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So I've read reviews and such on different web-sites, but the latest repair/scrap of 3 (!) of our family laptops has finally pushed me over the edge to venture into the more expensive, but heard to be more reliable Mac.

So here is what I have heard:

1) Macs are not for gamers.
2) Macs do not get virus/malware.
3) Mac OS is more stable than windows.
4) You get what you pay for.

That being said, I have over 120GB of files/information that is formated for Microsoft Office/Adobe. Is it possible to save this information, or am I truly starting over?

Are there questions I should ask or consider when going into the Mac Store?

Venturing into new territory here, so any help would be nice

I don't use a Mac myself, but I will say this from my friend who does.

Macs are not really meant for gamers (Many games are incompatible with the Mac OS, though you might get some to work) but they are apparently extremely well-made for arts and design. Can't say how, personally, but that's what he said.

The tongue-in-cheek response to number 2 is that not enough people use a Mac to make it worth writing viruses for them, which may well be the case as the majority of users use Windows OS (XP, Vista or 7). I've not heard of it being more stable than Windows, but it really wouldn't shock me one bit. I've had my fair share of problems with Windows, but nothing that would push me towards buying/using a Mac.

As for your files, I'm not an expert, but I believe you can convert the files over, depending on what specific filetypes you're using. Again, I'm not an expert, I'm just hoping to be a little helpful.

Open Office can open Microsoft Office files so you won't lose them. I'm not sure about the Adobe files, but they're likely covered as well.

What do you get? An unjustified sense of superiority? The belief that you're cool when in reality you just joined the digital version of cult? An uncontrolable impulse to put "i" in front of common nouns? Less money in your wallet for inferior performance?

1. Don't bother gaming with a Mac, it's not happening. If you want to play computer games more involved than flash games on Facebook a Mac shouldn't even be considered an option.
2. People who write viruses are looking to cause as much damage as possible, be it simple wanton destruction or criminal enterprise. With Macs having a single digit market share compared to nearly 90% for Windows who are you going to write a virus for? You're no more safer from a virus tailored to your OS than a Windows machine. You're just to inconsequential to bother with.
3. Macs are more stable because Apple controls the hardware and OS much much tighter than a Windows machine. You pay for the stability with a lack of options later on down the line.
4. No, you should be fine. Apple made some concessions to reality in that department.

I disagree about macs being bad for games. Macs are just fine for gaming, macs are just PCs that look pretty and run a different OS. Games made for the Mac will run great but if you really want to use your mac for gaming you should run their boot camp program and partition your hard drive and install windows on it. Then you'll still have all your regular stuff on your mac and you can switch over to the windows side when you want to play.

I love macs, but I just switched back to a PC this time around mostly due to costs. My old mac died, but it lived a good life for 7 years and up till the end it still ran great. I used it mostly for video editing. Mac's iLife suite is a great set of programs too, iPhoto is great for organizing your pics and I've always liked iTunes for music way better than any other program I've tried. Overall you won't be sorry you got a mac. Once you get over the newness of the OS you'll find a very user friendly and fun system to play with.

I'm glad I still have a mac to play with at work I think if I ever decide to get a laptop I'll go with a Mac, and keep the PC for my gaming and to make a media server out of it too.

Necros wrote:I disagree about macs being bad for games. Macs are just fine for gaming, macs are just PCs that look pretty and run a different OS. Games made for the Mac will run great but if you really want to use your mac for gaming you should run their boot camp program and partition your hard drive and install windows on it. Then you'll still have all your regular stuff on your mac and you can switch over to the windows side when you want to play.

...

I think if I ever decide to get a laptop I'll go with a Mac, and keep the PC for my gaming and to make a media server out of it too.

So if you disagree they're bad for games why was your solution to the situation to hope they make the game you want for Mac (odds are they won't) or install Windows on a Mac so you can play? Heck, you yourself later on said you'd keep your PC for gaming even if you got another Mac. You might say they're not bad for games but your suggestions speak volumes. If gaming is a priority why would you buy a Mac just to install Windows on it? Buy a Windows box, save half the purchase price and put it in the bank for later RAM and vid card upgrades.

I meant if you really want a mac, there's options to turn it into a good gaming system too

Expect to hit cmd+key a lot instead of cntrl+Key. If it bothers you go to the control panels > Keyboard setting and change it to the Windows version.

