# I just bought a Mac after 10 years of Windows use. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-bought-a-mac-after-10-years-of-windows-use/582122 "2011-05-16T18:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-bought-a-mac-after-10-years-of-windows-use/582122/21 "2011-05-18T17:33:45Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > So, pretty cool. Thanks for the heads up! On the newest version of OS X, 10.7 Lion, they actually build multitouch “deeper” into how you interact with the OS. It doesn’t seem like it’s a big change but once you start using it, it’s pretty amazing how much control you have just from the trackpad with multitouch. If you use it for a while and switch back to Snow Leopard you feel kind of crippled that you keep needing to take two steps to get the right window open or worst of all touch the keyboard. > [@sparky\_1](#): > > I agree with the lack of a maximize window button. I realize the button provided in theory does maximize the window, though only to the extent needed to show everything in view in that window. But dammit, sometime I like having a program window fill the screen, even if doing so creates dead space in that window! Grrr. Somewhat ironically, Apple is moving toward full screen apps for Lion. They’re not finally giving into Windows users who want to have a maximize button though so much as they are modeling after iOS apps which are all full screen. I find it annoying as hell but I’d guess it’ll appeal to some people. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-bought-a-mac-after-10-years-of-windows-use/582122/22 "2011-05-18T19:27:54Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Last night, I hooked up the Dell and turned it on so that I could transfer some files from it onto a thumb drive (because I’ve learned my lesson, right?) and then when I sat back down at the Mac, I saw that my Dell’s computer name had showed up in the Devices list in Finder. The MBP just automatically picked it up, as soon as it logged on to the network. I always find it funny that networking for PCs with Macs seem to be a breeze for some people and impossible for others. We have one window 7 machine and one Mac. To get the mac to see the Windows 7 machine we have to fiddle with IP address and go deep into network settings. With all that, the connection still dies about every other day so that the Mac has to be rebooted to see the Windows machine again. I just don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-bought-a-mac-after-10-years-of-windows-use/582122/23 "2011-05-18T20:41:47Z")
When migrating my wife to Mac, I bought VMWare Fusion, it included a download for her ailing Acer laptop that transferred all it’s data _en masse_ to a VM on her iMac. Transferring files on an off the VM is as easy as dragging files in and out of that window. It also avoided the whole ‘buy an extra copy of Windows’ issue. The batteries in the removable gen laptops had issues (I went through three), the Batteries in the current Gen laptops are MUCH improved. Where the old batteries had, roughly, 300 charge-discharge cycles, the newer ones are rated at more than three times the number of cycles. You have my permission to ignore any ‘The Macbook used to only have a single button for the touchpad’ statements. They have been grossly out of date for years now. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-bought-a-mac-after-10-years-of-windows-use/582122/24 "2011-05-18T21:09:57Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > When migrating my wife to Mac, I bought VMWare Fusion, it included a download for her ailing Acer laptop that transferred all it’s data _en masse_ to a VM on her iMac. Transferring files on an off the VM is as easy as dragging files in and out of that window. It also avoided the whole ‘buy an extra copy of Windows’ issue. Just to clarify, if you have a Windows PC that you want to simply migrate over to a VM on your Mac, you can do so with the existing copy of Windows on the machine, without having to buy a new copy? This would really save me a lot of hassle, because I have an indexing application on my PC that is not compatible with Windows 7, so I will have to pay $200 for the Windows 7 upgrade version, but if I could just migrate over my Windows XP installation complete with indexing app, that would be really excellent. But I can’t get definite confirmation from the VM Fusion forums/FAQ about whether this is actually how the migration works or whether you do need to buy a separate copy of Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-bought-a-mac-after-10-years-of-windows-use/582122/25 "2011-05-18T21:57:54Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Just to clarify, if you have a Windows PC that you want to simply migrate over to a VM on your Mac, you can do so with the existing copy of Windows on the machine, without having to buy a new copy? This would really save me a lot of hassle, because I have an indexing application on my PC that is not compatible with Windows 7, so I will have to pay $200 for the Windows 7 upgrade version, but if I could just migrate over my Windows XP installation complete with indexing app, that would be really excellent. But I can’t get definite confirmation from the VM Fusion forums/FAQ about whether this is actually how the migration works or whether you do need to buy a separate copy of Windows. Strictly speaking, you probably have an OEM license which is not transferrable to another laptop, but you should be fine. You place both computers on your network, run an application on the laptop, and it automates the process of duplicating the laptop as a Virtual Machine on your Mac. It worked fine for the wife’s Windows 7 installation, although it DID require re-validation, which was easily done over the phone. XP should be even easier. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-bought-a-mac-after-10-years-of-windows-use/582122/26 "2011-05-18T22:07:35Z")
OK, awesome. I’ll try it, and worst-case scenario, I have to re-buy Windows and upgrade my application, which is what I thought I would have to do anyway. Thanks for the tip! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-bought-a-mac-after-10-years-of-windows-use/582122.md?page=1)