Maybe a Mac in the future???

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

Well, I've been working on my new iMac for the last week and have to say..I love this machine!
I went in with the idea if purchasing a laptop and came out with an iMac. An all-in-one 24" monitor with the HD and speakers in the monitor...Nice and clean looking!

I bought iWork, transferred my office files (multiple spreadsheets, word documents), and everything works good. So far, all I've had to adjust were the margins or print areas on my Office documents. Oh, there's no clipart..no big deal. All of my pictures transferred nicely into iPhoto.

My web-based mail interfaces with the Mac mail. I do use Firefox browser, which stores most of my passwords. An add-on for Firefox browser is Foxmarks which syncs all the bookmarks on both machines automatically.

I'm a happy person!!!



Lots of great features...hasn't frozen!!!

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Sounds great and I am glad you like the new iMac. They look so nice in the store!

PS. How is your cute little puppy? I'll bet he is much bigger now.

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

I have had a MacBook for about 6 months now. I really like it and its simplicity. However, I learned that Macs can't run or connect to all things in the real internet world.

Some sites are just Windows based and the Mac can't run or access them. So you have to buy virtual machine software and Windows to run them. I bought VM Fusion and Windows XP and installed them on my Mac.

The virtual Windows machine works very well. The only issue I have had is being able to print from the virtual Windows machine from a wireless network printer.

Without installing the virtual machine software, the MacBook would only meet 75% of my computing needs. Mac is still an inferior choice if you have a lot of PC world work.

[WanderLust Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close WanderLust]

Point counter point is so much fun lol. I don't disagree with the latest post. However, I have 2 macs at home and one dell desktop. One is desktop that is over 5 years old. This one is connected to my HDTV screen and I used it last night to watch a movie because the dvd I rented would not run on my new dvd player. The other mac is also desktop and it is the intel version. We have not used the dell since the macs came to the home.

We have not had a problem with virus etc. We have not found a site that we couldn't use on the interweb. I have never used any of our puters for business purposes. I remember when when using pc's at home, that I would tend to buy a new one every 3 to 4 years to replace the failing pc.

Buddy of mine called me last week. He bought his high end top of the line Dell desktop in December 2003. His machine is now bogged down, crashing and is a headache for me. He wants to know how my mac that I purchased at the same time is running. Response was that it is fast and humming!

I am sitting on my couch about 15 feet away from the big hdtv screen typing my response. I use the tv screen as my mac monitor. The other mac now has the 30 inch apple cinema display and the 20 inch display from this desktop running at the same time.

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

I have 2 printers, both are wireless. One for the PC and one for the Mac. I wanted an all-in-one which is working quite well with the Mac. I wasn't sure if I could do the 2 platforms with 1 printer, but I was told you can

So far I haven't come across a website that doesn't work with Firefox; I know I had some issues with Safari, but they were minor.

Now, let me ask you...I was told that if I wanted to put Windows on, I can; but, I would have to get virus protection for it. So far, any issues?

iconnections (Emmy) I have a little puppy, but that's not her, someone sent that awhile ago to me and I thought it was cute.
If I can get the little one to sit still long enough, I will put her up there.

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

Point counter point is so much fun lol. I don't disagree with the latest post. However, I have 2 macs at home and one dell desktop. One is desktop that is over 5 years old. This one is connected to my HDTV screen and I used it last night to watch a movie because the dvd I rented would not run on my new dvd player. The other mac is also desktop and it is the intel version. We have not used the dell since the macs came to the home.

We have not had a problem with virus etc. We have not found a site that we couldn't use on the interweb. I have never used any of our puters for business purposes. I remember when when using pc's at home, that I would tend to buy a new one every 3 to 4 years to replace the failing pc.

Buddy of mine called me last week. He bought his high end top of the line Dell desktop in December 2003. His machine is now bogged down, crashing and is a headache for me. He wants to know how my mac that I purchased at the same time is running. Response was that it is fast and humming!

I am sitting on my couch about 15 feet away from the big hdtv screen typing my response. I use the tv screen as my mac monitor. The other mac now has the 30 inch apple cinema display and the 20 inch display from this desktop running at the same time.

