Mac Newbie looking for short answers to multiple questions...

Question

My computer experience started with the Commodore 64 in the 1980's and progressed to building my own Core Duo PC with 4 GIG RAM running 64 bit Vista Ultimate and several flavors of Linux. My only Mac experiences happened when I visited my elderly parents, who insisted on only using Mac's, generally ancient Mac's that they bought on eBay.
I was not interested at all in Macs and found the GUI very confusing to use. All that changed when my dad showed me the Mac Mini he bought. Instead of the hulking, slow, underpowered behemoths he usually used, this little machine was amazing. I had to have one, and yesterday bought a Mac Mini with superdrive and 512 MB of RAM, along with Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse. This was amazingly easy to set up, just starting with all of the PC stuff I have lying around.
Now, I need some one-line opinions from people who use Mac's, nothing complicated, just opinions. I don't need help configuring this machine, I just want to know what I can do with it. I find most people enjoy giving opinions!
--Is it worth it to upgrade the RAM to 2 GB? I wanted to do that at the store yesterday, but the salesman said that the procedure was too complicated in a Mac Mini to do myself, and I wanted to take the computer home right way.
--I use Photoshop Elements 5. Is it worth it to get Photoshop Elements 4 for Mac, or does my machine come with imaging editing software that does the same thing, just as well?
--I use Quicken 2007. I read a couple of reviews of Quicken for Mac from unhappy customers. Any comments?
--Can I use my existing external USB 2 or Firewire drives with my Mac Mini, even though they are partitioned as FAT32 and have many backup files from PC's on them? Do Mac Mini's write to FAT32 like Linux does, or do I have to reformat the drives?
--I use Acronis True Image to backup & image my hard drives so I can restore them if disaster occurs (as it seems to, rather often). How do you image a hard drive with a Mac, and is it worth doing?
--Is it worth it to use antivirus software on a Mac?
--Does anyone have any experience using open source software like Open Office or GIMP on a Mac?
--Are there any decent flight simulators that work on a Mac?
Please don't flame me or tell me to read the manual. I am looking for opinions, not instructions. I am also not interested in running Windows software on my Mac - I have had mixed results trying to do this under Linux, and I also have plenty of Windows machines to operate Windows software. Remember, the more people like me who are interested in switching over to Mac's, the better and cheaper the platform should become. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Glad you found your way to the Mac in the present incarnation of MacOS. Earlier flavors of it were perhaps somewhat less elegant, though I have always had a liking for the relative simplicity and the integration of features which tend to make some work more easily accomplished than on the PCs I have also used.
--Is it worth it to upgrade the RAM to 2 GB? I wanted to do that at the store yesterday, but the salesman said that the procedure was too complicated in a Mac Mini to do myself, and I wanted to take the computer home right way.
Yes, the memory upgrade is very worthwhile. A stock mac mini runs perfectly well, but when taking into account the RAM used by the on board video, and the possibility of using Rosetta if you're using any non-native software, 512Mb is really not enough for smooth operation. Indeed, you'll tend to get pauses which can become annoying, particularly if you want to run multiple applications.
The salesman really should have pointed out that while the procedure to upgrade RAM isn't really all that difficult, the mini is not intended to be opened by the user at all because there are no user serviceable parts inside. However, RAM is readily available from third party suppliers and with a little on-line research, is a fairly simple job to undertake. Two things to watch for: 1) that the memory comes from a supplier who will swap it without question, because Macs are rather more fussy about RAM than PCs tend to be, and 2), when completing the memory upgrade, ensure you reconnect the tiny fan control cable - failing to do so will leave the fan running at full blast all the time. It's an easy omission, and even the experts forget it sometimes!
--I use Photoshop Elements 5. Is it worth it to get Photoshop Elements 4 for Mac, or does my machine come with imaging editing software that does the same thing, just as well?
Depends on what kind of editing and image adjustment you generally do. The mini comes with iLife, which includes iPhoto, which has all the usual array of adjustment tools for brightness, contrast, color balance etc, plus a useful one for tilting images to straighten them if taken at an angle, but it doesn't include the filters and effects of a true image editing application. Photoshop Elements on the other hand is feature rich and easy to use, though at a cost. Personally, I don't like iPhoto much and use Photoshop Elements, though there is also a truly excellent shareware application called GraphicConverter, which started life as a tool to convert images from one format to another (hence the name) but is now a very feature-rich image processor in it's own right. Worth a look and can be tried out for free. Have a look at http://www.lemkesoft.com/xd/public/content/index.cGlkPTE5Mw.html
--I use Quicken 2007. I read a couple of reviews of Quicken for Mac from unhappy customers. Any comments?
No experience of this personally, but I'd check those reviews and any others you can find to see what it is the writers liked or didn't like about using the software, and see if that helps you. There are always unhappy customers though, so reviews in magazines may be more objective.
--Can I use my existing external USB 2 or Firewire drives with my Mac Mini, even though they are partitioned as FAT32 and have many backup files from PC's on them? Do Mac Mini's write to FAT32 like Linux does, or do I have to reformat the drives?
You can use your FAT32 formatted drives with the Mac though you are limited to files of 4Gb maximum.
--I use Acronis True Image to backup & image my hard drives so I can restore them if disaster occurs (as it seems to, rather often). How do you image a hard drive with a Mac, and is it worth doing?
It IS worth doing, yes. I use SuperDuper! which is first rate and free for making complete duplicates of a drive, or $29 for the paid/registered version to allow incremental backups. Works like a charm. If you use a drive partitioned in the GUID scheme (as the mini's internal is) you can even then set that drive, and the cloned copy of your system to boot the mini.
--Is it worth it to use antivirus software on a Mac?
Personally I'd say yes. ClamXav is open source (thus free) and reliable, has a marginal hit on CPU load and helps ensure you don't inadvertently pass on infections (it can also spot types of malware such as phishing scames). As yet, however, there are no known viruses/worms/trojans that affect MacOS, so it isn't critical at this time. However at some point it is likely there will be - in my view it's better to be prepared than to be left to react at the time.
--Does anyone have any experience using open source software like Open Office or GIMP on a Mac?
Yes. Like all open source projects, there are some good and some bad, but by and large the open source community for MacOS based systems is active and effective. Both Open Office and Gimp work well for example.
--Are there any decent flight simulators that work on a Mac?
X-Plane springs to mind.
There really are very few people you'll find in Apple Discussions who would flame you for asking such questions. Indeed, answering such things is one of the prime reasons we're here, and while there's always value in reading the manuals, it must also be said that in many ways getting useful information out of them means you have to know enough already to be able to work out what information you need from all the stuff available. Questions are easier to ask and pertinent information easier to give as a result!