Mac Basics - Part 1 - Preview

So you're new to the Mac? Perhaps a recent switcher across from Windows? Or maybe you like what you see with the iPad and iPhone and decided to get a Mac?

This is the first part of a multi-part series to be spread out over the next month or two, to bring you up to speed on the basics of using a Mac. No prior experience needed, the tutorial takes you through first principals of owning an using a Mac.

Despite having over 300 tutorials in the ScreenCastsOnline archive, the realisation struck that the original episodes covering Mac basics are very, very old. So old in fact, that they are based on Tiger!

This episode addresses this failing by starting to cover the basics of using a Mac using a modern Mac with Lion.

We've covered Lion before, but from the perspective of an existing Mac user upgrading from Leopard or Snow Leopard, and those tutorials (including the SCOtutor for Lion App), assumed some basic knowledge of using a Mac.

These new episodes assume no such knowledge, and are intended for complete Mac beginners.

In this first part, I take a look at first principles including configuring your Mac, how you interact with it as well as using the basic features of the Desktop, MenuBar and Dock.