Steve says "...feel free..." SO....

I currently have a PIII 450 with a Prophet Video Card, 198 meg ram and 12 Gig HDD.

I have been to the Apple Web site and it Looks like the Mac OS is really superior.

Like many windows users i have my doubts about changing over to MAC OS. It seems i can but, wow, what about all the software and games and such.

I bought a PC in 1991 to play games! i still like to play some of the older stuff Civ, Thief and older still. Not to mention newer stuff.

Will this software operate properly in a MAC enviroment? Do i need emulators or whatever?

Reason is...My wife will be getting Win XP Pro for her ME PC.
I dont want to pay for XP twice. 98SE (i Have) is ok to a point but support is running out.

Any suggestions? Points that i should think about? Please remember i am just starting out on this research to switch..

Thanks Jim:confused:

No, they will not work on MAC.

A friend of mine just bought a MAC G4 with dual 1.2ghz processors and a DVD-RW. It has MAC OSX.

It is a fine machine with a pretty view but...

For every 100 of available Windows software there is maybe 10 for MAC.

So, he has this $3500+ machine that he can play pretty music on and surf the net with MS's IE5 for MAC.

It is pretty though.

Tell your wife to buy you XP pro too or you won't be compatable anymore.......

COME on, fork over the extra $100 bucks to the make Billy richer fund! (oh and $100 for the OS or $3000 for a new MAC SHOULD BE A NO BRAINER :))

(P.S, only go MAC if you don't know jack :)) JUST KIDDING APPLE HEADS!

If you're considering a Mac (bias alert: I learned on a Mac and still love 'em, though I'm a PC man, now), first - as has been implied, MacOS only runs on Mac hardware. It's not like Linux, where there it can be used on different hardware platforms.

As to the question of software, sure there are fewer software titles designed for the Mac, but they are generally pretty good ones (ie- MS Office, Photoshop, Quark, etc - remember, they cater to the graphic design crowd). As far as games, I'd go to your favorite game web-site, and checkout the games you like, and see if they have the Mac compatible versions for them. Game companies will port there games to the Mac platform, but since the user base is smaller, they can't afford to take chances by porting every hit or miss title to it. So, generally you'll only see games that are big sellers make it to the Mac (Unreal, Quake, etc). So, again your choices will be limited, but if the games you like are ported, well, you're in.

There's a lot of propaganda from both sides as to why there OS is superior, so until you use something for yourself it's hard to tell if you'll like it.
Is there an Apple store nearby? Check the Apple website for retailers in your area, then go there and play around on the Macs for a bit. This should tell you if you at least like/hate the feel of it. Further, they offer most of the Mac titles at these stores, so you'll be able to see for yourself if they offer the software that you need to "be productive".

:)

Another thing about Mac's is, their hardware and software prices are more expensive than the PC version.

Mac user for seven years, til I got smart and changed to PC. I got tired of seening on website, to download a favorite piece of software, they said......."if you have a Macintosh go here", in fact, most websites you went to, said the above. :(

A lot of the progies you see for Mac are either not as good as PC ones, or they are beta versions. Unless it's Photoshop, which was created for MAC users. One thing I was able to do, when I switched machine evironments, was just called the software company, (like Adobe) and traded up to windows version. Might try that if you are considering a PC from a MAC. I kept my MAC version, Adobe sent me a PC version. :)

Only piece of hardware that I bought for my PowerPC that was not standard MAC issue was a 2.1gb Western Digital drive (of course it was formatted for my Mac when I received it).

Not sure now about the RAM in those newer machines but in mine (which used simms), could use PC non-parity simms.

And Yes, they do gravitate toward the mulitmedia crowd/newspaper people. :D

However, to add to all this, to anyone considering a Mac, they are great learning machines. If you think a PC intimidates you, buy a MAC first.

Like has been said before, you cannot run a MAC O/S on a PC.

Just my two cents!!

"you cannot run a MAC O/S on a PC"

Sure you can...
http://www.yaromat.de/macos8/

Go to File, Quit when you are done.

That...........scared me.........lol

you should say what's going to do before posting a url.......

Glad it didn't stick.......I would have been really angry!!

I chose to use Micro$oft, and got rid of my MAC (sold to the college I attended).

I heard you can't really run a MAC OS on pc equipment.......now you're telling me I can???

Please explain.....

It was simply a joke and I provided the instructions for use;

"Go to File, Quit when you are done."

For all practical purposes, it was MACOS8 running there. Did you try the game? :p

nope

quite amuzing....