Adobe apps are cross platform. Should be no issues as long as you have the correct software.

Office is also cross platform. Should be no issues if you buy Office:Mac. Most basic files will open with the included iWork suite.

Hardcore games don't make it on Mac, but you can use BootCamp and just boot into windows for that. There are games available, but it really depends on what genre you want to play. Alternatively, you can game on a console.

Expect fewer options for app categories, but most categories have some choices. For example, there are scores of Windows FTP apps, but really 2-3 options on the Mac side.

You can run your own web server on your mac if you do web development or just want to have some web stuff on an internal network. For example, I've got the old 3.5 SRD web site on my network.

Expect to buy a video adapter if you plan on hooking your Mac up to a TV/Display/Receiver with only HDMI.

Expect iTunes and Safari to run better and Firefox worse on a Mac. If you like Firefox, but can do without the extensions, try Camino.

you can expect to get laughed at for being a hipster.

If you're not too confident with tweaking/fixing UNIX-based OSes, be prepared to maintain a backup of your drives at all times. From my understanding, the "Apple gurus" at Apple Stores tend to default to reformatting when they fix computers.

Re: Office files - while technically Apple Office programs should work fine, I've definitely seen instances where files (ppts, usually) made in Windows did not work/open properly in the equivalent Mac program.

Overall, the OS is a lot less clunky and runs smoother than Windows (imo), but it's also much more of a pain in the ass to debug if something goes wrong (unless you're quite familiar with it already).

Most of the posters with actual info have covered all your questions here.

Office/adobe files -> no problem. Applications are cross platform (accept MS Access because of the way the database works. But for that you can just use bootcampor parralels and turn on your windows version of it on your mac and away you go working in it again. So basically no limits.)

More stable OS -> yes (note for new users: if you want to force quit an app its command + alt(or ctrl, I don't have my mac infront of me) + esc to bring up the force quit window.)

Run with out AV protection? -> correct. Nortan stopped making a mac version about 5 years ago(because there was nothing to do and no sales) and I've never installed any other AV program on any of my macs or on anyone elses that I know of and those machines have been running for 10+ years on the internet without issues and I do alot of web work as a programer/game maker, so its not like I don't expose myself to issues on the web. I have actually download viruses on purpose from oter windows machines/ emails just to open them up and look at the code and what it was trying to do in order to fix it on someone elses PC.

Macs and gaming -> There are some companies that make great games for macs (Blizzard, Ambrosia software, Bungie(before the got bought out by MS), etc.), and generally I get the hybrid version (in blizzards case) or the mac version where possible if its a game not running in some kind of emulation (like cider ports for most EA games) otherwise I buy the PC version and use parrallels or boot camp to run it on my Mac at native speed (i.e. no loss of performance runs as if on any other PC with same specs). The advantage to using a Mac and boot camp/paralles is that if something goes wrong with your windows system (virus, corruption, whatever) you just switch back into the Mac OS and keep on working etc. There is no draw back to having a mac these days you can run anything you want on it windows/mac/unix/combinations. However, owning a PC cuts out all the great things you have on your mac via the Mac OS and mac only programs. Most younger PC users are slowly starting to realise this and have begun to switch.

Jin wrote:If you're not too confident with tweaking/fixing UNIX-based OSes, be prepared to maintain a backup of your drives at all times. From my understanding, the "Apple gurus" at Apple Stores tend to default to reformatting when they fix computers.

Re: Office files - while technically Apple Office programs should work fine, I've definitely seen instances where files (ppts, usually) made in Windows did not work/open properly in the equivalent Mac program.

Overall, the OS is a lot less clunky and runs smoother than Windows (imo), but it's also much more of a pain in the ass to debug if something goes wrong (unless you're quite familiar with it already).

I've not heard of Genius bars defaulting to reformatting drives. Perhaps you can cite a source? Everybody should maintain a backup of their drives. Not doing so is asking for trouble. You can use Time Machine, Retrospect or something else, but do it. I fail to see how having confidence in tweaking Unix OSes makes it less true. Do people who are confident in tweaking Windows not keep backups for some reason?

Some office files don't translate, but those tend to be using advanced files, not the 'basic' files the OP mentioned. How many people are using Master and subdocuments in Word? Multi-column layouts are the most troublesome issues for the majority of users.

I can't speak to debugging either Windows or Mac. I don't know anybdy who debugs programs on either platform. Most people probably force quit a hanging app and reinstall if necessary.

