Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Snow Leopard Edition [Paperback]

David Pogue (Author)

Book Description

Series: Missing Manual | Publication Date: December 16, 2009

Is Windows giving you pause? Ready to make the leap to the Mac instead? There has never been a better time to switch from Windows to Mac, and this incomparable guide will help you make a smooth transition. New York Times columnist and Missing Manuals creator David Pogue gets you past three challenges: transferring your stuff, assembling Mac programs so you can do what you did with Windows, and learning your way around Mac OS X.

Learning to use a Mac is not a piece of cake, but once you do, the rewards are oh-so-much better. No viruses, worms, or spyware. No questionable firewalls, inefficient permissions, or other strange features. Just a beautiful machine with a thoroughly reliable system. Whether you're using Windows XP or Vista, we've got you covered.

If you're ready to take on Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the latest edition of this bestselling guide tells you everything you need to know:

• Transferring your stuff -- Moving photos, MP3s, and Microsoft Office documents is the easy part. This book gets you through the tricky things: extracting your email, address book, calendar, Web bookmarks, buddy list, desktop pictures, and MP3 files.


Re-creating your software suite -- Big-name programs (Word, Photoshop, Firefox, Dreamweaver, and so on) are available in both Mac and Windows versions, but hundreds of other programs are available only for Windows. This guide identifies the Mac equivalents and explains how to move your data to them.


• Learning Snow Leopard -- Once you've moved into the Mac, a final task awaits: Learning your way around. Fortunately, you're in good hands with the author of Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, the #1 bestselling guide to the Macintosh.

Moving from Windows to a Mac successfully and painlessly is the one thing Apple does not deliver. Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Snow Leopard Edition is your ticket to a new computing experience.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Pogue, Yale '85, is the weekly personal-technology columnist for the New York Times and an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News. His funny tech videos appear weekly on CNBC. And with 3 million books in print, he is also one of the world's bestselling how- to authors. He wrote or co-wrote seven books in the "For Dummies" series (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music). In 1999, he launched his own series of amusing, practical, and user-friendly computer books called Missing Manuals, which now includes 100 titles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (December 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596804253
• ISBN-13: 978-0596804251
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #35 in Books > Computers & Technology > Hardware > Macs
  • #45 in Books > Computers & Technology > Hardware > PCs
  • #55 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > MacOS

More About the Author

David Pogue is the personal-technology columnist for the New York Times. Each week, he contributes a print column, an online column and an online video. His daily blog, "Pogue's Posts," is the Times's most popular blog. David is also an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News and a frequent guest on NPR's "Morning Edition." His trademark comic tech videos appear each Thursday morning on CNBC. With over 3 million books in print, David is one of the world's bestselling how-to authors. He launched his own series of complete, funny computer books called the Missing Manual series, which now includes 60 titles. David graduated summa cum laude from Yale in 1985, with distinction in Music, and he spent ten years conducting and arranging Broadway musicals in New York. He's been profiled on both "48 Hours" and "60 Minutes."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Useful for old dogs to learn new tricks!!!, March 31, 2010

By 

Albert J. Valentino (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Snow Leopard Edition (Paperback)

I just made the move from an XP PC to an iMac so I bought this book as a reference. It not only helps with all the questions new users will have but it also answers questions that I didn't know to ask. You may be able to figure out many of the the BIG things on your own but it is always the little things can kill you - unless you have a handy reference guide like this. It is must have book for an old dog like me that needs to learn new tricks on his own. It is a small, but valuable investment that will save you lots of time. Just get it, you won't regret it.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars REALLY helpful book!!, March 8, 2010

By 

Kinderhook (Houston, Texas, United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Snow Leopard Edition (Paperback)

This book is saving my life! I've used PCs ever since they were invented. Really. But I've wanted a Mac for a long time. Recently some dear (and generous) friends gave me a brand new Mac laptop. It's beautiful and fun but it does behave differently than a PC. This book has helped be figure out what to do when my in-bred response isn't the right one! No right click? No problem. Want to find properties of a file? No problem. The book weighs a ton and is huge. I'm slowly getting through it but it's saved me already on numerous occasions. I'm so glad I bought it!

61 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New to Mac - Love this book, December 26, 2009

By 

AZ Desert Rat "movie buff" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Snow Leopard Edition (Paperback)

After 20 years on PCs I decided to switch to a Mac and I am very happy with that decision. This book has definitely been a God-send. It is written in a way that anyone can understand. It has helped make my transition go so smoothly. The author has an easy going style laced with a great sense of humor. A lot of my friends and acquaintances have switched to Macs lately and I highly recommended this as a must-have reference.