Is it worth it to switch from XP Windows to a mac mini? I’m thinking about switching, but im not convinced yet… post your experience on the subject.
HELL YES.
and that’s all i have to say about that.
well it depends on what you are gonna do with your computer. If you play games then NO! don’t switch. If you do video editing or photo editing or anything like that then YES! do it
I haven’t played games in about four years on my computer… mostly school work, pictures, and some video.
Have any of you actually done the switch? How hard is it to transfur files and such. Also, how will a mac be in a house with all XP windows computers? (network)
the networking stuff should be fine, and i should say you should switch your whole house over to mac, definitly make the switch
what about file types? how does sharing documents and spreadsheets between mac and pc’s work out? I send out lots of emails with doc’s and spreadsheets… will they work on PC’s?
As said before, if you like to do anything like image manipulation or rendering videos, then it will be a worthwhile switch. Of course, the Macs aren’t incapable of word processing, but there isn’t really anything special about word processing anyway.
Macs have different types of ‘annoying’ features.
I use Linux.
[Slackware 10.2, KDE 3.4/Blackbox,2.66GHz,1152MB RAM,nVidia GeForce MX 440 64MB,80GB Maxtor, 20GB Western Digital, DVD/DVD+RW/CDRW, 21" Vienna Pro monitor]
one thing that you could do is get the mac mini and keep the windows and get the thing that lets you change between devices (I forget what it’s called right now), so you have the two different CPU’s and one monitor. Like previously mentioned, it depends on what your doing.
Depending on the filetype of the document, Mac should be able to handle most types (.txt,.doc,.ini,.rtf,.pdf,…). You might have some trouble if you normally use WordPerfect/Corel (.wpd), I don’t know what OSX uses for word processing.
osx uses apple works, but there is also a microsoft program that has word and excel and stuff that microsoft office has that you can easily go back and forth with a flash drive on
…only if you really need a new computer and you don’t intend to play lots of games. Transferring your data and file compatibility are hardly an issue.
You really need to consider what applications you plan to use, and if you want to pay for the Mac versions of all of them.
IMO, the main thing you gain from switching from Windows XP to OS X is better security features for a network environment. Otherwise, they both have their own problems.
It’s called “Microsoft Office for OS X.” 
You can also use Open Office and Abiword on OS X for pretty compatible handling of MS Office files.
I’m a college student. I’ve liked the switch so much that I refuse to go back to Windows. I’ll admit that since I’m busy with school I don’t do a whole lot with computers anyways…so easily it fulfills all of my needs (I have an iBook G4).
Macs are going to get Intel processors soon, too. I think that this’ll open up a whole new world of possibilities for Apple, if done right. It’ll be cool to see what’s going to come out, anyway.
It’s called a KVM switch and is short for Keybaord, Video, Mouse.
For the Mac Mini you’d need a KVM switch that switches DVI or VGA video along with USB for the keyboard and mouse. That also means you’d need to use a USB keyboard and mouse with the Windows computer. Figure on about $200 for that style of KVM switch.
KVM switches work OK but can get fussy. Sometimes the mouse and/or keyboard can get a little confused when switching. You can also end up with interference on the VGA cable especially if you skimp and don’t use a high quality shielded cable between the KVM switch and the two computer boxes. DVI may work better in terms of shielding interference, but I’ve never used a KVM switch with a DVI monitor so I’m not sure.
You could try Synergy instead of a KVM switch. It’s cheaper, but I’d suspect that video performance on the remote computers would suffer since the display would need to go over the network.
But don’t count on the conversions keeping your formatting or not messing things up.
If you’re doing a collaborative style report with several people at school or at work, and you’re using Open Office while they’re using Microsoft Office, you’re probably going to end up with problems in the sharing of files. If you’re doing a collaborative work it is best if everyone uses the same software, whether Microsoft Office, Open Office, or whatever.
If you’re doing school work and the teacher or professor wants you to hand in your work in a Microsoft format you’re going to have to do extra work to make sure that your Open Office document converts to Microsoft Office OK. To avoid being surprised you’ll have to open your document on a lab computer with Microsoft Office and verify that the conversion is all OK. Otherwise you could end up getting dinged.
And for goodness sake, don’t edit any documents on a floppy (floppies eat documents). Use a thumb drive.
its totally worth it. gooo chuck norrrissss.
What type of programs come on the Mac that are like Microsoft Office? Can I just use those programs and still be able to have the same file types as in Windows? I wouldn’t switch between my XP Windows and Mac just for word files, but isn’t there a freeware called VirtualWindows or something?
yeah, there is a virtualwindows, but im not sure how recent they have made it and they might stop making it or something, sorry i cant be much of a help, but i will try later when i have more time
If you enjoy fixing computers, you’d die of boredom! It’s so easy to use, it’s dissapointing at first.
The only irritating thing at first is the buttons on the windows. They’re on the left, rather than the right.
Other than that, the Expose function and the Finder search are about the most useful things ever. Even Microsoft agrees, they’ve cobbled up some similar functions for Vista.
Not to mention, OSX, released alongside W2K in 2000, has no viruses. Not a single one! Just remember to enter a password when you set it up, and you will be asked for it whenever any software is installed. Voila, no self replicating nasties!
If you don’t mind waiting until Apple puts out its OS and software for Intel processors, you could build a dual-boot machine that can run Windows AND MacOS.