So to start this off I'll explain why I'm wanting to switch. Mainly the fact that I've quit playing any sort of video games and I've always loved the look and feel of my iPhone and I think that apple has a lot of good things going for it if you're not looking to game such as the inter-device compatibility which I love. One of my reservations however is the fact that I read a lot and take a lot of notes using OneNote. I wanted to know how well OneNote works on Mac or if there's a better alternative. I'm also planning on starting up a business eventually and would like to know if there's any handicap in having a Mac versus PC in that sort of application. Other than that I'm just a personal development/productivity junkie and take a ton of notes and listen to a lot of podcasts and want something that's a good workhorse. Please let me know what you guys think.
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Want some advice on switching from a PC to Mac
- Thread starter Bigtyme07
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I'll start by pointing out the obvious to longtime mac users.
Any Mac is able to run a full blow copy of windows, either by restarting and using Bootcamp (included free with every Mac) running Windows just like a dell, HP, etc.
You can also use software such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop to run a full blown windows operating system as an application while running all of your mac apps simultaneously. I do not use OneNote myself someone else may know more.
Any Mac is able to run a full blow copy of windows, either by restarting and using Bootcamp (included free with every Mac) running Windows just like a dell, HP, etc.
You can also use software such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop to run a full blown windows operating system as an application while running all of your mac apps simultaneously. I do not use OneNote myself someone else may know more.
Until Apple makes a better commitment to the computer side of the business, I'd stick with PC for now. Apple has really let the Mac go in terms of hardware and software updates.
I use OneNote everyday on my Mac (and iPad), i have not missed any functionality works great. I had never used a Mac until 4/5 years ago, spent previous 15 years as a big Windows fan / user and would take the P*ss out of Mac's. Now i wish i had got a Mac sooner, i love Mac OS compared to Windows i'm not baby sitting the OS everyday like i was before.
I think you're going to love the Mac. Don't let the naysayers of this forum get you down. The issues they're complaining about they've been complaining about since I can remember, they just change the component of issue to fit with the times. Apple has never been on the bleeding edge of components, no matter what anyone tells you. Their shining glory comes from the fact that their operating system works on old machines well past when Windows would support them.
That being said, you probably won't need anything too beefy for your needs. I will suggest getting the best specs for what you can afford, i.e. an SSD vs a spinning Hard Drive, or upgrading the graphics. Customizing the RAM isn't super-important when purchasing unless you're buying a notebook as you can upgrade it yourself for cheaper on the desktop models. As for software, you can usually find most modern software supporting the Mac platform. Of course, there are fringe cases for business software (like my gym uses an archaic program for logging entries that's only on PC), but I've been able to find everything to support my own business fairly easily. Also, Microsoft supports the Mac very well now, so OneNote and the rest of their Office suite works like a charm.
Anyway, welcome to the fold and enjoy your new Mac (when you get it, that is)!
That being said, you probably won't need anything too beefy for your needs. I will suggest getting the best specs for what you can afford, i.e. an SSD vs a spinning Hard Drive, or upgrading the graphics. Customizing the RAM isn't super-important when purchasing unless you're buying a notebook as you can upgrade it yourself for cheaper on the desktop models. As for software, you can usually find most modern software supporting the Mac platform. Of course, there are fringe cases for business software (like my gym uses an archaic program for logging entries that's only on PC), but I've been able to find everything to support my own business fairly easily. Also, Microsoft supports the Mac very well now, so OneNote and the rest of their Office suite works like a charm.
Anyway, welcome to the fold and enjoy your new Mac (when you get it, that is)!
OneNote works fine on a Mac (I'm an Evernote user, myself). As far as starting up a business and whether a Mac would be a handicap for that, I suppose it would depend on your business and what software you need to run. I'm an engineer and aside from not running AutoCAD on my Mac (which is possible, I just don't want to do it), I haven't run into any problems with using either my personal Mac or my employer-provided Windows PC to do just about anything work-related.
I'd be cautious with the above suggestions. The Mac Pro ($3,000 starting price) can have the RAM upgraded and only certain iMacs are upgradeable. Everything else that can be bought new (Mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air) has soldered RAM.
For the OP, unless you're doing super-heavy video or music editing, ignore those that say Apple is falling behind. They're just bored with the current design as it's been around for a few years. While the CPU clock-speed hasn't increased any, changes in the architecture as a whole HAVE improved performance in more ways than just speed.
OneNote on the Mac DOES require an active OneDrive subscription and your notebooks have to be stored there, just a word of caution.
I can't comment on using OneNote, but as long as it works on a Mac, then you shouldn't have any issue.
First, processors for most computers today are more powerful than are needed for almost any program, except those that rely on graphics, so any Mac you choose will perform as fast as you need.
Yes, graphics processing in Macs can be hit or miss, but that's the same problem with Wintel boxes, it all depends on the graphics card you have and, unfortunately, Apple for some reason has not pushed the envelope as much on its stock graphics processors as many users would like.
Since you're not looking for it as a gaming machine, the graphics card shouldn't be an issue, but one other caveat, price. I view price as related to quality, that is, if you looking for an inexpensive machine, then Apple will disappoint. On the other hand, if you look at comparably built Wintel boxes, then Apple is priced competitively. While you will find laptops and desktops with better specs, the materials used and the OS together make Macs competitively priced, despite their seeming higher prices that Wintel boxes, whose prices run the gamut, but the caution there is the quality of the materials used and, of course, Windows.
