[jarcher]

jarcher,

I had already planned to move files manually from the WD to whatever I purchased.  I was not aware it could be done automatically.  And anyway, I would not trust auto. It is cool the way I backup.  I don't let WD use their weird method.  I move what I want to save in a way that mirrors my computer HD as far as organization. I can search and retrieve individual files or complete folders or categories (photos etc.)

Thanks for assuring me it will work with Apple.

What you've done is really the biggest & most important step to moving to another computer, regardless of operating system.  If you do mac, then either the store or you can hook it up & then move over the corresponding date to the corresponding folders in a Mac.  As you've go them on a portable drive - if you do decide to have it done at an apple store it will be a lot more portable than taking your computer over.

[jarcher]

In what way is "Windows 7" "deceptive nonsense" ("flimflam") that OSX is not?
In what way is "Windows 7" "lacking fitness" (inept) that OSX is not?

I have a big stack of examples on OSX sitting here that I can put up for your Win7 examples. For fun: perhaps I'll even show you how HP_UX is inept or flimflam.

Again, let me be clear. I think OSX is a fine and valid choice. So is Win7. It depends on the person and their needs.

I think at this point it's best to limit my shots at versions of windows I have personally used (which doesn't include windows 7) and by the same token, to also limit my praise to operating systems that I also have experience with, that is, OSX.  There is no one perfect operating system, but I do think that if there have been issues with OSX, they have not, in my personal experience, in any meaningfully way impaired my productivity.  On the contrary - OSX for me has been the most transparent, easy, and intuitive to use operating system for me, which is the way it should be.

[craig223]

Got a Win 8 machine yesterday for my wife's online jewelry business.  It is an HP with AMD quad core processor, 6 gb or RAM and 1 tb hard disk.  Cost with 20" monitor was less than $700.  Took all of 10 minutes to figure out where everything was.  Old familiar windows face is available by clicking tile in lower left of screen.  It is fast, fluid and easy to use. 

Download cute pdf creator software for free and convert (or scan) all of the old tax files.  Believe that Turbo Tax will let you export a file from last year's tax return to use on your new system.  At our house, we use Win 7 or Win 8 on PCs and iOS on portable devices without a hitch.  Make sure that you run a good virus protection program like Norton and run a scan regularly.

You can also get JPLAY www.jplay.eu and use your win machine to feed great sounding stuff to your dac!

[totoro]

I thought by now Microsoft's own virus protection was supposed to be as good as or better than Norton or Macafee (I could be wrong: I haven't kept up with the windows world for a while)? In any event, you can get something like AVG free (for free, as the name says) and be just fine. Norton and Macafee, at least historically, have been resource hogs.

As far as the windows vs osx thing goes, honestly for most people it's just a matter of preference. If I personally had to choose between the two, I'd pick osx, because as a unix it has a bash shell and all the tools I'd expect. Windows doesn't, and no, cygwin is not really an acceptable substitute for me personally.

That being said, at this point my work laptop is an apple and I like it pretty well (my work and home desktops are xubuntu/ubuntu, so you can tell what my prejudices are ). Apple laptops are slick: the glide pad they have is just a lot nicer for me than everything else I've tried (and every laptop I've ever installed ubuntu on had weird problems if I closed them while they were running, which sucked).

In any event, if you have your xp install media, you should consider installing vmware player on whichever box you get and then installing xp there. That way, if you really need run something that only works on xp, you can always get it.  I have windows 7 installed that way on my home box so that I can run dbpoweramp.

With desktops, I usually pull the drive out of the old box and install it as a secondary on my new one, so that I can always grab stuff from it at leisure. This removes a fair amount of stress.

Another thing I would strongly consider is getting a nas with some kind of redundancy (they cost a few hundred bucks) and start backing your data up to it as a matter of routine. That way, when your next upgrade/forced change/whatever happens, it will be a lot easier.

All of that being said, I wouldn't personally use a windows pc unless I was forced to (by work, for instance, which has happened to me in the past).

[JohnR]

If I personally had to choose between the two, I'd pick osx, because as a unix it has a bash shell and all the tools I'd expect. Windows doesn't, and no, cygwin is not really an acceptable substitute for me personally.

Same here, Windows drives me nuts with that being a primary reason.

