MACS & PCS, the transition. Options

[pandamonium]

i was wondering for the people out there who currently used or use MACS and also have used PCS is it hard to switch over? cause i was thinking im going to college soon and i currently use a PC so i was wondering if i should get a mac when i go to college?

is it that different? cause my friend has a mac and its awesome but i havent really played around with it just to check my email and myspace. but is it hard? or will i get used to it very easily.

[*mipadi*]

You'll get used to it fairly easily. It's different, but not so different that it'll be hard to learn. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• On the Macintosh, there is usually no installer or uninstaller. To "install" an application, just drag the application into your Applications folder; to "uninstall" an application, drag it to the trash. (Some applications do require an installer, but they will be clearly marked and simple to use.)
• If you don't have a two-button mouse, press control, then click to bring up the contextual (right-mouse-button) menu.

As far as files and stuff go, you shouldn't have much problems. OS X can read Word files out of the box, or you can get MS Word for Mac OS X if you feel like you need it.

Here are some good sites for getting software for Mac OS X:

• http://www.macupdate.com/
• http://www.versiontracker.com/

And here is a brief list of some good applications for OS X:

• Instant Message: Adium (supports multiple protocols, including AIM, Yahoo!, and MSN)
• FTP: Transmit
• Mail: Apple Mail, the program that comes with OS X, is great.
• Browser: Safari, the program that comes with OS X, is great. Do not use Internet Explorer. It sucks on the Mac and hasn't been updated in two years.
• MP3: iTunes, the program that comes with OS X, is great.
• Coding: SubEthaEdit
• Graphics: GraphicConverter

That's all I can think of for now. If I think of anything else, I'll post it here.

[*kryogenix*]

[*]Browser: Safari, the program that comes with OS X, is great. Do not use Internet Explorer. It sucks on the Mac and hasn't been updated in two years.

Are you suggesting that IE on windows is great?

I've never actually used Safari, but it's based on KHTML and I've used Konqueror before, so no complaints from me.

[medic]

I've never actually used Safari, but it's based on KHTML and I've used Konqueror before, so no complaints from me.

Safari ROCKS, I love it. I only have used it a few times but no problems with it what so ever.

As for Office X, It runs about the same on a Mac as it would on windows. As with everything, the placement of stuff is some what different, but if you save a doc in Microsoft Word for Mac, it will be able to be opened on a Windows PC.

However, games written for Mac OS X run beautifully, better than they do on Windows, generally speaking.

I will have to disagree with that. My dad has a G5 at the office, and I have played many of games on his mac and found it to be sluggish and some picture quality to be bad, besides he does have a large monitor. As for games, I don’t find many of the new games that come out to be for the Mac format, such as Battle Field 2 or soon to be Call of Duty 2, some large games they have to wait to launch it on the Mac platform and well that puts you at a disadvantage.