If you’re new to the Mac, welcome. However you got here, we’re glad you’re here. Perhaps you finally tired of losing hours of your life (and countless processor cycles) attempting to ward off the many species of Windows malware. Maybe you bought an iPod, installed iTunes on your PC, and over time came to appreciate the iTunes/iPod interface that “just worked”, and wondered why Windows couldn’t do things that way. Whatever the reason, we’re glad you’re here.

If you recently purchased a Mac, or are considering taking “the leap”, here’s a brief primer containing what to expect and some of the differences between the Mac and the Windows PC you’re likely to encounter.

For the purposes of our discussion, we’ll assume you’ve ditched your discount electronics superstore PC for a new Apple iMac. First thing you’ll notice is the packaging – the box it comes in. Back when you bought your PC, the blue or red shirted Orcs at the superstore may have helped you load your PC box(es) into a shopping cart (or sometimes onto a flatbed) for the trip to your car. When the DHL delivery person shows up on your doorstep with your new all-in-one iMac in its single slender box, you may even have ask him “Is this it? Where’s the computer?” Not to worry. It’s all there.

Now it’s time to open the box and set up your new iMac. Here’s what’s in the box: the iMac itself, a power cord, a keyboard, a mouse, an Apple Remote control, install/restore DVDs (that contain the operating system and all the other software installed on the iMac), a couple of Apple decals to display proudly on your Vespa or Prius, and a “Getting Started” pamphlet. Not a manual. A pamphlet. Sweet.

Now to find a place to put your iMac. While most PCs claim to be “desktop” computers, only the displays generally lay claim to the desk “top”. The often-ugly towers generally lurk below in a floor-level subterranean chamber of the traditional computer desk.

Ah, the computer desk. We’ve all had them. The elegant pressboard, the plastic-lined hole in the back of the desktop for all the cables to pass through, the shelving surrounding the display area to hold the volumes of computer manuals and boxes and boxes of first floppies, then CDs, then DVDs that we used to back up our stuff. Below, the aforementioned tower chamber, which made accessing the PC tower’s CD/DVD drive and other ports a lower back muscle stretching exercise. But, I digress.

For now, just move your PC display aside and set up your iMac on the desk top. You’re going to be moving your “stuff” from your PC to your iMac, so its best to leave the PC hooked up.

Now the setup. You connect the mouse to a USB port right on the iMac keyboard, connect the keyboard to a USB port on the back of the iMac, plug one end of the power cord into the back of the iMac, and the other into a wall socket. Plug the Ethernet cable from your DSL or cable modem into the port on the back of the iMac. If you already have a wireless network, there’s no reason to plug in. When the iMac awakens for the first time, it will see the wireless network and connect automatically.

Right about now, Ed, the self-described “PC expert” neighbor who held your hand through the last few excruciating Windows system cleanings and eventual hard drive reformats, will show up to heckle you about your new-fangled computer. More on the “Ed encounter” next time.