I do IT for a living & I feel obligated to build my own PCs. (It's funny, none of my coworkers feel this way!)
If I ever decide to give up on Windows, I'll go to the penguin.
If I ever decide to give up on Windows, I'll go to the penguin.
My next device will be an Apple
- Thread starter snowman
- Start date
It's not that cold in New Jersey
We had the Surface 2 on clearance at my work for $140. I seriously considered buying it at that price. But I already have a computer & tablet so left it.
I'm a hybrid. I love the Apple products that are geared to entertainment and the phone. Walking into the house and piping music out my home stereo system using Airplay and my iPhone Denon app is geeky fun. But when it comes to work - sorry, it's a Windows/PC. So I understand the like for Apple, I just draw lines on where I want to use each platform.
Circumstances are starting me to explore a computer to replace my current HP laptop. What has kept me from seriously considering
Apple in the past has been expense, the lack of handy help in learning a new system (local library gives classes geared to Windows), the experience I have with Windows, and the number of programs/files I have in Windows (Word, Excel, documents, photos, etc.). Guess my first big hurdle would be how to transfer Windows files/photos/etc over to comparable Apple programs.
Apple in the past has been expense, the lack of handy help in learning a new system (local library gives classes geared to Windows), the experience I have with Windows, and the number of programs/files I have in Windows (Word, Excel, documents, photos, etc.). Guess my first big hurdle would be how to transfer Windows files/photos/etc over to comparable Apple programs.
What? Nobody is still running vista like me? All you new kids, and your new gear 
- Thread starter
- #27
This is one of my concerns as well. I've been running Windows machines so long it will be difficult to make the switch. I suspect I'll end up in hybrid mode like so many others. Probably running a cheap Windows desktop and use an iPad or Mac for everything else. The mini Mac is an interesting idea and one I must dig into.
It's not as hard as everyone thinks to learn the Apple OS. I basically googled everything I needed to know and there are so many videos and tutorials it's impossible for you not to figure out what you want to do in minutes.
"how do I _____ on a Mac"
fill in the blank and search. You'll find out how to do anything that way. And trust me...what ever it is you need to know...doing it is easy
"how do I _____ on a Mac"
fill in the blank and search. You'll find out how to do anything that way. And trust me...what ever it is you need to know...doing it is easy
Oh, and before you go in to your local electronics store and ask "do you have a mouse and keyboard that works with an Apple computer?".....
ALL OF THEM will work with an Apple Computer
ALL OF THEM will work with an Apple Computer
There aren't too many programs out there that aren't both Apple and Windows at this point. You can buy the entire Microsoft Office suite for Apple, so all of your word files will still work. I use Word and Excel on my Mac every day at work. Photos are not proprietary to any operating system. Check out the file extension. Its probably JPEG. Those will just transfer straight over. You can use the built in Photos app to manage your photo library and do editing, or you can file and manage them on your own.
As far as the operating system goes, things are laid out differently, but you can really learn as much or as little as you want.
Apple products are more expensive because they give you a limited number of options in regard to hardware. If you spec out a Dell with the exact same specs as an apple computer, you will likely come up with a similar price. Of course, you can build any machine for cheaper, but I don't really consider that a valid option, since most of the population will not do that. They specifically tailor how the operating system works to every specific piece of hardware in the machine. You won't be having all kinds of issues with things not working for that reason. As long as you can get it attached to your home network, you are pretty fine. They are pushing use of an apple ID for cloud use, but you can really skip that stuff too.
The "build your own" thing is fine, but it is limited to desktop computers and most general users are gravitating to laptops.
As as for the xfer of legacy files; it really is a nonissue, as any Apple Store will help you move over your files.
I'm not a convert to the Apple version of Word (Pages) or Excel (Numbers) and the current Microsoft version of Office for Mac is crap - but Google Docs is pretty darn good and free
The Office 2016 release is supposed to be the real deal, a version that performs like it does on Windows. Currently; it is only available on a subscription model - no thank you - but once it is available stand alone, I may take a look. My company gets a substantial discount on Microsoft software, so the investment may be minimal.
But the more I use Google Docs, the more I like it and the more I move away from Office for my personal use (company laptop is a HP EliteBook / Win7 machine and it is a piece of junk)
As as for the xfer of legacy files; it really is a nonissue, as any Apple Store will help you move over your files.
I'm not a convert to the Apple version of Word (Pages) or Excel (Numbers) and the current Microsoft version of Office for Mac is crap - but Google Docs is pretty darn good and free
The Office 2016 release is supposed to be the real deal, a version that performs like it does on Windows. Currently; it is only available on a subscription model - no thank you - but once it is available stand alone, I may take a look. My company gets a substantial discount on Microsoft software, so the investment may be minimal.
