02-18-2007, 01:42 PM

Forgive me for this question! I have never owned a Mac and am seriously thinking of buying a 20" iMac, as it looks excellent. My knowledge of Mac's is quite vague, but everyone says their great. I have always had a windows based pc. My question is quite simple - will my existing software such as Microsoft Office and Microsoft Monet work on an iMac? Do I have to buy anything extra, other than what comes with the new iMac? Are iMacs more expensive to run? Hope there is help out there!!!

02-19-2007, 01:19 AM

Originally Posted by jrmyphelps

Forgive me for this question! I have never owned a Mac and am seriously thinking of buying a 20" iMac, as it looks excellent. My knowledge of Mac's is quite vague, but everyone says their great. I have always had a windows based pc. My question is quite simple - will my existing software such as Microsoft Office and Microsoft Monet work on an iMac? Do I have to buy anything extra, other than what comes with the new iMac? Are iMacs more expensive to run? Hope there is help out there!!!

u can use all windows programs. . by using either boot camp; or parelells they allow u to run ur system in windows xp or vista. . and mac also allows use of microsoft office. .

02-19-2007, 01:33 AM

Welcome to Mac-Forums.

You can use your exsisting windows based software on the new iMacs. You'll need to use Bootcamp, or buy Parallels. As are they more expensive to run? It all depends. The intial purchase may be more. But you dont have to buy anti spyware/virus software. Macs come with tons of very useful software straight from the factory, which you would have had to buy for a PC. And then there is the time=money factor. Usually, you'll spend less time fixing your Mac, so you'll be getting more done.

02-19-2007, 01:41 AM

I want to make it clear that you can't simply pop in the discs of your current Windows programs into a Mac and expect them to run instantly. You can't install Windows programs to run natively on a Mac.

To do so, you would either need a program called Boot Camp or Parallels Desktop. The first one creates a new partition on your hard drive which you have to install Windows to. The second one creates a virtual hard drive image to also install Windows to. So essentially, you'll have both Windows and Mac OS X installed on one machine. However, the main difference is that with Boot Camp, you have to restart your computer and then load Windows, but with Parallels, you can have Windows running just like any other program on your computer.

The Boot Camp route can be a royal pain if you have very simple programs to run in Windows. With Parallels, you have Windows running side-by-side with Mac OS X, which is great when you have to use programs that you can't find Mac alternatives for and aren't resource intensive.

Another great thing about the Mac is that Microsoft makes a Mac version of Office, so if you really need it, the option is there. If you just need a simple office suite, then I would suggest checking out a free alternative: NeoOffice.

02-19-2007, 02:35 AM

Just to clarify: if you run Windows on your Mac under Boot Camp or Parallels, it's just as prone to viruses as any other Windows machine. This won't affect OS X, but running Windows on a Mac doesn't make it immune to viruses. It's the software, not the hardware that dictates this.

02-19-2007, 05:34 AM

Woah there.

PC software will not work on a Mac. You will need new copies of Office unfortunately.

The work around people are mentioning is either running Windows XP on your Mac via emulation, or setting it up on another hard drive partition. Which is a right pain and if you're doing that, why bother buying a Mac?

02-19-2007, 05:44 AM

Yeah, this could be confusing.

jrmyphelps: what you asked was "will my existing software work on a Mac"? yes, it will, but only through Parallels or Boot Camp.

It won't run under OS X.

And as I said, Windows on a Mac is still prone to infection, etc.

If you want to get the best out of a Mac, you need Mac software.

02-19-2007, 09:37 AM

While you can run Windows software on your Mac, by running Windows on your Mac, if you are planning to get a Mac, you really should go for "the full Monty" and try out the Mac equivalents. Almost every major piece of Windows software has a Mac equivalent. This doesn't mean that any given software vendor has both a Windows and a Mac version. It means that if you can do capability "x" in Windows, you can usually do the same capability in Mac, perhaps with a different program.

If you allow yourself the luxury of trying this out (I call it "full Mac immersion", and it is what I did when I got a Mac) you will be amazed. If you just buy a Mac and then cling stubbornly to your old Windows environment, all you have is a pretty looking PC. If you buy a Mac and then immerse yourself in the Mac way for a while, you won't just have a pretty looking computer, you will have a new way of computing!

That new way is easier, faster and much, much more fun. Give it a whirl. Buy a Mac, consciously decide to work only in the Mac paradigm for say, a month, and then, at the end of that month, when you now have familiarity with both environments, decide what you want to do. At a bare minimum, you have that pretty new computer you want. In the best case, you not only have a new computer, but a new way of computing!

02-19-2007, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by mac57

If you allow yourself the luxury of trying this out (I call it "full Mac immersion", and it is what I did when I got a Mac) you will be amazed. [...] If you buy a Mac and then immerse yourself in the Mac way for a while, you won't just have a pretty looking computer, you will have a new way of computing!

That new way is easier, faster and much, much more fun. [...] In the best case, you not only have a new computer, but a new way of computing!

Well said. Try a little Mac, never look back!