Switching to a Macbook

[jenny]

I haven't posted in forever! I have a few questions for those who have made the switch from a Windows laptop to a Macbook - are you glad you did? How was the learning curve? Do you regret it? I use Photoshop and Lightroom.

I've had iPhones and iPads for ages so am definitely familiar with the Apple ecosystem. I guess it's more the scrapping side I'm curious about. I'm hoping the change will help inspire me to scrap more regularly as I do miss it.

 

[Pachimac]

I am a Mac girl converted back in 1997! I will never go back to a PC.

There is NO learning curve to go from Mac to PC in Photoshop except for a few keyboard commands.

The learning curve is in the OS, but the latest OS is very similar to the iPhone, so you should be ok. I just got a MacBook Air and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! I have a 27" iMac too and I choose to use the laptop 99% of the time.

If you have any specific questions, I am here.

 

[umyesh]

I made the switch a year or two ago and yes I’m glad I did. My Mac is a lot faster than my old Windows laptop so it makes scrapping faster.

 

[michelepixels]

After a couple decades with PC computers and one laptop, I switched to a Mac desktop in 2011. I was quickly happy with it, had no trouble figuring it out, and don't want to ever go back to PC. That Mac lasted 9 years. I got my second and current Mac desktop in 2020.

I also use Lightroom and Photoshop. My top recommendation would probably be to avoid the Photos app on the laptop/desktop. It's fine on an iPhone, but on my desktop it held my photos hostage and didn't allow me to do my photo processing the way I prefer, which is to batch rename my photos with their date taken and have the captions and keywords saved in the metadata so I can use that stuff in the finder when I'm searching my photo files.

 

[Pachimac]

After a couple decades with PC computers and one laptop, I switched to a Mac desktop in 2011. I was quickly happy with it, had no trouble figuring it out, and don't want to ever go back to PC. That Mac lasted 9 years. I got my second and current Mac desktop in 2020.

I also use Lightroom and Photoshop. My top recommendation would probably be to avoid the Photos app on the laptop/desktop. It's fine on an iPhone, but on my desktop it held my photos hostage and didn't allow me to do my photo processing the way I prefer, which is to batch rename my photos with their date taken and have the captions and keywords saved in the metadata so I can use that stuff in the finder when I'm searching my photo files.

What do you use for your photos? I have the same problem and I HATE it. It used to save them by IMG XXX and the month and date, now they're just a jumble of numbers with no order!! Frustrates the hell out of me! Image Capture works, but it's a pain to figure out what has been imported and what has not.

 

[michelepixels]

What do you use for your photos? I have the same problem and I HATE it. It used to save them by IMG XXX and the month and date, now they're just a jumble of numbers with no order!! Frustrates the hell out of me! Image Capture works, but it's a pain to figure out what has been imported and what has not.

Lightroom. I created batch import presets that do things like change the file name to YYYY MM DD filename.

 

[Pachimac]

Lightroom. I created batch import presets that do things like change the file name to YYYY MM DD filename.

I would love to know how you do that! I do have light room.

 

[michelepixels]

@Pachimac Here's what the left panel looks like in my Import dialogue in Lightroom. See the second box, File Renaming? I created a template there. I've played around with all the options in this panel over the years. And at the bottom you can see how I have it send the photos to folders. I set up the monthly folders at the beginning of each year, but because of the choices I made in those drop boxes you can see every time I import, Lightroom creates folders based on the dates the photos were taken.

 

[Karen]

I am a PC gal and I will never switch to a Mac purely based on the Photos thing you're talking about. I tried to help a friend of mine download her pictures from her photo to her Mac and knew they went into the Photos app and then I couldn't find them anywhere to do anything with them. I was so incredibly frustrated that they were hidden and I felt dumb trying to show her how to get to them to upload anything to Shutterfly. My IRL scrapping friend is a Mac girl too and she's constantly having trouble downloading her photos too. Once she downloads them them it seems to change the metadata for the date taken to whatever the date was when she downloaded them. That also might be because she uses Google photos to store all her photos and doesn't just download them from her phone directly to her laptop.

Now having said all that, I know it's purely because I don't know the eco system for Mac, but I have control over everything I want to do in my Windows PC and have never had any troubles with my computers. I also like that I can replace parts on my own computer if I ever need to and then initial cost is about half vs. a Mac, so for me, I'm sticking with Windows.

p.s. I'm not an Apple hater... I have iPhones and iPads and AirPods, etc and love ALL of those!

 

[Pachimac]

@Pachimac Here's what the left panel looks like in my Import dialogue in Lightroom. See the second box, File Renaming? I created a template there. I've played around with all the options in this panel over the years. And at the bottom you can see how I have it send the photos to folders. I set up the monthly folders at the beginning of each year, but because of the choices I made in those drop boxes you can see every time I import, Lightroom creates folders based on the dates the photos were taken.
View attachment 590884

Thank you!!! I will try this!

 

[Pachimac]

They’re not actually hidden. They are in the library just as they always have been. You just control click on the icon for the iPhoto library in the system library and it opens them all up to you. The problem is they messed with the naming nomenclature.

all the metadata is still there. I’ve noticed with the new OS, when I drag them out of the Photos app to my desktop that they are named IMG xxx as they used to be.

I agree - it’s super frustrating, but that alone would never drive me back to Windows. I’m glad we have both to choose from so we can all be happy!

