Apple Mac Users - A question

[OneWorld22]

Getting an iMac, I'm fed up with Windoze. Am using Vista Beta 2 and it's poo......

Should I get Mac MS Office or just use Boot camp to run Windows XP and rum my copy of Office from that?

I'm not too keen on accessing Windows on my Mac...

Is there any reason why I would have to use Windows? I don't play games, FlightSim etc.

[Gonzo]

You say that you're fed up with Windows, and you want to get a Mac, and yet you want to run Windows on it? :confused:

Am I being thick and missed something here?:O

Why not use OpenOffice?

[WeatherJinx]

OneWorld
The choice is yours - If you're happy to open your wallet and spring for Microsoft Office for Mac, you won't regret it - it is a high-quality piece of software, in some ways superior to its Windows counterpart and totally interoperable with it - I know this because i work between both versions every day.

The Open Source Office clones I haven't tried myself, but hear good reports from those that use them on Windows (I don't personally know any Mac users who use them.) I believe the Mac version is a Java app (open to correction on this?!) and I'm not too fond of Java personally, I find it clunky and buggy, especially on the Mac (apart from Azureus, which seems quite stable).

I can't think of any reason (apart from perhaps certain games and perhaps a few specialised finance apps) that you would want or need to boot into Windows on your Mac :ok:

[AppleMacster]

OneWorld,

The best thing to do is to get the iMac and see if NeoOffice (http://neooffice.org) does what you need it to, Office-wise. It's free, so you've nothing to lose. It is "aquafied", Aqua being the current look of the Mac OS. It's a more elegant solution to the "raw" porting of OpenOffice which requires you to use X11.

If you don't need a spreadsheet, you could consider Apple's iWork (http://www.apple.com/iwork/), easier to use than Word and PowerPoint with powerful templates and effects. You can also export the files to Word and Powerpoint.

Rather than use Boot Camp to run your Windows applications, you could get an emulator, such as Parallels (http://www.parallels.com) and run office in it. The Office applications aren't graphically intensive, so work fine in emulation. This way, you have access to the virus-free Mac OS at the same time.

AppleMacster

[Daysleeper]

Of course if you have a friend with Microshaft Office for Mac you could "trial" it for a few days, weeks, months.......:E


Actually they may even do a trial version somewhere, they do for windoze.

[OneWorld22]

Thanks for the info guys,

That Parallels desktop for Mac looks excellent. I'll give that a shot I think.

I just need Word, Excel, Outlook and PPT opn my home computer, that's all. No other apps or games. I'll also see if I can get Mac Office for a good price anywhere....

[Daysleeper]

Office for mac is about £80 on ebay, compared to £450 in the apple store.... er no guesses why but anyhow its there.

Anither option is to call the apple store and say Dell have offered to include WinXP Office if you buy a lap/desk top from them and could apple match the deal...unsure about switching etc etc.. it might not work but its got to be worth a try.

[OneWorld22]

This neo office looks good.

All I need is to be able to read the odd Word/PPT/Excel doc at home. My PC in work is a Wintel machine so most of my work is done there. It's if I have to use some docs after work or at the weekends...

Can I use the Neo-office word processor to create good quality docs and then have MS Word read them no problem on a Wintel machine?

Can I use the programme on iWork to create a document and then have MS Word read it?

[Land After]

Don't forget that a legitimate Student edition of Office can be had for ca. £100. All you need is a child or student in the house. Or a least one close by.... :)

[OneWorld22]

LA,

How does that work exactly? Do you have to provide the "students" details, school, phone numbers etc in order to activate it?

I'm sure my grandaughter could use Mac Office! ;)

[AppleMacster]

OneWorld,

Do you need Outlook? Every Mac comes with "Mail", Apple's own email application which will even import your old Outlook mailboxes. It will connect to POP, IMAP and Exchange mail servers.

Regarding NeoOffice and iWork compatibility with MS Word, the results should be the same when opened on a Windows machine. When using Apple's "Keynote" for presentations and exporting them as PowerPoint, there are sometimes issues regarding some formatting and effects. Essentially, the effects in Keynote are much better than in PowerPoint and it can't match them in the export. Some amount of editing can be required on the (PC) PowerPoint. It depends how the original Keynote presentation was designed.

[Land After]

LA,
How does that work exactly? Do you have to provide the "students" details, school, phone numbers etc in order to activate it?
I'm sure my grandaughter could use Mac Office! ;)

You just buy it! I've never had a check on mine, though I am a legitmate user through ongoing study with the OU. It may ask for name/institution when installing - I guess that could be left blank.

I'm sure if pushed, it could be that your grandaughter would be the prime user of your machine. Or you could even enroll in a night class yourself.....

Amazon have it for 95.99 at the mo, don't know about other prices/places.

I also second the use of Mac Mail - it's a good little package when you get used to it. I'd also recommend using iCal and the Address Book, just depends what you want to sync to.

[OneWorld22]

Macster,

I sync my two outlooks, work and home, with Plaxo. So it's very handy as calendar entries and contact info just gets duplicated and I find it handy working with the Skype outlook toolbar as well....

So if I create a document with iWork and save it and then try and open it on a PC in work say, it will open just using Neo-office?? That sounds great.

Well I ordered the iMac this morning, got 2MB or RAM to get me some speed. Nice 20in Screen as well. It's being built in Cork so will be with me soon and free shipping....

Can't wait to be honest, I know I'm going to love it and be amazed at the dofference.

[Binoculars]

OW22, I deliberately stayed away from addressing your initial post because I knew the experts would have more useful responses to address your main concern. The only reason I bought Office for Mac was because my wife refused to consider learning anything new, and she has kept the PC. Had it just been me, I'm sure iWork would have amply covered my requirements, and the other substitutes mentioned even more so. My local Apple outlet is so embarrassed about the ludicrous off-the-shelf price being asked for the full version of Office they just sell the academic version for a quarter of the price without even asking for ID.

I wish you well with your Mac experience. I'm not going to pretend it's been a 100% favourable one, but there's no way I'm going back. FWIW, as one of the major contributors suggested above, the biggest thing for me to get my head around in the Apple experience is the overwhelming "just leave it alone" feeling you get. You can't access way into the deep innards like you are used to? That's how it's supposed to be I think.

"You don't need to worry about that sort of **** anymore son, just leave it to us, OK?" Everything works, so leave it alone, like a paternalistic government, except that unlike governments, everything does work!

Good luck, let us know how you get on. And if you have any queries, forget the apple forums, this is the place to have your questions answered. (Not by me, I hasten to add!)

[OneWorld22]

Bino's cheers for the message, you, Macster and everyone have been most helpful here!

Yeah, I'm fairly used to working deep within the bowels of Windows! usually to search and destroy Trojans in the System32 folder and then correct the registry etc etc

That's why I've had it with Windows, I've been hit by this bloody Spyfalcon virus 4 times and each time involved downloading all kinds of programs, booting into safe mode, and manually deleting and altering the registry.....

