Hello. I have been reading this forum for the past few weeks in my research for my new computer. Thank you all for the info posted, it has helped. I do have a few questions, or at least a question about if I know the right answers. Before I make the purchase likely thursday, I want to be clear on things. But first I will say that I decided to make the switch to Apple after buying my daughter a PC with vista. Vista is ok in my opinion, just boring. I wanted something new, I looked at the macbooks, macbooks pros, iMac 20" iMac 24" . I have read about the screens and the features. For the money, as money is always a factor for me, I decided on the iMac 20" 2.66 GHz as being the best bang for the buck. Future shop here in canada has a deal now that for $1599 you get free iWork, a free printer and a free airport express. Free is good. So my questions. Can I buy the iMac at one store and the applecare at another store? I did a search but didn't see a answer, but I seem to think you can after reading the apple web site. I have a 500 gig external HD NTFS I think that I will be able to get my stuff off of it as Apple can read NTFS, it just can't write to it. My question is, after I get the stuff off, can I re formate the hard drive to act as the time machine hard drive thing or do you have to use apple's hard drive? Will the iMac play DivX movies without buying software? Can I make a web page in iWeb and post the page in my own web space and not .Mac? If so, can I use all the features of iWeb on my own web space? What good is the airport express? Its a wireless router? For notebooks I can see using it but for a iMac is it usefull? Or do I even know what I am talking about? I will leave it at that for now as I have rambled far too much, thank you for your time.
Hello everyone
- Thread starter fatdaddy
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1. Yep you can re-format and use it for backups pretty easily with Disk Utility (which is already on the Mac).
2. Yep, there's DivX Player, not sure which other applications support it up I would imagine some do.
3. Yes, pretty sure you can, but not having done it myself I don't know how.
4. Not entirely sure. I think there are some you can't use.
5. It's a wireless router. For the iMac it's useful because it saves you running cables around the house and you can use Airtunes (connect it to your stereo) to play you iTunes music wirelessly if the cable thing isn't an issue.
6. You seem pretty well informed.
Feel free to ask more!
2. Yep, there's DivX Player, not sure which other applications support it up I would imagine some do.
3. Yes, pretty sure you can, but not having done it myself I don't know how.
4. Not entirely sure. I think there are some you can't use.
5. It's a wireless router. For the iMac it's useful because it saves you running cables around the house and you can use Airtunes (connect it to your stereo) to play you iTunes music wirelessly if the cable thing isn't an issue.
6. You seem pretty well informed.
Feel free to ask more!
Can I buy the iMac at one store and the applecare at another store?
Yes
can I re formate the hard drive to act as the time machine hard drive thing or do you have to use apple's hard drive?
You can use your drive.
Will the iMac play DivX movies without buying software?
You will probably have to download the DivX player, but it is free.
Can I make a web page in iWeb and post the page in my own web space and not .Mac?
Yes.
After you have made your page click File --> Publish to folder - this will save the page along with any stylesheets or images you need so you can upload it anywhere you like.
If so, can I use all the features of iWeb on my own web space?
Which features in particular are you talking about?
What good is the airport express? Its a wireless router? For notebooks I can see using it but for a iMac is it usefull? Or do I even know what I am talking about?
The Airport Express will allow you to access the internet wirelessly and have more than one computer connected to the internet so long as you have a broadband internet connection and a modem with an ethernet connection.
If you have more than one computer, or would like to be able to surf wirelessly (perhaps you want to put your iMac somewhere that is not near a phone point) you will need some kind of router.
Yes
can I re formate the hard drive to act as the time machine hard drive thing or do you have to use apple's hard drive?
You can use your drive.
Will the iMac play DivX movies without buying software?
You will probably have to download the DivX player, but it is free.
Can I make a web page in iWeb and post the page in my own web space and not .Mac?
Yes.
After you have made your page click File --> Publish to folder - this will save the page along with any stylesheets or images you need so you can upload it anywhere you like.
If so, can I use all the features of iWeb on my own web space?
Which features in particular are you talking about?
What good is the airport express? Its a wireless router? For notebooks I can see using it but for a iMac is it usefull? Or do I even know what I am talking about?
The Airport Express will allow you to access the internet wirelessly and have more than one computer connected to the internet so long as you have a broadband internet connection and a modem with an ethernet connection.
If you have more than one computer, or would like to be able to surf wirelessly (perhaps you want to put your iMac somewhere that is not near a phone point) you will need some kind of router.
thank you
Thank you for your help. So the airport express is more than a wireless router? Its kinda like bluetooth or wi - fi? Connecting different components as long as they support airport express?
I am glad I can use my old external HD for time machine. I have another question about time machine. The way I have my PC set up, I have a image file on a hidden drive. I can do whatever I want to the drive with the operating system. Try software, add crap etc. Then when I want to get a clean image I just dump it and replace it with what i think is a virus free stripped image file from my hidden partition. Is that what time machine will do? Can I get my OS to a point that I am happy with the way it is, save it , then replace the entire OS from the time machine back up? Or does it write over the OS changing the things i have changed without replacing the entire OS? I am not sure my question made any sense, but I hope.
