purchase and any questions don't be afraid to call apple.
+1800-692-7753

## Post 18 by rat (star trek rules!) on Monday, 13-Dec-2010 21:49:58

adium not as good as what windows can do? i think you're really off on that point. i navigate that faster than anything on windows and best of all, it does multi messengers instantly, no risk of a plug in screwing the entire program like miranda does.

## Post 19 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Tuesday, 14-Dec-2010 10:07:44

When I tried adium with VoiceOver I could not scroll through the conversation, I was not alerted when a user had sent me a message unless I was focusing on that conversation window, I had to scroll through the entire conversation to see the latest incoming message from the user and/or file attachment being sent to me and if I got another chat request my cursor was put back in the beginning of the conversation and I had to scroll through it again.
So if I was doing something wrong and there is a fast, easy and accessible way to do this, by all means, I want to be enlightened *grin*. I had a hard time believing this was the bst I could do, but I only had a couple of weeks with the Mac and this is the best I could come up with, despite looking around for tips.
So if you can offer better, that'd be excellent.

## Post 20 by ddenne92 (Veteran Zoner) on Tuesday, 14-Dec-2010 12:47:31

In adium you can set your event presets to do whatever you want. It's very customizable.

## Post 21 by WillieTheWoof (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Wednesday, 22-Dec-2010 12:30:38

Also, don't dismiss text edit. It reads all forms of word document. I was plesently surprised when I was able to open an office 2007 docx file in Text Edit. Spell checking is excellent as well. Also, my one things that I really love is the abillity to spell check on the web wehn creating a post. Try that with Jaws. Woof,woof,woof!!!!!!!!

## Post 22 by starfly (99956) on Wednesday, 22-Dec-2010 14:57:52

Actually sure I will, with firefox and webvisum! :).

## Post 23 by ddenne92 (Veteran Zoner) on Wednesday, 22-Dec-2010 16:04:05

something I meant to address to Wildebrew and for those of you who may not know about this setting, you can go in to the voice-over utility and change an option in the navigation portion. This option will allow you to wrap around things such as lists, tables, documents, etc. Say you are at the top of a list and you don't feel like scrolling down the hole thing. Just hit voice-over keys and the up arrow and you'll be wrapped around to the bottom of the list. This works both ways respectively. the thing I'm talking about specifically says allow cursor wrapping. You will no longer have to scrol through your adium conversations.
In a conversation on adium to get back and read the last message in the conversation just go and interact with your element. Usually you have to go and VO right arrow the hole way through. Not anymore! Just use VO left arrow and you'll hear a cursor wrapped to end sound followed by your last message in the conversation.

## Post 24 by MelodicFate (Zone BBS Addict) on Thursday, 23-Dec-2010 12:48:57

I'm glad someone mentioned that TextEdit can open word documents, or I would ahve. I was surprised at how advanced TextEdit i, but I find it does everything I need it to do as far as spacing, font changing, and opening wor documents. Plus, it's completely accessible.
Thanks for the cursor wrapping tip. I've been wondering what that was, and am definitely going to enable it now.
And I say if you don't mind learning a nw operating system, along with new ways to do things, go for it. This MacBook is basically my main comuter now, and I've only had it for about a month and a half. I only keep the windows desktop around if I want to play games or do somethig overnight.

## Post 25 by Jesse (Hmm!) on Thursday, 23-Dec-2010 14:29:23

Also, let's not forget about Boot Camp, which lets you have a Windows machine right on your Mac, should you so desire. Honestly, when you make the switch from Windows to Mac, everything will be completely different, and at first, confusing, but as time goes by, you will learn the techniques, key combinations, and ways to customize your experience, and you will enjoy it.
Also, a difference between the MacBook, and the Pro, is that the Pro has a firewire port, so if you have equipment that requires it, keep that in mind.

## Post 26 by synthesizer101 (I just keep on posting!) on Thursday, 23-Dec-2010 19:21:21

I've never used such a port myself, but others have. What type of equipment uses it?

## Post 27 by Jesse (Hmm!) on Friday, 24-Dec-2010 0:52:56

Hard drives, audio interfaces, DV camcorders...The list goes on and on. You can even cable up to another Mac with it, and use that Mac's hard drive to run your computer with another copy of OSX.

## Post 28 by WillieTheWoof (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Tuesday, 28-Dec-2010 10:44:25

One thing I always tell my students when teaching Mac is that although the commands may be different if you are coming from windows the concepts are still the same. Files, folders, copying items and text, renaming things and so on. Yes the commands are different but the tasks are similar. Hold on to that and things will come easier.

## Post 29 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Thursday, 17-Feb-2011 7:35:52

for those who want to download [open-office] here is a link to There P2P download
http://distribution.openoffice.org/p2p/index.html
PS this is legal...