The amount of man hours I've spent over the years trying to get the machine to just work properly is crazy. Plus my PC before this just died on me one day, hard drive went kaput and I lost everything...I'm running Vista Beta2 at the moment and that made up my mind. I have a 3.0GHZ, 2MB Ram PIV machine. No slouch, but it's wheezing trying to run Vista. It's a power hungry monster. It can't read my Sound blaster card and I've had to spend days installing new drivers etc just to get it to work. Plus I read that McAfee have slated it over security concerns.

I'm sure it will take a lot of getting used to, I've been a Wintel man for a lot of years now. But it will be great getting to know a new system from scratch.

I need a computer to browse the web, access e-mail and read and send a number of office documents, listen to my music, watch DVD's. I don't play games except for PC Chess so I won’t have programs that will overly tax my system. So it seems like the Mac will be ideal, hope I'm right!

Funny thing is my wife is the same! Insisted the new computer can run MS Office apps…
So I got the Mac Office student edition….

[Binoculars]

Your wife won't have a thing to complain about. I'm using Entourage but honestly if I had my time over again, I'd just stick with the basic Mail program. I mean, email is email, right?

What REALLY sold me on the Mac was when I bought a MacBook a couple of months ago, plugged it in, opened the lid and it looked around and said aha! I sense a wireless network! I clicked on Safari and bugger me if it wasn't connected straight to the internet!

I'm still a novice myself, so any problems you post will probably be of interest to me and other neophytes. Don't hesitate. JB may not be what it used to be but this place is a hidden gem!

[Jimmy Macintosh]

I hope this isn't considered a hi-jack, but I am curious as to the capabilities and upgradability of an iMac, if it is necessary.
Is there more to upgrade than just memory and hard drives? Do you need to try and find better graphics cards? what other options do you need to actually make the machine worth having? or is it just the basic machine can run everything great? Like the good old days of the Amiga, all you needed was either the memory upgrade or an accelerator and that was it, everything ran beautifully and fast.

[AppleMacster]

Jimmy,

You only need to consider upgrading the memory or graphics card if you intend to do things which are more processor or graphics-intensive than the average home user needs. The iMac will happily make movies with iMovie and music with GarageBand. However, if you intend to use Final Cut Pro or Logic, then upgrades would be prudent to speed up your workflow. It is possible to have a 256Mb graphics card installed when the iMac is ordered, along with a 500Gb internal disk. RAM, up to 2Gb, can be added at any time.

[ORAC]

OK, so you don´t have to get your hands inside. But I just ordered the Apple Intel Mac Mini Duo service manual... :O

[northeast canuck]

I recently upgraded to a new iMac and it's wonderful. I am running Windows on it with Boot Camp - not because I want to but because the only way I can access my company's website/enterprise server is by using Explorer 6.0, which is not available on the Mac and the discontinued 5.0 will not work with their website (neither will Safari or Firefox). This is something you will come across from time to time, poorly written websites. I do not use windows for anything else, I use MS Office on the Mac.

It only uses 5gb of my 250gb hard drive so it is worth it. It is such a nice feeling to be able to boot back out of Windows though, the difference between the two OS's is so glaringly apparent on this machine.

[Daysleeper]

Just to hijack the thread a bit more, what experiences do people have of the various tools for watching TV through your mac. I'm looking to get something like the eye TV, to record shows at home then watch on my powerbook when sat in the hotel, or to watch the "premium" hotel channels with :E

[Lord Fulmer]

To "Northeast canuck" If your company's website is only accessible via Explorer, try the newish "Opera" mac browser.
There is an option to emulate/impersonate Explorer on connection to pc systems and it seems to work. Here at the orange ezy airline, all their stuff is pc based and where as Safari/Firefox isn't compatible and won't access everything, Opera is! Give it a go.

[OneWorld22]

That's the kind of thing I want to hear northeast canuck!!

Keep the reports comin'!

[soggyboxers]

OW22,
I've had my MacBook for a month now (after I had to send the first one back and get a replacement :\ ). It's my first experience with Mac too, and I have to say, I'm very impressed.

I have downloaded Parallels, but not installed it yet. I may have to though as the networked Laser Jet printer I normally connect to at work will only work with Windows XP Pro (unbelievable, but that's what our IT people tell me). Our server at work will also not allow me to connect to Mac Mail, but hopefully when the company puts an internet system in our houses (I live and work in Nigeria, so internet is always a problem) it won't have so many sites blocked.

I have a student copy of Office 2004 for Mac (my wife's a registered student, but I wasn't asked to provide any proof) and I find it excellent - better than Office 2003. The only thing I haven't been able to find yet is anything as good as ACDSee for image viewing and editing. I take quite a lot of videos with my digital camera and the nice thing about ACDSee is its ability to rotate a video through 90 degrees if you've filmed it with the camera at a different angle. Maybe there's something I can do with iMovie, but haven't had the time to find out yet.

One of our IT guys at work asked why I had bought a Mac when they were all set up for Windows!! But with more and more of us getting Macs, he's just going to learn how to cope with either system on our intranet.

[AppleMacster]

Soggyboxers,

Glad you got to Nigeria with a working MacBook in the end!

Have you tried to connect to the networked printer anyway? If it's on an ethernet network, it should work fine. You can download HP drivers from HP's website (http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html?pageDisplay=drivers). I've used several HP printers over different networks, without difficulty.

iMovie can do image rotation using a plug-in, available here. (http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Video/Simple-Rotate.shtml) There are quite a few plug-ins available for iMovie now, and it's worth checking them out.

[northeast canuck]

I recently purchased a Miglia TVMini which was on sale from Apple for about £70, I think normal price is around £90. It's great - it's very small, but it works as a Freeview box and the software which comes with it is EyeTV so the computer effectively becomes a PVR. It also comes with a free 1 year channel listings service so you can easily program it to record programmes etc. I love the feature where you can pause live TV, rewind & fast-forward etc.

You can't get Sky on it, in order for that you have to pay for the more expensive Elgato systems.

Drawbacks are the tiny antenna that comes with it doesn't work well, unless you have a really strong signal where you are, otherwise you really need to plug it into a rooftop aerial.

Hope this helps!

[northeast canuck]

Lord Fulmer,

I will have a go at Opera, I have an older version but have not yet tried any newer ones. The problem with the one at work I think is that it relies on ActiveX controls which will never work on a Mac. It's becoming more and more of an issue though, as even many of our PC users are using things like Firefox now, which doesn't work.

From what I have heard from crew members who used to work for the "Orange" side, the systems over there are much better than ours over here on the "Blue with Red Squiggle" team. Even using a PC with IE 6.0 doesn't work much of the time!!!

[OneWorld22]

Guys, I'm after downloading this Openoffice program on my work Windows machine.

