MacBook For Dummies

LEARN HOW TO DRIVE THE COOLEST LAPTOP ON THE PLANET

You took the plunge, paid extra, and—even though it looks and feels like perfection—have that fleeting doubt: is my MacBook really worth the investment? You'll be pleased to know that the answer is totally yes, and MacBook For Dummies is the ultimate way to learn the thousand and one reasons why the MacBook Pro or Air you now own is a modern masterpiece—as well as the ten thousand and one (and counting) things you can do with it. With its super-smooth performance, top-shelf LED screen, rugged reliability, and powerful, trouble-free operating system, you're going to have a lot of fun.

Keeping jargon to a minimum, Mark L. Chambers—prolific tech author and all-round Mac whiz—gives you a friendly, step-by-step welcome to everything MacBook, from reviewing the hardware and powering up for the first time to getting familiar with files, security settings, launching apps, and entering the digital netherworld of iCloud. Then, with the basics reassuringly in place, you can begin your journey to power-user mastery in whatever areas of MacBook-ing you're most interested in, from doing the accounts in Numbers to perfecting that soon-to-be-released cinematic classic (with original score) using iMovie and GarageBand.

* Get familiar with the latest macOS, Big Sur
* Communicate with Messages and FaceTime
* Stream music, movies, and TV shows
* Manage and edit photos and video clips

Whether you're a PC convert, Mac veteran, or completely new to the astonishing potential of the MacBook world, you'll find everything you need to get the most out of the technical marvel that's now at your command.

MARK L. CHAMBERS has written more than thirty computer books. His recent titles include Macs For Seniors For Dummies, 4th Edition and iMac For Dummies, 10th Edition. Mark is currently a full-time author and tech editor—and an unabashed Mac fan.

