Purchase advice

[2occupant]

Currently we have a Dell and use MS Office. I am considering buying a laptop, and my wife has friends that are convincing her to go Mac. If we buy a Mac laptop, is there an easy(any) way to read MS Office files on the Mac?
She was told the new OS for Mac allow it to read Windows files. Do we need to purchase Mac version of the software we have? Or can we go online with laptop and access files on Dell- with program like PCAnywhere?

Basically, everytime we buy software- would we need to buy Mac and OS versions?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Microsoft makes Office for the Mac. Open Office works, but it's kinda icky. Apple's word processor (whatever is in iWork) can read/write .doc files.

Mac OS X allows for easy file sharing with Windows machines. You would need Mac OS X and Windows versions of any software you wanted to use on both comptuers.

 

[qbek]

You should have no problems sharing Office files between the two systems, as long as you purchase MS Office for Mac.

The advantage of having a Mac would be excellent system stability and nonexistance of any malware/spyware problems. However, Apple still demands a hefty price premium for their systems (except perhaps Mac Mini) and you would need to factor in an extra cost of buying two sets of applications - one for each system. You would need to weight those factors.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: qbek
You should have no problems sharing Office files between the two systems, as long as you purchase MS Office for Mac.

The advantage of having a Mac would be excellent system stability and nonexistance of any malware/spyware problems. However, Apple still demands a hefty price premium for their systems (except perhaps Mac Mini) and you would need to factor in an extra cost of buying two sets of applications - one for each system. You would need to weight those factors.

The iBook is also a good deal. IIRC, Symantec recently said OS X is becoming a big target for mal/spy ware.

 

[imported_Kensai]

I stick with Windows either way.

 

[jbass]

I was in the same dilemma a few months ago and needed a laptop for school. Being a long time windows user I felt like I needed to learn something new. I made the jump to a Mac (12"ibook).

It ran slow as molassis until i put an extra 512mb of memory into it (the stock 256 is retarded and not sure what Apple was thinking there).

I have been using it since January, so i have a pretty good feel for it now. You must use it different than windows no doubt. But office apps work basically the same. I have not had any troubles going between the two operating systems.

One thing I want to note is the big misconception that Macs are more stable.. I have found this to be VERY untrue. I have had more application errors and hang ups in the past 3 months on my mac than in the past 1 year on my xp pro box. Maybe it is just me, but this kinda sucks. I am not sure if i am causing the errors or if it is just inherent in the software to give up some times. The crashes usually happen when i have multiple programs running. Only time will tell.

I DO like the mac, and the program crashes are just somthing minor to me. I like the operating system, and the user interfaces of everything is far superior to windows (IMO). The looks are great, and the portability of the 12" ibook is what really convinced me to switch. My classmates were all scrambling to find wall sockets to plug their windows laptops into 1/2 way through class. My ibook lasted the full 6 hours of class on 1 battery.

Would I ever completely switch to Mac? probably not. But i would consider myself a power user and have alot of windows software that i really like and can use really well. I am 100% sure i could do all the same things with my Mac, but i dont want to. It will remain a toy and used strictly for school.

I like my ibook enough that I will be getting a Mac Mini, but I strongly doubt I will ever get a full blown PowerMac. The 2-3k $ is a rediculous price tag. Especially since I can build a full blown AMD 64 box with all the bells and whistles for around 1k.

Take it for what its worth, but this is my experience so far.

I would buy the ibook again over any of the windows laptops in that price range. ($1000-1500)

 

[jbass]

what all software do you plan on needing ? other than office, i found most everything i needed for my Mac was free (try www.versiontracker.com)

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: jbass
It ran slow as molassis until i put an extra 512mb of memory into it (the stock 256 is retarded and not sure what Apple was thinking there).

They're thinking that they can make more money selling you more ram.

There are rumors that Apple'll be changing the default to 512MB soon.