However I have to say, at the moment I'm jumping through hoops to maintain my own legacy stuff on OSX. To run PowerPC programs, I can't just install Snow Leopard (with Rosetta), I had to purchase Snow Leopard Server, because Apple won't let you install client OS (earlier than Lion) in a VM. Argh. Still waiting for that to arrive. And I read yesterday a rumour that Apple is considering a switch to ARM in future. If so, it will happen all over again. On Windows 7, in contrast, I'm running 12-year old Windows programs without a hitch. Which, frankly, surprised me, maybe I'm just lucky but I have to give credit to Microsoft for being far superior to Apple on that front.

In any event, if you have your xp install media, you should consider installing vmware player on whichever box you get and then installing xp there.

Great idea!

[shadowlight]

I thought by now Microsoft's own virus protection was supposed to be as good as or better than Norton or Macafee (I could be wrong: I haven't kept up with the windows world for a while)?

Microsoft's own virus protection is as good as or better than Norton or McAfee for home use.  I have been using it for about 3yrs.  It is not a hog like Norton is (chewed up close to 1/3 of my resources (memory, cpu) when it came free with one of the system.

If I personally had to choose between the two, I'd pick osx, because as a unix it has a bash shell and all the tools I'd expect. Windows doesn't, and no, cygwin is not really an acceptable substitute for me personally.

IMHO, having access to bash shell is great if you are heavy into command line or automating things with a script, but if you use the GUI for all your work it does not make much of a difference.  I go back and forth between a Linux system and Win7 as needed.

In any event, if you have your xp install media, you should consider installing vmware player on whichever box you get and then installing xp there.

I think you will have an issue with creating a VM instance of XP just with VMWare Player but I am not 100% sure on that.  My understaning was that VMPlay required the VM already created to be used.

Another thing I would strongly consider is getting a nas with some kind of redundancy (they cost a few hundred bucks) and start backing your data up to it as a matter of routine. That way, when your next upgrade/forced change/whatever happens, it will be a lot easier.

Not necessary to have a NAS for backup external usb / firewire drive will work as well, which OP is already doing.

Question for the OP

Are you the only user of the system or will it be a shared system?  If shared, take their training and application needs into account before making a decision.  What other programs do you use under your current systems that are critical that you cannot live without?  Is equivalent version available for OSX and what is the cost associated with it?  Bootcamp / VMWare / Parallels are option for you to run Win8/Win7/winxp but if you are spending majority of your time using Windows program will it be worth it for you to switch back and forth between Windows and OSX and potential performance hit that you will take?

[Don_S]

Be careful about that external hard drive backup. Make sure it's in a compatible format. Generally external hard drives are universal, but Windows and Apple OS use different drive formats. You will need to format the hard drive to the correct type before putting files on there.

In short the only format that is cross-compatible with Windows and Apple's OS is FAT32. There are limitations to that such as the maximum filesize (I think it's something like 2GB?).

For real and true?  This is just the type of conundrum I was trying to avoid.  I did not format my WD external.  I just copied and pasted what I wanted to back up.

I would be the only user of the computer.

Quote: In any event, if you have your xp install media, you should consider installing vmware player on whichever box you get and then installing xp there 

XP came installed on my Dell.  I paid extra to also get it on disk but it is labeled as only for a Dell computer. No more Dells for me.  I do not know what vmware is.

Interesting suggestion to add my current drive to my new machine if it is Windows based.

[srb]

For real and true?  This is just the type of conundrum I was trying to avoid.  I did not format my WD external.  I just copied and pasted what I wanted to back up.

If you have your external NAS drive mapped as a drive in Windows, you can easily check the formatting in Computer or Windows Explorer by right-clicking on the drive and selecting Properties. On the General tab you should see File System: xxxx and see whether it is formatted as FAT32 or NTFS.

Mac OSX can read NTFS, it just can't write to it without third-party software.  But if you only need to copy files from your external NAS drive back to your internal Mac drive you can do it even if formated in NTFS.  If you get a Mac and are going use the NAS to back it up and a Windows computer, you would want it formatted as FAT32 (with the noted 4GB maximum file size limit).  If it will be used exclusively with Macs, then you would want to reformat it with the OSX file system.
 

XP came installed on my Dell. I paid extra to also get it on disk but it is labeled as only for a Dell computer.

