Win 8 Dell -> iMac Migration

[LittleReg1]

To anyone...

I've been a Windoze user for over a quarter-century and am ready to get rid of this ball and chain and join the World of iMac. I already own an iPad and iPhone and am wholly impressed with the quality and intuitiveness of the 'Apple way.' Migrating to a new desktop, however, is not nearly as simple as it is with the gadgets, so I'd like to know where I can get some advice as to how to deal with my current usage profile which has been developed for many years.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to run this Parallels program because so much of my important software cannot run on Apple - at least until I discover Apple equivalents. I'm also concerned about the differences in performance (video, CPU) between the iMac models, particularly in the area of this Fusion technology. Lastly, what happens to the data on my five external hard drives and the data stored on iDrive? I'm sure there are other gotchas that I need to know about, as well.

Any platform migration experts out there who can point me to some good docs and/or studies? I don't want to drop $3K for a new box without going in with my eyes wide open. Thanks.

-Greg

 

[talmy]

I too have been a long time Windows user (I actually had a copy of Windows 1.1), still use it, but have been primarily Mac based for six years or so.

I kept my Windows PC around for some time to make the transition, accessing it using Microsoft Remote Desktop from my iMac. I still run Windows under Parallels for the few programs that need it (particularly Quicken). I'd suggest that regardless of your usage model you don't just abandon the PC but move over as you get comfortable.

You can read external drives but if they are NTFS formatted you cannot write to them. Thanks to networking, as long as you have one of each computer you can share data over Ethernet. You will eventually want to reformat the drives native to OS X.

I've written up my observations over the years, and the software that I use, on my website. http://almy.us/3years.html It's a bit dated as to current Macs and OS versions but the comments still generally apply.

Which model works best and what options will give the most bang-per-buck is really dependent on what you will be using the computer for and also your work style.

 

[LittleReg1]

Much obliged. This is a big help! Will check your site out, too.

 

[grizfish]

Thank you, Talmy! Wish there were more teachers like you.