INTRODUCTION 1

Foolish Assumptions 1

About This Book 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

PART 1: TIE MYSELF DOWN WITH A DESKTOP? PREPOSTEROUS! 5

CHAPTER 1: HEY, IT REALLY DOES HAVE EVERYTHING I NEED 7

An Overview of Your Mac Laptop 8

The parts you probably recognize 9

The holes called ports 11

Don’t forget the parts you can’t see 13

Meet the MacBooks 14

Comparing the MacBooks 15

Look, Ma, no moving parts! 17

Whoa! Where’s my familiar USB port? 18

Sharing a CD or DVD drive 19

Location, Location, Location! 20

Unpacking and Connecting Your Laptop 21

Unpacking for the road warrior 21

Connecting Cables 101 22

Great — a Lecture about Handling My Laptop 23

An Overview of Mac Software Goodness 23

What comes with my laptop? 24

Connecting to the Internet from your lap 24

Applications that rock 25

Boot Camp For Dummies 25

Other Stuff That Nearly Everyone Wants 26

CHAPTER 2: TURNING ON YOUR PORTABLE POWERHOUSE 29

Tales of the On Button 30

Mark’s Favorite Signs of a Healthy Laptop 30

You Won’t Lecture Me about Batteries, Will You? 31

Setting Up and Registering Your Laptop 34

Your iCloud account is your friend 34

Setting up macOS Big Sur 35

Registering your MacBook 36

Importing Stuff from Another Mac 37

Importing Stuff from Windows (If You Must) 39

CHAPTER 3: THE MACBOOK OWNER’S INTRODUCTION TO MACOS BIG SUR 41

Your Own Personal Operating System 42

The Big Sur Desktop 43

Meet me at the Dock 43

Check out that Control Center 44

Dig those crazy icons 45

There’s no food on this menu 45

The Finder menu bar is your friend 47

There’s always room for one more window 47

Wait a Second: Where the Heck Are the Mouse Buttons? 48

Launching and Quitting Applications with Aplomb 51

Performing Tricks with Finder Windows 55

Scrolling in and resizing windows 55

Minimizing and restoring windows 56

Moving and zooming windows 57

Closing windows 58

Juggling Folders and Icons 59

A field observer’s guide to icons 59

Selecting items 61

Copying items 62

Moving things from place to place 63

Duplicating in a jiffy 63

Using Finder Tabs 64

Keys and Keyboard Shortcuts to Fame and Fortune 65

Special keys on the keyboard 65

Using the Finder and application keyboard shortcuts 66

Home, Sweet Home Folder 67

Working with Mission Control 69

Switching Desktops with Spaces 70

Personalizing Your Desktop 72

Taking Control of Your MacBook 73

Customizing the Dock 74

Adding applications and extras to the Dock 75

Keeping track with Stacks 76

Resizing the Dock 77

What’s with the Trash? 78

All You Really Need to Know about Printing 79

And Just in Case You Need Help 81

The Big Sur built-in Help system 81

The Apple web-based support center 81

Magazines 81

Local Mac user groups 82

PART 2: SHAKING HANDS WITH MACOS BIG SUR 83

CHAPTER 4: WHAT’S NEW IN MACOS BIG SUR? 85

Introducing the Control Center 85

The Return of the Widgets 86

Your Guide to the Perfect Trip 87

Safari Covers New Ground 87

Messages Adds Effects, Images, and Pins? 87

Becoming One with Your Battery 88

CHAPTER 5: A NERD’S GUIDE TO SYSTEM PREFERENCES 89

An Explanation — without Jargon, No Less 90

Locating That Certain Special Setting 92

Popular Preferences Panes Explained 93

The Displays pane 94

The Desktop & Screen Saver pane 95

Mission Control preferences 97

The General pane 99

The Battery pane 101

The Dock & Menu Bar pane 102

The Sharing pane 104

The Time Machine pane 105

Apple ID preferences 107

Notifications preferences 108

CHAPTER 6: SIFTING THROUGH YOUR STUFF 111

Doing a Basic Search 112

How Cool is That? Discovering What Spotlight Can Do 115

Expanding Your Search Horizons 116

Customizing Spotlight to Your Taste 118

CHAPTER 7: USING REMINDERS, NOTES, NOTIFICATIONS, AND MAPS 121

Remind Me to Use Reminders 122

Taking Notes the Big Sur Way 125

Staying Current with Notification Center 127

Introducing the Maps Application 128

Switching Views in Maps 130

Getting Directions Over Yonder 131

Creating and Using Guides 133

PART 3: CONNECTING AND COMMUNICATING 135

CHAPTER 8: LET’S GO ON SAFARI! 137

Pretend You’ve Never Used This Thing 137

