# I'm getting a Mac



## Scott (Jul 25, 2007)

I should be getting an iMac within the week or so. This is the one I am going to get, although I might beef it up a little. And I am not going to get anything that will let me run windows. I want to be done with Windows! (at least at home - I have to suffer through it at work all day every day).


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## jfschultz (Jul 25, 2007)

I would suggest that you go ahead and get iWork for $49. This is $30 less than the normal price. It includes both a word processor (Pages) and a presentation program (Keynote). Both of these programs are on new Macs, but only as a 30 day trial.


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## jbergsing (Jul 25, 2007)

Don't do it, man! Back away from the cool-aid! LOL!


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## jbergsing (Jul 25, 2007)

jfschultz said:


> I would suggest that you go ahead and get iWork for $49. This is $30 less than the normal price. It includes both a word processor (Pages) and a presentation program (Keynote). Both of these programs are on new Macs, but only as a 30 day trial.


I thought the Mac came with basic office applications like a word processor, spreadsheet, etc.? At least they did, once upon a time...


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## turmeric (Jul 25, 2007)

It said Sorry-my search had timed out! I'm impressed! 

What is it - an Imac or a MacBook or what?


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## RamistThomist (Jul 25, 2007)

Confessions of a computer-hater, by Peter Kreeft, PhD.


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## jbergsing (Jul 25, 2007)

Spear Dane said:


> Confessions of a computer-hater, by Peter Kreeft, PhD.


Funny stuff!


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## tellville (Jul 25, 2007)

I have just received my Macbook. It is glorious. However, I have Windows XP on it as well. It is working remarkably better on my Mac


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## Scott (Jul 26, 2007)

turmeric said:


> It said Sorry-my search had timed out! I'm impressed!
> 
> What is it - an Imac or a MacBook or what?


It is a 17" iMac. They are very elegant machines.


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## BlackCalvinist (Jul 26, 2007)

Save your money from iWork (although it's a great suite), take out your install disk and click on additional options, and install X11. It's a smaller Unix operating system that can run simulatenously alongside OS X. 

Then go to openoffice.org and download this suite for free.


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## jfschultz (Jul 26, 2007)

BlackCalvinist said:


> Save your money from iWork (although it's a great suite), take out your install disk and click on additional options, and install X11. It's a smaller Unix operating system that can run simulatenously alongside OS X.
> 
> Then go to openoffice.org and download this suite for free.



Better yet, skip X11 (which is a graphical terminal, not an operating system) and get NeoOffice. This is Open Office with a MAC user interface.


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## BlackCalvinist (Jul 26, 2007)

jfschultz said:


> Better yet, skip X11 (which is a graphical terminal, not an operating system) and get NeoOffice. This is Open Office with a MAC user interface.



Ahhhh.....

But the question is.... Will It Blend ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx4QgK_xEfE


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## Scott (Aug 2, 2007)

Ok, yesterday I bought the following, all on the Homeschool/educator discount (which makes it practically free - ok, not quite):

•	17” iMac - 160GB hard drive, 8x DL SuperDrive, ATI Radeon X1600 graphics and upgraded to 2 GB memory
•	Microsoft Office – Student and Teachers Edition
•	Quicken 2007
• Apple One on One package
• Apple Care

I also got the free (after rebate) iPod Nano 4GB and the HP Photosmart printer.

I took in my PC to the Apple Store and the Apple guys are transferring the files. It is supposed to be ready tomorrow. The most painful thing is going to be getting set up Quicken. We use Money now and there is no easy transfer to it. I don't know if we are going to try to convert or will just start over with Quicken.

Scott


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## Beth Ellen Nagle (Aug 2, 2007)

How do you go about getting a Homeschool/educator discount?


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## turmeric (Aug 3, 2007)

In Oregon you get a signed letter from your school district that states that you intend to homeschool.


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## jfschultz (Aug 3, 2007)

Scott said:


> Ok, yesterday I bought the following, all on the Homeschool/educator discount (which makes it practically free - ok, not quite):
> 
> •	17” iMac - 160GB hard drive, 8x DL SuperDrive, ATI Radeon X1600 graphics and upgraded to 2 GB memory
> •	Microsoft Office – Student and Teachers Edition
> ...



