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MacBook Pro User Guide

Posted: Thursday, January 15, 2009

by Ben T Wilson
http://www.considermac.com

1) First steps (a) Unpacking Remove your MacBook Pro from the box and place it on a firm surface near an electric socket. In the box, you should also have

an 85W MagSafe Power Adaptor
a power cord
a DVI to VGA adaptor

(b) Charging Strip the plastic film from the 85W MagSafe Power Adaptor. Ensure the plug sits properly in the Power Adaptor and place it in the electric socket. Take the other end of the Power Adaptor lead and connect it to the magnetic MagSafe power port on the left-hand side of your MacBook Pro.

If the Power Adaptor lead wont stretch to your nearest electric socket, remove the plug from the adaptor by pulling it up. Beneath the plug is a socket. Insert one end of the power cord into the adaptor socket and the other into the electric socket.

Please note: always disconnect your MacBook Pro from the electricity by pulling the plugs and not the leads.

An amber light on the MagSafe connector at the power port tells you the MacBook Pro battery is charging. When a green light appears, the battery is fully charged. If no light appears, check the connections and make sure youve switched on the electric socket.

(c) Basic features When you open your MacBook Pro, youll find

an iSight camera and camera indicator light at the top of the screen
stereo speakers either side of the keyboard
a power button on the right of the keyboard
a microphone to the left of the keyboard
a trackpad and a trackpad button

From left to right along the front edge of the MacBook Pro are

an infrared (IR) receiver
a sleep mode indicator light
a display release button
a slot-loading SuperDrive

From left to right on the left-hand side of your MacBook Pro are

a MagSafe power port
one USB 2.0 port (15 inch model); two USB 2.0 ports (17 inch model)
an audio line in/optical digital audio in port
a headphone out/optical digital audio out port
an ExpressCard/34 slot

From left to right on the right-hand side of your MacBook Pro are

a security slot for a cable and lock
a USB 2.0 port
a FireWire 400 port
a FireWire 800 port
a Gigabit Ethernet port (10/100/1000Base-T)
a DVI port

Underneath your MacBook Pro is the battery. The battery has a row of indicator lights and a button.

2) Initial set-up (a) Setup Assistant Switch on your MacBook Pro by pressing the power button. Setup Assistant will come up on the screen.

Setup Assistant takes you through the process of establishing your user account and your email and Internet details. If you have another Mac and want to carry files and applications from it to your MacBook Pro, Setup Assistant will show you how. If you want to transfer such information at a later date, use Migration Assistant instead.

Select the Applications folder
Open Utilities
Double-click Migration Assistant

If you have another Mac you dont intend to use in the future, and youve bought music, audiobooks, films or TV shows with iTunes, de-authorise the computer. For more details, go to the iTunes Help menu and select iTunes Help.

(b) Internet connection You can connect wirelessly to the Internet using your MacBook Pros built-in AirPort Extreme facility. For more information

go to the Menu Bar
select Help>Mac Help
search for AirPort

Alternatively, connect an Ethernet cable to the port on the right-hand side of your MacBook Pro. Place the other end in a cable modem, DSL modem or network.

For a dial-up Internet connection

buy an external Apple USB Modem
place it in one of your MacBook Pros USB ports
connect a phone lead from a phone jack to the modem

(c) Sleep mode Use the sleep mode on your MacBook Pro if you stop work for a short period. To start the sleep mode, you have the following choices:

select Apple>Sleep on the Menu Bar
close the screen
press the power button and select sleep in the dialogue box
select Apple>System Preferences; choose Energy Saver; set the timer

Please note: dont move your MacBook Pro until the sleep indicator light on the front edge comes on. This tells you the hard disc has stopped. If you move the MacBook Pro with the disc still spinning, you can damage the disc and lose data.

