[Charliesmomu]

Moving over from the dark side...
As my PC has bitten the dust after 5 years (is it unreasonable to think thats a poor return for money!?) I have decided to take the plunge and go Mac.

However.. my kids need to be able to take homework into school on memory sticks in Word format etc..so my question is:

Am I best off getting a Mac and having dual boot so they can use it as a windows pc, or wtll getting the mac and having mac office on it be sufficient for compatibility with school pcs?
Non of us are gamers so there are no software compatibility problems there (. I want a mac cos I'm fed up with viruses sneaking into my computer, and my hobby is photography so I am hoping that the mac will be better for my editing stuff. Obviously I'm going to have to buy some new software there so any suggestions for that too woild be great.

Can't afford more than £1200 ..will that buy the basic? What can I get for my money!?!
I am nervous about the switch but excitied at the same time!!
Jules

[namenotfound]

They make a version of Microsoft Office for Mac, so being compatible with Word files at school shouldn't be a problem. If you want to go free (rather than pay for MS Office) you can go with NeoOffice http://www.neooffice.org/ which is free. NeoOffice lets you save in several formats, including MS Word.

As for the Memory Stick, Macs don't have built-in card readers (what a shame), so I'd suggest getting one. Amazon has several to choose from http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...reader&x=0&y=0 (unless by "Memory Stick" you meant a USB thumb drive, in which case ignore this)

For photos, I recommend Adobe Photoshop. Some Macs have a trial version of Aperture, I tried that trial and it's horrible. (Aperture is Apple's idea of photo editing software)

[macfan777]

Go with NeoOffice UNLESS you need to do presentations - for those you'll probably want Office 08 for better compatibility. iWork is my personal favorite, and it's less expensive than Office, but it's a bit inconvenient to have to "export" to Office format instead of just save. (although it opens them just fine)

For BASIC photo editng (brightness/contrast/color/crop/etc.) iPhoto works great. If you want to go with something like Photoshop, try the GIMP first - it's free and nearly as powerful. It's a bit tricky to get set up, but once it is, it works like a charm.

Also, Aperture is not just a photo editing application. While it has those features, its main purpose is a photo workflow for professional photographers who want all their photos easily accessible, and it gives them VERY powerful features to do it - way beyond what most people want or need. http://www.apple.com/aperture/whatisaperture/

[TD912]

There are many free programs available that are equivalent to PC programs. NeoOffice(free)/iWork($)/Microsoft Office($) all run on Macs, and can read/write Word files flawlessly. NeoOffice is a Mac 'port' of OpenOffice, which works well, but is slow at times. Soon OpenOffice will release their official Mac version which runs a bit faster.

I know a few switchers who thought they would absolutely need to use Windows when switching, but found out that OS X could do pretty much whatever Windows could. Of course there's always some games and obscure programs that you might need to run on Windows here and there.

All Macs come with iPhoto (organize photos), iMovie (make movies), GarageBand(make music), etc. They work great, but if you are a professional, you may want to consider buying Aperture(photo), FinalCut(movies), or Logic(music).

Obviously Adobe makes a Mac version of Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign, so that's not a problem.

Make sure the flash drive is formatted as "FAT32" or "MS-DOS Filesystem" on your Mac so you can use it on both PCs and Macs. Usually this isn't a problem.

Also, on the topic of viruses, although Macs are generally more secure than PCs, that doesn't mean you can recklessly download programs from anywhere online and assume you are safe. You need to learn safe computing practices to ensure malware won't infect your computer.

A recent case of Mac malware was a fake media plugin which appeared on adult websites claiming that "You Mac does not have the correct codec to view this video. Please download the new codec here." It was actually adware that randomly displayed adult adverts on webpages you browsed. However, you would need to manually download the adware, manually open the disk image file, manually open the installer program, manually enter your admin password(!), and click the button to install the adware for it to do anything bad.

Also: DO NOT BUY INTEGO/NORTON/MACSCAN PRODUCTS FOR YOUR MAC. THEY WILL SCREW IT UP DESPITE WHAT THEY TELL YOU.

[Charliesmomu]

Thanks for the heads up!
I will definitely check out NeoOffice before I cough up money for others!!
I will prob pay up for decent photo editing and music software as my son is a guitarist who is starting to create his own stuff and cameras are my thing... but generally the mac will have light use. I am VERY excited now!!

[alfred_bowman]

GIMPshop is based on GIMP but provides a user interface that is similar to that of Photoshop. Why not give it a look before you spend big bucks on Photoshop. It's free.