One thing I want to note is the big misconception that Macs are more stable.. I have found this to be VERY untrue. I have had more application errors and hang ups in the past 3 months on my mac than in the past 1 year on my xp pro box. Maybe it is just me, but this kinda sucks. I am not sure if i am causing the errors or if it is just inherent in the software to give up some times. The crashes usually happen when i have multiple programs running. Only time will tell.

What applications? All of my machines (windows, Mac OS X, Linux, OpenBSD, Solaris, etc.) are stable.

I like my ibook enough that I will be getting a Mac Mini, but I strongly doubt I will ever get a full blown PowerMac. The 2-3k $ is a rediculous price tag. Especially since I can build a full blown AMD 64 box with all the bells and whistles for around 1k.

You can't make a dual AMD64 machine for $1k USD.

 

[qbek]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Symantec recently said OS X is becoming a big target for mal/spy ware.

I guess you refer to that article.

If you read the article, Symantec predicts that OS X will become a target for malware/spyware. As of now, the only malicious software is 'proof of concept' lab exploits.

Given past track records of both OSes as well as their market penetration it will be a long time till OS X malware problems catche up to Windows, if ever. The (relative) invulnerability of Mac systems to malware will be their selling ponit for a long time.

Also, you need to keep in mind that it is in Symantec's best interest to spread FUD to make Mac owners nervous about potential threats and to increase sales of their anti-vir products.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: qbek

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Symantec recently said OS X is becoming a big target for mal/spy ware.

I guess you refer to that article.

If you read the article, Symantec predicts that OS X will become a target for malware/spyware. As of now, the only malicious software is 'proof of concept' lab exploits.

Given past track records of both OSes as well as their market penetration it will be a long time till OS X malware problems catche up to Windows, if ever. The (relative) invulnerability of Mac systems to malware will be their selling ponit for a long time.

Also, you need to keep in mind that it is in Symantec's best interest to spread FUD to make Mac owners nervous about potential threats and to increase sales of their anti-vir products.

You conveniently left out the "IIRC," which I obviously didn't. I don't think it's bunk, I think there's a future there.

 

[qbek]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

You conveniently left out the "IIRC," which I obviously didn't. I don't think it's bunk, I think there's a future there.

Sorry, didn't mean to.

Clearly, Mac is not totally immune to viruses. In fact, there was a time when it was susceptible to macro viruses. Something might pop-up as well in the future.

On the other hand, the article basically says: There are no viruses yet, but there will be some (in the future). Sound like FUD to me. Neither we nor Symantec can know the validity of that point unless we travel into the future. We know however that malware/spyware IS the problem for Windows users and is not going away anytime soon. Even if the sitaution changes the way Symantec predicts, the change will be most likely gradual and Mac will be a better security choice into the near future.

I am not advocating for Mac, I just think this is a valid consideration to make when choosing a system, together with pricing, available software, etc.

 

[jbass]

I like my ibook enough that I will be getting a Mac Mini, but I strongly doubt I will ever get a full blown PowerMac. The 2-3k $ is a rediculous price tag. Especially since I can build a full blown AMD 64 box with all the bells and whistles for around 1k.

You can't make a dual AMD64 machine for $1k USD.
[/quote]


I never said Dual AMD 64...

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: jbass
I never said Dual AMD 64...

One processor is the bell, the other's the whistle.

 

[nweaver]

not to rain on parade, but you probably should by apps for both machines, even if they are both PC's. Read the fine print, ymmv (not saying I havn't ever violated EULA's, I'm not perfect)

 

[2occupant]

Thank you all for your information. I guess it will easier to stick w/ Windows. Im guessing that networking the laptop and accessing the Desktop computer and files is not an option.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: 2occupant
Thank you all for your information. I guess it will easier to stick w/ Windows. Im guessing that networking the laptop and accessing the Desktop computer and files is not an option.

Mac OS X machines network quite well with Windows machines.

 

[RichieZ]

i bought an ibook last nov as a second laptop, i just replaced it with a powerbook. Even though its my "second" computer I probalby run it 90% of the time except when I need some statistical packages and other things that I need which are only avaliable under windows.

only thing that annoyws me is that it can mount a NTFS partition but not write to it, i'm curious if 10.3.9 will have NTSF write support it mentions NTFS but its not clear what they mean. Can' wait for tiger

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: jbass
I was in the same dilemma a few months ago and needed a laptop for school. Being a long time windows user I felt like I needed to learn something new. I made the jump to a Mac (12"ibook).

It ran slow as molassis until i put an extra 512mb of memory into it (the stock 256 is retarded and not sure what Apple was thinking there).

I have been using it since January, so i have a pretty good feel for it now. You must use it different than windows no doubt. But office apps work basically the same. I have not had any troubles going between the two operating systems.

One thing I want to note is the big misconception that Macs are more stable.. I have found this to be VERY untrue. I have had more application errors and hang ups in the past 3 months on my mac than in the past 1 year on my xp pro box. Maybe it is just me, but this kinda sucks. I am not sure if i am causing the errors or if it is just inherent in the software to give up some times. The crashes usually happen when i have multiple programs running. Only time will tell.

I DO like the mac, and the program crashes are just somthing minor to me. I like the operating system, and the user interfaces of everything is far superior to windows (IMO). The looks are great, and the portability of the 12" ibook is what really convinced me to switch. My classmates were all scrambling to find wall sockets to plug their windows laptops into 1/2 way through class. My ibook lasted the full 6 hours of class on 1 battery.

Would I ever completely switch to Mac? probably not. But i would consider myself a power user and have alot of windows software that i really like and can use really well. I am 100% sure i could do all the same things with my Mac, but i dont want to. It will remain a toy and used strictly for school.

I like my ibook enough that I will be getting a Mac Mini, but I strongly doubt I will ever get a full blown PowerMac. The 2-3k $ is a rediculous price tag. Especially since I can build a full blown AMD 64 box with all the bells and whistles for around 1k.

Take it for what its worth, but this is my experience so far.

I would buy the ibook again over any of the windows laptops in that price range. ($1000-1500)

Here's the thing, while 6 hours battery life is good, it's not that impressive for a laptop thats seriously underpowered and has a 12" screen. My IBM laptop with a 7200RPM drive and 15" screen can last 6 hours easy with it's default battery pack. I was able to play rise of nations on the airplane for about an hour (the plane had to land) and when I was done, only 30% of the battery had been used (with default battery, not high capacity battery). A laptop with your specifications, I would expect a battery life much longer then that..
Whats your MAX capacity that you've been able to achieve with that system? I met an elderly lady with the same EXACT laptop and she was complaining about how her battery life was about 1hour to a max of 3.

 

[hopejr]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
Whats your MAX capacity that you've been able to achieve with that system? I met an elderly lady with the same EXACT laptop and she was complaining about how her battery life was about 1hour to a max of 3.

I find that hard to believe, seeing I had to drain my iBook's battery and had a hard time trying to get it to happen in less than 3 hours. I tried every trick in the book to make it drain faster but it wouldn't. The only reason that would be true is if she isn't charging it fully or the battery is just dodgy.

 

[shoRunner]

openoffice.org ....free and reads office files

 

[Praytus]

Macs can even read a windows HFS formatted disk. The next version of the OS, Tiger, will also be able to write to them as well.

Ibooks are fantastic values. As someone else pointed out, the software that comes with a mac will be able to read/write .doc files easily. Networking to a Windows workgroup is actually easier then establishing the workgroup, and the bundled software just can't be beat.

As long as you don't want to game on it, I highly recommend the iBook to anyone. Hell, I've even enjoyed WoW on an iBook

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

Macs can even read a windows HFS formatted disk. The next version of the OS, Tiger, will also be able to write to them as well.

Er, you mean NTFS? HFS is an Apple standard.

 

[memo]

you could always buy virtual pc too and use windows programs on a mac, although you would have to upgrade the RAM to about 1 GB to run common apps well.