My daughter got my MacBook

David's Note: A couple of weeks ago I bought myself a MacBook Pro, which enabled my youngest daughter to obtain my beloved MacBook for her 13th birthday. Julia has always been comfortable around computers and loves to explore what's possible with them. If my wife has a technical problem on her machine and I'm not around then Julia is second tier technical support. I have no idea where she gets that from.

One of my conditions in giving her the MacBook was that after she had it for a few days that she write up her impressions for me so that I could put them in my blog. She happily complied and provided the article below. The title and all of the text are hers, not mine, with just a couple of minor edits.

Once you get a Mac you can’t go back to Windows

By Julia Alison

I finally got my first MacBook. It is very nice looking, clean, neat, simple, just all around beautiful. The machine itself is very good, I like the feel of the keyboard, and the nice big trackpad, it is very convenient. I am used to using a Dell laptop, there are some things that are very different about this machine that I will have to get used to but over all it is great.

Some things that bother me are the right clicking, it is different because you don’t just right click, you can set it to holding two fingers on the pad and clicking and that is different but not that bad. I know I will get used to it, so it really isn’t that big of a deal. Some other little things are not being able to maximize the windows to fit the screen.

I really like this machine. I like the clean simple way it is set up with the dock at the bottom. If you think the dock is to big or too small, you can change the size, which is very convenient. I like all the keystrokes, like Command-Space to bring up Spotlight, Command-Q to close the application, Command-W to close a window, and many more. Another thing that is so convenient is Spaces, you can have six documents opened on its own screen by hitting F5, or whatever you set yours to.

I like that when you want to scroll you can use two fingers and scroll, up, down, or side to side. I went on one of the laptops we have, an HP with Windows XP, and it was so weird not being able to scroll by just using two fingers. It was also weird when I went to close by pushing Command-Q and I couldn’t, I had to go all the way up to the right corner, which might not seem big but I could have saved on time and energy on a Mac.

After spending a while with my MacBook I have gotten used to the size of the screen and I actually like it better, because you still can have more documents opened on the same screen, if needed. I also have gotten used to the right clicking, I have gotten so used to it that I do it by habit, it is just natural now. I really love everything about this machine.

Photo Booth
Photo Booth is another fun item on my Mac. Whether you’re taking a picture for your blog, a website, or just for fun, it offers so much. Between a normal picture with color choices, or weird effects, to being on a nice beach. Photo Booth is also great for making little movies.

iChat
I personally love iChat. I love the way it is set up and how clean it looks. It is so easy to communicate now. I love video chat through iChat too. It is so easy to talk and it is so straight forward to use.

Overall I love my MacBook, it is definitely my favorite machine. It is something everyone should have, a nice sleek Mac.

So there you have it, the impressions of a freshly minted 13 year old Mac switcher. Now I can start working on my wife and son.

Comments

Anonymous said…
My daughter's name is Julia as well. Except she's just 2-1/2 going on 18. Of course the only computers she knows is Daddy's 24" iMac and mom's PowerBook, so she was BORN a Mac user! You should see her mouse around!
RASTERMAN said…
Great posts from the both of you!

@David: What comes to mind is you handing over the keys of your nearly brand new sports car right after having bought a second more customized and likely more exciting one.

I might be wrong, but I imagine you don't see a lot of kids getting excited about getting their Dad's hand-me-down Windows systems... Even if they are virtually brand new!

@Julia: Apt observations and well thought out kiddo! That's one heck of a hand-me-down!

Now that I think of it, I don't much care for the term "hand-me-down." Maybe a better phase is "gently used & road-tested, or Daddy tested & approved." Actually, here's a short and sweet one, "Pre-blessed."

However you like to look at it, everyone got what they wanted or needed and happiness abounds!

Cheers!

---RASTER
Anonymous said…
Oh my my! Don't turn your daughter into a geek by making her write for your blog! =^_^= ;-)
steveH said…
Julia;

On the right-click issue, you might like to try changing the trackpad behavior in System Preferences.

In "Keyboard and Mouse" turn on "Clicking" (I've also turned on "Dragging and Drag Lock"), and turn on "Tap trackpad using two fingers...".

With these set on, you pretty much can ignore the trackpad button completely. Simpler and easier.

If you don't like it, you can just turn it off, right?
Unknown said…
@Julia: On my MBP, I can right click by tapping two fingers on my track pad, can you do the same with the MB? I think it's a lot more natural and intuitive. Glad to see that you're enjoying the "light-side."

@David: What have you been feeding her?! That article was written better than a lot of first impression articles I've read in my past. You haven't created a monster, you have the next Veronica Belmont.
Josso said…
Quoting Julia:
"It was also weird when I went to close by pushing Command-Q and I couldn’t, I had to go all the way up to the right corner, which might not seem big but I could have saved on time and energy on a Mac."

@Julia:
You can do it by Ctrl+W (most applications) or Alt+F4 (all applications). :)

And I'm so jealous of you. :p
Still saving up for my first Mac (A Macbook Pro 15")

Greetings from the 15. years old guy from Europe,
- Johan (Or just John)
David Alison said…
Thanks for the great comments folks. Julia was reading these comments over my shoulder. I then made the mistake of showing her one of my stats programs and when she found that there were over 350 reads of this blog post in the first hour she got excited and wanted to write more.

"How many reads now Dad?!?"
Anonymous said…
Just want to say 'Hello' from Switzerland. I really like your blog.
Eytan said…
How many reads do you usually get a day David?
David Alison said…
@Benno: Glad you like the blog!

@Eytan: Some basic stats for the last month (6/8 through 7/8):

56,371 visits
75,386 page views
32,656 unique visitors

So just under 1,900 visits and 2,500 page views per day on average.
Anonymous said…
@Rasterman
Don't say that. I was super stoked to get the Win98 machine from my dad at the time!
Unknown said…
David, i think it's great that you're having you daughter write her own first impressions. I think kids these days, and even adults, get off too easy by not having to justify their position in their own words. I switched to a MacBook on Black Friday 2007, and i LOVE it. I cant wait to get another Mac, even though the one i use now is in pristine condition. Love the blog, i wish I'd found it earlier in my switch. I'm also looking forward to a few words from you son about his switch, good luck on that one.

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