Hi,

I know a couple of people who swear by Mac and keep encouraging me to switch from Windows. I'm looking at buying a new laptop, and I have to admit the ibooks and macbooks I've seen look really nice. But I'm wondering if there's a huge learning curve involved. Also, does anyone know how easy it would be to transfer all my files from Windows XP to Mac OS? What are the most important things to consider when making this switch?

I mostly use my computer for the internet and Word and Excel, and listening to music. I've played around with Photoshop a little and I'd like to do more graphics and icons and stuff, and I hear Macs are good for that sort of thing.

Will any of my Windows software work on Mac or will I have to buy all new stuff?

I'm obviously no expert, so any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!! ~ Anti

I just moved over to a Mac from a PC and the general rule is that it takes a few days to get used to but after that things are so much easier! A PC makes you try and adapt to how it works where as a Mac adapts to the way you work - so much more intuitive.

I bought MS Office Mac which works exactly like the PC version and fully compatible and I copied all my PC files to an external hard disk, plugged that via USB2 into the mac, and copied them all across. You can also use an ethernet cable between the two to get the same job done.

For your photos, graphic work, creative, and basically anything - the software is much more powerful on the Mac.

I'd also consider using Outlook2Mac as a great bit of software for copying all your calendars, mail, contacts, across into the Mac applications .mail iCal etc..

Lastly, you can run windows in tandem with apple mac using software called "Parallels".

I switched from Windows to Mac last year and found the transition very easy. There is a small learning curve with the operating system. For me, the biggest issue was getting used to a one-button mouse. But I rarely use the track pad; I prefer to use an external mouse, which lets me do all the right-clicking I'm used to. There are lots of nifty keyboard shortcuts that make the Mac really easy to use, too. It shouldn't take you too long to learn them. :) I love the Mac interface, too. Once I got used to it, it seemed a lot more intuitive and easier to use than Windows.

Oh, and it never crashes.



Grammatical

Part 2: File Transfer and Software

Since my computer was networked with the others at home, transferring files over was easy. I'm not sure how you'd go about doing this if you're not networked. It's probably not too difficult since this is something everyone has to do when they get a new computer. I see Elmo knows more about this than I do.

As for software, I didn't bother buying the Mac versions of MS Office. I downloaded NeoOffice (the Mac version of the Open Office software). It recognises all the Microsoft Office files, and you can save your documents as MS Word or Excel documents (or Powerpoint, etc). So if you have to email them or otherwise share them with anyone, it's no problem. And NeoOffice is FREE!

You can get Photoshop for the Mac. Or you can go the free route again and download the Gimp. I only do really, really basic graphics stuff, but the Gimp is a full graphics program if you want to do serious work.

I hope this helps!

Grammatical