Making the switch (to a Mac)

Discussion in 'Chatty Pad' started by cherryberry, Aug 22, 2011.

  1. cherryberry

    cherryberry Hottie Patottie!

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    My parents just came to visit me and surprised me by buying me a brand new 27 inch iMac (aren't I lucky?). Anyhow, I don't know a whole lot about Macs. Can someone help me out? :giggle

    1) How am I going to go about transferring all my files? My 2 external HDs are not compatible with a MAC so I can't just plug the HD in, which I was hoping to do. Anyone tried the Move2Mac site?

    2) Is iWork good or do you usually go with Microsoft Office for Macs?

    3) Does Photoshop work the same? I assume it would ...

    4) What do you do for external storage? Do you buy the Apple brand or do the other compatible devices work ok?

    Anything else I should know? :helpy

    Too bad Heather didn't move to California so I could bribe her to come over and give me a tutorial. :flirty
     
  2. sportay24

    sportay24 <img src="https://the-lilypad.com/forums/images

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    I did this about 1.5 years ago Tiki. btw, I LOVE my iMac!!! Altho my external wasn't compatible, I was still able to copy stuff to my iMac from it, I just couldn't copy or make changes to the stuff on it. Instead, I have an online backup now. I use crash plan.

    I have microsoft office for mac, so I don't know anything about iWork, I'm sure Heather can pop in about that and I upgraded my PS when I got the mac but I would think it would work the same.

    As far as devices, I would think that anything would/should work. What I love about my mac is you really just plug stuff in and go. So simple :)

    Good luck!!!! I hope you love it as much as I love mine! :wub
     
  3. Karen

    Karen Wiggle it, just a little bit!

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    I have no idea how the Mac stuff works, but had to pop in and say holy cow! I hope you thanked your parents a whole bunch! :) Lucky girl! :)
     
  4. Brandi

    Brandi You're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind

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    Woooah! Nice gift mom and dad! :lol I'm going to be buying probably the 21" iMac myself in the next 2 weeks... Have you looked into the Time Capsule (for the Mac?) I am debating on getting one of those too, but don't know much about it.
     
  5. nativescrapper

    nativescrapper nativescrapper

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    i wouldnt be much help with the imac transfer, but just wanted to say your parents are just Awesome for getting you a new comp ;)
     
  6. RebeccaH

    RebeccaH Life is exciting, yes it is!

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    what a fabulous surprise!! :happydance that's incredible!! i can't be any help, but i'm excited for you all the same!!
     
  7. carolee

    carolee Humming along in the Neil mobile

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    I made the switch two years ago. I'll try to answer your questions the best I can.

    1) How am I going to go about transferring all my files? My 2 external HDs are not compatible with a MAC so I can't just plug the HD in, which I was hoping to do. Anyone tried the Move2Mac site? I have a Macbook and don't use an external regularly (only for backups) but I was able to transfer files from my old EHD to my Mac without a problem, even though it wasn't compatible.

    2) Is iWork good or do you usually go with Microsoft Office for Macs? I have iWork but kind of wish I had gone with Office, since that is so much more commonly used and I end up converting to excel a lot anyway.

    3) Does Photoshop work the same? I assume it would ... No. You need to get a version for the Mac. Contact Adobe. They might make you upgrade. Lightroom is cross platform so that will work fine.

    4) What do you do for external storage? Do you buy the Apple brand or do the other compatible devices work ok? I use a firewire external hard drive that is specifically for Macs for my Time Machine backups and I love it - it is so fast. Here is the one I have - I bought it over a year ago: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DW94WS/ref=wms_ohs_product_T2
     
  8. Dana

    Dana Dana

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    woohoo! i think you will love your new mac!

    1) i've had my mac for such a long time that i don't remember what i did to transfer my files ... sorry :(

    2) i have office for mac as well as a few of the mac programs (numbers, etc) ... if i am starting from scratch and it's just for me, i use the mac based program b/c i like it better. however, i like having office for mac so that i can easily read excel files, etc. however, the excel is different than the pc version, and that bugs me! LOL!

    3) you will need photoshop for mac, but it works similarly i think (although it's 'command' + something vs. 'control'

    4) i have a portable EHD (western digital) as well as a time capsule that serves as our router and does my daily backups w/ time machine.

    hope that helps a little ...
     
  9. talktoheather

    talktoheather The 102nd Dalmatian.

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    well. you could always buy me a plane ticket. hehe. my break is almost over, but i'll answer this post later. you know you can always 911 message me questions.

    I"M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!
     
  10. rekneipp

    rekneipp Member

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    I have the same questions! :) I wanna buy a Macbook Pro, but I don't know if it's the right thing to do, 'cause everyone has a PC. ¬¬'
     
  11. cherryberry

    cherryberry Hottie Patottie!

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    Thank you for all the help! I'm glad to hear my external hard drive might work. I have a neighbor who works at Adobe - I'm going to try to hit him up for the Creative Suite for Macs. He mentioned awhile back that with his employee discount it would be $100 or something. My computer comes either Friday or Monday. I'm so excited. I keep checking Amazon to see whether it's "shipped" yet or not. LOL

    For anyone else switching, I did find this on the Apple site that looks like it is going to be VERY useful. I especially like the side to side comparison of PC function and corresponding MAC function.

    http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/
     
  12. cherryberry

    cherryberry Hottie Patottie!

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    The Time Capsule does not have very good reviews and is quite expensive so I might look into getting one of the Seagate Goflex drives. They seem to make ones for Macs and ones for PCs but the PC ones are a lot cheaper and from looking in a Mac forum, work just as well, so ... I'm not sure. I'll wait until Heather gets off break. You're lucky I'm not in NY or else I'd be hauling my butt down to your store to bug you to no end. :giggle
     
  13. 4noisyboys

    4noisyboys Being a Grandma is the best!

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    woohoo Tiki!! Awesome gift!

    I've been considering doing the same thing soon...I can't wait to hear what you think about it!!
     
  14. cherryberry

    cherryberry Hottie Patottie!

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    The computer I have now is 6 years old. I had it custom made when I first bought it and it was top notch with three internal drives and close to a TB of space, which was a lot 6 years ago. Recently my Adobe programs have been slowing it down to a crawl and I have to keep rebooting to get my programs to work right. I also get all these weird error messages about Windows errors. I'm just tired of it. My dad recently bought an imac and was so happy with it that he wanted to share the experience with me. I'll let you know what I think once I've had it for awhile :)

     

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