To wake your MacBook Pro from sleep mode:

open the screen if you closed it, or
if the screen is open, press any key or the power button

(d) Shut down If youve finished work on your MacBook Pro for the day, shut it down by either

selecting Apple>Shut Down on the Menu Bar, or
pressing the power button and selecting Shut Down in the dialogue box

3) Using the trackpad With the trackpad, you can:

scroll
Click
double-click
drag
move the pointer

To control the distance you send the pointer across the screen, adjust the speed of your finger on the trackpad:

Move your finger slowly to send the pointer a short distance
Move your finger fast to send the pointer further

Other features of the trackpad include the following:

Two finger scrolling. Scroll in any direction by making the same movements with two fingers on the trackpad.
Secondary or right clicking. Use shortcut menu commands by placing two fingers on the trackpad and clicking the trackpad button.

Some trackpad features apply to certain applications:

Two finger rotating. By rotating two fingers on the trackpad, you can turn images and text.
Two finger pinching. By pinching together and pushing apart two fingers on the trackpad, you can zoom in or out.
Three finger swiping. Flick through a series of images or the pages of a document by swiping three fingers on the trackpad.

If you want to fine-tune and set trackpad options

select Apple>System Preferences
click Keyboard & Mouse
click Trackpad

For more information

select Help>Mac Help
click Trackpad

4) Quick Mac OS X guide (a) Introduction Your MacBook Pro has the Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard operating system. This controls your applications, files and peripheral devices, and works in a similar fashion to Windows.

(b) The basics Your basic controls are the keyboard and trackpad. Windows users find they have to use the keyboard and trackpad fewer times on the MacBook Pro to achieve comparable results.

(c) Main features To help you manage and navigate everything successfully on your MacBook Pro, there are four main features:

Desktop
Dock
Finder
Menu bar

Desktop Desktop is your starting point each time you use your MacBook Pro. It stores items such as files and images.

The first icon youll come across on Desktop is the Macintosh HD (hard drive). Other icons appear when you use the various functions of your MacBook Pro. To view an icons files and applications, double-click it.

Also note that

if you connect a device to your MacBook Pro, an icon appears on the Desktop

if you allow other users on your MacBook Pro, each one can have a Desktop

when you run applications, Desktop always lies behind them

Dock The Dock is a row of icons lying at the bottom of your MacBook Pro screen. Click on an icon to reach the files and applications it contains.

When a window appears on the screen, it has three buttons in the top left corner.

The red button closes the window
The yellow button minimises the window to the Dock
The green button maximises and minimises the windows size

Finder The icon on the far left of the Dock is the Finder. Use the Finder to navigate and manage your MacBook Pros files and applications.

Menu Bar The Menu Bar is a line at the top of the MacBook Pros screen.

With the Menu Bar, you can

see recent work
view and adjust settings and applications
end applications
interact with a programme
log in and out
put the MacBook Pro into sleep mode
begin restart
switch off your MacBook Pro

Customising desktop To customise Desktop, select the System Preferences icon in the Dock or Apple>System Preferences on the Menu Bar. For more details of what you can do, select Mac Help and search for System Preferences or for the item you want to change.

5) Connectivity Your MacBook Pro has a comprehensive range of ports for printers, phones, iPods, cameras, joysticks, hard drives and so on. As well as USB 2.0 ports, you have a FireWire 400 and a FireWire 800. These are ideal for connecting high speed devices such as video cameras.

The DVI port allows you to connect a monitor, TV or projector. If you have a VGA device, then simply use the supplied DVI/VGA adaptor.

Use the audio line in/optical digital audio in port to connect digital audio equipment or a microphone. Use the headphone out/optical digital audio out port for audio equipment, headphones or speakers.

The ExpressCard/34 slot accepts all standard 34mm ExpressCards. Please note that when you want to remove a card, push it gently first.

6) Battery When you use the MacBook Pro without the MagSafe Power Adaptor, the time you can run the computer depends on your applications and the peripheral devices that are draining the batterys power. You can save battery energy by removing unnecessary devices and by switching off your AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth features when youre not using them.

Press the button on the battery to check the energy level. The lights at the side of the button tell you how much charge you have left, if any. You can also inspect the battery level by simply checking the battery status icon in the Menu Bar.

The battery can be charged at any time. Youll find you can charge it more quickly, however, when your MacBook Pro is in sleep mode or switched off.

If you want to replace a failing battery with a full charged one, always shut down your MacBook Pro first.

Mac computers Mac Book Pro

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)

» left by jo from earth 2 years 142 days ago.

did you write this for morons?

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