Switching from a PC to a MAC

[TheBEast]

So my wife and I are about to take the plung and get a MacBook Pro. Being a lifelong PC user (and some mac experience in college) I'm a little apprehensive (my wife is a lot as she's a lifelong PC only user), but I've still got two working Dell Desktop PCs (both are 4-5 years old tho they are slowing down) and a bunch of Western Digital passport external drives. Main reason to switch over is the photo and movie editing. It just way to hard with my current machines to do (or at least too time consuming) and we're looking to get a laptop in the house to be able to take with us places (my wife and I also have 3rd generation iPhones.

Thoughts from folks on the switch or helpful tips and tricks? Seems like there is a wealth of information on the web about coverting, but haven't dug in all that much yet as we still haven't made the final decision. Either way we need a new comptuer of some variety in the next year or less.

 

[darent]

shouldn't have a problem, I went the other way like a dummy, my experience was a pc took a couple of steps more to do the same thing, macs are very intuitive. today both are so similar that you will catch on quick

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

macs and apple products are fantastic....they all talk to one another, very user friendly...i think you'll kick yourself that you didnt make the switch earlier...everyday i find something new that my mac can do and am blown away...getting apple tv this week, just incredible products

 

[TheBEast]

So here's probably a dumb question. If we still have a couple of PCs in the house (for now at least) and we have all of our movies and photos on external hard drives, we won't be able to go back and forth between viewing them on the mac and the PC, correct? Since the external hard drive needs to be formatted for MAC. Just wondering how that would work.

I know I should take the plunge and I'll never look back, it's just the intial cash outlay for the product that I'm getting hung up on and these little things, like will having the MAC essentially render my PCs useless, which I know it will since the speed will be light years faster than what I've got now.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

check out Mobile Me....

 

[rocojerry]

.... and we have all of our movies and photos on external hard drives, we won't be able to go back and forth between viewing them on the mac and the PC, correct?

Nope...

If the external hard drives are formatted for windows (assuming NTFS or FAT32 filesystem), they should work fine with your Mac and PCs.

If you reformat the external drives to the Mac Journaled FS, then your PCs won't be able to use them easily.

If you have any need for running Windows Apps with your Mac, you can dual boot or install VM software like Parrallels or VMWare....

 

[mondeo]

Nope...

If the external hard drives are formatted for windows (assuming NTFS or FAT32 filesystem), they should work fine with your Mac and PCs.

If you reformat the external drives to the Mac Journaled FS, then your PCs won't be able to use them easily.

If you have any need for running Windows Apps with your Mac, you can dual boot or install VM software like Parrallels or VMWare....

Mac only has native read access to NTFS, not write. Either way, there's software out there to allow full access both ways.

If you're just switching over for iMovie over Windows Movie Maker, it would probably be cheaper to just buy a PC and get third party video editing software that's better than either. MacBook Pros are where there's a real difference between PCs and Macs in price for very similar hardware.

 

[thetrailboss]

Bump. Anyone have any advice regarding good notebook computers? We tried this model and it lasted three hours because the keyboard did not work. We've had great luck with Dell. Maybe Mac? The price scares me off.....

 

[thetrailboss]

It helps if I throw out some criteria :lol: We're looking for one with a web cam, 6-8 gigs of ram, decent sized hard drive, though not crucial. It has to have enough power to handle photo editing for my new Canon Digital Rebel. Reliable and no problems. DVD burner.

 

[gmcunni]

i've had good luck with Dell the past few years. macs are great but big $$ to buy, use (software purchases) and repair.

 

[o3jeff]

I got a MacBook pro back in June and love it, easy to use/figure out and no problems so far. They are pricey, but check out the refurbished stuff, same warranty and look brand new. I picked up a refurbed iPad 2 before Christmas and am happy with that also.

 

[ski stef]

i just made the switch and couldn't be happier...i'm so much more efficient on my MBP and it took me less than a day to figure it all out. It was also super easy using Migration Assistant to transfer all my music and pictures and certain documents from my PC.

My PC was an HP and I really liked it but it is about 4 or 5 years old...I'm sure if I got a new HP I would have been super impressed regardless just because of the length of time it's been since i've been on a "new" computer. But I don't regret my decision to go with Mac and I don't think I'd go back to PC after using this.

 

[Nick]

I will never own a Mac or any other apple product

I just have too much knowledge of win system to switch out. I've actually dual booted Ubuntu before, I would probably go to xubuntu before I went to Mac.

I dunno. I just know how everything works in my current world and I think switching it out would be tricky for me. I have so much stuff running on NAS and external, throuth the network, that took me forever to figure out, so I'm paranoid to mess with that by throwing a new OS in the mix.

 

[frameitinskis]

Well, I have had some bad luck with my son's mac. We bought a used mac off ebay and it worked fine for awhile. Then the mac screen would not come on and the little light would keep blinking. I googled the issue and found some good troubleshooting info. Most posted that you needed to remove the memory cards etc and put them back in making sure they were in tight. We did that, and it started working again. Month or so later, it happened again. We repeated the process, and nothing worked. Got an ipad2 at radio shack (cheapest version with least options!). Then my husband started playing around with it. Mind you he knows NOTHING about computers. He presses the on botton, places it over his head upside down, swinging it around, and magically it WORKS.. Go figure. Now and then, it stops working, we repeat my husbands routine and it works again!

 

[o3jeff]

Well, I have had some bad luck with my son's mac. We bought a used mac off ebay and it worked fine for awhile. Then the mac screen would not come on and the little light would keep blinking. I googled the issue and found some good troubleshooting info. Most posted that you needed to remove the memory cards etc and put them back in making sure they were in tight. We did that, and it started working again. Month or so later, it happened again. We repeated the process, and nothing worked. Got an ipad2 at radio shack (cheapest version with least options!). Then my husband started playing around with it. Mind you he knows NOTHING about computers. He presses the on botton, places it over his head upside down, swinging it around, and magically it WORKS.. Go figure. Now and then, it stops working, we repeat my husbands routine and it works again!

The iPad should definitely be under warranty, bring it back to an Apple store and they will usually fix it or replace it. Depending on the age of the Macbook it might be covered also.

Bad thing about buying used electronics is you never know what you are getting.

 

[BackLoafRiver]

I am pretty particular to Asus. We use mac's exclusively at work and I do love my Macbook pro. I had one for personal use but, as with you, the price is prohibitive. For way less money, I like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230099 better.

I think Apples OS is simple, user friendly, and intuitive. Way less "hiccups" than Windows but, if your world is based in PC now, its going to be expensive to switch it all. If money isn't a huge consideration, go with a refurbished 15" macbook pro with the i7 processor. Smalldog electronics out of VT is awesome and they have some great deals on refurbished macs.

 

[gmcunni]

currently on woot.com -

Apple iPad 64GB with Wi-Fi & 3G

$479.99 + $5 shipping
CONDITION:Apple Recertified
PRODUCT:1 Apple FC497LL/A iPad 64GB with Wi-Fi & 3G (Gen 1), 1GHz A4, 9.7” LED, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 802.11n

 

[o3jeff]

currently on woot.com -

Apple iPad 64GB with Wi-Fi & 3G

$479.99 + $5 shipping
CONDITION:Apple Recertified
PRODUCT:1 Apple FC497LL/A iPad 64GB with Wi-Fi & 3G (Gen 1), 1GHz A4, 9.7” LED, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 802.11n

A griddle on there now....