Bloody Macs (ok I might buy one) - Few tips before I take the plunge?

Question

Right despite the frankly incredible price of a mac book pro - I have been using a new imac for the past week on a contract up in London and I have been presuaded that it might be a good idea for me to use one considering y line of work...
now before I drop £2K on a new machine there's a few questions I have that I need to confirm before I make the drop in the next few months.
Files: I have a home server that sits on my network with all of my music, video, documents etc. I use my current Vista laptop's sysnc function so that certain network folders are always available offline, when I get back and log on the network everything syncs together seemlessly. Can I still do this easily on the Mac and just have it as a fire & forget process that just happens every time I hit my own network?
3G - I have a 3G Tmobile modem - any issues with these sort of things?
Phone - My Sony Ericsson mobile syncs to the laptop over bluetooth automatically every time I lift the lid. It syncs contacts, to-do and callendar entries from one to the other with no issues at all - can I do this without having to think about it too much on a Mac?
Email - I'm on Office 2007 at the moment with Outlook 2007 as my Mail client, it handles all of my contacts, emails, calendar functions, and, importantly, my Hotmail account (handles it as a folder just like my POP accounts). How does the Mac handle that sort of thing - well?
Transferring emails in my current Outlook?
Keyboards - can you remap them so the right buttons are in the right place rather than this crazy American way?
Now there are a few reasons why I am thinking of shifting so maybe you could give me some advice on these.
1: I am fed up tinkering with software - really I'm too old and busy to be wondering why the bluetooth has suddenly stopped working and I need to restart, or why network folders of images have suddenly stopped showing thumbnails so I have to open each one individually.
2: Speed - I accidentally opened 14 10MP images in fireworks last night, it took over 2 minutes for the laptop to recover (2Ghz, dual core). What would a Mac do?
3: Weight - the current machine is nicknamed 'The Beast' for a good reason, it's not bad at all but I could probably build a house out of them.
4. sleep - wake time. Vista does a real good job to be hinest of me just shutting the lid and then openng it 10 hours later, I find myself doing it 10 times a day with trains etc. so occasionally I have problems, does the Mac stand up to this sort of abuse?
Thanks for all your help guys - I know there are answers to these things elsewhere - but you lot are all web peoples so your pretty much sitting in the same boat as me
Cheers
Tetsugaku-San
AKA The Tall Designer

Answer 1

Files:
Syncing every time you "hit your network" may be a little ambitious. You may need to launch a script to start a sync. I use the UNIX standard rsync command and it works fine. rsync also works on the Linux servers I run, although one "gotcha" is the difference in Mac files. As a result, rsync is a little more complicated going Mac to Mac. There are many other syncing utilities besides rsync, although rsync in built in to the OS as a shell tool.
3G
Don't know what that is, but I have a T-Mobile Motorola cellphone and I get the cheap $5 per month data access. It is extremely simple to "tether" it to my Mac with Bluetooth or USB and get internet anywhere the cellphone works. Very impressive technology.
Phone
Don't really know. For me it is a matter of opening iSync and clicking the "Sync Devices" button. That may be too much work for you. Can't tell you abut the calendar.
Email
MS Office on Mac is identical to Office on Windows... except it looks a whole lot better. There is no prob importing your old emails. I think you'l feel the urge to find better software once you are set up and using Office. I quit using it 2 years ago.
Keyboards
You can select any keyboard layout you prefer. You should know, however, that the Mac modifier keys are more ergonomically positioned, and it may take some habit-breaking to learn to use them. Whenever I use a Windows keyboard I am astonished at how difficult it is to reach the modifier keys.
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1: I am fed up tinkering with software
You are probably going to tinker with software in OSX but it is easier and the Unix system is so much more reliable. There is no "Registry" in Mac OS so praise God for that.
network folders of images have suddenly stopped showing thumbnails
I have disabled network thumbnails since that action is so network-intensive. Read here for more.
2: Speed
Ouch. I think the Mac would dutifully open the files. Speed would depend on the app. I have also had frustration in this area. I usually resort to the Force-Quit window to quit the app.
3: Weight
These MBPs are nicely designed, lightweight, compact, durable and beautiful.
4. sleep - wake time
There are currently (Leopard) some problems with waking on the MBP, especially with an external DVI monitor attached. In 10.4 (Tiger) this system worked perfectly. I think you are OK unless you are using an external monitor.