It's bloody excellent!

Seriously, why would you really need Office anymore? Had a quick play with it and it reads my previous Word docs perfectly it seems.

I'm very impressed. I've already ordered MS Office for Mac though..Looking at Neooffice, maybe I shouldn't have??

[OneWorld22]

Well my iMac was delivered yesterday. I'm blown away by it.

It's ease of use is what's blatant. Pressed the on button and it hooked up my
wireless mouse and keyboard immediately!

It then went onto my wireless network and started downloading critical updates before I could even say wow!

The screen is huge and great quality. I'll be playing with it all weekend to try and get to know it, lots to learn get to grips with.

I love the way it goes to sleep so quickly and wakes up in a blink.

Really very impressed.

[AcroChik]

OneWorld...

Welcome to MacWorld. Making the switch is a decision you'll never regret.

On my iMac G5 I'm running Office for Mac (heavy Excel user) and Mathematica with a couple add-ons for statistics and finance ( http://www.wolfram.com/ ). This stuff runs faster on my fully loaded Mac than it ever did on a Windows OS.

One complaint:

I bought my iMac with the Bluetooth wireless option. It never worked perfectly. When the mouse batteries would get low, the on-scren dialogue box would pop up, tell me the batteries were low, and then *poof* the batteries were dead.

Put in new batteries. Cursor stuck in upper left corner of screen, device not recognized ~ a problem that cannot be diagnosed without the mouse working or without a wired keyboard. Remove and insert batteries a dozen or more times until it finally works. I eventually gave up Bluetooth and now use both a wired keyboard and mouse.

One compliment:

All ~ repeat ALL ~ my experiences with Apple support have been great. Mostly it's been a matter of calling them up to ask, "How do I do this?" not, "I have a problem." They hire cool people and train them well. And, at least in the States, you don't get connected to India!

You're gonna love it.

[soggyboxers]

AppleMacster,
Thanks for the info on the image rotation and the HP website. Just getting the downloads now to see if they work.
One other thing you may be able to help with - the keyborad on my MacBook doesn't have the 'hash' symbol that most keyborads and most mobile telephones have. Is there anything like that 'character set' software which windows has, from which I can select the hash symbol?
Other than a few problems getting used to it (I hate the one button mouse on the trackpad with no right click function - though my little wireless Logitech optical mouse works fine except for the lack of a decent scrolling facility when I try to click on the scroll wheel), I'm impressed with the speed and simplicity of the Apple OS.

[AppleMacster]

Soggy,

Hash, with the keyboard set up as a UK layout is alt-3.

If you go to System Preferences>International>Input Menu, you can setup your the keyboard of choice. In fact, on a Mac, it is very easy to mix different character sets, simply by setting the keyboard you require through a menu at the top of the screen. For example, if you wanted, you could have a page of text in Arabic, Chinese and Bog-standard English.

If you need to locate any characters in the particular font you are using, click "Keyboard Viewer" in the above system preferences panel. Make sure you click the "Show Input Menu in Menubar" option at the bottom. Close the panel and look at the right hand side of the menubar. There should be a flag of the keyboard currently in use.

[soggyboxers]

AppleMacster,
Once again, many thanks for the help. I keep coming across helpful Mac users. It seems that most Macsters are so happy with Macs that they're always willing to help out Mac newbies such as myself, and sell the Mac system to those who enquire about it. I must say, I'm delighted with mine and will look at replacing my desktop system with a Mac when I next upgrade.
:ok:

[pendrifter]

I have a Mac G3 B&W, and use it for producing artwork for printing as well as home use.
I do have Microsoft Office, but very rarely use it. I find that with Appleworks and Quark I can accomplish all I need. The only time I use Microsoft is when clients send me what they call a word-perfect file, which invariably I have to sort out to make sense of (Microsoft has made everyone a "graphic designer").
I must admit I have always used a Mac and am a die-hard enthusiast.
Never had a PC, never would. Mac has always seemed so much simpler.
But as already said the choice is yours. Microsaft does work on Mac.

[Choxolate]

Getting an iMac, I'm fed up with Windoze. Am using Vista Beta 2 and it's poo......

Seems a bit illogical to change from Windows "because its poo..." when you are using a pre-release beta test version of the next O/S. What is wrong with the current release of Windows XP SPII?

[OneWorld22]

Well in all fairness, Vista will basically be a copy of OSX Tiger which has been out a while. Meanwhile Apple is moving to Leopard next Spring, about the same time as Vista is released.

that's the bottom line, Apple always seems to be one step ahead.

XP? Had a plethora of viruses. Even with Nortoin and Zone Alarm pro they still got through. No need to buy any anti-virus/anti-spyware software now.

The Mac just works and is super fast, it's a big difference to be honest.

nothing wrong with MS when it works of course.

[Jerricho]

Seems a bit illogical to change from Windows "because its poo..." when you are using a pre-release beta test version of the next O/S. What is wrong with the current release of Windows XP SPII?

My buddy OneWorld has hit the nail on the head perfectly......when MS works. I've just recently purchased an iMac as well (love that 20 inch screen) and have been heard to grumble several thousand times why the hell didn't I do this sooner. SPII security suite gave me the sh*ts......it's fine and good for complete net novices, but gimme a break. The iMac runs smoother, iMovie and iPhoto are an absolute pleasure to use.

I do sense an increase in nasty stuff that will start popping up for Apple now they're using these dual core thingies and the ability to run Windows on them. Just my 2 cents.

[tallsandwich]

Usually the people who bleat on about how they love Macs miss the same old points:

1. Why is Safari completely pants, OK MS decided to invent some html extensions and javascript manages to accommodate the changes required but for some reason Safari failed to keep up? At last there is a (non Mac) solution for Mac users now.

2. Why did you have problems with your Wintel machines before you converted to Mac - was it becuase you were incapable of not fiddling, or becuase you loved the HUGE choice of free Wintel software that you had, so much that you could not resist downloading lots of junk and screwing up your registry? This is a user problem, not an MS problem.

3. MS is a controlling monopoly that restricts choice? oh right just like Apple: When I buy some music to download I have to get their permission to play it on another computer (and a max of 5 computers only) - what kind of company do you think Apple is...if they had the market share of MS they would now be behaving just like MS.

4. Macs are perceived as more reliable, but this is becuase they have less hardware choice so the system has a limited set of drivers with which it interacts, no other significant reason. Install an MS operating system on a PC with MS office, install a firewall and set the MS auto-update active, don't fiddle, and you will be fine. I am writing this on a PC I got and set up in 1998, I have only added more memory since then, and MS auto-update does everythig I need for the OS and office.

5. Sure you have a unix based OS under the hood, and sure this is fundamentally better than MS, but this is not root cause of your issues, it is how you manage your PC that causes your problems, you can screw up any unix based OS if you fiddle, just as you can a MS OS.

