Help! Thinking about doing the MAC Thing

[dfindr]

Ok, I know nothing about Macs. A couple of questions and your indulgence please:

1. jpg, tiffs etc opened and edited in Windows PS CS3, will they open in CS3 for Macs?

2.MS Office PRO files, will they open in the equivalent on the Mac. ie Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.

3.Printers, USB ports, what kind of cables. How do they hook up? Are the drivers for most printers in the OS.

4.How does one run Windows Vista, or XP on a MAC, does it have to be set up to dual boot? If you run Windows on the Mac do you have all the Windows problems one faces when running Windows on a non MAC.

Thanks!

[Tony-S]

1. jpg, tiffs etc opened and edited in Windows PS CS3, will they open in CS3 for Macs?

Yes.

2.MS Office PRO files, will they open in the equivalent on the Mac. ie Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.

Yes, with Office 2008.

3.Printers, USB ports, what kind of cables. How do they hook up? Are the drivers for most printers in the OS.

All Macs have USB ports and Firewire 400. Some have Firewire 800 and a couple (Mac Pro and MacBook Pro) can take eSATA with cards. Nearly all the printer manufacturers either produce drivers for Mac OS or they are already bundled in Mac OS. Did you have a specific printer in mind? Specific Mac?

4.How does one run Windows Vista, or XP on a MAC, does it have to be set up to dual boot?

You can install Parallels or Fusion, which run Win XP or Vista at about 90% to 95% speed in a window on the Mac screen. There is no need to dual-boot unless you want 100% speed.

If you run Windows on the Mac do you have all the Windows problems one faces when running Windows on a non MAC.

Yes, the Widows install partition would be as vulnerable as any unprotected, poorly-managed Win PC.

[dfindr]

Yes.



Yes, with Office 2008.



All Macs have USB ports and Firewire 400. Some have Firewire 800 and a couple (Mac Pro and MacBook Pro) can take eSATA with cards. Nearly all the printer manufacturers either produce drivers for Mac OS or they are already bundled in Mac OS. Did you have a specific printer in mind? Specific Mac?



You can install Parallels or Fusion, which run Win XP or Vista at about 90% to 95% speed in a window on the Mac screen. There is no need to dual-boot unless you want 100% speed.



Yes, the Widows install partition would be as vulnerable as any unprotected, poorly-managed Win PC.


Thanks more questions>

The Printer is an HP B9180, and an HP Photosmar 7550, and and HP 2100. Any problems there>

Also wireless networking? If I have wireless set up with the standard old Lynksys router, etc used with the Windows system will the MAC see the network and log on, and will it see the other computers? I have heard that you need special hardware/software for wireless use.

[Stefan A]

Just look on the hp website for those printers and see if there is a mac driver. When I switched, everything I already had worked except for my HP scanner. HP didn't make a mac driver for that model scanner. My point is to make sure you check because not all devices are compatible.

I have a lyncsys wireless router that I used to use with windows that works fine with my mac. I was able to log on right away. But after a few weeks I started having problems. A couple hours on the phone with the lynksys tech fixed everything. Both my mac and my dell laptop can get online with that router.

Stefan

Stefan

[Tony-S]

Thanks more questions>

The Printer is an HP B9180, and an HP Photosmar 7550, and and HP 2100. Any problems there>

If they are less than 4 or so years old, they should have drivers in OS X already. But you'd need to check HP's web site to verify they are still supported by HP on OS X.

Also wireless networking? If I have wireless set up with the standard old Lynksys router, etc used with the Windows system will the MAC see the network and log on, and will it see the other computers? I have heard that you need special hardware/software for wireless use.

I can't speak from personal experience about Linksys (we have an Airport router), but when I'm at my in-laws I can print to his printer wirelessly. His printer is connected to his desktop Win XP machine's USB port. From my Mac's print dialog box, there is pull-down to add printers. I used to to navigate to his printer (I had to enter his Win password along the way), but my Mac laptop found his Epson printer and already had the driver installed. After that, I just clicked print. The only issue is that when his computer goes into sleep (hibernate?) mode the printer disappears.

In addition, all Macs come with printer sharing built in as well, so if you have a printer connected to it, it should show up on the network so that any other computer (Win or Mac) should be able to see it.

[col4bin]

Limitations of cross compatability between Mac and Windows is pretty much a thing a of the past. I made the switch to mac over a year ago and have not come across any limitations. In my opinion, the only thing to think about is which mac to get.

[hassiman]

Switched to MacPro a year ago and it's been heaven....

[TomM1]

http://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/why-pros-use-mac.htm

[Tony-S]

The last thing we Mac people need is to have Rockwell on our side...