Apple query

waynegalway

Hi,

Thinking of packing in the windows world and moving over to a Mac.

I've had a look online, but there seems to be a mirriad of different processor names and specs to look out for.

If you were to buy one second hand, what should you look out for? Are there any processors that are really out of date but might confuse a newcomer to Apple?

Many thanks,

W

ozt9vdujny3srf

What is your budget and requirements? Perhaps if you let us know we'll be able to help you find the right model for you. As a hard and fast rule though, you should stick to Intel Macs, as PowerPC support is slowly dying out.

Sad Professor

Apple's line of computers is really very small compared to other manufacturers. There's not a lot to choose from.

Check out the refurb store on the Irish Apple Store.

http://store.apple.com/ie/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=OTY2ODY3Nw

waynegalway

Thanks guys.

Regarding budget, I know that the new ones start at about 1100ish. The refurb shop has ones for about 900.

I suppose I might be able to stretch to the 900, but I was hoping to get a second hand one for maybe 500 to 600.

Thanks for the tip on the intel rather than powerPC.

Is it true that the OS is less susceptible to viral/malware attack than windows?

Also, in terms of the OS, are there different ones available for the Apple intel chip? What I mean is that for instance a P4 in a PC could be running Windows ME, 2000, XP, Vista or 7.

Edit:

Regarding my requirements: I would be using the computer just for general stuff really. The only specific software package I would want to run is Photoshop. The reason fro wanting to change from windows is that my pc has died and it was on the way out for a while. Over the last year I've had to re install windows about 5 or 6 times, loosing info off the harddrive each time wasn't fun. I think it was being attacked by a virus, although none of the virus checkers could do anything about it. I have a feeling that the virus may have my IP address logged and each time I wiped the computer it came back very quickly.

I'd be using the computer for making up presentations and word processing. I believe you can get a MicroSoft Office emulator for the Mac now, so I'd probably get that so I can convert files to a format I'd need for the work comuters (I work as a lecturer, so powerpoint is on all the lecture room computers).

I used to be into gamimg, but not so much any more. It would be nice to think I could get a well enough specced machine to run a decent and modern game, but I have no idea how well supported the Mac is by the mainstream game developers.

Sad Professor

Is it an iMac or Macbook that you are thinking of? I would encourage you to go the refurb route if possible. You'll have the added protection of a warranty if anything goes wrong.

waynegalway wrote: »

Is it true that the OS is less susceptible to viral/malware attack than windows?

Viruses are not a problem on the Mac. You don't need to worry about them. No need to install AV.

Also, in terms of the OS, are there different ones available for the Apple intel chip? What I mean is that for instance a P4 in a PC could be running Windows ME, 2000, XP, Vista or 7.

Not quite sure what you mean. Mac OS X is the only OS. Once you limit yourself to the Intel Macs you don't need to worry about PPC.

I'd be using the computer for making up presentations and word processing. I believe you can get a MicroSoft Office emulator for the Mac now, so I'd probably get that so I can convert files to a format I'd need for the work comuters (I work as a lecturer, so powerpoint is on all the lecture room computers).

You can get MS Office for Mac, no emulation required. There's also Apple's offering, iWork. But you are probably better off sticking with Office for compatibility reasons.

It would be nice to think I could get a well enough specced machine to run a decent and modern game, but I have no idea how well supported the Mac is by the mainstream game developers.

A lot better than they used to be. You can always install Windows and boot into it to play games. Steam for Mac will be available shortly.

waynegalway

Thank you.

It's an iMac I'm thinking of, to replace my desktop.

Are the MacMinis worth considering? I have a decent monitor that I used with the PC, so I could possibly use that.

Are there any driver issues with Mac? What I mean is that can the hardware I currently run off the pc (A3 HP printer and A4 Canon Scanner/Printer) be run easily from the Mac?

What I mean about the OS is that I've read about things like Snow Leopard (is that right) and some other things that looked like OS options. Are these the same as Windows, in that Me and 2000 are very old, XP and Vista still around but out dated, and 7 being the newest? I suppose what I'm getting at is that if I go down the second hand route, are there versions of apple OS that are to be avoided (as Me and 2000 would be if you were buying an older PC)?

Sad Professor

waynegalway wrote: »

Are the MacMinis worth considering? I have a decent monitor that I used with the PC, so I could possibly use that.

