Job Discussion Forums

nawlinsgurl · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:52 am Post subject:

Thanks. My husband just got a new Mac desktop at his office and I love messing with it. It is pretty nice, no huge tower--just the screen and keyboard. I wasn't quite sure if it is the newness that has be stuck on it. I'm going to dwell on it for awhile and think about all you have said. Thanks again ! Very Happy

japan_01 · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 89 Location: Gifu Ken

For all those Mac experts out there... I have a few questions.

iLife07 - when?
iwork07 - when?
next addition to macbooks and macbook pros - when?

Basically... when will Mac be bringing out its next lot of software/additions to its products??

Cheers and thanks,
J

BrytSyde · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 20 Location: Orange County, CA

japan...

the newest macbook pro is dropping pretty soon... within the next two months..the only really difference will be with its intel dul core.. the y have made some significant improvments on it..

in terms of software you should expect that it right before the holidays..i ahve some people over at apple keeping me updated ..i will let youknow when i hear anything new..

japan_01 · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 89 Location: Gifu Ken

Thanks heaps!!

However, I was looking at purchasing the macbook...
will any changes be made to the macbook that you are aware of?

Also, which holidays are you talking about? Christmas holidays?

callmesim · Joined: 27 Oct 2005 Posts: 279 Location: London, UK

If there's no rush, I'd wait for the next update on the MacBooks. Being the 1st Gen, there's always the risk of the initial teething problem. So far, it's been out for 4.5 months so hopefully it'll get a touch up in the next month or so.

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

japan_01 · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 89 Location: Gifu Ken

Thanks Wombling... I think I will wait until Jan 07.

BrytSyde.. if you wouldnt mind keeping me up to date that would be appreciated!

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan

One thing I've seen with the new MacBook that I don't like was that the keyboard is now intergrated into the shell, whereas the ibook G4 keyboard was removable. This made fitting a English keyboard straightforward half hour job and no need to order the English keyboard. I had a friend go into the Apple store and was told that there were no English keyboards in stock.

japan_01 · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 89 Location: Gifu Ken

Go to Apple Nagoya... they have plenty in stock Smile

MomCat · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 297

Hi,

I'm teaching in Taiwan and a couple of my Taiwanese friends have asked me to join them on a "shopping day" to Tokyo. Since they have rich husbands and I just have my job I'd like to make it less of a financial hit. I'm in the market for a MacBook (just the little 1.83GHz one) and wonder what they cost in Japan. For the curious, the one I priced here was $1,188US

Thanks,
Cat

japan_01 · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 89 Location: Gifu Ken

www.apple.co.jp

139,800yen which is US$1188.77

J. · Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 327

I have a Japanese PC that I converted to English myself; not really any choice out here in the country at the time I got it. It's not really that I prefer PCs, I would love to get a Mac next time, just to elude all the viruses and constant updates. But a PC is what I've got and so I learned to make it work. Probably you all know this but you can get most of the English software you need by free download; you don't need to buy pricey MS Office. You can get OpenOffice for free and it is compatible with MS rich text and .doc formats and a lot more. You don't need Norton or McAfee either with their expensive subscriptions; you can use a good little program called Avast antivirus which has free daily updates, if you want them. For clearing out spyware there are several programs (I use AdAware).And as a firewall I installed ZoneAlarm. Besides the basics, there are lots of fun programs that will do most anything, all for the price of a free download. If you're worried about viruses, Avast has a nice feature where you can scan any file you save to the desktop before you open it. A good place to start in looking for downloads is the PC Magazine website. It also has short reviews of products in case you are thinking of adding anything.

The only changes I made to my PC were to replace the Japanese OS with an English windows one that I ordered from Amazon.co.jp and to replace the keyboard with a cheap English Logitech one...and add a few drivers. Everything works fine. In fact I just downloaded the New FireFox 2 yesterday and it's working great. I've used all the brand name programs but have to tell you these free ones often work better, are smaller ( take up less memory) and have great features that a lot of the big names don't. Oh yes, Picasa, in case you don't have it, free from Google, is a nice photo organizer and basic editor, too.

So if you get a deal on a Japanese computer, it CAN be converted fairly easily, and don't waste good money on duplicate English software if you have a PC.

may be going · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 129 Location: australia

i noticed on the specs for the mac on the apple japan website that the OS is japanese. not being familiar with macs - but wanting to get one soon perhaps - how does one go about getting an english O/S?

sorry if this is just a matter of buying english O/S but not really sure about how the OS/X O/S work....

thanks in advance

J. · Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 327

As far as I know, Macs will open in any language that is installed, and that's quite a few. You just select the country and language on the preferences. But I think the shop will customize it for you so you will have an English keyboard if you want one, and make sure that everything is set up in English when it comes. I believe there is also an English phone number for orders at the bottom of the Japanese website.

Check out the English Line; all the information is here:

http://www.apple.com/jp/store/english/

MomCat · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 297