Appreciate opinions:
I am looking at buying 1 of 2 desktops: (1): I-mac, 20" all in one model, about $1500, I believe withiout any additional upgrades, with upgrades to 2.4 CPU, 320 memory, wireless mouse & keyboard, possible warranty extension, & possible Windows XP addition. The only reason that I would like to have windows XP installed also is probably one of fear of not making the switch over to Mac. I have Windows XP at work and am somewhat familiar with it. Netsurfing, Word, Excel, & E-mail are my main priorities for the new computer.
IF I have Windows XP installed in the Mac, will that make the new Mac OS Leopard open to viruses or only the additionally installed Windows XP OS?
Should I just get the Mac and forget about installing Windows XP?
The Mac will be for home use, and I really do not want to go to a laptop. I am leaning towards the Mac with upgrades, but am somewhat intimidated by the prospect of learning and adjusting to a new system.

The other consideration would be the Sony series LT at $2,049 with 22" screen. The Sony comes with whatever their new OS is, and I would probably consider switching over to Windows XP, at an added cost. Prettier set-up, but probably not as effective of a computer system as the Mac.

Appreciate any and all feedback, suggestions, and counsel, and yes, for all practical purposes, I am a noob

Mods & administration: If this is posted in the wrong area or section, please move if possible and advise me of move.

I wouldn't get preinstalled memory because you can get it much cheaper from a third party and it's very easy to install memory on the new iMac.

There is a Mac version of Word and some free alternatives like OpenOffice.org or NeoOffice. There is also TextEdit which is like a fancy WordPad and comes with the Mac. Safari is Apple's built-in browser and you can also download Firefox or Camino or Opera for free. For e-mail you can use Apple's Mail (also built-in) or download Thunderbird. There isn't as much choice in spreadsheet programs but iWork has one included.

Windows viruses shouldn't be able to mess with the OS X partition and there are currently no viruses for OS X.

For more Mac software look at versiontracker.com

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Hey there, GaryWells, welcome to the fun world of Mac.
After about 8 months with my PPC I-Mac with updated Tiger I can honestly say I probably won't be going back to Windows products. Windows OSs are not bad despite the headaches. Macintosh OS has it's own headaches, not to put you off from considering an Apple.
Yes you can boot either Win XP or Mac OS X 10.5 ( Leopard) on the new I-Macs. No, viruses, trojan horses, worms, etc. written to attack Windows cannot be transmitted to Mac OS. Both are totally different operating systems, the Macintosh OS being a lot more secure ( my opinion). But one should not get complacent regarding security for Macintosh OSs either. Just because there are few malicious attacks now on Macintosh does not mean it will never happen.
Yes, there is more software written for Windows OSs mostly because there are more computers running Windows than there are running other OSs. But, a lot of really good quality software ( shareware, commercial-ware, Open Source, freeware ) is written for the Mac OS. Olsey mentioned a few good titles : Open Office (www.openoffice.org ) is an Open Source office suite compatible with MS Office and available for FREE "as in free beer or free speech" ( from the Gnu Public License ). Neo Office( Writer, Calc, Impress, Base ) is a version of Open Office that is written for Mac and is also Open Source software. A good stand-alone Word alternative for Mac is Abi Word, fully compatible with Word and is also Open Source software. Text Edit comes pre-installed with the Mac OS and is a very good text editor. Other text editors are available, such as, Bean, Text Wrangler, etc. Image editing can be done on a Mac with Adobe PhotoShop( $$$) or with "Seashore" for a donation. Norton Anti-virus ($$$) runs on Mac OS as does Clam XAV. And so on....... Check with Pure Mac Software ( www.pure-mac.com/ ) or with Hyper Jeff's Software (http//osx.hyperjeff.net/Apps ) for some good titles.

Much health and happiness to you and yours.

I hope that links are allowed:
This si the I-Mac that I am considering:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebO...omAHeiJ1/7.?p=0

That would be with upgraded memory & hard-drive

I am debating between trying to get used to Mac as compared to Windows XP.
Primary function would be word usage, Excel or something comparable, & internet surfing. I am a mod on a car forum so I spend a lot of time on that car forum and posting/responses.
If I can avoid the expense of buying programs / software for 2 systems, that would be nice.

I know this topic is a couple of weeks old but I just wanted to add that I am a new Mac user after over 12 years of owning PCs. I purchased a new MacBook Pro with Leopard in mid December.

I love it. I spent some time reading the "Switching from PC to Mac for Dummies" book (yes there is a dummies book for everything....including Leopard). But really the Mac is SO intuitive that, as they say, "it just works." And Apple customer phone support is great with no wait time.

If you are used to using PC software, there is a lot you can do withOUT installing Windows on your Mac. Microsoft Office for Mac just shipped this week and I installed mine yesterday. It is awesome (although I prefer Mac's Keynote to Powerpoint now that I've used both). The Office for Mac Student Edition includes Word, Powerpoint and Excel as well as Entourage. Tons of templates for newsletters, brochures, etc. so it even goes a long way toward giving some features that you might miss in Microsoft Publisher (which there is no Mac version of). The Apple site has a section where it lists tons of software for Macs. You could spend hours there.

