Hey Celia! So, in the market for a used MacBook? You can certainly save cash by going with a used Mac, but remember: you get what you pay for.

You’ll probably find the biggest savings by scouring the listings at eBay or Craigslist, but think twice before snapping up a “pre-owned” Mac (or any used PC, for that matter) from a private party—and if you ask me, you should never buy a second-hand laptop or desktop sight unseen, even if it’s dirt cheap.

After all, what good is a $100 MacBook if it up and dies in a week, taking your data along with it?

 
If you do decide to buy an older Mac from someone on eBay or Craigslist, take a test drive before plunking down your cash (tricky, if the seller isn’t in the same town as you are), and keep in mind that you likely won’t have the protection of a warranty.

Want more assurance that you won’t get stuck with a lemon? If so, consider a refurbished laptop, which will typically have a fresh battery, new components, and perhaps even a new shell.

Yes, a refurbished system will probably be pricier than a plain-old used one, but there will be fewer question marks in terms of reliability—and you may get some type of money-back guarantee or even a (brief) warranty in the bargain.

Apple sells refurbished iMacs and MacBooks for as cheap as $750 or so, and you can find refurbished MacBooks for even cheaper at Amazon (I found an older, white 13-inch MacBook for less than $400). You’ll probably find more refurbished Macs on sale at big-name electronics retailers if you look. Just make sure to check the seller’s warranty and return policy before you buy.

As far as specifications go, I’d suggest getting a Mac that’s capable of running Mountain Lion—the latest version of the Mac operating system.

 
Anything older, and you may end up with a system that’s so sluggish, it’s barely usable.

Most iMacs made since 2007 and the majority of MacBooks manufactured after late 2008 should support Mountain Lion, although the requirements vary depending on the specific system. (Click here for more.)

At the very least, I’d recommend getting a Mac with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor; an Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 chip is even better. Avoid older PowerPC processors altogether.

Also, shoot for a minimum of 2 GB of RAM—the internal memory your system uses for running programs and “core” computing chores. The more RAM your system has, the more digital duties it can handle at once, and the less often you’ll see that aggravating spinning beach ball.

Note: Is the used Mac you’re eyeing have less than 2GB of RAM? If so, keep in mind you can often add more RAM for a reasonable amount of cash. For example, you can double the memory of an old white MacBook from 1GB of RAM to 2GB for less than $40 (more if you want an expert to handle the installation).

Hope that helps, Celia, and best of luck!

Have more questions about what to look for in a used Mac or PC? Post ’em in the comments below.

The post Mac tip: Advice on buying a used MacBook? (reader mail) appeared first on here's the thing.

How to back up your Mac with Time Machine
Having a recent backup of your entire system will save you the heartache of a failed hard drive or a stolen computer—and the good news for Mac users is that Apple’s own backup utility, called Time Machine, couldn’t be easier to set up and use.

Getting the hang of desktop “spaces” in Mission Control
Learn how to get the most out of the virtual desktop “spaces”—each filled with its own assortment of open documents and applications—in Mac OS X Lion, the latest version of the Mac OS.

How to get your missing scroll bars back
While Lion’s no-scroll bar aesthetic might be daring from a design perspective, it’s a bit disorienting for the rest of us. Luckily, it’s easy to get those scroll bars back.

How to paste your signature into a PDF using your Mac’s built-in webcam
Got “Lion”? If so, you can scan your signature using your Mac’s iSight camera, then paste it onto the dotted line of a PDF. Here’s how.

5 new, handy trackpad gestures to try
Pinching, swiping, and tapping have come to the Mac in a big way thanks to Apple’s new “Lion” software update. Here are five new gestures that got my attention.

How to stream all your music from iCloud with iTunes Match
The $25-a-year service will scan your music library and “match” your songs with high-quality versions in iCloud, perfect for streaming from your iPhone or iPad.

How to create a new desktop in Mission Control
Making a new “space” in Mission Control, the Lion feature that gives you a bird’s eye view of all your virtual desktops, is easy—if you know where to look.

