seriously considering getting a mac..

splashthecash

ok, im looking at the below imac but don't know if its the newest model? Is it?
Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo


21.5-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB memory
500GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics with 256MB memory
Built-in iSight camera

Now, I have some BASIC BASIC Mac questions for ye..

1. Mail with Mac, can both my wife and I set up both our Gmail accounts with "Mail" and simply switch between the two like we can on my iPhone?
2. I assume that an iMac is wireless our of the box? However on the online tutorials, it says to use Wi-Fi, I need an airport base station? Is this only if there are more than one Macs in the house...if we just have the one and want to go online, i dont need this base station?
3. Is a Mac really that better at stopping spyware\adware etc.. than Windows?

Thanks, I may be back on later as I find more questions..

john__long

splashthecash wrote: »

1. Mail with Mac, can both my wife and I set up both our Gmail accounts with "Mail" and simply switch between the two like we can on my iPhone?
2. I assume that an iMac is wireless our of the box? However on the online tutorials, it says to use Wi-Fi, I need an airport base station? Is this only if there are more than one Macs in the house...if we just have the one and want to go online, i dont need this base station?
3. Is a Mac really that better at stopping spyware\adware etc.. than Windows?

1: You can just create two user accounts on the Mac. One for you, one for your wife. Or you can do it your way. One user account and have both mail accounts being checked...

2: You don't need an Airport base station. Any 802.11 (WiFi) compatible device will work. I myself use a Linksys WiFi modem/router and have 2 Macs in the house.

3: Mac doesn't stop the spyware so much as it isn't vulnerable to it. Since it's market share is still quite low, there isn't as much spyware created for it. Ergo, you (probably) won't get any spyware. There are occasional DNS redirection problems reported but you'd want to be looking at very dodgy sites for those.

splashthecash wrote: »

ok, im looking at the below imac but don't know if its the newest model? Is it?

The specifications you listed look alot like the current intro level iMac model.

Idleater

1) I have no idea, I just go to gmail in the browser, but I am sure that you could each use your own profile (login) to access your own gmail accounts rather than having them both set up under the same user.

2) I presume so too, and you can just connect to any Wireless Access Point. You give it the SSID and WPA/WEP key and it connects away. Base station is just apple's Wireless Access point hardware.

3) Well, the easiest way to think of this is that no windows programs work on osx, therefore any viruses written for windows will not affect osx. There are obviously Viruses Trojans and Malware out there that could affect osx, but these are rare at present so general internet care should always be applied.

J-blk

splashthecash wrote: »

1. Mail with Mac, can both my wife and I set up both our Gmail accounts with "Mail" and simply switch between the two like we can on my iPhone?
2. I assume that an iMac is wireless our of the box? However on the online tutorials, it says to use Wi-Fi, I need an airport base station? Is this only if there are more than one Macs in the house...if we just have the one and want to go online, i dont need this base station?
3. Is a Mac really that better at stopping spyware\adware etc.. than Windows?

All 21.5" iMacs are the latest/current generation - that screen size did not exist previously (neither did the 27") - there's probably an update due sooner rather than later, but the refurb store is usually good value, so if you're looking to take the plunge, go for it.

As for the questions:
1) Yes. You can have any number of inboxes in mail - I have four different accounts set up. You can also create separate users accounts if you want to entirely separate things so she logs into her desktop/mail/other settings, etc and you have your own account.
2) All current Macs, including iMacs, have an 802.11n wireless chip built in so yes, they are wireless out of the box. You can use them with any 802.11g or 802.11n router on the market, it does not need to be Apple's Airport... And yes, you could just wire it your modem/router instead if you wanted to.
3) Definitely .

splashthecash

Cheers for the info guys! Appreciate it..