[studog8]

Hello,

My wife and I are planning on buying our first IMac after being a PC user for years and I wanted to know if there is anything I should know going in to buying it. We will be using it primarily for pictures, internet and spread sheets and word processing. Does it come with that software and if it doesnt what packages would you guys recommend for it. Also, should I upgrade the memory on it as well?

Thanks,

Studog8

[dougster]

-Hi and congratz,
You really should add more RAM (2GB), but Apple is very expensive. You get a better deal at www.crucial.com. And there is a 'DIY' (do it yourself) directions for install on Apple's site. If you can afford it Apple's Protection Plan (extended warranty) might pay off.

You might ask if there is a demo of MS Office 2008 installed. If not you might check it out: [Here]

[Edit] if you are going to use TM (Time Machine) you might grab an external HD. Or if you use SuperDuper for a complete clone of your internal HD an external would be perfect for that also.

[smax013]

studog8 said:

Hello,

My wife and I are planning on buying our first IMac after being a PC user for years and I wanted to know if there is anything I should know going in to buying it. We will be using it primarily for pictures, internet and spread sheets and word processing. Does it come with that software and if it doesnt what packages would you guys recommend for it. Also, should I upgrade the memory on it as well?


Thanks,


Studog8

It will come with all that type of software that you mentioned...kind of (Yes, that does not help...so let me explain ;) ).



It comes with a browser call Safari, so you will be able to browse right away. You might want to use Firefox either as well as Safari or instead of Safari, which you can download for free, as not all websites "play nice" with Safari.



For photos, it will come with iLife, which included iPhoto. It is mainly a photo "cataloging" program, but can do some simple editting stuff. If you need to do more advanced editting of photos, then you could look to Photoshop Elements or even the full Photoshop. I suspect that there is a good chance that iPhoto will do what you might need.



It comes with a built-in email client, so you will sent there if you access a POP or IMAP email account. There are other options if you decide you don't really like Mail.



As to much spreadsheets and word processing, it will come with a demo of both iWork and Micro$oft Office. iWork is Apple's suite of office products for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation. Micro$oft Office is basically very similar to what you will be used to on a Windoze PeeCee (although I don't believe Micro$oft has gone to the dumba$$ ribbon crap on the Mac version, thank goodness). This will allow you to determine which is the better option for you and then you can go purchase which ever works best for you (iWork is about $80 if I recall correctly and you can get Micro$oft Office Home and Student edition for something like $130). There is also versions of OpenOffice which you can get for free.

[smax013]

dougster said:

-Hi and congratz,

You really should add more RAM (2GB), but Apple is very expensive. You get a better deal at www.crucial.com. And there is a 'DIY' (do it yourself) directions for install on Apple's site. If you can afford it Apple's Protection Plan (extended warranty) might pay off.


You might ask if there is a demo of MS Office 2008 installed. If not you might check it out: [Here]


[Edit] if you are going to use TM (Time Machine) you might grab an external HD. Or if you use SuperDuper for a complete clone of your internal HD an external would be perfect for that also.

I would agree that if you are getting one of the models with 1 GB of memory, you might fine it worthwhile to upgrade the RAM to at least 2 GB. You can live with 1 GB if you are mainly doing the stuff you mentioned without doing serious photo editting (i.e. not major editting using something like Photoshop) and you don't have a need to have a ton of applicaitons open at once. But, adding additional RAM can definitely be a good thing over all. I would disagree a little with the comment about the cost. Doing the upgrade from Apple from 1 GB to 2 GB is not horribly overpriced...it is about $150 compared to about $25 for an additional 1 GB DIMM from Crucial. If you are not comfortable opening up your computer, then it might be worth the $125 price difference. If you have no qualms about cracking open up a computer, then it is an easy way to save some money. Ultimately, it is not something that you have to decide right away. If you don't want to spend the money now, you can always try it with the 1 GB and then upgrade at a later date if you want/need.



I would second the idea of an external drive for backup purposes, whether you use it with Time Machine or some other backup program. Backup good. No backup bad!



As to the Apple Protection Plan, that is a personal choice. I am generally not inclined to extended warranties personally, but understand why some really believe in them. Personally, if I was going to do an extended warranty, it would be more likely for a laptop than a desktop computer, but it gets a little more messy with an iMac, which is nominally a laptop in desktop clothing in many ways.

[Rcovell]

I just bought a new iMac, my third one to date, plus the Mini that my wife uses.

I agree with everything that's been said. I got the basic RAM, then, ordered a second stick of 1G from Crucial and installed it myself, very easy to do and the instructions are even included in the Mac booklet shipped with the computer. Something else that should have shipped with the computer is a manual. I like David Pogue's Missing Manual series. The one for Leopard I just bought was about $26 at Borders, $21 plus shipping and tax at Amazon.

As I don't have any needs for heavy duty word processing, spreadsheets or presentations, the Apple retail store suggested the iWork suite of products including Pages, Numbers and Keynote. I do some WP and Pages is wonderfully adept. Get iWork as it's a bargain at $79. A program by Alsoft called Diskwarrior is a good one to have for Directory maintenance. Well respected, a one trick pony and excellent. I think it's about $100.

Since Leopard comes with the backup program called Time Machine, you'll need an external hard drive. Prices start at roughly $100 and go up from there. I've also used the backup program from Shirt Pocket Software called SuperDuper! and it's great. Currently, I use both SD and TM. A reasonably large hard drive, partitioned, would be an easy call.

I recommend Apple Protection Package. In addition to warranty of parts, you get technical support for 3 years all for only $169. The same coverage for a laptop is $369 or there abouts. A good deal for us iMac users.

I don't care for the programming used on my Mighty Mouse, so I bought a program called USB Overdrive. It lets me assign whatever functions I want to the mouse buttons. The program is $20.

