As
our new intern Michael Ervin points out today in his
first column, switching to the Mac can be expensive...especially
if you want
to dive into all that Mac wholesome goodness right off the
bat. But what if you're on a budget, yet you're dying to get
out from
under the weight of the Windows world? Can a jump to the Mac
platform be accomplished on the cheap? Today, I want to take
a look at that. I suppose the best way to do so is to go point
by point, and then add up the totals. Take the journey with me:
The
Mac itself
The first
requirement of switching to the Mac is, of course, actually
buying a Mac. If you're coming from the Windows world, your
first instinct might be that you need to go for a G5 minitower.
But it turns out that both the iMac and the eMac run on quite
powerful G4 processors, likely more power than you'll need
unless you plan on running an animated render farm out of your
basement. And sure, the G5 has all those extra expandability
slots, but the iMac and eMac can be upgraded with loads of
extra RAM, wireless access, and any FireWire or USB device
you want to add. In other words, they provide more expandability
than most users will ever need, which means that they're probably
your ideal machine.
So what exactly
is the difference between the iMac and the eMac? Simple: the
iMac comes with an LCD "flat-screen".
Beyond that, they're the same machine. If you're on a budget,
the eMac, with its traditional 17 inch screen, is your machine.
And guess what? The base model, though it doesn't burn DVD's,
does just about everything you could imagine...including
burning CD's and playing DVD movies. And it comes with all
the same
great Mac-only software as its more expensive Mac counterparts.
So, if you're looking to switch on a budget, the base eMac
is
your machine. And its price? A surprisingly modest $799.
In fact, even less if you're a college
student, an educator,
or
Mac User Group member.
Printer
Here's where
you'll probably get lucky. If your current printer
has a USB port on it, then the odds are well over ninety percent
that it will work with your new Mac. That's right, you can
take that same printer that you've been using with your PC,
and use it with a Mac. Well, that's if you're lucky
enough to have a USB port on your printer. But nearly every
printer sold in the past four years does. In fact, even if
your printer is connected to your PC via the old parallel port,
it might also have a USB port on it, in which case you'd only
have to buy the cable for $10. And while the odds are that your
printer didn't come with up-to-date Mac drivers (or that you
threw the CD away a long time ago), these drivers can always
be downloaded for free from the printer company's website.
In
fact, you'll
find that many printers will work with your Mac without having
to install anything at all (if you don't believe me, just give
it a try).
If your existing
printer doesn't do USB (or if you don't currently have a printer
at all), you're still not out of luck. At any given time, the
odds are
good that your local
Apple store will be offering a free HP or Epson printer with
the
purchase of a Mac, as part of a promotion. And if that's
not the case, you can check with CompUSA, or search the web
for
some other Mac vendor that is offering a free printer with
your Mac. So by using your existing printer and possibly
needing to buy a cable, or by hunting down a free one through
a promotion,
your "printer" cost of switching can be as little as...$0
to $10. If you need help finding a free printer
promotion at the time you go to buy your Mac, don't be afraid
to ask.
Digital
Camera
Here's where
you either get lucky...or you don't. If your digital camera
comes with a USB port and cable, the odds are good that it
will work with your Mac. The cool part of being a Mac user
is that you don't have to rely on the cruddy software that
came with the camera; Apple's iPhoto blows it away easily,
and works with most USB-based cameras. Even if your camera
doesn't say anything about Mac compatibility on the box, the
odds are still in your favor. Still, you'll want to check
Apple's digital camera compatibility
list to make sure.
If your camera's
not on the list, all is not lost. Assuming your camera has
some kind of removable memory card (any kind, actually), you
can purchase a USB memory card reader that will allow you to
pull the card out of the camera and have the computer read
it. These card readers vary in price depending on which of
the half-dozen or so types of memory cards you have, but generally
st you back no more than thirty bucks. Just be sure to buy
the right kind: with CompactFlash, SmartDisk, MemoryStick,
and others out there, it can get confusing fast. There's
all kinds of "incompatibility" in the computing universe, well
beyond the old "Mac vs. PC" stuff. ;)
So what if
you don't already have a digital camera? Well, you were getting
by without one on your PC, so you can do without it on your
Mac...if
you truly are on a budget. Think of it as something that you
can add to your arsenal down the road. iPhoto, and all
its magic, will be waiting for you when you're ready. But for
those of you who already have one, the "digital camera" cost
of switching clocks in at $0 to
$30.
