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February 6, 2005 at 6:35 pm #16808ArsenalParticipant
I’m looking to buy a Mac Mini and switch from a PC to a Mac. Is this an easy conversion? I have all PC accesories though. I have a Microsoft wireless keyboard and Mouse, a Hitachi Monitor and most importantly of all, a router. I want to know if this stuff is compatible. I would really like to be able to take some of my files with me.
I also have some more questions:
Is it easy to convert over for anyone who has?
How does Mac work for you?
Would I need to buy anything that it doesn’t come with?
Is the 1.25 or whatever the minimum for Mac Mini is, enough? I have a 3.0 GHZ on my laptop now.
Is 256 MB of Ram enough? I have 512 on both my PC’s now.February 11, 2005 at 7:14 am #113862OctoberTheHottieMemberHiya!!! I just got a Mac Mini, but unfortunately, 8 hours in and I am lucky to have found the browser on this thing, lol. As far as I know, all of your hardware should work fine on it, we didn’t have to switch out a thing, well, my BF, had to get a new kayboard cuz his didn’t have the Mac keys on it (there is a little 4 petaled flowery looking thing on the alt key, that is about the only difference, but it seems to be a major Mac shortcut). But as soon as you plug in your goods and turn it on, it is good to go, just do the initial install and everything works…. I am doing the searching because my prob is all the programs I have grown to love and use for my web designing are ALL made for windows, so I am in search of info on the new programs I can use. I used to use Crimson Editor, which I guess I am going to have to go with Dreamweaver, and I need to find a replacement FTP prog. Hopefully my post will give a jump start to yours and we can both get some help, good luck in your decision making, from all I hear it is a great little puter especially for the money, you just have to de-PC yourself, lol, I am having a bit of trouble on that one, lol…..
February 11, 2005 at 9:13 pm #113871ArsenalParticipantWell I’m looking to replace my current desktop. I have a Windows Laptop Now which, surprisingly, I’m very happy with. I would just replace my desktop. So, in emergency, I could use my PC.
February 11, 2005 at 9:55 pm #113867kyuubiMemberArsenal wrote:I’m looking to buy a Mac Mini and switch from a PC to a Mac. Is this an easy conversion? I have all PC accesories though. I have a Microsoft wireless keyboard and Mouse, a Hitachi Monitor and most importantly of all, a router. I want to know if this stuff is compatible. I would really like to be able to take some of my files with me.
I also have some more questions:
Is it easy to convert over for anyone who has?
How does Mac work for you?
Would I need to buy anything that it doesn’t come with?
Is the 1.25 or whatever the minimum for Mac Mini is, enough? I have a 3.0 GHZ on my laptop now.
Is 256 MB of Ram enough? I have 512 on both my PC’s now.No problem….all your hardware will work just fine. That is I am assuming that your Keyboard and Mouse is USB compatible…and the monitor is fine because the Mini give you a converter so you can hook it up right away. And regarding router, Macs do play nice when they are on a windows network and the Mac will see the PCs and the PCs will see the Mac with no problem what so ever.
Now for the switch. You will have no problem switching. You will know how to use everything in about…8 hours. OS X is very easy to use and efficient and when you use it long enough, you will see that you really don’t miss windows. This is a good time to get it becuase you will get iLife 05 free with your Mac Mini. All the softwares come pre-loaded with your Mac so you can get set-up and running in minutes.
the 1.25GHz and 256MB of Ram is fine for every day things as long as you don’t do massive video editing and music recording. It will run like a speedy little devil. Comparing to other Macs, the Mini is more powerful than the iBook anyway you look at it, but it doesn’t quite match up with the Powerbook unless you put in a bit more RAM and a bit more CPU power. But for your 1st Mac, the Mini will serve you fine.
Hope this helps and trust me…you will love your Mac..
February 11, 2005 at 10:13 pm #113864shifterMemberArsenal wrote:I’m looking to buy a Mac Mini and switch from a PC to a Mac. Is this an easy conversion?{/quote]If you’ve never used a Mac before, it’s going to be difficult at first. But in my opinion, once you’ve figured out the basics of how to use your Mac’s operating system, its quite easy. Pick yourself up one of those “Mac OSX for Dummies” type books and you should have no problems.Arsenal wrote:I have all PC accesories though. I have a Microsoft wireless keyboard and Mouse, a Hitachi Monitor and most importantly of all, a router. I want to know if this stuff is compatible.As long as your keyboard and mouse can run from a USB port you should be fine, most Macs don’t have the usually standard PS/2 ports. Your current monitor should be fine as well, worst case you might need to pick up an adapter if its a different type of input. Router’s are generally not OS dependant, so I can’t see any issues there as well.
