Switching to the Mac can be expensive 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 Apple's eMac runs on a quite powerful G4 processor, 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 eMac can be upgraded with loads of extra RAM, wireless access, and any FireWire or USB device you want to add. In other words, it provides more expandability than most users will ever need, which means that even if you're not on a budget, the eMac is quite possibly your ideal machine.
You might have heard the news by now that Apple will be coming out with a brand new iMac in September. But the new iMac will be based on a G5 processor, and isn't expected to do much of anything to suit the needs of the budget-conscious. So if you're on enough of a budget that you actually need to know the cost of the computer before buying it, then the eMac, with its 17 inch flat-CRT 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. And unlike some computer companies (Dell comes immediately to mind), when Apple says $799, it actually means $799. No non-existent rebates, no bait-and-switch tactics, none of that.
Printer
Here's where you'll almost definitely 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 probably get lucky again. If your digital camera comes with a USB port and cable, the odds are really 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 (free with every new Mac) 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. Believe it or not, there are camera makers out there so ignorant they they aren't aware that their own product works seamlessly with a Mac. 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 of card, 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, and most of it has nothing to do with "Mac vs. PC" issues.
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 FireWire 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 some of the more complicated documents you might create 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 nearly as much of a piece of crap as MS Word, it's still something that most consumers can live without. And AppleWorks also comes with a spreadsheet program of its own (less powerful than Excel but more straightforward), 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 are in fact 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.
Heck, the Mac probably comes with more software pre-installed (at no cost to you) than you've ever even purchased for your PC. Rarely does one have to buy a Mac, and then run around buying software to go with it. As I said earlier in the article, when buying a Mac, $799 really does mean $799.
So where might 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 Camino or Mozilla, those are all available for the Mac as well. And they're all free downloads.
So what about those of you with a 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, as a Mac user, 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, or have gone back to ethernet entirely. If you're confused, call your internet provider, tell them that you have a Mac and you want to use its ethernet port, and go from there. If any company tells you differently, they're full of crap. Please let me know about it if it happens, so that I can work with them to get their story straight.
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. I mean, how many PCs do you know of that come with free video-conferencing software? 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 whatever 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 built-in speakers 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 for most switchers is that the Mac interface is so well-designed that you'll rarely, if ever, need to right-click on a Mac 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. Windows is so poorly-designed that you need that second button just to make things work; the Mac is not. Give the one-button mouse 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, more knowledgeable 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.
The Grand Total
Let's add everything up, shall we? You can bring a brand new eMac into your life, with a 17 inch flat-CRT 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 in the worst case scenario, if you have to purchase a USB cable to make your old printer work(unlikely), a card reader to make your old digital camera compatible (unlikely), and a two-button mouse to sustain your right-clicking bad habit (please don't), all of that should set you back no more than $55. 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.
According to my trusty on-screen scientific calculator (yet another software title that comes free with every Mac), that all adds up to $954, leaving you comfortably under the thousand dollar mark with enough left over to score yourself a fancy steak dinner for two to celebrate your entrance into the Macintosh universe. But the best part of switching on a budget is that of all the above possible costs of switching, many 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 $954, 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 personal computing aficionado.
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.
