Moving from Windows to Mac

[Crazy Dave]

Hi All
My Dell laptop is five years old and I'm getting nervous. I use my iPad more and more frequently and managing my emails on two platforms is getting tedious. The prospect of transferring everything over including important genealogical research, thousands of images, Office files, etc, etc is somewhat daunting. I'm happy to make a hardware decision from Apple's range but I'd appreciate being pointed towards a good guide on how to move across. Or indeed advice from someone who has made the changeover recently.

If this topic has already been done to death, my apologies. I've got an important project coming to fruition in November and cannot afford any slip ups.

Thanks

David

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

I'd recomend an external drive.

I use These

PS My DELL Laptop is 14 years old

[pdk42]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

It's not an easy transition. Depending on how you do your e-mail, the biggest challenge will be moving archived mails. My wife did the same journey and transferring old Outlook Express mails over took a lot of research and playing around. File transfer should be fairly easy though using an external drive - just make sure you format the drive on Windows (or force the format to use FAT32 or NTFS on the Mac). Natively formatted disks from the Mac will be unusable on Windows.

[Yorkie]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

Hi Dave,

I recently moved over from Dell to an IMac and love the experience.

It is all in the planning, check your current software for porting ability as many programs are either directly transferable via a download of the software and use your existing key code. Some though like Adobe Elements are not transferable unless you have the cloud version. Lightroom though is transferable.

Again I can't over state the importance of backing up. I copied all my data to 2 duplicated hard drives and used one of these to actually transfer the data.

The result though is very satisfying. I have a Wacom tablet as well which has come to life with the gestures on Imac.

Good luck and enjoy.

[Peter_Hartland]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

If you ask the Apple shop will do it for you free.

[tmy999]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

Dave

I'd be very careful if I were you as you will need to ask yourself a lot of questions, mainly why?

Just so you understand where I'm coming from I am mainly a windows user, this is driven by work (clients etc). However, I do own Apple Macs which I love but I'm forever having compatibility issues. Its not JUST about moving files!

Firstly, you need to ask why do you need/want to move platforms.

Then you need to consider Applications and Data.

Some applications are available on both platforms, some aren't. Even the ones that are they may not operate in the same way. For example Microsoft office files are compatible with both Windows and Mac versions of the software BUT you will find the Mac versions are behind the Windows versions in terms of functionality and bugs. Indeed my University son, a lover of all things Apple has to use a windows machine for MS Access - the Apple version is just too buggy.

Then you have the issue of data, how to store it, the different file storage formats. Apple can generally read Window drives but may not be able to write to them. Windows generally dont like Apple drives.

As you have indicated you have a mission critical project coming along, is it really wise to start the change now?

I think the sensible option is to start storing data files either in the cloud or on a NAS which manages the storage and so not windows/apple specific. Then I would look to sourcing another machine with the same applications that can access the data in the event your current laptop goes down.

All in all think carefully and dont just jump into buying new hardware - I know the unboxing of Apple kit is a truly delightful experience!

Let me know if you need more information?

[tomphotofx]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

It is quite easy to run Windows on your Mac as well using Parallels 10 so you can have your cake and eat it too, especially as some Windows software is not available for the Mac i.e. Pictures to EXE and Proshow Producer to name two.

http://www.parallels.com/uk/products/desktop/

Tom

[MargaretR]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

When I made the switch about 5 years ago, I got a copy of Parallels to be able to run Windows on the Mac, as I was nervous about not being able to run programs, or to find Mac versions of them. In the end, I never even installed Parallels, let alone had need to use it. And I've never looked back. But it's always an option as a fallback position.

I got a magazine/book thingy from WH Smiths, about "Switching to Mac", and followed that. These days the same info is online, like that found here. And as Peter says, the Apple store will do it for you if you feel it's too complex for a Mac newbie.

I too had some genealogical files, and worried about finding a Mac program for them, but it wasn't a problem, and all I had to do was export the GEDCOM file from my old system and load it into the new one. Yes, it bugs me that MS Word is a bit archaic compared to the Windows version (it doesn't support macros, and the most recent version is 2011 !!) but that's the 'worst' of my problems, and I can live with it quite happily. On every other front, it's been a joy, and I grudge every minute I have to spend working in Windows at work now!

[al_kaholik]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

I'm a recent convert at home, though I've been using Macs for a while. Virtualbox suffices for my Windows needs.

[Ross the fiddler]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

No matter what you do, upgrading a computer means you need to have everything backed & in two places to make sure everything is saved. Don't forget to save items on the desktop too because there maybe some you have there you may to go back to. My wife got a Mac for home & started using it as she uses them for work, but instead she's uses the family's win 7 PC where it's warmer.

BTW, I'm being prompted to upgrade to Win 10 on my Win 7 laptop (which I doubt I will do).

[Jim Ford]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

The last thing I want to do is to get locked into an expensive propriety hardware and software system!

I use Linux for day to day use and only use Windows for Photoshop.

Jim

[Glee]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

I found the move painless, I use my mac both for business and also for leisure and despite concerns about compatibility for cross platform documents, mostly Office, I have found none. I do use MS office for Mac and the only limitation I have experienced is not having a mac version of MS Access. I did keep my windows laptop just in case, but as my email suggests I have never needed to fall back on it.

Best wishes

[DerekW]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

There are at least a couple of Office equivalents for the Mac - LibreOffice and OpenOffice

http://www.openoffice.org/porting/mac/

https://www.libreoffice.org/

both of these are free however donations may be asked for.

A good list of Mac apps can be found at Download.Com as well as in the Mac App Store located in the Apple Symbol on the left hand side of the top bar

[ame="http://download.cnet.com/mac/?tag=nl.e781&s_cid=e781&ttag=e781&ftag="]Mac software downloads and reviews from CNET Download[/ame]

Also there are Mac User Groups around the country - check out

http://www.apple.com/usergroups/

to see if there is one near you.
Alternatively if you bought the Mac at a Bricks and Mortar store ask the shop if they of a group in your locality.

[Naughty Nigel]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

Hi All
My Dell laptop is five years old and I'm getting nervous. I use my iPad more and more frequently and managing my emails on two platforms is getting tedious. The prospect of transferring everything over including important genealogical research, thousands of images, Office files, etc, etc is somewhat daunting. I'm happy to make a hardware decision from Apple's range but I'd appreciate being pointed towards a good guide on how to move across. Or indeed advice from someone who has made the changeover recently.

If this topic has already been done to death, my apologies. I've got an important project coming to fruition in November and cannot afford any slip ups.

Thanks

David

If email is important to you I would strongly recommend using Microsoft cloud hosted exchange. You can access it from a web browser, or use MS outlook as a client. You an also use the Apple and Android mail apps as clients.

Exchange also provides a diary, task lists, notes and contacts which all work with MS Outlook, Android and Apple.

Better still, these are all synchronised for you, so if you send an email from your iPad it will automatically appear on your desktop and phone. Likewise if you delete emails from your phone they will be deleted from your other devices.

[Crazy Dave]

Re: Moving from Windows to Mac

Thank you to everybody who replied with advice, very much appreciated, and I shall copy, paste and digest. I'm involved with running a photo competition and really don't want any hiccups before it completes. While I'm reasonably computer literate, how these things work under the bonnet is a mystery.

I've decided to sit on my hands for the moment until this project has run its course. If my elderly Windows machine blows up, I'll have to grovel to the owner of the other machine here.

Thanks again.

David