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Advice for [firstime user of Macs] Pro and adding XP?! (1 Viewer)

Mary M S

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Excuse the mess of thoughts here but I'm in a panic over this purchase after my PC crashed.

Goals:
Get rid of the constant battles beating back virus/spam/etc on a PC acquired via heavy surfing.
I'm sick of MS phoning home, {not that I'd don't assume Mac will do some of this also, but at least I can look forward to not reparing my internet as often acording to happy Applets)
Want power for media manipulation when I have time to chose software for transferring VHS, digital, avi files, meshing all into family DVD's with audio.
If I ever wish to deal with it, - set up a HTPC.

Issue: Had already mulled over purchasing a MAC for the first time, - and intended to replace the old PC this year.

Unfortunately, the hard-drive crashed when I was not ready, have not researched and am not prepared.
I'll need a new compatible printer, (my old laser is not). So I'll be buying add-ons quick, don't want to end up with a whole new system and regret it.


The rush comes from the fact I need to do a powerpoint presentation for school, I have never used powerpoint before, it was not even loaded on my PC.

SO,,, its a crazy crunch to learn MAC for the first time ever!
load XP onto the MAC
load 97 Office into the XP portion (if this will work?)
learn powerpoint
buy a printer
Nervous that if I work a powerpoint presentation up on the MAC it will play on the schools XP loaded PC.

Normally, I'd buy the Mac, research loading XP, etc. But I have no time.

Questions:
I read you are required to decide when loading XP to use FAT32 or the other one.
Something about not being able to write to XP if you chose N???. While FAT is bit clunkier but more usable?

Can't quite grasp what all is at issue here, so if any advice on the partition choice?


There seem to be 3 ways to get XP onto the MAC.
Bootcamp
Parallels
Parallels in a Bootcamp partition.

Any advice why one of the above would be better than another?
Drawbacks & pluses?

Right now I'm in basic Mac feel-out mode, with basic quickie things all missing-in-action for me, till I get used to the Apple user interface. I've lost things like back-clicking via the mouse to return to a prior page while surfing. [So far, all I can find to do, to back up a page is to laboriously roll the curser to top of page and hit the "back arrow"...much slower, than a simple Back clic on the PC mouse]
Having to open the top "file tab" to select copy/paste no tool-bar icons I'm used to to do the same task.
Hard to adjust in a couple of hours!

A further question for any Macbook Pro users.
I'm tired of the real-estate towers take,
would prefer to dock a laptop using my own 20" monitor,
including the luxury of portability in a all-one unit.
So I am not sure why I purchased the Mac Pro tower versus a Macbook other than vague concerns about heat wear & tear, while using a laptop like a DT for heavy daily use.
Additionally concerned the macbooks would limit expansion vs Mac Pro's.
Worried if the Macbooks can add/do anything a Mac Pro can do?

I have two weeks for the project, and 29 days to decide if a Mac Pro is what I want?!

Any thoughts/ help for a scared new-Mac convert would be greatly appreciated!
 

DaveF

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A quick, minor question: why not buy Mac Office to go with your new Mac? That seems simpler than installing XP in bootcamp to Office 97.(?)
 

Andrew Pratt

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Ron and I both have threads in this area about our recent experiences switching over that might give you some tips etc. Also as Dave points out there's a version of MS Office for Mac that would give you access to the same programs in OSX without having to worry about Windows. The files will work in either version as well. I'm not sure I'd recomend buying the current copy of Office though as its going to get replaced with a new version this summer/fall.
 

Christian Behrens

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Why not use the test version of Keynote, Apple's own, very good presentations program, that comes with every new Mac? Otherwise, if it has to be PowerPoint, just use the Mac version would be my suggestion, which should also be on the system in a test version.

-Christian
 

Michael_K_Sr

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Another recommendation for Mac Office or Keynote. One thing for people that get a Mac to escape viruses, spyware and such and then install Windows via Boot Camp or Parallels Desktop...it's still Windows. You still have to have anti-virus and spyware protection for the Windows partition. It's unlikely anything will jump from there to the Mac OS, but your PC setup will be contaminated in a hurry if you fail to protect it. Best thing to do is use the Mac OS as much as possible and Windows only when you absolutely have to.

If portability is a big plus for you, the MacBook Pro is a no brainer, as you aren't going be throwing that Mac Pro in a shoulder bag to bring to a meeting. :)
 

Mike Heenan

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On the Mac, you can download a program called Lil Snitch or Little Snitch that will prevent the computer from calling home
 

Mary M S

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Wow!

Thanks to all!


..tis true. I'm just tired of the space the tower takes in the house, the idea of the neat and tidy look of a laptop appeals, but I'd end up with dock, peripherals etc. I guess I can always add a 'Mac'top, used/refurbished, later on if I really want the portability.

Mike, thanks for the tip, shall be researching those type things when things settle down in a few weeks. What burns me about all the phoning home is I know for a fact some of 'problems' have attached themself to legit [sneaky] MS phone homes to have the freedom to come & go. Less is better this area, as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks to all! Will be checking in here, - but with two tests in one week to study for, will be trying to get the mac rolling in between studying. Ready to roll on building the PPoint in about 4 days after Tuesday of next week. [due March 1st].

I really really appreciate the help/advice!

What's really weird is this Mac, is our first ever, ready-built in the box, purchase. A billion years ago we were given an aging 286? which morphed many times/many parts into what sat on my desk today. You think since we have always upgraded/built our own I'd better at this. But I don't retain anything I don't deal with/use on a regular basis!

Last night I was on the phone with AT&T trying to get the internet setup, Tech left us with it not functioning. I don't know how I did it but this morning I started roaming around setup again, - kept resetting this and that, and here I am. [But I dont' know what on earth I did! :laugh: ]
 

Michael_K_Sr

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Do NOT install the Microsoft Office 2004 Test Drive (presumably on the install CD/DVD's you have) and expect to build your PowerPoint presentation with it. It's a limited 30-day trial, with the key word being limited. A lot of templates are not available in it and worse, you aren't able to print from it.
 

Michael Harris

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Mary, don't feel bad. If you've seen the thread on my purchase of an old G-4, you'll see that I too had that problem. Took some digging and the advice of this forum and finally I got the eject to work and I placed an eject incon in my finder.

Good luck.
 

DaveF

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In the bad old days of Win98 and OS8, sharing could cause font problems between Mac and PC. But today, I don't know. Perhaps someone here has direct experience.
 

Scott Kimball

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The currently available version of Office for Mac runs well enough in Rosetta that I wouldn't consider waiting for the Universal Binary to be imperative.

Powerpoint for Mac vs Windows sees very few compatibility issues. Watch your fonts and you should be fine.

2GB RAM is imperative for running XP under Parallels.

I have both a MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro at work. Unless you're going to be doing lots of 3D rendering, or encoding lots of MPEG 4 video, the MacBook Pro will serve well. It handles those tasks just fine, but I do piles of MP4 encoding for work (15 - 20 source hours per week) and need the speed of a dedicated tower.

-Scott
 

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