Save your money and get off your high horses :}

[Saab Dastard]

my new macbook is being cooked in an oven somewhere in the Netherlands

Sony batteries, eh? :)

SD

[Binoculars]

It's all got too much for tallsandwich!

As one who "bleats" on about how much I love my Mac (interesting choice of words there TS!) I'll just remind him that most of us have tried the "saving money" route and the Mac route and that's why we're now shouting it from the rooftops.

I suggest you go looking for forums filled with people who have bought a Mac and returned to Windows. Let us know how you get on, won't you? Apart from those whose lives are dedicated to playing games, you might be struggling.

Cheers from atop the high horse!

[tallsandwich]

forums filled with people who have bought a Mac and returned to Windows those people just don't feel the need to shout about it.

Most Mac users buy a Mac becuase:
- It looks nice.
- They once had a problem with Windows (often their own stupid fault).
- Their friends "told them" it was better (hmmmm)
- It makes them feel superior as they are 'different'.

I have all the sympathy with the latter, If it makes you feel good then go ahead and buy one. But you risk becoming a bore just like the Linux bores.

Windows, Linux, Mac, whatever, all have their strengths and weaknesses, but if you are going to switch to Mac, do so for a good reason, and be honest about it (I bought it as it makes me feel superior / looks good etc) and spare us the ill-informed twaddle about how Macs are better all round.

yawn.

[Binoculars]

I bow to your infinite knowledge.

"Yawn", like "get a life", "deal with it" and other mindless phrases, is designed to be a conversation stopper.

It works.

Perhaps you could now have another look at the title of this thread and specifically to whom it is addressed, and take appropriate action. This is a forum remarkably free of personal attacks, and the regular users would like to keep it that way.

[northeast canuck]

Tallsandwich,

Why are you here? You obviously love your PC and hate Mac, fine - I really don't care. But you are quite wrong in many areas. To correct some of your points:

1. Yes Safari isn't that great, I tend to use Firefox. But at least Apple support and update Safari. Microsoft have all but forgotten about Explorer. Tabbed browsing - what's that? Secure browsing? No chance. Pop-ups? Yeah, loads!

2. No I did not wreck my PC because of fiddling. My PC (which I still have) is wrecked due to the ridiculously huge amount of cr@ap that just appears on it, usually unsolicited just from normal web browsing. Even my company PC, which is supposedly locked down, doesn't work properly - probably because of the sheer weight of the firewalls and anti-virus software that is a necessity on PCs just to protect them from the above. The fact that the MS operating system insists on changing its registry every time you install software (and thus causing all sorts of problems over time) is indeed an MS problem - not mine. By the way I am not a tinkerer - just the opposite. Tinkerers tend to like Windows because of its swiss cheese-like structure. And those who are really hardcore tend to gravitate to Linux. Mac users like Macs because they don't like to tinker. Why should I have to tinker just to get my computer to work the way it was advertised?

3. I agree with you here. Apple is just as nasty a company as MS is and they would love to be a controlling monopoly given the opportunity. That's just big business. They are not the loveable Apple underdogs that some people like to think.

4. Macs are more reliable, not because there is less software and hardware than PCs (there is still loads of both) but because of the way the OS handles it (ie not having to alter the "registry" and having to restart every time you plug something in). Macs are simply more reliable because the OS is better, more stable and more robust. End of story.

5. Yes you can screw up the OS just like Windows. But guess what - it tends to fix itself if you do something wrong! If it all goes wrong, a simple reboot sorts everything out. By the way, I only reboot maybe once a month. Try doing that with windows.

I am not trying to convert you to Mac, but get your facts straight before you talk about something you clearly know not a lot about.

[tallsandwich]

The Thread title was "Apple Mac Users - A Question" So, my question was "Why Mac users always seem to have a superior attitude"

I made my point: Advising someone that Macs are better than Wintels is pointless and does not help a potnetial Mac buyer, it all depends on what you are doing and who you are. My comment helps a potential Mac buyer from being brainwashed (a frequent occurance). You see the same polorised and parallel comments from Linux lovers.

I highlighted that many Mac users are to blame for their (ex) Wintel nightmares - not all of them (there are others who buy Macs to try and make themselves look cool) and a very few who actually know Mac OS has significant advantages in some areas.

And don't say "I don't know what I am talking about", when you don't know me - that would imply that you are in fact talking about someting that you don't know about - i.e. me.

The best computer these days is one that has a flame retardant battery compartment. Good luck with your Macs, I'm glad you are passionate about them.

[northeast canuck]

Sorry tallsandwich, but I simply do not agree with you at all.

You seem to have a bee in your bonnet about why Mac users "superior attitude" :confused:. This is patently untrue - what you interpret as superior attitude is more often just a very, very satisifed computer owner. Sorry that it upsets you that we like our computers instead of merely put up with them (as I do with my company-issued PC).

I said that you don't know what you are talking about purely on the basis that the "facts", as you put them, are totally incorrect. If you did know what you are talking about then you wouldn't post incorrect information. You present the information as if it is fact that everyone is being "brainwashed" and that people only buy Macs because they look cool. Where does this come from (brainwashed - "a frequent occurence" you said! Do you REALLY know this)? No one is being brainwashed here - people are simply asking questions and getting a positive response. What's so wrong with that? And yes, Macs look cool but they wouldn't sell much hardware if the owner experience was cr@p. Most people who buy Macs are well aware of the advantages. If they weren't they are way more likely just to buy a PC since everyone they know probably has one. Don't worry - MS isn't exactly losing market share to Apple here. But I am sure glad that we have a choice.

[tallsandwich]

Lets agree to disagree, at least someone reading this will see two sides of the discussion. There is no point going over all the thousands of pros and cons.

You obviously love your Mac and are saying all my opinions are invalid - that is exactly the "one sided view" that makes me dispair!!! Many people DO buy Macs as a backlash from their own self induced Wintel problems, you can't say that is not true!!! ("I switched to Mac after I had to restore my registry blah blah" - if you ask these people why they did it, it is VERY OFTEN for stupid reasons). This is a FACT.

How about reporting all the pitfalls of your Mac experience? (and I beg - please don't ridicule yourselves by saying you haven't had any).

[Binoculars]

I had to get a mouse replaced under warranty.

:rolleyes:

[tallsandwich]

:}

nice one


:D

[northeast canuck]

I would love to know what your definition of "stupid reasons" is. Why shouldn't I be able to use my computer - the way I want to, as is advertised - without it slowing down/crashing/generally behaving strangely?

You seem to think that there are a lot of PC users who have bought Macs as a result of messing around with their registry and wrecking it. Whilst there may be some, this is a very very niche thing. And you have to ask yourself, why would anyone want to fiddle with the registry? Usually because its messed up. And don't say that it is because they were doing "stupid things" because it is very well known that registry files become corrupt for reasons totally unrelated to user intervention. And there is no simple way of fixing these things unless you are very clever or very lucky. AND for many windows problems, the fix-it-yourself solution presented on the Microsoft website invites you to fiddle with the registry. Of course they give you the appropriate health warnings but can you blame people for trying to fix their computers the way MS advises?