Does it even matter with a Mac? The reason I do it with the PC is for the hidden files, the registration crap, the files that build. Is that even a worry with Mac? Thanks again for the help
Thank you for your help. So the airport express is more than a wireless router? Its kinda like bluetooth or wi - fi? Connecting different components as long as they support airport express?
I am glad I can use my old external HD for time machine. I have another question about time machine. The way I have my PC set up, I have a image file on a hidden drive. I can do whatever I want to the drive with the operating system. Try software, add crap etc. Then when I want to get a clean image I just dump it and replace it with what i think is a virus free stripped image file from my hidden partition. Is that what time machine will do? Can I get my OS to a point that I am happy with the way it is, save it , then replace the entire OS from the time machine back up? Or does it write over the OS changing the things i have changed without replacing the entire OS? I am not sure my question made any sense, but I hope.
Does it even matter with a Mac? The reason I do it with the PC is for the hidden files, the registration crap, the files that build. Is that even a worry with Mac? Thanks again for the help
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Welcome to the wonderful world of Mac and this forum! Enjoy!
thank you
Thanks for the info its a great help. I am not sure what features I am talking about with the iWeb. I read somewhere that if you use iWeb and your own web space that not all of it worked properly. Again, I really have no idea what I am talking about having never even seen iWeb. Seeings how I am not going to get talked out of getting the iMac I guess the best thing to do is get it, then play with it, then ask more questions as needed. Thanks again. R)
Thanks for the info its a great help. I am not sure what features I am talking about with the iWeb. I read somewhere that if you use iWeb and your own web space that not all of it worked properly. Again, I really have no idea what I am talking about having never even seen iWeb. Seeings how I am not going to get talked out of getting the iMac I guess the best thing to do is get it, then play with it, then ask more questions as needed. Thanks again. R)
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Yep, playing around with it is generally the best way to suss it out 
.
Hope you enjoy it!
.Hope you enjoy it!
So the airport express is more than a wireless router? Its kinda like bluetooth or wi - fi? Connecting different components as long as they support airport express?
The Airport Express is just a wireless router - computers connect to it via wifi (which your imac and many other computers have) and the airport express is connected to your modem so the airport express allows the computers that are wirelessly connected to it to access the internet, each other and a printer if you choose to plug one into it.
The way I have my PC set up, I have a image file on a hidden drive. I can do whatever I want to the drive with the operating system. Try software, add crap etc. Then when I want to get a clean image I just dump it and replace it with what i think is a virus free stripped image file from my hidden partition. Is that what time machine will do? Can I get my OS to a point that I am happy with the way it is, save it , then replace the entire OS from the time machine back up? Or does it write over the OS changing the things i have changed without replacing the entire OS? I am not sure my question made any sense, but I hope.
This is not quite how Time Machine works, however, when installing Mac OS X (either setting up a new mac or reinstalling for whatever reason) you have the option to import a Time Machine backup. In fact, I think you may be able to do this without reinstalling.
However, something I picked up on in your question - Then when I want to get a clean image I just dump it and replace it with what i think is a virus free stripped image file from my hidden partition. - you don't need to worry about getting virii on a mac.
Does it even matter with a Mac? The reason I do it with the PC is for the hidden files, the registration crap, the files that build. Is that even a worry with Mac? Thanks again for the help
Generally speaking, don't worry about that kind of thing.
I am not sure what features I am talking about with the iWeb. I read somewhere that if you use iWeb and your own web space that not all of it worked properly.
iWeb should be able to export exactly what it would have uploaded to MobileMe - so there should be no issues.
The Airport Express is just a wireless router - computers connect to it via wifi (which your imac and many other computers have) and the airport express is connected to your modem so the airport express allows the computers that are wirelessly connected to it to access the internet, each other and a printer if you choose to plug one into it.
The way I have my PC set up, I have a image file on a hidden drive. I can do whatever I want to the drive with the operating system. Try software, add crap etc. Then when I want to get a clean image I just dump it and replace it with what i think is a virus free stripped image file from my hidden partition. Is that what time machine will do? Can I get my OS to a point that I am happy with the way it is, save it , then replace the entire OS from the time machine back up? Or does it write over the OS changing the things i have changed without replacing the entire OS? I am not sure my question made any sense, but I hope.
This is not quite how Time Machine works, however, when installing Mac OS X (either setting up a new mac or reinstalling for whatever reason) you have the option to import a Time Machine backup. In fact, I think you may be able to do this without reinstalling.
However, something I picked up on in your question - Then when I want to get a clean image I just dump it and replace it with what i think is a virus free stripped image file from my hidden partition. - you don't need to worry about getting virii on a mac.
Does it even matter with a Mac? The reason I do it with the PC is for the hidden files, the registration crap, the files that build. Is that even a worry with Mac? Thanks again for the help
Generally speaking, don't worry about that kind of thing.
I am not sure what features I am talking about with the iWeb. I read somewhere that if you use iWeb and your own web space that not all of it worked properly.
iWeb should be able to export exactly what it would have uploaded to MobileMe - so there should be no issues.
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