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new_apple · May 5, 2004, 05:25 AM

OK, first of all I'm about to order a 15" Powerbook. The one thing holding me back is my girlfriend... Believe it or not, she wants me to get a Windows machine.

I'll explain. Currently we are both using her 3 year old Toshiba Satellite Pro with "The Power of the 500MHz Celeron processor", not to mention a whooping 64MB of RAM. I do have a 1.3GHz AMD desktop, but I never use it.

So we both agree on one thing: a new laptop is the way to go.

But she claims she's got "no interest in learning another OS". So I thought well, she's only using Word, Outlook and Internet Explorer... Will Virtual PC be able to run these applications OK?

thePurpleGiant · May 5, 2004, 05:55 AM

Originally posted by new_apple:
But she claims she's got "no interest in learning another OS". So I thought well, she's only using Word, Outlook and Internet Explorer... Will Virtual PC be able to run these applications OK?

It would - but seriously, don't bother. Get Word for Mac. Mail is much easier to use than Outlook. And web browsing is just the same in Safari as IE. There really is no learning curve involved with these, and it would be silly for her to run these under VPC.

mitchell_pgh · May 5, 2004, 07:05 AM

Originally posted by thePurpleGiant:
It would - but seriously, don't bother. Get Word for Mac. Mail is much easier to use than Outlook. And web browsing is just the same in Safari as IE. There really is no learning curve involved with these, and it would be silly for her to run these under VPC.

Totally agree... my girlfriend was the same way and it took a little time, but she eventually accepted that the Mac.

I would pick up M$ Office for Mac. It's nicer then the Windows version. It bridges the M$ to Mac culture rather well. I also agree that Mail.app is amazing.

A few tricks to cool the GF down.

- Keep the printer icon on the dock. She can drag files on to the icon to print them.

- Want to send a file to someone, drag the file to Mail.app (it will launch and have a blank email all ready with the attached file in place)

- Place her applications clearly in the doc

- Place a few photos of your dog, cat, house, whatever on the desktop. They love that crap.

mitchell_pgh · May 5, 2004, 07:09 AM

I'll also be honest, the first time I purchased a Mac, I had a little panic attack of "Oh God, did I just throw away $XXXX on this artsy fartsy computer"

While I'm glad it passed, I think the main thing for me was that I didn't calculate that I would need more RAM and a few programs.

Than again, Macs of today come with so much more software then the Macs of yesterday (1997).

You are going to fall in love with the iLife suite.

mkral · May 5, 2004, 07:22 AM

You can get word & internet explorer for the mac. There is also entourage, which would be similar to, though not the same as, outlook. There are also the apple equivalents of each of these programs (appleworks, safari & mail.app) I really think this would quickly become a non-issue for her.

new_apple · May 5, 2004, 08:29 AM

A few tricks to cool the GF down.

- Keep the printer icon on the dock. She can drag files on to the icon to print them.

- Want to send a file to someone, drag the file to Mail.app (it will launch and have a blank email all ready with the attached file in place)

- Place her applications clearly in the doc

- Place a few photos of your dog, cat, house, whatever on the desktop. They love that crap. [/B]

Thanks, I needed those...

As a Windows victim, I really liked those tricks.

Well, she went to work an hour ago, and the last thing she said was "Well, if you are gonna get a Mac, I better get a DV camera to go with it"... I haven't got a clue what's happened while she was sleeping, but I'm gonna take advantage of the sudden change of mood.

-Q- · May 5, 2004, 08:56 AM

Originally posted by new_apple:
Well, she went to work an hour ago, and the last thing she said was "Well, if you are gonna get a Mac, I better get a DV camera to go with it"... I haven't got a clue what's happened while she was sleeping, but I'm gonna take advantage of the sudden change of mood.

Quick man! Run to your Apple Store/local reseller right away! Those windows of opportunity only last for so long!

mitchell_pgh · May 5, 2004, 10:17 AM

Originally posted by new_apple:
Thanks, I needed those... As a Windows victim, I really liked those tricks.

Well, she went to work an hour ago, and the last thing she said was "Well, if you are gonna get a Mac, I better get a DV camera to go with it"... I haven't got a clue what's happened while she was sleeping, but I'm gonna take advantage of the sudden change of mood.

Run, don't walk to the Apple Store...

also, turn off your cell phone in case she has cold feet.
- For Digital Cameras, I prefer Canon
- For Video Cameras, I prefer Sony (but Canon is arguably just as good if not better)

Don't forget a firewire cable.

mitchell_pgh · May 5, 2004, 10:18 AM

Oh, one more thing, it's a requirement to take a million photos of you opening the box and posting in this forum...

new_apple · May 5, 2004, 10:57 AM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Oh, one more thing, it's a requirement to take a million photos of you opening the box and posting in this forum...

I know

I've seen a couple of those threads. Guess even that's one of the reasons I'm switching - you just don't see people taking pictures of someone opening their new Fujitsu Siemens... "Ooooohhhh - look at that perfectly brown cardboard box..."

mitchell_pgh · May 5, 2004, 11:00 AM

Originally posted by new_apple:
I know I've seen a couple of those threads. Guess even that's one of the reasons I'm switching - you just don't see people taking pictures of someone opening their new Fujitsu Siemens... "Ooooohhhh - look at that perfectly brown cardboard box..."

My GF clears out when I get anything Apple.

It's the joy of reading the well designed instruction manual, the extra attention to the packaging, the box design itself, etc. etc. etc.

Even OS X updates are a strange religion in my place.

damosan · May 5, 2004, 05:03 PM

Originally posted by new_apple:

But she claims she's got "no interest in learning another OS". So I thought well, she's only using Word, Outlook and Internet Explorer... Will Virtual PC be able to run these applications OK?

Isn't a whole lot to learn from a user standpoint. The directory structure is a bit different but you can still get the apps she's accustomed to up and running (sans Outlook).

What does she use Outlook for? Email only? Contacts? What?

Entourage comes with OfficeX and it's a bit better than Outlook (IMHO).

Wiskedjak · May 5, 2004, 05:32 PM

Originally posted by new_apple:
But she claims she's got "no interest in learning another OS".

OSX is not so significantly different from Windows (at the average user's level) that she won't really be learning another OS from scratch. If it were OS 9, I would agree that the transition would be a little more difficult.

new_apple · May 5, 2004, 05:53 PM

Originally posted by damosan:

What does she use Outlook for? Email only? Contacts? What?

Entourage comes with OfficeX and it's a bit better than Outlook (IMHO).

She's using everything really... She's working as a journalist, so the contact list is rather large. And shes receives quite a lot of email every day (50-100). A good email client, time manager and contact list will be appreciated - that's for sure.

thePurpleGiant · May 5, 2004, 06:51 PM

Originally posted by new_apple:
She's using everything really... She's working as a journalist, so the contact list is rather large. And shes receives quite a lot of email every day (50-100). A good email client, time manager and contact list will be appreciated - that's for sure.

Well, any Mac will come with Mail, Address Book and iCal which are all very nice for managing these functions. However, Microsoft Office for Mac comes with Entourage which will handle these three things in an almost identical fashion to Outlook.