The kind of user you are describing does not fit the demographic of the user who tends to purchase Apple products. In general, the Apple market is post-secondary educated, affluent and to a large degree, female. Not exactly the high school kid doing "stupid things" with his computer in his bedroom upstairs.

As far as things that have gone wrong. I had a kernel panic once which I tracked down to my Norton Antivirus software. Getting rid of it solved that, and I haven't had that problem in the two years since (and haven't had a virus problem either). I sometimes have trouble getting the computer to connect to my wireless network when it wakes from sleep mode but only the imac not the laptop. Solution, I just keep it on all the time, which is how unix based systems like to be anyway, as they are default scheduled to do system maintenance at night. Although I admit I would like to get that one solved. And occasionally when there is a major operating system update I have to delete and reinstall my printer as it doesn't get recognised.

And that's about it. Really. Would you like me to share my PC experiences with you? I'll need a few hours to write it all down.

[tallsandwich]

Interesting post.

Regarding editing the registry - in effect this is no different to editing configuration files on a unix (I use that term loosely) type machine. It is often percevied that it is acceptable to edit by hand such files on a unix(ish) system (I am not refering only to Macs but other desktop OS such as Linux aswell), but when this hierarchical list of name-value pairs is stored in an evil thing called a "registry" then suddenly this editing is deemed "unacceptable". Perhpaps if it was a little easier to manage a "registry" and revert back to old versions of it then this perception would change.

Regarding you comment about Women and Macs - in general they are statistically well known to place style above other factors, hence the Mac choice; so "technically" they did not choose a better system, just one that had the right (most would agree 'better') image and packaging.

[Saab Dastard]

tallsandwich & northeast canuck,

You have both had ample opportunity to put forward your opinions on this topic, and I think that others have got the thrust of your arguments.

It would be preferable if any further discussion between yourselves could be conducted via PM or email.

Thanks

SD

[jetflite]

I've got a new MACBOOK duo core. . .got rid of my Toshiba with duo core etc.
I found the MAC is better for what i need. . Photo's, Music, Editing, E-mail, add on programs.

I run microsoft office purely so i can exchange files via e-mail with PC users.
Also run parrallels for windows because i also like using windows.

In my view i've got the best of both!

JF

[M.Mouse]

I have no axe to grind and have owned a PC since 1990. I still use a desktop PC which I built myself. I understand Windows sufficiently to make my PC run well. I have to take issue when it is said that it is only through fiddling that Windows becomes corrupted, it isn't.

My PC hangs for a minute or so now when I right click on anything in Explorer. Through diagnostic software I have found what is happening but am struggling to cure the problem. This problem just appeared without me doing anything.

I recently bought a Mac Bok Pro. It overheated and locked up frequently. It was replaced under warranty. I bought one knowing I could run Windows if I so desired. As yet I haven't needed or wanted to!

Sorry, I have been converted although I hope I have resisted becoming evangelical about it.

I find some big irritations like no right mouse button, no 'Del' key and not being able to program the mouse pointer to jump to a pop up window automatically.

From opening the box and switching it on it was a dream to set up and it saw and used my wireless network with no hassle.

Costwise it was only slightly more expensive than a similar specification Advent (about £100) and was 500g lighter.

If someone finds Windows irresistible, good luck, it doesn't affect me and me using a Mac doesn't affect you so we can all live in harmony.

[Gonzo]

it doesn't affect me and me using a Mac doesn't affect you so we can all live in harmony.

Now, that kind of talk is dangerous!!!!! :p

[Jerricho]

I recently bought a Mac Bok Pro

Is that some dodgy knock off from Thailand? ;)

[James 1077]

The problem with Macs is that, if you are busy, their customer services are utter pants. Also the quality of the parts aren't great.

To clarify I bought an iMac about 6 months ago on the basis that 'er indoors liked them 'cos they are pretty. Much as I moaned to her about lack of ability to fiddle with the insides etc (my old pc was 6 years old, although no part of it was more than 2 years old) she wouldn't listed and, being newly married, I thought that I would indulge her.

Couple of months later and the hard drive fails spectacularly; mention it to a mate who has a Mac and he has been through 3 hard drives in 2 years.

Decide to wait until such a time that I can take it back to Regent Street as Apple charge you for home repairs and me taking it apart would void the warranty. Turn up at Regent Street on a Saturday and get told that they can't look at the computer unless I book an appointment. To book an appointment more than a day in advance means I have to pay Apple lots of money. Check the next Saturday morning for appointment times and it is taken up with people who have paid Apple lots of money so can't get the computer repaired.

Try non-Apple people who are authorised to repair the machine; only work 9-5 Mon-Fri; which isn't all that useful to someone who works 8-6 Mon-Fri.

Basically it took us a month before we could get the computer to Apple to repair it. I explained to the guy that the hard drive had failed but he did some tests and said that it hadn't and it was another fault which would mean the Mac had to stay with them. Fine, I said, but when you discover it is the hard drive and replace it can I have the old one so that I can get a mate who works for "the government" to get the info off it. No problems he said.

A week later and I get a call saying that it was the hard drive and I can pick the machine up. Turn up and no old hard drive as it was "binned". Lucky I had only had the machine for a few months so I didn't lose all that much info but am now backing up once a week which I never had to do on my pc.


Having said all that I love the interface, I love the stability (although it does crash) and I love the simplicity of the way it works. Would definitely get another but would be very wary of anyone who says Apples are well made or that their customer services are good. If you want good customer services then get a Dell!

[Binoculars]

Not sure about the quality of the parts but I tend to agree with a couple of James's other observations, especially concerning service. Thought I might have had a malfunctioning DVD drive the other day but suspected it was more likely something I had done wrong. Rang Apple service; straight through to an English-speaking human who took the details.
Would sir like the three year $249 phone support option? Err, no thank you.

Very well, then sir will be taking the one off $49 option?

Err, que? This is still under warranty!

Yes, but you only get three months free phone support.

Let me see if I've got this right. This machine is under warranty; it may or may not have a fault, but to find out I'll have to pay $49?

Well, nobody is going to offer you free support, sir.

Thank you for nothing, say I, and hang up.

Ring up the local shop where I purchased the machine, described the problem, directed to a simple option I hadn't ticked, et voila! Fixed.

Then a couple of days ago, I had exactly the same problem with my replacement mouse as I had with the original; the scroll button would not scroll down. Took it into the shop, they checked it, yep, faulty, we'll send that away to be replaced. Do I get a replacement now? No, you have to wait till it comes from the factory. Hmmm. Not a major problem I agree, but indicative of their policy regarding inventory which they deliberately keep at minimum levels.

