Switching to Mac from MS, lots of questions

[IL2AZ]

Aside from my ipod and iphone, I have been using MS systems forever. Finally, I'm deciding to cross over to the mac world, but I have lots of questions. I know these questions sound like I should stick with Windows, but bear with me, I just want to prepare for the transitions. Thanks.

1. Do macs run Flash player software? I know that Flash is not available for ipods and iphones, but I thought it was for their other systems. Also, can someone help me understand why Flash on Apple is such a contentious issue?

2. I have the Windows XP backup disk from my Dell laptop, but it states that it can only be re-installed on my Dell laptop. I was thinking of running the Parallels software, but wasn't sure if I could use the backup Windows XP disk. Anyone know?

3. If I install MS Office on the new mac, will those files be recognized when I use a Windows based PC (i.e. via flash drive)?

4. For those of you who have iMacs, do you wish you would have gotten to MacBook Pro? I'm somewhat reticent to give up the portability, but I love the display, and I plan on doing a lot of photo editing, so...

Please feel free to tackle all or some of these questions, Again, thanks in advance for the help.

 

[miles01110]

1. Do macs run Flash player software? I know that Flash is not available for ipods and iphones, but I thought it was for their other systems. Also, can someone help me understand why Flash on Apple is such a contentious issue?

Yes. It's contentious because people follow Steve Jobs blindly and automatically think that whatever he says is the golden truth.

3. If I install MS Office on the new mac, will those files be recognized when I use a Windows based PC (i.e. via flash drive)?

Most likely, depending on if you save things as docx or xlsx vs. xls or doc (and depending on what version of Office is on the Windows machine).

4. For those of you who have iMacs, do you wish you would have gotten to MacBook Pro? I'm somewhat reticent to give up the portability, but I love the display, and I plan on doing a lot of photo editing, so...

Photo editing can be done on Macbook Pros too, you know.

 

[spinnerlys]

Aside from my ipod and iphone, I have been using MS systems forever. Finally, I'm deciding to cross over to the mac world, but I have lots of questions. I know these questions sound like I should stick with Windows, but bear with me, I just want to prepare for the transitions. Thanks.

1. Do macs run Flash player software? I know that Flash is not available for ipods and iphones, but I thought it was for their other systems. Also, can someone help me understand why Flash on Apple is such a contentious issue?

2. I have the Windows XP backup disk from my Dell laptop, but it states that it can only be re-installed on my Dell laptop. I was thinking of running the Parallels software, but wasn't sure if I could use the backup Windows XP disk. Anyone know?

3. If I install MS Office on the new mac, will those files be recognized when I use a Windows based PC (i.e. via flash drive)?

4. For those of you who have iMacs, do you wish you would have gotten to MacBook Pro? I'm somewhat reticent to give up the portability, but I love the display, and I plan on doing a lot of photo editing, so...

Please feel free to tackle all or some of these questions, Again, thanks in advance for the help.

1. Yes.

2. Maybe someone else knows. But you can always try, it will not harm the computer in any way.

3. Yes, if you mean the documents and not the applications. .xls and .doc files will be editable by the Windows and Mac OS X version of mS Office.

4. I have both, and frankly, the iMac suffices my needs, though I like the 17" MBP for its power, but the MBP is capable of doing hard work too and run an external monitor. I currently have a four monitor setup at work, one external monitor driven by an MB, and one external driven by an MBP and I almost forget I have an iMac.

 

[MacDawg]

Check out the info here on switching

Yes to Flash on the Mac, and there are a lot of threads you can MRoogle to find out about the issues

Here are some thoughts on Windows:
Booting Windows on a Mac

Yes to Office files being recognized on both platforms (with some compatibility issues at times)

 

[Hellhammer]

1. Yes, you can download Flash from Adobe's site. Flash is much worse in OS X than it is in Windows. It causes crashes and high CPU usage (shorter battery life).

2. Usually those are system specific and you don't have the license key

3. Yes. Even iWork can save documents in Windows formats.

4. Yes, sometimes I do. I have 24" iMac so the situation is a bit different because 24" monitor can be had for 150 bucks. The new 27" is amazing though, the display is worth over 1000$.

I'm going to solve this issue by getting the new 13" Air. If you don't need portability, then go for the iMac.

 

[lbro]

Aside from my ipod and iphone, I have been using MS systems forever. Finally, I'm deciding to cross over to the mac world, but I have lots of questions. I know these questions sound like I should stick with Windows, but bear with me, I just want to prepare for the transitions. Thanks.

1. Do macs run Flash player software? I know that Flash is not available for ipods and iphones, but I thought it was for their other systems. Also, can someone help me understand why Flash on Apple is such a contentious issue?

Yes they run flash. The iPods and iPhones don't because Steve Jobs says that they slow them down a lot (hog ram, cpu).

2. I have the Windows XP backup disk from my Dell laptop, but it states that it can only be re-installed on my Dell laptop. I was thinking of running the Parallels software, but wasn't sure if I could use the backup Windows XP disk. Anyone know?

I don't know, but I don't think it will work.

3. If I install MS Office on the new mac, will those files be recognized when I use a Windows based PC (i.e. via flash drive)?

Not totally sure what you mean. If you write up a document on MS word on the mac and you move it over to a PC running MS word, yes, the pc will recognize it and you will be able to edit it on MS word on the PC. Same goes for the other way around.

