I'm a new immigrant from PC-world into the Mac-world. Just so I'm so utterly attracted to the new Mac that I decided to give it a try. However, I still have some questions regarding leopard/Mac.

I have been doing lots of download with eMule, and my laptop is almost 24/7 running (I know I shouldnt do so with laptop, but... ).

1 - So, is there any p2p programmes like emule for leopards? i.e. aMule.

2 - Does anyone using theirs iMac 24/7 nonstoppedly? I certainly wouldn't want to hurt the precious Mac.

3 - Is doing reboot fast? (to boot into bootcamp and back)

4 - Is "MS Office in Fusion/Parallels with XP" better than "MS Office for Mac" ? and what about transfering MS Office files between Mac and PC?



Those are the questions so far. I know the above questions might sound naive for most experienced Mac Users, but the answers would be very helpful to me.

1. I would not answer, go buy original.
2. No, it will not hurt the Mac. Better with some good UPS with built-in AVR.
3. Yes, it takes around 15 seconds except when booting into Windows.
4. Of course MS Office (2003) for Mac is better.

About transferring MS Office files, you can use USB drives. If other files, such as USB drives, DVD-RWs and also can directly transfer using direct LAN (with some network setting).

Thanks for the reply.

For one thing, I always get the original albums/movies/series that I like, but still, there are those nice series ,e.g.House, ER, etc, that arent available on the market yet nor could get 'em from iTunes Stores. Downloading the pirated copies is the only option I guess.

Btw, what is a UPS and an AVR? AVR = Automatic Voltage Regulator?

If you could not get the media that is not release at the local, you can always try online stores such as eBay. There is no more reason to download illegally unless the content is out of copyright or out of print.

UPS is uninterruptible power supply. It is a battery backup device when the electricity gone blackout. Check this link for more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply

Yes, AVR is automatic voltage regulator that regulates accurate voltage so that your electronic device can last longer.

oh no, those series that I fancy, arent even officially released in DVD yet. i.e. ER season 14?

ah ic, the UPS and AVR. Thanks.

I do not know about that, you can try Amazon. Check their official website about the release.

You are welcome.

Great Tips here

Btw, I read about the screen problems with iMac. Does anyone have that? It isnt that serious I hope?

my imac is opwer for abt 16 hours a day, malas to shut down, and somemore no noise indicatin the mac is on

what sort of problem that u heard??

yeah... put the mac to sleep and done!! no noise sumore... very good liao...

condensation may occur behind the glass. Also some people
report that the colour changes depending on viewing angle.

- yap

Ah, so we just put the iMac to sleep mode? no need to shut down? that's great. but what about the power consumption?

280W maximum. Hey that is far way better than Windows machine.

I could not find the power consumption for sleep mode.

Yea, I read that at the tech spec on apple.com too but doesnt that mean while the Mac is running? so 200/280W continuously?

Anyway, am glad to hear that Mac is quiet when it's running. One of the main dislike for PC is that it always produces a sound, sort of like a high frequency sound or from the cooling fan. It's driving me crazy.

This post has been edited by daenvgiell: Jan 5 2008, 09:24 PM

Read it again, it says maximum continuous power.

Actually every time I turn on my iMac, there is no noise at all. Even using it too. But I have not try peeking on my ears near my iMac to check the noise.

PCs can run quiet too

If you are willing to spend, you can get really silent fans/case that emits close to no noise when running..

True, you need to pay more. But power consumption cannot be as low as the iMac.

This post has been edited by Cello: Jan 6 2008, 03:57 AM

P2p on a mac.. yeah.. there is Tomato torrent and Azureus to name a few.. ask the p2p sifus here and they'll give you their best p2p client on a mac thorough analysis...

running an iMac 24/7... shouldn't be an issue... but i'd think it is the best to put your screen to sleep and the let the processes in the background to run... you would not want the screen to die on you soon enough... this i unless you own the MacPro's which you can get an aftermarket LCD monitor cheaply...

reboot depends on your system... after some time of use the shutdown will be slower in comparison to a newly installed one.. this could be due to fragmented drives, undying processes and many other unexplainable factors... the other option is to go with parallel desktop which i think many will recommend here as you do not need to go through the reboot process to get to windows providing that you have good hardware to run it as it is virtually another computer running concurent with your OS X.

MS office for Mac and MS Office for PC has little compatibility problems except for file links in PowerPoint and Excel.. PowerPoint being more serious...and also commenting in a PC PowerPoint file won't show in PowerPoint for Mac for some reason i still haven't check out...if u use Access in PC you'll be out of luck in Mac....

the other thing is fonts.. some type faces on the Mac can't be used on PC and copying fonts from a Mac to PC is a bit of a complicated process... actually, it just involves right clicking on the folder and archiving it to a zip file so that you get the data forks of the font files... if you like to use those funny and creative fonts that isn't available on both platforms... you'll have to go through the process of finding a fonts converter so that the PC can display the fonts in your document files correctly...

to summarize.. i think if you works less with PC users and do a lot of presentation... iWorks is the way to go as the new 08 already has word processors, spreadsheet (which is new in 08) and also the fantastic Keynotes presentation toold that every mac user is going gaga about... but you'll be shit out of luck when you want to retain the trasition and many other effect available in keynotes if you try to export to file to a powerpoint file...

as for transferring files... i don't know if this answers your question... Mac already supports file sharing with PC meaning it's able to access PC shared folders via SMB and it could also emulate Windows file sharing providing you turn it on under Sharing in System Preferences...

just my 2 cents... and this is as far as i know...

Thanks a bunch! That was really helpful.

Now that I know we use parallels/Fusion to use windows files from OS, what about using Os files in Win? e.g. view a downloaded movie in PC? or present a project/slide show made in Mac office in non intel-Mac PC?

I have to do many assignments using Office and PowerPoint, but most of the people here use PC. So will there be any problems if those are made in Mac Office?

I do not have much to say about this but since you are using Office to work, it is better to use BootCamp to boot into Windows when you wanted to work all the way. So that you are not on Mac OS to be playful with, stay focus your work on Windows.