I hate my MacBook Pro. What now?

The thing I hate hate hate about my MBP 15" is the non-standard (to me) keyboard. I'm so sick of playing twister with my keyboard on my MBP. I so miss backspace, home, end, pg dn, pg up, etc keys. Mark to end of file: Shift-Fn-Cntl-Right Arrow!!! Arggghhh. I'm constantly hitting Cntl-Left Arrow, only to move to another workspace instead of beginning of line (that's Fn-Left Arrow). Then I return to work and hit all the wrong keys that I "learned" on my Mac. And the correct key combinations are different whether I'm on my Mac, Windows under Parallels, or logged into work via Citrix. I simply can't say I'm as productive on my Mac as on my Windows machine at work.

I'll be ditching m MBP in the near future. I gave it a good try (3 years). I may give Linux a go next, with VMWare or Virtual Box to run Windows when needed. My MBP experience has driven home that I need a full keyboard on my laptop - other manufacturers also have "abbreviated" keyboards on their smaller models, so this isn't unique to MBP.

I really wish the Mac had worked for me. Although overpriced, the hardware is really sweet. The software and O/S...good points and bad points. I've got lots of RAM and an upgraded SSD, but my MBP still freezes on me and I get LONG spinning beach balls at times.

"It just works"? Nah, that's just marketing spin.

I hate mine too. Advantages are the instant start up, quality screen but compared with Windows' laptops everything is soo hard. I really don't have time to spend Googling on how to do just about everything I found so easy before or time to go to workshops. Nothing seems intuitive. I could not possibly remember all the short cuts and especially as I work with PCs it's like using two languages side by side. I really had this idea that my Macbook Pro would make life so much easier.

Time is the answer. I've always used Macs (18, I think, in the family not counting iDevices) so, when required to add a Windoze computer to my menagerie of Macs at work (I'm now retired) I sat in front of the Beast thinking, "Could you think of a dumber way to do things? Probably not!"

But, guess what? I figured stuff out. Also got by with a little help from my friends who are still on the Dark Side. So now I maintain three Win computers for a museum where I vounteer. I was the volunteer who could spell "computer correctly 75 percent of the time!

A famous US Border Patrol Agent, Bill Jordan, wrote that, at academy graduation when they issued him his new, stiff duty hat, it fit terribly--nothing but extreme discomfort. He quipped, "However, after I was forced to wear the thing for months, I found my head had changed shape to accommodate it!"

Thanks for the re-assurance Mark. I guess I was expecting opening the mac to be like using my iphone which was simple from outset. Guess that was a little naive of me. But you are right I will try to stop panicking and remember it takes time to learn something new. I will pick up the book and try as you suggest. :-)

Thanks very much to everyone that was supportive. Pleased to report that you were right - time and practice was the answer for me. Can't understand why i made such a fuss now. So simple once I got the idea that everything I open on the mac works following same basic programme. And if I dont like something 'well then there is an app for that'. Favourite app is Alfred! Best of all I am no longer losing precious time rebooting, hanging, locked up etc. That is not to say that the Mac doesnt do these things but it isnt a biggy because everything is restored before I know it. Also a little time watching You Tube videos to get the basics has been really valuable. I no longer hate my mac, I rather like it.

@BAGgotartist,

Mac users can be jerks at times, but that's often because they've been treated as second class citizens for going on three decades so don't take it personally. If you don't like the Mac go back to your preferred OS, but try to give it some time first. Adapting to a new OS can take a while but you may find it was worth the effort.

Starting a topic with "I hate my MacBook Pro. What now?" is a jerk magnet. Not all Mac users are buttheads, but many can be for the reason mentioned above. If you prefer Windows you can always use Boot Camp to run it natively instead of OS X or use a VM to run it while you acclimate. If you still want to give OS X a shot, ask your questions here and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Mark

I cannot bulk name my pictures so that I can find them easily and remember what they were taken for.

But you can...

iPhoto calls them Albums. You create the albums yourself in the File menu. And you name the albums yourself.

And you can move photos from one album to another at will. Or delete them, or whatever.

An example:

I'm not sure about iPhoto, but an editing program I've been using for over a decade, GraphicConverter 9, has the capability to batch rename.

It might be overkill, but I'm sure there are others. Google "Mac file batch rename" and see what pops up.

I'm older than you are so age isn't the problem.

Macs are easier, but they're not magic. You don't open the lid and automatically have knowledge injected into your brain. Pick up a Mac for Dummies book, do some reading and do it in front of the computer. Try things out as you read about them. The more you use it the more you get used to it.

Allan, that quote is perfect - thanks for posting it. You are, of course, quite right. I will get used to it with time and practise. Both your posts remind me that it just takes a little time to learn new things but if we keep at it then we get there. I will try and take a leaf out of your book with the windows machine and keep calm, carry on. It is good to know that all ages are using macs and it is not only the realm of young whizzy people. Thanks again for your kindness :-)

Another way to batch rename something is using folder actions. I have a folder setup with folder action turned on. Anytime I add a file or multiple files to the directory, it will either auto rename the files to the directory name_xxx where xxx is a number or it will also pop up a menu box asking if I want to type a name in at which point it will rename them with the input name_xxx. I also have a rotate folder with right, left, up, and down folders that will flip or rotate the images when I drag and drop them into the respective folder. Its one of the neat perks of Mac OS over Windows.

Now if only I could grasp this Apple Script stuff. I know enough about JavaScript to be dangerous but Apple Script is a whole different world to me. I can see how it make sense and I have no trouble debugging Apple Script but just trying to build from scratch is another story especially with the extremely confusing dictionary file which is really no help at all as far as I am concerned. Then try scripting a MS Word or Excel with Apple Script and your head really starts spinning because of the crazy way you have to talk to MS because of the Old MS basic roots. Thankfully I don't really need to script an MS Office product but I had looked into it just as part of trying to see what I could script and I was baffled by what I found.

ohh don't get so upset about something like that ,do you how many people go crazy to get a macbook ,anyways since your new to macbook I guess ,if you are ,then welcome to the family ,ok to the main point if you are close to any apple retail store you can book workshop appointment they have all the programs that apple has in MacBooks,go to apple website you can choose watch program you like to learn and it will tell you when the next lesson is , usually they do it in the morning , you can choose to to it with a group, ore you can do it one on one ,

ones you learn how to use your MacBook you will never say that again :-) bast of luck 🙂

I can see it but can't go to it 😟

I'm having terrible trouble even going to common websites like hgtv.com for example (we won't even discuss how difficult web research is to do). Safari says repeatedly that it can't open xyz.com...(in another tab I have a google window open and in a third tab an internet speed test going on), so it's not my internet. I am just really hating this Macbook Pro right now 😟

ohhh 😁😁hahahah i see it now i was so focus on responding to it i didn't look it the date ,thanks for the heads up🙂

Before sending it off to the trash bin, check out the iPhoto manuals at the link below.

http://support.apple.com/downloads/#consumersoftware