It looks like we will be keeping the desktop we have (windows xp and suite) but the replacement laptop is going to be a Mac. I don't use the PC for gaming except for Blizzard/DoW products (Have the Wii/PS3 for those), so I won't lose anything there. Was more concerned about the possibility of losing files/pics. But sounds like that shouldn't be an issue.

I have a freind who put both a windows and a mac hard drive on the same laptop. So he gets to choose which one to run.

As a PC/Mac/Linux, all this Mac vs PC gak pisses me off. I am looking at you, Tyrr.

@Tyrr: It comes down to personal preference. If someone prefers a Mac, then you label them as sheep with blanket statements. The OP was asking for help, not to be insulted.
Like my sig says, dig what you dig...

@Everyone: In my experience, Macs can crash just as hard as PC's. End of story. Computers do that. It I part of life.
Bugs don't discriminate. There are more PC users in the world, so there is more chatter on the net about PC bugs and crashes. Same is true about viruses.

I sometimes do video editing at work, and when I do, I do it on a Mac. Why? Final Cut Pro. No other PC app works as smoothly with such power.
I use a PC, too. I have to because I am a Level Designer, and our software works on PC. But my coworker does use boot camp, and it runs just fine for emulating Windows 7.
It really comes down to: What so you want to do?

Based on your list, a PC or Mac will work. IMHO, I would ask myself the following question:
What would you like in your new computer? Looks and usability (Mac) or familiarity and versatility (PC)

Hope that helps

Have Windows desktop/Mac laptop/and have used more OSes and architectures at work than I think this thread is interested in. I have to agree with the poster above me that for basic use (Wordprocessing/Email/Surfing), they all come out the same.

Gaming on a Mac is not great, but then again gaming on a laptop is awful imo, just doesn't feel comfortable to me. And everything I've heard from the media creation guys out there, Macs have better software for it.

Not sure if you do any programming, or if you like *NIX flavor. If you do, you can get a command line in your choice of shell and go to town. Mac laptops have reached a certain popularity among programmers now, at least in the circles I'm in now.

1) Macs are not for gamers.
Not without a little effort. WINE makes most every game viable, but there's a bit of setup work you'll have to do.

2) Macs do not get virus/malware.
Non geek answer: Not necessarily true, but resistant to most attacks that rely on the Windows OS, or memory calls.
Geek/paranoiac answer: Any system can be attacked, it depends on the effort and time available. (Locclo is pretty accurate)

3) Mac OS is more stable than windows.
Stable is something one uses to compare their best case to the competition's worst case. MacOS has many advantages, but the baseline user (email, web browsing) should find it rather user friendly.

4) You get what you pay for.
Not necessarily. But truisms are like that.

A Mac OSX and WIN(whatever) are products. What one person likes in one (debian command line) someone might not need in another.

That said, I like my Mac as a power user. It gives me the tools I like, while being able to virtualize most any other OS I might want.

@Tyrr - I respect that you have such a strident opinion but it seems you expect significantly limited skills from people who don't use your preferred platform. Can you direct me to the evidence you based your position on?

1) Macs are not for gamers.
True.

2) Macs do not get virus/malware.
They do but they are very rare.

The unix operating system was written from the outset to be a secure, networked environment. Your basic protection is to set up two accounts, one for administering the machine and the other for general use. Don't give root level access to the general account. Use the general account for everyday work and you will not be able to install any software or make any important changes to the machine (like changing system files, for example) without entering your admin password.

3) Mac OS is more stable than Windows.
In my experience it is. My desktop Mac has crashed about three times in four years, every time when playing Halo.

My laptop is less stable and suffered one really serious

4) You get what you pay for.
You get hardware, an operating system and a lot of apps software which are engineered to a higher standard than a PC, or else would cost more as add-ons.

You can get a Linux machine with all free software, much cheaper than a Windows PC.

Value for money is in the eye of the beholder, so to speak.


Transferring your data.
If you get the Mac iOffice (can't remember the proper name of it) package it includes a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation app which can take in and export MS formats.

Video formats seem to cause the most trouble.

There are utilities available to convert file formats, so I would ask the Mac shop guys and perhaps show them sample files.

Overall
Your main problem at first will be that everything is a bit different to Windows. Lots of little things like where you grab windows to resize them and so on are slightly different.