How to lock your Mac’s hard drive with File Vault
Apple’s new-and-improved File Vault utility will lock even the most determined thieves out of your Mac’s hard drive. Learn how to turn it on right here.

Why “natural” scrolling feels backwards—and how to turn it off
Mac OS X Lion introduces “natural” scrolling—which means (somewhat counter intuitively) that you flick up on your mouse to scroll down, and down to scroll up. But if you’d rather forget “natural” and go back to normal, there’s an easy way to do it.

How to take charge of where your downloads go
Sick of trying to find where your browser stashed your downloaded files on your Mac? Good news: there’s a better way.

The post 10 tips for taking control of your new Mac appeared first on here's the thing.

Hi Matt! There’s an easy way to check if your MacBook Pro has what it takes to run “Lion,” the latest update to the Mac operating system. Whether Lion’s ready for you is, of course, another question.

Just go to your Mac destop, click the Apple menu in the top-left corner, and select “About This Mac.” Now, in the pop-up window that appears, look where it says “Processor” and read the specification.

Just open the "About This Mac" window to see if your system has the right processor for Lion.

Now, does the processor section have any variation of “PowerPC,” or does it read “Intel Core Duo”? If so, I’m sorry—no Lion for you.

If you have an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, or an Intel Core i3, i5, or i7, good news: you’re ready to upgrade to Lion (and here’s how to do it).

As a general rule of thumb, any iMac or MacBook Pro purchased in late 2006 or later will have at least an Intel Core 2 Duo processor under its hood—which means just about any Mac that’s less than four or five years old should be Lion-ready.

So, Matt: since you got your 17-inch MacBook Pro in 2007, your Mac should be ready for Lion.

But here’s the next question: Is Lion ready for you? After all, Apple only released Lion a few months ago, and fresh operating system updates are prone to glitches and other bugs.

Indeed, there have been reports of various Lion bugs ranging from spotty Wi-Fi reception to poor MacBook battery life. Apple has since released a software patch to iron out at least some of the initial kinks.

I’ve been running Lion on three different Macs since Day One—a 15-inch MacBook Pro from 2007, a MacBook Air from 2009, and a 2010 iMac—and so far, I haven’t run into any serious problems.

Another thing to keep in mind, though, is that Lion sounds the death knell for any software that relies on PowerPC processors—the chips that powered most Macs released before 2006.

EverythingMac has a list of the major software packages that will no longer work under Lion, including Microsoft Office 2004, Intuit Quicken 2007, Adobe Creative Suite 2, and Filemaker 6.

For most of these apps, you can (and probably should) go ahead and simply upgrade to the latest versions, which are designed to work with Intel-based Macs.

Fans of Quicken 2007, however, are in a bit of a pickle, because the latest version of Quicken for the Mac—dubbed “Quicken Essentials”—jettisons many of the robust online and investment features in older versions of the program. Personally, I made the switch from Quicken 2006 (which was the last version I bought) to Essentials without skipping a beat; others, however, may want to explore some alternatives.

Last but not least, Lion features some design quirks that have annoyed many longtime Mac users, including the new “natural” scrolling feature and barely-there scroll bars. Luckily, you can turn back the clock on many of these features by tweaking the right settings in the System Preferences menu.

Hope this helps, Matt. Have more questions? Let me know!

The post Is my Mac ready for “Lion”—and is Lion ready for me? (reader mail) appeared first on here's the thing.

Well, one option is to simply spring for an actual numeric keypad; indeed, several wireless models are available online for $10 and up. But owners of Apple’s touch-sensitive Magic Trackpad—which is increasingly a must for desktop iMac users, given all the clever new gestures available in Mac OS X “Lion”—might not want yet another keypad cluttering their work area.

Enter the Mobee Magic Numpad, a $30 package that includes a trio of reusable plastic films printed with number keys.

