Any Mac users out there in DISland?

[SplashMtn]

Im thinking of making the "big switch" at christmas from a windows based desktop to a nice shiny new apple iBook laptop. I'll be getting Microsoft office so as to make the transition as smooth as possible. Ive read about all of the benefits of Mac OSX and was wondering if anyone here has had the experience of "switching"- how did it go and did you have any weird or wonderful problems?

Sick of that Windows "blue screen of death"!!

 

[AlanUK]

Hi SplashMtn,

I can't really answer your question, I am stricly a PC man and work dictates that I remain so

I would be interested to know why you are considering an iBook and MacOS over a Laptop running windows or linux?

Alan.

 

[KayleeUK]

Penny and Rob I think have Mac's they maybe able to help.

 

[MickeyMac]

Splash,

I'm a heavy duty Mac user and I love it. My son and I both have Powerbooks, DH uses a G4 desktop, and my daughter has an older iMac. We never get viruses, rarely crash, and (don't tell my husband) have dropped my PB a couple of times with just a minor dent (thank gawd this thing's titanium) The old G4 is four years (I think?) old and just starting to max out it's usefulness. When I donate it to the local school, I will get a decent donation value from it, too.

The drawbacks, if you're coming from a PC is a incredible lack of software availability if you are looking for gaming. My son also has a Toshiba that he runs for gaming.

I am a heavy Office user and I *love* the new version of Office. Entourage is loads of fun - very useful.

 

[SplashMtn]

Thanks for the replies!

AlanUK- im thinkning of the iBook because of the portability from having the 12" screen and the other benefits of the mac osx platform such as rare crashes and usually only a program crashing as opposed to the entire OS and the general "plug and play" nature of macs. I only really need microsoft office for mac in terms of software needed from Windows. Oh and Mac hardware should generate a few jealous looks from other laptop users!

MickeyMac- thanks for the reply and for emphasising the positives that I think I will have from using a mac. The lack of games shouldny be a problem as the pc I currently use is so old it would probably have trouble with space invaders as it is!

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Yes, I'm also a big fan of the Macintosh. I have a G5 and 12" Powerbook G4 for main computing duties, a Cube (because I LOVE the design of it, currently on loan to my parents) and a new G5 iMac on order for my girlfriend who is about to switch from a PC. I made the switch from Windows to Mac about 18 months ago; in my experience using a Mac is much better than using a PC. It is more stable; not troubled by viruses, spyware, adware, etc; comes with a brilliant suite of software for working with music, video and photos; and as much of this gear is in my home the design and style of the computers is important, and nobody does this better than Apple.

There are downsides to using a Mac, of course. You do pay a price premium, gaming software is more numerous on the PC, some very specialized applications are PC-only, etc. But these disadvantages are not major hurdles in my opinion.

Splash, does it have to be a laptop? The reason I ask is that Apple have just announced the latest generation of their consumer desktop: the iMac G5. It looks lovely, and is a fiar bit cheaper than the previous iMac even though it is technically a much better computer.

Regards

Rob

 

[SplashMtn]

Wow! thanks Rob!

I was going to be getting a laptop no matter what as I already have a desktop which caters to my needs (thought its s l o w!!) and along with all of the mentioned advantages the Mac laptops are much better value for money in my opinion in terms of battery life which is of course important in a portable computer and in size with the smaler 12" iBook model.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Yes, I love my Powerbook. It goes everywhere with me! I'm sure you enjoy your new iBook when it arrives.

Regards

Rob

 

[SplashMtn]

Ive remembered something I meant to ask so ill try to revive this thread with one of those electonic things like on casualty.......

MickeyMac and Rob how are you connected to the internet if you dont mind me asking?- I currently use a BT voyager USB modem and Ive heard that USB modems are very unreliable on the Mac platform and especially as the most modern drivers for my modem only cover Mac OSX 10.2 (Jaguar). I figure that I will need to buy an Ethernet modem but wondered how other Mac users access the internet in this way and if you use BT, do they offer their own ethernet modem?

Just to add that on the apple website there is an ethernet modem to replace USB modems for £70- does this seem like a reasonable price.

Im also considering ....(sorry- hang in there to the end of the post if you can without falling aslee....asleeep ZZZZZZzzzzz!) have any mac users got a wireless network set up with and without Airport base station products; basically im thinking of getting a belkin wireless router/ethernet modem combination and an Airport extreme card for the iBook and was wondering if anyone else has anything similar- any problems etc?

Thanks for any replies- well done for making it this far!!

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

I use a Draytek modem/router/wireless LAN (11b )unit at home without any problems. I've setup my parents system with a Belkin modem/router/wireless LAN (11g). The Belkin unit was only £70 (from Dabs.com) although we did have a bit of trouble as it would drop th econnection if not used for several minutes (a firmware upgrade seems to have fixed this). There is a very good forum at www.adslguide.org.uk which ahs some posts on connecting Macs via broadband.

I would certainly recommend having a wireless network at home, all the more so if you have a laptop. Opting for a USB modem seems to be a bit of a retrograde step.

Regards

Rob

 

[SplashMtn]

Thanks Rob, that sounds like the best thing to do. Could be online from anywhere in the house!

 

[SplashMtn]

Oops , double post.

 

[AlanUK]

I am not using any Mac hardware but have also have a wireless network running at home using a Draytek Vigor 2600. I also set up my mum on a wirless network using a Linksys WAG54G and she runs it no problem following my initial setup.

I would recommend both products as good for home wireless networking broadband access. The linksys is a little cheaper than the Draytek, Linksys is also a division of Cisco, which can't be a bad thing.

Both products contain firewalls and the basic out of the box setup also enables NAT (Network Address Translation) which also assists in keeping your network secure. The setup is very simple on both and is managed through an easy to use web interface.

It's also good being able to move around the house with the laptop on and connected the whole time

Alan.

 

[SplashMtn]

Thanks Alan- its good to know that a wireless network is easy to set up on either the Mac or Windows platform- ah, just got to decide before christmas which one to get!