Hello all! I'm coming back to Mac!!!!

[erinlough]

I have been a mac user from the 80's until about 2001. At that time I was convinced by the school IT guy that I could get a much better deal with a pc. I switched. I have missed the mac operating system ever since.

So now I have saved the money and I want to get back to mac. I plan on getting the imac, or the mac-book pro. Any suggestions? And do you suggest I get the time capsule also? I currently have a gateway notebook on a wireless system and a dell in a remote location. Both work great now with a netmax mimo router. I will need to have the gateway and mac both on the same wireless home network. Does the time capsule work with a pc? One thing that should make things easier is that I don't run wep security because I am out in the country and to get my signal someone would have to park in my driveway.

Also, is there any problem with the imac that I should be aware of? I went to Chicago to the Apple store and I fell in love with the 24 inch.

Please respond with any and all suggestions.
Thanks

[MilesColtrane]

1. I'm pretty sure that Time Machine comes standard with the Leopard OS.

You may have to buy an extra hard drive to make it completely effective though.

[moggie]

3. Time Machine comes with the OS

Time Capsule is Apple's new wireless router with disk drive and integration with Time Machine.

[MilesColtrane]

5. Thanks.

News to me...

[moggie]

2. When are you buying?

There's a lot of speculation that a hardware update to the MacBook Pro is imminent, so if you bought one tomorrow you might be kicking yourself soon after.

Time Capsule isn't shipping yet, I think, so nobody can tell you how well it works for backup (via Time Machine). You won't be able to run Time Machine on a PC, but Time Capsule is also a regular network drive for Windows-based machines. If you just want to back up your Mac, get an external USB or Firewire drive. They're cheap, and it's not wasted money even if you get a Time Capsule later (you could get SuperDuper or another disk cloner so you could make a bootable copy of your system disk on the external disk: then, if the former dies, you can boot from the latter and keep working).

I have the previous generation of 24" iMac, and it's a lovely machine. I understand that (in the case of current iMacs) the 24" display panel uses superior technology to the 20".

[riona]

4. I got my iMac in Feb. It has Time Machine

You have to set up a place to store the data. Guess that means buying an external hard drive? Sorry, can't be of much help. Haven't used it yet.

[moggie]

6. Time Machine is the killer app for Leopard

Most people don't do backups until they learn their lesson the hard way: by losing all their important files. Time Machine makes backing up so easy that there's really no excuse not to, unless you can't afford an external disk (unlikely if you can afford a Mac) or you don't value your files at all. Nearly everyone will have something on their Mac which is very important to them - work, family photos, years of email, huge porn collection etc - and if it's not being backed up, it could disappear at any time.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. I;m one of those weird and rare animals that did backups regularly

on my PC... Hell, all them files are now in my MacBook.

Two months after I upgraded to Leopards I finally got my external hard drive, and let me tell you... I have yet to find an easier way to do that pesky back up.

It is so easy and in the background that it is almost laughable... and I don;t even have to think about it.

Granted, did not bring my backup drive on the trip, but when I connect that drive when I get home on Monday, the computer will do a full backup in less time than it takes for me to think about it.

On the WIN machine I have to think about it.

:-)

[erinlough]

8. Well, My 24" imac came and I'm on it right now

It is everything and more that I expected. I am still exploring, but so far everything "just works". I will have questions when I migrate my files but I have to wait for the Time Capsule I orderd to ship. I did experience the problem with losing internet connection when she awoke from sleep, but a hard start fixed that. I love the little remote! that is a very powerful tool. Thanks for advice, it helped me make a good decision.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. You should not have any problems migrating files

hell I works opens Word 07 files no problem


And you are talking to somebody who HAD everything in WORD...

My dreamweaver experience has also been easy, as well as corel painter

[erinlough]

10. That brings up a question I have

When I ordered I decided to buy office because everything at work is in office. I did not have works put on and now I'm wondering if I should have. What are peoples opinions of having both on one machine.