Perfect for the PC to Mac Switch

I really like my Mini Mac! It is small and does not take up much space at all (less than a laptop). I have the new Leopard operating system which is very nice and much better than Windows XP.

The CD/DVD is very smooth, not noisy at all and you do not have to worry about eject buttons. Simply drag the CD/DVD icon from the desktop to the trash bin and the CD/DVD ejects on its own! Very cool.

I agree with the other review about getting the apple keyboard and mouse as they contain some great features to work with the different functions that apple has versus windows (such as ejecting your CD/DVD, the command key, etc.). I do not have the wireless keyboard or mouse from apple, yet, but I do plan on obtaining this.

UPDATE: I purchased an apple keyboard and mouse (not wireless) used on ebay and have been using it for a couple of days now. Having the apple keyboard does help (especially for former windows users) as it has its own commands for copy and paste and the apple keyboard has this in the same place as a pc keyboard would -- that has helped a lot. The mouse is not something I care for because it does not have a right mouse button nor does it scroll. I will definitely obtain a replacement for the mouse. I do love how the mouse looks and feels, though. Another great feature of the apple keyboard is that it has two usb ports so the mouse connects right to the keyboard.

I am using a ViewSonic flat screen monitor and it works flawlessly with the mini mac. I had a wireless microsoft mouse but it did not get along with my mac very well and I plugged up a wired mouse for now. Also my HP PSC 1610v printer does not like the mac at all. This is not a huge loss since the printer was giving me tons of problems with my former pc. After quite a bit of research it appears Canon printers work very well with Macs.

My biggest complaint with Mac is that they should include iWorks along with iLife because word processing programs are not included. It only has a simple little text program much like notepad on windows. That was a let down but there are so many other features that outweigh this complaint.
Also, check for NeoOffice as it is freeware and will open Microsoft documents and allow you to print them.

UPDATE: An update on the software situation . . . the newer versions of Mac have a very cool feature called Bootcamp Assistant which creates a partition on your harddrive so that you can load Windows and run windows based software. You have to have the "Intel" processor on your Mac to do this. The newer Apple computers do have this . . . I have partitioned my harddrive (bootcamp assistant makes this super easy -- even for a beginner!) and purchased Windows XP Home software (get this on ebay because it is about $100 cheaper than in stores) or if you are a student pick this up at your Universities Computer or Bookstore. I was able to load my PC programs such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop CS3 and they all run just fine. Another plus was that I now have Money again and I like that far better than Quicken. I get the best of both worlds . . . Mac and Windows! There is also another program you can purchase called Parallels that allows you to go back and forth between the Mac and Windows operating systems. Also, my printer is now working on the Windows side but I'm still have mechanical problems with the printer so I will get a Canon soon.

Another great program for the MAC is openoffice.org as it will run Word, Powerpoint and Excel files. It is free with a nice "Microsoft Office" feel.

A great feature with the MAC iLife that comes with your most Macs is the iPhoto program that has a very nice "retouch" feature. It is a simple "brush" that removes "spots" from your photo. I took a picture of a black suede mini sofa and it showed a few spots of lint and I just ran the brush over the lint spots and "poof" they were gone. I did not have to try and match colors or anything. Very nice feature.

The mail program that comes with the MAC is very easy to use and much like Outlook Express. You can also easily transport your address book from your PC by saving them in the comma delimited format and then importing them into the Mac address book.

I also really LOVE the leopard format -- it is so much better and easier to use than Windows.