Moving from PC to Mac - How easy?

TurnipFarmer

TurnipFarmer

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I am thinking about getting an Imac as I believe that Macs are better for photography etc.

Has anybody here done it and how easy is it? My main concern is that I have some photography software that I have bought for windows/PC and wonders if it can be used/transferred onto Mac?

I have Lightroom 3 (boxed version), Photoshop elements 7, Noiseware pro, Photomatix 4.0 (I have been told Photomatix is fine to transfer)

Does anybody know if there is a way to transfer the licence for Microsoft office 2007 or would I have to buy completely new?
 
I don't think macs are any better for photography. You will be using the same software from adobe on both and quite frankly its the same. The only reason to change is for asthetic reasons or if you like OSX.

As regards the switch, its not difficult at all. Mainly because there is no huge difference between the os'es. I went from XP to OSX (can't remember which iteration) to vista without any problems in any direction.
 
You can't use PC software on a Mac unless you use virtual machine software such as VM Ware Fusion or Parallels.

I'm pretty sure Adobe will let you transfer a licence from one platform to another. No idea about Microsoft though.
 
Grendel said:
You can't use PC software on a Mac unless you use virtual machine software such as VM Ware Fusion or Parallels.

I'm pretty sure Adobe will let you transfer a licence from one platform to another. No idea about Microsoft though.
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Lightroom should have had both pc and mac in the box. It should be fine to get PE 7 moved over but 9 isn't expensive and has some decent new features. I don't think MS will want to help you move away from windows but again if you are buying a mac office for mac home edition isn't too expensive (~£110). I know because my wife is lusting after a new air and we had to do some calculations!
 
Adobe will let you migrate the licences from PC to Mac, and vice versa, once IIRC.

I've used Macs occasionally, but not for post processing images, so I haven't a clue if they're better, worse, or much the same; but switching from one to the other isn't difficult.
 
menthel said:
I don't think macs are any better for photography. You will be using the same software from adobe on both and quite frankly its the same. The only reason to change is for asthetic reasons or if you like OSX.
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this.

like mentioned adobe and some other software can be transferred once to another platform.
 
Microsoft will not transfer office - it's a completely different product. Office 2007 has been supersceded anyway, and you can now get 2011 for the MAC which is good, but will cost you £75 for the standard version.

I made the move as an experiment a while back, didnt like it and returned to PC.
 
Macs and PCs are the same thing. Don't be swayed by the belief that Macs are something special. Go and play with one in a Mac shop/Currys etc... and see if you like the same hardware with a different interface....
 
arad85 said:
Macs and PCs are the same thing.
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They aren't. Well, they are a bit. They're both computers.

The PC crashes all the time, loves trojans and other viruses, and takes 2 days to start up.

The Mac just works perfectly all the time and wakes from sleep in a second. Of course, they cost more for that ability to actually do what you want. The reality is that PC's are cheap, in all the senses of the word - not inexpensive.

I have both, by the way.
 
Wuffstuff said:
They aren't. Well, they are a bit. They're both computers.

The PC crashes all the time, loves trojans and other viruses, and takes 2 days to start up.

The Mac just works perfectly all the time and wakes from sleep in a second. Of course, they cost more for that ability to actually do what you want. The reality is that PC's are cheap, in all the senses of the word - not inexpensive.

I have both, by the way.
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I have both, too and windows 7 on the laptop takes the same time as my imac does to boot up.. and the mac is a tad faster waking up from sleep, but not by much.

like the others have said, both are the same, but the iMac's uses IPS screens for their monitors (iirc) which makes the photo's look nicer..
But again the same technology can be bought for the pc's.

I dont want to see this thread start into another mac vs pc / vice-versa war.

both systems are great, provided the user knows how to use it to their advantage.

My choice to buy an iMac was because I fancied a change from windows, and always wanted MacOS. The reason I chose the imac was essentially an all in one and saves me some desk space, whilst allowing me to use MacOS.

But yes, the screen does make my photos look prettier :love:
 
Wuffstuff said:
They aren't. Well, they are a bit. They're both computers.

The PC crashes all the time, loves trojans and other viruses, and takes 2 days to start up.

The Mac just works perfectly all the time and wakes from sleep in a second. Of course, they cost more for that ability to actually do what you want. The reality is that PC's are cheap, in all the senses of the word - not inexpensive.

I have both, by the way.
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Then there is something seriously wrong with your pc. ;)
 
I would not bother with Office for the Mac, just download Neo Office, part of the open office org and open/convert/save as any windows office file extension.

I have both Mac and PC and find that the MAc requires less maintenance. My laptop seems to need error checking, disk defragmenting every 6 months or so as the start up time increases beyond acceptable.
 
Wuffstuff said:
They aren't. Well, they are a bit. They're both computers.
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They both use the same underlying hardware. You can run MacOS on a Windows m/c and Windows on a Mac.

Wuffstuff said:
The PC crashes all the time, loves trojans and other viruses, and takes 2 days to start up.
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PICNIC....