OEM Windows versions from Dell and HP are usually keyed to hardware IDs on the machine they came with and are likely to not install on a different computer.
 
VMware and Parallels Desktop are Virtual Machine software that allow you to run another operating system within the main operating system (usually with a slight reduction in performance), as opposed to Bootcamp in which you would need to reboot the computer back and forth between the operating systems.  Dual booting would have a little better performance for the secondary operating system than a VM software session, but it's not nearly as convenient.
   
Steve

[mgalusha]

The biggest gotcha with running old windows programs on new hardware is when the OS is 64bit, either Win7 or 8. If you have old 16bit programs they simply won't run on a 64bit machine. A 32bit version of windows has a process to allow 16bit code to run, 64bit versions support running 32bit code, which most software is, but they simply won't run 16bit stuff. For me this is all the Tubecad programs. I run a 32bit copy of XP under VirtualBox on both Win7x64 and OS X. I have yet to find anything that runs on win7 that won't run on win8. The exception would be 16bit programs but they wont' run on win7 x64 either. Nearly all new computers are shipped with 64bit OSes.

As for OS X vs Win7/8, I'm typing this on a Macbook air but it's booted under Win8 using bootcamp. Why? I find OS X clunky and simple things a PITA. Most any Linux or Windows is easier to use, for me. I suppose it depends on what you're used to and I've spent a lot of years using windows, linux and unix, so I find the OS X beautiful but clunky, that is the best word I have for it. I do love the fact that it's basically BSD underneath and if I need to use UNIX function like dig I will happily drop into the shell but that isn't often at home. The hardware is superb and I don't regret the MBA purchase but I find the OS non intuitive, probably because I'm happy with a shell prompt and am used to other paradigms. Disclaimer, I spend much of my day writing code for winders boxes, so I am perhaps a bit biased but I did pony up considerable $$ for the MBA and I do like it.. but I can't say if I'll buy another apple product.

[pslate]

Windows = backward compatibility
Unix, Linux, OSX better language

In grad school I was a PC man all the way until I learned Unix. it's been awhile, but seriously what you are able to do in a Unix command is insane, and super helpful in server admin.

[dragoonxp20]

Mac OSX can read NTFS, it just can't write to it without third-party software.  But if you only need to copy files from your external NAS drive back to your internal Mac drive you can do it even if formated in NTFS.  If you get a Mac and are going use the NAS to back it up and a Windows computer, you would want it formatted as FAT32 (with the noted 4GB maximum file size limit).  If it will be used exclusively with Macs, then you would want to reformat it with the OSX file system.

I checked a little while ago and I'm pretty sure it is only a 2GB per file limit for FAT32. I was under the impression that OSX could see/copy files that were under the filesize limit for FAT32 even if it was formatted in NTFS, but not anything that's over it. I've never owned a mac, but I'm just going based off trying to copy files from my external hard drive to my cousin's macbook.

In any case, the compatibility isn't great.

[JerryLove]

I don't think our OP will be doing much shell scripting.

[Don_S]

+1 

I don't think our OP will be doing much shell scripting.

[totoro]

Same here, Windows drives me nuts with that being a primary reason.

However I have to say, at the moment I'm jumping through hoops to maintain my own legacy stuff on OSX. To run PowerPC programs, I can't just install Snow Leopard (with Rosetta), I had to purchase Snow Leopard Server, because Apple won't let you install client OS (earlier than Lion) in a VM. Argh. Still waiting for that to arrive. And I read yesterday a rumour that Apple is considering a switch to ARM in future. If so, it will happen all over again. On Windows 7, in contrast, I'm running 12-year old Windows programs without a hitch. Which, frankly, surprised me, maybe I'm just lucky but I have to give credit to Microsoft for being far superior to Apple on that front.

Great idea!

Yeah, microsoft has always been better about backwards compatibility than apple. IMHO, that's been as much of a curse as a blessing.

[totoro]

The biggest gotcha with running old windows programs on new hardware is when the OS is 64bit, either Win7 or 8. If you have old 16bit programs they simply won't run on a 64bit machine. A 32bit version of windows has a process to allow 16bit code to run, 64bit versions support running 32bit code, which most software is, but they simply won't run 16bit stuff. For me this is all the Tubecad programs. I run a 32bit copy of XP under VirtualBox on both Win7x64 and OS X. I have yet to find anything that runs on win7 that won't run on win8. The exception would be 16bit programs but they wont' run on win7 x64 either. Nearly all new computers are shipped with 64bit OSes.