Ultimately, a computer is just a tool and just like the fact that there are variety of drills on the market, serving a variety of purposes, having different modes of power and function, you get the computer that suits your needs. A Mac is a good choice and you can be sure that it will last a long time and have a solid OS.
Hope that helps. As for me, I use Wintel at work, and Mac at home. Never had a virus at work, never had one at home, but I still prefer my Mac over my Wintel.
First, processors for most computers today are more powerful than are needed for almost any program, except those that rely on graphics, so any Mac you choose will perform as fast as you need.
Yes, graphics processing in Macs can be hit or miss, but that's the same problem with Wintel boxes, it all depends on the graphics card you have and, unfortunately, Apple for some reason has not pushed the envelope as much on its stock graphics processors as many users would like.
Since you're not looking for it as a gaming machine, the graphics card shouldn't be an issue, but one other caveat, price. I view price as related to quality, that is, if you looking for an inexpensive machine, then Apple will disappoint. On the other hand, if you look at comparably built Wintel boxes, then Apple is priced competitively. While you will find laptops and desktops with better specs, the materials used and the OS together make Macs competitively priced, despite their seeming higher prices that Wintel boxes, whose prices run the gamut, but the caution there is the quality of the materials used and, of course, Windows.
Ultimately, a computer is just a tool and just like the fact that there are variety of drills on the market, serving a variety of purposes, having different modes of power and function, you get the computer that suits your needs. A Mac is a good choice and you can be sure that it will last a long time and have a solid OS.
Hope that helps. As for me, I use Wintel at work, and Mac at home. Never had a virus at work, never had one at home, but I still prefer my Mac over my Wintel.
I'm also looking to switch. I'll continue to live in the Windows world at work (not an option to do Mac), but at home we have an 8 year old PC that needs replacement, and we've been Apple-only on all our devices since 2009, so it makes sense to buy fully into the Apple ecosystem, particularly for handling all our family photos and videos.
My wife and I will have to get used to navigating around macOS. I'm a quick study but my wife does not accept major changes quite as easily. How is the transition? Anyone else whose gone through this can speak to it?
My wife and I will have to get used to navigating around macOS. I'm a quick study but my wife does not accept major changes quite as easily. How is the transition? Anyone else whose gone through this can speak to it?
Used to be PC only few years ago, and transition to Mac was pretty easy... Takes a few weeks to get into the differences of using one track-pad button for everything (as apposed to a PC two button mouse, which you can still use on a mac in any case) but i quickly got used to touchpad's, and finding my way around Mac was a piece of cake. First and only thing, is throw out all those customization stuff u like doing in Windows... While there i some on Mac: show icons on desktop, customize sidebar in Finder, show status bar in Finder window, change desktop wallpaper etc,,, there lacks allot.
There's videos/tutorials on Apple site explaining how to switch to Mac, transitions and youtube videos u can look at.
There's videos/tutorials on Apple site explaining how to switch to Mac, transitions and youtube videos u can look at.
Since you mention business startup, there can be lack of (good) accounting system for mac os. Quicken and such are not liked on mac os. I have read the mac clients can be awful.
The usual workaround for this I have seen is bootcamp or virtualized windows installs to run that accounting software.
The usual workaround for this I have seen is bootcamp or virtualized windows installs to run that accounting software.
If you are buying now get the book Switching To A Mac - The Missing Manual, El Captain Edition.
However now after WWDC and macOS Sierra wait until fall after the Macs are updated!
However now after WWDC and macOS Sierra wait until fall after the Macs are updated!
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I work at a very large company, where Macs are about 1/3 of the users, and there are 10s of thousands of them. People switch all the time. What seems to frustrate users the most is not better/worse, but different. So a few suggestions. Most miss the Start menu to fire up an app. Drag the entire Application folder to the Dock, and you're all set. Apple-System Preferences is "Control Panel" and App-Preferences (like Word-Preferences) is where app-specific adjustments are. Finally, if something seems hard/idiotic to do, the Googs is your friend. Type "Mac [application] [2-3 words of what's bugging you]" and you'll probably find the answer you need.
More observations: True that on Quicken. They have abused Mac users for years. I was one. If you're an Office user, Mac version is pretty good. Rough transition to 2016 at the moment, but serviceable. If my job depended on Excel., I would stay PC. My role at work is a lot of Office, but overall Office is fine. Still, I keep a VM around with Win7.
More observations: True that on Quicken. They have abused Mac users for years. I was one. If you're an Office user, Mac version is pretty good. Rough transition to 2016 at the moment, but serviceable. If my job depended on Excel., I would stay PC. My role at work is a lot of Office, but overall Office is fine. Still, I keep a VM around with Win7.
Sounds good. I've got my eye on the discounted 2015 MacBook Pro but will wait until the '16 models are released to make the decision. As for helping my wife transition, I will populate the dock with everything she needs and also show her Spotlight, which appears to be really great.
True that the Mac versions of both Quicken (not appropriate for business use) and QuickBooks (proper business accounting) are, shall we say, sub-par. The solution in my case was the cloud-based QuickBooks Online. Yeah, it's a monthly subscription, but it makes working with your accountant, multi-user access, cross-platform, etc. much easier.