307 of 313 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great book from Pogue press, December 18, 2007
This review is from: Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual (Paperback)
Pogues' books on Mac keep getting better and better. This book covers all of the features in Leopard in detail. For those that have used Tiger the missing manual will not be disappointed at all by this book.
For the new Mac user this book covers all of the essentials to get started. It also gives you the tools to go in depth with Leopard. For the experienced Mac users there is still so much valuable information here to make it well worth the purchase. All of the applications that come with Tiger are covered in good detail. Dash board, Spotlight, Apple remote desktop, Sherlock, iTunes, iSync, iChat .Mac, Safari RSS for internet feeds, iDVD, iChat, iPhoto, iCal, iMic, iMovie, iDisk, iSync and iTunes, Apple Script and Image Capture to name a few.
Also covered in detail is converting from Windows to Mac for the new Mac user.
Creating user accounts is covered along with file and directory permissions, configuring the user environment and user preferences, passwords and other elements of security.
The Intel chip set is covered in detail.
There are a myriad of new features and features that have been changed or have been enhanced. There are so many new features that are not intuitive in Leopard. This book helps you through these with ease. Throughout the book there are There are lots of well placed screen shots to guide you.
The book is methodically laid out in an order that makes sense. It is filled with tips and how to's. For the user coming from Windows to Mac this book will be a tremendous help. It will really simplify things that could be fairly daunting. Even for the veteran Mac user this book will be very handy.
There are several informational snippets:
Power user's guide: Explains the more technical details of the subject being described.
Frequently asked questions: This is pretty self explanatory.
Work around workshop: These sections detail why you can't do something but then gives you a work around.
Gem in the rough: Shows you how to share with other Mac and non Mac machines.
Up to speed: These sections walk you through speeding up your machine and various applications.
Not quite as much humor in this book as with other books in the Missing manual series perhaps because of the depth and breadth of the material covered. As with all Pogue press books this is very easy read. It is detailed but not cumbersome. There are so many new features in Leopard that this book is a must. Pogue press consistently produces the best Mac books and this is no exception. 5 Stars for the Beginner to intermediate user 4 stars for the advanced user.
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74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My iMac should have come with this manual, December 22, 2007
This review is from: Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual (Paperback)
As a new iMac owner and a refugee from the Windows world, I've found this book to be invaluable for figuring out the inner workings of my new machine. I originally thought that I wouldn't need a book, that everything would be intuitive and easy to understand. But there are some things that you just need a book for, learning the keyboard shortcuts, what each application does, what the file structure looks like, etc.
This book is very entertaining and fun to read. Pogue has a good sense of humor and does a great job pointing out the features of this OS. I've found countless "Oh, that's how you do it!" tips so far, from the mundane "How do you right-click?" to the expert "How do I share the network with my Windows XP, Vista, and various Linux machines?" He covers it all--and I mean ALL.
I can't recommend this book highly enough, especially for new computer users and those of us switching from Windows machines. I'm Windows, Unix, and Linux certified up the wazoo, and even I needed this book to get me going. There are so very many tips and tricks that you will learn--things that make sense and which enhance your experience with this well-crafted OS. Every penny spent on this book will have been well worth it.
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67 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No better Manual for OS X Leopard, January 3, 2008
This review is from: Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual (Paperback)
The preeminent general reference source for Mac OS 10 has always been the "Missing Manual Series" written by David Pogue. The latest iteration in the series is its Mac OS 10 Leopard Edition, completely revised, and it is the biggest, most comprehensive, and most useful of all the editions in the series. It covers the OS X desktop and file system, the free applications included with the OS X installation, the system components and technologies, networking and online features and components, and includes welcome appendices on installation, troubleshooting, Windows/Mac comparisons, and a "Master Keystroke" list.
Every one of the editions has been exceedingly well-designed and written combining serious treatment of subject content with style, wit, and humor, as well as honest evaluation and critique of features of the Mac operating system. All of the OS X Missing Manuals have addressed issues for a broad range of users, from the lightly experienced, the intermediate, and for power users. For the most part, however, the primary focus of each edition has been on the less experienced users. This has changed with the Leopard edition.
There seems to have been a deliberate effort to make the book more appealing and useful to upper-end users without losing any utility at all for others. There seems to be more material for power users- -there are more "Power Users Guides" providing advanced information and techniques, more UNIX references for those willing and able to take avail of the UNIX kernel underlying the operating system, more identifications of keyboard shortcuts, and more disclosure of undocumented and advanced features than in previous editions.
For example, Pogue itemizes and describes at least 20 UNIX utilities that only power users would want to use, explains how to configure preferences for the Terminal application, explains how to deal with the file and folder permissions system using UNIX commands, and even notes the existence of the venerable "Eliza" therapist emulator program hidden in a part of the emacs text editor. At each juncture of describing operating system features, Pogue explains from the perspective of different levels of users, including the power user, like himself. Unlike in many other books purporting to cover a broad range of users, this one does not short on the higher-end.
This is all well and good as casual users are still widely well-taken care of by the thorough and well-organized explanations of nearly every feature of OS 10.5. The book is illustrated profusely with screenshots of system features, configuration processes, comparison of the Mac OS X versions, comparisons of Mac OS X to Windows features, and more. Nearly every page is loaded with "Tips," "Notes," FAQ's, lists, tables, and sidebars. Throughout, there are nuggets of insight and technical arcana that even Mac veterans will be surprised to learn about. I learned, for example, that the one-button Apple Mighty Mouse has a secret 2-button feature. Also there is a similar way to operate a laptop with a two finger trackpad technique. There are a lot of tips and tricks like that in the book. Even beyond description and explanation, Pogue provides useful recommendations for configurations of the Dock, recovery from common errors, and using Automator to design practical workflows for common tasks.
The subject content builds upon that of previous editions and updates it with material relating to the 300-plus new features of Leopard. Much of the new material covers the Leopard update highlights - the backup program called Time Machine, a desktop switching application called Spaces, the Stacks organizing feature, the file previewer, QuickLook, and the feature enhancements in iChat, Mail, and especially Spotlight, the search tool.
Spotlight is much more than a mere search tool although it is a great one. A whole chapter is devoted to it alone. Pogue explains how to use it not just for casual and advanced searching (using over 125 types of data and metadata) but as a quick launcher of files, folders, and applications; as a calculator; and as a dictionary. Sophisticated query languages can be used and Pogue lists a series of power user keyboard shortcuts for Spotlight use.
I see the book as especially useful for those Windows users of all levels gravitating to the Mac platform. Not only is the treatment of the Mac OS done well, but at nearly every juncture, Pogue takes the perspective of a Windows user and provides practical comparisons and contrasts of operating systems.
Weaving all of these perspectives into a harmonious, readable manual is a fine achievement. The content discussions and explanations are never abstract but written from the viewpoint of the thoughtful and practical user and no one is better at this than David Pogue who has been cited before as one of the world's best (technical) communicators. The denseness of the treatment of the subject content diminishes somewhat from the readability of the book compared to prior editions and there is a bit less wit, humor and style. That is the trade-off, I presume, for the increased breadth and depth of the content treatment but this Missing Manual is still as well written as a computer manual can be expected to be.
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