Digital
camcorder
Thanks to
Apple's participation in the creation of the original MiniDV/FireWire
standard, every digital camcorder on earth works with Apple's
iMovie. And unlike with many new PC's, your new Mac will already
have the FireWire port built-in, meaning that you don't have
to add a FireWrie card. Welcome to a standards-based platform.
Cost: $0.
Word
processor
While Microsoft
Word is perhaps the "only" word processor on the Windows platform,
Mac users have more choice in the matter. You certainly can
get MS Word for your Mac if you want to, and it sure will be
100% compatible with anything typed on MS Word on a PC. But
every
consumer
Mac comes with AppleWorks 6.2, and while it doesn't have all
the convoluted "features" of MS Word, many users see that as
an advantage. AppleWorks gets out of the way and allows the
user to actually get some work done. And while files created
in AppleWorks aren't fully "compatible" with MS Word, ask yourself
this: how often do you exchange word processing documents with
Windows users? A few of you will have to break down and purchase
MS Office for your new Mac, or to give AppleWorks' often-successful
translation capabilities a try. But most of you will never
need to touch an MS Word document with a ten-foot pole, meaning
that your "word processor" cost of switching can easily be
$0.
Spreadsheet
It's largely
the same scenario as above. While Excel is not hated nearly
as much as Word, it's still something that most consumers can
live without. And AppleWorks also comes with a (less powerful)
spreadsheet of its own, which will allow most switchers to
survive this category while only spending $0.
Other
software
Here's where
it gets tricky. While most of your existing software is also
available for the Mac, you're currently stuck with the Windows
version. Unless the software is specifically marked as also
being Mac-compatible,
it's not. So you've got to repurchase all of it, right? Well,
not really. Every Mac comes with a bunch of software already
installed that can make much of your existing Windows-based
library unnecessary. The lousy digital photography software
you've been using? iPhoto eliminates
the
need for
that. Any consumer-level drawing and painting programs you've
got? AppleWorks (once again the hero of the day) has great
ones built-in. You're using something to keep track of your
appointments? iCal (think "iCalendar", not "iCalRipken" or
"iCalvinandHobbes") has that covered. You like using Quicken
or WorldBook Encyclopedia? No problem. Consumer Macs come with
both titles
already installed.
So where
do you run into trouble? Video games. Kids' software. Titles
you bought out of a bargain bin at Brandsmart. Stuff you picked
up at a garage sale. Ask yourself how often you use each of
those titles, and whether it's enough to keep you from the
joy of becoming a Mac user. Unless the reason you're on a budget
is the fact that you spent your life savings on Windows-based
software, the odds are good that you'll be able to say goodbye
to all of it. If you miss your games, you'll be comforted by
the fact that consumer Macs come with Tony Hawk Pro Skater
4, Deimos Rising, and Chess already installed. And at this
moment, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Tony
Hawk himself is a die-hard Mac user. What's cooler than
that?
Lastly, keep
in mind that titles such as Acrobat Reader, RealPlayer,
and Windows Media Player are all free downloads that you can
quickly add to your new Mac, if you so desire. So while there's
no guarantee that
you'll be able to switch to the Mac without having to buy any
new
software,
the
odds
are probably
better than you'd have thought. Even assuming that you might
have to purchase the Mac versions of two or three of your favorite
titles, the "software" cost of switching will likely come in
somewhere between $0 and $100.
Internet
This category
inspires perhaps the most confusion of any aspect of switching
to the Mac. Fortunately, it also provides fantastic news: switching
your internet service over to the Mac won't cost you one red
cent. Popular dial-up services such as AOL, MSN, and Earthlink
all offer Mac versions of their internet software -- just call
and ask them to send it to you. For that matter, the AOL installer
comes pre-loaded on your new Mac. And for those of you who
prefer to use the "real" Internet, the news is even better.
