In article <mv8uif$h5d$
1...@dont-email.me>, Howard Lester
<
howardx...@verizon.net> wrote:
> >> I have an iPhone and iPad, so
> >> I know the Apple basics, to that degree, and they both worked perfectly
> >> well right out of the box. I'm very happy with them both. Should I *not*
> >> expect that from/with a MacBook?
>
> > for the most part, but nothing is perfect.
>
> > what types of things do you want to do? be as specific as you want.
>
> Primarily it's email and web surfing, and using Word and Excel. (I know I
> can get them both for Mac.) My email client is Windows Live Mail 2009, very
> much like Outlook Express, which I "grew up on" and like it a lot. Mail is
> downloaded to the hard drive, so it's not web-based like gmail, etc. I've
> learned how to use it. I've got what must be thousands of web bookmarks,
> most organized into user-defined categories and easy to find. I'd like to
> keep that.
that's fairly simple stuff, and even a chromebook might work if you are
ok with google docs.
also keep in mind that the included software on a mac can read/write
office docs, so you might not even need word/excel, depending on what
you do.
> I use the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom image-processing program. I guess what
> I'm really saying is that I know how to use these programs and know how to
> fix or adapt a number of things, I suppose from learning to work with "how
> Windows thinks." Something like that. Familiarity over many years, and have
> had people at work help me figure stuff out. (I'm no longer there, so I have
> no one to look over my shoulder to help out.)
adobe apps are essentially the same on either platform, but things like
colour management is easier on a mac as well as integration with other
apps.
> I think what I'm saying here is that, yeah, there's a learning curve, and
> I'm willing to take it as long as I know the end result is going to serve me
> well and I'll be happy with it. (Only I can determine that, of course.)
the learning curve is minor. things like menu options are in different
places, some things are easier to do, other things not.
it's like moving to a new neighborhood. it takes a brief time until you
figure out where things are.
> > also keep in mind that you can run mac *and* windows apps side by side,
> > so you get the best of both. or, should os x not work out, you can boot
> > into windows.
>
> Are they really side by side showing up on the same screen, or do I have to
> shut down and reboot and all that every time I want to use one or the other?
> I am not/was not aware of this possibility. Are you thinking along the lines
> of my using Word and Excel for Mac? Are there other Windows apps (programs)
> that are made to be used in the Mac OS?
i'm assuming you have a collection of windows software you already own.
by running both mac and windows apps, you can minimize the impact of
getting all new software all at once. when it comes time to update a
given app, simply get a mac version instead of the next windows
version.
to run windows, there are two options, a virtual machine or boot camp.
in both cases, you need to own a copy of windows.
a virtual machine, such as vmware or parallels, will let you run
windows apps alongside mac apps at the same time. it's very well
integrated and you can copy/paste between mac and windows apps. windows
apps can either be in a separate window containing the entire windows
environment or they can integrated with the mac environment, where a
windows app is just another app. there is a negligible overhead for
virtualization, and unless you're doing 3d gaming or something along
those lines, you won't notice it.
boot camp will partition your hard drive and install windows. you can
then reboot to the operating system you prefer. when you boot to
windows, it's windows right down to the metal. if you push the hardware
to the limits, boot camp is probably a better option.
if for some reason you don't want os x all, you can reformat the drive
and install only windows.