OK, so you go out and buy yourself a new, refurbished or used Macintosh Computer. You get your shiny new toy all packed up neatly in that beautifully, well thought out packaging that Apple is so famous for.
As a matter of fact, the way a product is packaged is as important to Apple as the product itself. Steve Jobs has always believed that the Macintosh computer experience should be an elegant, smart and beautiful one. That even extends to the box it comes in. I like to call this a “Steveism”;. It is one of those things that is so much a part of Steve’;s (and thus Apple’s) core philosophy that it speaks on many other levels of life beyond computers. It is one of those things that separates Apple from everyone else.
Another “Steveism”; is one I do not necessarily agree with. You see, Steve Jobs believes that Macs are so simple, they do not need a manual. A general user should just be able to plug it in and use it. As a matter of fact, it is said that he believes that if you included a manual with the product it would scare the “average”; user into thinking that the Mac was too technical. This is the reason that when you open that shinny new toy you will find, at most, a few disks, warranty sheet and a quick set up guide which basically only tells you how to plug the Mac in.
So, where can you get a manual for your shinny new toy? Well from Apple of course! Apple does write manuals for their products. They just don’t include them in the box. You can find manuals for any of Apple’s products here. You can download them in PDF format:
http://www.info.apple.com/support/manuals.html
Of course, once you get the manual the next thing you should do is read it or, at the very least, browse thorough it. I am as guilty as anyone for not reading the manual but I find that when I do, it often answers questions or gives fixes to problems that come up. That in turn, will save you time and money in the long run.