closing tag is in template navbar
timefactors watches



TZ-UK Fundraiser
Results 1 to 34 of 34

Thread: Moving from Windows PC to Mac

  1. #1
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Bungay England
    Posts
    663

    Moving from Windows PC to Mac

    I've always used a Windows PC both at work and home.
    I've got to upgrade my old PC - still running Windows 8 and the last non sub versions of Photoshop and Lightroom. My initial research has led me to look at a Mac 1 Mini with 16GB RAM. From what I can tell budget wise it's not too much different from a decently specced PC. However not being familiar with all things Macintosh I just wondered if anyone else had made the switch and whether this is an easy move and any glitches I may need to be aware of please

    Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk

  2. #2
    I made the move from Windows to MacOS over 10 years ago and haven’t regretted it for a moment.

    If you are desperate to hang on to Windows, buy an Intel chipped Mac and then partition the drive. Then you can choose Windoze or MacOS on start up. (The current Macs have a proprietary Apple chip so they can’t run Windoze).
    Last edited by Bravo73; 22nd January 2022 at 21:22.

  3. #3
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Sheffield
    Posts
    549
    What do you do with your computer, if it’s just a bit of browsing, the odd photo, emails and watching some YouTube etc your life will be infinitely better with Mac.

    I made the switch years ago and I wouldn’t go back.

    If you use some specialist software then it might not be available. I’ve just got a new MacBook it’s got an M1 pro chip. It’s brilliant as many of the reviews on here atest.
    I personally wouldn’t buy a new Intel Mac from Apple I suspect they will have limited support going forward.

  4. #4
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Bungay England
    Posts
    663
    Quote Originally Posted by Sean89 View Post
    What do you do with your computer, if it’s just a bit of browsing, the odd photo, emails and watching some YouTube etc your life will be infinitely better with Mac.

    I made the switch years ago and I wouldn’t go back.

    If you use some specialist software then it might not be available. I’ve just got a new MacBook it’s got an M1 pro chip. It’s brilliant as many of the reviews on here atest.
    I personally wouldn’t buy a new Intel Mac from Apple I suspect they will have limited support going forward.
    It's primary use will be photo editing Photoshop and Lightroom with the usual internet browsing and lightweight Word / Excel activity

    Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Master Franco's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    South Yorkshire
    Posts
    1,359
    Blog Entries
    1
    Always worked in UK Universities. From 1984 to 1991 all PC or Sun-Unix. After 1991 Mac only, bar some specific applications in Unix.

    Mostly using Office, Photoshop, Nikon camera software, Firefox/chrome

    Remember to get all the RAM you can afford, makes Photoshop smooth and perfect. Plus if you really want to use an emulator, helps a lot.

  6. #6
    Master Pitch3110's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Suffolk
    Posts
    5,718
    Blog Entries
    1
    Made the leap over 10 years ago and would not go back.

    Happy to talk you through the steep learning curve.

    Pitch

  7. #7
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    311
    I use both Mac and Windows machines for work and leisure. Macs are a far better thought out system with a more refined user experience. Once you get over a short learning curve, you'll probably wonder why you didn't switch sooner.

    I'd suggest considering Libre Office instead of MS Office. It does the same thing and you can download it for free or make a donation.

  8. #8
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Sheffield
    Posts
    549
    For what OP wants I’d definitely say an M1 with integrated ram and gpu cores will be quick and powerful enough.

    16gb ram with 8 or 10 cores will definitely do the trick.

  9. #9
    Master
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Berkshire
    Posts
    5,105
    Like others here I made the switch a while back and haven’t regretted it at all.
    Now have to use a Windows machine for work and don’t like it at all!
    Personal machines are all Mac.

  10. #10
    Master blackal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Scottish Borders
    Posts
    9,538
    I gave it a try for laptop and got scunnered by the failure of the macbook.

    But - I reckon if I was buying a desktop now, the combination of power, ease of use, screen definition and ergonomics of the Apple system - would see me having another go at it.

    Add to that - the integration with macbook/iPad/iPhone - and it is a powerful argument.

    Just be careful that you don’t become a lame comedian and start saying ‘windoze’ at every opportunity.............

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by A440 View Post
    I'd suggest considering Libre Office instead of MS Office. It does the same thing and you can download it for free or make a donation.
    The only pain (that I find) is having to use older Excel spreadsheets with MS specific macros. Libre Office can’t handle those.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by blackal View Post
    Just be careful that you don’t become a lame comedian and start saying ‘windoze’ at every opportunity.............
    🙋🏻*♂️





    😂




    (Those are a couple of iOS emojis which probably won’t work on Windoze machines).

  13. #13
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    311
    Quote Originally Posted by Bravo73 View Post
    The only pain (that I find) is having to use older Excel spreadsheets with MS specific macros. Libre Office can’t handle those.
    Good point. The OP mentions he'll only be doing lightweight word & excel duties, so I'm guessing he'll be ok. As it's free, he could try it out and if he doesn't like it switch to MS Office.