[dannyn]

That will get you a nice computer.
Id get the imac and get office 08.

[alfred_bowman]

Given your interest in photography and photo editing and your son' interest in music, you probably would find it worthwhile to add RAM. Be advised, however, that Apple's RAM prices have always been and still are exorbitant. You definitely will save money buying from reputable suppliers like Kingston, Crucial, Otherworld Computing and others. The difference in cost can be astounding.

[adion]

Originally Posted by Charliesmomu

I will prob pay up for decent photo editing and music software as my son is a guitarist who is starting to create his own stuff and cameras are my thing... but generally the mac will have light use. I am VERY excited now!!

Have your son play around with GarageBand once you get your Mac (it comes preloaded with the operating system). If he doesn't have any real recording gear, it's a much better idea to drop the money on a recording interface and/or microphone, because GarageBand is perfectly capable for all but the most serious artists. It's what I use, anyway.

[ferrija1]

With £1200, you'll be looking at one of the higher end computers, either a 15-inch MacBook Pro or 2.8 GHz iMac with plenty of money to spend on software. I would recommend trying iPhoto along with your favorite image editing application, I prefer Photoshop but Pixelmator and Acorn and both cheaper alternatives. If you outgrow iPhoto, I highly recommend Aperture, it's what I use and I find it to be a great solution for editing and tagging hundreds of photos at once. Before you buy Office for Mac, try looking at iWork, a worthy alternative in my opinion that's a heck of a lot easier.

Few tips I can think of:

1. Don't install Windows right off the bat
One of the first things I did with my brand-new MacBook Pro was install a copy of Vista on it, thinking that I'd need it for sure, as the weeks passed I found myself in Windows less and less as it occupied 20 GB of my hard drive. Then I got rid of it.

2. Give these apps a look
Quicksilver
VLC
iWork
Adium
Caffine
Disk Inventory X
TextExpander

3. Learn how applications work
Most applications, excluding large ones such as Photoshop or Final Cut, are contained in single files. You can then run these files from anywhere on your hard drive, so even though the Applications folder tends to be a convienent repository for .app files, they don't have to be there. Then, to uninstall these single-file applications, just drag them to the trash.

4. Learn how Windows work (from my TSG LOK on OS X)
Windows in OS X can be hidden, closed, minimized, or changed to the large size using a variety of different functions. First, there are three buttons in the left corner of a windows title bar (instead of on the right, like in Windows). The first button, red with an X, closes the window. The second is yellow with a - and minimizes the window to the left portion of the Dock. The last button is green with a + sign and enlarges the window. Second, you can hide windows. You can hide application's window, by selecting the program's name in the menu bar and selecting Hide. You can also hide all other windows, by selecting Hide Others instead of just Hide. The shortcuts are Command + H and Option + Command + H for Hiding and Hiding Others, respectively. Last, you can resize windows by dragging the diagonal lines in the bottom left of a window.

5. Learn the keyboard short cuts
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343

Also, I would advise the thumb-index finger approach for copying and pasting as opposed to the pinky-index approach taken by most on Windows.

6. Play Around In System Prefs
Reached by the Apple Menu, System prefs are a centralized panel of settings just like the Control Panel in Windows

Have fun with your new Mac!

[surfacecore]

Welcome to mac!
The new version of openOffice will be out soon, check it out, will work completely native on your mac. I recommend Guitar Pro for partitures and tablatures for your son, I find it very useful. I also recommend you to get firefox 3, but safari web browser is also very cool too.

I think Aperture 2 is fine, I use it for batch photo editing and has worked fine for me. I personally recommend it, photoshop I think is a different tool than Aperture, they have different purpuses. If is just a hobby I think iPhoto will work just fine for all your picture editing/organizing needs.

Gimp is very rough on the edges on mac, I think they have to polish it more. for start, it does not work natively, it needs X11 to work. Its awesome software in linux but not on the mac

good luck!

[exegete]

I have used the Open Office 3.0 Beta (first private Beta, then public Beta), and it works great, opens files, etc., and has never caused any trouble. I also have NeoOffice and use it as well.

I had MS Office 2004 on my Macbook Pro (purchased in Feb), but when it went haywire 3 weeks ago, I uninstalled it, and I have not bothered to reinstall. Haven't missed it a bit. And 95% of the files I receive are from Word users.

For technical/academic writing I use Mellel (exceptionally good for Hebrew and Greek integration). For everyday writing I use Nisus Writer Pro.