While the Mac does come with Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple's
own Safari browser renders web pages faster than you've ever
seen, and is more intuitive, to boot. If you prefer an alternate
browser such as Netscape or Mozilla, those are all
available for the Mac as well. And they're all free downloads.
So what about
those of you with Cable modem or DSL? No problem. Every Mac
comes with an ethernet port built-in, meaning that in most
cases you can simply pull the ethernet cable out of your
old PC, plug it into your Mac, and you're surfing instantly.
Some
providers have to do a bit of activation on their end to
allow your existing modem to talk to a new computer, so you
might
want to call them just in case. There's also something out
there called a USB modem, which was invented specifically
for all the PC users who don't have ethernet ports on their
computer. Well, you do have ethernet on your new
Mac, and USB is not an ideal interface for networking in
the first
place. So if you're stuck with a USB modem, call your provider
and tell
them you want to swap it out for a real, or should I say,
ethernet, modem. The good news is that USB-only modems were
a short-lived
tragedy; many newer high-speed modems have both ethernet
and USB ports. If you're confused, call your provider, tell
them
that you
have a Mac and you want to use ethernet, and go from there.
On top of
the fact that moving your internet service to the Mac won't
cost you anything, you'll soon discover that the Mac also
comes with all-purpose Internet tools like Sherlock, and souped-up
instant messaging tools such as iChat AV. And if
you've been using an email program such as Outlook Express,
don't
worry:
Apple
provides
a free email program simply called "Mail". It's better than
you've been using. So no matter how you look at it, your "Internet"
cost of switching is a
whopping
$0.
Speakers
So perhaps
the reason that you're currently cash-strapped is that you
went out and bought a $300, seven-piece, surround-sound speaker
system for your PC. Are you going to be able to use that for
your Mac? Unless you can recall having dismantled your old
PC and
installing
an extra card just to make the speakers work, the answer is
yes. Macs sport the same standard one-eighth-inch sound jack
that PC's do. So unplug them and see how much better they sound
connected to your new Mac, with its superior built-in
core audio. And don't worry -- even if you've never owned external
computer speakers in your life, the eMac comes with a pair
of tweeters built-in that will get the job done. This category
coughs up another goose-egg for switchers: $0.
Multi-button
mouse
So you bought
one of those nine-button freakish mice for your PC, and you
don't want to give it up. Well, if it's USB-based (most modern
mice are), you don't have to. Or perhaps you're just so used
to having a two-button scroll mouse on your old PC that you
just can't get used to the one-button beauty that comes with
every new Mac. The answer that will suffice for most switchers
is that the Mac interface is so well-designed that you'll rarely,
if ever, need to right-click for any reason. And the answer
for the rest of you is that you can head over to your local
department store and purchase literally any USB-based two-button
scroll wheel mouse
(CompUSA's
house brand is priced at $14.99), and
use it with your Mac right out of the box...whether the mouse
is "supposed" to be Mac-compatible or not. Your cost here will
be somewhere between $0 and $15. But if you give the single-button
life a chance, the odds are good that you'll grow to appreciate
the simplicity of it all. Give it a few weeks before giving
up on it.
Stuff
you're less likely to own
Everyone
has at least one rarely-used peripheral that doesn't fit
into one of the above categories. Will your old flatbed scanner
work? Maybe, if it's USB. Will your old Rio 600 mp3 player
work with your new Mac? Yes, believe it or not. I know, because
I still have one (although it sits in a drawer somewhere,
while my iPod never leaves my side). The truth is, there's
a whole
laundry
list of oddball PC-based peripherals that might or might not
work
with
your new Mac, but on the other hand they might not work with
a new PC, either.
Obsolescence
over time is a fact of life in the computer industry, whether
you're using a Mac or a
PC -- there's no way around it. But as with some of the weirder
software that you own, you have to ask yourself whether
hanging onto it is worth costing you the opportunity to switch
to
the
Mac, with its better interface, better software, better
hardware, better user community...well, you get the idea. Remember
that you're
trying to pull this off on a budget, and that you can always
add more software and devices later. Trust me, once you see
how
much of the computing universe has suddenly become unlocked
for you simply by virtue of switching to the Mac, you'll
want to add a few new toys. But do that later on! For now,
just
get yourself over to the Mac, so that you can start figuring
out exactly which of your newfound opportunities you're
most likely to want to sink money into later.