Visiting Websites 139

Navigating the Web 141

Configuring Your Home Page and Start Page 144

Adding and Using Bookmarks 145

Working with the Reading List 148

Downloading Files 149

Using History 150

Tabs Are Your Browsing Friends 150

Printing Web Pages 152

Protecting Your Privacy 153

Yes, there are such things as bad cookies 154

Banishing pesky iCloud Keychain passwords 155

Handling ancient history 155

Setting notifications 156

Avoiding those @*!^%$ pop-up ads 156

CHAPTER 9: ICLOUD IS MADE FOR MACBOOKS 157

So How Does iCloud Work, Anyway? 158

Moving, Saving, and Opening iCloud Documents 159

Putting Handoff to Work 160

Expanding Your Horizons with Sidecar 161

Configuring iCloud 161

Managing Your iCloud Storage 163

CHAPTER 10: YOUR LAPTOP GOES MULTIUSER 165

Once Upon a Time (an Access Fairy Tale) 166

Big-Shot Administrator Stuff 167

Deciding who needs what access 167

Adding users 168

Modifying user accounts 170

I banish thee, mischievous user! 172

Setting up login items and managing access 174

Tackling Mundane Chores for the Multiuser Laptop 178

Logging in and out of Big Sur For Dummies 179

Interesting stuff about sharing stuff 182

Encrypting your Home folder can be fun 182

CHAPTER 11: WORKING WELL WITH NETWORKS 185

What Exactly is the Network Advantage? 186

Should You Go Wired or Wireless? 187

Be a Pal: Share Your Internet! 189

Using your MacBook as a sharing device 189

Using a dedicated Internet-sharing device 189

What Do I Need to Connect? 190

Wireless connections 190

Wired connections 194

Connecting to the Network 198

Sharing stuff nicely with others 199

USE YOUR FIREWALL! 201

Playing Buck Rogers with FaceTime 203

Sending Instant Messages Across the Network 203

PART 4: LIVING THE ILIFE 205

CHAPTER 12: THE MULTIMEDIA JOYS OF MUSIC AND TV 207

What Can I Play in Music? 208

Playing Digital Audio Files 209

Finding songs in your Music library 213

Removing old music from the library 213

Keeping Slim Whitman and Slim Shady Apart: Organizing with Playlists 214

Know Your Songs 216

Setting the song information automatically 217

Setting or changing the song information manually 217

Ripping Audio Files 219

Tweaking the Audio for Your Ears 220

A New Kind of Radio Station 220

Tuning in your own stations 221

Radio stations in your playlists 222

Creating a custom Music Radio station 222

iSending iStuff to iPhone and iPad 223

Burning Music to Shiny Plastic Circles 224

Feasting on Music Visuals 225

Exercising Parental Authority 225

Watching Video with TV 227

Buying Digital Media the Apple Way 228

CHAPTER 13: FOCUSING ON PHOTOS 231

Delving into Photos 231

Working with Images in Photos 234

Import images 101 234

Organize mode: Organizing and sorting your images 236

Edit mode: Removing and fixing stuff the right way 242

Exploring iCloud Photos 247

Putting My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing to Work 248

CHAPTER 14: MAKING FILM HISTORY WITH IMOVIE 251

Shaking Hands with the iMovie Window 252

A Bird’s-Eye View of Moviemaking 255

Importing the Building Blocks 256

Pulling in video clips 256

Making use of still images 258

Importing and adding audio from all sorts of places 258

Building the Cinematic Basics 261

Adding clips to your movie 261

Marking clips 262

Removing clips from your movie 263

Reordering clips in your movie 263

Editing clips in iMovie 264

Transitions for the masses 265

Even Gone with the Wind had titles 266

Adding maps and backgrounds 267

Creating an Honest-to-Goodness Movie Trailer 267

Browsing Your Video Library 269

Sharing Your Finished Classic 270

CHAPTER 15: RECORDING YOUR HITS WITH GARAGEBAND 271

Shaking Hands with Your Band 272

Composing Made Easy 274

Adding tracks 275

Choosing loops 277

Resizing, repeating, and moving loops 280

Using the Arrangement track 282

Tweaking the settings for a track 283

Sharing Your Songs 285

Creating song files in Music 286

Exporting a project 287

Burning an audio CD 288

PART 5: GETTING PRODUCTIVE AND MAINTAINING YOUR MACBOOK 289

CHAPTER 16: DESKTOP PUBLISHING WITH PAGES 291