Just stick one of the films onto the Magic Trackpad (yes, the firms can be peeled off and reused), download and install the free Numpad software, and voilà—you’ve just turned your Trackpad into a numeric keypad.

The Numpad kit (which I’ve yet to test in person, by the way) comes with three films: one with a “classic” 22-key pad, leaving roughly half of the Magic Trackpad free for finger gestures; another with a “full” layout, complete with Home, End, and arrow keys; and a third with six customizable keys that you can label using the bundled permanent pen.

Interesting idea, although the Magic Numpad appears to be missing a key feature of a standard numeric keypad: physical keys, crucial for accurately tapping in figures while your eyes are focused on your bank statement.

My suggestion for Magic Numpad 2.0? Embossed “keys” that you can feel, perhaps with an additional nub on the “5” key so your fingers don’t get lost.

LINK: Mobee Magic Numpad

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Sound confusing? Sure. After all, most of us are used to having a single desktop on our systems—you know, the one that’s directly in front of us. The idea of have more, “virtual” desktop spaces with open windows that you can’t see can take a little getting used to.

Once you get the hang of it, though, these additional desktop spaces—which you manage in Mac OS X Lion with a new feature, dubbed “Mission Control”—can become addicting, even essential.

Indeed, when I switch to a PC running Windows, which doesn’t have built-in desktop “spaces” like the Mac does, the thought of having only one space for all my windows leaves me feeling cramped and claustrophobic.

Let’s take a quick tour of the desktop spaces in Lion’s new “Mission Control”—and keep in mind that older versions of the Mac operating system also have the “spaces” feature, which you can manage in the System Preferences panel under the Apple menu.

1. First, go ahead and activate Mission Control by clicking its icon in the Mac OS “Dock,” swiping up with three fingertips on your MacBook trackpad, pressing the Mission Control key (the one marked with three little boxes) on your Mac keyboard (it should be in the top row), or by following one of these methods.

2. Now you’ll see an overhead view of all your open applications, windows, and spaces. In the example I’m showing here, we’ve only got two spaces running: the Mac OS “Dashboard,” a window with “widgets” for things like the weather, stock tickers, and news headlines, and a single desktop space.

On my desktop, I have five applications open—Mail, iPhoto, iCal, iTunes, and Safari, not to mention a total of three Safari open windows at once. Yep, things are starting to get a little crowded.

3. OK, time to spread out a little bit. I’d like to deal with my Mail in a completely separate space on my desktop, so it can be open and ready for me without getting lost in a pile of windows. So here’s what we’ll do; I’ll activate Mission Control again, click and hold my Mail window, and then drag it up and over to the upper-right corner of the screen—where all of a sudden, a new “space” with a big “+” sign appears.

4. I drop Mail into my new space, and presto! I now have another desktop (helpfully labeled “Desktop 2”) with just my Mail application open. To visit my new space, I just activate Mission Control and click the Desktop 2 icon, which immediately zooms in and fills my screen. (You can also click the two arrows in the upper-right corner of the Mail window to enter a “Full Screen” mode—or not, it’s up to you.)

5. Now I’ll go ahead and rinse, repeat with more of my open applications, until I have a total of six desktop “spaces” (plus the Dashboard space) going at once. To switch between your desktops, open Mission Control and click the desktop space you want to jump to. You can also scroll though them one-by-one with a sideways three-finger swipe on your trackpad, or by tapping a left or right arrow key on the keyboard while holding down the Control key.

6. Want to start cleaning up your spaces? Activate Mission Control, then hold your mouse over the space you want to close until a circle with an “x” appears on its corner. Click the “x,” and poof—the space will disappear, with any open windows safely sliding over to one of your remaining spaces (so don’t worry, you won’t lose any work).

So, that’s the “what” and “how” of Mission Control’s desktop spaces—but what about the “why”?

As I mentioned earlier, the whole desktop “space” concept may take time to wrap your brain around—and indeed, it changes the way you work.

