Could You Point Me....?

[vladha]

My wife and I are purchasing our 1st Mac(PowerMac G4 or G5) since my old Apple IIe in college... yes, it's been that long. We're currently using a Windows based PC(5 years old), and I'm more than tired with it and am not interested in an upgraded Windows platform.

Basically, I have too many questions to list. I've visited the local Apple store at least 6 times in the last 3 months, but am having problems getting questions either answered or answered coherently and completely.

I seem to remember seeing an article or book titled "So, You're Going to Buy a Mac", or something like that... this was years ago. I need to understand the process of switching everything from my PC to the new Mac, i.e. email addresses, bookmarks, photos, websites, programs, etc...

While the Apple store offers to copy my hard drive onto the new Mac(for $50), they have been unable to explain to me how it would be usable w/o having to dig for everything.

I realize that this is a pretty broad/general or even simple problem, but it does concern me... lots of information that I still want at my fingertips.

Any experiences, opinions, ideas or thoughts are more than welcome... and I'll keep my flame suit on.

Thanks for your time and consideration...
Peace,
Mark

 

[Sparky's]

No fire retardant necessary

I'm probably not the one to really handle the reply but I have to let you know, Mac OS X will (without the use of 3rd party help) connect to any PC I have seen, either with an ethernet connection or firewire direct cable. Once connected copying file from one machine to another goes without saying. The difference being is that you will need to supplant any PC applications with Mac versions of the same apps and as you open each document it will take a little more time to convert them to Mac platform. e-mail and address lists can usually be "exported" as text files and imported to new apps. (I had to do that with my OE address book from work to my Mail app at home). Most of the Major applications out there will open files cross platform, i.e. MS Word, Photoshop, Quark, PageMaker, etc.

As far as choice of what machine to buy, that's up to your budget, but if you are used to OS 9 or earlier and not so comfortable with OS X, you might want to consider a G4 still available from Apple (3 different models) and supports OS 9 booting. A new G5 with Panther is really cool but it's a pretty good leap into technology, and will not support OS 9 booting. It only runs it as a "Classic" OS and can be very fickle.

Whatever you decide on, welcome back to Mac Have Fun, and remember "Share Your Knowledge"

Sparky

 

[vladha]

Thanks, Sparky... I threw the budget out the window when I realized I didn't want an upgraded Windows platform. Doesn't mean I want to spring for the 2.5 dual G5, with the 20" screen, but probably something in between.

The PowerMac G4 Dual 1.25, upgraded to 160g hard drive, 512 RAM is a good buy. But, only being upgradeable to 2 gigs of RAM leaves me a little worried... "You never get your new system home and say... Gee, I wish I had bought the slower less upgradeable system". On the flip side, we've used the same PC w/o upgrades for 5 years(550 mghz Pentium III, 13 g hard drive... stop laughing at me. We've recently purchased a digital camera and have come close to maxing out the hard drive, plus all the applications now seem very slow.

I'd rather buy a little overkill now, and be able to take full advantage of it 2 or 3 years down the road. Having a "killer" system lends itself to be fully used... at least that's been my experience. The G5 dual 1.8 maxes out at 4 gigs of RAM, but when you move up to the dual 2.0, you get the 64 bit processor and a max of 8 gigs of RAM. Actually, either one is probably over kill at this point.

Since I've rebudgeted for a Mac rather than a Windows platform, the budget doesn't, unfortunately, include the purchase of the monitor. We'll be using a flatscreen I purchased last year when the old CRT bit the dust.

Conundrum: Save a little money now(G4 .vs. 1.8 G5 .vs. 2.0 G5) and abuse my solid wood computer desk with my solid rock head when I realize that I really do need "more".
Or, spend the extra now and beat head on desk wondering why I over spent on a system that I'll never fully utilize.

The funny thing is, I really like the case for the G4's... it's decidely modern/ahem, sexy looking. While the G5 case is very utilitarian looking. I'm kind of shaking my head and going "why is that important?". I don't know, but it is a factor.

OS 9? OSx? What this? Just joking, kind of. I haven't used an Apple in over 20 years, so I have no idea what the differences and/or benefits are. Having not used either, I don't think it'll make any difference to me... kind of like trying to explain the difference between the colors Blue and Red to someone who is blind.

I do know, that as many times as I've "abducted" an employee at the Apple store, the demonstrations showed how much easier/different the Apple is to use. Kept telling myself "why isn't this done for all systems?".

At any rate, I'm tired and getting more verbose, but I'll keep flipping to the Apple site and hope that enlightenment in granted. Either that, I'll have the "dream" and will know the answer when awake... the zen Mac User at work.

Thanks and...
Peace,
Mark

 

[applemacdude]

At least wait till the 28th

 

[silentrage]

At least wait till the 28th

What happens on the 28th?

 

[mkrishnan]

What happens on the 28th?

Apple has a developers' conference and they're announcing the new version of OS X and maybe some new hardware. The new OS X won't be available prolly until mid fall, but the hw might ship immediately. So you can see if you want to wait for anything.

Regarding switching, this book:

http://www.peachpit.com/title/0321168895

was what I used when I was figuring stuff out. And asking lotsa questions and reading threads here.

 

[DGFan]

There is some info on how to move files on Apple's website

http://www.apple.com/switch/howto/

 

[crazzyeddie]

Without a doubt get a G5 if you want this machine to last for more than 3 years. The G4 is 32-bit only, while any G5 can do both 32-bit and 64-bit, making it a viable machine for the future. Also, the G5 has faster AGP (graphics), Serial ATA and PCI-X slots (Dual 2.0 and 2.5 only). If you are one of those people who really likes to stick with a machine, get the Dual 2.0. Don't buy your extra RAM from Apple, since they over charge quite a bit, but without a doubt get more RAM. 1GB should last you for a while, and will make OS X seem snappier even when using multiple applications. OWC is a great place to buy cheap, high quality RAM with very inexpensive fast shipping.

As for OS 9 vs OS X, dont worry about it. Since you haven't been using Apple lately, you will want to jump straight to OS X and not worry about OS 9.

 

[vladha]

Bookmarked both links. I'm familiar with Peachpit Press, lord knows I've seen enough of them. Don't have a cd burner on my current/old PC, but might be able to "borrow" one from a friend. Also looking into whether there is some sort of "cabling" possible between the 2 systems that would allow me to "migrate" information(in large chunks/files/documents), probably so, along with the required software. As a last resort, I could email all the information from one to the other... eh, no, not going to do that. My toddlers would be in highschool before that finished.

Will definitely be going the G5 route, dual 2.0... unless some sort of "bomb" is dropped at the WWDC.

So, instead of buying this weekend, we'll be watching for what happens on the 28th... we've waited this long.

Thanks very much for the information and advice...
Peace,
Mark