Things To Do With A New Mac
There is a certain type of feeling that comes with opening up a new MacBook or unboxing an iMac. The box is smooth, clean, and white, with minimal fuss. And inside is the new machine that you are going to take over the world with – or produce the best work you’ve ever done.
Apple products are designed to make everything as easy as possible – from transferring your information from one to the other to setting up a workflow that makes sense to you.
So if you’ve just put an order in for your first Apple MacBook or iMac, here are a couple of things that you can do.
Apple ID
Suppose you have an apple ID already, then great! You’ll need it to make sure that your mobile number, email, and other details are available on the Mac straight away. All of your machines will be connected so you can move between them with no fuss.
If you haven’t got on, the walkthrough is very simple; all you’ll need to do is think up a good email address.
Use Time Machine
There is nothing worse than losing everything on your computer or installing software that seems to break the system. Apple has its own inbuilt backup and restores that work well. Time Machine doesn’t take long to sort out and will restore your Mac to before the problem.
You’ll need a formatted external hard drive, plug it in, then let Time Machine set up a backup. Head to System Preferences, and let it know where to back up. Choose the frequency and relax, knowing that everything you need is backed up.
Everything about setting up your Mac is pretty intuitive, so the setups are as fast and easy as possible. You can add any email to the Mail app, though, including Google, Yahoo, AOL, and more.
When you open the Mail app for the first time, you’ll be prompted to choose an account provider, click the one you use, and follow the instructions.
Let it sync, which is pretty fast, and you’re done.
Spotlight
If you spend ages searching through folders and files, then you should get familiar with the Spotlight feature. Spotlight is so useful because you can search for maps, contacts, files, images, apps, and the internet all in one search bar. Look for the magnifying glass, usually in the top right, click on it or press the Command+Space bar to bring it up.
Spotlight is the fastest way to find what you need.
Updates
Head to System Settings and use the bar on the top left to type Updates. You’ll see on the right-hand side panel if you have it set to automatic updates and if there are updates available. If you want to remove automatic updates, click the Automatic Updates bar, and use the sliders to set up what you do and do not want the automatic updater to do.
Every once in a while, updates get stuck; read here for what to do if it’s stuck.
Dock
Like everything with Apple, your Dock is going to come with what they put there. But that doesn’t mean those would be your most used apps. Take a look at what is there, and change it to meet your needs. You can click and drag items off the Dock to the bin to start cleaning them up.
Head to system preference, and click on Dock to change the settings like size, animations, and where they are on the screen.
Tips
Most of the time, Tips and prompts are turned off because they feel bothersome. But actually, if you haven’t used a mac before and you want to get the most out of it. Turn tips on, or leave them on, and when they pop up, check them out.
They might be app suggestions or little wizards to help you set up more of your Mac. They’re worth a few moments of your time.
Shortcuts
If you like to be as efficient as possible, then learning the keyboard shortcuts is going to be great for you. If you’ve used a mac before, you are probably pretty comfortable with them. Moving from a windows computer to a mac will need some adjustment.
There are some common ones and then ones that are more specialized for things like photo editing with paid or free photo editing programs, video editing, and more.
Learn mac shortcuts for a much easier time.
Having a mac that works can be an important step in opening up the world of opportunity to you: Start Your Medical Career with These Remote Learning Courses – Health Listed.
Last Updated on January 5, 2023
