JGruber said:
Ok, well I have decided recently Im tired of my PC. I have a good couple of deals to trade off my current system for my First Mac. (Mac Mini or G4 Powerbook) BUT I do have some questions.
1. - I have a external DVD burner, is this going to cause problems on a MAC?
2. - USB support... Do they make USB expanders, like to add more then 1 device at a time.
3. - Software wise, I do a lot of dvd making, what kind of DVD Burning software is out there? Such as Nero.
4. - Networking with Windows? Is this possible (reason asked is because my wife has a HP laptop)
5. - Extra stuff, such as External HDD, Printers... etc. Problems with installing or general hardware issue's.
6. - Software install. Is it as easy to install software like on a Windows based machine?
I appricate your time in answering my questions as I want to make the switch before I change my mind again. Your answers just might push me over the edge and ultimatly say yes.
Thanks.
Jeff
I know that being redundant is being what I'm being,
but I switched from Windows/Linux to a Mac Mini recently, and feel qualified to answer these questions. This in a heterogeneous Windows/Linux/Mac network at home with DSL behind a NAT router. (That means a $50 Linksys router that makes all my computers share the internet connection if you didn't know.)
1. No, you should have no problems especially if it's firewire. If it's USB also no problem.
2. Yes. First thing I got for my Mini...in fact it was kind of needed since one USB port is occupied by the keyboard/mouse.
3. Toaster.
4. Yes. I have seen no bugs with filesharing as yet, and I use it often.
5. Yes. A Mac is about as plug and play as you get. If it doesn't work with a Mac, it probably won't work with Windows (One RCA mp3 player comes to mind...works with my Linux box oddly enough.) If it doesn't work with a Mac take it back (the peripheral, not the Mac.)
6. Easier. In the good majority of the time it is as simple as dragging an icon to your applications folder. Interestingly, this is one of the more difficult things to get used to (you mean I just...? But...with Windows I gotta click on setup.exe, and... You just do that? No way! Wow, that works!) Anyway, most software written for a Mac, including those free type things you download from the internet, works just that way.
A few notes I've learned in my...what is it now? six months of Mac ownership is as follows:
Pros: Things just work. I like that. Got sick of tinkering with my computer at home. I tinker with computers for a living and I'd just as soon not do so with my home computer. It's bad enough I still have to tinker around with my wife's (Windows XP) computer.
There are little things that make the whole computing experience much easier. There are too many things to list here, but they include stuff like how everything has a certain 'look' and behavior that is common across all apps. The drag/drop thing is a major one.
A Mac Mini at least, is utterly silent. Not having a howling banshee under my desk is really nice. I understand that for the most part the other models are as well.
Cons: You can't necessarily go out and buy the cheapest peripheral made for Windows and expect it to work with a Mac. You can adapt to a certain degree (an external firewire enclosure for a standard hard drive comes to mind) but expect to be a little bit more diligent before buying something like a printer to make sure it will work with your Mac. An example of this would be my Scanner that I had prior to buying my Mac - a Canoscan Lide40, which works fine with Photoshop but not with Acrobat. This is not a problem for me, but might be for someone else.
Remember those little shareware or freeware apps available for Windows? Doesn't work that way in the Mac world. Those little freeware apps for the Mac become little $14/$25/$50 utilities that you can download but are crippled until you pay the (albiet small) price. I've learned that this is just the way it is. Most of the little utilities I've downloaded and paid for are worth it in the end. Plus there still is some free software for the Mac out there, just not as much. Audacity (sound editor), Desktop manager (virtual desktop application), and NeoOffice/J (MS Office work-alike, compatible with MS Office docs) come to mind.
There
is a bit of a learning curve. It is quite intuitive, but after years of Windows indoctrination, you will find it a tad frustrating to try figuring out how to do things on a Mac, since it is most often much simpler to do. Getting the mind to do things less complicated seems to be harder than training it the opposite. I call it (non-deragatorily) "Think Stupid". When confronted with how to do something on a Mac, chances are it's a lot simpler to do than on Windows, and thus the mental block. (Drag the files to the CD burner to burn them? It's that simple? No way!)
If you have Windows versions of any titles you currently 'own' like MS Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc. you're gonna have to buy new versions of them. Bummer about that, really, but that's the way it is.
Overall, despite my listing more cons than pros, I'd say it's worth it from the Just Works standpoint and from now on all my
personal computers will be Macs.