I am thinking about getting the 500GB HD so I wont need to move movies/songs etc to different HD.
Does anyone know if it is simple to use an external HD to back up etc?
I dont play any major games, just old ones like Rayman, but they probably wont work on Mac anyways?
My main concerns are the email client. I do depend on outlook and like that everything is integrated (calender and contacts). I also would be using a windows laptop for writing essays at school.
Would i be able to open the files on the iMac, when originally written in word 2007?
Maybe it would be best to get Office for mac as well as iWorks so I could choose which of the programs is best?
Lisa, welcome aboard... unless you are in a rush hold off 2-3 weeks to see what iMac refreshes come out (hopefully even as soon as next week). If you are tight for cash I would consider a refurb, the deals are getting better with the newer ones in the pipeline ( I think they just dropped another 400.00 on the 24"s). It doesn't sound like you are doing anything very intensive so the 2ghz should be more than adequate, however I would definitely upgrade the ram to a minimum of 2gb. Apple usually is a bit steep for ram (to out it mildly, lol), head to places like RamJet, Memorytogo or Crucial and save a bundle (which you can use to buy an iPod Touch or some other goodie with the savings). If you are very used to Office then I would say purchase it (or if you get a lot of word docs from your PC friends), but I think there is a demo of iWork on the machine when you get it. Use it to open some of your legacy PC word docs, and see it there are any issues. Try it out for a few weeks and see if it does what you need, before you dump the money for Office. The spreadsheet function is adequate, but the powerpoint like app Keynote is very slick. My wife and kids use Pages all the time and like it a lot, for basic wordprocessing it is pretty good (and the templates are easy to use and very slick as well). ILife (iPhoto) is simply an amazing program, simple & intuitive yet very powerful... I use it professional as well (alongside Aperture) and it simply rocks. Give the apple mail app a whirl too before you choose Outlook, the integration between all of the apple software products is very handy (like emailing images directly from iPhoto, etc.). In terms of spending money however I would recommend purchasing AppleCare, which extends the warranty & support for 3 years. Especially if you are a newbie to our world, Apple's support lately has gotten very good, if not exceptional. If you are lucky enough to have an Apple store nearby there are tons of free classes for beginners & even for professionals, these are great, and my kids have even gone to some of them. Buy a big enough hard drive as you will be amazed how quickly it can get filled up with music files, pictures, movies etc., however if you run out of space you can easily just add an external drive. I have a couple of external maxtors firewire drives hanging off my 24" iMac, I would recommend firewire 400 over USB2 (and probably stay away from firewire 800 drives IMO), Buy the biggest external that is cost effective, just make sure they are OSX compatible (I have a bunch of Maxtors & LaCies and they seem very stable), Staples usually has a bunch... just watch for sales as they go on sale all the time.
Another consideration (actually I would recommend this as a first choice) for backing up would be to choose apple's new product Time Capsule. This combines a external hard drive with their airport extreme wireless network base station. For a little more than the cost of an external hard drive you get the free wireless neworking (or the other way around, either way it is quite a deal). The 500gb model is 299.00, and the 1tb one is 499.00...
Your PC game will most likely not work on the mac, some games are cross platform (check the back of the CD and see if if it is OSX compatible). However your machine is sufficient for gaming use (not hard-core though).
Lastly I would put a plug in for getting the wireless mouse and keyboard. I was a bit skeptical when I ordered mine, but I have to say the lack of cables is a VERY nice thing (especially for the mouse). The downside is that the wireless keyboard does not come in more in the extended form like before (which sucks IMO).
Good luck...
michael