Arsenal wrote:I would really like to be able to take some of my files with me.Moving files from PC to Mac is generally fine, the only thing you need to remember is that none of your programs will work on the Mac. Most saved PC files will work just fine using the Mac’s version of that particular files default program. MP3’s will play fine in Mac’s iTunes just as Word files will open in Mac’s version of MS Word.
Arsenal wrote:Is it easy to convert over for anyone who has?As a graphic designer, I’ve worked between Windows and Macs for years, I used Mac’s throughout college while doing my homework on my home PC without any major issues. It’s not going to be a walk in the park, but it’s not impossible either.
Arsenal wrote:How does Mac work for you?Honestly, I like Macs, but Windows PC’s can generally do the same things for 1/2 the price with more program options. Mac’s are generally more stable and have that “coolness” factor as well though. The choice is really just your preference.
Arsenal wrote:Would I need to buy anything that it doesn’t come with?
Is the 1.25 or whatever the minimum for Mac Mini is, enough? I have a 3.0 GHZ on my laptop now.
Is 256 MB of Ram enough? I have 512 on both my PC’s now.That depends on your purposes. Are you constantly running system intensive applications or games? If not, it should be sufficient for you, and you can usually upgrade the RAM at anytime in the future (ask your dealer about this possibility). Also, I’m told that the motherboards for Macs use a different grading scale for there Processing speeds than those for PC’s thus making a Mac Ghz slightly faster than a PC Ghz.February 12, 2005 at 12:16 am #113872ArsenalParticipantYeah I had a feeling they were different scales or something. Thanks for all the help everyone. I know my wireless keyboard isn’t USB, I don’t think. But my mouse is. I could get an Apple keyboard though. I hope to buy one by the end of summer.
One last question, hopefully.Say I want to type something up at home in Word(Whatever is on Mac, please specify which also), but my printers aren’t working. I need it for class the next day, would I be able to open the file up in Word on the School’s PC’s?
February 12, 2005 at 3:41 am #113868kyuubiMemberthe answer is yes. For OS X, the defult Office Application is AppleWorks, However in the latest Apple Works, Apple have made all the file format in Appleworks compatible with the Microsoft Office Suite and vise versa so you’ll have no problem there. So you will be able to open your Text, Spreed Sheet files in Word or Excel. Powerpoint, I’m not very sure. And one last alternitive is to just get the MS office suit for Mac. If you are a student and you’re getting the student edition, with the student discount, it’s a dead give away. The last time I check was about….$100…so. You have a lot of options there. 😀
February 12, 2005 at 2:28 pm #113873ArsenalParticipantWell I just bought the Student edition for Windows, any way it’s compatible (doubt it)
February 12, 2005 at 2:55 pm #113869kyuubiMemberWindows?….No of corse not, the archtecture of the Mac and PC is completly different there is no way that a PC can run OS X natively and vise versa however, if you would like to run Win XP on your Mac, what you can do is get your self a piece of software that’s called Vitual PC. Vitual PC emulate Win XP on your Mac and it does everything a PC do excet for playing games. You can check that out if you like.
February 12, 2005 at 5:08 pm #113865shifterMemberArsenal wrote:Well I just bought the Student edition for Windows, any way it’s compatible (doubt it)It’s very important that you understand that NO windows program can be installed on the Mac’s operating system. Every windows program you’ve purchased will not run on the Mac unless it contains a Mac installation as well, which Microsoft programs do not.February 12, 2005 at 7:37 pm #113874ArsenalParticipantNo I don’t mean to put Win XP on a Mac or something, but I know on some games I have they are compatible with Macs, I remember reading it on Sys. Requirements. Does that mean I can reinstall them on Macs?
February 12, 2005 at 11:08 pm #113866shifterMemberIf the software says it’s compatible, guess what..it’s compatible! 🙂
As I said in my last post, many application include a Mac install as well, just not Microsoft.February 13, 2005 at 10:01 am #113863OctoberTheHottieMemberThis post has been most helpful, I was just searching for a word processor program for mac earlier today cuz I didn’t think it came with one, thanx for the help. I do have a question tho, I am trying to move forward and adapt to using Adobe over Paint Shop Pro, but if I did want to use it with the emulator program would it work as smoothly as it did in PC? Cuz I heard the emulation isn’t as good as the real thing?!?!
February 13, 2005 at 8:43 pm #113870kyuubiMemberNo fo corse not…even with the experties of MS developing Vitual PC, the Vitual PC can only take in about 60-65% of the actual processing power the Mac have, so it won’t run as smooth.
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