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General discussion

A New User with Software Questions

Jan 22, 2007 11:08AM PST

Hey Everybody

I have been a strict PC user my entire life sticking with Windows and ocassionally Linux. I'm basically as close as you can get to being Microsoft certified without being actually certified. However I have used Mac on a few short occassions not enough to be considered even a novice user. However my curiosity has peaked and I want to jump in and see what these pc's can really do, so I can have a more open mind to how different systems are and how well they perform.

Thus I am selling my 4 year old compaq system so I can buy a used yet good condition 12 inch Powerbook G4, with a 1.0ghz processor, superdrive, and 256mb of RAM which I will personally upgrade to a gig and and quarter, to at least try and get tiger on the system. This however is a big decision for me, and the biggest worry I have is with software. With the new intel based systems software issues are becoming blurred for an Apple, so I concerned about the functionality with a PowerPc processor.

Will my software work with a G4, is there a program that apple offers on any other developers offer that is similar to Rosetta, where instead of PowerPc Software being configured to run on an Intel chip, Intel/Windows based software can be ran on a G4 chip? Does Mac play well with Windows if I create a presentation similar to Powerpoint on a Mac can I run it on a pc? Will Virtual PC be able to run on the mac so I can I have a virtual Windows machine? Will software like trillian work on a Macintosh? If anybody can answer these questions as soon as possible I would be really gratefull. NAd I can promise I have many more.

Discussion is locked

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Switching
Jan 22, 2007 9:48PM PST

The first thing you should be aware of is that none of your Windows software will work with the Mac. This really has nothing to do with the PPC/Intel thing, it is all in the way the program was written. There is no blurring of software for the Mac, it was either written for the Mac or it wasn't. The Intel processor has no bearing on that.

VirtualPC, now discontinued by MS, would enable you to run Windows on that G4 but it is very, very slow. VPC emulates, not virtualize, a Pentium II with speeds up to 650Mhz depending on your G4 processor.

You might want to consider not getting the G4 and going for one of the MacBook machines. They are a much better option than the G4 and will be capable of moving past the current OS, Tiger, to Leopard and beyond. (Sounds like a Buzz Lightyear saying). Tiger will run happily on that machine, more memory will always help, and as you know this machine will go to 1.25Ghz.
Trillian appears to be a Windows only application but I'm sure others will chime in with a replacement for it.

Hope this helps to start you off

P

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Couple of things
Jan 22, 2007 11:20PM PST

I wanted to do this conversion seemlessly and I was hoping that I wouldn't have to rebuy most of my software libary so I can experiment with my Mac laptop. I mean I will always keep my PC as my desktop because I build and update that myself and being brought up on a pc I don't think I could ever truly do with out, however I do believe that I will be so impressed by the Mac Os that I will work seamlessy between the both of them. So from a software standpoint I figured that I could work around it with installing A Microsoft XP Virtual Machine which would allow me to run my software on top of the virtual machnine, being a intermediate developer I understand the software problems between Mac and PC, and I was confused about if Apple had come up with a solution to this.

Finally I want to go with the Powerbook for a few reasons first being as a student I want to learn as much I can about Macs I hope I will someday have the same skills on a Mac that I do with a Windows PC. I am drawn to small and portabler and the 12.1 inch 4.6 pound sleek powerbook was an eye catcher for myself even though it isn't the bets laptop on the market. But as I said as a student I am selling my old laptop in order to pay for most of this Mac meaning that for a while this would be my primary laptop computer. This powerbook despite being a few years old still has a pretty heavy price tag. I do not believe that I could spend $1500 on a macbook so I can experiment. Besides you don't have quite the portable features of the powerbook with the macbook. With the 13.3 inch screen and being 5.3 pounds I'm not attracted to it physically and the price tag is a total turn off. If you have any suggestions I would be very grateful.

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PowerBook
Jan 23, 2007 2:41AM PST

The MacBook with a 13.3 screen costs $1099 and weighs a mere 8oz more than the smaller PowerBook. It also has a 1.83 Core Duo processor, a larger HD and Gigabit ethernet.