4. For those of you who have iMacs, do you wish you would have gotten to MacBook Pro? I'm somewhat reticent to give up the portability, but I love the display, and I plan on doing a lot of photo editing, so...

Well I bought a MBP and I kind of wish I had bought an iMac!

Please feel free to tackle all or some of these questions, Again, thanks in advance for the help.

No problem.
Enjoy your mac.

 

[BOSS10L]

Congrats and welcome to the Mac! I made the switch 2 years ago and haven't looked back. I used to build my own PCs, but they became such a pain to deal with that I wanted something that "just worked." That being said, here's your answers:

1. Do macs run Flash player software? I know that Flash is not available for ipods and iphones, but I thought it was for their other systems. Also, can someone help me understand why Flash on Apple is such a contentious issue?

Yes. Keep in mind that any new Mac that is shipping from today on will not come with Flash Player pre-installed. It's a simple fix, just download it and install. Like miles said, there's a lot of contention going around on the whole thing, but for desktops and laptops you should be cool.

2. I have the Windows XP backup disk from my Dell laptop, but it states that it can only be re-installed on my Dell laptop. I was thinking of running the Parallels software, but wasn't sure if I could use the backup Windows XP disk. Anyone know?

When you say back-up disc, do you mean "upgrade" disc or fully functional XP disc. If it's the latter, you'll be fine using it. If the former, you might run into issues. If it's one of those Dell all-in-one discs (OS and preinstalled crap), see if you can get it to only install XP.

3. If I install MS Office on the new mac, will those files be recognized when I use a Windows based PC (i.e. via flash drive)?

150% of the time yes.

4. For those of you who have iMacs, do you wish you would have gotten to MacBook Pro? I'm somewhat reticent to give up the portability, but I love the display, and I plan on doing a lot of photo editing, so...

Glad you asked this. As you can see by my sig, I've got both a MacBook and 2 iMacs (just bought the 27" today! Woo hoo!). I really thought long and hard about the possibility of going with a MacBook Pro instead of the iMac, but for the money, the iMac is just an all-around better machine. I got a quad core i5 iMac with a 27" screen for less than it would have cost me to purchase a dual core 15" i5 MacBook Pro. Unless you're a graphics professional who absolutely needs to have the portability, it's a no-brainer IMHO.

Please feel free to tackle all or some of these questions, Again, thanks in advance for the help.

No worries. Just paying it forward. I was where you are nearly 3 years ago.

 

[cobrasneverdie]

 

[biggd]

You can use your Dell disks license free on a Dell


If you install using ur Dell disks on your Mac, stop using ur Dell and use it's license key

 

[RaceTripper]

re: #2 - When you get a Dell (or HP, etc) with Windows preinstalled, the OS is licensed for use on that machine only, and the system restore disk (at least with Dell) is tied to the specific hardware you bought it for.

 

[wordoflife]

#2) You cannot do that. The serial number is tied to that specific motherboard so it will be locked once Microsoft detects that it was not installed properly. Even if you replaced the motherboard in your Dell with another motherboard that is exactly the same model, it would still not work because its that specific.

OEM = tied to that specific computer only.
Retail = install on any computer you want. So if you build a computer, installed retail windows, then built another computer and threw your old computer away, you could still use that license key (but can only use one computer at a time per serial code)

You can buy OEM windows for $99 (i believe) on newegg, but it will be tied to your Mac's specific motherboard, so if you buy another Mac in the future, you would need to buy another OEM license too.

You can buy retail for more (I think for $175) and you can install on as many computers as you want (only one at a time though). So if you buy retail and install it on your Mac, then buy another Mac or PC, that version of windows will work on your new computer (provided its taken off your first Mac)

 

[George Knighton]

If you install using ur Dell disks on your Mac, stop using ur Dell and use it's license key

Every Dell backup/restore CD checks for hardware when the installation routine starts. The license key supplied with the Dell is not valid for a non-Dell machine, although you can usually find a way to use a Dell backup/restore CD on a similar Dell model.

I've put 64-bit Windows 7 and Parallels on my MacBook Pro and I am simply amazed at how well it performs. It's great that you can start Parallels and open a virtual instance of an applicationn without having to boot to Windows or even have Windows window open in OSX.

Amazing.

At least, it's amazing and fast on my i7 with 8 GB RAM. On my companion's Core 2 Duo 13" MacBook Pro with 4 GB RAM, it doesn't do quite as well and it's a little hesitant and seems to tax the graphics processor.

And that brings up the one bad point...it does take power and on a laptop you will wear down the battery at a Windows rate instead of an OSX rate. But that's a small price to pay for the convenience, and you can just close it all out when you're done and go back to the low battery consumption of OSX.

But that won't matter to the original poster's iMac, anyway!

As far as Flash goes, I am going to agree with Apple that in the 2010 computer world, it is becoming increasingly evil. Adobe will have to change some fundamental programming in Flash or face annihilation, IMHO.

The way that we do things in 2010, it takes too much power to run. You can do everything wit HTML that you might formerly do with Flash, and you can do it without the inherent high processor power required by Flash, and without the occasional glitches and security problems introduced by Flash.

I am closely associated with the second largest automotive Web site in the world, and not a week goes by that our geeks didn't have to block content because somebody's advertising insertion implemented a Flash routine that was driving our Windows users crazy.

Although I regret that Apple forced the issue as strongly as they did, I personally feel that they are fundamentally correct, and Flash needs to change or it's just going to disappear.