Mac n00b, needs advice and suggestions...

[Proplus]

Ok....in the next week or so, I'll need to buy a PowerBook for my missus for her to do her 3D rendering work on. We have both never used a Mac before, and she needs it for her course.

A few questions:

1. Any advice on what to get and where the best deals are?
2. Can I plug in a separate mouse to the PowerBook, and not have to use the touch pad?
3. Are there USB ports on a Mac? If so, when using a USB memory stick, do I need to have it formatted a special way, or can it read FAT32?
4. Can someone explaing to me in simple terms what .dmg and .sitx are. I've gathered that .sitx is some form on compressed file (like .zip), can a Mac extract from a .dmg straight off or does it need to be burnt to a CD like an iso?

[bsodmike]

1. I'll get back to this.

2. Yes. All the Pbooks come with 2x USB2 ports. You can also have a bluetooth (wireless) mouse if you like (and external Apple Keyboard also wireless via BT)

3. Yes - USB Memory Stick: OS X can read and write to FAT16/32 just fine!

4. DMG = Disk Image, .dmg. Just double click and these 'mount' and you can burn to CD/DVD if you wish. SitX = Stuffit Expander archive, you get this app free with OS X. You can even 'UnRAR' stuff in OSX with an app called...UnRAR. heh

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1. - 3D Rendering, afaik 3DSMAX is the leader in this field along with the likes of Maya etc but I'm not sure if 3DSMAX runs on OS X?

[bsodmike]

Mmmm... Just checked, there is no 3DS MAX for OS X...hrm!

[Proplus]

Bought her the G4 Powerbook SD today....£1749.00

Heard to use either Maya or Vector Works for rendering, and ArchiCAD....

[bsodmike]

sounds like the 15" SD Alu to me. Glad I could be of help.

Mike