[insoc]

Hi. I have been a PC user for years. MACS have always been appealing to me but somehow I always say that I can do the same with a PC. So, last sunday I entered the local apple store and saw the new iMacs and I got really impressed about the extraordinay images of the monitor. I have never seen anything quite as good. I learned that this is because of the "glossy" technology apple uses in its iMacs monitor.
I would like to use the iMac in my house for basically internet browsing, listening to music, watching dvd movies and ocassionaly using a word processors.

My questions:

1. Can I open, modify and save MS WORD documents using iWork 08. For instance, a coworker send me a WINDOWS MS WORD document and I should open that document with iWork, modify it and send it back to my coworker so he/she can read it in his/her windows pc?

2. Is internet browsing faster than in a windows pc?

3. I like ripping videos from my dvds and posting them on you tube. I use in windows a program called aoamedia that its great because it let me rip an specific video of say, 10 videos of my dvd without any problem and with no limitations. Is there a similar program for MAC

4. What if the DVD PLAYER that is inside the iMac stop working? Is it easy to replace it or must I replace the whole machine? I ask you that because with my pc it gives a lot of peace of mind to know that I can use the DVD player for hours and that if it dies, I just pay $50,oo dollars for another DVD player, open my minitower and replace it in a snap. Any insights?

I am very excited about this transition! Are there any similar glossy monitors for pcs?

Thanks!

[peeb]

Welcome!

1. Mostly. Conversion is not 100% with complex documents. If you need this, you can get Word for Mac.
2. No.
3. Don't know.
4. It depends on the Mac (not MAC by the way!)

[ripdog]

1. You can open office docs and docx's with iWork, however you cannot save them as word documents. To do that, get office for mac. Unfortunately, the current version isnt optimized for intel Macs, and must run under emulation. This causes it to run rather slow, and the next versions of office will not have this problem. There is a free office suite that can be used for this purpose, called Neooffice. I Highly recommend it. http://www.neooffice.org/

2. Well, in general, it should be the same, but some people say Safari (The default browser for Macs) loads pages faster then IE or Firefox. The difference isnt really noticable to me.

3. Handbrake is the best Mac DVD ripper, however, i am not sure if you can select chapters, however, i have no reason to believe it cannot. I am testing this.

4. If the DVD player dies during warranty, just send it in to an Apple store, and it will be replaced for free. If you have an iMac, then replacing the DVD drive is VERY hard, will void your warranty, only do it with extensive hardware hacking experience. Mac Pros are more traditional tower computers, and replacing this DVD drive is rather easy, a simple unclip the last one and slide the new one in. Still, easier to just send it into the shop.

And before you buy the iMac, you might want to remember that glossy displays, while making colors look richer, also reflect light, and the reflections of nearby objects can be a pain. I personally prefer matt finish displays, so there are no reflections.

[peeb]

Originally Posted by ripdog 

1. You can open office docs and docx's with iWork, however you cannot save them as word documents. To do that, get office for mac.

This is not true - iWork can save Word format, but not with 100% accuracy on complex documents.

[pk1]

1. If you care about Office documents, all you have to do it get Microsoft Office for Mac. It's the same suite as the Windows one and does the same stuff, opens the same documents etc. It's like Windows only better in some aspects (e.g. Entourage is a lot better than Outlook).

2. Apple claims that Safari loads pages faster than Internet Explorer. But let's suppose it does not. Safari is still maybe the best browser, renders pages A LOT more correctly that IE (even Firefox at times) and is quite lighter and less memory-hungry than Firefox. Of course you can always have Firefox for Mac too, as well as Camino (another Mozilla-based browser). The browsing experience of a Mac is so much better than that on a PC. Oh, Safari is known to be safe too (I won't bother mentioning IE here...)

3. There are lots of applications for every domain, and the same applies to DVD ripping as well. As it has been mentioned, Handbrake is a nice app and I think it does what you're asking for.

4. If you get an iMac, you can't change the drive yourself, since it's an all-in-one computer. You'll have to give it back to Apple to do it for you. That's the drawback of having an all-in-one computer.

Now there are tons of reasons why Mac OS X is a better OS than Windows, and I couldn't even begin to tell. You only get to understand this once you switch, and then you wonder why you haven't done it so many years ago. Using a Mac is, in every aspect, a better experience overall than using a PC. The fact that Macs are more aesthetically appealing is the last you should care - it's the OS that makes the difference.

Like I said to a friend lately, switchin to a Mac from a PC is like suddenly discovering independent (e.g. European) filmmaking after years of watching Hollywood crap But that's a personal taste

[mutelight]

Originally Posted by pk1 

Like I said to a friend lately, switchin to a Mac from a PC is like suddenly discovering independent (e.g. European) filmmaking after years of watching Hollywood crap But that's a personal taste

Just watched the film Red Road yesterday. Brilliant film!

(sorry for the OT post)

[Veltliner]

1. OpenOffice is free, and, as far as I know, can open MS word documents.

2. The advantage of browsing the web with a mac is not the speed, but the lack of virus infections.

3. Mac the ripper. But I wouldn't at all post copyrighted content on youtube. After all, those filmmakers worked hard for what you see on the disc.

4. Don't worry about the DVD drive. Those drives are of a really good quality. After all, you pay premium for a Mac, but you also get premium. No junk components here.

[Miasis Dragon]

I've been using computers since before there were desktops. All my computers were PC's until 5 years ago. I bought a Mac tower because I liked the 22" Apple Cinema Display. About a month after my purchase, I closed down my two PC's and never went back. I still use PC's at work, but I cuss them after using the Mac. Mac users used to tell me, "Macs just work." I didn't understand that until I started using the Mac. PC's were always 'tools' for me. I LOVE the Mac.
Mac's are not perfect. They get flaky and 'weird' at times, but the OS is miles ahead of Windows. Buy the AppleCare package. Not only will it give you peace of mind, but if you run into something you don't understand, you can call Apple and get an answer - unlike PC manufacturers. It's money well spent.
If you're like me, you'll say, "Why didn't I get a Mac years ago."

[JKT]

As no-one else has said it yet, even if the DVD drive did fail, you would be able to hook up virtually any USB external drive to replace it, if you didn't want to take the iMac apart.

[.Neo]

Originally Posted by peeb 

This is not true - iWork can save Word format, but not with 100% accuracy on complex documents.

It won't allow you to write the new .docx format though (Office 2007). Only .doc (Office 2004/2003 and below).