Be ready to go back to the store next week. Apple will be making an announcement next Tuesday (8/7). If the speculation is right and it is a new generation iMac, you may be able to get the difference between what you paid and the new lower price for the now "old" iMac back. (You may have bought one of the last 17" iMacs.)

A few years ago, I bought an iBook and a new version came out a week later. All I needed to do was return with the reciept. They "bought" it back at the old price and "sold" to me it at the new price. I left with an Apple gift card with over $300 on it.


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## Beth Ellen Nagle (Aug 3, 2007)

turmeric said:


> In Oregon you get a signed letter from your school district that states that you intend to homeschool.



I see, thanks!


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## dalecosby (Aug 3, 2007)

Hello all. I am new to this forum but I am an avid mac user so I thought I would start by posting here!


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## Scott (Aug 3, 2007)

Beth Ellen Nagle said:


> How do you go about getting a Homeschool/educator discount?


Beth: You can can do it in a couple of ways. You can order online from Apple's Homeschool Discount website. You don't need any documentation or anything. By placing the order you are representing you are a homeschooler. The computers are about $100 cheaper than retail.

Or, you can go to an Apple Store. They don't require documentation, but an associate might ask. One associate told me that sometimes homeschoolers have documentation and sometimes they dont. I had with me a teacher card that the Texas Homeschool Association issues to members. The associate just glanced at it and said ok. I think they would have been fine if I did not have anything anyway.

If you get a Mac before September, you can get a free 4gb Nano too. The advertise the deal as a free iPod for college students, but the rebate says it applies to any student, and expressly includes homeschool students.


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## Scott (Aug 3, 2007)

jfschultz said:


> Be ready to go back to the store next week. Apple will be making an announcement next Tuesday (8/7). If the speculation is right and it is a new generation iMac, you may be able to get the difference between what you paid and the new lower price for the now "old" iMac back. (You may have bought one of the last 17" iMacs.)
> 
> A few years ago, I bought an iBook and a new version came out a week later. All I needed to do was return with the reciept. They "bought" it back at the old price and "sold" to me it at the new price. I left with an Apple gift card with over $300 on it.


Wow - thanks for the heads up. I had no idea.


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## Scott (Aug 6, 2007)

Ok, I have had an inauspicious beginning. I had the Apple Store download all my PC files to the iMac and install a few programs, like Microsoft Office. It looks like the files were installed properly and are in place. However, Office was not loaded in properly. When I try to open any Office program, I get this message: "Microsoft Office 2004 cannot load the Microsoft Office shared libraries." I spent hours trying to fix this, but to no avail. It was a problem as frustrating as any Windows problem I have had. I called the Apple Care line and they said they could not work on it b/c it is not a Apple product. It seems to me that they should have people who can work on what is probably one of the most used programs in their computer, but they don't.

Anyway, I am going to take this into the Apple Store today and see what they can do. If they can't or won't fix it, I will return the machine. Well, I might call the Microsoft help line first, but my experience with it has not been that great so I am not expecting much.


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## Scott (Aug 6, 2007)

Ok, I took it to the Apple Store and they had the problem fixed in about 10 minutes. They deleted Office and reinstalled it and it is working fine. I did that about 3 or 4 times but something about the way did it made it work properly. Maybe it was because I was leaving the CD in or something; not sure. I have to say that the experience at the Apple Store "Genius Bar" was excellent.


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## dalecosby (Aug 6, 2007)

Hey, if you have a problem like that again, drop me a PM and I am sure I can help you. I could have fixed that one, I think I ran into it once.


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## Scott (Aug 6, 2007)

cool, thanks


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## turmeric (Aug 6, 2007)

So the lesson is; the Genius Bar provides better service than AppleCare?


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## Scott (Aug 6, 2007)

turmeric said:


> So the lesson is; the Genius Bar provides better service than AppleCare?


