a few Q's before I order my MacBook

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I've been a lifelong Windows user and I have alot of windows based files

so for my word, powerpoint, and excel documents, how would I be able to use them on the Mac OS? Do I need to buy Microsoft Office for Mac or will iWorks work?

how well does the glossy screen resist glare? could I sit outside on a sunny Florida day and still be able to see the screen?

Eventually I'm going to want to split the hard drive with bootcamp. can I pick how much space to devote to each side or does it split the hard drive right down the middle?

is the mighty Mouse worth the cost?

and what exactly does aperture do? can I use it for basic photo editing (cropping, red eye reduction, changing hues, smoothing out skin tones) and can I greate animated gif's with it?
 
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oh ya, should I invest in a spare battery? how long, aproximately, does the battery last on a charge
 
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To open Word, Power point and Excel files you could buy Microsoft office for mac or get open office which is free.
It doesn't get very sunny much in England :p However the screen is ok not great in direct sunlight.
With boot-camp you designate how much space you want in the Windows partition.
Never used the mighty mouse with my macbook i use a standard cheap mouse which works great for me.
With iPhoto 08 you can adjust the histogram, crop, red eye remove and add a range of effects Aperture is more advanced than this, if your a serious amateur or a pro then the extra features would help out, however i prefer Photoshop CS3 to Aperture. I don't think you can make Gifs with it though.
Battery life is generally good depending on what you are doing normal usage with airport on will last 2-3 hours playing dvd's and cpu intensive programs you can get little over 2 hours thats what i've found. However there are lots of easy options for minimizing power usage. I would try to live with one battery before splashing out on a second.
 
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2.16GHz Macbook Pro, 2GB RAM, OSX v10.5
In order as best I can...

1: iWork should be okay for basic Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. There are also other suites out there, like NeoOffice (free) that offer more robust capabilities. Obviously for maximum compatibility, Microsoft Office for Mac would win out. It all depends on your needs. I'd do some testing with your existing docs to see what works and doesn't.

2. I don't know specifically about Macbooks, but glossy displays in general don't usually work to well against the full force of the sun. In some indoor conditions, the displays light overpowers whatever glare there may be, but I wouldn't imagine this would be the case in the Florida sun. Also - be careful of overheating out there...

3. Bootcamp allows you to decide the amounts you wish for each partition.

4. I don't have a Mighty Mouse, so I don't know.

5. Ditto for Aperture.

6. My Macbook Pro generally gets 2-2.5 hours of life on it. If you plan to spend a lot of time away from an electrical outlet, you may want to make the investment...

I hope this helps,

J
 

cwa107


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I've been a lifelong Windows user and I have alot of windows based files

so for my word, powerpoint, and excel documents, how would I be able to use them on the Mac OS? Do I need to buy Microsoft Office for Mac or will iWorks work?

I would start with NeoOffice and see how well that works for your office needs. If you need Microsoft Office for Mac, I would wait until 2008 comes out. NeoOffice suits me just fine and I don't have a problem with it opening just about any type of MS Office document.

how well does the glossy screen resist glare? could I sit outside on a sunny Florida day and still be able to see the screen?

If glare is a major concern, then a glossy screen may be problematic. Personally, I love the glossy screen - even outdoors. It makes things look sharper and provides better contrast. In bright/sunny conditions, you might have to fiddle with the angle of the screen to get a good position.

Don't worry about overheating. All Macs have thermostatically controlled cooling systems that keep them operating normally and even very warm ambient conditions. If there was a problem, the worst case scenario would be that your computer would turn itself off.

Eventually I'm going to want to split the hard drive with bootcamp. can I pick how much space to devote to each side or does it split the hard drive right down the middle?

You can choose a partition size. An even better solution would be Parallels Desktop which allows you to dynamically resize your virtual hard disk that you allocate to Windows. The other major plus is that you can run Windows simultaneously with Mac OS.

is the mighty Mouse worth the cost?

The Mighty Mouse has been somewhat controversial in Mac-user circles. I've read quite a few complaints about it. Personally, I use a Logitech Bluetooth mouse and find it to be awesome - and as I recall, it was a heck of a lot cheaper than a Mighty Mouse.

and what exactly does aperture do? can I use it for basic photo editing (cropping, red eye reduction, changing hues, smoothing out skin tones) and can I greate animated gif's with it?

Aperture is a professional-grade image organization and editing tool. I would check out iPhoto first (which comes with all Macs) and see if it suits your needs, if not, look into Aperture later.

Creating animated GIFs is a different story - there are several programs that are more geared toward that task, many of them freeware.
 
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I would start with NeoOffice and see how well that works for your office needs. If you need Microsoft Office for Mac, I would wait until 2008 comes out. NeoOffice suits me just fine and I don't have a problem with it opening just about any type of MS Office document.

and I could use this NeoOffice without any other programs? Just making sure

You can choose a partition size. An even better solution would be Parallels Desktop which allows you to dynamically resize your virtual hard disk that you allocate to Windows. The other major plus is that you can run Windows simultaneously with Mac OS.

if I were to get a portable hard drive, would I be able to split this too or not?

Aperture is a professional-grade image organization and editing tool. I would check out iPhoto first (which comes with all Macs) and see if it suits your needs, if not, look into Aperture later.

the thing is, when I order my iBook, i can get a deal on aperture, something like $80 off to get it preinstalled (with the cd also, obviously) when it ships.

So I sorta need to know what aperture offers, or at least what iPhoto offers. basically all I want to be able to do is take pictures with my camera, put them on the mac, reduce red eye, change colors, hues and such, crop and remove things like facial hair from the pics, and a few other 'basic' features
 

cwa107


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and I could use this NeoOffice without any other programs? Just making sure

Yes, NeoOffice is a standalone office suite. It does not have any special prerequisites.

if I were to get a portable hard drive, would I be able to split this too or not?

Windows is not designed to be installed on an external hard drive - it's a limitation of Windows, not of Mac OS or Boot Camp. You can, however, run Windows via Parallels Desktop from a virtual hard disk file stored on an external hard drive.

the thing is, when I order my iBook, i can get a deal on aperture, something like $80 off to get it preinstalled (with the cd also, obviously) when it ships.

So I sorta need to know what aperture offers, or at least what iPhoto offers. basically all I want to be able to do is take pictures with my camera, put them on the mac, reduce red eye, change colors, hues and such, crop and remove things like facial hair from the pics, and a few other 'basic' features

iPhoto should work just fine for those simple tasks. Aperture is designed with professionals in mind and is a lot more powerful.
 

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