This first entry is largely based on a comment I wrote elsewhere, but maybe deserves to be the start of a thread, because other people who have at least a vague intention of making such a switch, or who have made it already, might read this and add comments and questions on what I think is the object of a rather widespread current interest. Not necessarily just on how easy it may be to ditch Windows and move to Mac’s macOS for those who only have used Windows until now. But, more generally, on how easy or difficult it could be for Windows-only-until-now users to move to another operating system that is also in use by a considerable number of different people, worldwide, that do different things with their computers, Linux being the other main example.
Please, feel free to add your own experience, agree, disagree, make specific recommendations.
But also please, no: “Macs are too expensive!”, or “it is all the same capitalist shell-game with a different player!”, or “MS top managers should all go to jail!” or similar unproductive opinions that really have nothing to do with the topic here, that has to do only on how easy or otherwise can be to use a computer with an operating system, such as macOS, one has not used before. Besides, this is not in the “Rants” forum.
So, Windows to Mac, from my own experience:
If you can handle a Windows PC, you can handle a Mac. There is little difference in the user interface, the desktop, folders, etc. Much of the things one has to set up or do under the hood, may have different names and be in different places, but they do the same things. The question is finding them. There some external help, of the kinds I pass to mention, would probably put you on the right track.
macOS is mostly a form of UNIX, so if one is familiar with UNIX, Linux, FreeBSD, etc. and knows how to use the command line with any of these, so much the better, because one is immediately fluent in macOS-speak. But this is not at all essential, just an added helpful thing to know: to the Mac uninitiated but familiar with Linux, Unix, etc., the macOS command line language is not a mystery command line language, like Windows’. (I know some will take exception to this last observation: I don’t mind.)
You might need to get a cheat sheet like one of those sold at e.g. Amazon, for keyboard shortcuts, etc.
There are also books on macOS, accessibly written. I bought two of those when I bought my current Mac, as I had not worked with a Mac for more than two decades previously. But I rarely have had the need to use them.
There is plenty of information online, and if you are any good at googling for things you need to know you’ll find some decent advice that way.
You can always ask here at AskWoody for things you can’t figure out otherwise. And there is already plenty of information here in Forums/AskWoody Support/non-Windows operating systems/macOS.
It will take some learning and practicing, but nothing you might never have done before, and it will be gradual. Keep your Windows machine in good working order during the transition, so you can fall back on it if necessary. Or to run software you need to use and is only available for Windows.
While there are Macs with Intel central processor units (CPUs) still being made and sold, the current direction at Apple is to emphasize the new generation of Macs, with Apple’s customized ARM RISC CPUs, for reasons of greater speed and power economy, including longer times running on battery alone, in the case of laptops.
Developers of applications will have to follow Apple’s hardware design trend. So the support for anything that runs on Macs with Intel CPUs, even new ones, will drop over time. As is likely, looking into my dirty and cracked crystal ball, to drop Apple’s support for Intel Macs and their operating systems, whether these are new machines or not, faster than usual.
If I were to buy a new Mac now, I will buy one with the ARM-type CPU, known generically as “Silicon Macs.” I would not worry too much about price, because here you really get what you pay for. And I would buy a Mac with the biggest capacity SSD on offer, because the last thing I would like to happen is that it runs out of enough mass storage capacity before it comes the day when the computer must be retired an replaced with a new one, maybe 6 – 8 years from the day it was shipped fresh from Apple in its neat little, or not so little, box.
For backups you’ll need an external drive, HD or SSD, that I strongly advice have four TB of capacity, if you are buying for the long haul, where to do the backups using the macOS-included “Time Machine” application.
Macs come with built-in strong defenses in their software against malware, but these might not be always up to date, so it is advisable to get a good real-time antivirus and outward facing firewall. Intego is a company that has been providing this sort of thing to Apple users for many years and is probably one of the best bets. The AV is called VirusBarrier and the firewall is called Net Barrier (they are sold together, as a package), and they do not conflict with anything else in the Mac, in my own experience. I run VirusBarrier in real time, constantly scanning for bugs, and also on demand once a day, when I am ending the day’s session, as well as Malwarebytes, free version, that runs only on demand, so it does not get tangled up with the real-time scanning Intego anti virus. Intego also sells an application called “Washing Machine” that cleans up all the debris collected when Web surfing, etc, and is quite a busy little thing that gets rid of surprising amounts of garbage.
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV
