from pc to a mac

Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Points
1
good evening,
I am thinking serious about going from pc to a mac, all others that switched, are you happy you did, and was the learning curve hard. I had an apple II e, probaby 25-30 years ago, but then went into pc as my kids were growing up, thx for your time
 
Joined
Nov 2, 2012
Messages
387
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
M3 iMac, 24 GB RAM, 10 core GPU
Learning curve for me was...IS very hard. Windows is intuitive, but the Apple OS is not. I know others will vociferously disagree, but that is my experience.
 

cwa107


Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 20, 2006
Messages
27,042
Reaction score
812
Points
113
Location
Lake Mary, Florida
Your Mac's Specs
14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
good evening,
I am thinking serious about going from pc to a mac, all others that switched, are you happy you did, and was the learning curve hard. I had an apple II e, probaby 25-30 years ago, but then went into pc as my kids were growing up, thx for your time

If all you've ever used is Windows, then going to a Mac will be an adjustment, for sure. The basics are all there - windows, pointers, icons, etc. but there are differences in terms of the tools used to accomplish different kinds of tasks. Some of these differences are subtle, others not so much.

For the most part, you just have to take your "Windows cap" off and put on your "Mac cap". For me, that took about 2 weeks, but then, I didn't cut my teeth on Windows and in fact, switched to it at one point from another operating system. A good book, like Mac OS X Mountain Lion: The Missing Manual will help, not to mention Apple's own tutorials for switchers like this one:

Apple - Support - Switch 101

Even if you decide to stick with Windows, you'll be out of your comfort zone at some point, as Windows 8 is quite a bit different from all other versions that preceded it.
 
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
Messages
274
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
cMBP 13" mid-2012, 2.9 ghz i7, 8gb ram, 256 gb SSD,
If all you've ever used is Windows, then going to a Mac will be an adjustment, for sure. The basics are all there - windows, pointers, icons, etc. but there are differences in terms of the tools used to accomplish different kinds of tasks. Some of these differences are subtle, others not so much.

For the most part, you just have to take your "Windows cap" off and put on your "Mac cap". For me, that took about 2 weeks, but then, I didn't cut my teeth on Windows and in fact, switched to it at one point from another operating system. A good book, like Mac OS X Mountain Lion: The Missing Manual will help, not to mention Apple's own tutorials for switchers like this one:

Apple - Support - Switch 101

Even if you decide to stick with Windows, you'll be out of your comfort zone at some point, as Windows 8 is quite a bit different from all other versions that preceded it.

I have to fully agree here. I'd say for me it took a few weeks at most to fully get comfortable with Mac OS X. I just switched in early August and am so very much pleased that I did make the jump. I love my Mac! I will never go back to Windows. The only thing that would force me back to Windows is if this mac needed repair work and I had to use my 17" notebook that I had before this MBP. I've used Linux for the past 10 years for the most part, some Windows thrown in here and there. I'm used to different operating system since I have used at least 60 distributions of Linux over the years. Now I didn't use all of them for very long, mostly just experimenting in different versions to see if I liked it more than previous ones I've tried. I guess you could say I have an adventurous spirit when it comes to electronics.

I mostly feel that the switch has been one of the few things that really changed my life. I've only had one issue with Mac OS X and that was when something went wrong somewhere in the system which made me format and reinstall. But even then that process was simple to do and all of my apps were reinstalled during the reinstallation and I didn't have to touch a thing for it to do that!

I do use Onyx to repair file permissions and whatnot but even doing that didn't help the situation. I wish I knew what caused the problem (It was probably Sophos antivirus) but I wont put any AV on it again. I don't trust it even if it is specifically "mac friendly".

I love my mac and will never go back to what I believe is an inferior operating system. Macs may be quite expensive but in my opinion, well worth the cost.
 

Raz0rEdge

Well-known member
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
15,745
Reaction score
2,071
Points
113
Location
MA
Your Mac's Specs
2022 Mac Studio M1 Max, 2023 M2 MBA
The first thing that makes switching (regardless of which OS to which OS) "hard" is that you usually try to make the new OS you are switching to behave like the old OS you are switching from. In that regard, things become a lot easier if you approach the task by saying..In "Windows" (Or Linux, OS X) I closed a program this way, how do I do it in OS X?

