bigred said:
I'm giving very serious thought to this.....but is it practical from a home user standpoint? How do I run all my Windows-based software, connect to the net, etc etc?
The most viable alternative for the home user at this point in time is Mac OS X. Linux is doable and most of what I say below applies to it also, but I honestly think the Mac user interface is superior to Linux's (and Windows) and the system as a whole is easier to work in (and you can run 90% of Linux software on it.)
Biggest downside to switching from PC to Mac is purchase of new hardware. A Mac mini will run $500-$900 depending on how you trick it out but all (almost all?) of your monitors, USB and firewire peripherals will work with the mini.
Assume you can connect to the net. Some ISP's don't support connections other than Windows, but that usually means you have to find Mac/Linux friendly support there are a number of places on the net these are available. The mac can do PPoE, DHCP, dialup and most of the authentication systems I've seen. Usually the Mac can do these without installing any of the crap software from the ISP (software I'm half convinced contains spyware for the ISP).
Software - your PC software won't run natively on the Mac (even after the Mac switches to Intel chips it won't run natively on the Mac.) Theoretically you can use Virtual PC to run Windows on the Mac, but a) this puts you back in the boat of virus exposure, b) runs more slowly than on an equivelant PC (emulation isn't free.) Many manufacturers of PC software make Mac equivelants (almost all Adobe products , Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint and Quicken are available in Mac editions) but they won't swap your current license for a Mac license for free. Adobe will let you cross-upgrade (i.e. when PhotoShop 8 comes out you can upgrade PhotoShop 7 for PC to PhotoShop 8 for Mac) but it costs a bit more than standard upgrade.
The questions I would be asking about my software is:
a) Do I actually need this level of software. Microsoft Word is not needed to write a 2 page letter. Apple's iWork package contains a word processor and presentation software that can replace Word/PowerPoint (not Excel yet) for $80. Microsoft Office upgrade will set you back more than that.
b) Is an equivalent software available at a resonable price? I hate Outlook Express for mail, but if you use Thunderbird it's available on the Mac for free. Apple's Mail.app is free and way better than Outlook Express. Microsoft includes Entourage, it's more full-featured than Outlook Express mail app, with Office for the Mac.
Mac's have a plethora of web browsers available to them, all of them way more standards compliant than IE, but IE is just different enough (of course, it's from Microsoft) that it is possible to write web pages that work on IE for Windows and not the Mac.
Apple includes a DVD player for free (Microsoft doesn't. If you got one for free with your PC it was from the manufacturer of the computer and probably doesn't work real well.)
If you're a serious hard core gamer that needs to have the latest release ASAP then forget it. Windows is the only platform. If you like games, can wait 4 months to a year for a game to get ported to your platform, then the Mac is quite acceptable. Game performance will probably be lower on the Mac than on the PC, not because the computer is less capable but because the porters are under the gun and don't get to optimize as much as the original developers. Games rarely get ported to Linux these days (not that they never do, just not as frequently as they get ported to Macs.)
Most important first step is to define what you use your computer for now. List software you actually use and what you do with it. See if it is available, or an equal equivalent (and look for unbiased reviews), on the OS you're looking to move to and how much it will cost you.
Don't forget to include the costs of your current security software that you'll no longer need (just make sure you stay up on patches on ANY OS you choose.)
Well so much for THAT idea.