I am a PC gal and I will never switch to a Mac purely based on the Photos thing you're talking about. I tried to help a friend of mine download her pictures from her photo to her Mac and knew they went into the Photos app and then I couldn't find them anywhere to do anything with them. I was so incredibly frustrated that they were hidden and I felt dumb trying to show her how to get to them to upload anything to Shutterfly. My IRL scrapping friend is a Mac girl too and she's constantly having trouble downloading her photos too. Once she downloads them them it seems to change the metadata for the date taken to whatever the date was when she downloaded them. That also might be because she uses Google photos to store all her photos and doesn't just download them from her phone directly to her laptop.

Now having said all that, I know it's purely because I don't know the eco system for Mac, but I have control over everything I want to do in my Windows PC and have never had any troubles with my computers. I also like that I can replace parts on my own computer if I ever need to and then initial cost is about half vs. a Mac, so for me, I'm sticking with Windows.

p.s. I'm not an Apple hater... I have iPhones and iPads and AirPods, etc and love ALL of those!

 

[Pachimac]

@Pachimac Here's what the left panel looks like in my Import dialogue in Lightroom. See the second box, File Renaming? I created a template there. I've played around with all the options in this panel over the years. And at the bottom you can see how I have it send the photos to folders. I set up the monthly folders at the beginning of each year, but because of the choices I made in those drop boxes you can see every time I import, Lightroom creates folders based on the dates the photos were taken.
View attachment 590884

I'm getting ready to do this here. Did you have to make ALL the sub folders per month or did you just make the month folders? I think you were saying you just made this one:

2024 February

and Lightroom created these: 2024 February 01, 2021 February 02, etc...

I don't have all the categories you have. I only have File Handling and Apply during import. I don't have any of the other ones and can't find them. Which version of LR do you have? Maybe its a version issue?

 

[michelepixels]

Sorry to take so long to reply. Sadly, I don't have much time to visit TLP nowadays. I have to manually make the month folders, but Lightroom makes the daily folders upon import. I think I had to check a box that says something like "create subfolders." If you're not seeing all the panels, maybe you don't have the Import box expanded. I don't remember how I did that; I've had it that way since 2011. But I am using the latest version of Lightroom. I have Adobe CC. Oh! I just remembered. There are two Lightrooms now. Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Cloud. Lightroom Classic is the evolution of the original Lightroom and has more features. I tried the newer Lightroom Cloud and it lacked something(s) I wanted (but I can't remember exactly. That was years ago) so I'm using Classic. I'm sorry I'm not much help. I'm not actually using Lightroom a lot anymore, since my days are full of my job now and I haven't picked up a DSLR in a few years. I still like to import my iPhone photos with Lightroom because of the file renaming and automatic organizing though. You might need to google if you don't find what you're looking for. I also learned a lot about Lightroom from Ben Willmore at CreativeLIVE many years ago; you might be able to find his classes there still.

 

[bestcee]

I am a PC gal and I will never switch to a Mac purely based on the Photos thing you're talking about. I tried to help a friend of mine download her pictures from her photo to her Mac and knew they went into the Photos app and then I couldn't find them anywhere to do anything with them.

THIS!!! 100%%%

I've been trying for weeks to help my mom get her photos off her iPhone and onto her desktop (which is a PC). And Apple refuses to play nice. We've followed all the tutorials from Apple, and a few from non Apple places. So far? No luck at all. The one time she did get a few photos, they were tiny thumbnails. So, it said to go back to Photos on her phone and blah blah blah, and still - nope. It's so frustrating!

I'm glad you all enjoy Apple. The photo thing? Nope. Nope. Nope. Not for me! She can't even just plug her phone in and drag and drop it anymore. Apple made that not okay for a PC.

 

[bestcee]

@Pachimac
I believe you are on CC. Are you using Classic?

If you are,

At the top, it shows where the photos are going to be imported. My folder is 2024.
Then you can click Into Subfolder under Destination. On mine, this is collapsed until I opened it.

If you click on the date format, you have this list below:

 

[bestcee]

Also, I know Cheryl imports into Lightroom this way. @gonewiththewind ?

 

[Pachimac]

I will take a look and see. I’m pretty sure I am on Classic.

@Pachimac
I believe you are on CC. Are you using Classic?

If you are,

At the top, it shows where the photos are going to be imported. My folder is 2024.
Then you can click Into Subfolder under Destination. On mine, this is collapsed until I opened it.
View attachment 591822

If you click on the date format, you have this list below:

View attachment 591823

 

[SuzMarie]

I'm thinking of making the switch too, but I'm having a hard time deciding between the 8g or 16g of RAM. Does anyone have any advice? My typical programs are PSE and Lightroom. I don't use Lightroom very often, but I might more in the future. Adobe says that 16g of RAM is reccomended, but I wonder how slow Lightroom is on 8g.

 

[littlekiwi]

@SuzMarie I'm a Windows gal myself but have had laptops & desktops with both 8gb and 16gb of RAM in them. While I only use an older version of PSE now I can safely say things run a lot better with 16gb than they ever did with 8gb so my advice would be to get as much RAM as you can afford and your computer can manage. I do vaguely remember having a play with both Lightroom and Bridge with only 8gb of RAM and it was not fun so gave up til I got my newest custom PC. In my case I have a custom built PC with 16gb that can go up to 32gb and I'm perfectly happy and content with what I have now. Hope that helps.