If you want to go the cheaper route, definitely. Refurbished Minis sell out quick on the refurb store. But if you keep an eye more will pop up soon.

Are there any driver issues with Mac? What I mean is that can the hardware I currently run off the pc (A3 HP printer and A4 Canon Scanner/Printer) be run easily from the Mac?

Most things are plug and play. But you may need to get the Mac drivers for some things from the manufacturers website. It shouldn't be a problem though.

What I mean about the OS is that I've read about things like Snow Leopard (is that right) and some other things that looked like OS options. Are these the same as Windows, in that Me and 2000 are very old, XP and Vista still around but out dated, and 7 being the newest? I suppose what I'm getting at is that if I go down the second hand route, are there versions of apple OS that are to be avoided (as Me and 2000 would be if you were buying an older PC)?

Yeah the cat names just refer to newer updated versions of OS X. They are much smaller and more frequent updates compared to what Microsoft does. More like Windows service packs, I suppose.

10.4 was Tiger
10.5 was Leopard
10.6 is Snow Leopard

All of them are good. But it's best to have the latest that your system can manage.

waynegalway

Thanks very much for your help

ozt9vdujny3srf

If you can stretch as far as a 21.5 inch imac (refurb), they really are excellent. In particular if you are going for graphics work the screen is top notch. Failing that the mini is a good option if you already have peripherals ready to hook it up to, but imo the iMac is better value all round.

If you are a student you are entitled to discounts on apple machines also (but not on refurbs).

spannerotoole

Because there are very few viruses on the mac, doesn't mean that mac users should get complacent about this.

What if someone were to write a script and hide in a dmg file that had an smtp server that also checked your contacts lists, changed your root password (known as being rooted) and then added the line that UNIX sysadmins fear

rm -rf * (Do not type this as super user or even as a normal user)

This particular Virus wouldn't affect windows systems, but because of the amount of users who come over from the windows side of things would just click on "Free Screensaver" or "Free update" with instructions on how to run it even as a shell script (sh filename.sh)

This is of course a concept which has not yet been realised on OSX but it has been realised on other UNIX based Operating systems, so a port would be very easy.

spannerotoole

If you want to keep your existing hardware, try Linux mint

http://www.linuxmint.com

It's really easy to use and it's free.

Sad Professor

spannerotoole wrote: »

Because there are very few viruses on the mac, doesn't mean that mac users should get complacent about this.

What if someone were to write a script and hide in a dmg file that had an smtp server that also checked your contacts lists, changed your root password (known as being rooted) and then added the line that UNIX sysadmins fear

rm -rf * (Do not type this as super user or even as a normal user)

This particular Virus wouldn't affect windows systems, but because of the amount of users who come over from the windows side of things would just click on "Free Screensaver" or "Free update" with instructions on how to run it even as a shell script (sh filename.sh)

This is of course a concept which has not yet been realised on OSX but it has been realised on other UNIX based Operating systems, so a port would be very easy.

Nobody is saying that Macs are invulnerable. Mac users should be as security conscious as Windows users are. If they are downloading pirated software from torrent sites and carelessly entering their admin password when asked then they are opening themselves up to all sorts of things. Any system can be exploited by trojans that prey on user error.

However, self-replicating viruses just aren't a problem on Macs right now. If/when they are we'll hear about it.

ozt9vdujny3srf

spannerotoole wrote: »

If you want to keep your existing hardware, try Linux mint

http://www.linuxmint.com

It's really easy to use and it's free.

While I agree that Mint is an excellent OS (as is Ubuntu), they do still usually require a bit of fiddling to get working right, and also aren't much good for people who want to use pro apps (like the OP needing Photoshop).

Ham'nd'egger

Sad Professor wrote: »

You can get MS Office for Mac, no emulation required. There's also Apple's offering, iWork. But you are probably better off sticking with Office for compatibility reasons.

I'm using iWorks since before Xmas and it's spots and miles over Office for Mac. It's speedier and easier on processor, it's more user friendly, some nice templates going while Keynote is eons over Powerpoint. Plus saving stuff for Office to open is literally one click and it's done.

