[hardcool]

Hi
I am new to ibook so please bear with me if my questions are funny but please try to answer them.

1. What is airport extreme? The ibook that i am looking it has a modem and an ethernet port. Then is an atrport extreme card too necessary for acessing the internet??

2. What should i do if i want to acesses the mocrosft products in my ibook. I mean what software is needed?

3. Will MSN and yahoo messengers work in the ibook?

4. For acessing the net I came to know that there are special ISP's that provide the net connection for mac? is it true. also how is it as easy as windows for connecting to the net in a mac ?

Thanks

[Applefreak01]

Originally posted by hardcool:
Hi
I am new to ibook so please bear with me if my questions are funny but please try to answer them.

1. What is airport extreme? The ibook that i am looking it has a modem and an ethernet port. Then is an atrport extreme card too necessary for acessing the internet??

2. What should i do if i want to acesses the mocrosft products in my ibook. I mean what software is needed?

3. Will MSN and yahoo messengers work in the ibook?

4. For acessing the net I came to know that there are special ISP's that provide the net connection for mac? is it true. also how is it as easy as windows for connecting to the net in a mac ?

Thanks

Hi there and I hope you are enjoying your iBook, they are sweet little laptops aren't they Here's the answers to your questions:

1. Airport Extreme is Apple's WiFi or wirless internet product. You only need the Airport Extreme card and wireless access point like Apple's Airport Extreme Base Stations if you plan on using your iBook wirelessly. The ethernet and modem ports will work with out an Airport Extreme card. They are just different ways to connect to the internet.

2. Microsoft makes Macintosh versions of most of it's popular software like Microsoft Office and others. Just buy the Microsoft software that you need for the Macintosh platform. You can check out all the Mac products that Microsoft makes here: http://www.microsoft.com/mac

3. Yes both MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger will work. Keep in mind that some of the features from the Windows versions of these programs might not work or be available to the Mac versions but the basic chat feature works.

4. Your basic ISP will work with Mac even if they say it doesn't. Unless they use some speical software package like some ADSL ISP I know of then you might not be able to connect to them. But 99% of the ISPs will work with the Mac. Getting on the internet is so simple and trouble free that it's actually easier and works better than how Microsoft Windows does. Basically plug your phone line, ethernet cable, or Airport Extreme card in and type in some information like phone number, username and password for dial-up for example and your online in no time.

If you have any questions feel free to email me or post here again

You'll love the Mac OS and your iBook more than you ever did a Windows PC and Microsoft Windows.

[hardcool]

Thanks Applefreak01 for your answers and your patience.
i will get back to you when i have some more questions

[Captain Obvious]

1) Airport = 802.11b, Airport extreme = 802.11g
It sound like you have a G4 iBook so it can only accept Airport Extreme cards.

2) If by Microsoft products you mean Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
Apple bundled Appleworks with the iBook and it should be already loaded on yours. It is Apple's version of MS Office. You might want to read up on it and see if it is sufficient for your needs before you drop $300 on Office for Mac. Appleworks can read and write MS Office documents. But Apple also has another product for presentations called Keynote.

www.apple.com/appleworks

[polendo]

Originally posted by Captain Obvious:
1) Airport = 102.11b, Airport extreme = 802.11g
It sound like you have a G4 iBook so it can only accept Airport Extreme cards.

2) If by Microsoft products you mean Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.
Apple bundled Appleworks with the iBook and it should be already loaded on yours. It is Apple's version of MS Office. You might want to read up on it and see if it is sufficient for your needs before you drop $300 on Office for Mac. Appleworks can read and write MS Office documents. But Apple also has another product for presentations called Keynote.

www.apple.com/appleworks

I'm sure you meant 802.11b.. just in case someone gets mixed up. Regards.

[discotronic]

If you find that you need Microsoft Office and you are a student, you can get it for $149. The new version should be coming out in the next couple months.

[Applefreak01]

Opps I forgot about AppleWorks. I never use it maybe that's why. Most of the Mac customers that come into the computer shop where I work that need to work with Microsoft Office files would reather spend the money and get the Microsoft Office Mac version than convert the old Microsoft Works (a lot of people still use MS Works) or Word files to AppleWorks and then back again and sometimes the conversion can mess up the text layout and fonts. They just want something easy to open and save in MS Word or other MS format.

Hardcool, there is another free alternative to Microsoft Office. It's called Open Office and they have a Mac version. You'll need Apple's X 11 or XFree86 to run it but once you get either one of those then you can open/save in Microsoft document formats. You can check out Open Office at http://www.openoffice.org

[Maseeh]

These guys down here are great


Just a month ago I was in your position, They answered all my questions and were very tolerant.

[superduperjacob]

Welcome to iBook heaven, hardcool!

Originally posted by hardcool:
3. Will MSN and yahoo messengers work in the ibook?

If you use a multiple protocol software like Adium or Proteus, you will not only have access to the services above, but also ICQ, among others.

Since I have heard that several people have had problems with the latest version of Proteus, here is a link where you can find Adium:
http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/6366

On another note, I really recommend you install SideTrack, which greatly improves the functionality of your trackpad:
http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/12800

[Awimoway]

One additional tip about Airport Extreme. Wireless is a very good idea for anyone with a notebook computer. There are many free "hot spots" where you can wirelessly go online, but you've got to have Airport Extreme in your iBook to make it happen.