Switching to a Mac

[HYpno27]

The more I think about it, the more I am considering switching to a Mac at home next time round - which is coming up soon. I'm not a developer, my home use is around Office stuff, surfing, pictures and music.

I'm thinking of getting an Imac. Any advice, reviews information, links to stuff gratefully received

Ta very much

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I use XP, Vista and Ubuntu Linux and look after my Ma's Ibook (using os10) as well. I also have an old iMac with Mac os9 on it which I hardly even switch on these days.

Good points about Mac
Laptops have good battery life
Apps look pretty
Not immune but not as many viruses
You could in theory still use MS operating systems since they are now Intel(but why would you buy a Mac for that?)


Bad points
Can be harder to find help as not so many about
Not as much shareware/freeware and commercial s/w can be more expensive
Can be more expensive
Need to learn a bit about Mac OS if you're new to it
Can get some web oddities if sites are MS-centric (no MS web browser for Mac)

All IMHO of course.

[Moscow Mule]

The imacs are a lovely machine - the 24" model is the puppies danglies.

To counter a couple of PS blokes points,

Since there are so few sites around, they tend to be good. Also, if there's a fault with a Mac, Mac users tend to complain about it - more so than if, say, a Dell had a specific issue.

You won't need as much shareware/freeware as the Mac comes with software to do most things you want. (www.apple.com/ilife)

You can run Firefox, which cures most oddities.

[ratewhore]

Good move. I've used a powerbook in the office for the last few years and I also have a powermac at home. I use it for everything; general use (accounts etc), browsing the web (obviously), photos, converting camcorder footage, music, blah de blah de blah.

Once you get used to using os x (which doesn't take long), you'll be flying.

[HYpno27]

Back in the day early...199ahem

When I was a permie for BT the very first desktop computer I used was Mac, I've always had a fondness for them and kept half an eye on whats going on. Their swap to Intel chips and MS move to Vista (and their continued path to selling more tulipe that doesn't work until SP2) is making me reconsider

Anyone know how easy it is to integrate MS Office docs, or should I just get Office for Mac?

Already use an Ipod so music will be fine, and pictures is pictures

[Platypus]

Anyone know how easy it is to integrate MS Office docs, or should I just get Office for Mac?

Read the review on Office 2007 for Mac - very poor. The 2004 version is the one to go for so I hear.

Friend of mine just switched to iMac and installed VMWARE and Windows XP inside that where they use MS Office. They say it's excellent and that Windows has never run so fast or reliably!

They use native Mac for surfing, music, email etc.

I'd make the switch myself but I use too much "windows only" S/W at present.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

The imacs are a lovely machine - the 24" model is the puppies danglies.

To counter a couple of PS blokes points,

Since there are so few sites around, they tend to be good. Also, if there's a fault with a Mac, Mac users tend to complain about it - more so than if, say, a Dell had a specific issue.

You won't need as much shareware/freeware as the Mac comes with software to do most things you want. (www.apple.com/ilife)

You can run Firefox, which cures most oddities.

MM - good points I bow to your superior knowledge of Macness - I am really not a strong advocate of any one machine/operating system over another, although my experience with Vista has been slightly sub-optimal.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Back in the day early...199ahem

When I was a permie for BT the very first desktop computer I used was Mac, I've always had a fondness for them and kept half an eye on whats going on. Their swap to Intel chips and MS move to Vista (and their continued path to selling more tulipe that doesn't work until SP2) is making me reconsider

Anyone know how easy it is to integrate MS Office docs, or should I just get Office for Mac?

Already use an Ipod so music will be fine, and pictures is pictures

There's a version of OpenOffice for the Mac - must be worth a try?

[NickFitz]

I use Parallels Desktop to run Windows (or other non-Mac OSes - Linux, etc) within the Mac environment. Runs smoothly on my 18-month-old MacBook.

At the client's I've got a more recent MacBook running Win on VMWare - it seems like a real resource hog, much more intrusive than Parallels.

One nice thing about going the virtualisation route is that you can create a Windows installation, then copy it and run the copy - thus you have a nice clean install to go back to if things go badly wrong. (Obviously, save your data somewhere off the VM )

(You can also install software that has a thirty day trial on a spare VM, then throw it away at the end of thirty days and start again with a fresh one.)

[Moscow Mule]

There's a version of OpenOffice for the Mac - must be worth a try?

Unless it's got better recently (or had a new release) it has to run under Rosetta (powerPc chip emulation) on an intel machine, and hence behaves like a complete dog.

YMMV as I haven't looked at it since I got Office (not the latest one) over a year ago.