Oh yeah, it's a fraction of the price of Office and yes the same can be said for Open Office and Neo Office which is free and decent enough:)

Sad Professor

Hamndegger wrote: »

I'm using iWorks since before Xmas and it's spots and miles over Office for Mac. It's speedier and easier on processor, it's more user friendly, some nice templates going while Keynote is eons over Powerpoint. Plus saving stuff for Office to open is literally one click and it's done.

I agree about Keynote. If I was ever making a presentation I would definitely use it over Powerpoint. However, it's not always great for opening powerpoint files. I don't know about converting to them.

And I do like Pages very much, it is as you say very light on resources and has a nice interface. But Word has some great features like the notepad layout that I've really come to depend on.

Other than that, I don't particularly like Office on the Mac, the performance is poor. But it can be a necessary evil if you are dealing with a lot of Office files in a PC environment.

ozt9vdujny3srf

As good as pages is, It rarely opens .doc files properly. Office for mac is a necessary evil if you are going to be sending and receiving documents with windows users. On the upshot, it looks like Office 2011 is going to be quite good, seems like it will be catching up with the excellent office 2007.

waynegalway

Hamndegger wrote: »

I'm using iWorks since before Xmas and it's spots and miles over Office for Mac. It's speedier and easier on processor, it's more user friendly, some nice templates going while Keynote is eons over Powerpoint. Plus saving stuff for Office to open is literally one click and it's done.

Oh yeah, it's a fraction of the price of Office and yes the same can be said for Open Office and Neo Office which is free and decent enough:)

Hi,

So are you saying that even if you do all your work on iWork, it can be easily converted to open on a PC? So I wouldn't necessarily have to get Office for the Mac?

Ham'nd'egger

waynegalway wrote: »

Hi,

So are you saying that even if you do all your work on iWork, it can be easily converted to open on a PC? So I wouldn't necessarily have to get Office for the Mac?

My experience is that once you save in the Office favoured formats with it (.doc for Word/Pages and .xls for Excel/Numbers) , you should be fine. If all you want it to do it to type/read letters at home or to keep household accounts it IMO is a no brainer. Yes, there is some things that you may find awkward such as no Notepad (Which I don't like but know it is handy; horses for courses ) but you gain on the templates and it's ability to do some low level desktop publishing which Word can't do as readily.

I'd say to you though, take into account what you want to do with such a software before buying it. iWork allows for a demo so download it from Apple when you get round to buying your Mac.

Indeed, we can all agree or advise on here that for everything you use on Windows, there is an Mac match for it out there. Except for Windows itself:D:cool:

Hobbes

Logan Thankful Tannery wrote: »

Office for mac is a necessary evil if you are going to be sending and receiving documents with windows users.

Open office or Symphony will do the job and they are totally free. Personally I like iWork over the two.

As for the mac. I already had a widescreen monitor so I just got a mac mini. Quiet little thing and very nice.

ozt9vdujny3srf

Hobbes wrote: »

Open office or Symphony will do the job and they are totally free. Personally I like iWork over the two.

As for the mac. I already had a widescreen monitor so I just got a mac mini. Quiet little thing and very nice.

iWork, Open Office and Symphony all "do the job", but none of them well. If you want to maintain the correct formatting on word created .doc files, you need Office.

Hobbes

Logan Thankful Tannery wrote: »

If you want to maintain the correct formatting on word created .doc files, you need Office.

True, but office is starting to go away. Somewhat slowly but it is going.

MACHEAD

Haven't had much experience with PC's since Win95, have tried (sometimes in vain) to stay exclusively Mac since then. But on the 'Notepad' topic I find myself using 'Textedit' more and more to quickly type up something simple or to paste copied text in from another app. It has all the basic editing features, is quick, simple and very easy to use. It even has image support, it'll let you place and image pretty much anywhere you like on a page, try doing that with microsoft's offering.

spannerotoole

MACHEAD wrote: »

Haven't had much experience with PC's since Win95, have tried (sometimes in vain) to stay exclusively Mac since then. But on the 'Notepad' topic I find myself using 'Textedit' more and more to quickly type up something simple or to paste copied text in from another app. It has all the basic editing features, is quick, simple and very easy to use. It even has image support, it'll let you place and image pretty much anywhere you like on a page, try doing that with microsoft's offering.

