Help with Mac's

Hey everyone,

Today I was surfing through two of my favorite websites, Machall.com and hawkstudios.net. Surfing though the site I noticed something I hadn't noticed because. They both use Mac's. I began to surf though the internet reading what I could find on Mac's, their useability, how well they perform, what problems they have blahblahblah. They seem pretty solid from what I have found. Here is my question.

I want to learn to use a Mac. And the best way to do that, I think, is to buy one and use it. Now before I go out and spend that money I want to know some things. Such as:

Are there Mac versions of virtually every windows program availible?

I'm in programming classes at school right now, is a Mac able to run programs like Visual Basic, JCreator, and other compilers?

I have a Wireless network set up in my house using a microsoft base station. Can I hook a Mac up to that network?

And if anyone using a Mac could tell me their experience's with thier Mac and what good and bad things their are, I would appreciate it.

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Are there Mac versions of virtually every windows program availible?

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No. But there are a lot that can be run, you'll have to do a few googles on that one.

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I'm in programming classes at school right now, is a Mac able to run programs like Visual Basic, JCreator, and other compilers?

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See previous answer.

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I have a Wireless network set up in my house using a microsoft base station. Can I hook a Mac up to that network?

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Yes.


Greetz & Respect.

even if not all the Windows programs are available, you can always buy Virtual PC, which will allow you to run Windows software on your Mac.

A few other things...

I find Macs a lot easier to use, no Registry, no need to update BIOS, to uninstall a program all you have to do is drag its icon to the Trash (Recycle Bin).

Also, there's no "activation" to deal with or constant reminders ecouraging you to join .Net, Passport or some other Microsoft database.

I'd encourage you to get hold of a Mac magazine. Not sure if you can get hold of it, but January's Macworld has an article about people switching to Macs.

Think I'm biased? Then you're right :D

Another solution that a couple of people I know have done is to find a used Mac, preferably from a used computer store. Depending on your finances, it probably wouldn't cost much more than a used PC, and you might have to settle for one of the older Mac OS's.

I'm not that familiar with Apple and whether a newer old machine can handle OSX. No doubt, like XP, there will be a power cut off, below which it won't be feasible to install OSX.

I've heard from people that you can't do any port surfing, pinging, and telnet with a Mac....is this true?