My wife, for example, used to love having all her open applications and documents on one desktop, or minimized in the Mac OS “Dock” where she could see them. For her, using virtual spaces was an unwelcome jolt to her daily desktop routine.

Personally, though, I love it—and my wife has come to depend on virtual desktop spaces, too. For me, it keeps my desktop activities organized and separated: all my mail is here, my photos are over here, my music’s there, and my calendar’s here. When it’s time to do the books in Quicken, I create a new space and start cranking away—and if work beckons, I can switch spaces, do what needs to be done, then return to my Quicken desktop “space,” with everything there just as I left it.

So, give it a try—and if you have more questions about desktop spaces, Mission Control, or Mac OS X Lion in general, just ask!

The post Mac OS X Lion tip: Getting the hang of desktop “spaces” in Mission Control appeared first on here's the thing.

Also: Find out how to fix Lion’s new, “natural” scrolling feature (which might make sense to Apple, but feels backwards to the rest of us), how to make those missing scroll bars reappear, and how to drag mailboxes into Mail’s new Favorites bar.

Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions!

The post Need help installing Mac OS X Lion? Help is here! appeared first on here's the thing.

Personally, I love the new, cleaner look—but it wasn’t long before I unhid a third column that shows a long, junky list of email folders (a.k.a. mailboxes).

Why? Because I’m constantly sorting new messages in my inbox from one folder or another, and the handful of folder shortcuts in Mail’s new Favorites bar (like Inbox, Drafts, and Sent) simply were sufficient for my frequent message-shuffling needs.

Or so I thought.

It turns out that in Lion, you can drag a mail folder—any mail folder—from the Mailboxes column (which you can reveal by clicking the “Show” button in the upper-left corner of the Mail interface) into the new Favorites bar.

(Related: Top 5 ways that “Lion” turns your Mac into an iPad)

Very nice—and given this is the Mac operating system we’re talking about, I’m a little embarrassed I didn’t just try dragging and dropping those mailboxes earlier.

Best of all, now I can hide that ugly column of mailboxes again. I love it.

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So, want to get “Lion” ($30) purring on your Mac? It’s a dead-easy process, although there is a fair amount of waiting around involved (think about an hour and a half, give or take).

Here’s how to get started.

1. First, check with Apple to make sure your Mac is actually capable of running “Lion.” In general, any Mac sold after late 2006 should be fine. Just be sure your system has an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7 processor; to find out, click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen and select “About this Mac.” Your Mac will also need to be running on “Snow Leopard,” the version of Mac OS X before “Lion.” Again, go to “About this Mac” and make sure the “version” number is “10.6” or higher.
2. Now, a couple more preliminary housekeeping items. Click the Apple menu and select “Software Update” to check for any available software patches from Apple. Then, you should back up your Mac; here’s how to do it.


Make sure your Mac has the most recent system software before installing "Lion."

3. OK, ready for “Lion”? Visit Apple’s Lion product page on the web, then click the blue button that reads “View in Mac App Store.” Then (as you might guess) the Mac App Store should open automatically; click here if it doesn’t.


The "Lion" product page in the Mac App Store.

4. Next, click the button with the $29.99 price tag on it; you’ll be prompted to enter your Apple ID information (or your credit card number, if you haven’t made any purchases in the iTunes Store yet).
5. Once you’ve entered your information, the Lion download should begin automatically. Settle in for a decent wait; on Wednesday afternoon, the first day Lion went on sale, the entire download took me about an hour.


Downloading "Lion" onto your system could take a good hour or so.

6. After the download process is completed, a large window with a big, friendly lion should appear on your desktop, along with the message, “To set up the installation of Mac OS X 10.7, click Continue.” Go ahead and click the Continue button (you’ll also have to accept Apple’s Mac OS license agreement).
7. Next, you’ll be asked which hard drive you’d like Lion to be installed on; select your main Mac hard drive (it’s likely the only one listed) and click “Install.”


