Switching from xp to apple

[ohmyjibbonjones]

Ive been wanting a small laptop for personal use for a while and have always thought the macbooks were very stylish,however im not sure if macs will be compatible with the files on my pc so could some of you please asnswer some of the questions:
1.i have a lot of AVI video files on my pc,will these play on a mac book?
2.can i use msn on a macbook?
3.can i use P2P programs on a mac i.e limewire
4.can i use converter programs on a mac? i.e jodix
5.can i use dvd ripping software on a mac?i.e dvd shrink
and finally how much more difficalt os it to use a mac than a pc as i have never used a mac before
thank you for your time!

[Eidorian]

1. VLC, Mplayer OSX, Perian plug-in for Quicktime
2. Adium X, aMSN, Mercury
3. LimeWire
4. Visual Hub, iSquint, FFMpegX
5. MacTheRipper, Handbrake

~desu

[notsofatjames]

beat me to it!

[uaaerospace]

Ive been wanting a small laptop for personal use for a while and have always thought the macbooks were very stylish,however im not sure if macs will be compatible with the files on my pc so could some of you please asnswer some of the questions:
1.i have a lot of AVI video files on my pc,will these play on a mac book?
2.can i use msn on a macbook?
3.can i use P2P programs on a mac i.e limewire
4.can i use converter programs on a mac? i.e jodix
5.can i use dvd ripping software on a mac?i.e dvd shrink
and finally how much more difficalt os it to use a mac than a pc as i have never used a mac before
thank you for your time!

1. Every avi file I've encountered will play with a program called VLC.
2. Yeah, MSN is available for Mac. I don't believe webcam support is built in (give aMSN a try for that). MSN for Mac (http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx?pid=msnmessenger)
3. Limewire is on the mac....so are other programs such as xfactor.
4. Can't help you there ;) I'm unfamiliar with that.
5. DVD ripping software is available on the mac. Search around on google to see what choices are out there.

It won't take you long at all to become at home with a Mac. I have two friends who recently purchased black macbooks. Neither had ever used a mac before, and both simply love them. You'll catch on quickly.

Edit: Oh dang, you guys are fast!

[Andrew D.]

It is not very hard at all, I just got my first Mac yesterday and I'm already getting the hang of things. Granted, I got a lot of help from everyone on this forum.. don't be afraid to ask questions if your lost or what not. It's a very fun/enjoyable OS, I like it very much.. I don't regret a single thing. Good luck!

[apfhex]

and finally how much more difficalt os it to use a mac than a pc as i have never used a mac before
I suppose many could argue that Macs are easier. But the basics are the same, so you should catch on quickly. Just don't try to use it as if it was Windows, that's the mistake switchers tend to make.

[Eidorian]

I suppose many could argue that Macs are easier. But the basics are the same, so you should catch on quickly. Just don't try to use it as if it was Windows, that's the mistake switchers tend to make.To be honest, I switched once Tiger was out and I knew OS X had VLC.

[ohmyjibbonjones]

oh,i forgot to ask whats the chance of apple rolling out new macbooks within the next few months rendering mine a last gen mac?

[Dustman]

I'm not gonna lie to you.. the transition from windows to os x WILL be the easiest thing you will ever do in your life and will not keep you from doing anything on your computer that you would have been doing on windows.. except ofcourse for debugging and virus removal. get a mac, love it. some of the programs dont have all the same names, most do, but different programs built for os x will do the same thing in a different, and more efficient way.

[balamw]

oh,i forgot to ask whats the chance of apple rolling out new macbooks within the next few months rendering mine a last gen mac?

Pretty high given that a) The designs are a year old b)the Santa Rosa chipset is already showing up in non-Apple notebooks.

That said, current Macs will continue to be decent machines for years.

B

[plinden]

oh,i forgot to ask whats the chance of apple rolling out new macbooks within the next few months rendering mine a last gen mac?

Pretty high - it's six months since the last update - http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook

There are rumours that Apple have ordered new LED panels (either 13 inch - ie. for MBs - or 15.4 inch - ie. for MBPs - depending on the rumour), and with the new Santa Rosa chipset from Intel, it's only a matter of time before a refresh. But it's all rumour and no one outside a select few in Apple knows the details.

That said, I have an early Intel iMac ordered a week after they were released (ie. 15 months old) and my wife has a MacBook ordered the day after they were released (one year old next Friday), and they are still the best computers we've ever had. Yes the new ones are better, but these are good for a few more years.

[ohmyjibbonjones]

so judging by that the only things they'll be updating is the screens?

[Eidorian]

so judging by that the only things they'll be updating is the screens?And to the Santa Rosa platform.

[ohmyjibbonjones]

what are the benefits to this Santa Rosa platform?

[plinden]

And/or the chipsets (integrated graphics in Santa Rosa is supposed to be much better), and/or a price drop. No one really knows and no one outside Apple will know until it's announced. One thing you can be almost certain of is that the form factor will remain the same.

what are the benefits to this Santa Rosa platform?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino#Santa_Rosa_platform_.282007.29

[Eidorian]

what are the benefits to this Santa Rosa platform?*sigh* (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/05/09/intel_santa_rosa_mobile_platform/1.html)

It wouldn't hurt to try using the forum search either.

[ohmyjibbonjones]

sorry!thanks for all your help!