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Former Marine Looking To Buy A Mac Has Questions

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
by Chris Pirillo

Gnomie Frank Sims writes:

Chris,

I have watched your videos on Macs and I still feel like I have questions and some comments.

I think one of the biggest reasons that people around my age (28) don’t switch from PC to Mac is because of the file systems and their differences. As far as my background goes, I started using a Mac before PC. Apple donated a crapload of computers to my high school and I was the second class to graduate from there. The important thing is that 12 students including myself built the school’s first Web site with these donated Macs, so I was pretty comfortable with the Mac. Then later on I went to the USMC and ended up learning Windows. So I have been using Windows ever since.

So now, because I’ve had no other options for so long, I’ve gotten used to using the Windows OS. I am not some crazy hardcore computer fanatic, but I know my way around Windows pretty well… at least for troubleshooting problems very accurately. But the issue of finding someone to let you know, “Hey, don’t ever, ever mess with that file” and, “Oh, that’s one you can do whatever with” really helps people like me because we like to troubleshoot our own problems. Losing that ability would be like tying our hands behind our backs and throwing us to the wolves! I like to know what I am going to get myself into with my files on my computer before I do something stupid, and I suspect many people around my age feel the same way.

So when I’m on a Mac, I get freaked out because I have no idea what some file extensions are or what they do — so what happens if I move something to the wrong place? I might get lucky and make a quick fix, but what if, because of my inexperience with these Mac-centric file extension types, I make something irreparably worse?

I know from my older Mac days that it’s an overall “friendlier” system — the OS is faster, more stable, and just “better,” and the user interface compared with Vista? Much cleaner and simpler. Let’s not even get started on how much I hate Vista!

So this is the deal. I am a geology student at Texas A&M University and all of my professors and about 40% of my fellow students have Macs. They have awesome freeware that can render awesome 3-D modeling and geology graphics.

I use Maple 11 and other math intensive programs… but Windows still kills me in two ways: Microsoft Money — I have six years of financial data and all I want to do is just run the program without having to go through Vista — and I like some games that are PC-only. Is there a way to use just Microsoft programs in OS X? When playing games, what will the heat be like? Why is 1440 x 900 the highest screen resolution? How does the new MacBook Pro integrated graphics processor power and dedicated work together? And if I install Vista on it through Boot Camp will Vista detect the graphics cards properly?

I think this is a switch in which I have to talk myself through with someone. Maybe some of your Apple fanatics have advice?

Thanks in advance!

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