Information asked !

JohnMGD · Dec 19, 2010

Hi guys and girls !

I'm new to this forum and at this time still working with a Windows machine.
I had to work with Windows during my working life, but always admired Macintosh computers. After some troubles with my Vista OS I switched again back to XP, but now I had enough of Windows and like to switch a Mac.
But in the meantime I still have a lot of questions about switching to a Mac.
I'm planning to use the Mac operating system and not Windows on my new Mac.
Let's start:

1 What about Mp3 and JPG files stored on my external Hard drives used on Windows ?
2 Downloaded ZIP and RAR files, can they be unpacked on a Mac ?
3 Ripping of music CD's,is that possible, Is WinAmp running on a Mac ?
4 What about RAW (NEF Nikon Electronic Files) from my Nikon camera. Does the Nikon View program also runs on a Mac?
5 Editing of photographs, I now use Photoshop 12 CS5 how to do that on a Mac ?
6 Capturing and editing of Video's, I always had a big problem doing this on my Windows Machine with a lot of, the well known, Blue screens, how is that on a Mac ?
7 Connecting of Printers, Scanner, external HD and Photo camera's via USB, can I still use my stuff ?
8 What about the use of Anti virus, mallware and spyware programs on a Mac ?
9 What about Registry cleaners and defragmentation programs on a Mac, are they necessarry ?

These are the questions I have gathered for now, maybe there will pop up more in the future.
Hope to find an open ear for my concerns.

Greetings

John.

s2odin · Dec 19, 2010

JohnMGD said:
Hi guys and girls !

I'm new to this forum and at this time still working with a Windows machine.
I had to work with Windows during my working life, but always admired Macintosh computers. After some troubles with my Vista OS I switched again back to XP, but now I had enough of Windows and like to switch a Mac.
But in the meantime I still have a lot of questions about switching to a Mac.
I'm planning to use the Mac operating system and not Windows on my new Mac.
Let's start:

1 What about Mp3 and JPG files stored on my external Hard drives used on Windows ?
What about them? Moving them? Just plug in your external into the Mac and move them off. If the drive is NTFS, Macs can read it but not write to it.
2 Downloaded ZIP and RAR files, can they be unpacked on a Mac ?
Yes. .zip files will automatically unpack. The Unarchiver - beefier version basically.
3 Ripping of music CD's,is that possible, Is WinAmp running on a Mac ?
Only for older Mac OS'es AFAIK. What's wrong with iTunes?
4 What about RAW (NEF Nikon Electronic Files) from my Nikon camera. Does the Nikon View program also runs on a Mac?
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7623/nikon-view
5 Editing of photographs, I now use Photoshop 12 CS5 how to do that on a Mac ?
You will have to call Adobe and have them switch your license to be Mac specific. Or you can install in on a Bootcamp partition.
6 Capturing and editing of Video's, I always had a big problem doing this on my Windows Machine with a lot of, the well known, Blue screens, how is that on a Mac ?
How is what on a Mac? Editing photos and videos or getting blue screens? You will only get a spinning beach ball, not a blue screen, but it rarely, if ever, happens. As far as editing videos and stuff you have iMovie pre-installed which helps. You can also purchase Final Cut Express. Just make sure you get 4gb of RAM in your system.
7 Connecting of Printers, Scanner, external HD and Photo camera's via USB, can I still use my stuff ?
As long as the printers are supported by Mac (usually on the box.) And yes to the digital cameras and everything else. You will need to reformat the external HD in order for the Mac to be able to fully utilize (write to it) it.
8 What about the use of Anti virus, mallware and spyware programs on a Mac ?
Please see the sticky at the top of this forum...
9 What about Registry cleaners and defragmentation programs on a Mac, are they necessarry ?
No.
These are the questions I have gathered for now, maybe there will pop up more in the future.
Hope to find an open ear for my concerns.

Greetings

John.

Answers in red.
You might also want to mention which specific Mac you are looking at so maybe we can give some advice on specs.

DaFlake · Dec 19, 2010

Man, we should have a switcher question thread with this in it. Good information s2odin!

JohnMGD · Dec 19, 2010

JohnMGD said:
Hi guys and girls !

I'm new to this forum and at this time still working with a Windows machine.
I had to work with Windows during my working life, but always admired Macintosh computers. After some troubles with my Vista OS I switched again back to XP, but now I had enough of Windows and like to switch a Mac.
But in the meantime I still have a lot of questions about switching to a Mac.
I'm planning to use the Mac operating system and not Windows on my new Mac.
Let's start:

