Talk to me about software for Macs

Morrus · Nov 5, 2015

Hand of Evil said:
go here to check settings: https://www.apple.com/support/mail-settings-lookup/

Yeah, first thing I did yesterday. 24 hours later, and lots of Google-fu, and still no progress.

Janx · Nov 5, 2015

Morrus said:
Yeah, I got that. My main issue right now is email. It doesn't seem to like my Hotmail account. I cannot get it the mail app to show anything in my inbox, although it shows all my sent, deleted, junk, etc. mails just fine. Bizarrely, it's just the inbox out of all the folders it insists is empty. It's clearly connecting and syncing something, otherwise it wouldn't have kindly download the 9000 junk emails sitting in the Junk Mail folder. I'd much rather it downloaded the actual inbox, though!

Right now I have to have my old Windows PC sitting next to the iMac just for emails.

this may be crazy talk, but hotmail is web-based.... you could just browse to hotmail.com and get your mail.

technically, hotmail only does POP3 for mail clients, so that means copying mail to the client or moving mail. It causes synchronization issues as to where your mail actually is.

I strongly recommend gmail instead, because it supports imap, which lets the client access the mail on the server, without transferring it to your PC in a confusing mess of where's my mail that comes later in life.

I have actually setup my gmail to slurp my hotmail accounts, so that I can keep my addresses, but manage it all from gmail, which in turn can be managed on a client app via IMAP.

Alternatively, you might check out Outlook for the mac (assuming they have it). It's more likely to mate up to hotmail via secret Exchange Web Service calls better than the Apple Mail client.

Janx · Nov 5, 2015

Morrus said:
I just discovered that I can Airplay over to my TV with single click. Either mirror the desktop or extend it. I like this!

I have that on my Surface Pro 3 via it's built-in WiDi chip and a Wireless Display Adapter I plug into the TV. Pretty cool trick, and handy for watching a show on the PC... Takes me a key stroke and 2 clicks, so you got me beat

Morrus · Nov 5, 2015

Janx said:
this may be crazy talk, but hotmail is web-based.... you could just browse to hotmail.com and get your mail.

I could. I don't want to! Web mail is really not suitable for the way I work.

Mallus · Nov 5, 2015

Game-wise, remember that Steam purchases are for all supported platforms. So any PC game you bought that has a Mac version can be downloaded as soon as you install the client.

Also game-wise, Macs are fine for all less graphics-intensive titles, like Civilization & all the great Paradox strategy series. And most of the hot new indie games are released simultaneously for OSX. Though older games like the earlier Arkham/Batman titles, Tomb Raider, Borderlands, & the Bioshocks run well on OSX if you've got a discreet graphics card (and Steam sales can make these titles ridiculously cheap). Speaking of older, don't forget the spate of recent remasters of classic PC games; Baldur's Gate II, the fixed-up Knights of the Old Republic II, and Homeworld.

When I feel like shooting the hell out of moon-wizards & robots, I fire up my PS4. But for whiling away an entire Sunday with coffee and world conquest, my Macbook is perfect.

Re: hardware quality - my Macbook is hands-down the best computer I've owned, though to be fair I've never had a high-end business class laptop or expensive gaming rig.

Re: software - my experience has been all the software I need for OSX is either part of the OS (the Office-analogs) or free (Handbrake for video conversion, Xcode for messing around w/Obj-C dev, the Microsoft Remote Desktop app for accessing my work PC). The few pieces of software I bought were all really cheap, like sub-$20 (US); Scrivener for writing, Pixelmator for Photoshopping, etc.

Morrus · Nov 5, 2015

Mallus said:
Game-wise, remember that Steam purchases are for all supported platforms. So any PC game you bought that has a Mac version can be downloaded as soon as you install the client.

That was a very pleasing discovery. I have 20 Mac games already on Steam, and I didn't even know it! That also includes Sword Coast Legends, surprisingly. And I spent a pleasant couple of hours revisiting Shogun 2: Total War last night.

This computer is 7 years newer than my old PC, so in terms of games/graphics performance, it's a massive upgrade.

Mallus · Nov 5, 2015

Morrus said:
This computer is 7 years newer than my old PC, so in terms of games/graphics performance, it's a massive upgrade.

Yeah, that's going to be a huge difference. Which model iMac did you get, BTW? The one with the gorgeous display or super-absurdly-gorgeous display?

Morrus · Nov 5, 2015

Mallus said:
Yeah, that's going to be a huge difference. Which model iMac did you get, BTW? The one with the gorgeous display or super-absurdly-gorgeous display?

The bestest one (27", 5K). I figured it was going to be my work PC for the next 7ish years or so, that being about how often I upgrade such things!

Dannyalcatraz · Nov 5, 2015

Way to go big!

RC Hagy · Nov 6, 2015

First thing... Clicking the 'x' button on a window, only closes the window. The Application is still up and using memory.
Go to the file menu of most apps and you should find the various key commands so you do not have to mouse or trackball so much.

In general, 'command tab' (cycles through open applications) and 'command tilde' (cycles through open windows of most apps) save me a lot of time.