I will never go back to using a PC except for the ones I already own (which I'm giving to my kids to use). The Mac has so many great features with Leopard and I can't even imagine life before "Spaces" and "Expose" now that I've used them.

Hope you enjoy your new computer as much as I am enjoying mine.

Cindy

Running Windows on the other side of your Mac won't harm the OS X side if there are virus. If you run a good scanner like ESET NOD32 you really can't lose. I just use the actual other side of the Mac when I want to play games. If I want to run apps from within Windows (office 97 owns!) I just use a virtual machine with VMware fusion. Hell, I do penetration testing with virtual machines too.

Realistically, unless you need the 3D power for games, you won't need to run Windows on the other side of your Mac, and emulation will be fine. Utilties like Vmware are a cynch to use, too.

Hope this helps!

My apologies people, I'm new here and not used to the layout. I didn't notice how old this thread was until I'd bumped it.

Hi guys.
I have the same issue: I need to change my notebook, and I am seriously considering to switch back to mac (i was user of the old '80 apple macintosh and latter power pc). The only but i do have is that for academic purposes i do have to use several technical softwares (as Awesim!, Dia, Prolog, and several more) which are, as far as i know, only available for Windows OS. Is there a way to make them work in a mac? I've heard a lot of rumors about it, but actually i've never seen one running, so can't be sure if i will be able to run those programs i need.
Anyone with actual experience?

My second doubt is about the specs required. Of course, it depends on what do the user needs.
I was thinking about a 2.4ghz processor, 2gb ram, 250 hd macbook. I mostly need it for university (they have told me that the battery can last up to 5 hours! true??) and as a replacement for my desktop computer, for i use it also in my house for studying, music, videos, and sometime gaming. But the thing that worries me most is that i probably won't be able to change it sonner than 4 years from now, so i really need it to keep up.
What do you guys recommend?

Theres several options to run Windows on a Mac. Depending on what you need, you can either create a dual-boot system, or run Windows in a virtual machine. Unless you need to run cpu and graphics intensive programs on Windows or decide to use Vista, a virtual machine will suit you fine. And if you know there will be times you need the full resources for Windows and other times you'll need to access it for a couple minutes, but really dont want to restart, you can set up Windows with Boot Camp(for dual boot) and use one of the 2 major vm programs to access the partition instead of a disc image.

As for the machine keeping up, I wouldnt worry. My high school is using eMacs, which were discontinued in 2005, to do video editing and after 3+ years, they still run fine. But dont be surprised if your Macbook doesnt stay the latest for very long. Apple tends to update their lineups quite often. When I got my Macbook, it was just after the mid-2007 upgrade. Theyve updated it twice since, and thats within a year.

In response to your need for Windows, there are many routes you can take. One is to use software to use it in a virtual machine such as Parellels or VMWare Fusion, or you could use Bootcamp to partition your HDD and install Windows. As for your Mac keeping up, Macs have a long live span. In fact, I'm using one that was made in 2001-2002 and it still works great!

great help guys, thanks a lot.
Besides that, is it worth the money difference? I do need a portable equipment, and I customized a dell xts 13 inches with similar characteristics, and it was 200 bucks difference cheaper, and it came with a dedicated 128 nvidia video card...

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Comparing Apples to Wingnuts again ? Price is your deciding factor ? Get real, dude.
An Apple computer is far different from the Windows capable PCs you're used to. Throughout these forums you'll read folks saying the same thing : Once you get into Macintosh OS you'll not want to go back to Windows.
True, there are folks who run a Windows OS on their Macs for a whole bunch of valid, none too weird, reasons alongside their version of Mac OS X. Point I'm aiming at is that once you try an Apple with a Mac OS, whether Puma, Jaguar, Tiger or Leopard, you may not want to go back to Windows be it XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows Vista.

Don't look at price tag on thee Apple computers you're looking at until you are certain the Apple computer you want is one you'll use. Buy that Apple computer, the one you'll use, then quibble about which has more video capacity afterwards. You can always upgrade later.

After about a year with my '03 G-4 I-Mac desktop with OS X 10.4.11 and other updates, I'm not going back to Windows. Period. Just not going back. The home page to BleepingComputer.com has an article about trouble Windows Vista users are having. Go back to that kind of crapshoot; not again. I can live with Macintosh headaches, ones I can fix, I fix, ones I can't fix, I need help with. Not a major deal.

Much health and happiness to you and yours.

well... you might look at the price tag later mate, but unfortunately we, people of the third world, have to pay higher prices (with lower adquisitive power or however you translate that term), so i end up paying 2 macbooks, but get 1. Actually, the price difference between U.S and my country is about 205% or so.. so i do look at prices when buying, because i have to make the best buy possible, and money is a real issue, many times is even more important than os atributes, as u state..

thanks for the reply tho