1 What about Mp3 and JPG files stored on my external Hard drives used on Windows ?
Can I use my Windows Mp3 files to playback on a Mac ? Can I open my Windows JPG's on a Mac. Some of my external HD are FAT32.
2 Downloaded ZIP and RAR files, can they be unpacked on a Mac ? (Answered)
3 Ripping of music CD's,is that possible, Is WinAmp running on a Mac ?
With ripping CD's I mean ripping my own CD's to Mp3 for playback on a Mac via a Stereo set
4 What about RAW (NEF Nikon Electronic Files) from my Nikon camera. Does the Nikon View program also runs on a Mac? (Answered)
5 Editing of photographs, I now use Photoshop 12 CS5 how to do that on a Mac ?
What is a Bootcamp Partition ?
6 Capturing and editing of Video's, I always had a big problem doing this on my Windows Machine with a lot of, the well known, Blue screens, how is that on a Mac ?
What I mean with this is, is it easier on a Mac to capture and edit video and also edit Photographs ?
7 Connecting of Printers, Scanner, external HD and Photo camera's via USB, can I still use my stuff ?
So my external HD's are still excessable when using a Mac only when I like to write to them with a Mac I have to re-format them ?
8 What about the use of Anti virus, mallware and spyware programs on a Mac ?
(Answered, read Sticky)
9 What about Registry cleaners and defragmentation programs on a Mac, are they necessarry ?
(Answered)

These are the questions I have gathered for now, maybe there will pop up more in the future.
Hope to find an open ear for my concerns.

Greetings

John.

Still have an Internet connection question, do I have to do something special to get connected to the internet with a Mac, or do I have to contact my provider about it ?

John.

PS:
Thanks a lot for the answers to my above questions !

s2odin · Dec 19, 2010

JohnMGD said:
Still have an Internet connection question, do I have to do something special to get connected to the internet with a Mac, or do I have to contact my provider about it ?

As long as you currently have internet you will be fine.
You can connect to a wireless router or via ethernet on any Mac (given it has a wifi card or ethernet port).
There are also "time capsules" Apple - Time Capsule - Automatic backup for Mac and an 802.11n Wi-Fi base station which is a wirelss router and a backup solution for the Mac in one.

Any ideas which model Mac you are looking at?

JohnMGD · Dec 19, 2010

Well, I'm thinking about buying an iMac with 3.06Ghz processor and 21.5" screen, 4GB internal memory and 500GB HD.

John.

PS: Did you see the the questions in red I placed above ?

John.

DaFlake · Dec 19, 2010

1. Yes, you can play Windows created MP3s on a Mac. They are not dependant on the operating system.

2. Yes, you can use iTunes to create MP3s of your CDs.

3. Bootcamp is a method used by Mac to install Windows in its own partition. It creates a dual boot computer that you can use to switch to windows if needed.

4. Either system has its difficulties that you will need to work with on this. However, there are some nice Mac apps out there that will make it easier.

5. Yes, you can use your external drives on a Mac provided that they are formatted FAT32 or HPFS. If you used NTFS, you will only be able to read the information unless you install a 3rd party program.

s2odin · Dec 19, 2010

JohnMGD said:
Well, I'm thinking about buying an iMac with 3.06Ghz processor and 21.5" screen, 4GB internal memory and 500GB HD.

John.

PS: Did you see the the questions in red I placed above ?

John.

Oops, sorry. I thought they looked different, lol.

- Can I use my Windows Mp3 files to playback on a Mac ? Can I open my Windows JPG's on a Mac. Some of my external HD are FAT32.
Yep, of course. .mp3 will open in iTunes and .jpg's will open in Preview (default) but of course you can open them in PS, etc. FAT32 is good. It can be written to and read by both Windows and Mac OS X. And I'm sure you've noticed it can't handle files over 4gb (FAT32 right? Or is it NTFS... I forget, lol)

- With ripping CD's I mean ripping my own CD's to Mp3 for playback on a Mac via a Stereo set
Yea, iTunes will rip your CD to .mp3 format (you can change bitrate, etc from within iTunes. You can then burn the .mp3s to a CD and play them in a stereo. You can also get a mini stereo to male RCA cable to directly connect or you can get one these nifty things - AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes - Apple Store (U.S.)

- What is a Bootcamp Partition ?
Bootcamp is a built in utility that allows you to run Windows in your Mac (instead of VMWare / Parallels which run it in an emulator, you actually boot into Windows with Bootcamp). See here - Apple - Support - Boot Camp

- What I mean with this is, is it easier on a Mac to capture and edit video and also edit Photographs ?
IMO, yes. Macs are more user friendly. You will have iMovie installed with iLife which is a basic but nice video editor. - Apple - iLife - Do more with photos, movies, and music on a Mac.

- So my external HD's are still excessable when using a Mac only when I like to write to them with a Mac I have to re-format them ?
See above about NTFS or FAT 32. FAT 32 is compatible with both, NTFS can only be read by Mac

JohnMGD · Dec 20, 2010

Thanks a lot for all the information, now I don't have to worry anymore and feel good buying a Mac. I think Windows people are the worrying kind of people, now I have to change to the not worrying kind

)

John.

MacGandalf · Dec 20, 2010

post

Reading this thread has successfully solved a little problem I was experiencing. Not having access to a Windows rig anymore meant I had to ask a member to download a firmware update self-extracting executable file for my bluray player.
Upon seeing Yes. .zip files will automatically unpack. The Unarchiver - beefier version basically posted by s2odin. I downloaded the executable again and Unarchiver extracted the .FRM file - brilliant, problem solved. :Cool:

MightyGem · Dec 20, 2010

If you do make a Bootcamp partition and run Windows, then that partition will be vunerable to the normal Windows viruses and such.