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From PC to Imac

Saphire

Saphire

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 25, 2011
140
29
UK
Hi everyone, I am new to the forum, but would like a little help in choosing my next machine. I have been a PC user since they first came out. Since getting the Ipad 2 I rather like the idea of going Apple for my main PC. At first I looked at the imac mini but thought I would go the whole hog and maybe go for an Imac 21" 2.4, i5, 4gb memory 500gb disk and use my good monitor as my second screen.
I will be using it for surfing the web and using it for my photography with photoshop for editing photo's. I also paint so will be using paint packages, would this package do what I want. I don't want to spend to much as the photo editing and painting is only a hobby.

The other thing is would I be able to transfer itunes to the imac easly so I can sync without losing anything.
Your thought's woud be much appreciated.
 
Saphire said:
The other thing is would I be able to transfer itunes to the imac easly so I can sync without losing anything.
Your thought's woud be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
A 21.5" iMac isn't a bad choice at all. iMacs are actually the "best bang for the buck" in Apple's computer lineup. For your needs it sounds perfectly adequate.

You can certainly migrate things from your existing computer manually. Lion is going to provide a migration assistant to automate this process from an existing Windows computer (should work with XP, Vista and 7). Lion should be out sometime in July, so you'd have to wait up to 5 weeks for it to become available. Apple Retail Stores can also migrate your data for you if you bring in your existing computer -- go to (or call) your nearest Apple Retail store and ask for details.

If there are Windows applications with no OS X counterpart that you *need* to run, you can either dual boot (switch between Windows and OS X when you reboot), or run virtualization software (VMWare Fusion or Parallels) so you can run Windows while still in OS X.
 
Thank you both for your quick reply, I am beginning to wonder why I never switched sooner, the way Apple has everything set up for ease of use and its so user frendly, I love this on my Ipad and now I know it will be the same on a full mac.
I have built all my own PC's in the past until a couple of years ago when my eyes started to fail and had to buy prebuilt PC's, they have failed on a regular basis as the components they use are not very good plus I am now fed up with microsoft. I think it's time to change from a windows based system and hopefully go for somthing more reliable in Apple.
 
Saphire said:
Thank you both for your quick reply, I am beginning to wonder why I never switched sooner, the way Apple has everything set up for ease of use and its so user frendly, I love this on my Ipad and now I know it will be the same on a full mac.
I have built all my own PC's in the past until a couple of years ago when my eyes started to fail and had to buy prebuilt PC's, they have failed on a regular basis as the components they use are not very good plus I am now fed up with microsoft. I think it's time to change from a windows based system and hopefully go for somthing more reliable in Apple.
Click to expand...

As someone who also just made this switch from prebuilt PC's, to a new 21.5" iMac, best decision I ever made.

Welcome and enjoy your stay in the mac world :)

I also switched due to the iPad....well Macbook Pro(school) > iPad > iPhone > iMac
 
Nyalotha said:
As someone who also just made this switch from prebuilt PC's, to a new 21.5" iMac, best decision I ever made.

Welcome and enjoy your stay in the mac world :)

I also switched due to the iPad....well Macbook Pro(school) > iPad > iPhone > iMac
Click to expand...

Blu-Ray anyone? Flash on the iPad?
 
Mrguidogenio said:
To transfer the iTunes library, follow this guide: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
Click to expand...

AFAICT that only covers moving the library to a new folder on the same PC.

This is a more complete guide, that covers Mac<->PC transfers and explains some of the "why" as well as the "how".

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to-a-new-hard-drive/

azurehi said:
Blu-Ray anyone? Flash on the iPad?
Click to expand...

Not showstoppers for most people who either don't care or have some other Blu-Ray player.

B
 
Saphire said:
Thank you both for your quick reply, I am beginning to wonder why I never switched sooner, the way Apple has everything set up for ease of use and its so user frendly, I love this on my Ipad and now I know it will be the same on a full mac.
I have built all my own PC's in the past until a couple of years ago when my eyes started to fail and had to buy prebuilt PC's, they have failed on a regular basis as the components they use are not very good plus I am now fed up with microsoft. I think it's time to change from a windows based system and hopefully go for somthing more reliable in Apple.
Click to expand...

I'm not at all sure if an iMac is for you especially with impaired vision. The iMac screen is an absolute pig in bright conditions though makes a great mirror. I have had an iMac for the last few years and find it really makes my eyes ache. I'm looking forward to the impending release of the Mini when hopefully I shall buy that sell my iMac and use the Mini with a nice 24" matte screen. BTW the iMac uses just the same components as your pre-built Windows PCs.
 
