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| You'll like the Mac once you use it a week or two and "get" the Mac concept of computing. Took me about two weeks - but I'm kinda sloooow and had been using Windows since 2.0. I even bought a 3" thick book on the Mac OS to learn how it worked, but gleaned so much info from the nice young lady at the book store (who was a diehard Mac user and just giddy that I was converting) that I never really had to open it. After talking with her, coming home and putting my new found knowledge to work, I had my "Ah Ha!" moment and the rest is history.
Anyhow, the answers you got above were right on the money. You can get MS Office for Mac, or download OpenOffice for free. This will let you read, modify, and write Office files that you can then use on your Windows machines. As others have stated, you have options of running Windows on your Mac by either using Bootcamp, which comes with the Mac OS and will set your 'puter up as dual boot, or run Windows in a virtual machine like Parallels, Fusion, or you can download VirtualBox for free. VB isn't quite as fancy as Parallels or Fusion, but it does work, and works well. As already stated, no matter what method you use, if you slum it with Windows on your Mac, you will need to run virus protection in the Win environment. This is about like buying a Mercedes - it may be a really great car, but if you drive it through the Chicago SouthSide, you'd better keep your doors locked! ;)
Networking with Win machines - piece of cake. Nearly sets itself up. I still have two Win machines in this house and both are networked with this iMac. Easily transfer files to and from. Printing also works well - but I have found it is easier to have the printer plugged into the Mac than one of the PC's.
Quickbooks - I don't use it myself, but have a brother who does. He switched his QB from a PC to Mac. You can convert QB data FROM PC to Mac, but not vice versa. The Mac version of QB is behind the Win version and the conversion can only go one way. Mac version also lacks some features compared to Win version.
All of your current media files will work fine on the Mac. I did have to download and install a utility called "Flip4Mac" to watch WMV files - but the new Quicktime video player in Snow Leopard might play them without the utility now - I'm not sure about that though. I also use VLC media player - and have since my Windows days. I haven't ran into anything that it won't play.
If you live anywhere near a Mac Store, I would suggest taking your current machine with you when you decide to buy a Mac. They will transfer all of your data over to your Mac for free - saves you a lot of time.
Good luck, and feel free to ask any questions - would be glad to help you out. It has been a real pleasure for me to be free from the malware threat and the problem of Windows slowing to a crawl after a year or two of use! Microsoft would have to come out with a real spectacular operating system for me to even consider switching back now. I know one thing for sure, if they did, it would not even remotely resemble Vista or 7. | |
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any advice for mixed households? (pc and mac)
