Trying to decide between flying sims for a beginner

[Zmmin3]

I just got my first Mac (Imac 24" 2.8 refurb) and have been itching to try out a flight sim.

I was at first going to get X-plane but what I have read it has no flight school which FSX has and secondly the scenery is not as good as FSX.

So first off, how beginner friendly is X-plane if it has no flight school to help.
Is it something that someone with no experience can pick up on relatively easily?

If I went with FSX that would mean buying a copy of XP or Vista to install via Bootcamp. So there is the extra cost of that.

The reason I brought up the scenery is that others in the house are interested too because they would enjoy flying over places they have been(Las Vegas, Telluride, Niagara Falls). So scenery is kind of more important than realistic flying to them.

 

[LPZ]

I just got my first Mac (Imac 24" 2.8 refurb) and have been itching to try out a flight sim.

You could try FlightGear. If nothing else, it's free.

 

[jzuena]

I just got my first Mac (Imac 24" 2.8 refurb) and have been itching to try out a flight sim.

I was at first going to get X-plane but what I have read it has no flight school which FSX has and secondly the scenery is not as good as FSX.

So first off, how beginner friendly is X-plane if it has no flight school to help.
Is it something that someone with no experience can pick up on relatively easily?

If I went with FSX that would mean buying a copy of XP or Vista to install via Bootcamp. So there is the extra cost of that.

The reason I brought up the scenery is that others in the house are interested too because they would enjoy flying over places they have been(Las Vegas, Telluride, Niagara Falls). So scenery is kind of more important than realistic flying to them.

I think the whole flight school thing is something that AOPA had put in to get people interested in learning how to fly for real. The lessons are done by Rod Machado who is a very entertaining speaker. If you are not planning to become a real pilot, I'm sure both simulators have enough documentation to learn how to control the plane on the screen.