You should be able to transfer them pretty easily actually. I did it via an external HDD. What I did that you may want to consider is trading you HDD for an SSD and adding 8GB of RAM for what you do. Since your a photo guy the SSD and RAM makes rendering much much faster. I then put my old HDD into a Black Widow external hub (which brings me back to iTunes) you can then use it as an external drive and put your old tunes library on it and transfer it over. Which is pretty easy to do, just add the file hook up the drive select add to library in iTunes and select the folder from your external drive. If you library is small enough you could even use a usb flash drive or an SDXH or SD card.
I also use photoshop, I have the cs5 extended suite and I can tell you that it runs flawlessly on the MBP. Its great before I had my MBP I had a Vaio S series and I can say that my MBP runs cs5 much much better than my vaio ever did.
After doing photo work for so long I got interested in editing home movies. You may want to take a look at iMovies it really is easy to use and you can do some pretty cool stuff to your home movies and make them more enjoyable. After a while though I graduated to final cut pro and to be honest editing movies might even be more fun than editing photos because of all the cool special effects and title screens that you can add. I highly suggest you at least check out iMovie otherwise you'll be missing out on a lot.
Also finding your files is much easy on my in my opinion its all in finder. Just choose a location or you can even search which makes it that much simpler. No more endless clicking through file after file after file just to find one item in windows. Finder really is your friend.
Overall your going to be very happy with your MBP. OSX is just a much better and logical way of doing things plus, everything just works. There is also no crashing or forever hitting ctrl+alt+delete. Your going to be really surprised at how much better the mac way of doing things is.
I just read your getting a monitor. I run an external display off my MBP. Let me recommend 4 things for you. First off is a stand for your MBP it keeps it elevated which protects it from spills and keeps it at eye level, however and more importantly it allows for much better airflow so your MBP runs much much cooler, especially when your doing some intense photo work. Second and Third are the apple wireless keyboard and the magic mouse. The keyboard is for obvious reasons, it just makes life easier. I have the magic mouse because I can still use gestures and it is far more accurate than the trackpad is, plus its nice to look at and fun to use. I would also get the Wacoom Bamboo tablet. I picked up mine from the apple store for $99 and it included photoshop elements (although you have cs6) its a nice tool to have for photo editing and allows for pin point accuracy.
Thanks for the advice!
Haha that's photo girl
I actually specced the RAM out to 16gb. Would've been a bit cheaper to get 3rd party and go DIY, but not enough to warrant waiting for it coming from the states (I'm in Australia) plus the chance of voiding the warranty (we have strange laws).
Concerning iTunes - I already own an external hard drive. However, it's formatted for Windows. If I use it to transfer files from the 'PC' to Mac, will the Mac reformat it before actually "accepting" it, or can I use it like a "super USB drive", and then format it for the Mac later so as to use it for backups again (doesn't matter if it wipes the drive at that stage, since it's just like a copied hard drive (plus some ancient versions of files that I've never needed)).
Also with the iTunes Library, that's just the "iTunes" or whatever it's called folder in the "Music" folder, correct? Thanks for giving the instructions how to transfer it! I probably would've had to spend a bit of time figuring that out myself
And LOL I'm pretty sure my Library is NOT small enough
At least, not for the normal 8Gb USBs/SD cards (or at least, the ones I own x] ).
Also, SSDs look (speed wise. not the physical component
) amazing, but for the minimum size I need (even if just Software and the OS) too expensive right now
I'll wait till I start thinking about upgrading, then be like "OMGH super fast computer really cheap!" lol
That's excellent to hear! I've heard lots of rumours about Adobe stuff running better on Macs, but wasn't sure if I should believe them
I'm rather excited about CS6, especially Photoshop. I was going to get the step up from Design Standard, but really I don't need all the Flash/Fireworks software or the 3D capabilities of Photoshop Extended. So just stuck with the Standard
I've been rather eying off iMovie! (especially after using Windows Movie Maker... well isn't that a joke! >_> ). But did you know Photoshop (CS6?) now has video editing across the board (ie. both extended and standard)? It's also all cross-platform now. Finally.
Also do you use/know about Garageband?
That's what I'm really hoping
I can basically "touch type" alt+ctrl+del now, lol.
Awesome, I was wondering if a stand was worth it. Will defiantly get one now
(well, when I get some more cash saved up and buy a monitor, hehe).
I actually own a really nice Logitech Illuminated [wireless] Keyboard, and even though it's a Window "layout" (still QWERTY but obviously ALT instead of option and what not), I'm hoping I can get away with keeping it?
You can reformat the keys right? So like, assign Option to Alt, Command to Ctrl, and Control to the Windows key... I think.
The Magic Mouse sounds cool
If I'm ever somewhere where I can try one out, I will. Otherwise I'll keep using my Logitech mouse, because all my Logitech products talk to the Computer via the cute little unifying receiver (and I have a USB hub so extra ports isn't a problem
).
Wacoms are amazing aren't they?! I actually bought an intuos4 not long after getting CS5 (I do Digital Art as well as photography). I could have got the Bamboo, but the intuos had more of the features I wanted, and I wouldn't have to upgrade once I became more comfortable with CS5 (which I did, and am really glad I have the better tool now).
But yes, they are amazing even for photography. Very worthwhile investment. Just like the Mac
And yeah, I have all this "Element" software sitting on a disk unused
Maybe I could give it to my friend... though the included brushes and whatnot were nice
(even though I use mainly ones from DeviantART. Awesome place that).
Thanks so much for your lengthy reply! It's been very helpful
I just finished actually transferring the money for my MacBook Pro, so it's officially on it's way! *yay*
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I actually just picked up a great Thule case from the Apple store. Its a nice rubberized hard shell with a slot inside for the MBP and then a divider that allows you to store the power adaptor and other stuff. It has had holds and a includes a shoulder strap if you want one. Do you have any other questions?
Oh, cool, that sounds awesome. Will look that up now
Not at the moment, no. Thanks
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Not sure what you mean? Are you saying Windows always crashes? That's a gross exaggeration. I find crashes within each OS equal, that is to say, almost never. I'm a programmer, so most of my crashes are self-inflicted.
Not all the time, no. Just many a headache that I think are unnecessary.
Don't get me wrong, Windows 7 is, IMO, the best OS Windows have done yet. It looks good, has a nice layout, and works rather well. But it still doesn't have the same... "nice" feel that OS X does (and I've used my friend's Macs before. They're a dream).
We don't download anything "stupid", use all store bought products (ie. don't pirate), and have a good quality anti-virus running on all computers. And, even with regular defrags, disk cleanups, updating, and etc, all computers (even the super new one) still crash at least three - five times a day.
Even if it's just "[Program] Not Responding". It happens a lot, too much IMO.
