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Is iBank 4 really the answer for Windows Quicken users moving to Mac?

I

InfoTime

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 17, 2002
501
262
One of my clients decided she wanted to switch to a Mac. Since Quicken is one of the main apps she uses I recommended we install a lean VMWare Fusion virtual machine and run Windows Quicken in it. I've got that process down to a science and can build a lean, optimized VM for that purpose pretty quickly. For the end user it would be pretty seamless.

So she goes to the Apple Store once on her own and once with me. On the first trip (alone) she's told: "oh don't do that, putting Windows on your Mac is a nightmare, blah blah blah... besides there's Quicken for Mac and it will take your files just fine, works great, etc., and we have another program that's just as good or better that we recommend"

Next, I meet her there and we talk to someone else. He agrees that the latest Quicken for Mac is crap. But iBank 4 hung the moon! We all agree that she should go ahead and get the Mac and try iBank 4 free for 30 days. If she doesn't like it then we can always do the VM.

She'll receive her new Mac later this week. After reading some reviews of iBank on Amazon I'm not impressed.

What do you think? Is iBank 4 really that good?

Oh, and don't recommend Mint for her. I've almost got her talked in to trusting Dropbox or Mozy for online backup. No way she'd ever put her transactions in an online system like Mint.
 
A lot depends on her workflow. Which features of Quicken for Windows does she spend most of her time using?

I don't mind the new Quicken Essentials at all, but my needs are simple: download/organize my transactions, show me future checking account balance (based on current balance + scheduled transactions), and some basic reporting.

I'm not sure I'd want to switch to Mac and switch to a new financial manager simultaneously. I like your VM idea, personally. Plus that VM will probably come in handy for weird stuff going forward.
 
I am not a fan of iBank. Go to their site, follow the links to the support forums (they're on Iggsoftware). Read up and then form your opinion.
 
Everyone's needs are different. We tried every personal finance program that runs on a Mac and found them all deficient. Currently we run Quicken on a Windows VM (Parallels in our case). The VM is frozen when not in use (rather than shut down), so the overhead in getting Quicken started is only a couple of seconds.
 
Quicken Essentials for Mac isn't crap. It's actually quite nice. It's just not very feature-rich. Which is fine by me.

Does she need the Quicken features that are absent on the Mac? If it's a business, then maybe. Our business runs just fine on the latest version of QuickBooks for Mac (2010 I think — maybe 2011).

It's all about their needs. She should try a demo of the latest QuickBooks, assuming they have a demo/trial, which I'm sure they do.
 
I have been using iBank 4 and it is OK but I wouldn't call it the answer to Windows Quicken. The problems I have with iBank could be a result of importing from Quicken but I have a lot of trouble with duplicate transactions and I cannot get the budget to work correctly.

I still use Quicken Deluxe in a VM and am continuing to search for a reasonable Mac alternative.
 
I agree with the others. Quicken Essentials for Mac is not crap. Its missing lots of features of the Windows version, but for basic personal financial needs its wonderful in my opinion. I hated iBank. The UI sucks and its dog slow once you 6 months or more of transactions.

From reading repies/messages from Quicken employees on their forums they appear to be hard at work trying to improve Essentials. I have also read that they are working on a full featured Quicken for Mac. Remember Quicken Essentials is just that.....the Essentials aimed at people that do not have a lot of requirements for personal financial recordkeeping. If you are one of those people then Essentials is just great.

Jason
 
You need to try them for yourself. What works for one person won't for the other. You've already seen that just in going to the Apple store; one person tells you one thing and the other tells you something else. It's all based on their personal experience.

Unless the product has major errors like data problems the work flow and features are subjective; not problems as people lend others to believe. That's why most companies have trial versions of their software, so you can find the one that works for you.
 
You haven't told us one requirement that she has in her personal finance software. Hard to tell you if iBank will work or not...

And honestly, I would reconsider Mint.com. Unless she is paying everyone and for every thing in cash, her transactions are already in electronic form.

You do not "store" anything in mint. It uses the same methods that your online banking and credit cards use to access the information. And I believe Intuit, the company that created her beloved Quicken, has purchased Mint.com.
 
re: iBank

Honestly, I've been using iBank for quite a while now, after dumping Quicken for Mac.

I just started using iBank 4.

I don't get too advanced with my usage (no interest in automatically downloading my check register from my bank, tracking any stocks, etc.) But I do occasionally (especially at tax time) want to do things like totaling my expenditures in certain categories, and I keep track of several credit cards and 2 checking accounts.

I found that I got used to iBank 3 and generally liked the overall look and feel. My biggest issue with it was some "clunkiness" in the check register itself. EG. Whenever you added a new transaction, it would take a second or two to record it -- making it feel like it was using sloppy/inefficient code. I'm used to that happening instantaneously in every other accounting type program I've ever used. I also had a few occasions where it showed an incorrect total at the bottom of the register! I was able to fix it by locating a transaction displaying the amount it was off by, deleting that transaction, and re-entering it again. But that's kind of a serious flaw to have in a program that's all about totaling transactions!

Now, with iBank 4? The check register is faster accepting new entries, but they really changed the way it appears. Much less "graphical" and colorful looking.... but my biggest gripe is that the last transaction appears at the very bottom, where you're used to only one you're in the process of entering appearing. I keep thinking the last transaction it shows hasn't been entered/saved to the register yet!



InfoTime said:
One of my clients decided she wanted to switch to a Mac. Since Quicken is one of the main apps she uses I recommended we install a lean VMWare Fusion virtual machine and run Windows Quicken in it. I've got that process down to a science and can build a lean, optimized VM for that purpose pretty quickly. For the end user it would be pretty seamless.

So she goes to the Apple Store once on her own and once with me. On the first trip (alone) she's told: "oh don't do that, putting Windows on your Mac is a nightmare, blah blah blah... besides there's Quicken for Mac and it will take your files just fine, works great, etc., and we have another program that's just as good or better that we recommend"

Next, I meet her there and we talk to someone else. He agrees that the latest Quicken for Mac is crap. But iBank 4 hung the moon! We all agree that she should go ahead and get the Mac and try iBank 4 free for 30 days. If she doesn't like it then we can always do the VM.

She'll receive her new Mac later this week. After reading some reviews of iBank on Amazon I'm not impressed.

What do you think? Is iBank 4 really that good?

Oh, and don't recommend Mint for her. I've almost got her talked in to trusting Dropbox or Mozy for online backup. No way she'd ever put her transactions in an online system like Mint.
Click to expand...
 
In the cloud?

I use some crazy banking techniques so I need to use VMware fusion & quicken for my work but for my in-laws I set them up on Mint and it's been easy going. There are a number of cloud solutions which might work in the end better than sticking with a traditional software approach. YMMV.
 
I'm using iBank 3 (I haven't upgraded yet) and I'm very happy with the product. I recommend it highly, its much much better then quicken for the mac.
 
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