Can I Do Everything on a Mac? :: My First Mac - Help Buying and Getting Started with Your New Mac

Quick Scan

The majority of key programs and files transition seamlessly. See the first table.

Some Windows programs are replaced by Mac counterparts. See second table.

Remaining programs that don't have a counterpart can be run in Windows on your Mac as necessary.

What Are All These Applications?

Why Buy a Mac – What’s the difference, really?

6 Reasons to Buy a PC Instead of a Mac

Helpful Mac Sites on the Internet

Can I Do Everything on a Mac that I Do on My PC?

By: Chris Kerins
Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Categories: Before You Buy, Getting Started, Switching from Windows

Worried about what you will have to give up if you switch to a Mac? We'll break down what you can and can't do on a Mac that you do right now on your PC.

Let's start with three categories of compatibility: Seamless, Same but Different, and Uh-oh. For the sake of brevity, I'll try to stick to the most commonly used programs that cover most consumer computer uses.

Seamless. This group of programs are more or less the same as what you used to on a PC. They might look a bit different, but the Mac version works just as you're used to. Other than email, these programs comprise the bulk of typical computer use and are written by the software companies for both Windows and Mac using the same file types.

Windows to Mac Program Chart

Same but Different. In this group are programs that are written only for Windows but have a good or better match on the Mac. For these, you can get the same functions you are used to, but in a different software product. You shouldn't find much of a learning curve with this group since they are doing essentially the same thing.

Windows to Mac Programs Chart 2

Uh-oh. This last group encompasses the vast realm of niche Windows products too numerous to list here. If you discover that there are no adequate Mac software titles that can replace your vital Windows program, this is where Apple's shift to the Intel chips will really help you out. Your solution lies in running Windows on your new Mac.

Huh? That's right. Because Macs and PCs use the same Intel processors these days, you can buy a copy of Windows XP or Vista and install it on your new Mac. It may cost a few dollars to go out and buy Windows, but it will give the peace of mind that you can cover all your bases in a time of need.

Bonus Round. There are two benefits of switching to the Mac that are easily overlooked in this discussion. The first is you won't need to buy any anti-virus and anti-spyware programs for your new Mac. Not only do you get to save that money, but you also save yourself the headaches of installing them and keeping them up to date. The second benefit is the free group of iLife applications that come with your Mac. These iLife programs that help you manage, create and manipulate media are unmatched by anything available on the Windows platform.

So as it turns out, you can do everything on a Mac and more that you do on a PC right now. You might have to learn a few tricks, but My First Mac is right here to help you out, along with the rest of the Mac family.

Did I miss an important program that you use? Let us know in the Comments section below.

DIG DEEPER

Some of the programs mentioned above can be found here:

Elgato Systems EyeTV
FileMaker Pro
Omni Group's OmniGraffle
Flip4Mac Plug-in

I Use This ranking of top Mac software

Running Windows on a Mac

Boot Camp (Apple)
Parallels Desktop for Mac


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Your Comments:

Are there any good analogues for active sync or the NERO suite or for sharing networked files or folders with Windows computers?

Clint
07/14/2007 at 08:51 AM

Don't forget about Concept Draw- it's a good alternate to OmniGraffle - more expensive though.

rob
07/14/2007 at 11:07 AM

Clint,
You should check out markspace.com and pocketmac.net if you want to use an Active Sync device or various other devices such as a Blackberry or PSP with a Mac.

No unfortunately we don't have NERO yet but Toast Titanium comes close and if you don't feel like ponying up the cash for that try a freeware app called Liquid CD for CD/DVD burning.

James G
07/14/2007 at 02:10 PM

Two notes about what was mentioned.
1) WMP alternative. While QT with Flip4Mac works great for WMV encoded AVI files-as well as a necessity for Web content-it doesn't cover all the bases. I'd also recommend the Perian QT component to support almost any AVI you can find whether it uses Divx, 3ivx or xvid. Perian also supprots FLV and a number of other formats-check them out at perian.org.

2) EyeTV is a DVR/PVR client for several ElGato and non-ElGato DVR/PVR devices that work on a Mac. In order for the conent to show up directly in a media center rather than having to export to h.264 into iTunes first-check out CenterStage and MediaCentral which are both far more capable than Front Row.

James G
07/14/2007 at 02:21 PM

MS Publisher = Apple Pages? Pluuuze no! Pages needs work - it can't figure out if it is a Word Processor or a Desktop Publisher!

For a better equivalent to Publisher, go with Belight's Swift Publisher. Nice program that gets a good amount of support from Belight. Also, to supplement Swift Publisher, use plasq's Comic Life (found by default on many new Mac's anyway).

Macintiger
07/14/2007 at 05:18 PM

I think M$ Office for Mac is only till 2004 and I heard somewhere that there are not going to upgrade anymore. Still, you can do all that in NeoOffice and now there is OpenOffice for Mac too.

A very happy Windows to Mac convert.

Mac OS FTW!

Ritesh Nadhani
07/14/2007 at 06:08 PM

PC MAC
MS Office, Open Office MS Office, Open Office, Neo Office
Winamp, Media Player iTunes
IE, Firefox, Opera Safari, Camino, Firefox, Opera
MS Powerpoint MS Powerpoint, Keynote, Neo Office
K-Lite Codec Pack Perian, Flip4Mac
VLC, Mplayer VLC, Mplayer
World Of Warcraft World Of Warcraft
Outlook etc Mail etc
MSN, AIM, Skype MSN, AIM, Skype, iChat
BitTornado etc Tomato Torrent etc
WinZip, WinRar StuffIt

Jonne
07/15/2007 at 12:31 PM

Quicken does NOT belong in the "Seamless" category. Quicken for Mac is a very different product from the Windows version--different and inferior in every way except looks. Transferring Quicken Data Files across platform requires a fair amount of manual intervention, which can be time-consuming if you have years of data to track. And Quicken for Mac lacks many features of its Windows counterpart--for example, it cannot work in multiple currencies, and has much less detailed reporting and graphing capabilities.

My advice: avoid Quicken for Mac. I use Parallels Desktop to run Quicken for Windows on my Mac, and I'm happy with that solution.

But DO NOT assume that Quicken for Mac has the same feature set as the Windows version.

Scott Straker
07/15/2007 at 07:22 PM

Also check this article:
http://www.mostofmymac.com/articles/
the-switch-from-pc-to-mac-–-
a-beginners-perspective-part-2/

TheMacThinker
07/15/2007 at 08:15 PM

Quicken belongs in the "same, but different" category, IMO. When I switched I bought Quicken for Mac, but it was unable to import my Quicken Windows files. I lost all the memorized and quickfill transactions -- I subsequently found a Quicken tech note explaining that -- so my balanced were way off and there was no hope of correcting them (12 years worth of data).

I got my money back, and now I use iBank2. It was able to import all my Quicken data with correct balances. I only had to fix the reconciled flags (easy to do).

Dean
07/16/2007 at 05:24 AM