I'd also agree that if you like playing with the insides of a computer, stick with a PC. I learned a lot about computers from stuffing around inside my PC, but only because I had to. I'd be quite happy never to take the cover off a computer again and so far I've seen no reason to with the Mac.

Chacun a son gout. Mac's arent the answer to everybody's prayer, but so what? It appears to get up some people's noses that Mac owners are very happy with their machines; again, so be it.

[OllyBeak]

Lots of good information here.

So I thunk you chaps might be able to help with a small associated problem:

I've got two Macs; not the Intel jobbies, though. But I also have a number (don't ask why) of Nokia telephones. The latest, an E60, has all sorts of interesting things on it, like a mobile diary, appointment reminder, etc. But, to make it work, it says it needs a Windoze machine.

Has anybody had any luck interfacing a Nokia to a Mac?

Thanks in advance for any useful hints, tips, used fivers, etc...

Cheers,

Ol.

[Jet II]

iSync with this plugin (http://www.novamedia.de/sync/index.html) looks to be what your after :ok:

[OllyBeak]

Kind sir,

A thousand thanks. I Googled and Googled to no avail. Then in one swell foop, you solved my problem.

I hope. Downloaded the thing and am now playing. If I get really stuck I might have to read the manual...

Cheers,

Ol.

[OneWorld22]

Well put simply, I'm just a really satisfied customer. the Mac has just been great and hasn't let me down in any way. I have Firefox and Opera installed but I actually like Safari....

I still use Office and Wintel in work and I can swap files no problem between the two, the Office for Mac is a great product from MS.

So I'm afraid that's what it boils down to for me, I'm just very happy with my computer. Simple as that.

[Binoculars]

OK, another random question. I've been trying to tidy up my documents folder, which has files and folders going back well into the 90's. Easy enough to drag folders into the trash, but now I find myself with a page with large spaces between files and folders. You know how the Windows desktop has an "Arrange Icons" command which lines everything up nicely? Is there an equivalent on the Mac, so I don't have to laboriously drag and drop each file within the one folder? Shurely there ish?

[AcroChik]

For Desktop: Finder ~> Desktop ~> View ~> Arrange By ~> Make Your Choice.

Once you're inside a folder, works similarly.

[Binoculars]

Hmmm, thank you dear lady. One is humbled at the breadth of knowledge in one so young. So just who IS the lucky man to whom you are betrothed? One of the Kennedy's perhaps? A Vanderbilt, perchance? Or simply a major player in Bonfire of the Vanities or, heaven forbid, American Psycho? If there were any justice in the world you would look like the south end of an eastbound crab, but I suspect that is not the case.

(err, thanks Acro; just a bit of aussie humour there!) :8

And I accept your offer to show me your beloved home "town" if the offer still stands.

[AcroChik]

...you would look like the south end of an eastbound crab....

No nasty claws, just a discrete manicure.

[Binoculars]

Ahh, an Aussie-ism without thinking has perhaps led (lead? it is late) to a misunderstanding. A blokey aussie observation on a female used to be, going back to my schooldays, that she looked like the south end of a northbound camel. This was not generally considered a compliment.

It evolved into the south end of an eastbound crab for no obvious reason apart, perhaps, from the desire of the Australian male to protect the female of the species from hurt feelings. Such care can be heard every night in pubs and every weekend at sporting events. The aussie male is a gentle breed, given to fiercely protecting the feelings of...... what in god's name am I babbling on about here? In a computer forum?

Phew! Sorry. My second apology in a day on Pprune. Age is wearying me, and the years condemning. :ooh:

[AcroChik]

Actually, I took no offense, as it could be read as a compliment. So, took it literally ~ that perhaps the right-hand claw of a crab was the bigger tastier morsel. Looked down at the keyboard... hands seemed reasonably symmetrical... certainly not a meal :p one would have to crack a shell to get at.

[Binoculars]

OK, another question. My MacBook, only a few months old, is getting sloooowwww. In the dark days I would have run a few spyware programs and CrapCleaner and everything would have been hunky dory, but I don't know what the normal protocol is on the Mac. All advice gratefully received as always.

[AppleMacster]

Binos,

The first thing to try is repairing your disk permissions.

1. Open Disk Utiliy (Utilities Folder, within the Applications folder)
2. Click the top disk on the left (your startup disk)
3. Click "Verify Permissions"
4. Click "Repair Permission"
5. Quit Disk Utility

This may sort it out - it's the only bit of disk management you need to do on the Mac, usually once a month or when you install new software.

Another classic "slowing down" reason is because the disk is too full. You need to keep 3Gb-5Gb of the disk free for OSX to run well.

Try Disk Utility, if that doesn't work, perhaps you could let us know more details about your system to work out other protential reasons why it's running slowly?

Applemacster

[Willows]

You could also trying running the maintenance scripts. There a 3 scripts which are designed to run automatically early in the morning with the computer still on obviously. Daily, Weekly and Monthly. They clear up temp files or something and sometimes help with a slow down like you described.

I recommend this utility, Onyx. (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20070) Take time to read the readme file and be aware of what this little app is capable of. She's not to be messed with.

Includes some nice misc. parameters like locking dock icons, placing two scroll arrows at both ends of the scroll column etc.

"It allows you to run misc tasks of system maintenance, to configure certain hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, Safari, Dashboard, Expose, Disk Utility... to delete cache, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome, to see the detailed info of your configuration, to preview the different logs and CrashReporter reports, and more."

[Binoculars]

OK, I'm about to head off to work, but I'll try Onyx tonight. It sounds though as if the disk utilities repair is designed to do the same thing.

Macster, I tried that and it didn't make any difference; Entourage takes a full minute to load. It's a bog standard MacBook, basic version, current model with 512Mb RAM, and it has about 13Gb free hard drive space. :confused:

[AppleMacster]

Binos,

That doesn't sound right to me. It shouldn't take a minute to load Entourage. You could try opening "Activity Monitor" (Applications>Utilities) and see if anything is overloading the CPU.

Do you have the latest system update (currently 10.4.8)?

Good luck,

Applemacster.

