During the past year many PC users have either switched or have considered switching over to a Mac system. One of the questions that comes up is how hard is the learning curve going to be? Fortunately Apple has a great site that takes some of the pain on making the switch. Called Switch 101 the site states:

Welcome to the Mac family! If you’re a PC user who has just switched to the Mac and want to find out how to adapt your old working habits to the Mac OS, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to Switch 101: The former PC user’s guide to getting the most out of your Mac.

Whether you want to learn how to get around and access everything on your Mac; find out how to move your old PC files to the Mac OS environment; figure out how to connect your printer, iPod, digital camera, or other device; learn how to do those tasks you did on a PC on a Mac; learn how to use the software that came with your Mac; or even find out what to do when things don’t go as planned; we have the answers.

There is also assistance on how to migrate your important files, setup hardware and much more.

Apple Switch 101 site is here.

Over at Lifehacker they have a guide called Hack Attack which has very in depth articles to also assist those in making the change.

Lifehacker can be found here.

If you know of any sites that may also be helpful, please post them in the comments section.

Comments welcome.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X300 is one of the first full size laptops to go up against the thin of the thin, Mac Air. Though the X300 isn’t as thin, it does offer some hardware features that the Mac Air can’t handle because of its thinness. But the X300 still fits inside a standard interoffice envelope and weighs in at just 2.9 lbs when using the 3 cell battery.

What Lenovo has chosen to add to its version of thin might just be more to the liking of businesses and consumers alike. First off is a built-in DVD player/burner. So watching a full length movie during one of those long plane flights is still a viable option. Also the X300 offers three USB ports vs. the Air’s lonely one port.

But the biggest benefit is going to be the user-replaceable battery. The Air doesn’t have this feature, which prohibits users from carrying extra batteries for extended use. This one feature alone is going to make the X300 more attractive in the long run.

Now that Lenovo has released its latest thin laptop, we should expect others to follow relatively soon. These units are expensive compared to standard units so it’s all going to come down to how much you wish to drain your bank account.

Though no complete reviews have been written as of yet, the Crave site has some pictures of the offering from Lenovo here.

Comments welcome.

Here is another one of those WHY questions. The Apple folks are running a commercial on TV with the PC guy and Mac guy at it again. But this time it relates to an alleged fact that Vista runs faster on a Mac. Naturally the PC guy denies this fact and does try to lead us to believe that this isn’t so. Up pops the Apple logo and thus ends the commercial.

Putting aside for one moment the dubious test results being touted as fact, and putting aside also the PC vs Mac debate to which there will never be a clear winner, one needs to ask WHY? Why would anyone want to run Vista on a Mac in the first place, except as a testing platform and bragging rights to say that it can be done? What is the purpose of the commercial?

Maybe I am missing something in the translation. But last night when the commercial aired once again, my wife asked me “why would anyone want to run Vista on a Mac?” I didn’t have an answer for her. Thus again the question goes back to WHY?

For years we have been told from the Mac crowd that the beauty part of using a Mac is the operating system itself. Little is mentioned about the hardware nor the performance capabilities. We have been told that Apple systems are more secure, less prone to infections, and more intuitive with the added benefit of being easier to use. For the most part these assumptions have always been based on the operating system, not the hardware. With Apple using an Intel based system along with its own hardware specifications tuned for the Apple operating system, one would suspect that this is the reason a Mac OS does not function on a standard PC.

My WHY question is not designed to start a Mac vs PC debate. But rather to enlighten me as to WHY anyone should care if Vista runs faster on a Mac than on a PC? Wouldn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of buying a Mac in the first place?

Comments welcome.