The Wall Street Journal’s Walter S. Mossberg answers questions about technology for his readers.

Q: I am about to switch to the Macintosh after many years using only Windows PCs. Is there a good book to help me with the transition?

A: In addition to the many books about how to use a Mac in general, there are two that were written specifically to guide Windows users in making the switch to the Mac’s OS X operating system — though in my experience most Windows users can successfully switch without a book.

One book, called “Switching to the Mac,” is by David Pogue. The second, called “Mac OS X for Windows Users: A Switchers’ Guide,” is by David Coursey. Both authors are veteran technology writers. Neither book takes into account the latest Mac operating system, called Tiger, because they were published before Tiger appeared. But either should still be a strong guide to making the switch. The Pogue book is also slated to be updated next month with a new edition that covers Tiger. Mr. Coursey has also just published “The Mac Mini Guidebook,” which, while focused on Apple’s newest low-end model, has a lot of content on switching and covers Tiger as well.

In addition, there is a wealth of material on Apple’s Web site on how to switch from Windows. An entire section of the site, devoted to switching, can be found at http://www.apple.com/switch . A basic tutorial on the Mac can be found at http://www.apple.com/support/mac101 .

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: For our Windows-only friends: If you’re considering adding a safe, powerful, elegant, and fun Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal, information about how to do so smoothly, can be found here. For inexpensive entry to the Mac platform, you might want to take a look at Apple’s new Mac mini which starts at just US$499 — it just might be the perfect machine for you.

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