<p>
</p>
<p>Why? They’re all on GMail, taking up Google’s hard drive space. What if I want to go back to some info from a year back?</p>
<p>I say keep 'em all.</p>
<p>CGM lol I have such a mess. It would be funny if it weren’t so pitiful. First, I have Outlook, and I pull my business email - as well as Verizon personal email which I restrict to just professional groups etc.- into Outlook. That’s where the 15,000-ish currently live. Then, I have gmail - which is web based - that’s my “play” email, which I deliberately do not sync with Outlook. There’s another 2,000 or so email in there. </p>
<p>Then, I have two different CRM systems with even more email files in them. One is web based, the other is standalone software. Oh and just for fun, I have Skype, and I have MSN messenger, so I can chat. Skype is for work and MSN is for play. With the exception of Berurah, who gets to be in my Skype contacts. So if I count carefully, there appears to be contact files stored in seven places, depending on what is the relationship of the person to me. </p>
<p>Somehow, everyone important always gets their email answered, but, I really do not understand how things got to this point. lol.</p>
<p>I’m thinking that with a Mac, I can still have the same disorganized mess, but I will be able to work through it all faster, and it will be more fun. 
</p>
<p>Snowball, I have been wanting a Mac for like three years. My daughter’s Sony laptop crashed sophomore year - right in the middle of reading days prior for final exams - in physics, chem, calculus and something else - end of first semester. We had to make a very fast decision - no time to ship something to her etc. and her college’s support people couldn’t help. I told her how much she could spend and so she made an instant decision to buy a Mac - did so immediately - and she loves it. It’s wonderful. I am amazed how well organized she is, and how quickly she flies through information, and the range of flexibility that she seems to have that I do not have. I watch her use it all the time, and I have been sooooooo jealous.</p>
<p>latetoschool,</p>
<p>If you do buy a Mac, make sure to take advantage of any academic discounts a child or family member may be able to get. 10-15% is a good chunk of change when you buy an expensive laptop!</p>
<p>UCLAri, I am seriously considering buying two. Haven’t discussed with D yet, but, hers is 2.5 years old. In my experience a laptop is great for three years, then it starts to have problems. What do you think? Does a Mac have a longer life cycle? I’m thinking buy two with her student discount…but on the other hand, it might make sense to wait to see if she gets accepted to grad school, or, if she ends up entering the workforce…</p>
<p>My buddy has an old G3 iBook that he still swears works fine, but I don’t know that his productivity levels are as high as mine are on a MacBook Pro…</p>
<p>But it might pay to wait and see if she can’t buy her own. ;)</p>
<p>I also have a G3 iBook (running Mac OS 9) that gets all my work done without problems.</p>
<p>It’s easy to go from Windows to Mac OS. I would switch now because I have heard nothing but bad about Vista.</p>
<p>What is tough is switching from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X. Mac OS 9 was much nicer but they don’t sell it anymore.</p>
<p>The transition between Classic (OS 9) and OS X was tougher than I expected, but now I would never want to return to 9. The first OS X was not nearly as good as it is now, although its stability was fantastic.</p>
<p>I love my Mac. The more I learned about computers the more the Mac makes sense. Good luck! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. </p>
<p>15,000 emails (?) In the Windoze world, when that pst file (assuming you’re using Outlook) that contains all those email messages gets to be about 2GB you can count on having problems.</p>
<p>By the way, Entourage is the email/calendar/planning/address book/contacts list program in Microsoft Office for Mac. It is essentially the same as Outlook, found the in Windows version of Microsoft Office.</p>
<p>I use both (Entourage and Outlook) and I like them. Previously at home I used Mozilla’s Thunderbird (quite nice) and Apple’s Mail (nice, too). Since Entourage is an integrated application (meaning it has the calendar and so forth tied in with email as in Outlook), I switched to it. It’s fine. Be sure you activate the update feature as Microsoft actively supports Microsoft Office for Mac. Universities frequently provide greatly discounted copies of Office to students and associated personnel. Get the Professional version.</p>
<p>Quick question-With the new version of OS Leopard due out sometimes in the spring, should I wait or just buy now and upgrade later (or not at all?) Is it easy to upgrade OS versions? I have upgraded windows operating systems before, but wasn’t sure about OS.</p>
<p>it is so easy but you don’t want to have to buy it.
you may get a rebate if your computer has tiger and it is a short time before leopard is released, but I wouldn’t wait actually-
if you need a guide- more are published for tiger than leopard of course
and tiger is amazingly stable and functional</p>
<p>I moved to a Mac about two years ago. It’s great, and like most Mac users, I would never use a PC again willingly! To make the switch, I used a product called Move to Mac: <a href=“detto.com - This website is for sale! - detto Resources and Information.”>www.detto.com/mac-file-transfer.html</a>. You can specify which files you want moved using an easy-to-use interface. You connect the two machines with the cables provided, and you go have a cup of coffee. Done! I felt it was worth the 50 dollar investment. Good luck!</p>
<p>I haven’t used WORD ( except when forced to when using windows) for years.
NEOOFFICE is worth a look see anyway ( I also have Pages- as well as Mariner Write- much easier to use & faster than Word)</p>
<p>It works for me- anyway and soon a new version will be out
[Free is a very good price](<a href=“http://neowiki.sixthcrusade.com/index.php/NeoOffice_Feature_Comparison”>http://neowiki.sixthcrusade.com/index.php/NeoOffice_Feature_Comparison</a>)</p>
<p>I’ll wade in here even though I’m tech-challenged…</p>
<p>just took the plunge and got my d a Mac Book pro ( 18th bday and hs graduation present combined!) using student discount where I attend for paralegal (UCSD Extension)…we haven’t worried too much yet about tranferring her work from her old pC. she’s a hs senior so if we even need to do that it isn’t urgent.</p>
<p>I’m looking for a laptop for myself, but with legal applications I’m a little leary of getting a Mac. I hear the whole legal world is windows based…does anyone have experience using Mac for legal work?</p>
<p>the geek wizard sales guy at UCSD bookstore’s computer dept really pushed Apple; a distant second in his view for a laptop was IBM…he said avoid Sony as it breaks every 5 min. As far as Vista, he said he’s “ignoring” it…but if you really are stuck with that route he said to wait until the bugs get worked out before purchasing it.</p>
<p>The new Macs have the Intel chip that can also run Windows. I believe all the new Macs have it. It’s called the Intel Core 2 Duo processor. You might want to make sure that your legal software runs on it. My Mac is two years old so I’m not familiar with it, but maybe someone else here can provide more info.</p>
<p><a href=“http://lowendmac.com/fishkin/06/0418.html[/url]”>http://lowendmac.com/fishkin/06/0418.html</a></p>
<p>heres an blog entry from last spring on running a law office with macs
( and they have PowerPCs)</p>
<p>The problem with Vista right now is that many universities don’t yet support it. I suspect it won’t be a problem by the fall, but it will be this semester.</p>
<p>thanks emerald kitty-- looks like it can be done, but I need to learn a lot more to be able to deal with it
looks like I may just limp along with my current computer until the Vista thing shakes out; meanwhile I can learn more about Macs thru my d, hopefully!</p>
<p>i just bought a new macbook after years of windows machines-- and I love it. I did install windows on it as well, as I had some programs (adobe suite and others) that I did not want to reinvest in, and some programs (ruckus) that don’t work on macs. I think its the best of both worlds. Bootcamp seemed really simple, and it works great. I spend most of my time on mac os because it works so much better</p>