How to Switch Over from a PC to a Mac Home Hacks

Purchased a new Mac lately? Oh, but you were once part of the PC camp? No worries, buddy -- we were once in that similar boat. Come, we'll show you how it's done the Unplggd way...a successful no-frills recipe for a perfect transition from PC to Mac.

What You Need

An external hard drive
A Post-It
Some patience

Instructions

1. Prepare the backup. Format your external hard drive in NTFS (New Technology File System) since it's both readable via USB on both Mac and PC.

2. Make a checklist. Write down all the programs you use daily on your PC. You'll be surprised to find most of the programs have a standard equivalent on the Mac or usually a version already developed for the OS. Then, you need to back up all of the important associated files with those programs -- we're talking about hard-to-find skins, font collections, and Lightroom archives.

3. Double-check. And double-check again. Especially if your PC hard drive is going to the recycling bin, you'll really want to make sure all of your precious photos, movies, and music is backed up.

4. Set up your Mac. Get all of your settings and preferences in order before loading the ocean of media onto your hard drive. Not only will this transfer take a long time, it's probably the least of your worries when setting up a new computer.

5. Install the "just-in-case" software. What we mean is getting a backup system prepped on your Mac from the get-go. Get Time Machine set up. You can install programs like AppTrap to catch installation bundles to make sure it gets completely uninstalled in the future when you decide to remove it.

6. Now, transfer. But first, make sure your new hard drive is big enough to hold all of your stuff! Better yet, keep most of your media on your external and savor the free space on your laptop for something else. This process should take 30 minutes up to 2 hours, depending on how much stuff you have.

7. Knowing is half the battle. That means getting familiar with the OSX platform and all of its quirks that many of us have become adjusted to. Hey, it isn't all bad. They're just quirks. You know, like how you can't Cut and Paste files like you can in Windows - you need to drag and drop it via spring loaded folders. Or, how the Command (or Apple) key (located to the left of the spacebar) is your alternative to CTRL.

8. When stuck, just ask! Unplggd and Apartment Therapy is meant to be a resource for all of us. If you're stuck with a question, simply ask! If we don't answer in time, one of our fellow readers usually come to the rescue!

Additional Notes: Oh, and if you're not familiar with *.dmg files when downloading Mac programs, just think of them as mountable archives. Just double-click them and it will open the contents. To install programs, you can usually just drag-n-drop them into the Applications folder. To uninstall, just drag the program to the Trash!

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Comments (18)

it would be interesting to see an article on how to go from mac to pc.

The reason you never see an article on how to go from Mac to PC is because nobody ever does that.

@Guav SO true.

My grandma, mom, and sister are all new Mac converts, wondering why the hell anyone would choose PC over Mac. Now, they're basing their opinions on ease of use. Mac still has several drawbacks that should be addressed on future models (such as lack of BluRay drive), but when it comes to user friendliness, it has PC beat. Oh, does it ever.

In fairness, I should clarify that my statement only applies to the last decade (since the debut of OS X). Prior to that, it was more common to have someone go from Mac to PC. But since then, the migration has been entirely uni-directional—even more so since Macs started to be able to easily run Windows.

if you're a convert and purchase your mac from an apple store, a floor specialist should be able to transfer your files if you bring your old pc with you.

Apple also has tons and tons of short and sweet videos on getting to know your Mac for new Mac users.

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/

From PC, to Mac, then right back to PC. Personal preference. Just sayin'.

Fenris - Me too. I'm on my way back to a PC. The creative side of my brain loves the Mac...but I'm more business than creative so I'm headed back to PCland.

I use both platforms. My PC has a few programs I need for development that don't have Mac equivalents, and there are emulators and games I play that run much better on my Pentium 4 (my Mac is a 12" Powerbook G4, so I can only run Windows (slowly) via Virtual PC). Next week, I'm moving up to MacIntel land and will run both Windows and OS X on the same machine. I prefer OS X for everyday use over Windows, but both platforms are identically useful and definitely have their place.

FYI - you can install Windows on a Mac and switch back and forth between the Windows operating system and Mac's. Other than price, there's really NO reason to buy a PC anymore.

I Love Upstate - I hear ya. When I was doing heavy graphic work, I did it on a mac. Now that I'm in school and most of my creative work is writing, I don't see any reason why I need more than a $400 netbook since all I really use is word processing, music, movies, and internet. So I sold my macbook and got one. <3

ShopgirlCA - Mac hasn't come out with a netbook yet, and I have NO intention of hauling around anything close to a standard laptop textbooks supplies every day. If they come out with something similar to an HP mini, then maaaybe - if I have enough dough at the time. <3 I'm still very leery of the iPad. It looks cool, but I don't know how practical it is, so I'm waiting to hear from other people before I look into it. :)

Now that Macs run Windows, it just makes sense to go Mac for the hardware. I know Macs demand a premium new, but they also have great resale value. I don't know of anyone that buys used PCs.

You could easily get a mac netbook. Its called a dell mini 10v, and it works flawlessly. It only takes about 2 hours, of which most of the time you are just waiting for things to happen, and presto. Instructions are here: http://gizmodo.com/5389166/how-to-hackintosh-a-dell-mini-10v-into-the-ultimate-snow-leopard-netbook

Better yet -- ditch Windows AND Mac and go for linux. I made the switch and have yet to regret it.

I'm actually a bit surprised that so many in an industrious DIY community like this would prefer the prepackaged sterility of the Apple experience. The rough and tumble world of homemade PCs with custom cases has so much more variety and character. And between Windows 7 (which is amazingly easy and efficient) and a well-tuned Linux distro, there's no need for OSX at all.

Re previous comments:

Resale value's irrelevant to me. I run my computers into the ground (takes about 6-8 years) as secondaries, Linux test boxes, media/web servers, HTPCs; whatever the hardware can handle until it dies completely. Reduce, reuse.

Used PCs? Of course! I buy them all the time for churches, community centres, and whoever can't afford a new box. For myself, I just buy the parts (helps my computers adapt and last that much longer). The low resale value of PCs is a huge plus in my books.