The problems I have had with my Mac and internet connections all deal with companies who have their websites with certain Window based links. Firefox does not work on them. You literally have to have a Windows connection to make them work.

My point of my post was to let people know if they want to go all in with a Mac, they still may have to spend extra money to make them work with certain websites.

Citrix has some emulation software that can make a Mac work with a website. However, the virtual machine software seems to be a better route. I know that Mac people are hardcore machine lovers. The virtual machine software only works on the new Macs with Intel chips, not the old Macintosh chips.

Again, Mac is not the end all be all. Neither is a PC. Both have distinct advantages. Depending on how you will be using it, you may favor one over the over.

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

I have 2 printers, both are wireless. One for the PC and one for the Mac. I wanted an all-in-one which is working quite well with the Mac. I wasn't sure if I could do the 2 platforms with 1 printer, but I was told you can

So far I haven't come across a website that doesn't work with Firefox; I know I had some issues with Safari, but they were minor.

Now, let me ask you...I was told that if I wanted to put Windows on, I can; but, I would have to get virus protection for it. So far, any issues?

iconnections (Emmy) I have a little puppy, but that's not her, someone sent that awhile ago to me and I thought it was cute.
If I can get the little one to sit still long enough, I will put her up there.

If you want to put Windows on your Mac you can. If you don't buy a virtual machine software, like VM Fusion or Parallels, you will have to do a manual reboot every time you want to switch between Mac and Windows. You use "Bootcamp" which is part of your Mac OS.

For the $80 for the software, buy the virtual machine software. You will be glad you did.

[jericap Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close jericap]

I heard the Parallels works well. I haven't bought it yet, I may need to in the future, but not yet.
I haven't tried PowerPoint yet, so I don't know if any of the file transfers will work.
One thing I did notice was that any email with a .wmv extension doesn't work as that is a windows proprietary extension. So I don't see any of those.

If I start missing Windows or need certain applications, I know I have options that can be added with a somewhat seamless interface.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

If you want to put Windows on your Mac you can. If you don't buy a virtual machine software, like VM Fusion or Parallels, you will have to do a manual reboot every time you want to switch between Mac and Windows. You use "Bootcamp" which is part of your Mac OS.

For the $80 for the software, buy the virtual machine software. You will be glad you did.

We had the virtual machine software when it first came came out and it was horrible so then we decided to always have one of both. I still prefer it as I have them side by side so can do something in between when the other one is busy like backing up my Mac which I am doing right now. This little Mac is so ancient that I have to replace it. I normally keep them until they fall apart but this one keeps on humming except for the mouse. I bought one on eBay (my first auction) and it didn't work but an old PC mouse does. I had no idea that you could do this.

Jericap, Mike and Avery you inspire me to go shopping for a new Mac.

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

I heard the Parallels works well. I haven't bought it yet, I may need to in the future, but not yet.
I haven't tried PowerPoint yet, so I don't know if any of the file transfers will work.
One thing I did notice was that any email with a .wmv extension doesn't work as that is a windows proprietary extension. So I don't see any of those.

If I start missing Windows or need certain applications, I know I have options that can be added with a somewhat seamless interface.

My understanding of the difference between VM Fusion and Parallels is that VM makes better use of the Intel chip.

Emmy, I know that the first versions of these virtual machine software programs had some issues. But I believe most of those issues have now been resolved.

[WanderLust Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close WanderLust]

I heard the Parallels works well. I haven't bought it yet, I may need to in the future, but not yet.
I haven't tried PowerPoint yet, so I don't know if any of the file transfers will work.
One thing I did notice was that any email with a .wmv extension doesn't work as that is a windows proprietary extension. So I don't see any of those.

If I start missing Windows or need certain applications, I know I have options that can be added with a somewhat seamless interface.

There is shareware that you can download that will enable you to view .wmv files. I found it many moons ago using google. If you are unable to find it, I will search through my stuff and tell you what the download is. Edit, I googled and here it is Flip4Mac WMV Products
and more
Apple - Downloads - Video - Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro

It is my understanding that the ILife suite will allow you to view powerpoint. I have office for mac and it works fine.

Mike, I understand your point on the issue of not everything will work. I was merely trying to show that for me that was not an issue. I have been using Safari for 5 years and have never had an issue with websites. I am on the interwebs on several golf bbs, TS bbs, poker sites, etc every day.

