Hello, new to the Mac, all advice welcomed

[jbg123]

Hey folks,
So I'm here to stay, not just dabbling in Macs ideally. I was anti Apple a long time, then broke down and got the iPhone5 and I'm hooked. I just bought a used Mac mini and its running Mountain Lion, and I have an old 20" Apple flat panel to use with it, and a G5 I'm not sure what to do with that was a package deal.
My questions are is there a good book out there to help me through initial stuff, like a "for Dummies" or "101" type thing worth while? I've taken a few OS X courses through work and a Safari intro course to but basics will come with more time hands on I'm sure. Also, is the G5 worth keeping, it has no Airport card for Wifi so it's just a huge mass right now lol. I plan to use the Mac mini for school online starting in November, giving me some lead time to play with things and get stuff set up. Thanks for looking.

 

[AZhappyjack]

Hey folks,
So I'm here to stay, not just dabbling in Macs ideally. I was anti Apple a long time, then broke down and got the iPhone5 and I'm hooked. I just bought a used Mac mini and its running Mountain Lion, and I have an old 20" Apple flat panel to use with it, and a G5 I'm not sure what to do with that was a package deal.
My questions are is there a good book out there to help me through initial stuff, like a "for Dummies" or "101" type thing worth while? I've taken a few OS X courses through work and a Safari intro course to but basics will come with more time hands on I'm sure. Also, is the G5 worth keeping, it has no Airport card for Wifi so it's just a huge mass right now lol. I plan to use the Mac mini for school online starting in November, giving me some lead time to play with things and get stuff set up. Thanks for looking.

David Pogue (former tech columnist at the NY Times) has a series entitled Switching to the Mac - The Missing Manual. I have the version for Snow Leopard, but I think it gets updated for each version of OS X.

The attached .pdf file contains the Table of Contents so you can see what it’s about and how it’s laid out.

 

[talmy]

Definitely the Missing Manual Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mountain Lion Edition You can also get the PDF version from the publisher for $15 on sale at the moment here

 

[jbg123]

Awesome, thanks so much for the info guys!

 

[jbg123]

What about the G5? Is it worth adding an Airport card to and letting my son learn with it, or keeping as a backup at all? it's got the dual 1.8Ghz, 2GB SAD-RAM, 150GB HD?

 

[talmy]

Really up to you. I personally didn't go all in on Macs until they switched to Intel. However my wife loved her G5 iMac -- it was her favorite.