You'll be asked to choose the hard drive you want Lion installed on; you main Mac hard drive will likely be the only one listed.

8. Now, it’s time for more waiting. An initial “preparation” process will take about three or four minutes; then, your Mac will restart, and you’re in for another half hour of cooling your heels.
9. Eventually, a window will appear with a big green check mark, indicating that Lion is ready to roar on your Mac. Your system will restart, and … well, that’s it!

Click here for a sneak preview of what to expect from Lion.

The post How to install “Lion” onto your Mac appeared first on here's the thing.

So, what’ll happen to all your precious music, photos, home videos, and other personal files when your hard drive finally conks out? (And it will, eventually.) One word: poof.

And even if your hard drive doesn’t fail you, consider this: what would happen if, say, you left your MacBook on a plane by mistake? Or someone (gulp) stole it? Yes, your hardware would be gone; worse, though, your personal files would be missing, perhaps lost forever.

Having a recent backup of your entire system will save you the heartache of a failed hard drive or a stolen computer—and the good news for Mac users is that Apple’s own backup utility, called Time Machine, couldn’t be easier to set up and use.

What you’ll need:

• An iMac or MacBook running Mac OS X version 10.5 or better. You can check the version of Apple’s system software that your Mac is using by clicking the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen and selecting “About this Mac.” Keep in mind, though, that any iMac or MacBook sold since fall 2007 should already have Mac OS X 10.5 (or better) installed.
• The Mac OS X install disk that came with your Mac. You’ll find it in your original iMac or MacBook box, along with your system manuals and other pamphlets. You won’t need the disk right away, but you will need it in case you ever need to restore your entire hard drive, so keep it handy.
• An external USB 2.0 hard drive. You can find plenty of them on Amazon and other online stores, and I recommend buying one that a) is Mac-compatible (all hard drives are, really, but so-called “Mac-compatible” drives have already been formatted for the Mac operating system, saving you the hassle) and b) at least as large as the hard drive in your iMac or MacBook. (To find out how large the hard drive is on your Mac, right-click the main hard drive icon on your desktop, select “Get Info,” and look for “Capacity” in the window that opens.)

Also, if you’re buying an backup drive for a MacBook, consider a portable drive that draws power from its USB cable—meaning no need for a separate AC adapter. Portable hard drives are incredibly handy, especially for backing up a laptop; keep in mind, however, that they’re pricier than larger desktop external drives with individual AC plugs (which may be the best choice for desktop iMac systems).

Now, what follows may look a little intimidating—a huge list of steps, right? But don’t worry. The Time Machine backup process is incredibly easy, especially once it’s all set up. This won’t hurt a bit.

OK … so you have your hard drive ready and your Mac powered on. Ready to begin? Let’s get started!

• First, plug your new hard drive into a free USB port on your Mac (look along the side if you have a MacBook, or in back for iMacs). It’ll whir for a few seconds as your Mac scans its contents, and then an icon for your backup drive will appear on your desktop.
• After a few more seconds, a pop-up window will appear, reading “Do you want to use [the name of your new hard drive] to back up with Time Machine?” Click the “Use as Backup Disk” button.
• Next, the Time Machine control panel will open … and now, you can pretty much relax, as your Mac will begin to back itself up to your external drive after a two-minute countdown.
• Once the actual backing-up process begins, you should prepare to hurry up and wait. Because Time Machine is backing up all your files for the first time, the entire process could take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on how much music, video, photos, and other files are sitting on your hard drive. The good news, though, is that subsequent backups will be much faster, as Time Machine will only be looking for data that’s changed since the previous backup.
• While you’re waiting for the first backup to finish, check out out some of the available options. For example: If you want to see what Time Machine is up to without opening its control panel under System Preferences (which you can find at any time under the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen), check the “Show Time Machine status in the menu bar” box. My recommendation: go ahead and check the box.
• You can also—if you wish—specify specific folders on your Mac that you don’t want Time Machine to back up. (Personally, I don’t bother with this setting, but it may come in handy in some cases—particularly if you have additional hard drives besides a backup drive connected to your Mac.) Click the “Options” button, the click the little “+” box beneath the window of excluded directories (you’ll notice that your backup drive is already listed). Now, find and select and folders or external hard drives that you’d rather have Time Machine go ahead and skip.
• Two more options you’ll find under the “Options” button: one that lets Time Machine run even when your MacBook isn’t plugged into a wall outlet (personally, I suggest you leave this box unchecked), and another that will alert you if your backup drive gets full and old Time Machine backs need to be deleted (check the box, I say).
• When your first backup is finally finished, the little spinning Time Machine icon at the top of the screen will stop … and that’s it! From now on, Time Machine will back up your Mac every hour, so long as your backup drive is connected.