[rotorfan]

AcroChik,
Regarding your August 4th post on bluetooth mouse problems. (Yeah, I know it's almost two months ago. I spend 99% of my Pprune time on Rotorheads, but tonight decided to poke around. What's this, a forum full of Mac-types? Cooooool!)
My G4 desk-bound isn't bluetooth equipped, but I couldn't stand the mouse cable getting in the way anymore. So, I turned to my favorite Mac-stuff vendor, Other World Computing. They sell an RF mouse made by Logitech that is wireless and optical. (Why are mice with balls still sold? They should be outlawed. I can't believe people use them, much less buy them.) It's a 3-button with scroll wheel. Anyway, the receiver is sort of triangle shaped, about the area of a deck of cards, and I plugged mine into the keyboard's left USB port. The mouse holds two AA batteries (that's the only potential downside, as it makes the mouse a bit bigger). I use NiMH batteries, which I have to change/recharge about every three weeks. When the batteries get low, the mouse freezes because the communication just quit. Change batteries and keep on going. The great part? It's all of $16! See it here in the RF section:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/input-devices/
Also, currently in the "Specials" section is a similar mouse for $13. See it here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/Item_Specials.cfm?ID=7014&Item=LOG931025-0403
There now, that cable can stop being a pain the desk!! :ok:
Happy mousing, Rotorfan

[unconcerned]

I think I’m about to take a deep breath and go Mac after 10+ years of Windoze.

It seems to me that the only difference between the two white MacBooks currently on offer in the UK is a slightly higher clock speed and a ‘SuperDrive’ – and about £150. I have dual drives on my home PC so better to save my £150?

Main use for the lappy is pic/video editing, but I might need to create the occasional word doc or spreadsheet that is PC-readable. Do I need to buy the ‘Office For Mac’ at just over £100 or can I get away with some free software?

All input gratefully received :)

[gerry p]

Unconcerned - go for it.
I teach on Windoze - anything else for I use the Mac. I've an iMac at home and a portable - both running OS X. ( they're not intel mac's though).
You can get a Student edition Office 2004 - i thinkit cost me around £60 - Loadsa plusses - but downside - I occasionally get web pages that don't work right so check it out if you use one of the Flight Planning websites - If you do e mail me and I'll see how it reacts to the mac and let you know. The freebie from Loop didn't work for example.
So when you do get your Mac you can walk around wid a smug smile on your face - Software Crashes - what are they?

[AppleMacster]

Unconcerned,

Welcome to Macintosh!

You can download Neooffice (http://neooffice.org/) for free. It will read and write Word, Excel and Powerpoint files.

If you're happy to drag files over to your PC to burn onto DVD, then get the slower MacBook. However, you won't be able to use iDVD, for example, in this way.

Applemacster

[AlphaMale]

I think I’m about to take a deep breath and go Mac after 10+ years of Windoze.

Best thing I ever did.

I have a MiniMac here and I love it! Just a shame I have to use a PC 9 till 5 everyday. The only downfalls I find are like you said the 'MS Office package' and the lack of games for the Mac. I think I'll be getting my hands on Virtual PC by the end of the week so all should be ok from there on.

Have you seen the Mac Adverts? (http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/)?

Good luck.

Andrew

[AppleMacster]

Alpha Male,

Virtual PC is not going to help your games famine. On the G4 chip, Virtual PC will not run fast enough to play PC games. It's really only good for non-graphics-heavy packages, such as Office. Switchers from Windows would typically buy it to run a "must have" package which hasn't been ported to the Mac; eg Sage for Accountants switching to the Mac.

If you have an Intel MacMini, Virtual PC won't work. To run Windows software in emulation, you'll need something like Parallels (http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/). It's a lot faster than VirtualPC, but still won't run fast enough to play (graphics-intensive) Windows games. To run games properly on an Intel MacMini, you will need to install Boot Camp (http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/) and boot up as a Windows machine.

A good place to find games is Macgold (http://www.macgold.co.uk/) and Macgamer (http://www.macgamer.com/) is a review and news site dedicated to games on the Mac.

Applemacster

[unconcerned]

Many thanks for all the replies :ok: :)

I'm a tad confused regarding the inability to burn DVDs on the cheaper MacBook. Maybe I didn't pay enough attention to the salesman, but I thought that was OK - I just couldn't direct copy them. I've got twin drives on my home PC so I can copy discs on there as necessary, but I would need the facility to burn disks on the laptop from its hard drive. Am I being a MacDummy already? :(

I hardly ever play games on a PC, so that's not an issue. I suppose the only other thing I need to decide is whether I need Office For Mac or whether I can get by with Neooffice.

I think I need a personal sticky for all the useful Mac utilities with such unfamiliar names!

[AlphaMale]

Ahh thanks for putting me straight! :ok:

That is the other problem with Macs ... Not many people know enough about them when you want advise - unless you have somebody like 'AppleMacster' on a forum.

Just to confirm I have a '1.66GHz Intel Core Duo' with soon to be upgraded Ram from 512 to 1Gb

Thanks again

Andrew

(Just spotted X-Plane 8 on that site)

[AcroChik]

I'm far from an expert in anything having to do with computing, but I'd like to add something to what Macster said. Even a 2-gig iMac G-5 slows down appreciably when you run Virtual PC on top of OSX.

My experience is that a real-time, graphics-intensive data feed of financial markets information ran so slowly on Virtual PC due to processing latency that the prices displayed weren't real-time prices. The screen image resolved out of synch and in a very jerky-appearing way. This might be similar to how games would run in the environment.

More experience: Mathmatica (and its various add-ons) is a computational software. I owned a licensed Windows version of release 5.2. This ran less than half the speed on Virtual PC than it ran on my previous Windows PC. Some calculations involving principal component analysis and Monte Carlo sims were taking hours longer to run. I bit the bullet and bought the Mac OSX versions of the Mathematica packages I and found they run faster in the OSX environment than the Windows packages do on either Win 2K or XP Pro.

Most people making the switch from Windows to Apple's platform won't face these issues. Switching from the complex Microsoft computing environment to the straight-forward Apple computing environment lets me do more of what I actually want to do with a computer, rather than learn an entirely new profession in order to tend to the Microsoft operating system's incessant demands. Also, it's simply better-looking and more fun.

[MightyGem]

If anyone needs anymore help/tips/info on Macs, then you might like to try the MacFormat Forums. (http://forum.macformat.co.uk/)

[AppleMacster]

Unconcered,

Just to clarify the "SuperDrive"; it's Apple's word for "DVD Re-writer". The Combo Drive in the 1.83 GHz MacBook will read CDs & DVDs and write CDs. The SuperDrive will read CDs & DVDs and write CDs & DVDs.

As for copying DVDs (of uncopyrighted material, of course ;) ), you wouldn't be able to do this on the 1.83GHz. Equally, you wouldn't be able to back up files onto a (higher capacity) DVD, but you could onto a CD. As I said earlier, it also means that you will be unable to burn from iDVD unless you can attach an external DVD burner (such as a LaCie).

AppleMacster

[unconcerned]

Thanks again for your help, AppleMacster. For someone whose first home PC ran in DOS, I'm beginning to wonder what I've actually learnt in the last ten years!

My main use for the new laptop is to edit a load of digital camcorder stuff plus the occasional bit of work. I presume that I would need iDVD to put the edited videos onto disc, so it looks like I need to go for the 2.0GHz model.

Right, deep breath time :eek:

[AppleMacster]

Unconcerned,


Affirm! Edit in iMovie, burn with animated menus with iDVD. You could even make your own soundtrack with GarageBand, not forgetting to post to the web using iWeb!

