Have you recently switched from PC to Mac?

[stlguy57]

I went to a Mac laptop back in 2006 when looking for a home machine. I have upgraded twice since then but really didn't have to. I appreciate technology. After always worked on a Windows machine at work, I was looking for a better experience. Anything has to be better, right? I never looked back. The Mac is a pleasure to work.

I migrated my Quicken to iBank without an issue. I can still open Office files and work on them going back and forth from work.

I'm planning on retiring this year 12/31 and I will finally be rid of Windows once and for all.

Make the jump, you won't regret it. The machines are a pleasure to use.

 

[ERD50]

I switched from PC to Chromebook two and half years ago. Never looked back!

Easy, instant bootup, autobackup and sync. Mindless, painless.

I'm really tempted to try out a Chromebook, and the price of entry is pretty low.

But then I have my Linux machines, some family MacBooks, family iPads, an Android Tablet, and Android smartphones in the family as well. I'm not sure I want to add another OS to the batch. Just digging through and finding apps for each is a bit of a pain, and then they might be slightly different.

Maybe when they get Chrome OS to run Android apps (seems to be a WIP and limited and glitchy, link here, time will tell).

But I'd expect the ChromeBooks to be a good choice in many cases.

-ERD50

 

[Beldar]

Background: I am getting ready to retire my 2008 Emachines running Vista and want to bring all my files to the new machine. I know Apple has utilities for converting Windows files, but how good are they really? I can't seem to get a good answer from Internet articles.
But file transfer between PCs should be pretty simple.
Is there anything else I should be aware of, or beware of, when it comes to switching from Windows to Apple OS?

Amethyst...If there is an Apple store near you, they will be able to not only answer your questions but may also demonstrate. They also offer (last time I checked) a free seminar or short class for folks migrating from Windows to Apple OS. If you can spare the time this might be a good start for you rather than trying to filter the internet first.

I've been a Mac owner on & off since the SE days and I find OS is much easier that Windows, but that is only my experience. You may have specific apps that may not run under OS; I do, and keep an XP machine just for those specific apps.

HTH

_B

 

[OAG]

Maybe it is my age but I switched to a MAC BOOK PRO (I know not a DT) with Office and Quicken for the Mac. After several days I returned the MBP for full refund and also a refund on the Quicken.


I started computing back in the early 80's on a Apple II then Apple IIe (IBM was too expensive; although I used them in the 60's through the 70's while with the military).


IMO the Apple is way over priced compared to what you can get with a more than comparable PC. I use Quicken and Office (mostly Excel) and on the Apple Quicken is IMHO a real piece of junk (comparably speaking). Office is OK (again IMO) as I was using the newer version for the Mac which is still in Beta). For some reason Apple uses the left hand corner of programs while the PC (in Windows) uses the right hand corner to control programs - something small but can get kind of frustrating at least to me.

I do think the Mac Desktop coupled with some concentration can be a great machine for OP. It will prove more expensive I am sure but WTH you cannot take it with you so that may not even be a valid consideration.

 

[mh]

One thing I would highly recommend is to ditch your PC peripherals (i.e. mouse) and get mac versions, either a magic mouse or magic trackpad, which are multi-touch capable version.

Both of these support gestures which I find to be a huge time saver in working. If you go to the system preferences for the device it will show you what's available (do this in the apple store as I believe the device needs to be connected to see the gestures supported). If you are used to PC laptop trackpads, the magic pad is a *LIGHTYEARS* ahead in usability (way better tracking of your fingers, multitouch, larger, etc).

The mouse (and trackpad) also support 360 degree scrolling. Very useful if you do any editing of photos.

Most mac users get SuperDuper or CCC and make a bootable clone of their hard disk. (Time machine backups are not bootable).

I prefer safari over chrome (Safari is more power efficient) but I use both. Probably won't matter unless you are on a laptop.

+1 the apple track pad is well worth it. It takes about a day to get used to it. I would also the apple keyboard too unless you really like what you have . I also got the apple battery recharger for the pad/keyboard . Which I have been using for years with good results.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[ERD50]

Maybe it is my age but I switched to a MAC BOOK PRO (I know not a DT) with Office and Quicken for the Mac. After several days I returned the MBP for full refund and also a refund on the Quicken. ...

For some reason Apple uses the left hand corner of programs while the PC (in Windows) uses the right hand corner to control programs - something small but can get kind of frustrating at least to me. ...

Maybe because Apple was first? Windows came later, and for some reason, Microsoft put the buttons in the right hand corner.

Now that I think of it - the "Apple Menu" (the global one) is on the left upper corner, so it makes sense to put the buttons there, it is where you want to go for those things. Does Windows put global controls on the upper right (please don't make me boot into Windows to find out!)?

The nice thing about Linux, mostly this stuff is very easily configurable through GUI (no need for the terminal for this). Since I was more familiar with Mac, I have my menu buttons on the left side, which is the 'right' way to do it (j/k - see the thread on driving in Ireland).

IMO the Apple is way over priced compared to what you can get with a more than comparable PC.

I am not an Apple fan, but I think when you consider a true comparably configured unit ( plus things like mag-safe connector - is that even available on other machines?), the price delta is not that great. But for many of us, a lesser unit fits the bill at far less.