Wuffstuff said:
The Mac just works perfectly all the time and wakes from sleep in a second. Of course, they cost more for that ability to actually do what you want.
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<shrug> I have 3 windows machines on 24/7 (and another handful that are laptops that get hibernated, that run for months at a time between reboots and work as quickly as they did when they were first built. Perhaps I'm just special ;)
 
Guys, this has all the makings of deteriorating into yet another Mac / PC flame war.

Please, out of fairness to the OP, keep this one on topic. How easy is it to transfer from PC to Mac & Software license etc.
 
Grendel said:
Please, out of fairness to the OP, keep this one on topic. How easy is it to transfer from PC to Mac & Software license etc.
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To be fair, all we're doing is pointing out that the OP's beliefs may be incorrect.

BTW, I'm guessing you live 3 boats down from the candy... ;)
 
arad85 said:
To be fair, all we're doing is pointing out that the OP's beliefs may be incorrect.

BTW, I'm guessing you live 3 boats down from the candy... ;)
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Pretty much every thread that mentions PC & Mac in the same sentence ends up a disaster which is why I'm just asking to keep in mind the OP's original questions :)

arad85 said:
BTW, I'm guessing you live 3 boats down from the candy... ;)
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:D Indeed, and I often have a garden party ;)
 
menthel said:
Then there is something seriously wrong with your pc. ;)
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or the things he/she is looking at or downloading from the internet ;) I've been using a Mac for almost 6 years and never had a virus. Was using Windows machines for about 12 years before that (some members of family have stuck with Windows) and have none of our machines have been infected or left crippled by a virus.

As for the switch over, it was easy for me. I didn't need/use and Windows specific software and am not really a gamer so it couldn't have gone any smoother.

Sort of the only thing that caused a stumble was the lack of NTFS compatibility so it wouldn't let me transfer data with external hard drives and USB keys that were formatted in NTFS partitions (is the that the right term?). Got hold of a small driver/piece of software called "NTFS for mac" and never had a compatibility issue since.
 
thanks for all the advice everybody, keep it coming. I may have opened a can of worms :)

I currently run windows XP with AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ so its quite old now so this is a reason why I am thinking about an upgrade and just deciding now to either go new windows machine or IMac.

I have always used windows PC's for about 16 years (since DOS), I have also used Power Mac G5 at uni and really enjoyed using them for creating music and photo editing.

I do feel that I enjoyed working with the IMac OS when I used it at uni and at the moment with windows I am quite tired having to constantly 'maintain' the OS. It does seem that the Mac OS does seem more intuitive than windows hence one of the reasons why I am steered towards the IMac at the moment.

With OSX how often do you need to re-install the OS on the IMac?
 
I've not had my iMac that long, but had a MacBook for 4 years and never had to reinstall the OS on that.
 
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TurnipFarmer said:
With OSX how often do you need to re-install the OS on the IMac?
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In theory you should never have to reinstall an OS these days regardless of the platform.
Most of the time it's only neccessary if a hardware cause the OS to become corrupt.
I've had Win 7 on this PC since it was released and not once have I needed to do a reinstall.
 
I'm a network manager in a fully windows environment. Yet my work PC & home PC are both imacs so I use both extensively every day.

What people have said here is somewhat correct IN MY OPINION

Both a PC and an imac will do what you need. You'll get a better spec machine for your money if you buy a PC BUT you won't get OSX which is what your really paying that extra cash for.

Personally I prefere osx as I find it more stable.
Think of it like this. Osx is only supported on apple hardware. So apple control exactly what goes into their machines and then makes osx work efficiently with that.

Microsoft for the most part don't make hardware, they make the os and then hardware companies have to make their devices work with the os through drivers.

This to me is why I find and think that osx is a more stable platform.

Like has already been suggested, go to the apple shop and speak to someone and have a play on an imac
 
Grendel said:
:D Indeed, and I often have a garden party ;)
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Given your avatar, that is pretty much assumed :p. I'd have expected the Market square heroes sleeve picture with your username ;) (I still have my 12" single, only "single" I own that plays at 33rpm).
 
TurnipFarmer said:
thanks for all the advice everybody, keep it coming. I may have opened a can of worms :)

I currently run windows XP with AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ so its quite old now so this is a reason why I am thinking about an upgrade and just deciding now to either go new windows machine or IMac.

I have always used windows PC's for about 16 years (since DOS), I have also used Power Mac G5 at uni and really enjoyed using them for creating music and photo editing.

I do feel that I enjoyed working with the IMac OS when I used it at uni and at the moment with windows I am quite tired having to constantly 'maintain' the OS. It does seem that the Mac OS does seem more intuitive than windows hence one of the reasons why I am steered towards the IMac at the moment.

With OSX how often do you need to re-install the OS on the IMac?
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Well, how long is a piece of string? there is no definite answer. But I can tell you this... you can do it as often as you need to or as little as you want to.

