making the switch...help!

Hi all

I am considering buying an apple book, I am worried about the compatibility it will have will everything I own, at the moment I have a Compaq m300 [ ] which I have had for a long time, I use it mostly for msn, surfing the web and checking email, but I definitely need a upgrade since its only running a Pentium 2 333ghz! And its styling is not the sort of thing I really want to take to school! I am 15 yrs old and I need something stylish and simple, I have been saving for a long time and have managed to gather up about £750, so this is enough for a entry level ibook, it just there’s too many pc laptops to choose from and I cant see a stylish yet afforded pc laptop that’s not a rubbish company. after reading the great review by soulreaver99 I am leaning towards the Mac side of things, but would this os be suitable for everything I need, also what is virtual pc like, and would it be easy to run Microsoft office 2003 in there? I mean I am thinking of just going up to john Lewis and buying one, now my mum says I have to get a laptop NOW because of my not-so-good report marks I need it to take to school and help me with work, can anyone who has switched and used to use their pc for the same sort of things I do tell me how it went? [ ]

Thanks

Cameron

 

You can get Microsoft Office 2004 for mac. Its actually a bit better then office 2003 for windows, and the files can go back and forth easily. If you are just doing basics like websurfing, word, music, video, photoshop, it should be fine. Virtual PC apparently runs like a fairly low level entry notebook, (mostly graphics glitches b/c emulating a video card). If you are looking at a fair bit of gaming, that will be a bit harder (not all companies port over to mac), but not impossible. Apple computers do have some of the best battery life times out there (important for school). Since you are just in high school, i doubt that you will need any windows specific software. Hope this helps a bit. If i had the money, i would also buy a powerbook.

 

thanks for that, the only thing i would really be using virtual pc for is office 2003, as office for mac doesnt have publisher, do you know why this is?

Cam<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by RadcomTxx

 

i dont know why office 2004 doesn't have publisher, i didn't know what it was till i just looked it up. I've never used it yet, but i might start to play with it now. But virtual pc should handle it just fine.

 

the closest thing i have found for mac that is like publisher, is keynote 2 included in the iworks 2005 software bundle. You could take a look at that.

 

...The question is, do you really NEED a publisher with all the advanced formatting and layout features of Word 2004?

I would definitely recommend the move to an apple powerbook. (I did the same, and haven't looked back...) The only thing is, I would really try and avoid having to use virtual PC, as any potential hardware/OS benefits of the Mac are basically lost. You'll need ram. Lots of ram. As much ram as you can buy. Especially if you plan on using virtual PC with Publisher and large documents.

Look at Adobe Pagemaker (for the Mac) instead. If you're a student, you can even get a SA-WEET deal on the whole Adobe creative Suite.

Cheers,
Mark

 

I would strongly suggest NOT getting a Mac to run Windows software. I work in a normal WinTel office and had some struggles getting my Mac to work well here. I finally use it pretty seamlessly, Apple's Mail to connect to the Exchange server, Snerdware software to integrate iCal into the Exchange calendar, and a couple of other tweaks here and there.

I've used Virtual PC through the last several versions and the problem with it is that it worked ok on slower Macs, but with slower Windows, like 98. Nowadays if I had to use it, I would probably need to run XP and Office 2003, and it would be very slow. (I only run it today with ME, for when I absolutely need to only)

Apple's Keynote is not a Publisher alternative, but Apple's recently released Pages is, (as is Adobe's Pagemaker). Keynote is a Powerpoint alternative. Although I do use Apple's Microsoft Office 2004 suite for integration with our Word, Excel and Powerpoint document files, and it finally works fine, although not perfectly. Sometimes I find some weird things with Powerpoint graphics coming from Windows users, but it's usually not a big problem.

Having said all of that, if my nephew came to me and asked me the same question, I would tell them not to get a Mac. They are cool laptops, and even have some features that most WinTel laptops don't have, (DVI out, Bluetooth 2.0), but there are some cool WinTel laptops that can provide the benefit of the wider world of compatibility, and accesories and software are generally less money than the Mac versions. (Not in every case, but it happens sometimes..)

I like the configurability of the HP laptops, the little 14" DV series ia a cool laptop. Also there are starting to come out some WinTel laptops with a very high degree of style, like the Sony S-Series, the Toshiba Portege S100, and ASUS seems to be building a very cool line of laptops. They even have a small 12" laptop that looks very much like an iBook, (the S5 I think?). Unfortunately the Sony and Toshiba are not cheap, and some of the newer ASUS are also a little pricey.

Anyway if you choose the iBook you will likely be happy. Don't plan on using Virtual PC, and you will be more happy. If you pick a cool WinTel laptop you will probably be happy too.

 

I have to disagree with some of the post I read. Office 2004 for the Mac is not a better productivity suite than Office 2003 for Windows. Let's be clear about that. There are several draw backs and features that are missing from Office 2004 for the Mac. If you live and die by Outlook, I suggest you look elsewhere. Entourage's features are much more limited than Outlook, despite its recent Project Center addition. I personally feel that MS is keeping Entourage's capabilities limited to sway away many corporate users.

The other suites are fine, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. I highly suggest against running Virtual PC. If you really need PC applications, get a PC.

When buying a Mac, you need to consider the software you prefer, and if that software is not available on the Mac, make sure you have tested alternatives.

An attitude that pops up many times in the Apple community is "why would you want to run that software? Yuk” Beware of those who say there is virtually no software difference between the two platforms. Both sides have positives and negatives.

It may be best to think of Macs as a different kind of experience, rather than just a better solution. You also really have to want to change, because it will take some effort. But for some people, once they make the change, it’s a much better world.

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The AZKid