So, now you have Time Machine up and running. What are the best ways to use it on a day-to-day basis?

If you have an iMac, I recommend keeping your backup drive connected all the time. That way, you can pretty much forget about Time Machine—it will keep backing up your Mac every hour, whenever your Mac is powered on.

If you have a MacBook, it probably isn’t feasible to have a backup drive—even a smaller, portable one—connected all the time. Instead. keep your new drive somewhere handy (I have mine tucked away in a nearby closet) and try connecting it once a day or so, whenever you know you’ll be working (or relaxing) with your MacBook for at least a half-hour.

And remember—the more often your back up your Mac with Time Machine, the faster each “incremental” backup will go.

Now: Let’s say something bad happens. Maybe you deleted a file you didn’t mean to—or, worse yet, you Mac refuses to boot up, and clerks at the Apple Store shake their heads sadly and tell you your main hard drive has given up the ghost. Now what?

If you need to retrieve a single file…
Open Time Machine in your Applications folder, or by clicking the green Time Machine icon in your desktop dock; when you do, your entire desktop will slide away and a window for your main hard drive will appear—complete with several (or even dozens) of similar windows all lined up behind the first, stretching back into what looks to be the Milky Way galaxy. Weird, right?

Each of those windows you’re seeing represents a previous backup stored by Time Machine—think of them as “snapshots” taken in the previous hours, days, weeks, and (eventually) months.

So, let’s say there was a photo on your desktop that you accidentally deleted, just now. With Time Machine, you can essentially … well, go back in time and snatch it back.

• Move your mouse to the column of white notches along the side of the screen; as you do, the notches should stretch out, revealing labels with dates and times.
• Just click a notch from, say, an hour ago, and if your missing photo was sitting on your desktop at that moment, you’ll see it sitting there again, just as it was.
• Select the photo, and click the “Restore” button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
• Presto! The photo will be back on your present-day desktop, rescued from oblivion.

If you need to restore your entire hard drive…
OK, so say the hard drive on your iMac up and died—or, scarier yet, you left your MacBook at Starbucks and someone made off with it.

In those nightmare scenarios, the good news is that you’ve been keeping regular backups with Time Machine, and not all is lost. Once you get a new hard drive for your Mac—or a new system altogether—you can restore your backed-up files with Time Machine.

• Connect your Time Machine backup drive to your new (or repaired) Mac.
• Next, power on your system, then insert the Mac OS X installation disk that came with your iMac or MacBook.
• After a moment or two, an icon that reads “Install Mac OS X” should appear on your desktop. Double-click it, then click the Utilities button at the bottom of the pop-up window; you’ll then be prompted to restart your Mac by clicking the Restart button.
• Once your system restarts, you’ll be asked to pick a startup language; don’t worry just click the language of your choice, and move on.
• You’ll then arrive at a window that reads: “Install Mac OS X.” Now, look at the menu bar at the top of the screen; see where it says “Utilities”? Click that, then select “Restore System from Backup” at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
• Follow the instructions … and within an hour or so (depending on how many files you have in your backup drive), your music, videos, settings, and other personal files should be back where they belong. Phew!

Questions about this whole process? Let me know!

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