Creating a New Pages Document 292

Opening an Existing Pages Document 293

Saving Your Work 294

Touring the Pages Window 294

Entering and Editing Text 295

Using Text, Shapes, and Graphics Boxes 296

The Three Amigos: Cut, Copy, and Paste 296

Cutting stuff 296

Copying text and images 297

Pasting from the Clipboard 297

Formatting Text the Easy Way 297

Adding a Spiffy Table 298

Adding Alluring Photos 299

Adding a Background Shape 300

Are You Sure about That Spelling? 301

Set Your Font Defaults and Speed Things Up 302

Printing Your Pages Documents 302

Sharing That Poster with Others 303

CHAPTER 17: CREATING SPREADSHEETS WITH NUMBERS 305

Before You Launch Numbers 306

Creating a New Numbers Document 306

Opening an Existing Spreadsheet File 307

Save Those Spreadsheets! 308

Exploring the Numbers Window 309

Navigating and Selecting Cells in a Spreadsheet 310

Entering and Editing Data in a Spreadsheet 311

Selecting the Correct Number Format 312

Aligning Cell Text Just So 313

Formatting with Shading 314

Inserting and Deleting Rows and Columns 315

The Formula is Your Friend 316

Adding Visual Punch with a Chart 318

Printing Your Spreadsheet 319

CHAPTER 18: BUILDING PRESENTATIONS WITH KEYNOTE 321

Creating a New Keynote Project 322

Opening a Keynote Presentation 323

Saving Your Presentation 324

Putting Keynote to Work 324

Adding Slides 326

Working with Text, Shapes, and Graphics Boxes 326

Adding and Editing Slide Text 327

Formatting Slide Text for the Perfect Look 328

Using Presenter’s Notes in Your Project 328

Every Good Presentation Needs Media 329

Adding a Background Shape 330

Creating Your Keynote Slideshow 330

Printing Your Slides and Notes 332

CHAPTER 19: WHEN GOOD MAC LAPTOPS GO BAD 335

Repeat after Me: Yes, I Am a Tech! 336

Step-by-Step Laptop Troubleshooting 337

The number-one rule: Reboot! 337

Special keys that can come in handy 339

All hail Disk Utility, the troubleshooter’s friend 339

Disk repair made easy 341

Using Mark’s MacBook Troubleshooting Tree 343

Step 1: Investigate recent changes 343

Step 2: Run Disk Utility 344

Step 3: Check your cables 344

Step 4: Check your Internet and network connections 345

Step 5: Check your Trash 345

Step 6: Think virus 345

Step 7: Check your login items 346

Step 8: Turn off your screen saver 347

Step 9: Run System Information 347

Okay, I Kicked It, and It Still Won’t Work 348

Local service, at your service 348

The Apple Help Center 348

Apple Help online 348

And Now Windows? 349

Figuring out how Boot Camp works 349

Configuring Boot Camp 350

Switching to Windows 352

CHAPTER 20: ADDING NEW STUFF TO YOUR LAPTOP 355

More Memory Will Help 356

Figuring out how much memory you have 356

Installing memory modules 357

Considering an Internal Drive Upgrade? 361

Ponder your external options 361

Gotta have internal 364

A List of Dreamy Laptop Add-Ons 364

Game controllers 364

Video controllers 365

Music hardware 365

CHAPTER 21: TACKLING THE HOUSEKEEPING 367

Cleaning Unseemly Data Deposits 368

Getting dirty (cleaning things the manual way) 368

Using a commercial cleanup tool 371

Backing Up Your Treasure 372

Saving files 372

Putting things right with Time Machine 374

Maintaining Drive Health 376

Automating Those Mundane Chores 377

Updating macOS Automatically 379

PART 6: THE PART OF TENS 381

CHAPTER 22: TEN LAPTOP RULES TO FOLLOW 383

Keep Your Laptop in a Bag 383

Maximize Your RAM 384

Keep Tabs on Your MacBook 385

Keepeth Thy Drive Encrypted 385

Brand Your MacBook 386

Disable Your Wireless 386

Take a Surge Protector with You 387

Use Power-Saving Features 388

Use an External Keyboard and Mouse 388

Not Again! What is It with You and Backing Up? 389

CHAPTER 23: TEN THINGS TO AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE 391

USB 2.0 Storage Devices 392

Phishing Operations 392

The Twin Terrors: Viruses and Malware 393

Submerged Keyboards 394

Antiquated Utility Software 394

Software Piracy 394

The Forbidden Account 395

Unsecured Wireless Connections 395

Refurbished Hardware 396

Dirty Laptops 397

Index 399