Advice Needed: Best Mac for Dummies/Beginner Book

Kyle D

Hi Everyone,

I was hoping that I could find some advice on which Mac for Dummies/Beginner book is the best for someone who has been a Windows user for a long time but doesn't know much about computers or how to work with them beyond turning them on, checking email/surfing the web, and word processing.

See, I'm asking this because my girlfriend's mom has just started her doctorate and wanted to buy a laptop so I talked her into purchasing a Mac. She then bought a 15" MBP back in September. Unfortunately, she is so scared of using it because its different than windows that she's afraid to turn it on unless I'm there. I can't even remember how many times I've shown her how to transfer files from her desktop pc to the MBP via a memory stick or how to import a mp3 into iTunes. I'd love to keep helping her but unfortunately my time is rather occupied with trying to do my bachelor's and the fact that after showing something like 10-20 times it kind of gets frustrating.

So, with that in mind I was looking at getting her Macs for Dummies as a Christmas present but unfortunately it only has been updated as far as Tiger and her MBP is running leopard. Now, I'd love to get her that book but unfortunately I don't think she could extrapolate the information and apply it to leopard because of the fact that it might look slightly different (an example of this is she didn't know where to type the url in safari because it looked different than ie). Don't get me wrong she is a really smart lady but just not when it comes to anything techie/electronic/mechanical.

So, would anyone be able to shed some light on which book I could get her along the lines of Macs for Dummies but that covers Leopard?

Thanks a bunch!

iotashan

Not sure if this is a possibility for her, but if she lives near an Apple store:

http://www.apple.com/retail/onetoone/

Shan

Kyle D

iotashan wrote:

Not sure if this is a possibility for her, but if she lives near an Apple store:

http://www.apple.com/retail/onetoone/

Shan

I already mentioned that to her but she's not entirely big on the idea of driving 1.5 hours each way to a 1 hour session. It's not cost effective to her or an efficient use of her time.

Thanks for the idea though.

Seamus

I bought David Pogue's book for Tiger when I got a mac. This is his book on Leopard. I found it very helpful when I switched.

Shay.

mrbill62

David Pogue has a book for switchers. I have recommended it to some friends who switched & they were very satisfied.

Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition