(Dean, please don't move this, it's an opinion thread, not a problem solving thread. Play like it's about weed eaters or something :))

One of my sons got an Apple laptop and is now an Apple convert. Our Dell is approaching 4 years old, he says we need to get my wife an iMac computer, the 24" 2.8gig unit. (http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac?mco=MTE2NjM) She is a teacher, and spends 3-4 hours a night on the Dell preparing lessons. The rest of the family uses it for internet and music management. I do some picture cropping and simple stuff.

At first, I thought he got the Apple to be college hip, going against standard convention. But after going to the Apple store and seeing the iMac, I think they might be kinda cool.

What do you think, am I looking at being incompatible with the world? Like if a board fries, you can't just get a generic one on ebay? Would an iMac be a Homer Simpson bowling ball gift? (he bought a ball he wanted for Marge for her birthday)

There is nothing wrong with getting an iMac, they can now run Windows too if you like, but Mac OS has been far less buggy. You will need to get used to a few differences.

My son has had an iMac for years and gives me crap about my Dell PC. All kidding a side I wouldn't mind having one. His too runs both the Mac and Windows operating system. I relate the differences to being in one brand of automobile and getting into another. It does the same thing just a little differently. Any common software that is available for windows is available for the mac.

i think its more how much you want to spent for a computer. even though she is a teacher they might give her a discount like they do college students. but even the discount aint much. shop around would be your best bet as alot of stores are doing deals on older models.

i've owned nothing but Apples and Macs (yes I had them when they were just Apples Apple II, Apple IIC, Apple GS). We have 4 PowerBook and 1 MacBook laptops, 2 iMacs, and 3 eMacs.

I will tell you that you will NEVER regret making the change.

I've had to use Windows for work for almost 2 decades (3 through the latest Vista) and it is still as stupid as a box of rocks. Controls and settings buried inside other controls and settings, you plug something in and it still says WTF is that? etc.

What Macs do best-
They empower you to DO everything, not LEARN everything.
They are smart
The OS is intuitive
The hardware is ONLY configured at the top end.
No bugs
No virus attacks
Incredible Built in firewall and security

I run both Mac OS and Windows using Parallels 4.0 ($79 gets you 2 licenses right now. You need to load Windows OS into it http://www.parallels.com/emails/winter2008/pdfm2?hash=announce-6-b9567e18a819f0c3fef0dab142b1fb7f-1).

There's a ton of Mac users here. I am sure you'll be hearing from them too. Feel free to PM with any Mac question.
Fred

It's all sounding good, thanks for the comments, guys! I always though Apple people were eccentric... like my son. But he says it's a sign of intelligence. Never the less, he said he would put a Windows partition on it for us, just in case some weird software needs to be run. They sure look cool, that will be half the fun.

You can run just about anything on Macs nowadays. They will even run .exe files, if you know how.

They are Intel based, you can make a dual boot with OS X and XP (SP2 or higher), or you can run XP in a window like another program. Best of both worlds. A Mac actually runs Windows better than Windows.

No, you need to put Ubuntu Linux on the Dell, spend the extra money on a new monitor, keyboard and mouse, then tell the family they have a new computer. ;)

There is free open source software available for the things that you are doing (internet, music, picture editing) and the OS is free, doesn't crash as often as Windows and won't annoy you with updates every three days. Only problem with it really is that most games need Windows.

Or, you know, a computer is a computer. IMac, Dell, it's all the same when you are like most of us, and aren't actually a computer user, but a browser/mp3player/photo edit program user.

That's just what I think though.

K

check the Apple Store for closeouts, you can get some good deals on factory reconditioned models.

I always though Apple people were eccentric...

I'll give you less than a day with a Mac before you start saying, "Holy ****", no wonder they said that.

Here's a link to a series of Articles written by a Mac-type person about his Dad's switch to a Mac.

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/23/my-dad-the-switcher-day-zero/

Here's 515 OSX Training movies if you really ever need them

http://www.woopid.com/search_result.php?search_id=osx

I'm a Mac convert, back when I was in graduate school. I could slap together a decent 30 min presentation complete with internet sourced pictures, my own background music and animation in less than 20 minutes. Try that with Windows Power Point:D

We had an iBook G4 for 3.5 years and now have a Mac Book (maybe 6 months old). We brought the new one home, turned it on (it prompted us to take our picture upon doing so) and it worked with the existing router, printer, everything right away.

Chicken Coupe's summary of advantages was spot on. No way to really understand how truly integrate the system, the software and the website are until you try it.

i've owned nothing but Apples and Macs (yes I had them when they were just Apples Apple II, Apple IIC, Apple GS). We have 4 PowerBook and 1 MacBook laptops, 2 iMacs, and 3 eMacs.

I will tell you that you will NEVER regret making the change.

I've had to use Windows for work for almost 2 decades (3 through the latest Vista) and it is still as stupid as a box of rocks. Controls and settings buried inside other controls and settings, you plug something in and it still says WTF is that? etc.

What Macs do best-
They empower you to DO everything, not LEARN everything.
They are smart
The OS is intuitive
The hardware is ONLY configured at the top end.
No bugs
No virus attacks
Incredible Built in firewall and security

I run both Mac OS and Windows using Parallels 4.0 ($79 gets you 2 licenses right now. You need to load Windows OS into it http://www.parallels.com/emails/winter2008/pdfm2?hash=announce-6-b9567e18a819f0c3fef0dab142b1fb7f-1).

There's a ton of Mac users here. I am sure you'll be hearing from them too. Feel free to PM with any Mac question.
Fred



I concur. Apple is the best hands down!

I was a PC user for ten years and was sick of the constant bugs and crashes. I very eagerly switched to a Macbook two years ago. I was very excited and looked forward to a new world in computing.

Big disappointment.

First off, Mac doesn't "just work". Over 6 months I had to download over a dozen patches to fix glitches. When one thing was fixed, another thing popped up. It liked to shut itself down without warning, and without saving data. Granted Windows does have its bugs, but Mac is no better.

Second, it's a PC world, and to communicate with it, I had to download all kinds of conversion packs and patches to make it work. Even then, it took numerous clicks to do what just one click would do with PC. It was a huge chore to stream video from news stations, etc.

As for freeware, compared to PC, there basically isn't any for Mac.

And as for viruses, sure, there exist a ton for PC and just a few for Mac, but any decent firewall and antivirus programs will protect you.

Compare price: GB for GB, GHz for GHz, Mac is ridiculously expensive compare to PC companies. Go into a Mac store and you will see rampant consumer rape. Mac defends itself by the legal truth that it's impossible to rape the willing. People love to shell out huge dollars for Chinese-made junk. They get giddy doing it.

And did I mention that Mac is made in China?

The hardcore Mac users have been Mac users since years and years ago, when Mac WAS better than PC. Things have changed.

If you like a rainbow of snazzy colors and lots of things to accessorize with, the Mac is your company. Women love all those colors and accessories.

Don't buy into the hype. And this from a PC-hater, hopeful convert to Mac-user, disappointed convert to Mac-hater, relieved convert back to PC user. Go with PC and use the money you saved to buy a new carburetor, or new set of tires, or change the rear-end ratio of your car.

Of course, the decision is yours. Try out the Mac that's already in your family and see if you like it.

I was a PC user for ten years and was sick of the constant bugs and crashes. I very eagerly switched to a Macbook two years ago. I was very excited and looked forward to a new world in computing.

Big disappointment.

First off, Mac doesn't "just work". Over 6 months I had to download over a dozen patches to fix glitches. When one thing was fixed, another thing popped up. It liked to shut itself down without warning, and without saving data. Granted Windows does have its bugs, but Mac is no better.

Second, it's a PC world, and to communicate with it, I had to download all kinds of conversion packs and patches to make it work. Even then, it took numerous clicks to do what just one click would do with PC. It was a huge chore to stream video from news stations, etc.

