Are you asking yourself if you should buy a Mac? Walt Mossberg over at
The Wall Street Journal has put together a 'what to expect list' for an average user that pretty much just wants to surf the web and run typical office programs but is considering switching over to the unfamiliar world of OSX.
Who shouldn't consider the Mac?
Can I run Microsoft Office on a Mac?
Can I use all my Windows files on a Mac?
What minimum specs should I look for on a Mac?
Find the answers to these questions in The Wall Street Journal article here.
I love the Moss, but some of this is just plain misinformation.
On viruses:
"Only a handful, so far, have been written to run on the Mac operating system, OS X."
Actually, none *ever* have successfully targeted OS X. It's certainly possible to install malware on OS X, but it takes so many steps and approvals that you'd have to know you were doing it, no matter what your level of expertise. Don't you think there are plenty of people who would love to bring smug Mac users to their knees? Well, it hasn't happened.
On Outlook:
"But the Mac version of Office omits Outlook. It has a similar program called Entourage, but Entourage can't use Outlook data files."
I work on one of the only Macs in a Windows company, and I don't have any idea what he's talking about. I use Entourage to connect with our Exchange server every day and I have no trouble. The only things I can't do are open .docx files, and nobody not on Office 2007 can do that anyway, and I can't see it when officemates embed surveys in emails, which is stupid anyway and restricted to Outlook 2007 solely, so nobody should be using it for any professional task.
He speaks the truth:
"Apple charges a lot for extra memory, but you can buy it for less at stores and online providers."
That's the god's-honest. No idea why they mark up that one thing like 400%.
I hate to be so nitpicky, but I wouldn't want to see anyone turned away from a Mac because they thought they wouldn't be able to use email anymore or something silly!
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