"Upgrading" my father from MacBookPro to Mac Air

[aoitsukinosuke]

I bought a MacBookPro with OSX 10.6.8 for my father sometime ago and now he wants a smaller & lighter laptop. So, I decided to get him a MacAir.

My problem is, he is very grumpy in terms of all changes in his devices and specifically told me that he wants his new laptop to run the same as the old one. In his own words, he wants to turn his MacAir on and use it just like his previous one.

I know there is a difference between Lion and Snow Leopard, but what he means is that he wants everything in the same place with all his settings. Sort of like a carbon copy of his old one.

He isn't that much deep into Mac and uses Outlook, Safari and Office Package mainly. His Outlook accounts, PST folders and existing mail are his main concerns.

Also, he has 3 different users (himself, mom and granddaughter).

I'm thinking of using the Migration Assistant (never used it before) and my question is;

Will he be able to carry on just like his old laptop, apart from the size issue, or am I likely to have to do a lot of tweaking?

Any suggestions for an alternate path are most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

 

[GGJstudios]

I know there is a difference between Lion and Snow Leopard, but what he means is that he wants everything in the same place with all his settings. Sort of like a carbon copy of his old one.

Migration Assistant should be able to do the trick. Another approach is to first upgrade the MBP to Lion, then use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone that system to an external drive. When you get the MBA, simply restore from the cloned backup.

 

[Macman45]

Well, to begin with he is going to get Lion, and not SL. This is not a huge learning curve, but if he's as determined that all things work exactly the same you may have a few issues.

Migration assistent or Target Disk Mode will take care of copying his files over, but you are going to have to explain about the differences between Sl and Lion...Good luck with that one!

 

[ansalmo]

Run Migration Assistant, then nip into System Preferences and change scrolling back to how it's meant to work

 

[Macman45]

All good info, but the OP says he is dealing with a grumpy guy...Still got the hurdle of older features missing, new ones added in Lion etc. Maybe buy him the telephone support package so he can yell at them instead?

 

[GGJstudios]

Maybe buy him the telephone support package so he can yell at them instead?

Brilliant idea!

 

[Macman45]

Brilliant idea!

I have a buddy who is a Demi here....He is gradually learning about his Mac. Prior to me volunteering to help him out, he reckons he called Apple at least twice a day...But, no he didn't yell at them, but I'd say he go his money's worth. He came to Macs later in life, and was scared to do anything without a call to them!

He now has a range of storage peripherals which I donated to him, and is rapidly becoming adept with his Mac. Those of us who grew up with computers take for granted stuff that new users find daunting....That phone service must be pretty good though, and would help the OP's Dad out.

 

[aoitsukinosuke]

Guys, thank you all so much. Both for the assistance and the humor.

Telephone support package is a great idea, but won't work as he has his own natural package. Me!!!
I switched him from Windows to Mac, from Nokia to iPhone and finally got him an iPad. You just can't believe the number of calls and yelling I used to get and still do, at a decreased rate though. Plus, my father's physical intentions for Bill Gates and late Steve Jobs' mamas.

Anyway, as far as I understand Migration Assistant will do the trick. As I have written before, I'm well aware of the differences between Lion and Snow Leopard but I'm willing to take the burden of explaining them to him.

However, my biggest concern is his Outlook and the different users on which I'm not crystal clear.

1) If I use the Migration Assistant, will he get everything, accounts, his PST folders, contacts and most important his existing mail. (I configured the accounts as IMAP)

2) Will he get his 3 different users or do I need to redo them all?

If anyone can shed some further light on those, I will be indebted forever.

Once again, thank you very much for your time and concern.

 

[TheGenerous]

I think my father will be upset if he found I wrote in the internets asking for "Upgrading" my father from MacBookPro to Mac Air. Poor dad