Thank you, it looks like I won't be dissapointed with the switch over. One question I forgot to ask is, I keep all important files on an external drive, photo's, paintings, dowloads etc. will the imac see the drive when its plugged in, its formated under windows ntfs.
 
Yes, but you won't be able to delete files in the external drive or move them between the folders of the drive.
If you want to write (a.k.a do the above) use NTSC-3G and MacFuse.
 
If you go on the Apple Refurb store you can pick up a 27" 2.8ghz quad-core i5, 4gbram, 1TB HDD, 1gb gfx for £1200. Although it doesnt have the latest i5 processors its still an amazing piece of kit for a bargain price, aswell as being the same price as the more expensive 21.5" iMac!
 
Mrguidogenio said:
Yes, but you won't be able to delete files in the external drive or move them between the folders of the drive.
If you want to write (a.k.a do the above) use NTSC-3G and MacFuse.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that information, what I might do is create a directory on the main disk copy all files into that and then format the external to the new format then copy everything back. There is about 6 years worth of photos on it, I do have a backup so not worried if it doesnt work.

Muzz112

I did check in the refurbished section this morning and didn't see anything, they must have posted some new stuff up.

I think my old pc is going to have a serious hickup tommorow;)

Sent from my Ipad
 
I have just had a read of the NTSC-3G and MacFuse. I won't need to format the drive, which is great news that means I will still be able to use the drive with my XP laptop while away.

Sent from my Ipad
 
I also just switch my main pc to mac, I left External hd to ntfs format and brought Tuxera NTFS so I can write to ntfs in osx. This way my external hd will work on any mac and windows pc.
 
I recommend partitioning the drive in two. One in FAT for general transfer of files between Windows PC and Macs (both can read & write) and the other one in Mac Os Plus for making backups using Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cleaner.
 
In fat 32 I am limited to a partition of 32gb is that correct.
I have lots of programs that would eat that amount of disk space. CS5 for one and all my drawing packages. Most of them I can't just download mac versions and use the same activation codes so would have to buy new programs which is going to end up very costly.
 
I'll never recommend FAT32 as it's not a journaling filesystem. There is ExFAT which gets around the original cluster limits of FAT32, but again, it's not journaled. FAT32 can scale to 16TB, but with a very large cluster size (only the default cluster size is limited to 32GB).

OS X can read data from NTFS. It just can't write to it. Windows can read data from HFS+ partitions, but again, it can't write to them. As others have mentioned, MacFuse is probably the best option since you can continue to use NTFS.
 
Thank's for putting my mind at rest, I was beginning to think imac may not be for me.
 
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
    [*]Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
    [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X: Install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free)
  • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx 33USD).
  • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended)
  • Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
    [*]Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner backups of Mac internal hard drive.
  • To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive
  • To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
  • Maximum file size: 8EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 8EiB
exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
  • exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
  • Maximum file size: 16 EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
 
azurehi said:
Blu-Ray anyone? Flash on the iPad?
Click to expand...

Blu-ray hasn't caught on too much in my part of Canada that I've seen...stores are still 70% HDDVD, I notice more noise on blu-rays due to the sharpening, not a fan.

Flash? What? farmville? Never use flash sites, I'm in the photography business, if your website hasn't been or isn't making the swap to HTML5 you're being mocked lol.
 
Thank you GGJstudios for posting that information, it's just what I needed.
 
Saphire said:
Hi everyone, I am new to the forum, but would like a little help in choosing my next machine. ...
Your thought's woud be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

I think I'd wait until the new Mini comes out, just to make sure you don't miss out on some goodies. Only about a month or so...

Imacs ( at least of late ) have exhibited some sensitivities to their environment. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2300580?start=270&tstart=0

If you live in a dusty environment or smoke, the Imac will concentrate those particulates and residue over time. And of course, you can't easily disassemble an Imac like you can a tower for normal cleaning.

The advantage to the mini: You can replace the monitor so much more inexpensively rather than potentially live with a smudged Imac screen. And I can at least get -some- compressed air in that much smaller space with some effect, to try to remove dust. ( To those telling me to dust more, the most audible of raspberries. Apple can't engineer an access panel? )

Last, if the rumors are correct regarding the processor improvements in the upcoming mini refresh, then I'd think it at least worthy of consideration vs say, a 21.5.
 
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