Question for PC to Mac switchers +

Looks like my ancient PC is near death. In a valiant attempt to never have to re-install software (some are still on diskettes), I kept this thing from dying on several occasions. I was the last person on earth to upgrade to XP. I've made poor monetary choices just to keep the same motherboard. It's now time to attach the DNR form to this thing.

Sooooo, if I go the dark side and buy a Mac......

1) I must buy all new application software? As in I can't send my Windoze versions back to the vendor and ask them to kindly send me a Mac version?

2) Will I be able to easily transfer all my files from my 8 hard drives that were formatted for Windows (N___) to Mac formatted drives?

3) Do I have to change my wardrobe to look more like the Apple dude than the PC guy?

I switched over to mac (again) recently for my travel laptop and main working machine (I still have 2 windows machines, 1 vista and 1 xp, and a Linux machine) and found the process relatively painless except for the insane price of my macbook pro.

First of all, dont buy into the whole hype surrounding macs. It's just a computer and like other computers its got good and bad points. Just keep that in mind while you swear at your new mac for not behaving like you'd want it to. And you will.

I did not have to buy any new licenses for my software. Everything I used that has a mac version worked with my original license after downloading the mac version. This includes Adobe software and Photo Mechanic. I say 'that has a mac version' because you'll find that OSX is still quite a bit behind in software support and I unfortunately had to give up Downloader Pro and Proshow Gold (and their licenses), both of which dont have a mac equivalent that can even stand in their shadow. (*)

You'll probably be able to transfer your files to OSX, but be aware that NTFS support is not perfect. You can download third party software to make the support a lot better, but since Microsoft does not provide proper documentation on NTFS anything out there on non-MS systems is a reversed engineered hack (**). So it would probably be wise to actually switch to Apple's own filesystem for your hard disks, which means you'll have to do some kind of data dance with all your files as you prepare/format disks for the new system. This also means sharing disks with other travelers may be more difficult, but for me this has not been a problem so far.

It would be a good idea not to look like the PC guy regardless of owning a PC or not.

Looking back at the two months Ive been using a mac again (i briefly switched in 2003, but ran back screaming because OSX was just too buggy and didnt have enough supported apps) i can safely say I would probably never switch back to PC again for my travel laptop and main work station. Everything is just so easy, intuitive and pretty, i now find myself annoyed at XP and Vista for not having some of the features I got used to on Apple.

(*) there are workable solutions for a Downloader Pro alternative on OSX. I use ImageIngester now, but you can use Lightroom or Photo Mechanic as well. They just arent as nice. I purchased VMware Fusion to be able to use Proshow Gold, because nothing on OSX is worthy of the name 'useful slideshow creator'.

(**) As an example, if i unplug an NTFS formatted HD from my apple without unmounting it first, I can not remount it without going through stupid hoops. OSX finds it being corrupt and wants me to connect it to a PC first. Useful. Not. (I dont blame OSX for this.. it's all because MS does not release proper docs for NTFS).

I got a old G4 running OSX which is networked to XP.

Been dragging pics and sounds files between the two no problems.

The sole purpose of the mac is for software development and testing on.

I personally find OSX software choices too limited and it's fidley to use.

1) As Cor said you should have no problem getting Mac versions of Adobe programs.

Microsoft Office the files are transferable, I'm not sure if Microsoft will give you Mac versions of the software without paying. I was at the Mac store yesterday and I think Microsoft Office for Mac is $160. I'm not sure what else you use on your PC. Quicken etc all comes on Mac, and depending which model you buy may be preloaded.

I recommend that you get used to using Mac versions of Outlook & Explorer - Mail, Safari, Calendar at the beginning and get a .Mac account. It's really great for keeping all this stuff backed up and synchronised and accessible from anywhere. There are other programs out there like Firefox etc, that the aficionados may recommend but the common Apple programs work very well for me. You may have some initial frustration learning how Mac versions of common programs work compared to PC's but once you learn the comparable commands etc you should find them the same or easier for the most part.

What else do you need?

2) All the files themselves, JPEGS, PDF, Docs etc should simply copy from your PC drives on to your Mac formatted drives and open. There is quite a bit on the Apple site about switching to the dark side, and they will help you with it at the Apple Store (I think there's one in Dallas).

