PC to iMac - Got some questions

Factual Questions
1

Okay, I’ve posted one-off questions here before and read other’s OP on this subject but I finally got a list of questions together on switching to an iMac. The newest 27" iMac has me drooling hard so…

What is the alternatives to using QuickTime? It seems Apple types just love QT. My use of QT so far on a PC has resulted in general fury. I dislike it intensely. So I need an alternative.

Related to that. Let’s assume that a person who owns a PC happens to have a lot of small video clips on his computer that happen to be in .wmv (Windows Media Player) format. What would one use to view those files on an iMac?

Can you easily import MS Outlook contact and calendar information (.pst file) into whatever native email/contact/calendar management software is included with the iMac?

Are there Mac equivalents to MS Money? I’ve had a hard time on Quicken finding an equivalent of Quicken Deluxe for the Mac.

I’ll probably pick up MS Office “Home and Student” version for the Mac as I need Excel and Word. I use OpenOffice today on my home PC and it is just awful. Anyone have experience with Office2007, OpenOffice, and Office for the Mac? Any big differences, particularly between PC Office and Mac Office I need to be worried about?

I have an external hard drive with all my music, pics, etc. It is FAT32 not NTFS. Any issues with simply plug-n-play that drive to the iMac and accessing/copying those files over?

What are my browser options besides Safari? I’ve used Safari on the PC and can’t say I’ve been a big fan.

Any killer “must have” apps for the iMac?

Thanks for the assist.

MeanJoe

2

Not to be a downer, but…you just listed practically every standard Mac app and claimed it’s infuriating, just awful, you hate it, and you want an alternative. There are alternatives for most of these, but given your requirements, it sounds like the ideal machine for you is a Windows PC.

3

VLC - for video.

VLC can play more WMV files. If not then just use Windows Media Player for OSX.

Outlook can export into a CSV file, which is just a text file. Any mailer can import from CSV. I think entourage can import PST but Im not sure. Might as well do CSV.

No comment about money software. I dont use any.

Office is different as in the GUI uses the mac conventions. I figure you need to give yourself a week or two to get comfortable.

OSX can read/write FAT32.

Firefox instead of Safari, definitely.

Also, with bootcamp you can install windows on Apple hardware if you dont like OSX.

4

MPEG Streamclip or VLC Media Player will be able to handle almost anything video you’re likely to encounter.

You should be able to read that FAT32 drive no problem. Since this is a common format for things like memory cards, the Mac can write to a FAT32 drive as well. The Mac can read, but can’t write to, NTFS without third-party software.

Safari is the Mac’s native brouwser, but on mine I also have Firefox, Shiretoko, Crossover Chromium, Cruz, Stainless, Opera, Camino, Chrome, and Lynx. :slight_smile: Firefox is my default browser because of the plugins and extensions.

Apple makes the iWork set of apps, which are more prosumer-oriented that Microsoct Office. The set includes Numbers (a spreadsheet), Pages (a text editing and page layout program), and Keynote (a slideshow program). Keynote knocks Powerpoint into a hat in terms of looks, and can import and export powerpoint presentations.

If you’re looking for compatibility, though, be aware that the current version of Office for Mac does NOT support Visual Basic for Applications. It was removed (the previous version had it), and people complained so much that MS is putting it back for the next version. Link.

5

You can use the QT Flip4Mac plugin to view your WMV’s on the new Mac. I’ve been using it for years and have nothing bad to say about it. Any WMV’s you encounter on the web will open and play in seamlessly in QT.

Yes you can easily import your Outlook info into OSX’s address book and calendar. If you are a serious Outlook user, you may want to use MS Entourage instead though, especially if you’re a corporate Outlook user.

I use Office for Mac and don’t see any major differences, but this is really going to depend on what level of Word and Excel user you are. If you are a power user, you may find some features missing. The Controller at my last job bitched about the differences a lot, but she was a super duper hardcore Excel guru and ran some really complex spreadsheets. For the average to casual user, I would say they probably won’t see many differences. I prefer Apple’s iWork over Office over the MS stuff personally.

Yes, OSX Leopard and better can read FAT32. I user a FAT32 usb stick to move files between Win and Mac all the time.

IMO, Safari seems to run better on a Mac. Other options are Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and a host of lesser known browsers.

All of my killer must-haves are specific to my line of work (Graphic Design / WebDev) e.g., Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Transmit, etc…

I like Bento (relational database) and Toast for burning CD’s. Other than that, your new Mac is going to come with most of what you will want and need. That’s one of the biggest differences between Apple and Microsoft. Apple ships with some of the best software ever made, while Windows ships with a lot of garbage that you have clean out and replace. My advice would be for you to use the Apple apps that come with your new Mac, and give them a fair shot, prior to buying anything to replace them right out of the gate. Everything will look new and weird at first, but don’t panic and stick with them for a bit. I think you’ll appreciate the ease of use, the intuitive design, and the seamless integration between apps. Much of the incredible Mac user experience comes from the seamless integration between apps, and you start to lose a little of that when you buy third party apps.

Wish I had the money for the new 27in. I’m using an “my Old Warhorse” iMac G5 20in. That’s the thing… Macs remain viable far longer than Windows PC’s and you can’t justify running out and buying the shiny new one every couple years. I have two Dell Windows machines, but only ever touch them to do cross platform compatibility testing on the websites I create.

