Maybe! Switching to Mac, A few questions please!

M

Makyz

Guest
Hello, my name is Luis and I am planning to switch over to Macs. I was pretty much a hardcore PC user for 8 years and presently Im in my freshman year of college. I was originally going to go wtih a Sager Notebook (http://www.pctorque.com) because you get the most out of your money there.

Then I applied for an on campus job at my university, and they told me that at the interview I would have to show some Mac knowledge. Well I didnt have a clue on what to do, so I delved into websites and read up on troubleshoting, went to the library to practice on a Mac- the whole nine yards. But it wasnt enough and I was docked for a person with more mac experience. The side effect of my research was that I read up on what Mac had to offer me.

I mostly web design and graphic design, I love watching full screen DVDs and videos, and I am planning to take up a hobby of video editting in the near future. I barely play computer games anymore, maybe Warcraft and I beleive they comeout with Mac compatable games... All my friends tell me to go with PC because that is the most compatable platofrm and you cant go wrong with a PC. That is why I am here. I want to ask a few questions to see if its worth switching over.

Here are the spec on which I am planning to go for:

PowerBook 1.25GHz (15.2" TFT) $2,389.00
1.25GHz PowerPC G4
80GB Ultra ATA drive @ 4200 rpm
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. English
512MB DDR333 SDRAM - 1 SO-DIMM
AirPort Extreme Card

1) Do I have to change all the software I acquired (Dreamweaver, Photoshop, ACDSee, etc) for Macs?

2) Is there an equivalent file sharing program for Mac ( ie Kazaa) avaiable? [comment removed]

3) What is a 1.25 GHz PowerBook comparable to ala Intel?

4) How much stable is the OSX platform?

5) Is the battery life decent? 3 hours maybe? Oone of the reasons Im not going to PC is because in order to get power i need to pack on weight and lose battery life.

6) Are there scroll and two button mouses compatable with Macs?

7) How long before it goes obsolete? Pc go so fast, but I heard Macs last longer. I need this for 4 years of my college life

8) I only bought one piece of ram 512, so i could buy another off the interent cheaper and install it myself? is the reccomenable, or should I go for the 1 gig immediately ?

9) I shouldnt have any trouble using my on capus wireless with ariport right?

Thanks for all the info and sorry for all the questions and if I asked any repeat questions!!!!
 
Joined
Jan 15, 2003
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Location
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Your Mac's Specs
Pwnt
Good on you. I can answer a few of your questions, but will have to leave some for others.

1. You will need new, mac, copies, although I don't know if you'll have to buy them or if you could just write to the companies asking them to provide you with a new copy. Any other switchers out there who have had this 'problem'?
2. Yes, there are a few. Although you wouldn't dream of pirating anything would you?
4. OSX is about as stable as you get. I've had an iBook for three months, and the OS has frozen once in that time, due to a corrupt application. Nothing was damaged. Applications will occasionally freeze up but it very, very rarely affects anything else you're doing.
5. I get about 4 hours on my iBook with the screen brightness set on about half. You can expect a bit less than that, but you should have no problem getting three hours out of it.
6. Yes, any USB mouse is compatible.
7. I know people still using original TiBooks without any problems. They also have a much higher resale value than their PC counterparts.
8. Yep, just make sure it's the right type first. There are heaps of ads around mac sites for RAM.
9. As long as its 802.11b or g you'll be fine.
 

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