3) You're too old to look like a Mac guy, no matter what you wear! If the guys who work at the Apple store are anything to go by, you will have to get a bunch of piercings. Steve Jobs wears black.

Hey, John Hodgeman (the PC guy) is cool!

Now, I'm no computer guy and when I switched over, I railed against my iMac for about three weeks. Now that I've gotten over the initial differences, I love it - much easier and intuitive, and I don't feel like I'm going to screw something up if I change a setting or see what some button does. I also love the Apple Store. Everyone there is friendly, helpful and enthusiastic. If there's one in your area, they'll transfer all your files over for you. I also suggest you sign up for "One to One" - for $99, you get a personal one on one training session up to once a week for a year.

I say Microsoft/Windows is the real Dark Side!

Sooooo, if I go the dark side and buy a Mac......

OK let's face it - you have opened the door for the Star Wars quotes...so here we go

The dark side is seductive, I am sure that Anakin Skywalker was acting for the greater good as he was gradually turned to the dark side by the Emporer.

However...

As Mac use grows, PC users are going to become more and more like Darth Vader (to quote Grand Moff Tarkin "The Jedi are extinct, their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion.")

So as you can see the Dark Side can describe both PC or Mac depending on your point of view.

I now use Mac and am delighted by the stability of the platform (no more "I am sorry, this program has suddenly experienced a fatal error and has to close" messages for me)

With respect to file transfer and software upgrades, in the words of Admiral Motti "Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerous ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes"

Cheers

Hal

"I find your lack of faith...disturbing"

"A new hope!"

I'm just astounded that underwater photography should attract all this techno-geekery...

... you just point and shoot, yeah?

Tim

B)

(Mac-o-phile from 2005)

Looks like my ancient PC is near death. In a valiant attempt to never have to re-install software (some are still on diskettes), I kept this thing from dying on several occasions. I was the last person on earth to upgrade to XP. I've made poor monetary choices just to keep the same motherboard. It's now time to attach the DNR form to this thing.

 

Sooooo, if I go the dark side and buy a Mac......

 

1) I must buy all new application software? As in I can't send my Windoze versions back to the vendor and ask them to kindly send me a Mac version?

 

2) Will I be able to easily transfer all my files from my 8 hard drives that were formatted for Windows (N___) to Mac formatted drives?

 

3) Do I have to change my wardrobe to look more like the Apple dude than the PC guy?

Or you could just buy a shiny new PC and:

1) Keep using your old software.

2) Plug in your old hard disks and copy your files over 100%

3) Never be forced to buy an unwanted Turtleneck Sweater!!! B)

and

4) Save a lot of time and money learning an all new system and buying overpriced hardware.

Check out the Dell XPS 1330 for an excellent new notebook.

Check out the Dell XPS 1330 for an excellent new notebook.

Or for about the same price buy a MacBook with a faster processor that will run your old PC software at the same time if you want. Oh..and don't forget to downgrade back to XP when you buy your Dell, for a little extra.

If you like being ripped off get a MAC and be forced to buy limited $$$ software.

PC's are cheap but can be crap if you don't have them set up correct though and that's why most that move to MAC as it just works...but you are paying for it and your hands are tired.

A PC if set up correctly flys for a fraction of the price.

It takes me about 30 seconds to open a 930 meg 80cm/180cm 300 DPI multil layered Photoshop CS3 file here and I'm only using 2gigs of ram with a old 128 graphics card still will old XP.

Once opened I can zoom in 100% and wizz aroung doing things no problems. If I spent like $200 I could improve that with a new video card and another GIG of ram easy. I cannot remember the last time XP crashed on me and you can also overclcok them...hey I'm running a 3.2Ghz Core2Quad here and the bits cost me like $800 to achieve it.

I had a fellow video guy around last night and I showed him how fast we make the day DVD's from a EDIUS HDV timeline...he could not believe it. It takes us less then 1 hour to suck in the 15 - 30 mins of HDV,

edit it in HDV and have all the DVD's burn't.....even NTSC ones

Another person I knew could not get their PC set up for editing on so they fell for the old MAC thing and brought some $$$ box thinking they can edit HDV better and faster...ha ha...

Stay away from VISTA though.

