Bill V
Well-Known Member
My wife and I have a Dell PC. It's about six years old. It's running Windows XP. It's served us well, and continues to do so--when it's running properly. However, the last few months, it's taken a habit of having severe difficulties booting up or coming out of sleep mode. You move the mouse to activate the screen, type in the password, and then, sometimes (especially if the computer has been unused for some time), you wait. And wait. 15 - 30 minutes isn't unusual. Sometimes you need to reboot and start that process over. Sometimes it won't/can't reboot--you need to pull the power cord, replug, reboot, and start the process over. It's ridiculous.
We've tried adaware. We've tried ccleaner. We've tried www.windowsstartup.com. We've uninstalled anything we don't regularly use. We've defragged. We've moved all our photos off the primary hard drive to an external one to free up space for virtual memory. We've used msconfig to remove unnecessary startup programs. We've played with swap drive/virtual memory. And, most importantly, we've had it.
We're now looking to get a new machine. And we keep hearing people tell us, "You should get a Mac--you won't have those problems." And we're considering it, but we don't know enough about it. The last Mac I used was in 1986, with a small integrated black-and-white screen and this new fangled thing called a 3.5" disk drive.
Are they truly that much more problem-free for the typical, non-computer-geek people like us?
Will we have any difficulties with compatibility if we transfer our Firewire external hard drive that contains our photo and music libraries?
I've heard from people that Windows software can run on Macs. Is this true? If so, why do they even bother having Mac versions of software, rather than just have one universal version? Are resulting data files from Mac software compatible with the equivalent software from Windows? (For example, if I work on a Word or Excel file at home using MAC Office, and I then e-mail it to work, will I have any difficulties opening it there using Office for Windows?)
How expandible are they? For example, if I want to add an HDTV tuner card, it doesn't look like they would physically fit inside the case/monitor. Is it possible? Do they generally accept the same expansion components?
The last couple years, our family's computer usage has been pretty limited--internet, music, photos, some minor Office-type stuff, checkbook, and some kids games (which, seeing that the oldest kid is currently 4 years old, is pretty limited so far, both in quantity and complexity). We'd like to possibly expand more as far as video usage--HDTV and PVR, for example. Are we a good Mac fit? Or are we better off sticking with PCs? As I said, we're not computer geeks, and have no desire to become computer geeks.
Any and all feedback/suggestions/questons/etc. will be greatly appreciated!
--Bill
We've tried adaware. We've tried ccleaner. We've tried www.windowsstartup.com. We've uninstalled anything we don't regularly use. We've defragged. We've moved all our photos off the primary hard drive to an external one to free up space for virtual memory. We've used msconfig to remove unnecessary startup programs. We've played with swap drive/virtual memory. And, most importantly, we've had it.
We're now looking to get a new machine. And we keep hearing people tell us, "You should get a Mac--you won't have those problems." And we're considering it, but we don't know enough about it. The last Mac I used was in 1986, with a small integrated black-and-white screen and this new fangled thing called a 3.5" disk drive.
Are they truly that much more problem-free for the typical, non-computer-geek people like us?
Will we have any difficulties with compatibility if we transfer our Firewire external hard drive that contains our photo and music libraries?
I've heard from people that Windows software can run on Macs. Is this true? If so, why do they even bother having Mac versions of software, rather than just have one universal version? Are resulting data files from Mac software compatible with the equivalent software from Windows? (For example, if I work on a Word or Excel file at home using MAC Office, and I then e-mail it to work, will I have any difficulties opening it there using Office for Windows?)
How expandible are they? For example, if I want to add an HDTV tuner card, it doesn't look like they would physically fit inside the case/monitor. Is it possible? Do they generally accept the same expansion components?
The last couple years, our family's computer usage has been pretty limited--internet, music, photos, some minor Office-type stuff, checkbook, and some kids games (which, seeing that the oldest kid is currently 4 years old, is pretty limited so far, both in quantity and complexity). We'd like to possibly expand more as far as video usage--HDTV and PVR, for example. Are we a good Mac fit? Or are we better off sticking with PCs? As I said, we're not computer geeks, and have no desire to become computer geeks.
Any and all feedback/suggestions/questons/etc. will be greatly appreciated!
--Bill
There are several programs out there for Windows that do the HTPC stuff that you are looking for.
