Moving from Dell/Xp to Apple iMac

[carpedeum]

Hi,

My main home PC, a Dell Tower (great purchase in 2002) running on XP in use every day for long periods (two teenagers + one 9 year old + me, an old IT dog - all IT literate) is giving up the ghost. I am seriously thinking investing in an Apple desktop. No hands-on experience of Apple or it's OS, but, hear great reports.

I know there are threads on this, but, I want an update (post Leopard etc). Other PC's (three laptops) in house are running on XP and one on Linux. We would have a lot of data files (MS Office, Project,) plus '000's of photographs and 000's of MP3's.

I'm just checking this: has anyone experienced problems migrating data from XP to Apple OS?

Has anyone tips regarding the configuration (video adaptor, ram, disk, monitor) I should purchase? Main uses are e-mail + web, internediate Excel and Word level, a lot of photography stuff (incl. a daughter hoping to do a degree in photography), movie editing, MS-Project etc. Gaming has moved to X-Box so isn't a worry.

Does OpenOffice run okay on Apple or is there an equivalent?

Are there specific routers that are better (currently Netgear Range Max WiFi)? We have external drives + Canon SLR's too which I assume will connect no bother.

Re purchasing, via the net or a recommended dealer?

Apols for simple questions, but, many thanks in advance.

 

[ClubMan]

Have you Googled for info on some/all of these queries? If you do then you will find lots of info. Sorry to state what may be obvious to some people but sometimes it's not to others...

 

[carpedeum]

Thanks Clubman. Google and IT geek forums are other channels I am also exploring. It's just that the askaboutmoney community has been very good to me in the past!

 

[Diziet]

I moved from a PC to a MAC for work with no problems. I love the MAC!

I used NeoOffice (OpenOffice equivalent). I think OpenOffice will be available on the MAC soon. Photos and MP3s will be fine of corse, and the MAC is great for these. Not sure about project as I have not tried it on a MAC.

There are loads of on line resources. The feel of the MAC is very different to a PC and takes a little time to get used to. But the OS is pretty bombproof, secure and pleasant to use. I would find it hard to go back to a PC now.