Another way is buy a cheap PC and install OSX on it....yep they say it's illegal but that's the same as saying you cannot put APPLE brand fruit juice in another type of fridge...silly...

If you like being ripped off get a MAC and be forced to buy limited $$$ software.

 

PC's are cheap but can be crap if you don't have them set up correct though and that's why most that move to MAC as it just works...but you are paying for it and your hands are tired.

 

Stay away from VISTA though.

No Mac discusson is complete until someone bashes on Vista!

There is nothing wrong with Vista, it's way better than XP. I use Vista 64bit and love it. It is the way to go for photo processing. (Just look at the Photoshop CS4 plans to see what direction things are going.) I have a hard time using XP systems now, I can't live without instant search.

The Dell 1330 is actually one of the best configured PC's out there, and you can customize it any way you want. And yes, you can chose the same speed processor (2.6Ghz) as the much more expensive Macbook Pro if you like.

Or for about the same price buy a MacBook with a faster processor that will run your old PC software at the same time if you want. Oh..and don't forget to downgrade back to XP when you buy your Dell, for a little extra.

Having switched to Mac, I can't resist checking it out every time anyone makes this claim. I just checked out the Dell site under home/home office. The 1330 configured as close to the MacBook as possible is $1348 or about 90% the price of a MacBook. That includes an upgrade to 2.4Ghz, bluetooth, Wireless N, and the medium battery as well as the 250GB drive. The Dell offers 2.5 and 2.6 GHz processors, larger drives, and more wireless options as well. Don't forget to purchase a Windows license and possibly a VM license since the Mac won't run those Windows apps out of the box.

As much as I support Macs, and especially Mac notebooks, this claim is simply not true.

The Dell 1330 is actually one of the best configured PC's out there, and you can customize it any way you want. And yes, you can chose the same speed processor (2.6Ghz) as the much more expensive Macbook Pro if you like.

You can get a MacBook (not the MacBook Pro) with basically the same features for less than the Dell XPS M1330 (assuming you want to have BlueTooth and some sort of photo editing and video software, which comes standards with the Macs.)

The 13.3" inch MacBook, 2.4 Ghz , 2GB memory, 55-watt-hour Battery and 160 Gig HD is $1299. The same XPS M1330 is $1,174 and goes up to $1,273 to get the same battery and built in blue tooth like the MacBook. Plus the MacBook comes with the iLife Suite, a pretty darned good suite of apps, iMovie, iPhoto, Garageband and iWeb. Plus you can run Windows if you want to.

I am not going to say Macs are cheaper than PCs by any stretch, but for many things they are not quite as off as sometimes people think.

BTW that was Wagsy bashing Vista. It may be me, but Wagsy for some reason does not stike me as a Mac fanboy, rights Wags?

Craig I'm not going to nitpick on this issue, the one I looked at on the Dell site at just under $1500 had a 2GHz processor , a slightly bigger HD, 1GB more memory than the Mac etc. The only point I make is that I think PC folks give this impression that Macs are somehow hugely more expensive than PC and this is simply not the case.

As someone who runs both PC's and Macs in my business, the ease of use, setup, staff training, simplicity of software upgrades on Macs (as compared to numerous hugely expensive and disastrous upgrades from NT to 2000 to XP etc), and not to even mention virus issues, more than makes up for any cost benefit up front of PC's. If someone wants to spend the time, I grant you that PC's can be built, configured etc cheaper, to run faster etc., if you are tech savvy and want to take the time. Most people just want a box that turns on and works easily and intuitively most of the time, for most applications, out of the box. Macs do this for me.

My PC's have always required the help of tech people to install, configure, upgrade, train staff and so on, unless I wanted to take the day off from my main job to do it.

I have spent $1000's on tech support for my PC's, almost nothing on my Macs.

I have bought used macs for both my mother and julie's mother for their first journey into the interwebs. Unfortunately the one I bought for my mother died (repaired it recently though) and I gave her a vaio with XP I had collecting dust.

In the hands of such untrained people the mac does pretty good. XP a bit less so. Im contemplating now if I should give my mom the other mac now. She's gotten addicted to some small windows game, and is really enjoying her baby steps with Outlook. Should I yank that all out now...

I myself run vista, xp, osx and linux at home. Equal opportunity for all OSs!