But the more I use Google Docs, the more I like it and the more I move away from Office for my personal use (company laptop is a HP EliteBook / Win7 machine and it is a piece of junk)
Pages can also open Word docs. And when you create a doc in Pages you have the option to convert it to a pdf or Word file.
...just so Microsoft can't badger me about upgrading to Win 10 anymore.
So, all subsequent devices will be Apple, too, then. If not, enjoy the rage.
I'm not a huge fan either, however it functions fine, and for most general users, they will be able to access all of their files with no problems.
Because it is so difficult to use and maintain a PC, people imagine it would be difficult to learn how to use a Mac.
You don't need to learn anything. You certainly don't need to fix it. If you are a human being, the Mac understands you. You spend all of your time doing the work you need to accomplish---instead of trying to learn a system.
------
Non-Apple mice and keyboards will "work" in a basic fashion, but not nearly as full-featured as mice and keyboards designed for the current Mac operating system.
You don't need to learn anything. You certainly don't need to fix it. If you are a human being, the Mac understands you. You spend all of your time doing the work you need to accomplish---instead of trying to learn a system.
------
Non-Apple mice and keyboards will "work" in a basic fashion, but not nearly as full-featured as mice and keyboards designed for the current Mac operating system.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
...just so Microsoft can't badger me about upgrading to Win 10 anymore.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Ubuntu rocks! I got so irritated at MS when Win8 came out, I finally once and for all cut all ties to WinDohs and went full bore Linux. I tried Linux several times over the last decade or two and it always had a little too much of a geeky edge to it. But the recent Ubuntu distros are really easy to install and use. Did I mention free? A lot more software available for Linux than either Windoze or Mac, and most of it is free. Not free as in a free crippled version but buy the deluxe version to have somethig useful, but actually free. I would urge you to give Ubuntu a try. Or Mint, which I have not tried, but I understand it is very windows-like in the UI. Lets see... graphics? Linux does that best. Video capture, editing, ripping, transcoding? Linux does it best. Batch file editing tagging and otherwise processing? Linux does that best, too. Audio file editing and retagging? Linux, though Winblows isn't far behind IF you pay for the apps. Security? Linux Linux Linux. Power and flexibility? Linux. Command line operations? Linux Terminal beats them all. There is an urban legend going around that Linux doesn't play nicely with Office files. Not not not not true. Set your preferences correctly and it does just fine.
For running windows apps in Linux you can use Wine or VMware, but really, there is no need to use these sometimes kludgy and imperfect workarounds when there are native linux apps to do the job. Free ones, for the most part. Free, free, free.
But FWIW Win10 should be somewhat better than 8.1. YMMV I am sure. They always follow a decent OS version with one that sucks, and then follow the sucky one with a more better one. Or less worser one. It alternates. Decent, sucky, decent, sucky. 8 and 8.1 which was simply a minor fix to stop the howls of betrayed outrage from ex Win7 users, were collectively in the "Sucky" category. So by that logic, Win10 will be in the "Less Worser" category. JMHO.
Any company that produced a piece of software as atrocious as iTunes is not going to convince me to give up on PCs. Have an iPad and really hate the walled garden approach. Also, programmes crash all the time on iOS and OS X, it's just that Apple users never seem to want to admit it. Perhaps it's because they spend so much money buying into the ecosystem that they are embarrassed to admit it's far from perfect.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
Your Acer sounds like a good candidate for a new 2TB Seagate HD and an upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04.2. If you have less than 1GB of Ram, install the 32 bit version rather than the 64 bit version. It will run just fine.
I upgraded my current laptop with one of the Seagate Slim USB hard drives. I just took it out of the case and transplanted it into my Dell laptop. Easy Sneezy. So I had a laptop with a 2TB hard drive before any makers offered that size drive in a laptop. The slim Seagate drive is probably the only 2TB HD that will fit in most laptops.
Actually, I rather liked Windows 7. Win8 is what caused me to abandon MS for good. So in a way I am glad that Win8 sucked so badly. I would have never leaped off the cliff without that push.
Perhaps, once the lovely bride finally adopts the MacBook 100%. She is the last user of the Acer (Aspire AS6920-6898), but she too is drifting away because of the tight integration of the Mac with her iPhone 6+
I updated an old Thinkpad 600e to Linux a few years back; it extended its life a bit, but not to the point where it became a "go to" laptop
I updated an old Thinkpad 600e to Linux a few years back; it extended its life a bit, but not to the point where it became a "go to" laptop
My daughter has a MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air, and an iPhone. More than that, I can't tell you, as I'm not allowed to look at them, let alone touch them. Paying for them? That I'm allowed.