Good luck and enjoy!

6

Oh yeah - VLC - forgot about it. That’s my go-to app for any video QT can’t deal with, and it’s free.

And… As far as your .pst file goes, you won’t be able to just drag it over and have it populate your Mac Mail and Calendar apps, you’ll need an importer / exporter app to convert the data (there are free ones out there but I haven’t had to deal with this issue for a few years, and can’t give you specifics). Or you can do as another poster said and export to a csv file, then bring it in. You’ll have some clean up to do if you go that route, as the data fields in Outlook’s address book won’t match up exactly with Mac. You won’t lose anything though…

7

For Video: VLC is the one I still keep around. Used to use MoviePlayerX. Both are free.

WMV Files: Both of the players I mentioned will open WMV just fine. Others have mentioned Flip4Mac, which I consider an essential as a Web browsing plug in even if you don’t want to use it for files.

Outlook: No problems there, though you do have a few options for how to do exports. Apple does provide iCal, AddressBook and Mail for the various functions Outlook does, but there are a lot of other free options that will also import information from Outlook.

Quicken: There is a Mac version or even a couple of Mac versions. Like most of Intuit’s products, they don’t always import well between Mac and PC, so research those options. There is an online edition of Quicken also. You may want to look into Moneydance, Mint.com, GNU Cash or Wesabe.com.

Office: If you were able to survive the transition to the ribbon in Office 2007, the tiny differences between Office Mac and PC versions will not bother you much. I have trained employees on the Mac versions; almost all had only used PCs before me, and they come up to speed very quickly.

External Drive: Should work just fine.

Browsers: I do like Safar, but use Firefox most of the time. Really, everything but Internet Explorer is available for Mac.

Killer Apps:

  • If you want to keep running Windows, look into Parallels so that you can run it at the same time, without rebooting.
  • Default FolderX saves me huge amounts of time in opening/saving files.
  • CleanArchiver is an excellent way to create and open ZIP and other archives.
  • Voodoo Pad is a great way to keep track of notes and jot down ideas.
  • GraphicConverter is the best when it comes to simple editing and conversion of graphics files.
  • You don’t mention scanners. If you have one and can’t use its software on the Mac, look into VueScan.
8

I’ve always liked mplayer. That and VLC are the standard rock-solid, cross platform, “do anything” media players.

9

As a recent Switcher (Well more of a paraller) I Share your pain. Its the little things that can get your goat. Now on to the questions

For Video VLC is my go to app, and is the default playback software for most of my media. IN combination with VLC Remote on the iPhone it makes a great media center as well.

For office, while I do have and use Office 2008 for Mac, it does take a little getting used to as both the UI and many of the shortcuts are different so it can take a bit to get comfortable. Word is word, as is powerpoint. Excel works pretty well as long as you don’t use / need Macos as they are not supported.

For mail, I’m lucky that I have an exchange account so I did not have to look at the issue of importing PST files. However there are converters available which you can try out. Entourage is usable, but nowhere near the flexibility / functionality of outlook. If you are a heavy outlook user, I’ll suggest going with one of the virtualization options.

If you need to write to NTFS partitions there is a free opensource program NTFS 3gthat allows you t o do so, though they now also have a commercial product available as well.

That brings us to one of the other options. If you have a lot of PC apps that you need / want to run as there are not good enough or no alternatives look into running windows either in a dual boot (Using Bootcamp) or a Virtuaization.

I use VMware Fusion, as while it’s not as fast it has a reputation of being stable, as well as allowing importation of VM’s from Windows machines. I use it to access both my Bootcamp partion as well as run other VM’s and it works pretty well. It does hit your Performance as you are running two full OS’s in parallel so is not suited for heavy duty apps, at least if you don’t have a ton of CPU power and RAM.

I also Use Codeweavers Crossover to run single purpose apps for which I don’t want to start up a full VM. It works pretty well, though whether the app you want will work with it or not is a bit hit or miss if its not on their supported programs page. I also Use Crossover Games to run Steam, and most of the games I play work pretty well, which is nice as I really hate having to boot into boot camp to just play for a quick Half hour.

For the Browser, I’m a firefox fan as I like having the same experience when I switch computers, and love some of the flexibility I get from Extensions. I do have and use Chrome and Safari as well, though mainly when I need to login into a separate google account. I do Have X-Marks Installed on all my machines, keeping My bookmarks and in some cases passwords in sync so I don.t have to think about that.

Now some of the extras I’ve got installed that really improve my experience are

Growl
iStatMenu
Jitouch
KeyRemap4Macbook
Clinch (Love It)
Airfoil
Unarchiver

10

I mentioned one app I genuinely dislike, QuickTime. Safari is okay on a PC but certainly not on par with Mozilla or IE (yet?). If that is “practically every standard Mac app” then perhaps you are right - an iMac is not for me. Afterall, why pay $1700.00 for a iMac that comes preloaded with only QT and Safari.

:rolleyes:

Thanks to the rest of you for providing some helpful suggestions on alternatives to the PC applications I use the most. I’m still on the fence about buying and trying to learn more. I am avoiding the Apple Store for now as I know once I walk in the door I’ll fold like a deck of cards into a “GIMME GIMME GIMME BUY NOW GIMME!” jibbering idiot with credit card in hand.

MeanJoe