05-11-2008, 01:45 PM

On Friday, my early 2004 iBook died. Checked it out and it is the board that is messed.
As I am on a limited budget, it looks like my only option is to go with a PC laptop. I could probably swing a macbook as far as price goes, but I think the screen is just going to be too small for me.
Is it possible to switch my files (such as word and excel) from my old hard drive onto a new PC?
I am really not happy about having to switch to the darkside, but it looks like this might be my only option.

05-11-2008, 02:31 PM

Windows has no native way to read drives formatted on a Mac.

If it's an HFS+ formatted drive, you could use something like MacDrive:

http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/

Past that, the actual data files themselves.. Office should be able to read files created by either platform.

05-11-2008, 05:48 PM

Couldn't you abuse the plastic and get a Macbook? What about ebay?

05-11-2008, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by Reflex

As I am on a limited budget,

How 'limited' ? With more eyes searching, who knows what might turn up

05-11-2008, 06:32 PM

You could get a used macbook.

05-11-2008, 06:50 PM

The situation is that my boss (also my dad) is buying it for me and he has set a budget of $1000. I could swing that Macbook, which I can get an open box one for $945 (Canadian). I am worried that the 13.3 inch screen is going to be too small, but I could get a used flat screen monitor to hook it up to. The thing is, my dad wants to put it on his company credit card and can't be bothered with paypal and all that stuff. Plus, he is pushing me to go to PC, which doesn't make it any easier.

05-11-2008, 07:35 PM

Does the boss have some good reason to go with a Windows box? If not, go with the Mac. You know it well and that will save you from some headaches. Also, if your are the support person, that is a plus too.

If you don't need a laptop, consider a Mac mini with a large display, or a refurb iMac for $999 before taxes.

05-11-2008, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by Reflex

The situation is that my boss (also my dad) is buying it for me and he has set a budget of $1000. I could swing that Macbook, which I can get an open box one for $945 (Canadian). I am worried that the 13.3 inch screen is going to be too small, but I could get a used flat screen monitor to hook it up to. The thing is, my dad wants to put it on his company credit card and can't be bothered with paypal and all that stuff. Plus, he is pushing me to go to PC, which doesn't make it any easier.

Have you explained to your father than the Macbook is a PC also, since you'd have the newer Intel technology? (No offense to your now extinct dinosaur )

05-11-2008, 08:27 PM

Originally Posted by xstep

Does the boss have some good reason to go with a Windows box? If not, go with the Mac. You know it well and that will save you from some headaches. Also, if your are the support person, that is a plus too.

If you don't need a laptop, consider a Mac mini with a large display, or a refurb iMac for $999 before taxes.

Originally Posted by nZa

Have you explained to your father than the Macbook is a PC also, since you'd have the newer Intel technology? (No offense to your now extinct dinosaur )

There is a website that would be helpful if I could get onto, which ONLY works with Internet Explorer and that is it. No Safari, no Firefox and no Netscape. I was asking the guy at the apple store about the using Windows on the new Macs and he asked me why I wanted to do that? I told him about the site and he knew exactly which one it was.
And yes, I LOVE the Mac destops, but I need a laptop for doing powerpoint presentations. I did tell my dad that it can be ran as a PC too, but of course, it doesn't help that I may have to pay for Vista, which would add another $150 to the price tag.

Like I said, I could go with the open box Macbook 13.3 inch and get a LCD screen to plug it into (so I am not working on a screen the size of a postage stamp) That option will run around $1,100 which I MAY be able to swing. I ran it by my dad though and he thinks it is kind of stupid. He may just be saying that cause he wants me to go with the PC. I am also looking at a Dell on the PC side. It really doesn't seem to be that bad of an puter and I was using Vista today too, which didn't seem that bad either.
I dont' know what to do here.

Oh, and BTW, my very pro PC friend, who is an IT guy, is pushing me to go with the Mac again, only because he doesn't want to hear all the complaints from me about why Mac is so much better....lol

05-11-2008, 08:43 PM

Vista is horrible. I ran Vista Ultimate side-by-side with Gentoo Linux on my desktop, and Vista is the crappiest operating system I've ever seen. What kind of an operating system uses an upscale memory management system? Go for the MacBook; it's perfectly fine for PowerPoint presentations. I've used my friends, and the screen is pretty good compared to the 15.4" on my MacBook Pro.

05-11-2008, 09:09 PM

No matter what PC you go with it will be good to know "what the tech" I believe that it is a .org and not .com it was formerly known as coyote .org I believe. I a good forum for anyone that has xp or vista. I have both the mac and a hp as I also use the dell and find that the hp is the one I like the most and dont like the dells. I tried a used computer once and that was the worst mistake of my life. I dont advise doing it. I got the mac as a refurb and it came with the same warranty as a new mac so I was happy. as for the screen I am pleased with it and its size and can see fine, I have had to make some adjustments with the window sizes and have had to get used to some things just being smaller. Overall it has not been that big of a deal. No matter what you do I wish you luck ..... if someone else is paying for it for the company I might suggest getting what they want, if someone is getting it for you and it will be used for work get what works for you and throw in some money to make it the best it can be.

05-11-2008, 10:52 PM

If you ask me, I say go on ebay, and pick up a new logic board for $200

05-12-2008, 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by Reflex

There is a website that would be helpful if I could get onto, which ONLY works with Internet Explorer

What website?

Originally Posted by Reflex

And yes, I LOVE the Mac destops, but I need a laptop for doing powerpoint presentations.

Powerpoint (and Word and Excel) are available for OS X. You could also use iWork which has Keynote for presentations (many think it is better too), and a word processor layout application called Pages, and Numbers which is the spreadsheet. They can to some extent read and save from the applicable Office products.

05-12-2008, 12:59 AM

I do my presentations in keynote, then export them as ppt's. I really prefer it to Powerpoint.

05-12-2008, 05:42 AM

Check out Apple Store-> refurb Macbook, at less than a thousand. I know we are Mac heads here, Vista just plain sucks, and since you have software invested in the Mac already, you cost will actually be cheaper to stick with the Mac. You buy a PC, then you have to purchase software, anti-virus, anti-spam apps, which drive the cost up.