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Warning! This is sort of my "Mac Sales Pitch". I've owned and used PCs and Macs for years (and Atari's before that). PCs can also be relatively trouble-free, but if you talk to the two owners, you will find Mac people are generally happier with their systems. I'm not quite sure why...


There were a few things about switching to a mac that I found either non-intuitive, or worked "different".

1. How the CD drive works: there is no hardware button on the drive shell like on pcs; there is a keyboard key specifically to close/eject the cd/DVD. Also, it was kind of weird that one way to eject a CD/DVD (or externally-mounted drive) is to drag the disk icon into the trash.

2. one-button mouse; immediately purchase a regular 2 (or more) button mouse. I haven't tried the latest and greatest Apple mouse, but so far, I've wanted to replace the stock mouse with a multi-button one.

3. The Finder is the equivalent of Windows Explorer

4. The "Dock" is roughly equivalent to the "Start Menu". You keep your common apps stored in the dock; but unlike Windows, you can just drag the file to the Dock or drag it off the Dock if you don't want it any more. You can move the Dock to the top or bottom or left or right side of the screen unlike the Start Menu. You can hide or show it, set magnification levels...it's actually pretty cool.

5. File compatibility. Most Mac audio programs can read/write .wav files if you choose that as your default audio file format. I still use aif, which is the Mac default. I don't use business apps on my Mac, so I don't know what file compatibility you'd run into with Word, etc. I do know that you can save most documents in PDF format without purchasing Adobe Writer (unlike on a PC). If you need that capability, it saves you the $200 Adobe license cost. I can also open up Zip files without purchasing a separate license for WinZip.

6. HD formatting. I bought an external USB 2.0 drive from Circuit City and never formatted it with HFS+ (the native Mac file format). It works (read/write) just fine for all my backups - and I HAVE tested restoring as well. No problems. Like most things on the Mac, I just plugged it in and it started working.

7. I've set up my wireless LAN so that my PC (wired) has a shared folder. My Mac (wireless) can attach to the PC folder and copy files directly to/from the PC to the Mac via wireless. No extra software needed. The PC can't read all the Mac files, but I think the Mac can read many PC format files (I'm sure there are exceptions).

8. The only maintenance I do on my Mac is something called "repair permissions" which is good advice when you install an new app. It takes about 5 minutes. I spend very little time troubleshooting or "improving" things.

I've never had a virus in about 12 years of using Macs, and most of them do connect to the Internet. I also don't open up attachments from unknown people.

Oh...I don't like the Mac's native email program as much as I like Outlook, or maybe I'm just so used to Outlook...

I use Internet Explorer on the Mac, just like on my PC.

I would recommend adding RAM from a 3rd party company instead of Apple. Crucial (brand name) is one of the best and is only about $50 for a GB these days.

You should go to an Apple Store and play around with one for about 10 minutes. After that, you'll see that there isn't much else to do but be productive with it....