As for freeware, compared to PC, there basically isn't any for Mac.

And as for viruses, sure, there exist a ton for PC and just a few for Mac, but any decent firewall and antivirus programs will protect you.

Compare price: GB for GB, GHz for GHz, Mac is ridiculously expensive compare to PC companies. Go into a Mac store and you will see rampant consumer rape. Mac defends itself by the legal truth that it's impossible to rape the willing. People love to shell out huge dollars for Chinese-made junk. They get giddy doing it.

And did I mention that Mac is made in China?

The hardcore Mac users have been Mac users since years and years ago, when Mac WAS better than PC. Things have changed.

If you like a rainbow of snazzy colors and lots of things to accessorize with, the Mac is your company. Women love all those colors and accessories.

Don't buy into the hype. And this from a PC-hater, hopeful convert to Mac-user, disappointed convert to Mac-hater, relieved convert back to PC user. Go with PC and use the money you saved to buy a new carburetor, or new set of tires, or change the rear-end ratio of your car.

Of course, the decision is yours. Try out the Mac that's already in your family and see if you like it.

Don't know what this guy's issue is but he's way off. Let's here it Mac-men and WOMEN!

The issue is explained in the post. Those are my experiences, after being thoroughly excited to switch to Mac. There is nothing political here with a PC vs. Mac war, simply fair warning to a person inquiring about a switch.

I've been working in an office with 10 Macs and 4 or so PCs for almost 10 years. I've been the network admin for 8 of those years. When I started they were using 68030 Macs running OS 7.1. Right away I upgraded everyone to iMacs and G4s running OS 9, and the PC people to Dells with OS 98. They worked fine. We've since upgraded everyone to MacPros and new Intel iMacs, with a few MacBooks. PCs had their problems, Macs had theirs. I generally spend the same amount of time chasing down problems on each side, and we have 2 1/2 the number of Macs. We've had crummy PCs that ended up on the curb after a year, and we've had Macs that needed to go into the shop repeatedly. I've also had a G4 server running OS X that had been running continuously for close to two years without a restart until a lightning strike a couple of months ago. That's more than I can say for the PCs. I wouldn't want a PC as a server, no way. Macs are inherently secure, you have to share the services you want, not restrict everything BUT the services you want to share. I've had PCs so infested with viruses that it was cheaper to just use them for parts than fix them. I've never had a Mac with a virus, ever. As for shareware, PCs have more, but quantity does not equal quality. I find myself having to sift through a lot of poorly conceived, designed and implemented software programs for PC, while I can usually find just one or two well designed apps for Mac without much trouble.

They both have their uses, strengths and weaknesses, and we will continue to have both, because they both fill niches in the organization.

Till I retired, I was Director of Technology for 37 schools. We had about 5000 PCs and 4500 Macs on a 9000 drop network. I used both in my office. If her district is PC and uses Office, you can buy Office for the Mac and its fully compatible with the PC as are almost all printers, etc. Where she may have "issues" is if she uses 'funny' fonts or ClipArt in a document and the PC at school doesn't have them loaded. She will be able to do a LOT more in the graphics area on the Mac. If you buy her a MacBook (high end please) then her font/clipArt problems go away as she can carry it with her to class. They integrate great with wireless also, if her school has hotspots, etc. I'd finish by saying its a lot easier to integrate a Mac into a PC world than the other way around :D

YOu're also going to want to make sure in your Office apps that you add images and other media through the menu and not via drag and drop.

First, if the Mac OS sucked, would Gates try so hard to emulate it with every version of windows?

I work in the pre-press industry. I work on Macs 8 to 10 hours a day for going on 10 years. I have rarely see an issue that isn't easy to fix. I've owned 3 different Macs without any issues. I still work every night on my 7 year old G4 tower every night. I will never own anything other than a Mac
If fact I am currently working on my parents to replace their old PC with a new Mac Mini.