[bckid]

Hi all. I recently purchased my first apple computer about a month ago after using PC's since the time when 486's cost about $5000.

I must say i am very happy with my purchase. In july I bought a rev d. 12" PB to bring to college (after much deliberation between the 12" and 15" - i defiintely made the right choice, PM me if you're trying to choose between the two).

so - one of the biggest complaints with the 12" is its screen size. i have found a solution! not really, but what works really well for me is to use DesktopManger - a program allowing you to have multiple desktops open at once. What i do is i setup a desktop for each program or set of programs. heres my current setup:

1. main desktop (usually applications folder is open)
2. web browser
3. adium & email together
4. work - word or powerpoint
5. itunes

and with 1.25GB kingmax inside my PB I can have all 5 desktops open at once and systat says that only half of my ram is in use! my comp is still as quick and responsive as if I had one program open. it is an easy keyboard shortcut or mouse movement to switch through the desktops. most importantly, this allows me to dedicate a full 12" screen to each program and not have to cram and toggle 6 programs in one tiny screen.

i recommend all 12"ers give it a shot. it has really improved and made easier the way in which i use my comp


just my 2 cents.....

[Randman]

Just use exposé.

[zanyterp]

Randman:
if using expose (sorry, on a PC and not sure how to type the alternate chars), to make that work, would you have to set the application to auto-hide on exit/loseFocus? How would that work? I apologize if I am missing a setting in expose. I think the benefit of DesktopManager is you can have a full Finder window and set of apps/docs, not just hiding them/switching them as you do via expose. Kind of like if you were to set up multiple user accounts and fast switch between them for the different applications you are using.

bckid:
are you using the one from CodeTek (i think that's the name?) or the open source one from sourceforge? is it fairly easy to set up and switch between the various desktops?

[Randman]

You can set the Exposé options for all windows, desktop or applications. Makes swopping very easy. And you have Command (the Apple key) Tab which calls up a dock-like item in the middle of the screen and you can scroll to different open applications to that.

For a 12, set your dock to hide when not in use (you just scroll down to it to bring it up) to save more window space. Plus, there is the freeware called DejaMenu which gives you contextual menu access anywhere on the screen (usuallly a right click/Cntr-click). that saves time and effort scrolling.

Your plan may work but I thought I would suggest alternatives to consider.

[teney7]

Stupid question...

How exactly does expose work...?

I have been messing around, but I am still confused

[Chuckit]

F9 temporarily reveals all the windows on your system so you can choose the one you want. F10 temporarily reveals all the windows in the current app so you can choose one (and you can switch apps with the tab key). F11 temporarily shoves all windows out of your way so you can get at the desktop.

That way, you can have lots of windows open but still be able to find the one you want with the click of a button. Exposé is probably the No. 1 thing I miss when I use a computer that doesn't have it.

[bckid]

there are lots of ways to move around windows when constrained by screen real estate, i was just offering my solutions to the problem, and yes expose is a great tool to use also...

its the codetek version, some one from the forum linked me to it...its works great for me, and with either a move of the mouse or a keyboard shortcut you can move from desktop to desktop (with cool transfer effects too)...its worked well for me.

[cleanup]

Hmm, I find my 17" iMac a little confining in screenspace. I might have to try DesktopManager out... since the computer is only rendering one desktop at a time it shouldn't be too taxing on RAM or the graphics card...