It did. I imagine Applecare is fine if you have issues with the Mac OS software produced by Apple. I am glad I have an Apple Store only about 10 minutes away.


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## dalecosby (Aug 7, 2007)

With the genius bar you get a person, a real person that looks at your laptop in person.
THey will also try to fix just about any problem you bring in.
With Apple Care you get a person on the phone (a real person but not IN person of course) who can't actually look at what you have.

I applies for the genius bar once, I did get an interview but so did 20 plus others for one job.
It is one of the hardest jobs to get.


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## Scott (Aug 7, 2007)

dalecosby said:


> With the genius bar you get a person, a real person that looks at your laptop in person.
> THey will also try to fix just about any problem you bring in.
> With Apple Care you get a person on the phone (a real person but not IN person of course) who can't actually look at what you have.
> 
> ...


The genius at my store had been an engineer with Apple since 1990. I was impressed. She certainly knew her stuff. She talked about the dark years at Apple and now the good times. She was interesting.


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## Richard King (Aug 7, 2007)

I heard from two friends this week about a visit to the a nearby first baptist church and they was struck by the irony of the laptop opened up on the pulpit.
It seemed somehow wrong to have the Mac laptop open so the logo
...AN APPLE WITH A BITE TAKEN OUT OF IT !
was billboarded blatantly to the congregation.
You know I think he has a point.


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## Scott (Aug 7, 2007)

John was right:

Apple launches new range of iMacs

The Apple Store is down for updating. I hope they lower the price on the 17 inch, which they are evidently discontinuing, so that I can get some kind of rebate.


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## Scott (Aug 7, 2007)

Ok, I called the Apple Store and they are not offering rebates. They said that I can return my machine, pay a 10 percent restocking fee (about $100), and get the new machine. They are selling the iMac I bought for two hundred dollars less than I paid. They won't price match!


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## Scott (Aug 8, 2007)

OK, I took it in last night and traded it in for the newer better model at the same price. So, I am happy. I now have a 20 inch machine instead of 17 inch. It also has a larger hard drive, better graphics card, etc. 

John - Thanks for the heads up on this. I could have missed it completely. Now I have a significantly better machine.


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## BlackCalvinist (Aug 9, 2007)

Scott said:


> OK, I took it in last night and traded it in for the newer better model at the same price. So, I am happy. I now have a 20 inch machine instead of 17 inch. It also has a larger hard drive, better graphics card, etc.
> 
> John - Thanks for the heads up on this. I could have missed it completely. Now I have a significantly better machine.



Mmmm hmmm.

Rule of thumb:

Apple always puts out better machines with upgraded processors between Aug and Sept. 

In April, they upgraded the MacBooks.

2nd week in June, MacBook Pros (I bought mine that day). 

Now, they upgrade the iMacs.

They should be upgrading the Towers a little shortly.

Your machine will be 'outclassed' (speed, HD space....) in about 6-8 months when they up the processor speeds again. That's ok, though. Your machine will probably still run most major software and OSes 8-10 years from now and give you very little mechanical (other than replacing the pram battery which keeps your clock set right.... and you won't have to worry about that for at least 3 years) or software clash issues.

Welcome.


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## Scott (Aug 10, 2007)

I also got the iLife 2008 bundle. iMovie is dramatically changed. I have noticed some big improvements already.


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## Scott (Aug 14, 2007)

The transition from PC to Mac was pretty easy with one exception. We had our finances on Microsoft Money. Money is not available on Mac. I picked up Quicken. The transfer of data is slow and tedious. Anyway, that was the only real downside, so far at least.


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## BlackCalvinist (Aug 16, 2007)

I want iMovie 08.

*pout*


*covet*


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## dalecosby (Aug 17, 2007)

> The transition from PC to Mac was pretty easy with one exception. We had our finances on Microsoft Money. Money is not available on Mac. I picked up Quicken. The transfer of data is slow and tedious. Anyway, that was the only real downside, so far at least.


But once you get by that hassle you will be glad you did.
I started a long time ago and there were several hassles of moving then but I am glad I did.


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