Craig I'm not going to nitpick on this issue, the one I looked at on the Dell site at just under $1500 had a 2GHz processor , a slightly bigger HD, 1GB more memory than the Mac etc. The only point I make is that I think PC folks give this impression that Macs are somehow hugely more expensive than PC and this is simply not the case.

The trouble with the Dell site is that there are many ways to configure the same machine and they all produce difference prices that vary from day to day. I priced a 250GB MacBook and tried to match it with the Dell machine. RealDrew priced a 160GB machine and got a bit different result. Keep in mind that the MacBook is Apple's least expensive notebook while the Dell is not.

I would point out that both Mac and Windows advocates like to push the price angle and unfairly distort the facts while doing so. I am not arguing that the MacBook is an expensive notebook and don't believe it is. Some Macs are fairly price-competitive while others are not. Depends on what you want. You can't put a price on the fundamental differences in the platforms (though that doesn't stop people from trying).

As someone who runs both PC's and Macs in my business, the ease of use, setup, staff training, simplicity of software upgrades on Macs (as compared to numerous hugely expensive and disastrous upgrades from NT to 2000 to XP etc), and not to even mention virus issues, more than makes up for any cost benefit up front of PC's. If someone wants to spend the time, I grant you that PC's can be built, configured etc cheaper, to run faster etc., if you are tech savvy and want to take the time. Most people just want a box that turns on and works easily and intuitively most of the time, for most applications, out of the box. Macs do this for me.

My PC's have always required the help of tech people to install, configure, upgrade, train staff and so on, unless I wanted to take the day off from my main job to do it.

I have spent $1000's on tech support for my PC's, almost nothing on my Macs.

As a Mac switcher and user myself, you won't get an argument from me though I've never spent money on PC tech support (nor Mac). I was simply responding to the specific point offered which was that a MacBook could run Windows apps faster than the Dell for the same or less money. I don't think that's supported by the numbers particularly when you add the additional software costs the Mac needs. I would advise anyone considering that kind of notebook to go with the Mac and ween themselves off of the Windows apps. For special needs, a specific app may dictate which platform to use. I would consider video editing one of those apps.

Working on OSX onto my old PC for fun here...

Post a clip once it's done.

Anecdote from watching my friends and contacts:

Since Macs went Intel, I do not know a single person who has gone from Mac to Windows. I do, however, know quite a few people who have gone from Windows to Mac.

--

I switched back to the Mac about 18 months ago. Before that, Mac OS wasn't quite there for me yet.

But now, I am really happy on Mac OS and get angry when I sit down at a typical Windows machine (one that hasn't been configured by me, I mean). I don't anticipate going back to Windows unless the platform becomes better than a Mac in the future.

I used a Mac back in college because that's what our entire campus ran on. All of the early computer science classes were on the Mac, and obviously, the later ones were all on various flavors of unix. I really liked the Mac back then, but switched back to Windows in 1997 when Apple was at an all-time low (and I happened to be working there as an intern then).

Anyway... it all depends on what makes you more productive. Engineer types tend to pick platforms because one is "faster" than the other. Or, perhaps, one has a better selection of tools than does the other. I used to think like that, and was trapped by that mentality. These days, I work on the platform that makes me more productive as an artist. If I produce better work on one over the other because it makes me "feel better," then I prefer that platform.

Almost none of my artist friends use Windows (both musicians and visual artists). Macs have a reputation for being "better for graphics." I don't think this is true, and in fact, more utilities exist for Windows than they do for the Mac. But the Mac makes me feel better, and I believe that I produce better work on this platform. That's enough for me.

The default XP and Vista look is UGLY. The first thing I do when I install a new XP system is theme it so it is prettier. As a visual artist, it really bothers me when something is ugly, sort of like the way I can't stand to look at a photo with a person's head centered. I've seen photographers out there shooting away and looking at their thumbnails on a screen with a horrible desktop wallpaper on it, and that crappy default blue XP theme. I always wonder how one can be inspired when they have to stare at something so ugly while they work.

Anyway. That's my brain dump for now. Good night.

As a visual artist, it really bothers me when something is ugly, sort of like the way I can't stand to look at a photo with a person's head centered.

Eric, is this better?

I know, I definitely have too much free time.