  14. #14
    I tried, bought a Mac Book Air but for me it was hard work so I stuck with Windows.

  15. #15
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Bungay England
    Posts
    663
    Quote Originally Posted by A440 View Post
    Good point. The OP mentions he'll only be doing lightweight word & excel duties, so I'm guessing he'll be ok. As it's free, he could try it out and if he doesn't like it switch to MS Office.
    Thanks for that. I'm already using Libre Office so no problems there !!

    Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk

  16. #16
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Bungay England
    Posts
    663
    Quote Originally Posted by TheTigerUK View Post
    I tried, bought a Mac Book Air but for me it was hard work so I stuck with Windows.
    What were the main issues you suffered ?

    Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk

  17. #17
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Bungay England
    Posts
    663
    Quote Originally Posted by Sean89 View Post
    For what OP wants I’d definitely say an M1 with integrated ram and gpu cores will be quick and powerful enough.

    16gb ram with 8 or 10 cores will definitely do the trick.
    That's what I'm looking at with 500GB memory to act as a working space for current images with external drives as storage / backup

    Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Taxboy View Post
    What were the main issues you suffered ?

    Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk
    I just couldent get my head round it and it was so different to what I was used to but bare in mind i'm old (ish) and stuck in my ways a little :)

  19. #19
    Master reggie747's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    The Mersey Riviera
    Posts
    7,184
    Moved across to iMac around 10+yrs ago and have never wanted to looked back.
    Photo processing, internet, video processing, word processing and spreadsheets. A week or so to learn the basic foibles and Apple OS differences.
    As they say........it just works

  20. #20
    I bought an M1 MacBook about a year ago.

    It wasn’t too bad a transition the main issue I find is I also use windows 11 so sometimes forget what you do in which!

    The integration with the apple ecosystem is very good. The universal clipboard is magic , cut something on your Mac and paste it to your iPhone.

    Amazing!!


    Cheers, Shaun

  21. #21
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    20,046
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by reggie747 View Post
    Moved across to iMac around 10+yrs ago and have never wanted to looked back.
    Photo processing, internet, video processing, word processing and spreadsheets. A week or so to learn the basic foibles and Apple OS differences.
    As they say........it just works
    This, bought an iMac 7 years ago and wish I'd done it sooner. The Retina display is amazingly sharp and it just works. Took a bit of getting used to but I'm old so to be expected.
    Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.

  22. #22
    Master
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    In the south
    Posts
    2,326
    Use my 2012 i7 Mac mini for Lightroom and a couple of other photo editors. It has 32gb of Ram, so despite being 9 years old still works well. I switched to it from a windows pc.
    I’m probably going to replace it this year for either an iMac or a M1 mini.

  23. #23
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Sudbury Suffolk151
    Posts
    754
    Another one who switched when I retired 10 years ago, certainly wouldn't change back now. Not sure if you are looking to buy new, but Apple have a habit of "updating" regularly, personally I find this tedious as it's mainly intended for screen prodding types at the expense of their previous "professional" type users so I run an old OS on my iMac and I can still use Aperture and iPhoto and bought a supplimentary Mac mini which uses the iMac screen if i want/need to go modern. Cheers, John B4

  24. #24
    I have a new Mac Book Pro and a Surface Book and a high end desk top.

    I find the Mac not as intuitive as Windows, mostly because I've used PCs and Linux all my life but I'm happy to use any of them.

    The fastest machine and most productive machine I have is the desktop, the surface book has a better screen and I think I prefer the look of them. The Mac is fine, but it feels a bit gimmicky and dated these days.

    At the end of the day, you should buy the device that runs the things you want to use best. For some things that's Windows, and for some things that's a Mac.

  25. #25
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Location
    London/Surrey
    Posts
    448
    I made the switch from windows to Mac about 9 years ago, after getting fed up with my pc constantly updating and rebooting. Best move I made. My 2012 iMac is still going strong. Can’t imagine a PC would have lasted as long.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  26. #26
    Master murkeywaters's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Near the sea
    Posts
    7,122




    Only one survived - back the Mac..

  27. #27
    Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Glasgow
    Posts
    1,161
    >I've got to upgrade my old PC - still running Windows 8<

    Ooft! That's got to be torture, anything will be better. Can you get to an Apple store and try a Mac or iMac?

  28. #28
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Bungay England
    Posts
    663
    Quote Originally Posted by J J Carter View Post
    >I've got to upgrade my old PC - still running Windows 8<

    Ooft! That's got to be torture, anything will be better. Can you get to an Apple store and try a Mac or iMac?
    What you've never had you never miss !! I'm not a power user but I can't access all the latest good stuff in Photoshop / Lightroom. However web browsing and my lightweight office type tasks are fine
    I will accept it does take a little while to boot ....

    Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk

  29. #29
    Master RogDen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Somerset
    Posts
    1,461
    I moved to Mac from Windows XP back in 08 with an iMac 24” used that for about 8 years also brought a MacBook Air in 12 which i still use, i like the way they and the iPhones and iPad all ‘talk to each other ‘ ie delete an email in one it does it on the rest


    Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app

  30. #30
    Master blackal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Scottish Borders
    Posts
    9,538
    Quote Originally Posted by RogDen View Post
    I moved to Mac from Windows XP back in 08 with an iMac 24” used that for about 8 years also brought a MacBook Air in 12 which i still use, i like the way they and the iPhones and iPad all ‘talk to each other ‘ ie delete an email in one it does it on the rest


    Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app

    The integration of the platforms (Imac/macbook/iPad/iPhone) is the biggest sell for me. I also do like the simplicity and elegance of the desktop installations.

  31. #31
    Grand Master MartynJC (UK)'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Somewhere else
    Posts
    12,336
    Blog Entries
    22
    Quote Originally Posted by Taxboy View Post
    I've always used a Windows PC both at work and home.
    I've got to upgrade my old PC - still running Windows 8 and the last non sub versions of Photoshop and Lightroom. My initial research has led me to look at a Mac 1 Mini with 16GB RAM. From what I can tell budget wise it's not too much different from a decently specced PC. However not being familiar with all things Macintosh I just wondered if anyone else had made the switch and whether this is an easy move and any glitches I may need to be aware of please

    Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk
    I switched a while back at home and did not find it too difficult, even though running PCs at work - though we were also working on various flavours of unix platform too.

    MacOS has a simpler design philosophy loosely based on 'apps' like smart phones are. There are not constant updates and bloat wear that windows suffers from. It's much cleaner and simply 'works'. For example 'installation' of an application often means just dragging the app into the application folder and double click on it to run.

    The OS is tightly integrated with the hardware - it reminds me of Sun Microsystems a few years ago - so all is designed to work together. This is particularly true of the Mx chips that started out last year. The M1 Pro chip is already out on the MacBook Pro and will (I guess filter) to the rest of the range.

    I bought a IMac 24 inch M1 2021) with 8GB RAM. I did look at getting 16GB but decided for my needs 8GB was plenty - it is not the same as comparing with a PC - the onboard chip architecture is quite different and it is plenty powerful to run PS, Office 2019 (or Office 365 if you prefer) and any amount of browser windows (I use Safari)

    More on the M1 chip can be found here: https://www.macrumors.com/guide/m1/

    The "buy more RAM" was true in the past but for most of us unless you are a "power user" is no longer necessary. I am certainly happy with my iMac - it does have the 8CPU option (you can save a bit and get the 7CPU version but the price was not too diff)

    Model Name: iMac
    Model Identifier: iMac21,1
    Chip: Apple M1
    Total Number of Cores: 8 (4 performance and 4 efficiency)
    Memory: 8 GB

    The display is superb btw and all works really well.

    I would advise getting the 500GB Storage - it cannot be upgraded. However most of my docs are on iCloud now so local storage is less of an issue and if you want to store TB of photos I have them on external drives.

    Hope that helps. Martyn
    Last edited by MartynJC (UK); 28th January 2022 at 00:17.
    “ Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.” HHGTTG

  32. #32

    Moving from Windows PC to Mac

    Tried a Mac mini few years ago and just too different to Windows I was used to. Also drivers for some USB hardware not always available. Gave up and now have a nice Dell laptop.

    Outlook mail on iPhone and Windows laptop work well together as does calendar and shared files. Not sure what other integration I would need TBH.

    Windows now is a lot better than it was 10 years ago and isn’t always updating as Apple fanboys might claim. Indeed, my iPhone probably updates more frequently.
    Last edited by Kingstepper; 26th January 2022 at 20:11.

  33. #33
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Plymouth Devon
    Posts
    538
    I’d suggest you go for an IMac rather than a Mac Mini - the retina screens are amazing if you are seriously into photography

  34. #34
    Master blackal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Scottish Borders
    Posts
    9,538
    Quote Originally Posted by Kingstepper View Post
    Tried a Mac mini few years ago and just too different to Windows I was used to. Also drivers for some USB hardware not always available. Gave up and now have a nice Dell laptop.

    Outlook mail on iPhone and Windows laptop work well together as does calendar and shared files. Not sure what other integration I would need TBH.

    Windows now is a lot better than it was 10 years ago and isn’t always updating as Apple fanboys might claim. Indeed, my iPhone probably updates more frequently.

    Being very used to Windows, and liking the portrayal of the File/Windows explorer architecture - there was something rather 'twee' about the portrayal and search ability that didn't align with me.......................

    I like file structures that I can navigate through, and Apple didn't/doesn't appear to offer that.

    How do macbooks integrate with a corporate network print/share environment nowadays? A few years ago - they struggled.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Do Not Sell My Personal Information