New I-Mac user questions

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guzziken said:

Hello,
I am a retired computer programmer starting in 1967 and to today. I build PC's
and fix them for friends. Never owned an Apple so I purchased a 27" I3 3.2 ghzt
I-Mac yesterday(2010). Does this thing have enough power to run smoothly?
Can I use a regular PC usb keyboard and mouse? Is 4 gig enough to run? I have
8 gig on my everyday pc. Does anyone watching use Firefox/Thunderbird as
browser/e-mail. If so how do they run on the I-Mac? What is the normal word processor most people use?

Click to expand...

Plenty of power for routine tasks like web browsing and email. 4 gb is ok for most apps. I prefer 8 and need 16 when running virtual machines. PC keyboard and mouse work fine but you lose some functionality. Firefox works well but I use Safari for interoperability with ipad and iPhone. Due to years of use I prefer MS Word.

Since you are new to the Mac I recommend David Pogue's book "Switching to the Mac" for making the transition.

guzziken said:

Hello,
I am a retired computer programmer starting in 1967 and to today. I build PC's
and fix them for friends. Never owned an Apple so I purchased a 27" I3 3.2 ghzt
I-Mac yesterday(2010). Does this thing have enough power to run smoothly?
Can I use a regular PC usb keyboard and mouse? Is 4 gig enough to run? I have
8 gig on my everyday pc. Does anyone watching use Firefox/Thunderbird as
browser/e-mail. If so how do they run on the I-Mac? What is the normal word processor most people use?

Click to expand...

Wow a veteran! Welcome to the world of Macs.

The i3 processor isn't blazingly fast compared to modern CPUs, but it can hold its own against most of the modern budget CPUs.

Yes, you can use a PC USB keyboard and mouse. Just remember than the Windows key is used as the Command key and the Alt key is used as the Option key.

4GB is enough for everyday use, especially if you keep Snow Leopard. You can add another 4GB stick very easily and cheaply if you want. Adding RAM is user-upgradeable and Apple provides detailed official instructions.

I've used Firefox for a long time on OSX, it runs great. The functioning is slightly different to the PC version, but it's easy to learn. I personally use the OSX iMail/Mail application rather than Thunderbird because I find the Thunderbird application to be a little clunky. I'm sure it will work fine for someone who's familiar with it though.

I use MS Word 2008 only because it handles .doc and .docx files well, which is really necessary for what I do. If you're not limited by this though, Pages is a beautiful and fully-featured alternative. It's a lot cheaper too.