06-27-2007, 06:01 AM

I love my music, movies, will my adobe suite, limewire, winamp etc still work, or do i have to purchase new alternatives?
How hard is it to run windows applications whilst booted in mac os?
Will my logitech g5 mouse work with a new macbook?
Whilst trying a macbook at a shop, i was anoyed by the auto-save on exit, is there a way to turn this off or is it somthing i will have to get used to?
I have herd that this wonderful pre-installed software mac boosts is a free trial version only. will i have to pay a whole load of money to use the software after the first month?
The application frames look dull, grey and boring, is there a way to skin them like you can with windows? pitty really since osx is a work of art.
How is compatability between a macbook and a desktop pc ? i.e transfering files and the likes.

06-27-2007, 06:23 AM

Well.... too many doubts..

Mac is better option than PCs for multimedia. All your songs, videos etc can be enjoyed on mac too and with lots of media players that are freely available..

I tried a IBM (USB) mouse with my macbook... it work fluently... but i still bought a mighty mouse..

There are loads of open source software options for its PC parallels e.g. neo-office/ open office is a alternative for MS office and yes you can turn off 'auto-save' option

I agree with you on the window frames, but icons can be modified very very easily....

But for all the negatives it has, finally it gives you a piece of mind and sense of security (without the additional software to secure your lappy)

06-27-2007, 10:06 AM

It is for university really, but i want to buy now so i have time to get familiar with it before i go. if i do eventually buy a mac, most laptops are ugly but the macbook looks sleek and stylish. although now with vista looking amazing and windows running on macs OS has a lot less importance now, its more which will do the best job for the money. These were my only concerns about a mac.

06-27-2007, 12:00 PM

Well in that case just wait till October for leopard OS... and you'll have another master piece coming from Apple.

06-27-2007, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by Recon

It is for university really, but i want to buy now so i have time to get familiar with it before i go. if i do eventually buy a mac, most laptops are ugly but the macbook looks sleek and stylish. although now with vista looking amazing and windows running on macs OS has a lot less importance now, its more which will do the best job for the money. These were my only concerns about a mac.

Vista looks amazing? Strange, I always thought random registry failures and error messages asking you to send an anonymous report to microsoft sort of clunked up my desktop...But if you're happy with it, what's stopping you?

06-27-2007, 01:33 PM

I'm seriously bored,so I'll answer all of these if I can:

Originally Posted by Recon

I love my music, movies, will my adobe suite, limewire, winamp etc still work, or do i have to purchase new alternatives?

If you want to run those Apps in the Mac OS, yes. Mac is Mac, Windows is Windows. They are completely separate and totally incompatible systems. Windows Apps won't run on Mac OSX and OSX Apps won't run on Windows.

Limewire is available for the Mac (free), WinAmp can be replaced with iTunes, Adobe CS will need to be purchased for the Mac version.

How hard is it to run windows applications whilst booted in mac os?

You can't run them within the Mac OS. You CAN buy/load Paralles which allows you to run Windows in a Mac OSX Window and run Windows Apps from there. I don't use it, but I understand it works quite well.

Will my logitech g5 mouse work with a new macbook?

Yes, there are probably even drivers on the Logitech site for the Mac, go look. If not, there are some Apps for Mice that will enable the various buttons and capabilities for pretty much any mouse you plug into a Mac.

Whilst trying a macbook at a shop, i was anoyed by the auto-save on exit, is there a way to turn this off or is it somthing i will have to get used to?

I'm not sure what you are referring to. What were you running that was Auto-Saved?

I have herd that this wonderful pre-installed software mac boosts is a free trial version only. will i have to pay a whole load of money to use the software after the first month?

It depends on what software you are referring to. iLife comes with the Mac, all full versions of all the iLife Apps. iWork comes with trial versions so you would have to buy the full Apps. Safari, Mail and most others are full versions.

The application frames look dull, grey and boring, is there a way to skin them like you can with windows? pitty really since osx is a work of art.

Do mean the Windows themselves? You can always use something like Shapeshifter to change themes for OSX. Personally though, I think most of the skins out there suck.

How is compatability between a macbook and a desktop pc ? i.e transfering files and the likes.

Files are files. Pictures, movies, music, MS Office docs etc can all be moved over and there are either free of cheap programs that can handle them all. The video format I have ever had issues with are AVIs. There are so many codecs that can be stuffed into the AVI container and there are NOT Mac equivalents for all of them. You can transfer files via Ethernet or via an external Hard Drive (FAT-32 formatted, not NTFS).

It sounds to me like you are expecting a Mac to be like Windows. It's not. It's a completely different OS that you need to learn how to use and be willing to adjust yourself to. It has it's quirks and it's annoyances. If the small things are going to bother you, I'd stay away from the Mac. Eventually you will regret ever getting one. You'll have to get new Apps for it or run your Windows Apps while booted to Windows via bootcamp or via Parallels. The upside is that Viruses and Spyware do not exist for the Mac, so you can leave all of that in the past. Security is always an issue while on the web, but it is significantly less of an issue for a Mac.

Originally Posted by Recon

It is for university really, but i want to buy now so i have time to get familiar with it before i go. if i do eventually buy a mac, most laptops are ugly but the macbook looks sleek and stylish. although now with vista looking amazing and windows running on macs OS has a lot less importance now, its more which will do the best job for the money. These were my only concerns about a mac.

Ya know that little "Made for Vista" or "Made for XP" sticker you see on EVERY Windows PC? You won't see one on a Mac, ever. Sure you can run Windows, but it is an afterthought at best and not everything works right. Macs are not built or tested with the intention of running Windows.

To be honest, after reading that last quote above, I would advise you to NOT buy a Mac, you don't seem ready or willing to deal with what you are going to get. If I were you, I'd stick with a nice safe Sony Vaio laptop and be happy with Vista.

06-27-2007, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by baggss

To be honest, after reading that last quote above, I would advise you to NOT buy a Mac, you don't seem ready or willing to deal with what you are going to get. If I were you, I'd stick with a nice safe Sony Vaio laptop and be happy with Vista.

Thank you for your time. the apps i was reffering to are just the apps i have grown up with and learnt to love so to speak. i love the sleek look of the mac too, but like i said im just looking for what will do the job the best.

06-27-2007, 07:54 PM

No problem, I'd hate to see you spend your money on something you didn't like.