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Hi, What are the best things to know when switching to a Mac? I've been a PC user pretty much my whole life and the last time I used a Mac was in 1992 when I was in 3rd grade. I don't remember much of it but it's not like I knew a whole lot any way, and even if I did I'm sure things are totally different now. What are some tips you can give to a new Mac user? Can I still play counterstrike? Is my external hardware going to be compatible? Does Mac have Word? |
Buy Chris's $5 eBook on switching from Windows to Mac: http://go.tagjag.com/mactips
Pretend you don't know how computers work, because much of it is different.
Yes, on Steam.
Some of it. Probably not any of the really old stuff. Same goes with Linux.
Yes, Microsoft makes Office for Mac, but you have to buy a new copy as they're not compatible. |
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Apple has a great collection of articles on what the differences are. http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/. If screencasts are your thing, I'd recommend this: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/ |
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If you still want to run some of your Windows software, including games, just install Windows in a Boot Camp partition on your Mac. Boot Camp is a part of Mac OS X and lets you decide which operating system (OS X or Windows, in this example) you want to boot into. This would save you some money buying Mac-specific versions of things like Office or some games, if you already have a Windows copy (assuming it's not still in use on another computer.) Info: http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/ You can use any USB mouse or keyboard on your Mac, and the same is generally true of external hard drives, hubs, etc. About the only thing I guarantee you won't be able to run on your Mac, at least not when booted into OS X, is a Blu-Ray drive since there are no Blu-Ray drivers for Mac OS X. Check out Open Office if you want standard MS Office type apps but don't want to buy the Mac version or run the Windows version via Boot Camp. Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org/) is open source, free and runs on a variety of platforms, including OS X. |
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If you have a mouse with only 1 button holding control and clicking is the same as right clicking. You use the command button (has an apple on it) instead of control for things like printing, saving, etc... Weither you have a PPC or an Intel CPU matters with software and so does the OSX version. I have a Windows desktop and an old iBookG4 (2005ish) and I like them both. Oh! And in my experience you can't get "under the hood" as much with Macs. (I don't know this for a fact but it has been my experience with my short time of using Macs) |
