The First Step

[mattpreston11]

okay have took the first step and have invested in an old imac

always hated apple for a long long time but then as a person i became more open minded, purchased an iphone and love it to bits, its superb. if all goes well i plan to purchase a macbook in the summer.

am very excited for it to come, this is the one that i have bought:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=250219155716&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=015

anyway it comes with 10.3 os (panther?) and i plan to upgrade to tiger OS.(1)

also i need some software, i have 0ffice 04 which i will try but i also want ilife as that seems to have alot of the main programs. my machine doesnt meet the minimum specs for ilife04. (2)

i also wold like to use it as possibly a music machine, would it be easy to either add an additional hard drive or replace the exsisting one with like a 160gb ide?(i have a spare lying around)

also im looking at one of those books "the missing manual" which is a book designed for people making the switch and its the leopard edition aswel which is good, does anyone have any expirience with this? i think i might get it anyway because i dont know how to do so many things and a book would be helpfull.

sorry for the long post, would greatly appreciate any replys.

1st question: should i just get hold on tiger on CD and install? is there anything special i should do?

2nd question: where can i get hold of the orgional ilife? apparently it was a free download on the apple site but i assume they dont host it anymore.

3rd question: can i replace or add an additonal hard drive (160gb ide)

4th question: missing manual (making the switch to tiger) book, any comments on it?

5th question: anything else you can say or reccomend? im not actually sure what i can do with a mac, im a happy windows xp user and i dont see me making "the switch" anytime soon, but i am open minded and would love Mac OS to be so good that i did switch.

right sorry for the long post, worried that everyones just going to ignore me now.

 

[Ugg]

Is there a reason you want to upgrade to Tiger? It's pretty easy to do, you shouldn't have any problems.

I think the older iMacs will only read 120 gb hard drives. You can put a larger one in, but you'll only be able to use 120 gbs of it. You might want to check on Apple's website to make sure.

I had a G3 400mhz that I changed the hard drive on. It wasn't really difficult but be careful with the screws. I lost one of them and couldn't get it out of the case. It didn't seem to be all that necessary though as my mom and my nephew have used it now for 3+ years with no problems.

I've heard the missing manual is a good book. There are lots of resources on the internet as well. Be sure to check out Apple's new "Tutorial" section. They have some good stuff there.

I'm not sure about the original iLife. You might check eBay for iLife '06 discs. I believe that iPhoto will work fine but iMovie probably won't. iDVD definitely won't work.

In case Word 2004 doesn't work, you could download NeoOffice. It's open source and works really well.

As far as any general suggestions go, it really depends upon what you're planning on using it for. It'll probably be easier to address that once you get it and have questions.

Enjoy!

 

[Fuzzy14]

Old iMac??? I still use one of those every day! Can't believe it went for £51!

You'll have no problems with Office 2004, looking at the specs I think Tiger might kill it (or at the very least make it clunky slow), but I know how you feel because we are now at the stage where all new software is Tiger minimum.

Chap above is correct, iLife 06 should work based on the system specs but iDVD probably won't work unless there is a chance that's the slot loading DVD burner (doubt it.)

I've got an external iomega 120GB HD that runs off the firewire, you can pick them up quite cheap and for a lot less hassle than changing your internal HD.

And don't worry about viruses! Enjoy your

 

[mattpreston11]

thanks for replies.

i dont know what i want to use it for, my pc does everything i want. i just want to try macs because i believe from what i hear they are better in the long term. i just want some stuff to do with it for now.

i wanted to upgrade to tiger just to try get to the newest os i could.

i want ilife because i dont know what other software to get :S

more of an impluse buy this really, id like to use it to get used to mac os and hopefully get a macbook as my next laptop.

read this post back and it just screamed out "nooooob"

 

[Fuzzy14]

my pc does everything i want

Your mac does this too!

Couldn't work out how a 'noob' could have 67 posts but I see it's the iPhone that has brought you over from the dark side, young Skywalker.

I guess the best place to start is try iTunes with your iPhone, then try iPhoto with your camera, and try to edit some movies on iMovie. Try downloading these programs, all findable on Google; Firefox (web browser if you don't like Safari), Google Earth, MacMame play some old arcade games), Graphic Converter, VLC (will view any video), MPEG Streamclip (will convert movies to iPhone-friendly format.) That's pretty much all you need.

 

[HLdan]

thanks for replies.

i dont know what i want to use it for, my pc does everything i want. i just want to try macs because i believe from what i hear they are better in the long term. i just want some stuff to do with it for now.

i wanted to upgrade to tiger just to try get to the newest os i could.

i want ilife because i dont know what other software to get :S

more of an impluse buy this really, id like to use it to get used to mac os and hopefully get a macbook as my next laptop.

read this post back and it just screamed out "nooooob"

Good 4 U, that's a wonderful attitude. So many PC users say their PC does everything and won't try the Mac OS because people tell them not to. More people like you who give it a try end up loving it and wondered why they waited so long. You'll shock yourself once you see how much the Mac OS really can do for you. Gaming is lite on the Mac OS but by no means non-existent. There are some really great up to date titles, so always look for the Mac versions first before buying the Windows version and this goes for any type of software.
Aside from gaming you should be able to easily duplicate every piece of software on Windows to the Mac.

