PC to MAC

[guy]

im thinking about replacing my pc with a mac - how straight forward is it to convert everything so it will run. ive got alot of music and movies that im not prepared to sacrifice, can it all be converted?

thanks

[Bantam]

Originally Posted by guy

im thinking about replacing my pc with a mac - how straight forward is it to convert everything so it will run. ive got alot of music and movies that im not prepared to sacrifice, can it all be converted?

thanks

A mac will run everything a PC can, media wise.

So you shouldn't have to convert anything. An MP3 file is an MP3 file whichever machine you use.

The only thing a Mac won't do (because it's Linux / Unix) is run Windows Executable (.EXE) programs natively - you'd have to run Parallels/VMWare Fusion and load Windows XP onto it to enable you to do that.

My recommendation would be to get an external hard disk, copy everything you want to keep onto that, and then see if you can borrow a friends mac and plug the HDD into it.

I bet you'll see all the files and be able to use every one of them!

[guy]

thats exactly what i wanted to hear. i remember a while back trying to plug a mac formatted ipod into a pc and it got all stroppy, so i thought there might be issues.

also means i can avoid vista!

what about converting documents - word and excel stuff. is that possible or will i have to buy office for mac?

[Bantam]

Originally Posted by guy

thats exactly what i wanted to hear. i remember a while back trying to plug a mac formatted ipod into a pc and it got all stroppy, so i thought there might be issues.

also means i can avoid vista!

what about converting documents - word and excel stuff. is that possible or will i have to buy office for mac?

Ah - that's cos a Mac formatted iPod is formatted with HFS+ which is the Mac journaled file system which windows machines can't read. However, a Mac can read any windows filesystem within reason (apart from NTFS I think but it may even be able to open that).

You can use OpenOffice on the Mac to use Word and Excel stuff, but I do recommend getting a copy of Office for Mac as it's a nice piece of software. I have a Mac and a PC on my desk and I can access my network shares on both and open my office files on both with no issues.

The only only only sticking point you may come across is email. I never found (and still have never - we have 50% macs and 50% PC's in the office here) a way of migrating a Windows PST or Windows Mail to a Mac. We ended up exporting it as some wierd format and then re-importing it, or even just starting afresh on the mac.

Note that as I said above - if you have a copy of XP you could install Parallels or VMWare fusion on a new intel mac and still run Windows (inside the mac os!) to enable you to access legacy stuff. In coherence mode it makes windows apps look like they're running natively on the mac.

[calski]

Originally Posted by Bantam

In coherence mode it makes windows apps look like they're running natively on the mac.

Is coherehnce mode what we (VMware) refer to as "unity"?

Basically, buy a copy of VMware Fusion - it's really cheap and easy to install. I just installed it on my work iMAC and had a running Virtual Machine with Windows XP SP2 installed and up and running in circa 30 minutes.

I don't know about the other vendor (other than they're slow and rubbish ) but the VMware version has the benefit of being supported by the industry leader in virtualization... and there is at least one person on these boards who knows a little bit about it

calski

[Dundee]

Note that as I said above - if you have a copy of XP you could install Parallels or VMWare fusion on a new intel mac and still run Windows (inside the mac os!) to enable you to access legacy stuff. In coherence mode it makes windows apps look like they're running natively on the mac.

Or set it up as dual boot and run xP as normal (ie not piggy backed on Mac OS).

C

[Bantam]

Originally Posted by Dundee

Or set it up as dual boot and run xP as normal (ie not piggy backed on Mac OS).

C

You tend to lose the 'drag and drop' functionality if you do that and have the ballache of logging into and out of different OS's.

For the sake of £30 I bought parallels and love it!

[guy]

Originally Posted by Bantam

The only only only sticking point you may come across is email. I never found (and still have never - we have 50% macs and 50% PC's in the office here) a way of migrating a Windows PST or Windows Mail to a Mac. We ended up exporting it as some wierd format and then re-importing it, or even just starting afresh on the mac.

all my email is web based so no problems there.

i was also looking at the dell xps but it seems those are being discontinued and now youve all clarified so much i think a mac is defiantly the way to go. i spend so much time just waiting on this crappy pc that im sick of it.

[adamr]

you can't get a mac and then dirty it with a copy of m$ windows errgghh...
Unless you're using high-end sophisticated home-built programs then there is an equivalent out there for mac, it just takes time to find them.

As already mentioned, open office is free and is basically ms office. You'll need to reformat your ipod. I think theres a program that will link to the pc and rip the library onto your mac

If you feel you need to have windows running then you havent found the equivalent piece of software OR your too weak !!

[calski]

Originally Posted by adamr

If you feel you need to have windows running then you havent found the equivalent piece of software OR your too weak !!

Or you want to play games on your macine and so buy Fusion