I think I will buy my first mac when leopard arrives

[pcdoctor]

Well guys, I think I'll be buying my first mac when the Intel cpus arrive. (Leopard)
I been a pc (windows) user for a very long time.
I've always built my own desktops. I'd love to have a powermac but it's too much $ for me. An eMac is the right price for me since I'm frugal.
So, I figured, if I wait on the Intel cpus to arrive, maybe the prices will be better for me. I've always dreamed of getting a powermac but I'll most likely get an ibook. (I won't say who I work for but you can probably guess).
I work as contractor for a certain school district in GA. This school district was going to purchase ibooks for all middle and high school students and teachers but this decision was recently halted.
Anyway, I recently installed some emacs and I think I'm hooked. I'm hoping that XP will be my last version of windows that I use at home.
The gui is so pretty on OSX.
I guess by the time I get an ibook, it will be a widescreen laptop.
I can't wait to see what leopard brings to the table.
I'm a female mac wanna be by the way.
On the pc side, I have a movie editor that came with my Asus motherboard.
The program is called WinDVD Creator. It's by the same people that make Windvd. It's an ok program, but from what I've seen, it can't touch imovie.
Also, I wondered if any of you mac gurus knew this.
XP doesnt come with a dvd player. That has to be purchased unless your pc comes bundled with a software dvd player.

 

[ITASOR]

Also, I wondered if any of you mac gurus knew this.
XP doesnt come with a dvd player. That has to be purchased unless your pc comes bundled with a software dvd player.

It comes with Windows Media Player, which can play DVD's.

 

[grapes911]

It comes with Windows Media Player, which can play DVD's.

I'm pretty sure you need a 3rd party codec first.


Back to the OP: Do you really want to wait that long? Seems like a long time to want a Mac, but not have one. I wouldn't be happy for the next 2 years (estimating) only using windows. I guess you don't know what you are missing if you don't have it.

 

[dobbin]

yeah, thats right, XP and Windows media player definitely won't play DVDs out of the box. I've tried it on my work laptop.

Thats pretty poor if you ask me.

 

[pcdoctor]

Yep you need a dvd decoder like Windvd, powerdvd, sonic dvd player, etc. to dvds out of the box with 95, 98, me, 2000, xp, etc.
(Even dvds that come with the Interactual dvd player software will not play on a windows machine without a decoder)
It's not in the budget right now to get another computer.
The only reason I would wait that long is because I'd rather have a mac with an Intel cpu instead of a powerpc cpu.
I'm one of those windows users who wish Apple would make OSX for any Intel cpu. I guess that won't happen, so I'll just buy the real deal.
I'll just have to play with the emacs and ibooks at work so I won't go crazy.
We have started supporting macs at work.
The work environment is probably 99% Dells (I guess).
My job wont give me an ibook to play around with.
My job did give me a Dell a while back but I rarely use that.
I even offered to turn in my Dell in exchange for an ibook.
Oh well.
I'm just tired of xp and would like something new.
(I tried Mandrake Linux and it's not the same)
I just wish Apple would come out a MS Office replacement so that I wouldn't have to purchase Office for mac or redo Appleworks.

 

[pcdoctor]

I'm pretty sure you need a 3rd party codec first.


Back to the OP: Do you really want to wait that long? Seems like a long time to want a Mac, but not have one. I wouldn't be happy for the next 2 years (estimating) only using windows. I guess you don't know what you are missing if you don't have it.

Believe me, I know what I'm missing.
iLife, the dock, widgets, very, very pretty icons, an awesome gui and most importantly the OSX experience.
I'm just excited that I can play around with them at work.
Oh yeah, I'm sick and tired of having to clean off spyware and adware for users that keep going to every website known to man.
Depending on what user is using the windows machine at work, I just reimage the Dell using ghost.
I worked on a windows pc for a teacher (her personal desktop) and I redid her pc. Her pc got infected with spyware/adware two months later and she asked me, "I thought you fixed my machine?"
Excuse me for saying this. I wanted to slap her. I sent her a very long document that stated what she needs to do in try and keep spyware/adware off her pc. She still hasn't updated her anti virus software after I gave her pc back to her.

 

[munkle]

...
XP doesnt come with a dvd player. That has to be purchased unless your pc comes bundled with a software dvd player.

I know, I found that pretty surprising. Of course OSX didn't get a DVD player until Jaguar I think.

 

[TheMonarch]

Wait... huh? It doesn't

I don't remember buying anything for my PC to play DVDs...

I would have been so, so pissed...

 

[grapes911]

Wait... huh? It doesn't

I don't remember buying anything for my PC to play DVDs...

I would have been so, so pissed...

If you purchased your PC through Dell, HP, etc, and it came with a DVD drive, then they usually include the DVD software with all the other software they install. If you purchased a non-OEM DVD drive, then it usually comes with DVD software. Windows doesn't include a DVD codec because they would have to pay licensing fees or create their own. Licensing fees would only jack up the price of windows. And would you really want a codec created my MS? (cough wma)

 

[mklos]

I don't think you'll see the prices of Macs do anything really. You'll just get more for your money. Intel processors aren't the cheapest CPUs out there. Apple will still be building the entire Mac from the ground up. The logicboard is still up in the air as to whether it will have an Apple chipset, or an Intel chipset. I'm thinking it will have an Intel chipset.

Yeah, you pay $169 for an OS (Windows XP Pro), and you don't even get a DVD Player! You pay $129 for Mac OS X, which will run circles around Windows XP Pro at pretty much anything you can throw at it, and you get a pretty damn good DVD Player.