I use Quicken and Office (mostly Excel) and on the Apple Quicken is IMHO a real piece of junk (comparably speaking).

I have not heard much good about Quicken on the Mac.

Office is OK (again IMO) as I was using the newer version for the Mac which is still in Beta).

We use LibreOffice on all our machines, and it gets the job done (for free!), so I can't comment on that.

-ERD50

 

[explanade]

If you get an iMac you can choose a wired or wireless keyboard and either a wired or wireless Magic Mouse or wireless Magic Touchpad.

If you get a Mac mini, you pay separately. I think the wireless devices are $60 each.

There is also an Apple rechargeable battery and recharger kit for $40 that includes 4 AA Eneloops and charger.

 

[NoiseBoy]

If you decide to get a laptop, make sure it has a Solid State Disk (SSD) hard drive. I cannot recommend getting SSD highly enough. My home laptop (Dell Win7 Pro) boots up from a powered down state in less than 30 seconds and I'm running our corporate antivirus software. Battery life is also much better with SSD.

In a meeting at work last week, a vendor had a Windows 8 laptop with a touch screen, and it was pretty cool. Not saying I regret not getting one, but if you haven't played with one, you may want to go to Best Buy and do a little fooling around on a PC and a Mac before you make your decision. They have Windows 8.1 desktop PCs with large touch screens and let's face it, our phones and tablets have gotten us all accustomed to the swipe motions so they seem natural now.

I've purchased one Mac in my life, but my last 3 buying decisions all went the Windows PC route mostly because I couldn't find a good enough reason to pay Apple's markup. I have co-workers who are very happy with their Macs. Getting help with transferring your files sounds like a nice benefit to me. I think that backing up to the Cloud is probably the way to go these days. An external hard drive backup at home only protects you from a hardware failure. The Cloud protects you from more serious failures, like tornados.

 

[explanade]

I bought an HP laptop over a year ago with Windows 8, 1080p screen, 8 GB of RAM, 750 GB HDD for $699. It has touchscreen but I'm not using it too much. In fact, I mostly use desktop mode and applications instead of the 8.1 UI because when I checked 8.1 apps like Evernote, I didn't like them.

The trackpad is really bad so I got a wireless Logitech mouse.

I take it for travels.

Then a few months ago I bought a Retina MacBook Pro with 16 GB of RAM, 500 GB SSD. It cost over 3 times as much as the HP.

Both screens look good with my pics in screensaver mode. Of course the MacBook Pro is sharper.

But the HP isn't bad, though I'd hate it if that was my everyday machine. Not only the slow HDD but not enough RAM. And waking from sleep takes forever compared to Macs.

Mainly use Macs but it's nice to have Windows for things like Quicken. Thought I would use the touch screen more but haven't.

One thing people don't bring up is th design and build quality. My MacBook Pro has faster components including CPU and GPU. But it's lighter and sleeker than the HP, which is plastic and going to creak at the seams.

Again, it depends on whether you want to pay a premium for build quality. You can get nicely built Windows laptops but they cost more, though they're often discounted.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

All PC. The price difference is just too great. Have not spent more than $250-$300 for many years. Every technical person I know uses PCs for this reason. Some of the non-technical ones use iPads/Macs.

 

[imoldernu]

Three synced off lease HP machines Windows7. 4meg Ram 1Terrabyte HD. One in Den, One in BR, one in Livingroom next to recliner. Most expensive including shipping was $135. Monitors from resale 19" $17 to $35.
Old Acer laptop crashed so I loaded a dual boot Ubuntu/XP. 10" IRULU Tablet $89.
Losing interest in technology so it all works for me.
Use old multifunction keyboards and wireless mouse(s).

I have a fun collection of old machines and operating systems.. from an Adam, and a Sinclair to a 10 pound HP laptop running Win95.

Sorry... know the thread was about switching to Mac... but hard for old dogs to learn new tricks. Good luck in the transition.

 

[Ready]

I switched to a Macbook Pro 3 years ago after being a Windows user my entire life. It's been a very good experience for me and I doubt I will ever switch back.

The lack of availability of a fully functional version of Quicken for the Mac is the biggest drawback of switching, if you're a Quicken user. For me, I continue to run Quicken for Windows using Parallels because I just didn't want to give up the full version of Quicken. It's a bit of a pain to manage, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you really want to invest some time to get it working properly. There are some Mac based money managers available that others have tried, but I haven't explored them yet.

 

[spncity]

I use the Windows version of Quicken on a mac mini with Codeweavers Crossover software instead of parallels. Don't know the difference. Haven't used parallels.

Kindest regards.

 

[sheehs1]

I switched from PC Windows machines…probably 7 or 8 plus years ago for my home computers. Got tired of the viruses and the quirks even with running spyware, anti-virus stuff, etc. I had been an IBM, Windows person for decades. Even automated our family business with an IBM AS400 and client serve capability (way back when!). Leaving Windows based applications was a fairly big decision for me.

I bought a MacBookPro, use Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Macs, and haven't looked back. I don't think I will ever go back to Windows. I just don't need the "processing
capability" of the Windows machines anymore and am no longer in an office/business processing/number crunching/ environment.

I love my MacBook and it is portable enough. I take it with me on vacations.