It's really a shame things have come to this as the Macintosh was the first to arrive and so many people treat it as if it's the new kid on the block. Let us know if you have questions about using the Mac OS.

 

[Techguy172]

Mac will do anything you can do on windows and if you need it you can put windows on your mac. The book you mentioned is very good. An old cheap mac is great for starting

Why do people call windows the Dark side that's stupid it's just different.

 

[Fuzzy14]

Why do people call windows the Dark side that's stupid it's just different.

It was a humourous attempt to perpetuate the whole us v them attitude held by some members; good v evil, light v dark, Jedi v Empire, MacOS vs Windows. Besides I'm forced to use Windows every day at work, but choose to have (3) Macs in the house. I don't know anybody who does it the other way around.

 

[mattpreston11]

hey

yeah i understand games is going to be a bit weak on mac at the mo, and i wont be really using it for that ( i have a ps3 and pc for that atm)

i basically just wanted this to try and get used to using a mac, and i want it to improve the things im doing currently.

i look forward to getting it and having a play but i have a feeling il realise i dont have anything to do after a while.probably why i need to try get ilife.

out of interest how will itunes run? i have itunes on my pc and i really dislike it for how slow and clunky it is..

 

[Morod]

mattpreston11 posts:
"4th question: missing manual (making the switch to tiger) book, any comments on it?"

I can't speak for Tiger, but I do have the Missing Manual for Leopard and as a new convert myself it has been very good to have for reference. I also have the Peachpit Press Leopard book by Robin Williams and while that is good for a first glance, nothing is very in-depth. The Missing Manual is where I go to really find out about a subject. So both are good, but I use The Missing Manual more. Hope this helps,
Morod

 

[HLdan]

out of interest how will itunes run? i have itunes on my pc and i really dislike it for how slow and clunky it is..

Ha ha, I read that same question so many times on from noob switchers, believe me this is not to insult yours or anyone else's intelligence but you gotta know that just as Microsoft optimizes their software to run better on Windows Apple does the same for the Mac. You can definitely count on Safari, iTunes, Quicktime, the iPhone and the iPods to all work better on the Mac as they should.
You'll find connectivity of the Apple toys to be better on the Mac and of course iTunes will be an immediate improvement over the Windows version. I tried iTunes on the Windows side the other day and it was pretty shotty but in defense to Apple Office 2008 for Mac doesn't do the Mac justice either, Thanks MS.

 

[mattpreston11]

Ha ha, I read that same question so many times on from noob switchers, believe me this is not to insult yours or anyone else's intelligence but you gotta know that just as Microsoft optimizes their software to run better on Windows Apple does the same for the Mac. You can definitely count on Safari, iTunes, Quicktime, the iPhone and the iPods to all work better on the Mac as they should.
You'll find connectivity of the Apple toys to be better on the Mac and of course iTunes will be an immediate improvement over the Windows version. I tried iTunes on the Windows side the other day and it was pretty shotty but in defense to Apple Office 2008 for Mac doesn't do the Mac justice either, Thanks MS.

you went and answered my next question there. will my iphone work better with my mac.ive heard that calendar doesnt sync though does it?

assume when i plug my iphone in that my address book will sync over, i have alot of information on that.

so when i get my mac, what should i do? im going to get it and just be like "okay.. what now"

 

[cherry su]

Your mac does this too!

Couldn't work out how a 'noob' could have 67 posts but I see it's the iPhone that has brought you over from the dark side, young Skywalker.

I guess the best place to start is try iTunes with your iPhone, then try iPhoto with your camera, and try to edit some movies on iMovie. Try downloading these programs, all findable on Google; Firefox (web browser if you don't like Safari), Google Earth, MacMame play some old arcade games), Graphic Converter, VLC (will view any video), MPEG Streamclip (will convert movies to iPhone-friendly format.) That's pretty much all you need.

Editing movies on a G3 would be hell...on a stock 1.25GHz mini (256RAM/40GB) it took a long time to import a 30 minute clip

 

[MacFanBoyIIe]

All the Missing Manual books are good, especially for switchers.

 

[mattpreston11]

bit of an update, okay get my "missing manual" book tonight

my mac came today but i was out and i cant collect it until tomorrow (aghh)

i hate corriours (and that word) so much.just silly they are.

 

[HLdan]

you went and answered my next question there. will my iphone work better with my mac.ive heard that calendar doesnt sync though does it?

assume when i plug my iphone in that my address book will sync over, i have alot of information on that.

so when i get my mac, what should i do? im going to get it and just be like "okay.. what now"

Address book and Calendar on your iPhone will sync perfectly as the do with the iPod. Anyone to say otherwise is just hating on Mac. It wouldn't make any sense for Apple to make the iPhone work and sync better on Windows than their own operating system. The reason the Mac is so successful is because of the seamless integration. Apple's products are all made to integrate 100%.
You should have very little compatibility issues with hardware from 3rd parties and hardware from Apple will always be 100% compatible.