Powerkiter

I need to buy a new computer for home. It will mostly be used for looking at the internet, receiving e-mails, for my daughter to play with.

I have a new Dell Laptop which I use for work and take home every night.

I just feel like a change and quite like to look of the Apple desktop computers.

I know nothing about Apple Mac's. How easy will it me the exchange data between one and my existing laptop. Will I be able to view digitial photographs, word documents, excel spreadsheets etc on both.

JackClark

I did the same a month ago. A few things take a bit of getting used to but I haven't found anything lacking as yet. Transfering files over was very simple, drag and drop once networked, networking was automatic for me as was the rest of the set up.

New Macs come with a trial version of MS Office, my trial hasn't run out yet but I'm not expecting any problems reading MS files with other software.

Go for it.

ScoobyDoo555

I'm too biased for a real opinion, but I've been using Macs for about 12 years.
Granted, using mine for Pro applications, but my kids & wife like using it - find it very easy.
My 65 yr old Dad bought a Mac Mini at Xmas - after an entire working career using PC, he was a convert the night he borrowed mine to try!!

If you want to play games though, PC all the way.

Dan

mattbeef

well i wont help much then as i work for then

Switched from windows 12months ago and not looked back what so ever

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Absolutely great !! Been using PC's for last 10 years and switched to a Mac with OS X 2 months ago - haven't looked back since.

I've been slating Windows and Microsoft ever since - it's only when you see the wonders of OS X and the Mac that you realise just how cumbersome and rubbish PC's and Window's are

I use mine for leisure with music, video etc and also for business - including video editing, Office, Adobe etc.

Just remember - if you do ever need a PC then you can get Virtual PC for the Mac - it's a good backup if you ever get desperate

Jai

Powerkiter

Thanks for your comments.

I do also have a Dell Laptop which is networked at home anyway, so it will just be a case of adding the Mac to the network (I hope).

I am presuming I can't load MS Office onto the Mac. What is the Mac equivalent of Internet Explorer, Word, Excel, Microsoft Outlook and how much does it cost.

I don't really play games on my PC's anyway so it should not be an issue.

RichB

"I am presuming I can't load MS Office onto the Mac. What is the Mac equivalent of Internet Explorer, Word, Excel, Microsoft Outlook and how much does it cost."

The equivalent of Internet Explorer is Internet Explorer but has not been developed for some years. 5.2 I think is the latest version but it is poor, it's interpretation of stylesheets is worse than most other browsers and many people (inlcuding me sometimes) don't care if their websites don't look right on it. MS are no longer developing it.
Firefox (free) and Safari (Free with Mac OSX) are the two best but you can get Netscape (Free) and Opera as well but I don't see much point.

The equivalent of Word, Excel, Microsoft Outlook on the Mac are Word, Excel, Microsoft Entourage (although the Mac 'Mail' software is probably better). Not sure about cost although I'm sure if you looked on the usual Dbas/Ebuyer sites you'll find it quickly enough.
Rumour has it the last version of Office was written on the Mac first, then Windows....

The only problem you'll have is if you have some obscure applications that may not be available on the Mac but you could still get Virtual PC to run it should that eventuality arise.

All the documents you have (.doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf, .jpg, .gif, .txt etc) will be read and writable in exactly the same way. The only issue you might have some files may not be recognised but if you drag them over the application it would more than likely open it...

If you have an existing screen and USB keyboard you might consider a Mac Mini. They are small (obviously) but you can use the existing keyboard/mouse, they support DVI screens, have an (optionally) built in wireless and bluetooth and are very good value, also means that if you dont get on with it, you've not blown 000s. The Minis are around £300-£400 depending on spec. You might consider waiting for an Intel based Mini...
The iMacs are an excellent machine as Jack will tell you, bit more pricey but the quality of the screen is exceptional.

Once you been Mac - You won't look back

Rich
Mac user and software developer for 15 years...

Markus

First up, as with some of the others, I'm a tiny bit biased as I've worked with Macs for 14 years, and for the past 11 been in tech support for a Mac software development company.

Ah, IE for mac. For a long time it was shipped with Mac's but no more. MS announced that as of 2005 support for 2005 support for IE for Mac would cease and as of 31st Jan 2006 you cannot even download it. So it's dead, thank god.
The main browser on a Mac is Safari, and it's pretty good, however, there are some sites it won't deal with, partly as they have been coded for IE, however, use something like Firefox or Camino and you'll be fine.

With Regards to Office, there is a Mac version, and it'll read your PC's problems. There is also Open Office, the free Open Source office like product which will also read all Office documents, but it needs the X11 Windowing system to be installed. I'm sure one of the other Mac types has done this and can detail how easy it is, I've not yet tried it though.

Networking a PC to a Mac. Very simple. Connect the mac to the network, then on the Mac go into System Preferences, then into Sharing, and enable "Windows Sharing" click the "accounts" button to enable Windows sharing for an account. Then on the PC you should see the Mac in Network Places, at which point you can connect to it.

One point about Virtual PC, it will NOT run on the new Intel based Macintosh computers. MS is working on an update, but it'll be a while before it's out. I've been playing around with Q (based on the QEMU emulation system) and it's pretty good. There is an unstable version for the Intel machines and it's ok, there's a few quirks here and there, unfortunatley mainly to do with installing Win98 and XP But they'll get things resolved at some point.

I'd highly recommend a new Intel based iMac, or, when they are available (maybe today? ) the Intel based Mac Mini's. The iMac is superb, very quick, stylish and a pretty good workhorse. The Mini's are great, and can be tucked away almost anywhere.

I deal with education and the reason I still have a job is that Macs are used fairly widley in schools, certainly in North America, because they are simple to use and do require a bit less maintainance than PC's (no registry corruptions, generally no viruses, trojan's, spyware, malware, all the normal crap) mainly due to it being the OS and hardware from one place, so no odd configurations and clashes and such like. When Apple says plug an play they mean it, then MS says it, hmm, it's not exactly the same thing. XP's better, but it's not perfect.

The best thing I can say is to try a Mac, you'll either love it or loathe it. If you need help/advice, well I think it's obvious there's one or two of us on here who might know a little bit about these white boxes of joy

Markus

Well, new Intel Mac Mini released today, so if you're wanting to try a mac, that's the one I'd start with. Can use your existing keyboard and monitor, if they're USB, so no need for another setup.

AllanB

Don't forget rather than buying office you can buy Think Free Office for a fraction of the price too.

Once you use a Mac you wont look back. My best mate has recently bought a Dell and is now considering a Mac mini as he spends more time getting the thing to work properly rather than just using it !

I converted to Macs about 16 years ago and now work for MacWarehouse, so you could say I'm totally won over !


AllanB

KiwiGTI

Most Apple shops sell the educational version of MS Office for £99 (which is fully featured, just the license is called educational)

Powerkiter

I have searched the internet but cannot find anything on the Mac Mini (Intel). Does anybody have any links. Can't see anything in the Apple web site.

RichB

You can't have looked all that hard !
http://www.apple.com/macmini/