So....
It lets you create Rich Text Format files.
There is a microsoft program that comes with windows that does this.
It's called "WordPad"

As for myself though, I use LeafPad, for most of my text editing, For notes I use TomBoy. For WebEditing I use Bluefish. I prefer to use apps that are really free without any restrictions as to their use.

spannerotoole

Hamndegger wrote: »

Indeed, we can all agree or advise on here that for everything you use on Windows, there is an Mac match for it out there. Except for Windows itself:D:cool:

Ever heard of the Wine Project?

Hookie

Hey guys,

Ok so im in the same boat here.. cant decide whether to take the plunge and go for a macbook over a dell etc.

I know i want a macbook but im trying to convince myself i want it for the right reasons..
I like that its small and light so its handy to carry around college etc and the long battery life is a big plus (considering its practically impossible to get a plug in the library in college)

The downside is that everything in college is generally done using MS Office - presentations, class notes, projects etc. Thats's my only worry really. Otherwise im just using it for general stuff like music, photo editing and watching tv/movies online.

So would it be a big problem having a mac when i need compatibility with office? (granted i can get office for mac but i've heard there are still problems there?) And if i was to run windows on my mac how much would that cost and how much memory would it take up? Dont want it slowing down my new lappy

Any help would be MUCH appreciated! Thanks

Sad Professor

You shouldn't have any problems using Office for Mac.

If you chose to install Windows via Bootcamp there won't be any slow down. Your Mac will basically be a Windows PC. All it will cost is a copy of Windows. Or you could run Windows side by side with OS X using Parallels or VMWare. That would be a lot heavier on memory and CPU. Tbh though it doesn't really sound like you need Windows.

MACHEAD

Hello Hookie,
Well as this is a Mac orientated forum, and the majority of posters on this thread will be Mac users, we are more than likely to advise you you to go down the Mac route. But unless you've yeally set your heart on a Mac, the type of uses you have specified could be quite easily handled by even an entry level Dell or a Sony or some such pc based machine. And they'll be cheaper than an Apple equivalent. However they do have one major disadvantage - they run Microsoft Windows! and you'll be letting yourself in for all the attendant issues and problems that come with it as standard. Security & instability being the foremost of them. As far as compatibility with windows/pc's is concerned, that's been improving ever since the intoduction of Mac OS X. MS Office for Mac is considered fully compatible with it's Windows equivalent, but every now and again a p.c. will just be awkward and refuse to co-operate. And of course there's been a big step forward in compatibility between iWork '09 and windows. As a previous poster has mentioned just one click is all it takes to save/export a document in 'Office' format. For running 'Windows' on your Mac, personally I have no hands on experience of this, but I've seen colegues at work have 'issues' with it. So unless you require Windows to access network services for example, I'd avoide it. And there it is, big decision time.

Sigi

You can install OSX on your PC so I don't see why you would want to pay for ridiculously overpriced,non-upgradeable hardware.I think the saying holds true that those who buy macs have more money than sense.

whiterebel

Sigi wrote: »

You can install OSX on your PC so I don't see why you would want to pay for ridiculously overpriced,non-upgradeable hardware.I think the saying holds true that those who buy macs have more money than sense.

A good thing nobody asked you then.

Hookie

Ah what the hell im taking the plunge.. gonna order my pretty white macbook tomorrow

Sad Professor

Hookie wrote: »

Ah what the hell im taking the plunge.. gonna order my pretty white macbook tomorrow

Have you considered going the extra for the Macbook Pro? It's only 150 more and well worth it imo. The white Macbook is pretty alright, but the Pro is downright sexy.

Also, make sure you avail of your student discount. There's also rebates for iPods and printers, but you have to purchase them at the same time as the Macbook.

Freddie59

Sigi wrote: »

You can install OSX on your PC so I don't see why you would want to pay for ridiculously overpriced,non-upgradeable hardware.I think the saying holds true that those who buy macs have more money than sense.

The old saying 'you get what you pay for' also springs to mind.:)

whiterebel

Sad Professor wrote: »

Have you considered going the extra for the Macbook Pro? It's only 150 more and well worth it imo. The white Macbook is pretty alright, but the Pro is downright sexy.

Also, make sure you avail of your student discount. There's also rebates for iPods and printers, but you have to purchase them at the same time as the Macbook.

+1 on the pro - It is gorgeous. I got mine last week on the refurb store for €979......