[Drew]

Hey, I'm new here. I don't have a mac yet, and I'm sick and tired of windows. So, I'm switching to mac. Any advice on making the switch? I have little to none experience with macs, I've been with windows since i was introduced to computers. I'm really excited about getting one. Every time I go to futureshop i stay for like half an hour and just go on the imac they have on display. I don't and probably won't have enough money for a while, I'm guessing christmas-ish. I'm not sure why I made this thread. I'll probably buy parallels software when/if I get my iMac, considering i have 2 copies of windows xp here. Can anyone that owns an iMac tell me what they're like, and if they're worth $1500?

[stefanicotine]

iMac's are definitely worth $1500. In fact, they're so worth it, I payed $2631 CAD! ^_^

Seriously, it's money well spent. But don't get hasty with Parallels. In fact, don't get hasty with buying an iMac either. Mac OS X 10.5 is coming out soon and when it does you won't need Parallels. It supposedly has Windows support similar to Parallels built right into the OS. Yeah, there will always be that special WIndows app that you need. But generally, anything available on the PC is available on the Mac. Most people that install Windows on their Mac's end up removing it, or only use it for games.

Anyways, I have a headache, so that's all I'm willing to write for now. But be sure to check out the forums. There are a lot of excellent topics on this already that provide awesome information for first time Mac users and switchers.

Good luck!

[brokenjago]

Phil Openhiemer has stated publicly that Apple's stance will be dual-boot only. That means no virtualization. Or phil schiller. I get names confused.

[iRussel]

Hey Drew

I have had my Intel iMac for about three months now. I absolutely love it. It will take you a little while to make the transistion from Windows to OS X so be patient. Once you have made the transition though you will probably never go back. I do boot into windows now and then but only to play Half Life 2. Congrats on your decision.

[Grizzly Adams]

Hey Drew,

I've had my 20" Intel iMac since the end of May. Like you are planning to do I got rid of my PC in favor of the Mac and have not regretted the switch once yet. I bought it with 1Gb RAM and added another 1Gb stick on my own. With 2Gb Parallels runs as smooth as silk. I have to agree with brokenjago that I've also heard Apple is backing up Parallels and has no plans to support anything other than Boot Camp dual booting on their own. That said you may still be glad you waited until year's end since it's very likely the Core 2 iMacs will be announced next month at the WWDC.

I still do boot into my Boot Camp installation of XP to play Counter Strike: Source, etc (which it runs beautifully at 1680x1050 with settings on high by the way).

I love my iMac. Best of luck to you.

[Drew]

Thanks everyone, I'll probably do boot camp or something so I can still play ffxi, and maybe if i decide I don't need my old PC anywhere I'll take out it's two 256 cards and put them in an iMac.
My friend says that fixing or upgrading an iMac is hard, he says it's hassle just to take a CD out while powered off. I really like the built in webcam, that's a great feature, because it's always there.one thing though, to move the iSight, wouldn't you have to move the whole computer?

[mduser63]

You can't take the CD out when the iMac is off, but then again, you can't take the CD out of most PCs while they're off unless you use a paperclip. Never been a problem for me...

He's right that upgrading an iMac isn't easy. That's sort of what you sacrifice to get a machine so thin and cool-looking. If you need an upgradeable Mac, the Power Macs (soon to be replaced with an Intel model) are the way to go. They're towers with PCI slots, regular hard drive and optical drive bays, etc. Power Macs are actually even easier to upgrade than most PCs IMO (almost no screws, everything just snaps together). All that said, I have both an iMac and a Power Mac. I use the Power Mac for media stuff (video editing, DVD authoring, Photoshop etc). For everything else, I use my 20" Intel iMac. I love it.

You're right that to move the iSight you have to move the whole computer. If you need to be able to move the iSight separately, you can buy an external FireWire iSight from Apple, or a USB webcam made by another manufacturer.

[kamina]

The isight is fixed into the screen, so yes you would have to move the whole computer.

I don't understand how your friend will take a cd out of a normal cdrom without powering on the computer? Maby he's using a needle (not very practicle).

One nice thing about macs, is that "sleeping" really works well. I never shutdown my computers unless there is an update that requires a reboot, just put them to sleep. When you want to wake it up, it just takes a few seconds to be where you left it. For this reason I don't see having to start up the computer to take out a cd inconvenient.

Your pc memory might not be compatible, the imacs shipping now use fairly fast ddr2 memory, which has only been shipping for a short while. Unless the pc is really new, the memory won't work.

[stefanicotine]

Originally Posted by kamina

One nice thing about macs, is that "sleeping" really works well. I never shutdown my computers unless there is an update that requires a reboot, just put them to sleep. When you want to wake it up, it just takes a few seconds to be where you left it. For this reason I don't see having to start up the computer to take out a cd inconvenient.

Now there's an accident waiting to happen if I ever saw one

[Drew]

Apparently I have DDR memory, I'm not sure if I have DDR2, but It's kind of late, and I'm too tired to open up my PC to check. Last time I checked, I have two 256 cards, instead of one 512. Sleep mode would probably be a good idea for me, considering my computer is always on. I also read about how the iMac has a feature where the iSight detects how dark or bright the room is, and changes the screen contrast so it's easy on your eyes. I think that's an awesome feature, because I'm usually on the computer late. I also love how it has speakers, microphone, and iSight built in, because I have the following: $80 webcam, $40 microphone, $50 speakers, and other various hardware items. It's funny how microsoft brags about how you can make a song, movie or video or whatever easily, when with an iMac, you don't even need to leave your home to make those things, it's right out of the box. I love it.

[eddiecatflap]

i remember buying a mac so it was upgradeable , it was a quadra 840 av

unfortunately , by the time it came to upgrade , nothing on the market was compatible , nubus was replaced by pci , 68k by ppc , etc etc

so i bit the bullet and bought an imac , the bondi blue one

i'm on my 3rd one now , the 20" dc

i don't regret it one bit

my advice - forget all this 'internal expansion' rubbish and just add things on via usb/firewire

[stefanicotine]

Originally Posted by Drew

I also read about how the iMac has a feature where the iSight detects how dark or bright the room is, and changes the screen contrast so it's easy on your eyes.

Hmm, I wonder if that's true. The iSight has a green light indicating when it's powered on. So you'd think that if the iSight was detecting ambient light then it would, in fact, show the green LED. I can't say I've ever seen my screen change contrast on me either. It seems like that would be something you'd notice.

I do know, however, that you can get security software for your iSight to use it as surveillance. So pro, it works surprisingly well. You can even set up Applescripts and other events for any time it senses motion. And it senses motion alright. You can set it up so sensitive that it detects you blinking >.<

[Drew]

I saw something on apple's website about how it would change the contrast on the screen depending on the lighting in the area around you, I'll try to find it again...

Here! http://www.apple.com/imac/design.html, where it says Great Ambience;

Great Ambience

Even when it’s sleeping, iMac thinks about what’s best for you. In low-light environments, a sensor detects the room’s ambient light and adjusts the sleep light to match — so you and your iMac can both catch some Zs.

Okay, well maybe I was off a little bit, but it does detect the light and change settings.