If you are planning on using the Mac side for whatever it is that you are currently doing on your PC, then you will have to buy replacement software. Apple is not about to come "up with a solution to this" as there is not a problem to create a solution for.
Running VPC on the G4 will result in a very bad user experience and you will most likely blame the Mac for that problem. Remember too, that while running Windows on a Mac, Windows is just as vulnerable to all the current exploits. You will still need AV and all the other Anti-stuff that you guys run.

I realize that I am not going to sway you from your chosen course, I just want you to be aware that you have chosen a Machine/Processor that will quickly reach it's limit.

Let us know how you get on

P

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RE
Jan 23, 2007 3:49AM PST

No I appreciate the feedback and the help that you are giving me. I know that a Macbook starts at $1099, however I figured if I was going to buy a new Macbook I would go for the 2 ghz processor. The worry like I said is with the software. I am not sure what kind of software you guys have, but what is the Mac equivalent to Office Powerpoint. And lets say for example I create a presentation however my school uses Dell's is there a file format that would allow my presentation to run on windows. Here is another question I have, can I still map drives from my Mac to a PC or vice versa. It is a risk for me and a big investment. It's either this or I'm going to build my own laptop, but again the software would hurt me, none of my programs would work. Do you understand, my point?

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Software
Jan 23, 2007 4:58AM PST

If you absolutely have to spend the money on MS software, then here are the answers.
The Mac equivalent of MS PowerPoint is....Wait for it.....Drum roll please....MS PowerPoint. The same can be said for Word and Excel. The whole thing is called, another drum roll here, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac.
The answer to your next question is: Yes, projects and documents created in one are usable in the other.
There are a couple of alternatives to using MS Office. NeoOffice and OpenOffice. Both are free, do everything that Office does and produces compatible format files.
Apple also has it's own Presentation software called Keynote which produces its own format and PP formatted presentations.


P

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buying a mac powerbook..software clarifications
Jan 25, 2007 11:03PM PST

Keynote software for the Mac can result in a file that is fully compatible on a PC in Powerpoint so that is a possbile and cheaper alternative to buying the MS Office as the iBook comes with a bundle that permits saving text files to .doc which can be read on a PC. Now, here is a suggestion. Students can buy Office for Students from authorised university/college bookstores so look into it as it is cheap. Do not buy the powerbook. It was slow when it came out and frankly, it is now long in the tooth. If you get an Macbook, you can run Parallels Software with Windows running smoothly ON AND SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH the Mac OSX! All your old software will segue right on the same desktop and files can be smoothly dragged and dropped into either system..How can you go wrong with that setup??? Don't fall for the snappy PowerBook case or another inch on the screen as the screen on the MacBook is very nice and the computer can accept plenty of RAM which the PowerBook cannot. All Mac software from PowerPC Intel and with Parallels will run PC software...In other words whatever is written today for a PC or a Mac will run on the Macbook. A computer is an investment that has a shortish life so buying a machine that is already antiquated is NOT a real option for you.

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Compatibility ..no problem for essentials:
Jan 25, 2007 10:47PM PST

Dear Stargate fan (so are we). You might like to know that my daughter creates much
of her homework on our Macs at home using MS Word ... Powerpoint etc.. She easily
"translates" those files using "MacLink Plus" to just about any PC Format you desire.
Those PC Floppies (which the Mac will easily open/read), are easily used at her school.
Any work done at school on those Dells (which are always breaking)she brings home and voila, the Macs
open/read/edit etc, again using MacLink Plus. Go for it. Plus, I think you'll like the Mac Version
of MS Office better.

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Stargate, Check your local Apple Store
Jan 26, 2007 2:08AM PST

I don't know if it is being closed out/replaced by a newer model or what, but my daughter just bought a new MacBook MA700LL/A 13.3" Notebook (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive) for $700.00 at her local, friendly NYC Apple store. I can't tell you WHICH store, though. Check your local Apple store and see what they might be "closing out".

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RE
Jan 26, 2007 12:34PM PST

Thank you to everyone for your help. I am very grateful, especially with the software questions I had.