These are my recommendations based on my use, which is fairly light as users go. Your needs may be different, but, you'll only expand on what I've included.

Good luck and welcome to the Forum. Bob.

[smax013]

Rcovell said:

Since Leopard comes with the backup program called Time Machine, you'll need an external hard drive. Prices start at roughly $100 and go up from there. I've also used the backup program from Shirt Pocket Software called SuperDuper! and it's great. Currently, I use both SD and TM. A reasonably large hard drive, partitioned, would be an easy call.

OK, I am going to be picky. While I STRONGLY encourage a good backup plan that actually gets implemented, saying you "need" an external hard drive is a bit strong. While you can debate how smart it is to NOT backup your computer, it is still an option. Everyone is entitled to be as smart or as dumb as they want when it comes to backing up.



And even if you do backup, it does not "need" to be to an external hard drive. If you want to use Time Machine, then, yes, it either needs to be an external hard drive or a Time Capsule at this time. But, there are plenty of other backup programs that will allow you to backup to optical disk, floppy disk (if you are crazy enough to want to do that and actual want to go buy an external floppy disk drive), or even a tape drive. There are also network attached storage (NAS) drives that can be used for backup (which I supposed you could call an external hard drive...just not your typical USB or Firewire drive). And there is also Internet backup options that allow you to backup your data to a remote server (something that is included with .Mac if I recall correctly).



Having said all that, I do STRONGLY encourage backing up your computer and I would whole heartedly agree that generally speaking backing up to some sort of hard drive (whether an external USB or Firewire drive, a NAS drive, or another internal drive) is generally the easiest and quickest way to do a backup.

[minischneides]

studog8 said:

Hello,


My wife and I are planning on buying our first IMac after being a PC user for years and I wanted to know if there is anything I should know going in to buying it. We will be using it primarily for pictures, internet and spread sheets and word processing. Does it come with that software and if it doesnt what packages would you guys recommend for it. Also, should I upgrade the memory on it as well?

The computer will come with everything you require except for the the spread sheets and possibly word processing. Depending on what you are using your spreadsheets and word processing for will determine if you should use the Microsoft Suite of products, or the iWork Suite. By this I mean if you have to distribute the documents to other mostly WinDoze users then I would recommend Microsoft Office so you don;t need to worry about issues when exporting. If you are using the spreadsheets and word processing for personal use only then iWork would work just fine and would save you quite a bit of money.

As for what you are using the computer for I don't see any reason why you would need to upgrade the RAM (memory) as you are just doing the basics of computing, nothing extreme.

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
Software...While I could re-hash it, it's a lot to re-hash and i feel Apple does well at demoing its software :) Apple's recently gone full throttle with these nice overview Guided Tours ( videos ) of theirs...

? Apple - Mac OS X Leopard
? Apple - iLife
? Apple - iWork <-- Macs include a 30-day trial

As mentioned, Microsoft Office is nice if you are accustomed to it and, of course, great for compatibility when sharing with other Office users. However, I wouldn't consider it cheap. While not fully MS Office complaint, I prefer NeoOffice but it really comes down to preference and use. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.

Memory...The standard amount will do y'u but more wouldn't hurt, especially at current prices. It will really come into 'play' if you begin to keep more applications open simultaneously. Maybe you'll be listening to music ( iTunes ) while surfing the Web ( Safari ) and occasionally working on a project ( Pages, Microsoft Word, ... ) and having Mail always active to keep you alerted of any new email...Maybe even throw in a chat / video chat / audio chat with someone(s) using iChat AV. :) On top of that, the more widgets ( fun and useful ) you have active in the Dashboard, the more memory that will be used.

[smax013]

MacCheetah3 said:

Hi

As mentioned, Microsoft Office is nice if you are accustomed to it and, of course, great for compatibility when sharing with other Office users. However, I wouldn't consider it cheap.

Kind of depends on your definition of cheap. Since you can get Micro$oft Office for Home and Student for $130 (and then legally use it on three computers...granted it is only for non-commercial use), I don't consider that all that much more expensive than iWork at about $80. Now, I could certainly see it as "expensive" when compared to free NeoOffice. :)

[tango101]

If you do buy an imac, always repair permissions before installing any software and again always check if
the software is compatible with leopard ( I assume your are getting a new imac) As regards superduper which is a great
app, there seems to be different opinions as to whether it is compatible with leopard. If you 'google' superduper, you can
read about it for yourself.
Iphoto lets you edit a reasonable amount but if you are serious, then photoshop elements 6 will allow you to do a ton of editing.
tango101

[smax013]

tango101 said:

As regards superduper which is a great
app, there seems to be different opinions as to whether it is compatible with leopard. If you 'google' superduper, you can
read about it for yourself.

Don't know specifically what you are referring to, but there is a new version of SuperDuper that is Leopard compatible, so you might be referring to issues that were PRIOR to that new version. The new version was released about a week or so ago.

[Rcovell]

I agree. I've been using the Leopard version of SuperDuper! for over two weeks now with no problems.

Bob.

[tango101]

I just googled superduper and it confirms that it is indeed compatible with leopard.

However, reading about it for himself is always a good idea.

I would recommend anyone thinking about installing any software to google it first.

Thanks for your reply samx013

tango101

[sheldoldengas]

Ok - so first, a disclaimer. I'm not currently a mac user (you can see my recent post on what mac would you recommend)

I wanted to suggest that if you only need light word processing and spreadsheet functionality, you could try the on-line verions that Google offers for free. This is actually what I'm planning to do if I go with a mac (we currently run MS Office '97, but use it like 3 times a year). I've very lightly tested these out and think it would do what I need it to (write letters, resumes, quick calculations).

my $0.02