Seeking Friendly Advice...

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Level 1

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Seeking Friendly Advice...

Hello all,

I'm seeking some friendly advice on entering the world of Mac. I've been a PC user since childhood. So, my computer environment has always been the PC world however, later this month I'm thinking I will be switching over to the Mac world. Reason why, I've had gone through my fair share of PC laptops in the past that I feel as now it might be time for change. I've always enjoyed Apple products and had pretty good luck with the ones I currently own without any problems. So, I know I won't be disappointed. I'm a college student and I had my eye on the MacBook Air for awhile now I feel that this would be a perfect fit for me. I've been doing some research reading up on different reviews and watching some videos on MBA and even on the Mac OS X Mavericks to get familiar in some way with it. I have in mind to use it as my everyday computer for basic tasks such email, social media, apps/few games, movies , & music but it will be mainly to use for school purposes.

I would like to get some more insight on what to expect from the Mac OS X Mavericks. How different is MS Office on a Mac from a PC? What do you think about the rumored 2014 MBA? Should I wait for the release or is the 2013 Haswell version still worth the buy?

Any tips,tricks or recommendations for a soon-to-be Mac rookie would be much appreciated.

Thanks! :)

iPhone 5, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Jan 7, 2014 3:25 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

sberman

Level 10

263,781 points

Jan 7, 2014 3:30 PM in response to cali87

First, there will always be some rumored product coming out soon that will be more advanced than today's. When you're ready to take the plunge, take it. Waiting will keep you always waiting and delaying. If the new stuff is that much better when it actually comes out, you can always sell what you have and upgrade.

Next, there is a book due out in about two weeks that I strongly recommend (because I had its predecessor - I have no financial interest here). It is written by David Pogue, former N.Y. Times tech columnist. It is called "Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual (Mavericks Edition).

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Answer 2

Strawb268

Level 4

1,464 points

Jan 7, 2014 3:51 PM in response to cali87

➕1 on sberman's advice about waiting. No one knows for sure what the 2014 MBA's will have (my guess is that they will have retina displays - but that is just a guess based on what Apple have done with the MacBook Pros). The big development has happened in 2013, and that was Haswell with its much improved battery life.

As for adapting to Mac, well I used PCs from the very early days in the 1980's until about 2006, when I got a Macbook. Took me no more than a couple of days use to get to grips with the basics - Macs are very intuitive. I am now 100% Mac with iMac, Macbook Pro and iPhone. Wouldn't go back to a PC for all the tea in China!!

There are big differences from Windows, but you are already doing the learning about many of these and the aforementioned intuitive nature of OSX is such that you will adapt faster than you expect.

MS Office for Mac is very similar to the Windows version and should feel familiar from the start.

I also recommend David Pogues books, he produces some of the most readable and informative guides to the Mac and OSX.

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