Okay, it has been just over a week since Michele and I took the Apple plunge by purchasing a Powerbook G4 and 17 inch wide screen iMac. Michele was able to transfer all her files and leave her Windows ME machine behind in just a couple of days. I managed to convert and transfer my e-mail files, and copy over all of my data files, with only a little difficulty.
On Friday I unplugged my Windows XP Pro desktop and took it out of the room. I am now totally dependently on Mac OS X and my new Powerbook. So far this has been a wonderful experience.
Jaguar is very easy on the eyes and very easy to use. There are some functions that I am having a hard time adapting to and others are far easier than Windows. Installing software is amazingly simple. Removing software is just as easy.
I was stunned at how easy it was to hook up a second monitor to the Powerbook. Plug in the cord and instantly spread the desktop across two monitors. No software to install, no setting to fuss with. It just works. Every USB device I have plugged in has worked the first time. My Nomad Jukebox MP3 player worked without any software installation at all. On Windows I had to install software and re-boot twice before it worked at all. On the Powerbook I just plugged in the USB cord and turned on the player. Wow.
Michele is playing a couple of games that are OS 9 based. The “classic” environment within OS X works perfectly. She is able to bounce between the two operating systems without any trouble.
One area of difficulty was our printer. We had an HP OfficeJet T45 multi-function printer. It was just old enough to not include a USB port. I purchased a print server only to discover that it only supported Windows operating systems. Using our Windows ME ThinkPad I was able to configure the print server, but I was not able to get either Mac to print. So we cheated and bought a new HP OfficeJet 6110 all-in-one printer. Except for having to go back to the store to get a USB A/B cord to attach it with, its install was simple and we are now both printing again.
I am very pleased to have taken this step forward.