As for OS X vs Win7/8, I'm typing this on a Macbook air but it's booted under Win8 using bootcamp. Why? I find OS X clunky and simple things a PITA. Most any Linux or Windows is easier to use, for me. I suppose it depends on what you're used to and I've spent a lot of years using windows, linux and unix, so I find the OS X beautiful but clunky, that is the best word I have for it. I do love the fact that it's basically BSD underneath and if I need to use UNIX function like dig I will happily drop into the shell but that isn't often at home. The hardware is superb and I don't regret the MBA purchase but I find the OS non intuitive, probably because I'm happy with a shell prompt and am used to other paradigms. Disclaimer, I spend much of my day writing code for winders boxes, so I am perhaps a bit biased but I did pony up considerable $$ for the MBA and I do like it.. but I can't say if I'll buy another apple product.

I had to get a non-linux laptop at work for "corporate compliance" reasons. The choice was a windows box (which to me is just not ok) or a duded-out macbook retina. So I have this outrageously fancy laptop I use for running terminals shelled into other machines, checking email, and maybe once in a while firing up eclipse (I do all my real work on my linux box). Corporate life can be funny. I've noticed that the real apple users are as productive as I am on my linux box, and use just as many hidden keystrokes and weird easter-egg tricks. I guess that kind of thing is there on all oses.

[totoro]

I don't think our OP will be doing much shell scripting.

Fair enough: I only mentioned it as a reason I in particular wouldn't want to use windows. In the end it's just down to preference: all the modern oses are competent, and the op will be well served whichever he chooses. A windows box will be cheaper, and probably makes more sense if he's buying a desktop and he wants to expand its capabilities at some point. An apple laptop will be a really nice piece of hardware with a good solid os: a windows laptop that's anywhere near as nice will be pretty much the same price (think of what a sony vaio or similar costs).

So my recommendation would be:

Willing to spend >= $1k? apple laptop
otherwise,
want lots of power?
windows desktop with an i7 and a reasonable amount of ram (say 16-32G)
else
lenovo or other decent midprice windows laptop





 

[totoro]

If you have your external NAS drive mapped as a drive in Windows, you can easily check the formatting in Computer or Windows Explorer by right-clicking on the drive and selecting Properties. On the General tab you should see File System: xxxx and see whether it is formatted as FAT32 or NTFS.

Mac OSX can read NTFS, it just can't write to it without third-party software.  But if you only need to copy files from your external NAS drive back to your internal Mac drive you can do it even if formated in NTFS.  If you get a Mac and are going use the NAS to back it up and a Windows computer, you would want it formatted as FAT32 (with the noted 4GB maximum file size limit).  If it will be used exclusively with Macs, then you would want to reformat it with the OSX file system.
 OEM Windows versions from Dell and HP are usually keyed to hardware IDs on the machine they came with and are likely to not install on a different computer.
 
VMware and Parallels Desktop are Virtual Machine software that allow you to run another operating system within the main operating system (usually with a slight reduction in performance), as opposed to Bootcamp in which you would need to reboot the computer back and forth between the operating systems.  Dual booting would have a little better performance for the secondary operating system than a VM software session, but it's not nearly as convenient.
   
Steve

Osx will read and write ext2fs, drivers for windows and ext2fs can be gotten free, and you then don't have all the weird file size and permissions problems you'd have with fat filesystems. This is the filesystem I usually use for interoperable external hard drives.

[skunark]

I've always used turbo tax online, never felt the need to have the app installed locally.  I always keep the returns on a thumbdrive in PDF format.  Your best bet with turbo tax is just to call them up and ask those questions.   One question though, which there's no need to answer, is why do you want to keep so many years worth of returns tied to an application?   Having the pdf here seems more than adequate and a long term sustainable approach.

A quick google for all those finance apps indicate they are supported on both mac and windows and even a web interface and I would probably suggest you jump on an apple forum and ask.  Etrade Pro just requires java 1.6 which is available for linux too if you want the the hardest learning curve.

