Mac OS X Panther All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies

Mark L. Chambers

1 Frustratingly verbose
Chambers seems to cover the required material for Mac OS 10.3 OK, but he could have said it in less than half of the 692 pages if he kept his all-to-frequent attempts to be entertaining out of the book.

Example: ". . . drag the default bar at the bottom of the window to the toolbar at the top. This is the toolbar equivalent of tapping your ruby slippers together three times and repeating, 'There's no place like home.'" (p.-175). He carries on like this to the point of distraction.

I would recommend two other books: Easy Mac OS X, v10.3 Panther Š2004 (288 pages) by Kate Binder - much more clear than Chambers, and has lots of screen shots to show how to set up and use OS X. The second book, Mac OS X Panther Unleashed Š2004 (1673 pages) by John & William C. Ray - delves into technical details, but also covers all the information non-technical users need.

2 One of the best on the shelf
As a former PC owner who switched, I think I would have popped a gasket if I had not picked up this great book. It answered questions with answers I could not find in the Help file and a copy of the Mac OS X Missing Manual, and over a really wide area, taking in iMovie, connecting to PC networks, limiting the stuff my friends could do on their accounts, printing things in iPhoto, setting up my Mac to turn on and off all by itself and how to burn songs with iTunes. People tell you that Macs are easy to set up but anyone who has suffered with iDisk will argue with them; this book solved my problems and got things running!!

More perks:

Hidden keys run all through Panther and the iLife programs, and this book describes all of them, and abilities you never even knew existed.

The author never assumes that you are an expert. Instead he describes everything from the beginning, and gives you references to jump ahead if you already know. (In my case I was starting from zero, so I read every word)

The examples are STEP BY STEP and they are absolutely on-target, with lots of screen figures so you can tell what is going on.

He brings in topics that apply to what you are doing; when I was reading about QuickTime to use on the Apple Website, for example, the author tells you all about MOV and how QuickTime can convert to other formats (the same thing with iTunes, iPhoto and even documents like Word)

If you feel lost in system preferences, he explains EVERY switch!!

and last but not least, the index is superb.

This book covers everything that a Mac user is likely to need. All of iLife, all of the OS X settings. No matter whether you are a switcher, a new owner or even a reasonably experienced Mac person, you will wish you had bought this book yesterday!!

3 Don't Bother
If you've used a Mac for more than six months you probably already know 90% of what's in this so called "Desk Reference". Taking just one chapter (Jamming with iTunes and iPod) as an example:

* The discussion of the iPod is confined to one page, 4 paragraphs. It ends with "The best thing I can say about the iPod and iTunes combination is ... well ... that there isn't anything else to say about them."
* There is a mention that you can store Address Book information and your iCal info on your iPod but nothing to tell you how to do it.
* The book makes no mention of sampling rates when it discusses ripping CDs for iTunes.
* The book doesn't mention Smart Playlists at all.

Don't waste your money like I did.

4 Apple should ship this book with Panther!
If you have ever been unsure about updating your Mac to OS X 10.3 Panther, this is THE book to have right by your side. (and that goes double if you have made the right decision to switch from Windows to Mac!) I have had a Macintosh for 3 years now and I have never felt as well-prepared as I feel after reading this Mac classic.

With over 700 pages you would figure that things would get overwhelming or boring pretty quickly. The book is so well organized and Chambers writes so well that I really did read this Dummies book from cover to cover, and that is the first time I have ever truly enjoyed a computer book. When you aren't laughing at the humor you are learning a LOT (for me the tough spots in Jaguar were always networking and security, both of which are fully explained). The author has a writing style that reminds me of Al Franken, if Franken was a computer expert.

When I saw all-in-one in the title I figured I would find all I needed to know about Panther itself. The book did not disappoint there, but what I did not expect was the indepth tutorials and descriptions of all of the ILIFE applications. Every setting is explained and everything is demonstrated with easy steps and screen snapshots. If you want to learn some of the optional super-technical side, Chambers keeps the guru stuff marked with icons too.

If you are nervous around your Macintosh or you want a complete guide before you jump into Panther, you certainly won't find a better book than this one. Thanks to the Dummies crew again!