One more thing...
If you do
buy the low-end eMac, you'll find that it comes with 128 MB
of RAM. While this is enough for your basic word processing
and web surfing, you'll find yourself wanting more power, the
minute you jump into more adventurous software. There's no
such thing as "out of memory" error messages on a Mac, but
128 MB won't give you the speed you want if you start using
multiple pieces of software at one time. You can fix this in
advance by going one of two routes: either buy
an extra
128 MB of wholesale RAM over the internet for about $20 and
install it yourself (or have someone
like me do it for you),
or convince your salesman that
he's
much more likely to sell you that Mac if he finds a way to
convince his manager to not only give you an extra 128MB of
RAM for cheap, but have it installed for you at no charge.
While there's no real point in haggling with your salesman
over the price of your new Mac (he's not allowed to budge unless
it's something like an open-box or demo model special), extra
RAM is the one thing that he can give you a break
on -- even in an Apple Store (I've seen it with my own eyes,
believe it or not).
But if you're
not the negotiating type and you don't feel like installing
cheap RAM yourself, consider ordering your new Mac from one
of the online vendors such as ClubMac, MacConnection, MacWarehouse,
CDW, or others. Online vendors love to give away extra RAM
as a way of distinguishing themselves from the competition.
So, depending on where you buy, and how savvy you are, your
cost of getting an extra 128 MB of RAM can be anywhere from
$0 to $20.
The
Grand Total
Let's add
everything up, shall we? You
can bring a brand new eMac into your life, with a 17 inch screen,
CD
burner, DVD player, large hard drive, full array of USB, FireWire,
modem, and ethernet ports, along with a G4 processor that's
probably significantly faster than what you're getting out
of your current PC, for a mere $799. Even if you have to purchase
a USB cable to make your old printer work, a card reader to
make your old digital camera compatible, and a two-button mouse
to sustain your right-clicking habit, all of that should set
you back no more than $55. Adding extra RAM could
cost you another $20. And you just might have to blow $100
to replace a few key software titles if you're not fortunate
enough
to find equivalents pre-installed. You could always spend more,
but remember, you're trying to do this on a budget.
Acording
to my trusty calculator (yet another software title that comes
free with every Mac), that all adds up to $974, leaving you
comfortably under the thousand dollar mark with enough left
over to score
yourself
a Sponsor Membership in the billpalmer.net
online MUG. (don't worry, if you really are on
a budget, General Membership in the online MUG is free). But
the best part of switching on a budget is that of all the above
possible costs of switching, some or all of them won't apply
to you. If you're lucky enough to find yourself in just the
right situation, switching to the Mac won't cost you a penny
above
the eMac's $799 price tag.
At least
not until down the road, when the beauty of iPhoto causes you
to want a top-shelf digital camera, and the simplicity of iTunes
makes you yearn for your very own iPod...but you can address
all of that later. For now, junk plunk down the $974, or $799,
or whatever your particular cost of "switching on a budget"
might be, and join the rest of us on a computing platform
that can turn even the most technology-averse user into an
enthusiastic Mac addict.
Click here
to read Bill's Blog.
If you've
got potential switchers in your family or circle of friends,
you might want to share this article with them. Even if they're
not on as tight of a budget as the one outlined above, reading
this just might get them to realize that being a Mac user
doesn't have to be nearly as expensive as one might think.
The days of the $2500 entry-level Mac, and the $400 printer
with the proprietary connector, are over.
Several readers
will want to quibble with the various estimates I've provided
above, but keep in mind that this is merely a guide to switching
"on a budget", meaning that not every whim and desire can be
addressed. But if you feel something above needs to be adjusted
or expanded upon (or if you want to share your own story of
how you successfully moved to the Mac without breaking the
bank), just give me a
shout,
or share your thoughts over on the billpalmer.net
discussion boards. And if you haven't
joined the online
MUG yet, then you're not among the 308 coolest
Mac users on earth.