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

There is shareware that you can download that will enable you to view .wmv files. I found it many moons ago using google. If you are unable to find it, I will search through my stuff and tell you what the download is. Edit, I googled and here it is Flip4Mac WMV Products
and more
Apple - Downloads - Video - Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro

It is my understanding that the ILife suite will allow you to view powerpoint. I have office for mac and it works fine.

Mike, I understand your point on the issue of not everything will work. I was merely trying to show that for me that was not an issue. I have been using Safari for 5 years and have never had an issue with websites. I am on the interwebs on several golf bbs, TS bbs, poker sites, etc every day.

The Flip 4 Mac works good. I was at a website the other day that had some new Windows encryption on a video that would not allow the Flip 4 Mac to work. I had to go into my VM Fusion/Windows and use Windows Media to view it.

I have one work website and some financial websites that I just can't get to be compatible with Safari or Firefox on the Mac. When I bought the Mac I didn't know of these issues. That's the only reason I bring them up. Otherwise, the Mac is so easy to use and I love the way it functions.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I have a Powerbook that is over 4 years old. I did fry the hard drive and the motherboard a while ago before I learned that they are really supposed to be "desktops" and not "laptops." But even without an extended care policy and long out of warranty, the max that Apple charged to rebuild the whole machine was $340, no matter what it needed. Now I am more careful about not leaving lying on the bed without turning it upside down so the fans aren't blocked, etc... I do replace the battery every 18 months or so.

I really would like to get something lighter, am waiting on the next version of the Air, but the truth is my old Powerbook is just fine and doesn't need replacing...

Well, it's been another year. My Powerbook G4 has past its 5th birthday. Hasn't gotten any lighter and I commute with it to/from the city several times a week. The graphics card may need replacing, which exceeds the value of the computer, and it needs another new battery and a new powercord. The new Air costs about the same as a new Powerbook, but weighs only 3 lbs. I bit the bullet (it hurt, believe me) yesterday and ordered it. I'm a little worried about the smaller screen, but the image quality is better than on my old PB, so hopefully the smaller size won't be too noticeable (except when I'm comparing two documents side by side, which I do all the time ). I can always get an inexpensive large monitor to hook it up to at home.

Does anyone here use MobileMe? I am considering it, not sure if I need it.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Well, it's been another year. My Powerbook G4 has past its 5th birthday. Hasn't gotten any lighter and I commute with it to/from the city several times a week. The graphics card may need replacing, which exceeds the value of the computer, and it needs another new battery and a new powercord. The new Air costs about the same as a new Powerbook, but weighs only 3 lbs. I bit the bullet (it hurt, believe me) yesterday and ordered it. I'm a little worried about the smaller screen, but the image quality is better than on my old PB, so hopefully the smaller size won't be too noticeable (except when I'm comparing two documents side by side, which I do all the time ). I can always get an inexpensive large monitor to hook it up to at home.

Does anyone here use MobileMe? I am considering it, not sure if I need it.

I have MobileMe. We bought a new iMac and iPhone last Christmas so it came with MobileMe and they automatically renewed it. You'll have to tell them not to which I may do at the end of this year. It is handy for syncing with everything including the PCs but you really don't need it. There is the cloud and you can store files there but it is very limited. I use Carbonite which gives you unlimited space and is much cheaper. When I showed this to the Apple guys, they couldn't believe it. Guess what they are doing now?

I would buy the AppleCare and One to One service. This used to be personal but now they do group sessions. The nice thing is that you can call Apple tech support any day and get free help because of the yearly policy. This is very handy.

Try to do that with Microsoft as that will cost you $59.99 per phone call. They don't seem to have something similar. I had to buy it from Dell.

[SteveChapin Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SteveChapin]

We had the virtual machine software when it first came came out...

Depending on what you mean, you might be talking about VirtualPC which came out on the old G4 Macs. Because the G4 couldn't directly execute x86 (Intel) machine instructions, Virtual PC was dog slow. Now, both Parallels and VMWare run fine on Intel-based Macs, if you have enough memory. Vista is a pig, so it's painful to run it in a VM. XP (and Windows 7, which is less resource intensive than Vista) will run much better.