New to Mac come Oct 14th...some General Questions

[GizmoDVD]

Well, my wonderful rolleyes Vista laptop decided to give me the BSOD and now I am trying to fix it via my recovery discs...with no luck. I'm going to take this as a sign to ditch it and get an Apple. Luckily I have an extra laptop to get me through the next few days until October 14th...

I visited the Apple store today and really like the Mac Book (especially the keyboard layout) so it looks like Tuesday when the announcements happen I'll be a Mac owner (Which just so happens to be my birthday...great excuse ). So a few more questions

1. I have PC versions of Microsoft Word and Excel...they won't work at all on the Apple, right?
2. As for Applecare, should I buy it right away or wait until the 1 year warranty expires (or will it carry on...so if I get a 3 year it adds on the my 1 year?)
3. I'm a bit unfamiliar with their OS...will the Mac Books come with the most up-to-date version (are there multiples list with Vista Home/Premium etc.)?
4. I saw that the Mac Books have a mini-DVI port...is there an adapter to make it work with HDMI TVs?
5. I backed up most of my current PC laptop (iTunes music, Movies, Pictures etc) will I be able to connect my external HDD to my new Mac Book and transfer everything over? I'm not sure if a Mac can read a PC formatted External HDD or not.

Like I said, I'm really new to Mac. I have an AppleTV and iPhone and love both so its time to move away from PC's which have been giving me major issues the past few years. Any comments/help would be appreciated.

 

[Aranince]

1. I have PC versions of Microsoft Word and Excel...they won't work at all on the Apple, right?

No, only the Mac version of the Office suite will work. iWork, Apple's office suite, is also compatible with most Office formats and is a lot less expensive.

2. As for Applecare, should I buy it right away or wait until the 1 year warranty expires (or will it carry on...so if I get a 3 year it adds on the my 1 year?)

I am unsure of this, but I don't think it adds on if you buy it a year after you buy the Mac.

3. I'm a bit unfamiliar with their OS...will the Mac Books come with the most up-to-date version (are there multiples list with Vista Home/Premium etc.)?

It's always a good idea to scan for updates when you get a new computer. There is only one version of OS X. No home, premium, etc versions.

5. I backed up most of my current PC laptop (iTunes music, Movies, Pictures etc) will I be able to connect my external HDD to my new Mac Book and transfer everything over? I'm not sure if a Mac can read a PC formatted External HDD or not.

Yes, that will work. With the PC formatting, it will only be able to read the stuff, not write to the drive.

 

[Vulcan]

Well, my wonderful rolleyes Vista laptop decided to give me the BSOD and now I am trying to fix it via my recovery discs...with no luck. I'm going to take this as a sign to ditch it and get an Apple. Luckily I have an extra laptop to get me through the next few days until October 14th...

I visited the Apple store today and really like the Mac Book (especially the keyboard layout) so it looks like Tuesday when the announcements happen I'll be a Mac owner (Which just so happens to be my birthday...great excuse ). So a few more questions

1. I have PC versions of Microsoft Word and Excel...they won't work at all on the Apple, right?
2. As for Applecare, should I buy it right away or wait until the 1 year warranty expires (or will it carry on...so if I get a 3 year it adds on the my 1 year?)
3. I'm a bit unfamiliar with their OS...will the Mac Books come with the most up-to-date version (are there multiples list with Vista Home/Premium etc.)?
4. I saw that the Mac Books have a mini-DVI port...is there an adapter to make it work with HDMI TVs?
5. I backed up most of my current PC laptop (iTunes music, Movies, Pictures etc) will I be able to connect my external HDD to my new Mac Book and transfer everything over? I'm not sure if a Mac can read a PC formatted External HDD or not.

Like I said, I'm really new to Mac. I have an AppleTV and iPhone and love both so its time to move away from PC's which have been giving me major issues the past few years. Any comments/help would be appreciated.

1.) No, Office 2007 will not work with OS X.
2.) It doesn't matter which time you buy it, the time it adds is from the day of purchase.
3.) Just one operating system, all of them are the same.
4.) I'm unsure on this one
5.) It should be able to read the external hard drive. If it is in NTFS (you'll know if you can't save stuff to it, which wouldn't matter if you are only taking files off of it), PM me and I'll upload a plugin which allows you to do so.

 

[mpshay]

As far as the adapter goes, check out monoprice
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10419&cs_id=1041912&p_id=4852&seq=1&format=2