Apple/Mac FAQ

[Binoculars]

I am toying with the idea of making my next laptop replacement a Mac. I'm quite happy with XP, but I'm curious to see what all the fervent preaching from Mac fiends is about, so I went asking and looking for a suitable FAQ for potential converts.

The Apple website is more interested in getting me to buy things than answer basic questions, and a Google search of Apple or Mac FAQ brought lots of hits about the history of Apple, invitations to pay money to join .Mac and all sorts of other things, but nothing remotely like what a relatively experienced PC user but a complete novice on Macs would want to know. Such as a translation of processor speeds to give some meaningful comparison (G3 G4 G5 etc means nothing to me), comparative RAM requirements, network compatibility with PC's, software compatibility with existing PC software, limitations of use in conjunction with PC's etc.

Can any of you Mac evangelists direct me to a site that will tell me what I want to know? (Reddo, I bought that magazine you suggested and it was a waste of money for what I wanted.) :{

[redsnail]

Oh sorry about that. Oh well.
I have noted that the Aus version of the Apple site doesn't have the info you wanted. I think the UK (http://wwwapple.com/uk/switch/) version does.
It won't answer all your questions but it should help regarding file transfers and the like.
PPRuNe Towers aka Rob is the man to yarn too. Danny might even be able to help too.

[Mac the Knife]

"The Apple website is more interested in getting me to buy things than answer basic questions...."

Are you SURE you want to do this Binos?

For the price of a Mac you can buy a real cracker of laptop and get your operating system and applications almost free.

http://www.mepis.org

[dons flak jacket and awaits incoming.....]

[PPRuNe Towers]

No time for a fully detailed answer Binos but everything you need is on the Apple site. The headline stuff you're bumping into is what pays for the site - as a site operator I can't see anything wrong with that.

If you click on the support tab you find hours of useful information there. You can look at the support forums for the iBook or the Powerbook models and you find links to the independent bulletin boards based on software very similar to PPRuNe.

As you're considering a 'switch' I put that word into the search engine and it came up with this particulary concise FAQ: http://www.apple.com/switch/howto/

However, there is every possible level of information you could need with in the searchable knowledge base there.

Very quickly regarding processor speed: it's down to how the cycles and pipelines are used. As an example Walter Murch is an Oscar nominee for his editing of 'Cold Mountain'. The film was entirely edited on location in Romania using an off the shelf Mac with standard Apple consumer software.

I repeat: a standard Mac using ordinary consumer software a cut down version of which is delivered with every Mac.

The processor? A G4 just like in the notebooks. The processor speed? 1 GHz


Regards
rob

[redsnail]

Sorry to hijack the thread.
My lil iBook 12" is pretty easy to use. Very intuitive. Although some things are a bit different but there's a help glossary for us Windoze users.
I just plugged it in and turned it on. It worked. :D
Connecting to the net was unbelievably simple!

[WeatherJinx]

Binos

If you're serious about switching, you should take Towers' advice and visit the Apple 'Switch' web pages as a first step.

If you do make the decision to switch, there is a wealth of resources and information out there for Mac newbies, PC-experienced or not. However, as an experienced PC user you'll probably find that, apart from learning a few minor ergonomic differences, you'll be up and running in no time.

One essential buy with your new Mac should be 'Mac OS X - The Missing Manual' (www.oreilly.com/catalog/macxmmpanther/) by the wonderful David Pogue (http://www.davidpogue.com). Humorous, infomative and £20 or so very well spent.

Additionally, there are endless (and free!) web resources out there to help you - a few of the best here:

Apple's own (http://discussions.info.apple.com/) Support Discussion Board - great place for questions answered quickly by Apple staff or knowledgeable contributors

Macosxhints (http://macosxhints.com)- Tech news, support and insight, from beginner to Unix Ubergeek level

Mactopia (http://www.microsoft.com/mac)- Microsoft's Mac site

DotMac.info (http://www.dotmac.info) - Place to share your iLife stuff - photos, movies, blogs etc.

On top of all this, there is an extremely friendly, helpful worldwide community of users (including the handful of Mac Mujahedinis here on PPRuNe) willing to offer a helping hand - Australia is particularly strong in this respect. Good luck and let us knew how you get on!

Jx :cool:

[Binoculars]

Hi WxJx,

Wondered how long you'd take to get in here!

Thanks Rob and others for those links; the knowledge base seems aimed at those with Macs who have specific problems, but it is a good source of info.

I suppose it's just that I'm used to a specific set of parameters; 1Ghz is fine for most processes I need to accomplish, even if it's a third of the speed the latest PC's run at; 256Mb RAM is fine but XP really needs 512 etc etc. Then suddenly I'm faced with a whole new set which apparently bear no resemblance or equivalency.

I'm obviously going to have to find somebody with a Mac and go play with it myself!

Thanks all for your help.

[redsnail]

Bino's,
Have a chat with The Voice. She's in DWN and a Macster.

[PPRuNe Towers]

Binos, a simple outline of what you want to use the laptop for generally and the heaviest anticipated job for it in the future - such as, say, digital video editing would be a great starting point to give you numbers for processor and RAM that will make sense to a PC user.

It can be frustrating because Mac folks by and large don't ever bother mentioning these things. They assume you've bought the form factor, HD size, memory and CPU that suits you and your purposes. If you think about it the Mac users evengelicism is about the operating system and using the thing and productivity. This is an alien concept for the majority of PC folks.

However, all the hardware is standard PC from mainline manufacturers and the systems are built at PC factories in the Far East which means you expand and upgrade in exactly the same way as everyone else and at PC prices.

Regards
rob