MacBook Pro Taking the Plunge to the World of MacBook

[bballrob]

I saw another thread about switching but thought I'd like my own thread for my questions so decided to start a new one.

I've been on windows computers for as long as i can remember. My family had an Apple II+ when I was growing up, purchased in 1980 or 81 I believe, but that was the last time we owned an Apple product. My father purchased an IBM compatible machine when I was in high school in the late 1980s and I've been on windows ever since.

I think I'm ready to make the switch to MacBook now, and probably in the fall get an iMac for the family at home. . After hearing the new iPad announcement yesterday and deciding that I can get by with my iPad 2 and don't need to upgrade, I believe the change is imminent. I do have a couple of questions.

First, I have a fair number of Microsoft office documents(Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). Is there a compatible program for the MacBook that these can transfer to?

Second, how easy will it be to transfer my iTunes library from a windows laptop to a MacBook?

Finally, what size and specs do you recommend? I will primarily be using this for word processing and spreadsheet building, web surfing, and music library management. I don't have a need for any powerful graphics really. Also, will documents created on my new MacBook be compatible across to the windows/Microsoft office platform?

I'm happy to take any and all advice you all may have. I was down on Mac products and Apple products for a very long time. But then I bought my first iPhone a few years ago, and have found the Apple products to be good quality and customer service from Apple has always been great. I purchased the original iPad the day after it came out with 3G models, and made my kids sit in line at Walmart the day of the iPad 2 release for 5 hours so that I could get one of the 6 they had for sale in our small town.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I currently have an hp/compaq desktop at home and an HP photosmart plus printer. Will my new MacBook talk to these, especially the printer? The laptop this will replace is actually a little Toshiba netbook.

Thanks in advance for your replies and assistance as I take the plunge.

 

[bballrob]

I should also add that my nearest Apple Store is 3 hours away. I will be driving up there each of the next 2 weekends, so I anticipate being able to do a little bit of a "reconnaissance" mission this weekend and possibly pull the trigger on the deal the following weekend. There is also a Best Buy up there which I think carries them.

 

[ripsqueak]

I took the plunge last fall and haven't regretted it since. In fact, I find it harder going back to windows now after becoming accustom to the mac OS very easy.

I have Microsoft Office for MAC installed. You can also bootcamp windows to have both systems if you desire. Info here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1461?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

As for printers,etc..almost all external hardware like that comes with both driver options to install via Windows or Mac. So that really shouldn't be a problem.

As for Specs...Personally for me, I'm the same way & since this was my first mac I didn't want to dive into buying the latest & greatest especially if it wasn't to work out. So I bought an used but in basically mint condition mid-2009 13inch with 2.26 GH, C2 Duo, 4GB memory, 500GB storage. Even though this has been an excellent experience for me, I don't feel the need (right now) to upgrade to any later models. It definitely suits my needs which are basically the same as yours with added light/medium use in graphic & web designing. 13 inch is a good size for me, anything that requires anything larger I would take to the desktop. Only thing I am planning to upgrade on this would be to max out the memory. I don't need much storage since I like to keep my important files on an external hard drive--being on windows for so many years left me pretty much paranoid as hell on losing anything on my computer.

Hope this helps in any small way. You definitely won't regret the plunge!

 

[ripsqueak]

And Im a dope that didn't realize this original post was from March. My bad. Did you end up getting a new mac? if so, how is it?