Is that what I am, a switcher?

Okay, I'll wear it proudly. I'd rather say we're de-Windowing our house. Here's the scoop:

About 4 years ago, for Christmas, I bought my wife a MBP 15" after our HP laptop died. I was betting that she wouldn't like it, so then I would get it. ;D Well, that plan failed, she loves her Mac, and I've been threatening to frisby my Vista laptop down the street for the past almost 3 years.

Today, finally!, I ordered a 21.5" iMac for the kids, and a MBP 15" for me. It's a beautiful day!! Now I really can frisby my old laptop down the street!!

But, before I do that, I have some questions for the experts.

1. What's the best way to migrate my photos and iTunes library to the MBP?
2. Is there anything compatible I can use to open old .doc and .xls files on the Mac, without having to by MS Office? I have a number of spreadsheets I use continually.
3. Thoughts on Aperture 3.... oh, never mind, let me get up and running with iPhoto first. I will be doing photo editing, though.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll be back soon with more newbie, switcher questions.

1.) Switch 101: Migrate your Windows files or system to your Mac
2.) I think you can use Open Office or Neo Office
3.) I found iPhoto to be enough but serious photographers will opt for A3.

get on the app store and check out pages, numbers, and keynote.

That will open .doc files, .xls, and .ppt respectively.

They are also $19 each when purchased seperately. If purchased together there is a slight discount. With the new iCloud when it gets going once you purchase all these apps on 1 apple you will have them on all of them.

also I can purchase your vista laptop instead of it becoming a frisby. PM me if interested.

I ordered my new iMac with iWork preinstalled. Unless I misunderstood something, these will read and convert all my office files to the Mac apps...? If that's right, why would anyone still want to buy Office for the Mac?

There are things that iWork does not do quite as well. I rarely run into them, but my wife (accountant) sure does (comparing Excel to Numbers). Think of it sort of the same as the fact that I do not use iPhoto, I use Photoshop. Same basic idea.

OldJedi said:

I ordered my new iMac with iWork preinstalled. Unless I misunderstood something, these will read and convert all my office files to the Mac apps...? If that's right, why would anyone still want to buy Office for the Mac?

Click to expand...

Because MS Office is the de facto standard in the business world and for the great majority of universities and colleges. If you want 100% compatibility with Office files, then buy Office. Besides, iWork pre-installed by Apple is not any bargain. You can buy MS Office for the Mac 2011 discounted or for the educational price most of the time for less than iWork.