Now taking this specific example, in Windows you hit the X button on the window's bar. Do the same in OS X and you just close the open window (in most apps) and didn't actually quit the application. You do that using CMD+q.

The first reaction to that of course is, oh god, now I have to do EXTRA than Windows or Windows is way easier than OS X. But I would suggest, thinking OK, Windows did that, OS X does this. Now, I find it convenient, that I can close the active window in a application (say Word or whatever) and keep the application running and quickly open a new window without having to relaunch the application.

The rest has been covered by the previous two posts, and cwa107's links will be great in laying down the basics to get started..

And finally, we are always around to help with your transition..since there are a lot of us that have done it recently (3 year for me personally)..
 
M

MacInWin

Guest
I joined this board shortly after I switched. You can see that date in my profile on the left here. I found that what raz0redge said is the key. If you approach the change with the attitude that it will be hard, it will be hard. I approached the change as just something different. Not better, not worse, just different. I was fed up with Windows and viruses. I had bought a new PC because my old one was slow, but the new one, although having a quad core CPU, was no faster because I had to add the anti-virus c**p to it to protect it. I was passing through the local MicroCenter store and saw windows running on an iMac. I stopped in to ask about it, was allowed to play with it in the store and ended up taking one home with me. Now we are an all Apple house. My wife replaced her business desktop with a Mac Mini, her laptop with a MBP, we have two iPads, two iPhones and an iPod. The learning curve was not particularly steep because we wanted it to be successful. What was different from Windows was accepted, what was similar was handy.

So, the steepness of the learning curve is up to you.
 
Joined
Nov 6, 2012
Messages
19
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
2011 21.5 iMac
I got my iMac less than a month ago. Yes, there is a learning curve. But there is plenty of help on line, in this forum, and maybe even a "for dummies" book.

You can install Windows on a Mac, but I don't want to. I'm loving the Mac!! It runs so much faster than a windows PC.
 
OP
R
Joined
Oct 31, 2012
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I want to thank everyone for their help, and info, it will make the switch much easier, thx RJ
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
1,346
Reaction score
50
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
21" iMac * 2.8 Ghz Intel Core i7 * 16GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 * 1TB HD *AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512 MB
I used to HATE Macs until I had to use one for work. Now I never touch Windows. The learning curve can be tough if you insist on clinging to your old Windows ways of thinking. Took me a few months falling back on my Windows machine before I really got into OS X and started using it more and more.

I bought my parents their first Mac recently and if they can catch on, so can anyone!
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2012
Messages
27
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Chicago, IL
Your Mac's Specs
MBP w/15" Retina, i7 quad core 2.7Ghz, 768 gb SSD, 16gb Ram
I was Mac only during the 1980s and most of the 1990s, then had to do the windows thing because all my clients had windows machines. But as of several weeks ago I am back to macs.

To be fair, and objective,

(1) Macs are not often any faster then windows machines.

(2) Windows7 is a fantastic experience, interface, and is rock solid. Sure it is more vulnerable to viruses, but if one has a good anti-virus program, your impact from virus related issues is nearly non-existent.

Win7 is the first and only windows OS that I have come to love. And since Win7, mac no longer has a huge lead in UI.

So having wrote that, why did I come back to Mac? My clients these days use developments that can be constructed on the Mac no worries (more so the before), even as they still use mostly windows boxes.

And the Mac still has a better UI and OS then Windows, but the differences are not as huge as before....of course since Win8 maybe the differences are starting to grow again...

As to switching to Mac from windows, well, I would do what others have already written: Stop trying to make the Mac OS behave just like Windows OS...be objective, and give it a fair chance. What you will find is that the Mac's IU is still a bit better, the mac is still a bit more bullet proof, and Mac hardware is massivelly much better and thought out, so for me personally, the additional cost of going Mac is well worth it.
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Messages
142
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
Macbook Pro 13” i5 (2012) , iPhone5 16GB (white), iPhone4 8GB (white), iPad2 64GB 3G, Apple TV

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top