Enjoy!

Applemacster

[unconcerned]

I think you're making me feel comfortable about this, AppleMacster.

Only think, though ;)

Once again, very many thanks to everybody who has helped. I'll report back and hopefully be a MacMan next time :p

[Binoculars]

OK, I give up. How do I get the iCal icon in the dock to show today's date without resetting it? :confused:

[Willows]

OK, I give up. How do I get the iCal icon in the dock to show today's date without resetting it? :confused:

It'll only show you the correct date when you open the application. Pretty sucky.

[Capt Chambo]

Since up dating Skype I have l have lost the little icon that sat on my top toolbar. Does anyone know how to (re)place it?

(MacBook and Skype version 1.5.0.80)

Thanks in advance

[AppleMacster]

Capt Chambo,

The best thing would be to download the latest version of Skype (2.0.0.6) and check the menubar option in the preferences, The latest version lets you use your built-in iSight to have video calls over Skype.

Applemacster

[Capt Chambo]

Thanks Applemacster all done, and I now have my little icon back!
No all I need to do is try the video function!

CC

[unconcerned]

The saga continues :{

Just to re-cap - I have a 90 minute train journey home each night and, having re-read all my favourite books, I decided it was time to edit all my old digital camcorder tapes.

Great advice here, settle on the 2.0 iBook and (having taken a deep breath) I pitched up in the incredibly crowded Mac store in Regent Street today. The only sales person I could grab thought I would need a memory upgrade from the standard 512 - but the only ones who could confirm that were the 'specialists on the tills' :bored: The tills had a queue a mile long and I was feeling dispirited (especially as a Mac memory upgrade is a lot more expensive than one on a PC which also starts off a lot cheaper).

SO..... (1) do I need an upgrade and, if so, (2) should I just stick with the Windoze flock and spend the difference on beer?

Yours in confusion and despair etc etc....

[unconcerned]

Awwww now I'm even more confused :{

I just checked the Mac website to cost out the memory upgrade and the 2 Gig model already has 1 Gig memory - as opposed to the 1.8 model's 512.

So.... was she talking out of her backside or was she suggesting I go from 1 to 2 Gig?

Give me strength, I was going to buy it today, honest......

[Willows]

I take it you have a Macbook (Black or white plastic ... little camera on the display?)

Buy your memory from http://www.crucial.com/uk/ .... Much cheaper.

Select the manufacturer (Apple), your computer model (ibook, macbook etc.) and then the memory you want.

The Macbook memory costs £180 for 2GB.

I highly recommend a minimum of 1GB.

[AppleMacster]

Unconcerned,

Have you bought your MacBook already, or are you just looking for memory?

(and Willow)

Actually, the MacBook got upgraded yesterday. The 2.0GHz now comes with 1Gb of RAM and a new Intel Core 2 Duo processor. The RAM price has gone down as well. To upgrade to the 2Gb is only £120, which is much more sensible. It also comes with an 80Gb disk as standard with options up to a lofty 200Gb! The MacBook itself is also £20 cheaper. Mine's in the post!

Applemacster.

[Willows]

Yeah, they're sweet little machines. The 200GB drive sounds great and although it uses perpendicular recording, it only spins at 4200rpm. The difference might be negligible but it'd be good to have it a little faster.

For some reason I thought unconcerned already had his/her computer. In which case, buying 3rd party RAM makes much more sense. Check out Apple's RAM prices ... :rolleyes:

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4728/stupidrampriceses8.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stupidrampriceses8.jpg)

[unconcerned]

*Big breath* (yeth - and I'm only thixteen...)

Nope, was going to buy it yesterday from the Apple shop, but I'm glad the sales lady confused me and I didn't!

As AM said, it got upgraded yesterday (hence the doubled memory appearing on the Apple website before it appeared in the shop).

The shop expects delivery early next week so I shall do the deal then. Very big thanks to all who have helped me :ok:

[Binoculars]

Well, since it's just us incestuous Mac freaks in here, I can't resist passing this on. It's not new, many will know of it already, but if any of you with an interest in music are still running Limewire on your Mac, get rid of it and install Acquisition. Downloaded it 24 hours ago and I've already paid the registration fee ($18). Best program I've ever run. :ok:

(Should I put in a disclaimer here? Those of you who have nefarious intentions involving cheating the world's musicians out of their richly deserved royalties should look elsewhere. I believe Metallica are worth every penny they get.)

[Capt Chambo]

Appleworks spreadsheet and links.
I wonder if anyone can help me with this one. I am trying to set up a quick reference type table using a spreadsheet. But imbedded in the table I want to create links for more information. Standard internet links are fine but I would like to insert a link that will direct me to my address book, or directly to a downloaded (usually word) document.
I have tried the help function but suspect that I am not asking the right question as I don't get anything useful back.
Alternatively if anyone can suggest a better way I am all ears!
Thanks in advance.
CC

[Binoculars]

I have inherited an Access database which I have to use. My student version of Office for Mac doesn't contain Access, so though I'm appalled at the idea of putting Windows on a Mac, installing Boot Camp would appear to be the only solution. So, a general question for all.

I have a wireless network, but if I only ever use Windows to run Access and never the internet, am I right in assuming that I won't be leaving myself open to the viruses and various nasties that love M$ so much? I've had a lovely two years without any anti-virus programs and I'd like to keep it that way. The answer seems relatively straightforward but perhaps I'm missing something?

[AppleMacster]

Binos,

You are right, if you don't go online, you won't get any viruses on the Parallels virtual (Windows) machine, unless they already exist within the Access database or any other data you put onto the VM.

Applemacster

[Binoculars]

Thanks Macster. However I've been sitting here scratching my head over the Access file which is waaaay more complicted than what I will need it for, and I've decided to just create a very simple database of my own in Works using a limited number of fields.

The club I am making the database for will have a PC, but I want to be able to amend the file at home on my Mac, so the next question is, are Apple Works documents fully compatible with MS Works as is Office for Mac? I fear the worst here, as they are *.cwk files, whereas Office for Mac files are *.doc.

(And in case you're wondering, I've decided that Boot Camp is a grossly oversized sledge hammer to crack my little database nut.)

[AppleMacster]

Binos,

Sorry, I completely mis-read your post re. Boot Camp. Of course, the virus issue still stands if you go online under Boot Camp, as it would on a Parallels VM partition.

As for Appleworks, I'm pretty sure it isn't compatible with MSWorks. However, you might be able to get some joy out of it by exporting the Appleworks document as ASCII text and importing the new file into MSWorks. I'm not au fait (naturellement) with MSWorks, so can't be 100% sure. Certainly, you can export the Appleworks database as ASCII and import it into Excel or Neooffice (http://neooffice.org) as a spreadsheet.

Applemacster