I've only done it once just to see what was involved. Easy. If you've reformatted windows or installed linux before, you'll manage easily.
 
hashcake said:
In theory you should never have to reinstall an OS these days regardless of the platform.
Most of the time it's only neccessary if a hardware cause the OS to become corrupt.
I've had Win 7 on this PC since it was released and not once have I needed to do a reinstall.
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I'd pretty much typed this about 5 mins ago but didn't bother posting it. I can't ever remember an instance where a problem with Windows was directly attributed to Windows. It's usually some software/driver thats been installed, or uninstalled, that in turn buggers everything else up.

EDIT: I've only reinstalled OSX on my 3 year old MacBook to upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard, and on my iBook before that to upgrade from Tiger to Leopard. Same goes for my Mac Mini.
 
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I've often contemplated the same thing and i always ask myself one thing - for the same money any given mac will cost me, will a pc/laptop of the same price be a better performer? The answer is always yes.

Don't get me wrong, macs look the ****, but frankly these days there is no difference in real performance especially since they now all use the same processors and boards as the next laptop, so you just need to look at what you get for your money. Unfortunately, with apple, you don't get that much for your hard earned ££. :(
 
Strangely - since windows 7 - I've not had a single os related problem, and I run a very stable very intensive trading floor.

Windows 7 64 bit is very stable if you pick your hardware correctly.
 
barneyrubble said:
Strangely - since windows 7 - I've not had a single os related problem, and I run a very stable very intensive trading floor.

Windows 7 64 bit is very stable if you pick your hardware correctly.
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Agree with this totally. Recently got a 64bit windows 7 i5 laptop for 550 and its pretty much the best thing since sliced bread. Runs LR3 and CS5 as smooth as anything...
 
Windows 7 does seem to have moved the goal posts a bit. My brother had/has a Vista laptop which ran like a dog, upgraded it to Windows 7 and it ran like less of a dog but still had it's foibles. I've got a Asus netbook and my brother recently got a new Windows 7 i3 laptop and they both run great and very very smooth.
 
Windows 7 makes XP looks so so old, so before you jump to OSX as it looks/feels better, play with Windows 7 first.

Mac Users - is it true there is no thumbnail view (or its complicated or something), I took a CD of artowrk and photos to my graphic artists who use Macs and he couldn't see thumbnails when looking at the files, had to open it in Adobe Bridge (I think) to see the thumbnails. Was it something he did that caused this?

I will never go to Mac for personal reasons, but when I see my graphic artist or web developers fly around, it does seem a little bit quicker/slicker, but in reality I'm not sure it is, its just the way it appears, the way you do things.

Another thing that did strike me as odd was the search was very basic, he could only search his whole Mac, not just a specific folder or drive.

These days they are pretty similar (OSX is 64 bit, Windows are primary 32 bit and thanks to drivers its where we are stuck for another few years).

You just have more options and less limitations with a PC
 
Dale_d3100 said:
Mac Users - is it true there is no thumbnail view (or its complicated or something), I took a CD of artowrk and photos to my graphic artists who use Macs and he couldn't see thumbnails when looking at the files, had to open it in Adobe Bridge (I think) to see the thumbnails. Was it something he did that caused this?
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Do you mean in Finder? You can see thumbnails from jpegs and raws.
 
he mounted the CD, opened it up and then asked me which file it was, I asked for thumbnails and he said he'd have to open it in bridge to see. It seemed very odd.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
he mounted the CD, opened it up and then asked me which file it was, I asked for thumbnails and he said he'd have to open it in bridge to see. It seemed very odd.
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Sounds odd to me too. I just open Finder and, if it's an image file, the thumbnail is displayed. :shrug:
 
I thought it was odd to.
 
Can you tell me how, so I can forward the info, he was searching the app store for a solution.

he also wanted to search on just his time capsule, is that possible?
 
Search folder = go to that folder in finder and type in the search box.

Time machine = open Time machine, go to the date you want to restore from and type in the search box.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
Windows 7 makes XP looks so so old, so before you jump to OSX as it looks/feels better, play with Windows 7 first.

Mac Users - is it true there is no thumbnail view (or its complicated or something), I took a CD of artowrk and photos to my graphic artists who use Macs and he couldn't see thumbnails when looking at the files, had to open it in Adobe Bridge (I think) to see the thumbnails. Was it something he did that caused this?

I will never go to Mac for personal reasons, but when I see my graphic artist or web developers fly around, it does seem a little bit quicker/slicker, but in reality I'm not sure it is, its just the way it appears, the way you do things.

Another thing that did strike me as odd was the search was very basic, he could only search his whole Mac, not just a specific folder or drive.

These days they are pretty similar (OSX is 64 bit, Windows are primary 32 bit and thanks to drivers its where we are stuck for another few years).

You just have more options and less limitations with a PC
Click to expand...

Seems like your guy doesn't know what he is doing, unless he's still using "sherlock"
 
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