Open Office, Microsoft Office, iWorks, etc, there's always going to be issues opening up older file formats with any of the newer versions.   I mainly use Microsoft Office at work and compatibility issues exist between Microsoft Office versions as well.  You can run OpenOffice, Microsoft Office and even the iWorks all on a Mac.  if you don't need super advanced features of MS Office then I would point you towards OpenOffice and iWorks as it's significantly cheaper and iWorks is now unbundled so you can buy just want you need.   Keep in mind that your new Windows 7/8 machine will need newer versions of the software, so that with antivirus and msoffice, that might be another $100-200 added to the price.  Running older 32-bit apps will most likely be fine on W7 machines, but eventually those will lose support.   Not unlike it's hard to run windows 3.1/98/NT applications, and avoid installing any drivers that aren't meant for W7 (or W8).  Guessing this is not something you are worried about if you are considering migrating to a mac.

BTW, i don't consider Windows XP -> Windows 7 to be a huge jump, if you just want an easy transition that's probably the best.   I will also say that it's rather easy to switch to a Mac and if you have an Apple Store, you can get training or one-on-one time for any questions you have.   Anyone who says they are having difficulty with a Mac, didn't really give it an honest try. 

For the longest time I would take my gaming class machine, purchase another cheap motherboard, cpu, and case and break it into two smaller machines and give to family members at least every other year and now I've been giving those same computer challenged relatives Macs and none of them have had an issue using it and I've provided very little support to them other than setting up Time Machine backups.    Power users/Hackers want to fine tune everything and really don't seem to understand that most folks don't even care about that, simple and secure is better in their minds.    Now, it's not hard to tweak a Mac with it's powerful command line, but that seems to be too much for most power users/hackers these days.     

I have Macbook Pro, Mac Mini, (Mac Pro, 2 Macbooks moving out soon), Lenovo Thinkpad (W7) and access to thousands of linux nodes at work, pretty familiar with most OSes today and I feel Apple has the edge on:

• More software applications you can now purchase or download for free  (just a few years ago I would have laughed at that statement, linux is strong too)
  
• Most app store software purchase can legally be install on all the mac you have control over..  huge savings..   No DRM on most software other than account to download, install or update.   
  
• Very simple backup and restore process.   So simple that you don't even use a CD to recover now.
  
• Still the best security and antivirus OS.  (just turn on the firewall for security) I don't even care to run antivirus software on my macs (same with linux), but my email does all go through a virus check at the email server.
  
• Best warranty service I've ever experienced except that you have to go to them for warranty work or mail computer to them.
  
• Suspends/Hibernate actually works on my Macs when compared to windows
  
• Printer drivers, cameras, etc all just seem to work.  I've had exceptions though, but it was a Dell printer that only worked for XP and was a POS.
  
• Features I like in Mac OSX, main thing is the fullscreen on an applications, real easy to partition work to dedicated screens (linux has been like this for years though)
  
• Easy to encrypt your boot drive and even create encrypted file containers (like an CD/ISO file image)  that you can mount with a password.
  
• iCloud...  email, music, movies files, etc can be accessed from iPod/iPad/Macs/PCs and web enabled devices.  Very well put together it's probably this factor that will keep me using Mac OSX.  I love the fact that I can create a list of CDs to buy on my Mac and when i hit the store review and edit the list on my phone.
  
• XCode is a world class development environment for software development anyone that might be a bit geek curious.
  
• resale value is rather high on mac compared to PCs
  
• Newer macs allow you to mirror your display to a TV with Apple TV connected to it...  So cool i can't believe i forgot this earlier
  

What I don't like Mac/OSX:

• There's no Apple iBook Reader for the desktop... this truly annoys me too
  

What others might not like:

• Game support is still lacking but Steam has greatly improved the outlook.
  
• Not a lot of fine tuning one can do to the settings in the GUI... If you are a gearhead (car always in garage with hood open), you should be using linux, or use the command line....
  
• Newer apps will remember opened files, windows, etc when you close them and will reappear when you open them.   Not hard to get used to though.
  

[skunark]

Windows = backward compatibility
Unix, Linux, OSX better language

In grad school I was a PC man all the way until I learned Unix. it's been awhile, but seriously what you are able to do in a Unix command is insane, and super helpful in server admin.

I think i would give the edge to Linux on backwards compatibility...    Virtually runs on any hardware and it's not at all difficult to get old (compiled) software to run on linux.   

[totoro]

Skunark, that was a really well done rundown. I'll point people to it in future.