The mighty mouse gets very mixed reviews. Something wrong with its acceleration curve making it sluggish/too speedy and anti-intuitive according to some, while others swear by its functionality. Should I get a mighy mouse or a logitech top model instead?
If you're buying the iMac, it comes with a Mighty Mouse. Try it out and see what you think, you can always get another mouse later. There are two different packages of the iMac in the AppleStores – each iMac model comes in a choice of wireless or wired keyboard and mouse.
Viking wants something so he can check/work with online work-generated Excel & Word documents. The online shop recommends Office for Mac, the chap in the shop touts iWork and Mac the Knife breaks a lance for NeoOffice. I am inclined to go for NeoOffice, but is it functional and familiar looking enough for an inveterate Windows user without a shred of computer patience and an aversion to anything new or unfamiliar?
Office for Mac works fine with current Excel and Word documents, and is ideal if you need to send the files to Windows users as the files are completely compatible. NeoOffice, however is free, and has almost all of the functionality of Excel and the other applications. iWork is much easier to use than Office or NeoOffice, and integration with the rest of the applications on your Mac, such as iPhoto is seamless. It really depends on what you need. I would download NeoOffice for your immediate needs, but take the free trial of iWork (
Apple - iWork - Dokumenter, regneark, presentasjoner. Slik Mac gjør det.) and see how you get on. Office for Mac is almost as dull as it is on a PC.
I now again use Firefox as my default browser on the Dell, and plan to do same on the Mac. Since life is easier with 2 different browsers open at the same time, is there an easily installable adblock feature for Safari?
Yes!
Safari AdBlock: block ads in Safari
I have found the working with pictures option on the 4 year old iBook cumbersome. Uploading and picture editing I prefer doing on the PC. Has this improved with the iMac, is aperture a programme worth getting or are Gimp/iPhotobuddy better options?
iPhoto (which comes with your Mac) proves enough for most people. It now has the amazing new feature of face recognition as well. If your needs are more advanced, then Aperture is a very powerful way to manage and colour-correct your photos. A new kid on the block is Pixelmator, which is very powerful and lies halfway between the two, in terms of picture editing:
Pixelmator
Is the wireless timecapsule back-up machine as smart as it sounds and worth shelling out for?
Yes. Time Machine, the software which performs the backup, will do it to any hard drive connected to your computer. Time Capsule enables this wirelessly and provides a pretty good wifi router as well (modem still required, nonetheless).