Switching from Windows 7 to Mac

benl

benl

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I'm at the very first step of considering a switch from Windows 7 to Mac, most likely in the autumn (so the switch would be to Lion, but I don't think that's of great significance).

The reason for the change is bit convoluted, but the shorthand is that I work closely with a lot of Mac users (and I actually came from Mac originally, from the very first model to the year 2000). Suffice it to say the shift makes sense logistically, and the learning curve is a price I'm willing to pay.

Hardware is easy as I already run Win7 on a MacBook Pro 17 for reasons too boring to go into :-) and my girlfriend has an iMac. So my plan is to get everything up-and-running on her machine, then switch to mine once everything is proven.

Has anyone made this change? I will do a lot of googling, so excuse very basic questions, but if anyone has been through it, that may give me a good starting-point.

My main apps are Lightroom, Photoshop and Office. Can I transfer the licences from Windows to Mac? And how similar are the versions? I use Lightroom 2 (but would upgrade to 3 at the same time, assuming the version numbers are the same). For Office, it's 2007 on Windows which I believe is the equivalent of 2008 on Mac. I could upgrade to 2010/11 at the same time, but would probably prefer to avoid that given I'll have a steep learning-curve already.

All advice gratefully received!

Ben
 
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Im unsure about the licences but i would hazard a guess at no, my experience with adobe is that they are money grabbers and will make you pay nearly full price for another licence.

Apple's website has various easy videos to show how you do a windows task on a mac, very simple and easy to follow.

I went mac a few years ago and have never looked back, the OS and how it works with the hardware is just in another league.
 
Hi I have read somewhere recently possibly POTN, that someone did the same and they contacted adobe and got mac licences either cheap or free so worth following up and seeing what they will offer.
 
I pretty sure you can swap your Adobe licence from PC to Mac, just the once by contacting Adobe.

As for Office, I think it depend now much you use it's full functions, if relative simple word processing and spreadsheets, then I find iWork does everything I need at a very reasonable price.

There is alway the free Open Office package as well.

As Ric say Apple have videos on the swap, and they copy all your stuff across from a Win machine to a new mac for you in store.
 
Yep, it is also my understanding that you can exchange your windows licences for mac ones just by contacting adobe.

I made the change, didnt do licences as still run windows on my desktop at the office, but main processing machine is now an iMac and have not regretted it for a minute. MS Office for mac is very nice, but Open Office will do most of what you need if you want to limit expenditure. :thumbs:
 
Office 2011 for Mac is brilliant, it is very fast and very good and every 2008 should have been. 2008 is slow and made me got for iWork, 2011 got me back with Office.

I never got on with Open Office and in fact I told several (linux) people off at work for editing documents with it as it stripped out metadata important to workflow and content management in a corporate environment.
 
With the mac app store now too, you can get things quite easily, things like iWork and Pages etc.. I love mine :D
 
How about that you can install the software on limitless machines with the same Apple ID. Or take Aperture £45 App store, £108 from 80 stores according to google shop....

Also when you get a new machine it is so easy to transfer across, not have to search the house for those lost little serial numbers etc...
 
Ben

When moving from a Windows PC to a Mac [which I've not long done] you can transfer your Adobe software. Just deactivate it on your Windows machine then install and activate on the Mac.

I have the three software packs you mention and as you say its a bit of a learning curve but I like the fact that the Adobe software is very similar in operation whether it be MAC or Windows so that's been quite smooth

I find Office for Mac 2011 quite a bit different in terms of the interface and look/feel (not bad jsut different) than my Windows Office 2007 so am still plugging away at that. As an aside, I have always preferred KeyNote to PowerPoint as I used to use KN at work and it is so much richer in its ability.

I need the other parts of Office for compatability with work and more.

I'm still learning the ins and outs of the rest of Macworld but it's coming along nicely!

Good luck wiht the change over.

Adrian
benl said:
I'm at the very first step of considering a switch from Windows 7 to Mac, most likely in the autumn (so the switch would be to Lion, but I don't think that's of great significance).

The reason for the change is bit convoluted, but the shorthand is that I work closely with a lot of Mac users (and I actually came from Mac originally, from the very first model to the year 2000). Suffice it to say the shift makes sense logistically, and the learning curve is a price I'm willing to pay.

Hardware is easy as I already run Win7 on a MacBook Pro 17 for reasons too boring to go into :-) and my girlfriend has an iMac. So my plan is to get everything up-and-running on her machine, then switch to mine once everything is proven.

Has anyone made this change? I will do a lot of googling, so excuse very basic questions, but if anyone has been through it, that may give me a good starting-point.

My main apps are Lightroom, Photoshop and Office. Can I transfer the licences from Windows to Mac? And how similar are the versions? I use Lightroom 2 (but would upgrade to 3 at the same time, assuming the version numbers are the same). For Office, it's 2007 on Windows which I believe is the equivalent of 2008 on Mac. I could upgrade to 2010/11 at the same time, but would probably prefer to avoid that given I'll have a steep learning-curve already.

All advice gratefully received!

Ben
Click to expand...
 
I'd happily sell me old copy of Office 2008, but you are just going to delay the inevitable. Office 2008 is buggy and slow on OSX, doesn't get maintained anymore. But more importantly 2011 can handle any macro's and vba, so if you did advanced stuff in Powerpoint it will still work.
 
Don't forget that Apple has got some very good videos and information on their website as well about switching.

Shame you already had your MBP as with a new one you get the opportunity to buy One2One for about £72 in an Apple store. That gives you an unlimited amount of 1 hour training sessions for a year in store.

I have done quite a few and I must admit they were excellent. Once I had a tutor who was really not very good and I was even to him quite obviously interested in way more advanced elements than he had experienced. What was good and refreshing is that he recognised that himself, had a quick chat and brought someone else in and then joined the session to learn. I like that and respect people who know their own limitations.
 
if your switching it also worth trying pixelmator
its quite cheap but very nice.
It loads a LOT faster than photoshop and is a more mac like experience
 
As you already have a windows 7 license during your crossover phase you can use virtual box to virtualize your windows install. This will help with your transition especially if you need any windows only programs !
Virtualbox is like vmware but free (written and supported by oracle)
 
Thanks for all the input.

I have created a disk image of my Windows partition, and switched to OSX. I did initially keep a Windows partition on the drive, accessed via Parallels, but I'm pretty confident I won't need to revisit Windows having located Mac versions of all my main software, so for now at least I'm Mac-only.
 
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